New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-11-16
NEW PUBLICATIONS

BIOGRAPHY. I2mO. pP. 5II, Ne" t0iR; harper a
& BGotters
With great defects as work of Imagination,
this volume sends forth the passionate cry OF ago
ny and hope which is forced from so many hearts
by the Spirit OF the Age 1t cannot be Judged by
critical rules it will be read with breathess inter
est The cause ofthe poor has found another poet
and il this work. he utte7s his melodious wall
ings, with sweetness and pathos, and impas
stoned strength which touch the deepest chords
ofgenerous sympathy. The author is said to be
clergyman of the Church Of England, named
Kingsley. whose previous reputation q man OF
genius and humanity had scarcely prepared the
/ public Tor the wild yigor ami fiery originality dis,
/ played in the present volume. Its appearance in
London has caused more sensation than any book
of the season and il will be read in this country
with still deeper interest BY thousands within
whose reach it is placed by its early repubca-
ton. To the admrer of original genius it will be
recommended by its holiness and yigor to the
/ student of the social problems Of the day By its
wise andtrutful gestiveness; and to the hopeful
philauthropist, by its earnest appeals in behalf of
the oppressed and down.trodden. In regard to
It's social bearings it must be admitted that its
merits are OF a somewhat negative character
More heart.rending descriptions Of the effects of
social injustice are nowhere to be found but the
true remedy for such gigantic evils is not pre-
scented in any Of the author speculations He is
voice crying in the Misunderstanding in tones of
warning Indignation and prophecy-but he does
not announce the EyangeI of peace for the healing
of nations. Without attempting an analysis of
this story, will extract some isolated passages
which viii give readers a taste of its quality,
ard lead them to desire a further acquaintance
with its contents.
The subject of the autobiography is thus intro.
duced to our notice for the first time:
A POETS CHILDHOOD.
nm Cockney among Cockneys Italy and
| the Tropics, the Highlands ard Devonshire,
know only in dreams. Even the Surrey hills, of
whose loyeliness have heard so much, are to me
distant tairya whose cleaning ridges am
worthy only to behold atar With the exception
OF TWO journeys, never to be forgotten, my know
ledge OF llnglandis bounded by the horizon which
encirces Richmond Hill.
My earliest recollections are OF suburban
street; of its tumble of little shops and little ter
races each exhibiting some fresh variety oil capri.
cious ugliness the little scraps of garden before
the DOORS with their dusty, stUnted hIacs and bal
sam poplars, my only forests my only wild
animals the dingy merry sparrow, who quarreled
+ tearleSSlV
gun From my earliest childhood, through long
nights OF seepiess pain as the midnight bright
ened into dawn, and the glarlng lamps grew pale,
used to listen, with pleasant awe, to the cease
less roll of the market-wagons bringing up to the
great city the treasures OF the gay green country,
the land Of fruits and flowers, for which have
yearned all my life in vain They seemed to my
bovish fancy mysterious messengers from another
world: the silent, lonely night, IN which they were
the only moving things, added to the wonder
used to get out of bed to gaze at them, and envy
the coarse men and sluttish women who attended
them their labor among yerdant plants and rich
brown mold, on breezy slopes, under Gods own
clear sky | fancied that they learnt what knew
should have learnt there knew not then that
"the eye only sees that which it brings with 1t the
power of seeing" When will their eyes be
opened When will priests go forth INTO the
highways and the hedges, and preach to the Piow-
man and the gpscy the blessed news, that there,
too in every thicket and tallow field is the house
ofGod-there too, the gate of Heaven!
do not complain that am Cockney Ihat
too is Gods gift He made me one, that might
learn to feel for poor wretcheS who sit stiiied In
reeking garrets and workrooms, drinking IN dis
ease with every breath-bound in their prison
house of brick and iron, with their own funeral
pail hanging over them in that canopy OF fog and
poisonous smoke from their cradle to their grave
have drunl. of the cup OF which they drink And
so | have learnt--i, indeed, ! have learnt-to be
was worth buying with asthma and ricketts, and
consumption and weakness and worst oil all to
me-with ugness. 1t was Gods purpose about
me- and. therefore all circumstances combined
to impIison me in London. | used once, when
worshiped circumstance, to fancy my curse, Fates
injustice 10 me, which kept me from developing
my genius, and asserting my rank among poets.
| loneed to escape TO glorious Italy or some
other southern climate, where natural beauty
would haze become the very element winch
hot art1IIf hny n
that Should [ not nober spirits than have
done, have idIed away my life in Elysan dreams,
singing out like bird into the air, lnarculately
pmposeess, for mere JOY and iullness OF heart
and taking no share in the terrible questIomngs
the terrible strugglngs OF this great awful
blessed tme-eeting no more the pulse OF tile
great heart of England stirring within me
! used az | said, to call it the curse OF clrcum
stance that l was sickly, decrepit Cockney
My mother used to tell me that 1t was the
cross which God had given me to bear.
know now that she vas right there She
used to say that my disease was Gods will
! 10 not think, though that size spoke right there
also. think that il was the will of the world
and of the devil, OF mans ayauce, and laZlnes6,
: and ignorance And so would ny readers, per
haps, had they seen the shop in the city where
was born and nursed with its little gaTets rcek-
ing with human breath, its kitchens and areas
! with noisome sewers. a SANITARY retormer you'd
not be long in guessing the cause OF my unhealtht-
! ness. He would not rebuke me-nor would she,
sweet soul now thar she is at rest in bliss-for
my wild longings to escape, for my enyying the
very flies and sparrows the Wings that might
fee miles away into the country, and breathe the
air Of heaven once and die. have had my wish.
| have made two journeys far away into the coan-
Try, and they have been enough for ne.
My mother was WIDOW. Ny father, whom
cannot recoect. was small retail radesman in
the city. b. was unfortunate and whenhe died
my mother came down, and lived penuriously
that same suburban street. She had been brought
up an Independent. After my fathers death she
became Baptist. from conscientious scruples.
She considered the Baptists, as DO as the only
.ecf WIN fhnrnnohll emhndY the CalVinistic doc.