New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-12-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
KINGsLEY'S PROSE IDYLLs.


library OF the professors chair but in the bosom of
The eafy forest OF al the side of the sylvan stream
HE has dash of Bohemian blood IN his compassion
which makes him more at home among the free slld
wild haunts Of Nature, than in the prim pathways
of civilized men, lie seems glad to escape from tho
Earchcd linen and site broadeloth OF good society
aud wander at will in flowing tnnio and open vesi
20 enjoy the hum Of insects and song OF BIRDS IN
cool retreats beyond the. camor of the city. He
yearns for the merry May-time of olden memories
when Nav day was festival for all chdike hearts
He Iamcnts the garlauds aud dances which are all
hut gone. " No more does Mrs. Pepys g0to lie at
woolwcb in order 70 little eyre and to gather May
dew for her complexion The MaypOle IS gone
likewise; and never more shall the Puritan soul OF
Stubs be aroused in indignation at seeing against
Maze every parish, towne. and village assemble
themselves together, both men, women, and chi-
dren ode and young. all ndherently, and goe into
the wOOdes and groves hilles and mountaines, where
they spend the night in pastyme, and in the morning
they Tetnue, bringing with them birch bowes ano
branches of trees TO deck their assembly withal'"
Even the poets no longer win their inspiration
from the charm of birds. To the medieval singers.
the birds were both orchestra and chorus From
The birds they caught Their melodies. The sounds
which the birds gave them they rendered into
words The Same bird keynote is to be traced In
the early Scotch songs and ballads with Their often
meaningless refrains, sung for the mere pleasure OF
singing Shakespeares scraps of songs are saturated
with the same melodies. Z" Where the bee sucks
when daisies pied Under the greenwood tree"
"When daiodils begin TO peer 'Ye spotted
snakes all have a ring in them which was not
caught in the of London, or the babble of the
Globe Theater but in the woods of Charecote, and
along be banks of Avon.' But our modern bards'
anirms the author as Shelley does by the skylark,
and Wordsworth by the cuckoo instead Of trying to
sing like the birds only think and talk about the
birds and SO their words, however beautiful and
true. are not songs.
And little DO most OF them know how much there IS TO
emotion NAV he distinguished by the practced ear in
charm of birds ito nee the old Southern phrase troh
The first bright days OF March passage OF one or Two
bars repeated three four times and then another ana
stOrmcOck loves TO sing when ram ana wn0 Is COM
ine on and faces The clements ss Dolby az He IL re
wren who slips ont OF his hole in the brown bank where
a. folded in each others arms Ike human beings, for
sake Of warmthwhiCh, alas does not always sui
and shriveiel. after a severe Winter Yet even he,
sitting at MS house-door in the low sunlight says
grace for all mercies Gas little emld once WorIeI ny III
song rapid 80 shrl, so ond ana YET 50 utncateB
That uuy body aud then stops suddenly as a ehnd VINO
has SAID It's lesson, or got TO the END or the sermon
gives sefatsed 1irt OF his tail, and goes III again 10
sleep.
The variety of character among birds Of different
species as described by the author is something
wonderful and is manifested in the endless differ
.nee of their notes. Each has its own speech,
which though inarticulate, expresses not thought,
hat hereditary feeling
Listen to the charm birds any seduestered wood
land on n bright forenoon in June As YOU try TO DIS
sntanCle the medley Of sounds the first perhaps when
nppant song OF the chaRnch and the metallic blinking
of two three OF tmice. But above the tree
iender and low Above the pastures outside the kyark
he alone can sing and close by from the hoi
lies rings out the backblrds ten9r-roincking' au1a-
Eou humorous, all but artculste From the tree ABOVE
angels more pure, perhaps IN tone though neither 50
varied SO rich, as the song OF the nghtlngae anu
croskiug Ike a frog; talking aside TO bis wife on
nest below and bursting out into that song or
himself surely finds none All the morning he WI sing
na sg9n a. hn nv Voice sounds melancholy at
bIackcap it sounds the bright morning that winch
j.. the fullness OF JOY and love-
Canon Kingsley calls in question the truth Of Mil
tons description of the nightingale, as the
sweet bird, that shun'st the noise Of folly,
Most musical most melancholy"
On the contrary he asserts that so far from shun-
ming the noise of folly, the nightingale sings as
boldly as anywhere close 10 stage-road or public
path lie calls TO mind famous singer in the
Managers Walk from Cambridge to Trumping-
ion forty years ago. when the covert which has now
become hollow and sbelterless held, at every twenty
wards an mabashed and jubilsnt nightingale
Nor is there any more truth in speaking of him as
melancholy bird. The English nightingale has no
note which can he mistaken for sOrrow. His song
israther one Of too great ioy a cry which is the
highest feat of art, loudeUiug in the intensity OF
passion, till it stops suddenly at the point where
pleasure from very keenness. turns 10 pain.
How different character from his song is that OF the
gallant little blaekcap in the tree above him. gentle
he is OF most ancient house perhaps the oldest OF
European singing birds. How perfect must have been
fhe special organization which has spread seemingly
without need OF alteration OF Improvement nom Norway
40 The cane OF Good Hope from Japan the Azores.
How many ages must have passed since Ms
must have been the original vitality which after SO
many generations still MI that little body with 20
created BIRDS sang to Mitons Eve 10 Slton Paradise
sweet u.s. and various, rich. and strong beyond an
Euesh waTbeTs, the nightingale but his specially
A. force hisush. his overflow not so much or love as
81 happiness The spirit carries him away. He riots up
End down the ganut till be cannot stop himself bis
notes tumble over each other; he chuckles, laughs,
lai sets up his back aud with every fiber of bis
body and yet he never forgets his good manners He
rs never coarse never harsh, for single note. Always
graceful always sweet he keeps perfect decacy in hiss
most utter carelessDess.
The chapter entitled Chalk Stream Studies is
fragrant discourse on the seductive mysteries of
Sy-fshing showing that Canon Kingsley is no less
ACCOMPLISHED as a fisher Of fishes, than fisher Of
men 1t is full of enticements even TO the reader of
Izaak Walton and DR.. Bethune, but we must hasten
over it's tempting paragraphs to the authors
sketches of his "Winter,Garden.' The location of
This Paradise was the moorland Of his country
PARISH full of glory and of instruction to him. as
the Himalaya OF the Punjaub are to the veteran of
the Indian service.
Bat nv winter garden, which is far larger, at all
svent thanthat famous at Chatsworth, cobts me
not one penny keeping up Poor, did call lnyselff
Fiji not wealth 10 have all want without paying
for ~ Is wealth, royal wealth, to have
some twenty gentlemen and policemen nay, even royal
personages planting ana Improving lor me rs ~ d nUt