The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-12-30 00:00:00

COINCIDENCE OF THOUGHT.

IT has been said that nothing is so difficult to find as a
xiew idea ; and some have affirmed that, except the new
discoveries in science and their aprlications, there is liter-
ally "nothing new under the sun." We are surprised, from
time to time, to find that some of the choicest thoughts of
our own era, on 'literature, morals, laws, and customs,
were anticipated ages ago in the mouldy pages of some
forgotten author. This arises not from any plagiarism,
literal or practical, but from the peculiar mental constitu-
tion and circumstances of our species, which occasion a
perpetuol recurrence of the same thoughts. The person
who is well read in Shakspeare, cannot read through a single
number of Punch, or the facetite of an ordinary news.
paper, or the pages of the commonest jest-book, without
detecting the verbal witticisms of the great dramatist,
arranged in a new garb, and presented as novelties.
These remarks are suggested by some parallelisms of
sentiment which we have just noticed. Mr. Dickens has
issued an extra number of his " Household Words" for
Christmas, with his usual clever mixture of pathos, humour,
vivid description, and sound reflection. But, in giving us
the recollections of the dead, which not unnaturally arise
around even the cheerful Christmas hearth, he has re-

written in prose.—unconsciously we are sure,—the prin-
cipal parts of Mrs. Hemans's well known " Graves of a
Household." After an introduction, equivalent to the
first two stanzas of the poem, he goes on to suppose how
many have been cut off in different ways, and follows the
"poetess" almost throughout, in the number, nature,
order, and circumstances of the removals. In a servile
copyist, this would have been the result of mere recollec-
tion ; his memory would have brought forth another's
materials, and would have appropriated them as his own.
In the highest order of minds, the same effect is produced
by different causes ; genius selects, as it were intuitively,
the best points of illustration, and when these coincide, we
do not question the originality of either, but simply settle
the point of priority as in the case of independent dis-
The following is an illustration :

coveries in science

H EM A NS

DICKENS

One midst the forests of the west, There was one who lay
By a dark st earn was laid ; down to his rest in the dark
The Indian knows his place of rest, shadowofgreat torests,and,
Far in the cedar shade. on earth, awoke no more.
The sea, the blue lone sea bath one, There was another over
He lies where pearls lie deep ; whom they read the words,
lie was the loved of all, yet none "Therefore we commit his
O'er his low bed may weep. body to the deep!" and
so consigned him to the
lonely ocean, and sailed on
One sleeps where southern vines

There was a gallant boy
who fell, far away, upon a
Above the noble slain; burning sand beneath a
die wrapp'd his colours round his burning sun, and said;
breast, "'Tell them at home, with
my last love, how much I
could have wished to kiss
them once, but that I died
contented, and had done
my duty."

On a blood-red field of Spain

And one, o'er her the myrtle showers There was a dear girl—
Its leaves, by soft winds fanned; almost a woman—never to
She faded, 'midst Italian bowers, beone—who inadea mourn-
The last of that bright band. ing, Christmas in a houseof
joy, and went her trackless
way to the silent city. Do
we not recollect her, worn
out,faintly whispering what
could not be heard, and
falling into that last sleep
for weariness?

Literary Fables from the Spanish of Yriarte. By
Robert Rockliff. London : Longman and Co.
This is an interesting little volume, just issued by a
Mr. Rockliff, who has lone been known
as a man of business in Castle-street, has at inter-
vals amused his leisure hours with literature beyond the
Emits of our own language, and here is a proof of his fa-

townsman

iniliarity in one department. The Spanish poet Yriarte
died in 1790, and with other works which he left behind

him is one one entitled Fabulaa Literarias. It consists
of a series of canons of criticism applied to literature,
enunciated in verse, and applied after fabulous introduc-
tions. The usual plan in treating principles is to make
the illustration secondary ; but the eastern parables and
the writings of lEsop have shewn that the principle is
often much better retained when associated with a narra-
tive, real or imaginary. One can sometimes judge from
the style of painting in a portrait whether it is a good
likeness or not, without seeing the original ; and without
having the Spanish original before us, we readily infer
that Mr. Rockliff's translation is sufficiently correct. He
has at all events hewn that he can express the sentiments
with great flnency and vigour in English verse ; and alto-
gether the little volume is highly creditable to its writer,
and to our local talent. Some of the poems appeared
previously in' Blackwood's • they are here
sixty-three in all. The followin6
or five which attracted our attention

Magazine

s a specimen from four

THE IVY AND THE THYME

I've read—l know not where or when, or if in prose or rhyme—
A dialogue that pass'd between the Ivy and the Thyme.
The Ivy, bowing haughtily, like one of high degree,
Began: " God heir thee, little one, how much I pity thee!
For though the sweetest of the herbs that scent the air around,
Thou art a dwarf in stature, scarce a span above the ground."

" I own my insignificance," the humble Thyme replied;
" But still, my stately friend, I think thy pity misapplied.
I rather ought to pity thee, for I, however small,
Am not indebted for my growth, like thee, unto a wall;
Whilst thou,if severed from the stones to which thy fibres grow,
Would'st trail and grovel on the groand, the lowest of the low."

Thus many a scholiast contrives to climb the tree of fame,
By linking to some lofty work his else unnoticed name ;
For, though his scholia may deface the text o'er which they
scrawl.
They grow ;Ii• ..)orate with it, like Ivy with the wall.

Treatise on Recent and Fossil Shells
Woodward. London : John Weale.

In the deluge of :heap literature and science with which
we have been overwhelmed; it is cheering to discover
something honest and sound, and free from the dap-trap
which forms the staple of the manufacturers of popular
treatises. The bulk of such works are compilations, not
from the best authorities, which would be tolerable ; but

from those most easily attainable, without reference to
their value, their soundness being a point upon which the
book-makers are most usually incompetent to form a cor-
rect judgment. That this is not necessarily an accom-
paniment of cheap publications, has been proved by the
appearance of several during the present year, which pro-

raise to work a complete revolution in this respect.
Hitherto a cheap book has usually been a rifacciamento
of Penny Cyclopxdias and Useful (?) Knowledge publica-
tions. The thirst for genuine learning, and the increased
facilities for puhlication, have, however, shewn publishers
that they can afford to employ men of talent and emi-
nence in their respective departments to write original
matter for general circulation. Mr. Woodward's
treatise on shells is a work of this class, and
deserves the highest commendation ; for never before
bas a work been published in which the details of
a science have been explained with more precision and
clearness. It is not the book of a mere shell-collector,
but is fully calculated to satisfy the cravings of the intelli-
gent student in natural history. The position of Mr.
Woodward in the British Museum has given him supe-
rior means of information, which his love for the science
has made him avail himself of most fully. In the treatise
before us the illustrations are of a very superior order—
thirteen steel plates by Mr. J. W. Lowry, and a profusion
of woodcuts by the eminent naturalist, Mr. A. N. Water-
house. The work is a credit to the publisher, Mr. Weale,
and an ornament to his cheap and useful series of publi-
cations.

The Mysteries of the Kingdom ; Sketches Expository of
the Parables of our Saviour. By the Re

Joseph

Baylee, A.M

The present number includes Parts 7 and 8, and is de-
voted to an exposition of the parables of " The Pearl of
Great Price," and the " Gospel Net." In the first, the
author with much earnestness and effect assigns his rea-
sons for believing that the " pearl of great price spoken
of in St. Matthew is symbolical of Christ, and urges his
readers to seek the goodly jewel with avidity. The other
parable, regarding the " net," is also treated with consi.
derable care and ability. The esteemed author makes the
theme the basis for much wholesome advice; and while
endeavouring to elucidate these parables, he inculcates,
with force and eloquence, the necessity and ad vantage of
the proper fulfilment of our religious duties.