Washington sentinel., 1853-12-09
From the New York Herald Of the I'd inst.
Oliver Wendall Holmes upon Browning and
Tennyson.

Dr. Oliver Wendal Holmes delivered the sixth
and last lecture of his course upon the English
poets, last evening, at Hope Chapel The subject
OF the lecture was Tennyson and Browning a
very large and fashionable audience was in attend
| ance, who were all, it is presumed somewhat
curious TO hear the Boston humorist-the man
who " never dares to write as funny as he CAM
discourse upon the merits of the dreamy senti-
mentallsm OF Iennyson, and the passionate ear.
nestness of Browning. He commenced by re-
marking that the poets of whom he had spoken
hitherto were all dead, and belong to the past but
as the subject OF his present lecture he had chosen
Iennyson the present poet laureate and Brown
ing. Iennyson is a favorite with great many
people, and with good reason. His poetry il is
true is not popular with the masses, OF poAoi but
II Is rather the poetry OF the drawing room and the
boudoir. lie seems sovereignty ignorant of the
masses. From his poems should Judge him
to be a shy and retired man, more proud than vain,
who loves his race better than he likes them The
hrst thing that strikes us in Tennysons poetry is
the exquisite choice of words and the velvet-like
soitness OF its melody. We next come to his rich
ness of diction and his immense concentratiye-
ness OF meaning. But in the glitter of ornament
the great underlying qualities should not be for
gotten. The spirit of his muse is subdued almost
melancholy. ain Memoriam' is tender sigh
from beginning 10 end. The lecturer referred 10
the Princess for pathos, and to Mariana" for
imagination. From the latter he quoted the WELL
known passage so full of suggestveness:
All day within the dreamy house
The doors upon their hinges creaked
The blue fly sang in the pane; the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot squeaked,
Old faces glimmered through the doors,
Old footsteps trod the upper floors,
Old voices called her from without.
In Mcmoriam" we must read in quiet, suffer.
ing the delicious lines, as Coerdge said Of sleep
10 I" slide into the soul.' Such tender affection
such infinite sorrow, such simplicity and truth the
lecturer had seen nothing like in the whole range
OF elegac verse. But Tennyson did not write for
q fhav T1...
shrinks even from contact with the unapprecia
tive many He moves amidst pomp and splendor in
stately palaces, and in the glitter ofexclusiveness
ana these tastes never cease TO be manifest in his
poems. IL is only at intervals that the spirit of
the times declares itself in his productions The
poet laureate, according TO the lecturers opinion
was apt 10 show itself in the tendency of the bards
works. II renders him more conservatives and in
MS aspirations for the future he evidently dslikes
some Of the means used for the attainment of its
golden promises. The lecturer contended that
Iennyson in his style belongs TO the Anglo-Helle-
hic SCHOOL, and that all the ancient simplicity di-
rectness, and strength apparent. There is
good deal OF correspondence between Keats and
Iennyson They both exhibit that keen sensibili-
ty to beauty, together with infrm and weak
purpose These sensitive men are undervalued
by the go-ahead and utlitaran men Of these times.
Beauty should be valued for its own sake alone
Iennyson, like others Of this school, has not the
elements OF popular poet.
The lecturer spoke very briefly of Browning
and an quoted copiously from his longer poems
lhere was great contrast between these two
poets. The force and energy OF Browning AT
iimes amounted TO fury. He was evidently good
mater, and all his poems showed strength, fire, and
violence OF expression. The lecturer examined
the practical construction Of Paracelsusn at some
length and concluded by expressing his warm adj
of Brownings last published poems--not
republshed here, we believe-enttled" Christmas
Eve" and Easter Day" They form, taken to-
gether he said, one of the most pungent evangeli-
cal discourses that have been seen for many n
day. II was the work ofa poet and man of met
lie. In conclusion, the lecturer gave a general
resume Of his course of lectures, and touched. in
passing, upon two or three whom he had NOT men
lioned, among whom he dwet upon Thomas Hood
and designated the "Song of the Shirt and the
Bridge of Sighs as the two mighty lyrics tba,
had reached the hearts and consciences OF more Of
The proud and wealthy than many sermon. He
by thanking the audience for the ma
tience and attention they had bestowed upon him
during this and previous lectures and bade them
larewell In the shape of neat and opposite
original poem.
Telcgraphic Feat and Enterprise.--NEw
orleans Dec. THE Picay-ae of yesterday af
ernoon, published exclusively, al full and complete
synopsis OF the Presidents Message, delivered in
washington at one o'clock, p. NJ Il was trans.
miited direct from the capital over the w ashing-
on and Southern Telegraph line. An immense
number OF copies We're stricken off and distributed
all over the city Of New Orleans, and read nearly
rs soon as was the message at the capitol This
$ emphatically the age OF progress and unyielding
enterprise.
ges- Hackett is playing Falstaff AT Cincinnati