The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-30 00:00:00

Anderson." Yet the germ of that same root idea
may be recognised as one so widely sown the
whole world o'er, that the exception thus taken
to "The Worn Wedding Ring," as another, the
latest medium for its articulation, is nothing less
than ludicrous as a distinct critical objection. As
well object, in the same carping mood, to the
lack of originality in any one daring yet nowadays
to write a love song. There were Kings before
Agamemnon. And there will be many more
love lyrics yet, let us hope, after the gems
culled from this charming lyrist's volume have
long•taken their place among the classic fragments
of our English poetic literature. Graceful, and
singularly various in their grace, though the earlier
poems in the collection here before us are undoubt-
edly—about the happiest efforts, observable among
the contents of the volume viewed as a whole, are
comprised within the group of Sonnets, here num-
bering up eighty•five altogether. Mr: Bennett has
both the delicate ear and refined taste essential to
the. Sonneteer. How many of these eighty-five
Sonnets of his fulfil the condition defined by Keats
as that of

rising loudly
Up to its climax, and then dying proudly I"
That is a noble Sonnet, for example, written in the
fly leaf of " Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome,"
closing, after an impassioned epitome of the dead
and gone glories of antiquity commented upon in
its pages, with the ejaculation,—

" 0 marvel of a book !"
As a Sonneteer Mr. Bennett sings appreciatively,
and therefore, of course, lovingly, of intellectual
benefactors of our age, like Charles Dickens and
Alfred Tennyson. He addresses himself through this
vibrant " trumpet" of the Sonnet most delightfully
also to themes such as the names of Ruskin, and
Thackeray, and Poe, and Hawthorne, and Browning
might be supposed to suggest to his sympathetic
imagination. There are sentiments expressed in
several of these sonnets, nevertheless, particularly
in some of them relating to Italy, diametrially
opposed to those cherished in our own innermost
heart of hearts. Yet the beauty of those very
sonnets we cannot but frankly recognise. Else-
where, however, when our thoughts and feelings
are akin we hail the success of our song-writer with
unalloyed delight and unstinted admiration.
Delicious are two of these sonnets addressed to our
loved and lamented Leigh Hunt. "Leigh Hunt !"
he cries in one of them—

" With the dear gladness of the sound
Into my close room all the country came ;
Deep lanes and meadows streams rose with the word,
And thro' the hash of woods, the cuckoo's call I heard."
Here is one of these lovely sonnets, the opening
lives of which Keats might have penned :

•
" 0 nightingale, thou wert fot golden Junes,
Not for the gusts of March I Oh. not for strife
With wind and tempest was thy Summer life,
Mate of the sultry grasshopper, whose tunes
Of ecatacy leap faint up steaming noons,
Keen in their gladness as the shrilling fife.
With smiles not sighs thy days should have been rife,
With quiet, calm as sleeps 'neath harvest moons ;
Thee, nature fashion'd like the belted bee,
•
Roamer of sunshine, fellow of the flowers,
Hiving up honied sweets for man, to see •
No touch of tears in all thy,radiant hours ;
Alas, sweet singer, that thou might's not live
Sunn'd in the gladness that thou cam'st to give I "
Enough, however, in the way of extract from and
comment upon a volume of verse, or let us say
rather, as we may (for it is a rare opportunity
nowadays) of poetry—to Which we can commend
without hesitation all those who love to listen to
the voice of a true song writer. A volume, they will
find it, resounding with the melody and redolent
with the fragrance of the green country side.

Oxford _Lectures on Elocution. By Charles John
Plumptre. 12m0., pp. 66. J. H. and J. Parker,
Mr. Plumptre dedicates to the Lord Bishop of
Oxford this valuable and interesting reprint of
Four Lectures recently delivered by him before the
alumni of that ancient University. Four intro-
ductory lectures elucidative of the principles and
practice of elocution—particularly of elocution con.
sidered in reference to the learned professions and
to Parliament. Lectures they are, delivered by
Mr. Plumptre at Oxford during the Michaelmas
Term of 1860, by permission of the Rev. the Vice-
Chancellor. They are inaugurative of what we
hope we are henceforth to regard as an established
system at the University, namely, a regular Pro-
fessorship of Elocution. By what the lecturer
himself terms with reason, " a singular coinci-
dence," upon the same evening, that of the sixth
of last November, while he himself was beginning
the good work with a view to the establishment
of this 'particular class of Professorship at Oxford
—the Rev. Alexander d'Orsey was doing exactly
the same at Cambridge. It appears almost ludi-
crous that we should have to notify only nowadays
the commencement of such a department of study
at our two great Universities. Here, moreover,
actually in England, of all the countries in the wide
world—where perfect freedom of speech is secured
to all ranks and classes of the population. Yet it has
absolutely been left until now for Mr. Plumptre at
~Oxford, and for Mr. D'Orsey at Cambridge, to stand
forward as the pioneers upon this new and hitherto,
in England, untrodden track in University Edu-
cation. Mr. Plumptre appears with admirable
credentials before his pupils, before the Univer-
sity, before all those who either in Oxford or
in London may aspire under his able tuition
to prepare themselves by an elocutionary course
for the Church, for the Bar, or for Parliament.
He is himself a barristei at law of the Middle
Temple. He is the Hon. Secretary of the Public
Reading Society, of which Lord Brougham
is the President. As one of the most accomplished
readers of that Society he has frequently had occa-
sion to signalise here in the metropolis his capa-
bilities as an elocutionist—capabilities naturally
very considerable, but beyond that by study and
practice admirably cultivated. From among a
cluster of remarkable testimonials to his ability we
will select one as in itself amply sufficient. Nor
can the selection we make be deemed in any re-
spect invidious, seeing that it is the testimonial
penned by one who occupies so high a place
among the pulpit orators of our times as the Rev. J.
M. Bellew. That popular elocutionist writes thus
of our Oxford Lecturer:—
Mr. C. T. Plumptre has paid me the compliment of say-
ing that a testimonial from me would be of service to him
in taking pupils for instruction in elocution.
I have repeatedly been applied to by young clergymen
and other professional men to recommend them a master
for this purpose, and until now have been perplexed how to
reply, being indeed completely at a loss.
I am extremely glad to think that a gentleman of educa-
tion and social position is at last undertaking the task of
teaching elocution, which has hitherto been commonly sur-
rendered to actors.
Mr. Plumptre is well known to me, and I have frequently
heard him read. I am also aware that he has accustomed
himself to reading in public, and has studied in order to
perfect himself thoroughly in the art.
I can speak confidently of his high ability and great dis-
criminative power ; and of his taste I am equally sure, from
my own personal knowledge of him. I would dwell with
some emphasis on this latter point, because refinement of
feeling and corresponding intonation, accentuation, drc.,
can only be taught by those who are themselves
- native here,
And to the manner born."
In Mr. Plumptre, therefore, I feel that young profes-
sional men will have an advantage which has heretofore
indeed been very rarely attainable • and look with entire
confidence to the complete success of tuition.
Having quoted which authentic opinion of Mr.
Plumptre's abilities as an Elocutionist, we cannot
but deem
.any additional word of commendation
here superfluous. We may be permitted at any
rate to remark that these four introductory Lec-
tures by Mr. Plumptre are most lucidly illustrative
of the principles and practice of that art of Elo-
cution of which Mr. Plumptre himself is in both
senses a Master: By these introductory lectures
.of his at Oxford we trust that he has there in
that ancient University permanently established
his new Professorship.

Arminius. By the Rev. Francis Smith.
James Blackwood.

We do not consider that the title of this work is
altogether appropriate, inasmuch that it is a his-
tory of the German people from the time of Julius
Caesar to that of Charlemagne, and not more than
thirty or forty pages are devoted to the history of
Arminius ; but the reason assigned by the author
is, that Arminius was the founder of German
liberty, the first man who was able by his talents
and military genius to combine the rival and con-
tending tribes into which the people were divided,
and successfully to resist the Romans. But though
his name is cherished in the memory of his country-
men, his life was an unhappy one. Having mar-
ried Thusnelda, the daughter of Segestes, a rival
chief, against her father's will, a civil war was the
result, and Segestes succeeded in imprisoning
Arminius and his wife, and confined them in his
burg or castle ; Arminius contrived to escape and
in his turn besieged the burg ; in this difficulty
Segestes sent an embassy to Germanicus, the Roman
general, emploring his assistance, which was
granted with the greatest satisfaction, it being the
interest of the Romans to foment international dis-
sensions among their enemies as much as possible.
On the approach of the Roman army Arminius was
obliged to retire, and Germanicus took possession of
the burg, and made prisoners of Segestes and his
daughter, for although he removed them to the
Roman side of the Rhine, under the pretence of
protection, Segestes himself died in exile at Rome,
and his daughter never again beheld her husband,
and her son was born in prison and a Roman slave.
But although the capture of the wife of the redoubt-
able German leader was a success on the part of
Germanicus, it led to results which he had
not an-
ticipated ; the loss of his beloved Thusnelda stung
Arminius to madness, and the author observes, that
" Scarcely had Germanicus reached the Roman
province before he was made sensible by signs