The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-02-05

greatness SO Is that of Paimerston. Virgll's
axiom does not tit his case: POsstRi quid posse
uidentug He is able because he does not seem
TO be able.
ITO him D'Tsraeli makes reply. Opposite him,
rot twenty feet of, sat the calmly sneering Jew.
He is dressed with studious care in IAN inky
suit of customary black in striking contrast TO
the seedy slouchiuess of his rival. His dark
face, large and hooked nose, and snaky black
eve, all mark his race and nature. lie essays
like abandon; but with him the seemicg Is
enunciation Ineasured he even stammers IN his
utterance. Yet all these are clearly hlstrlonlc;
his calmness, Xtemporaneousness, ana heslta-
tion are all assumed. He is manitestly excited
Every nerve is strained to throw his quiet old
enemy, who has dropped back INTO his seat,
with his hat over his eyes, almost noddlng as IL
asleep. HIS sspeech is carefully elaborated; there
is not a word that has not been hammered out
with assiduous toll on the studio anvil. The
natural hesitation of one looking for words
wherewith 10 dress the poor naked idea that
stands shivering in his BRAIN is the popular
style of parliamentary oratory, because that
parliament was not originally intended as con-
gress oil representatives and debaters, but a
talking place of the chiefs Of the realm. This
is the proper meaning of its name; this tue vet
dishngu shing trait of the higher and originally
the only house. They di sdain to make speeches;
they only talk. Hence, as
"When we stick on conversational burrs. r b..
Wes rev our path ay with those dreadful 'urrs; ;;
so these gentry, in their parliamentary converse,
utllgub 10 EGldln IUlb TtluluSCGuCt VI lue early
colloquiality that marked their deliberations.
D'Israeli knows this is the fashion, and strews
the pathway of his oratorV with these sugges-
tions OF an unprepared and halt embarrassed
state OF mind while they are as carefully pre-
pared and prearranged as are his most sarcastic
or ornate passages.
"After much noise and confusion, one tedious
member being scraped and coughed down, the
House divided. All the members rushed pell-
nell into the lobby behind the Speakers chair,
and tellers were stationed to tally them as they
retm ned. This is a habit that would be more
honored in the breach than in the observance
1t is boy1sh and barbarous. Why not call the
roll, ana respond quietly from their seats, like
gentlemen? Panerson had an easy triumph;
and the noisy six hundred at one o'clock in the
morning, dissolved in an uproar."
We wish our space would allow us to quote
more fully. Since the days of the appearance
Of Irving's 'Sketch Book" there has not fallen
under our notice more entertaining volume of
travels. Of course we would not compare it to
lrvings unapproachable work, but although the
distance between them is WIDE, yet next in
order comes the production of Mr.. Haven.
POEMS By Edna Dean Proctor. Hurd &c Hough-
ton, New York. j. B. Lipplncott x Co., Phil
adelphia, Agents.
The latest OF Miss Proctor's poems have been
issued in appropriate form from the presses Of
Messrs. Hurd & Houghton. 1t is neatly got up,
and bears the imprint of refined judgment and
cultivated taste. The work is divided into two
parts. One her war poem, and the other on
miscellaneous subjects. OF the two, the first is
infinitely the best. The miscellaneous poems
will not increase her reputation. With one or
two exceptions, they are beneath mediocrty.
The first and longest OF the effusions is an epic
on the Mississippi, giving its three eras treat
q. Al.
navigation IN 1860, and finally OF its opening ia
1868. AS an instance OF the metre, and the
rythm, which are admirable we quote the first
and last verses:-
Down the silent Mississippi with his sanity soul
atlame
Twice a hundred years are numbered since Mar
qnette, rejoicing, came.
All the winter i'll his cabin high among the Huron
SHOWS,
Gaining lore of forest hunters, tracing maps by
treigh glows,
Offering to the Blessed Virgin morn and evening
vow and prayer
That his ewes might view the river flowing south.
ward broad and fair
| Wondrous grace! upon its bosom, glad beneath
the summer blue,
Rapt in visions, lost in praises, 10 he guides his
light canoe
| Then amid the yellow wheat fields, as they rear
in summer DAYS;
Heap when harvest moons are shining, rustlinl
| sheaves of ripened maize;
Pluck the grapes from purple hillsides when the
! vintage crowns the year;
! Grind the cane and house the cotton that has
cost no bondman dear;
| Choose untrammelled, righteous rulers fit tht
! country's name to bear;
! Hear the bells from bluff and prairie through
the hush of Sabbath cir;
Shall they tell the thrilling story of the twice
won River DER,
| And the Boatman and the Soldier honored b
1orevermore;-
In the nations song and record, freighted pros
and winged rhyme,
Light canoe and war ship gliding halo we'd dow
the stream of time
But the poem which pleases us by far the bes
is that entitled Harvest and Liberty" write
at the time of the election in 1860. Comm
as it dld in autumn, the appeal to leave tn
fields and 90 to the ballot box is most effective
1t Is the same metre as Macaulay's "Battle
Lake Regulas," and the description OF the actor
which we quote is remarkably fne:-
The harvest-moon is waning,
! And, under shield ne caves,
The wheat lies threshed ard garnered,
Or heaped IN heavy sheaves;
And on q thousand praIries,
Like forest seas outrolled,
The corn stands waiting tlli the sun
Shall turn ITS green to gold,
Along the fair Ohio
| The grapes are storing vine
Catawba, purple Isabel,
And fragrant Muscadine;
And peach and apple, ripe and red,
Drop when the light winds blow,
Ripe ard red from the aden boughs,
Till the grass is heaped below.
Oh, never meath Athenian skies
10 Ceres, gaTland-croWned,
When scarlet peoples wreathel with whea
Her shining tresses bound,