The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Lays of the War. By Michael Joseph Barry.
Cork : Bradford and Co.
1 little volume of pure sound poetry, and truly
refreshing to light on amidst the torrents of spas-
modic bardism poured out of late upon the land.
Cork is honoured in the production of Mr. Barry's
" Lays of the War," but we must certainly demand
of him a London edition. Otherwise, and we say
it with the utmost respect towards our Hibernian
friends, he will be guilty, to some extent, of hiding
his talents under a bushel. How pretentious has
been many a production without half the merit of
the few sterling pages before us, to which the
modesty'of the author has given as yet an unjustly
circumscribed publicity. The Lays, which are
heralded by an introduction in the Spenserian
measure, are five in number :—" A Lay of the
Alma," " The Charge of Balaklava," " A Ballad of
Inkerman," " Sebastopol is Won," and, best
of all, " A Requiem for the Brave." The
merit of fidelity in the descriptive inci-
dents of the commemorated events cannot be
refused to an author who largely and avowedly
takes his materials from the world-famed corres-
pondent of the Times ; and with consummate skill
has he reared the superstructure of his song. Each
lay, as we read on, we liked still better than the
one preceding, and laid down the little treasure
with the verdict—" This is true Poetry !" A few
extracts will servo to substantiate our opinion. The
octo-syllabic metre, so spirit-stirring when em-
ployed on warlike themes by a poet with the gra-
phic vigour and ringing rythm of Walter Scott, is
made use of by Mr. Barry in his vivid picture of
that magnificent exploit of heroism, when Cardi-
gan's immortal squadrons—
" Six hundred men—for statues fit
Impatient, in their saddles sit ;
Whose pawing chargers champ the bit ;
And sniff the sulphurous air—"
rushed on their dauntless death-race against the
serried legions of the Czar.
On, on, with thinned, but closing ranks,
That keep their line, like rampart banks,
While shot and shell, from front and flanks,
Crash through them as they go !
On, on, their bloody path is spread,
Each step, with dying and with dead ;
But each proud rider's manly head
Tarns, fearless, towards the foe
In "A Ballad of Inkerman" the details of the
memorable conflict of the sth of November are por-
trayed with great poetic power. The opening is
admirable, a strain of solemn melody :
The dull November morning is creeping, chill and damp,
O'er the leagiered Russian city, and the tented allied camp,
Not a camp-fire shows its glimmer, o'er the broad and
rugged steep,
Ind the cold and weary sentinels start, momently, from
sleep ;
The mist, hangs, thick and heavy, on mountain and on
plain,
And, through the deep and dark ravines, sweep sullen
gusts of rain :
Along the gorge of Inkerman the British pickets lie,
How gloomily each watcher feels those morning hours go
by!

And listen to the spirited strain of vaunt with
which this ballad concludes :
Ay ! there ye go, in fall retreat, proud legions of the
Czar !
This blood-bought field of Inkerman your glittering pride
will mar !
Ye stole upon us, in the dark, like wolves—a countless
pack—
Bat know that 'twas the lion slept—and scamper wolf-like
back !
You roused that lion from his sleep—and paid your rash-
ness dear,
Ind now the lordly eagle swoops upon your hurrying
rear.
How crash the cannon through your ranks !—Rise mists
and shroud the sun !
There's blood enough on earth to-day ; and Inkerman is
won !
" Sebastopol is Won " is a poem of victory, pealing
like a grand triumphal chorus :
Ay ! peal it out with triumph !—Ay ! peal it out with
pride !
Not vainly, on these sacred heights, our bravest brothers
died.
I Net vainly, in the Alma's tide—swept down by shot and
shell—
And up its cannon-crested steep, our dauntless children
fell !
Not vainly, through the iron hail, in front, to left, to
right,
Oar heroes dash'd to grapple death, on Balaklava's height !
Not vainly, in the treacherous mist, that hid the foeman's
wiles,
'Gainst fearful odds they, falling, fought, in Inkerman's
defiles;
Nur vainly have their comrades died, whose lot 'twas—
harder strife—
'Gainst sickness, want, and cold, to strive, through weary
months, for life :
Rad they not played their part so well—so gloriously
begun,
We should not raise the shout to-day—Sebastopol is won;
A graceful and truthful tribute is paid by the Irish
Campbell to the late British Commander—that
mirror of courteous chivalry :-
-" To die as Raglan died,—
The soldier's duty nobly done, without the soldier's pride.
No pomp of battle on his brow, its glorious lustre shed ;
But calumny and falsehood hung above his dying bed—
Yet murmured not the brave old man, and, from his house
of clay,
His hero soul serenely passed—Oh ! were he hero to-day !
Ile should have lived to see the end of what lee had
begun,
And heard those thrilling triumph words—Sebastopol is
won !
But the most perfect gem of the entire collection
in "A Requiem for the Brave," in which
" The sound of sadder music follows soon the exultant lay." li
In sentiment and expression this is a chef d'nuvrc
of poetry, and would, more than all the rest, stamp
Mr. Barry's name with lasting popularity were he
never to write another line. What a tine manly
picture is the following :
The strong, swarthy smith is brandishing his massive
sledge in air,
And he flings it on the anvil, with his brawny arms all
bare,
And he pauses for a moment, and resumes his toil again,
With the brief and pithy sentence—" Well, they did their
work like men !"
And the lines immediately succeeding constitute,
to our thinking, in their exquisite simplicity, one
of the most genuinely beautiful stanzas in the whole
range of modern poetry.
The old man, with hair of silver, as ho gladdens in the
glee
Of the golden-headed grandchild that sits laughing on his
knee—
Lays his hand upon the baby-brow, and says, with aspect
grave—
" God grant, my little darling, you may one day prove as
brave."
If the deeds of our heroic soldiers on the Euzine
shores have been recorded in prose that the world
will not willingly let die—non carent vate sacro—
a kindreol spirit ,has been found to celebrate them
in undying verse. William Russell and Michael
Joseph Barry are the hisforian and the poet of
the Crimean War.

Conversations 071. Harmony. By the Author ei
" Conversations on Botany." Published by
Longman and Co., London.

The present publication, evidently from the pen
of a highly-gifted person, will be welcomed by all
who desire to please the ear, and through the ear
to afford delight to the mind. It is at once clear,
simple, and easy of comprehension, and better
adapted than any work we have yet seen to the
attainment of its object, which is, we cannot ex-
press it better than in the words of the author
—" to explain the Rules of Harmony, is so simple
a manner, as to bring their practical application
within the reach of young students, and also to in-
crease the pleasure of men-lovers of music, by en-
abling them to understand in some degree the
theory of sweet sounds. Instruction in this volume
is conveyed in the form of dialogue between teacher
and pupil, a method eminently eucceitiful in
awakening the interest, fixing the attention, and
lessening the difficulties of youthful learners. Every
needless difficulty which has hitherto rendered the
path to musical knowledge rugged and toilsome
has been cleared, things really plain and simple
in themselves have been divested of their air of
mystery, and the great principles and leading rules
of the art, which, when clearly explained, may be
easily understood, have been rescued from a mass
of useless technicalities. The author has shown
us that there is no royal road to mu
sic any more
than to mathematics, and that skill in its practice
is to be gained only by a clear understanding of its
principles, and that these principles may be di-
vested of unnecessary obscurity, andlthe rules of
practice presented in their simplest and most
comprehensive form. The musical artiste,
whether as a composer, a performer, or a teacher,
will find his labours lessened and his pains amply
rewarded by a careful study of the present work ;
and the young musical student, by its assistance,
will mount easily and cheerfully from the first step
of the scale to the highest point of his ambition—
musical composition, his path being carefully cleared
from all the obscurity that has hitherto impeded
his progress. The approbation of this work by a
name so eminent as Cipriani Potter, Principal of
the Royal Academy of Music, stamps it as one of
sterling merit ; and we trust that it may have a
circulation as extensive as its utility. As a speci-
men of musical typography this voluxao does great
honour to the house of Novello.

DISCOVERY or ROMAN COINS.—A large number of
small brass Roman coins were found a short time since at
liunburnholm, inthe East Riding of the county of York.
They have passed into the bands of Lord Muncaster,
who proposes to cede them to Lord Londesborough, the
Lord of the Manor. Lord Londesborough has signified
his intention of placing them in the hands of Mr. Roach
Smith, to be catalogued and applied to the benefit of
the numismatic world. The finder will be recompensed
according to the value of the treasare-trove ; and the
coins will ultimately ho assigned to the nahinets of the
chief county museums.

Naval and

itelligence.

The Marlborough, 131, screw-ship, completed meting
at Portsmouth yesterday.

The B3rusia screw steam-transport left Spithead yes-
terday morning for Malta, with the troops she embarked
on Monday.
The Colossus, 80, screw-ship, Captain the Hon. Henry
Keppel, had her lower deck cleared of guns, carriages,
&c., at Portsmouth yesterday, to enable her to find
stowage room for stores for the division of gun-boats to
be commanded by Captain Keppel in the Baltic.
The Pigmy steamer was at Spithead all day yesterday,
endeavouring to raise the Rev. Mr. Berthon's mortar-
raft. The weather was much smoother than the days
before, and the object will probably be attained at an-
other attempt.
The crew of the London, 90, Captain A. Kuper, were
inspected on Monday by the Commander-in-Chief, and
yesterday she went from Plymouth Soend into Hamoaze,
where she will be fitted with jury topmasts and yards,
for service as a store-ship in the Baltic.
The Avon steam-tender left Plymouth yesterday, with
liberty men for the steam-ship Duke of Wellington, at
Portsmouth.

The hired screw steam-ship Vedra, No. 10S, Captain
Burn, from the Mediterranean, put into Plymouth,
windbound, on Sunday evening. Her dates are—Bala-
klava, December 14 ; Constantinople, 20 ; Malta, 28 ;
and Gibraltar, January 2. She brings passengers, three
serjeants belonging to the 66th Regiment—viz., Ser-
jeant-Major J. 111 Dermot, and Serjeant Thos. Kelly,
on furlough ; and Schoolmaeter-Serjeant Thos. H.Silrer-
wood, for discharge. Off Ushant the Vedra spoke the
bark Ken, out ward bound.
The new ship-building slip, which was contracted to
be raised by Messrs. J. and C. Rigby at tke east end of
Woolwich Dockyard, and which has been 12 months in
the course of construction, is now completed. This slip
has been built on a scale sufficiently spacious to obviate
the difficulty hitherto experienced in Woolwich Dock-
yard—namely, of building ships of large burden. This
new slip contains sufficient space for all the purposes of
building mea-of-war of the largest tonnage. Its dimen-
sions are 280 feet length, with a proportionate breadth.
As it is essential in structures of this description that
foundation and flooring of the shipwarshould be solidly
secured, the foundation has been sunk to a considerable
depth, a bed of concrete from 10 to 12 feet in thickness
forming the lower stratum, which rests on the chalk rock.
This substance is covered by a body of brickwork. n
floor of the building consists of large blocks of masonry
15 inches in thickness. The masonry and brickwork
are set in cement. A portion of the river wall, in con-
nection with the above, is likewise completed. This im-
portant addition to the dockyard at Woolwich has been
carried out under the general superintendence of Mr.
Bourneys, the clerk of the works.

Her Majesty's paddle-wheel steamer Merlin,, Captain
Sullivan, will have completed her repairs by the end of
the week. Her machinery has been refitted, and she has
commenced receiving her spare gear. She is to be again
employed in operations, as soon as the season opens, on
the Baltic coast.

_
The William, schooner, of Goole, is embarking from
Woolwich arsenal a cargo of mixed shot for Portsmouth;
and is likewise shipping two 13-inch mortars and mortar
beds, with two eight-inch guns, for the Seahorse.,,
Her Majesty's steamer Coquette, 4 guns, 700 tons
burden, lately built at Blackwall, receives her crew and
a detachment of Royal Marines, which are being trans-
ferred from the Salsette, at Woolwich.

........_ .. ,
The Admiralty yacht Black Eagle got up her steam
yesterday morning in 'Woolwich basin to test her ma-
chinery.
The Tartarus has been commissioned, and is also in a►
forward state for service.

Staff Assistant-Surgeon R W. Woollcombe has re-
ceived the appointment of Surgeon to the Medical Staff
Corps, vice Second-class Surgeon A. Knox, M.D., re-
tired from the service.

The iron floating battery which R. Napier and Sons
have commenced to build at Glasgow, and are to com-
plete by the middle of April; is to be about 200 feet long,
with a breadth of 45 feet, and a depth of 16 feet. Stem
and stem are to be alike, and the form of the hull is not
one calculated for luick sailing. The bottom is flat, and
without a keel, so as to float in as little water as possi-
ble. The bilges are full, and the topsides tumble in
considerably. There are to be two decks, on the lower
of which the armament will be placed, consisting of 20
guns of the largest calibre. The hull will be built of iron
in the usual way, but between decks will be lined with
teak-wood 6 inches thick, and the outside protected with
iron plates about 4 inches thick, so as to render the sides
shot-proof, and secure the men at the guns from the
effects of point-blank shot. The draught of water, when
ready for sea, is expected to be about 8 feet, but it will
probably he more. The measurement tonnage will be
about 2,000 ; and the propelling power is a screw, actu-
ated by non-condensing engines of 200-horse power.
Messrs. Napier are also making a second pair of engines
of the same description for a battery at present building
at Newcastle.

APPOI NTMENTS.
The following appeared in our late edition last
night :

PAYMASTERS.
William P. O'Brien to the Brunswick.
Joseph W. Maddox to the Algiers.
William Weaver to the Sanspareil.
William P. O'Brien to the Colossus.
Robert Doveson to the Flying Fish.
CLERKB.
John Rivers to the Colossus.
Hetry H. P. Shanks to the Centurion.
ASSISTANT CLERKS.
George B. Westcott to the Brunswick.
W. H. J. Aitken to the Brunswick.
Albert Allen to the Algiers.
Richard Drury to the Algiers. ‘;
Edward Tisdall to the Sanspareil.
W. P. Albin to the Colossus.
C. H. Stone to the Colossus.
Herbert F. Roe to the .zEJlus.
W. P. Ellis to the Centurion.
William B. Edkius to the Centurion.
Edwin Thinkstone to the Centurion.
Mr. Georg° Mason has been confirmed to the rank o
surgeon.