The weekly union record., 1865-03-11
English Literature.

The North British Review makes tbese
comments on modern English literature;
English literature az the present day IS Ike
plot of ground which once was lovely gar
Den. bat which is now aA overrnn with weeds,
and 10 this rank jungle lies 10 wait the penny
hDer whose calling is 10 fall upon every fresh
fact. aud TO tell il 10 the mos, difuSe and ram
bling way. Like Thug be chokes the life
out OF sentence BY 8 long coil Of words. In
general, This assassin Of the mother tongue has
very vague notious Of spelling. He could not
write irrelevant or veterinary" or even
separate correctly from dictaiiou. With
him, women in what the Germans call state
of guter RQgaung, or gsssgne'ent Leibes,m
sfG'ldeR, are always "enoisnte.'
When frost comes, though BE reyels at the
prospect Of accidents on the ice, bis no,ious of
zero are most perplexiug Sometimes he will
tell you that zero rose TO a freezing point
during the past night, bat as the sun rose, zero
fell suddeuiy, ard thaw set in" Sometimes
he seems 10 think The cen,igrade thermometer
Is malignant monster, a water-g0d that turks
amoog the weeds of the Serpenuue 10 defiance
of Mr.. Cowper and the park keepers. for be
has been known TO warn his readers on 20
account to venture on the ice so long as the
see their cid friend Fahrenhei, below the freez
ing point. SO that to him these scales are the
Ormuzd and Ahriman Of skaters AID sliders,
the good and evil principles Of frost. instead Of
two different scales expressing the very same
thing. With HIM all accidents are awful" -"
bat be much prefers catastrophe" to "acc
dent" So, too a fire is invariably "couaa.
grafton. and not only conAsgralion, but an
I - slarniru" aup If u-ara ifi-el,- ho ,,-
thing else. If he describes a shop. il is an
extensive establishment" though the owner
may be merely a cobber. At a launch be is
( in great glory. nor is he satisfied till be has
described how "the noble triumph of marine
architectural construction"-a periphrasis for
a ship which would delight the heart of an
/ Anglo Saxon "maker"-has "gided like light
ming into lis native element'-a most puzzling
assertion, seeing that tie native element OF no
part Of a ship is water either salt or fresh.
lie makes his way everywhere, and we find
him even in the very last Qneen's speech 10
( which be makes Her Most Gracious Majesty
( talk Of q "freBd = reconciliation" between con
/ teuding Powers; as if a reconciliation could
ever be anything else than friendly Sometimes
he goes up in a balloon, at least he says he
does though we hardly believe it. Were we
there on the spot endowed like Nero with
absolute power, and sure that he was the only
one Of this wretched class alive, we would.
without a moments remorse. take such steps
that the balloon, and be in it. should never
come down. To the moon might he rise and
, write 4 long description Of earth to the man"
in that planet but earth should be rid of him
aud his twaddle. But, alas be goes up and
comes down, and talks of the veteran aronaut'
and Of Zero rising aud failing up there in his
distracting way. But we leave him where we
/ found him. 1.-The last man 10 possession" of the
English language, abiding iu that stately pal
ace which our forefalhers have reared, and
rendering it hideous by his utter ignorance of
regimen or syntax, of mood or tense. of person
or gender Standing there, iu the very fore
front OF our language or literature, read by
millions every morning in the newspapers, his
power for harm is iDcalculable. ITO this
complexion" after an existence Of eighteen
centuries, have We come at last"
STINT CGrIEs-Oh. ye Silent Cities, how
bound!ess in your lonely and solemn domain
In every cline, in every land ye hold your
dreaded sway. Your proud monuments stand
in all their cold, dazzling wh;tenesS. the sole
surviving records of this worlds wayfarers.
Ye rear aloft your beauty and grandeur only
to chill the heart with the memory of the lonely
lips that are sealed forevermore The rich and
poor, the good and bad, the beautiful and de-
formed, alike are silent dwellers of your narrow
homes.
And we, car we enter your gates without an
almost breathless awe creeping over us, without
sofening our careless tread and hushing our
voices TO a whisper lest We should haply rouse
your slumbering trust, the pomp and glory the
poverty and misery of ages. Wandering
through yoar grass grown streets, may We not
pause and weep amid all that remains dear TO
the dreams and affections? On one side, we
find the monumental record of some loved par
ent called to a brighter home and nesting
close beside it, eveu in DEATH the grass grown
grave Of some little one gathered to its Father
before it became ripe for this worlds lnquiiies
Again. we read the inscription Of worIdliug
cut down in the midst of bis vain career, aud
not ten PAGES distant a single oaken cross
marks the last resting place of one Of Earth's
poor laborers.
And yet o'er all these vast scenes of decay
the sun shines as brightly, the birds sing as
blithey as though there were no dead and the
fair flowers lift their bInshing petals to kiss the
dews of the morning as though no aching
hearts haunted the silent avenues of these
cities of the departed.
Oh. ye Cities of the Dead, do ye not show
Us the emptiness Of human grandeur? Have
not one and all of your lifeless subjects passed
to the Judgment throne of Him who exalteth
the humble Who maketh the first to be last
and the last to be first? All yes, let man but
wander through your silent avenues to learn
that this worlds wealth Is but an empty sound
whereas riches gathered for another world are
stored where Neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal"
OLD MES.-Much has been said of old age.
Old age is wise, | grant, for itself, bat not for
the community. 1t is wise in declining new
enterprises, for it has not the power nor the
time to execute them; wise 10 shrinking from
difficulty, for it has not the strength to over
come it wise in avoiding danger, for it lacks
the faculty of ready and swift action, bY which
dangers are parried aud converted into advan-