The Sun.
London, England, 1832-05-01 00:00:00

BLACK WO OD'S MAGAZINE.

" Tennvson's Poems" is a review of some
early poetical effusions of a young man who bids
fair, at no distant date, to become an ornament
to the literature of his country. The review is
by Professor Wilson, and is penned in that half-
serious, half-comic spirit, in which the genius of
the Learned Gentleman loves to expatiate. We
like, however, the serious portion of the criticism
best ; it is full of fire and passion, yet not devoid
of acuteness, The strictures on the comments
of the Westminster reviewer, as regards Mr.
Tennyson's poems, are quite Peter-Pindaric in
the breadth and extravagance of their humour.

" S h akspeare—Spenser—Milton —Words worth —Cole-
ridge—The Ettrick Shepherd—Allan Cunninghame, and
some (Abets, have loved, and been beloved by mernaaidens,
sirens, sea and land fairies, and revealed to the eyes of us
who live in the thick atmosphere of this dim spot which
men call earth,' all the beautiful wonders of subterranean
and submarine climes—and of the climes of Nowhere,
lovelier than them all. It pains us to think that with
such names we cannot yet rank that of Alfred Tennyson.
We shall soon see that he possesses feeling, fancy, imagi-
nation, genius. But in the preternatural lies not the
sphere in which he excels. Much disappointed were we
to find him weak where we expected him strong : yet we
are willing to believe that his failure has been from ' affec-
tations.' In place of trusting to the natural flow of his
own fancies, he has followed some ♦ague abstract idea, thin
And delusive, which has escaped in mere words—words—
words. Yet the Young Tailor in the Westminster thinks
be could take the measure of the merman, and even make a
riding habit for the sirens to wear on gala days, when dis-
posed for some horseback.' Tis indeed a jewel of a Snip.
His protegee has indited two feeble and fantastic strains,
entitled ' Nothing will Die,' All things will Die.' And
then Parsnip Junior, without the fear of the shears before
big eyes, compares with L'Allegro and II Penseroso of Mil-
ten. saying that in Alfred's there is not less truth, and

perhaps wore tefiued observation r That comes of sittii.s
from childhood cross-legged on a board beneath a skylight.
" 'The Young Tailor can with difficulty keep his scat
with delight, when talking of Mr. Tiennyson's descriptions
of the sea. "Tis barbarous,' quoth he, to break such a
piece of coral for a specimen;' and would fain cabbage the
whole lump, with the view of placing it among other rari-
ties, such as bits of Derbyshire spar and a brace of man-
darins, on the chimney-piece of the show-parlour in which
he notches the dimensions of his visitors. So fired is his
imagination, that he beholds in a shred of green fustian a
swatch of the multitudinous sea ; and on tearing a skreed,
thinks he hears him roaring. But Mr. Tennyson should
speak of the sea so as to rouse the souls of sailors, rather
than the soles of tailors—enthusiasm of the deck, rather
than of the board. Unfortunately, be seems never to have
seen a ship, or, if he did, to have forgotten it. The vessel
in which the landlubbers were drifting, when the Sea
Fairies salute them with a song, must have been an old
tub of a thing, unfit even for a transport. Such a jib ! In
the cut of her mainsal you smoke the old table clo:h. To
be solemn, Alfred 'Tennyson is as poor on the sea as Barry
Cornwall, and, of course, calls him a serpent. They both
write like people who, on venturing upon the world of
waters in a bathing machine, would insure their lives by a
cork jacket. Barry swims on the surface of the Great
Deep like a feather; Alfred dives less after the fashion of
a duck than a bell ; but the one sees few lights, the other
few shadows, that are not seen just 31 well by an oyster-
dredger."

" Homer's Hymns" are freely and eloquently
translated. " Dumont's Recollections of Mira-
beau," is a clever article, so far as mere ingenuity
and special pleading are concerned, and institutes
a plausible parallel between the case of the first
French Revolution, and that of the present Re-
form Bill. The Ministries, both of France and
England, hints the writer of this impudent but
adroit piece of sophistry, have ruined their re-
spective countries, by undue concessions to the
mobocracy. We shall not stop to combat such
an absurd fallacy. " The Song of the Gifted,''
is by Mrs. Hemans. It is plaintive, eloquent, and
exquisitely melodious in versification. " The
Castle of the Isle of Regan ' is an animated tale,
evidencing considerable dramatic ability.