The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-09-27 00:00:00

THE PASSING.

A MASQUE OF AUTUMN TIME.
Pipe !—red-lip'd autumn—pipe !
Summer, she is dead, sweet maid :
Bear her through the listening glade,
Strew the way with•berries ripe—
Nectarine and peach, rose-stained ;
They at least may serve to show,
By the mirrored blush retained,
How her cheek was wont to glow.
I will come and weep beside her,
As chief mourner o'er her fate,
With a veil of gold leaves hide her,
As she lies in state
have wooed her in the meadow,
When she was a sweet young thing,
Ere she in the rain-cloud's shadow
Parted from the spring ;
Later, I have sported, blither,
Witl4 her in her sunnier hours ;
She it was who led me whither
Spring those fays, the flowers !
Bring, then, round her hallowed bier
Incense, from the dead leaves dry,
While the silent woods stand near
In solemn pageantry:
And the phantom mists shall weave
Cerements of the silver fold,
Ere the red-streaked sky at eve,
To the stars, turns cold.—
Hark !—the breezes are beginning !
Strew the leaves—and lightly tread—
Canticles in honour singing
Of the beauteous dead !
Weeping daylight, weed-like wears
Rays of yellow sunbeam now,—
Fruit-zoned Plenty plume-like bears
Corn sheaves on his brow :
Sing, sad winds, in every place,
Vintage-hill and orchard-dell,
Where her smile was wont to grace
Haunts she loved so well !
Strew the way with berries ripe :
Summer, she is dead, sweet maid ;
O'er her, through the listening glade.
Pipe I—red-lip'd Autumn—pipe I

REVIEWS OF BOOKS.

The History of English Literature; with an
Outline of the Origin and Growth of the
English, Language. By William Spalding, A.M.
Edinburgh : Oliver and Boyd.
This erudite and instructive outline of the history
of English literature, from the pen of Professor
Spalding, of the University of St. Andrews, the
oldest Scottish University, is modestly put forth by
its author as " an Elementary Text-book, to those
who are interested in the instruction of Young
Persons." That it is an admirable repertory of
information, for those who are so employed, is
indeed true, but such an intimation is far, very far
from conveying an adequate idea of its worth or
Comprehensiveness. The plan of the work is in all
respects excellent. Surveying literature as an im-
portant and ennobling portion of intellectual deve-
lopment, the author of this work devotes the efforts
of a highly cultivated mind to tracing the literary
progress of our country, from the first energetic
though rude labours of the Anglo-Saxon minstrels
and chroniclers, to a calm contemplation of the
polished purity and bright effulgence which dis-
tine,omish the literary luminaries of the nineteenth
century. It has been said, wisely and well, that
success in an undertaking can only be achieved by
a high appreciation of its value ; if such an appre-
ciation be indispensable to and inseparable from
success, no fear need be entertained of Professor
Spalding's ultimate and complete triumph, his
opinion of his subject's excellence being fixed and
high, as may be gathered from the following
ESTIMATE OF LITERARY TENDENCIES.
I have frequently invited the student to reflect how
closely the world of letters is related, in all its regions, to
that world of reality and action, in the midst of which it
comes into being : how Literature is, in its origin, an
effusion and perpetuation of human thoughts, and emo-
tions, and wishes ; how it is, in its processes, an art which
obeys a consistent and philosophical theory ; how it is, in
its effects, one of the highest and most powerful of those
influences that have been appointed to rule and change
the social and moral life of man.
From the above extract, it will be seen that our
author looks on literature as a powerful instrument
in modifying and improving the social and moral
position of man, and throughout the whole course
Of his elaborate and beautifully conducted inquiry
lie never once loses sight of that important object
of its agency. The plan of his work involves a
searching investigation into the constituent de-
ments of our language, and in conducting that
investigation he displays the erudition of an assi-
duous student, united to the discrimination of an -
secomplished and dispassionate philologist. In
the critical obgervations on the literature of Eng-
land at its various epochs, with which the volume
is plentifully interspersed, the learned gentleman
indicates an extensive as well as an intimate
acquaintance with the whole range of English
Eterature ; and, in estimating the pretensions and
value of the various authors, he evinces acumen,
candour, and refined taste.
Consideration of the subject is divided into three
parts, the first complising the literature of the
dark and middle ages, reaching from 449 to 1509 ;
in this period, says Professor Spalding, " not only
were the foundations of our native speech laid, but
its structure may correctly be held to have been in
all essential points completed." The second part
is exclusively devoted to an investigation into the
origin and growth of the English language. It is
divided into four chapters ; each chapter treating
of a distinct period, "the sources of the modern
English tongue ; and their comparative impor-
tance," being reserved for the fourth. The third
great division of the work passes to the literature
of modern times ; in that designation embracing
the literary emanations and character of England,
as these are to be met with between 1509 and
1852. This is subdivided into sixteen periods, to
each of which is devoted a separate chapter. From
the above very meagre outline, some idea of the
general plan and excellent method of the work
may be gathered; but from it, not even the slightest
opinion can be formed of the very able manner in
which the important, self-imposed task of Professor
Spalding has been executed. As we have already
said, that has been performed with fidelity and dis-
crimination ; his critical remarks being, accom-
panied by a candour and modesty which give addi-
tional value to his observations. Take, as one ex-
ample, his remarks on
THE HISTORY AND STYLE OF GIBBON.
Gibbon's pompousness, which has justly become pro-
verbial, was probably caused in part by his self-esteem,
naturally inordinate, and pampered by years of solitary
study ; and it must have been cherished also by his half
avowed consciousness of the hostility in which his evil re-
ligious opinions placed him, towards those to whom his
work was addressed. The peculiarity of his very peculiar
style may perhaps be analyzed into a few elements. His
words are always those of Latin root, not of Saxon, unless
when these cannot be avoided: his favourite idioms and
constructions are French, not English : and the structure
of his sentences is so complex as to threaten obscurity,
but so monotonously uniform that his practised dexterity
of hand easily avoided the snare. * * * * There is
a patrician haughtiness in the stately march of his narra-
tive, and in the air of careless superiority with which he
treats both his heroes and his audience ; and contem-
plating the actions of his story in such a spirit as if he
shrunk from Christian truth because he had known it
as alloyed by superstitious error, he honours the ruthless
bravery of the conqueror, and the politic craft of the
statesman, but is unable to appreciate the hermit's hum-
ble piety, or the heroic self-sacrifice of the martyr. His
manner wants that dramatic animation, which would en-
title him to be ranked in the highest order of historians,
and for which he was disqualified by his coldness of feeling.
He seems to describe, not scenes in which living men act,
but pictures in which those scenes are represented : and
in this art of picturesque narrative he is a master. Nor
is he less skilled in indirect insinuation ; which, indeed, is
his favourite and usual method of communicating his
opinions, although most striking in those many passages
In his history of the church, where he covertly attacks a
religion which he neither believed nor understood.
Even at the hazard of protracting this notice to
an unusual length, we cannot close without quoting
Professor Spalding's remarks on
THE PROGRESS OF THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.
Within the last twenty years, the periodicals have under-
gone mighty revolutions ; and among those it is right to
notice the remarkable advancement which newspapers have
made, alike in ability of thought and writing, and in the
extent of their influence on the minds of the public. The ex-
traordinary amount of active speculation and spirited com-
position, which their anonymous authors have lavished on
them during the last thirty years, would fully justify ex-
pressions of surprise, like those which escaped from us when
we observed, in the early part of the century, similar
phenomena in the larger periodicals.
As we commenced by a remark on the modesty
with which the author puts forth his work, we must
conclude by a tribute to the great value of his
labours. The book is admirable as an historical
outline of the dawn, progress, and full development
of English literature—as a manual for the use of
the student, it would be difficult to conceive its
equal, and we should think hopeless to attempt its
eunerior.
Zectwres delivered at Broadmead Chapel, Bristol,
„tq the late John Foster. 2 vols. London :
ZilrY G. Bohn.
title, ebetr° volumes, of which the above is the
Standarer, to the series denominated " Bohn's
edition of trarY," and they constitute a third
two in tura, e essays. The lectures are seventy-
tratit,„ oer, and the subjects selected for inns-
-- ikte 2401 as fully account for the high

estimation in which they have been held. At no time
very popular as a preacher, for which the peculiar
turn of his mind in a great degree unfitted him, the
most marked features of Foster's literary labour are
an earnestness of purpose, and an acute, as well as a
full, perception of the leading truths he intended
to inculcate. These he illustrated with a felicitous
force of argument, and a copiousness of diction at
once graceful and convincing. His lectures are re-
markable for the concentration of thought and ful-
ness of consideration which he bestows on his subject
as a whole. The essays now under remark received
much attention at the hands of their gifted author,
and are admirable specimens of his style. They
embrace a wide variety of topics, and breathe such
a strain of unaffected piety as has secured for them
a hearty welcome among all denominations of Pro-
testant Christians. In the present edition they
are neatly got up and published at a cheap rate.

The Dodd Family Abroad. By Charles _Lever.
London : Chapman and Hall.

The September number of this charming narra-
tive of family adventures continues as full of racy
humour, as instinct with life and spirit, as ever.
The amiable and rollicking members of the Dodd
genus no sooner tumble out of one blunder than
they roll into another, with a facility so truly mar-
vellous, as to throw the caoutchouc boy completely
into the shade. The stunning matrimonial mis-
adventure of Miss Mary Anne has scarcely had time
to blow over ere we find the same sensitive girl
as deeply smitten with the easy nonchalant man-
ners of the custom-house officers of Constance as
she was with the broad effrontery of the ci-devant
baron ; and in the twinkling of an eye afterwards,
we are initiated by herself into the mysteries of a
scene, which she describes as too trying for her
nerves. Lever never shone to more advantage
than in the sparkling adventure and caustic hu-
mour by which he fills the scenes and enlivens the
narrative of this dashing romance.

Scottish Educational and Literary Journal.
Edinburgh : James Hogg.

The September number of this journal main-
tains the reputation which has been acquired by
its predecessors. In the article which stands
number two in the part, entitled " Precocity," the
prevailing but cruel system of forcing to a prema-
ture development the intellectual faculties in chil-
dren, especially girls, by an oppressive and incom-
prehensible load of school-studies, is well exposed
and properly condemned. It should be read with
attention by every parent, and pondered over by the
directors and teachers of every educational establish-
ment. The remarks are full of practical good sense.
Among the more strictly literary articles of the
journal, will be found a spirited and interesting,
though brief, biography of Thomas Ruddiman, an
eminent Scottish teacher of Latin and the Classics,
who flourished at the beginning of last century.
Ruddiman was a man of remarkable strength of
mind. Born in a rank little, if at all, removed
from the peasantry of Banffshire, his native county,
lie, by dint of his own energy, genius, and perse-
verance, achieved an eminent position in the society
and literary renown of Scotland, and lived to a
good old age, respected and beloved by the highest
born and best of his countrymen. The other arti-
cles in the number are generally creditable of their
respective kinds.
The School and Family Elementary Atlas; Papa
and Mamma's _Easy Lessons in Geography ;
The Church Catechism, by the Rev. R. Mont-
gomery ; Catering and Carving, being sugges-
tions for Dinners for every Season of the Year;
The Poultry-Keeper's Guide. London : Dean
and Son,

The books enumerated in the above list are all
of a useful kind ; and each of them is possessed of
appreciable merit in its respective sphere. They
are neatly got up and published at low prices.