New-York tribune., 1875-05-18
BOSTON LITERARY NOTES.
NEW ESSAYS, POEMS, AND TALES

NEW ESSAYS, POEMS, AND TALES.
"a GROUP OF POETS AND THEIR HAUNTS" By UAR-
EIsoN-A NEW VOLUME OF Poems BY JOHN
g. sAxE-ANoruER LITTLE CLAssic"-"TnE
TRFAsURf-rROvE sERIEs"-"MIs EOyEL" BY
VICTOR CHERBUL!EZ.
frEoE A REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRIDUNE.l
BosTox May S.-IIurd g. lloughton of the
Riverside Press have nearly ready book entitled a
Group OF Poets and their Hauns by James Albert Iar
rison Professor in RandophMacon College, Virginia
Mr. Harrison has evidently been an aesthetic traveller,
seeking especially in his iOurneyngs the spots cOnse-
Grated by association with poc;s ana artists. He has
written Of "The Sorrows OF Hcne" The Italian Hauns
of Lord Byron" "A Venice of the vikings" "Jasmn,
the Troubadour" Alfred dc Mussct," " Baudeaire,"
and many another fascinating topic and he has written
of them all with ardent enthusiasm. That his enthu-
sasm ia ardent is indeed the chief fault OF this book
work OF art. He yields to the temptation Of fine
writing"-he is too aluent in SMILES and carries them
too far and amid the ord Gothic of his style longs
sometimes for a little less omamenatlon. But better
thousand times this cfyOT than GOODNESS unsIited TO
such themes. Mr.. Harrison is less critic than aure
ate; and he sympathetic that he carries SYM
pathes with him. His pleasant chapters would form
admirable introduction 10 the poets whom hc die cusscs
He his idols from the gdriS light Of common
day and builds shrine. them in the twilighland Of
Fdncy-srncs hung with laurel aud roses, ahd fragrant
with the incense OF his praise.
Who that reads these pages viii not long to know
Of cne, BRILLIANT, funny, pathetic full Of divine grim
ace, full o. tragic porsage" The story OF his lingering
decay is too sad tears Think Of him bearing the in
olcrablc anguish OF his socninS spine, proppcd up on
pillows with eye entirely gone, and the lii OF the
other paiayzed, yet nglng forever his bell OF wit,
werewih to invite the world the pteOus spectacle OF
his death in lie. Lying his conch OF torture, he enter
tanned George sand and Gauter Beanger and Gerard de
Nerva Tlandcr, and the rest Of his bright guests as
bright himself the best OF thcn KISS he sdli,
pathetically but have OF feeling senseess
have my lips become" Hcne had deeply loving nature,
and his mother and his wife his two IDOLS His wife,
the poor little French and faithful Maihilde, whom he
had married late in life, dill not understand his great
ness or his celebrity poet, but she adorcd him, and It
was his pride to boast Of her dsntoresedneS her cheer
ulncss her DEVOTION and her ignorance He says OF her
m his WILL spoiled her unspeakaby, because loved
her unspeakabY." He wrote once 70 Ctnpe: Only
two consultations remain 70 me- my French wife and my
German muse" lie grew, later, to find consolation in
his passionate belief in immortality. He had been
iIegean then Pantheist, bat at l.st " n heavenly
homesickness" overlook him. and lie returned to his
faith personal Cod He said that all his knowledge,
all his intellect toll him that belief in immortality was
madness, yet with his feelings he cung to it, and in this
hope the spent candle of His life went out.
The chapter on the Italian IIaunts OF Lord Byron
brightly az well pcturesquey written. II gives you
little wholesome dread OF travelling, to read OF the high
price YOU pay for every sigh and tear every access
of hero worship Dante Mr.. Harrison eays Is the great
trade OF Ravenna, though there minor branches in
the line of cathedras, the palace Of Theodore, the
mausoleum of Gala Placidia, the palace where Lord
Byron lived the pine forest renowned in Boccaccian
story Tribute ia levied every inch of antiquity
everything is CRsars nothing is Gods, not even the
sanc.uares where the saints lie not the holy things
behind the altar railing Tho whole world, heavon hell,
and paradise has become show. It's very expensive to
be enthusiast. Every tear costs franc. Every sob
is cLeI nj cal bv yvl NJ he
ccerOne. Your pockets picked while you say your
prayers. "An Aquarcllc OF Boccaccio" appropriately
succeeds this chat about Italian haunts In speaking OF
the difference between the art OF the Forenne aud the
Venetian schools this happy sentence occurs is the
difference between the and the SOUL between the
sharp edge and the enamelcd hH between pumagc and
power TO soar had not known, or had forgotten, that
Boccaccio's mother French woman; and Paris
spaiked in the poets veins from his earliest infancy
But the other half OF him all Italian He was u
strange union OF Gac frOth and Tuscan fire frost OF
the Great Bear and flame of the Southern Cross Thus
he many-sided, and more perfectly rounded man
than Petrarch Laura's lover was cosecropped, sad
scholarly vision, IN gown and bands poet monk-Boc
caccio Is human nature not tucked away in cassock and
cOw but with his great, genial heart Overlooking all
veneercd forms, shallow reservoirs too small TO hold
TIE gifts and graccs, the spontaneous JOY OF living
From BOccacciO We wander with Mr.. Harrison through
the "Rone OF the Marble Faun," and into "Tassos
Garden "gardon beyond compare, where you meet the
stateliest Of ghosts:
There are faces touching than the fnce Of
Tasso; IL possesses beauty within which lies world OF
sadness for his whole fate is imprinted upon It, There
Is not In 1t the merry r0gushness that hOyers like
flower round the lips OF BOccaccio is there the
ragical soberness OF Dante. the vouptuOusness Of
Alderi. But there is a something tender, weak, noble,
moving worthy OF the singer Of Godfrey and Iancred.
Neaolitan eye the dOublet aud kneebrcechos the silk
stockngs and dainty frils. the sallow complexion and
thought; the pensve and yet proud tenderness I'm
| mersing the whole In the very dew OF genius how
ton Of the chivarOus lover Of LeOnora and Lucreza
DEste the poet Of the delivered Jerusalem. the pas
sppate student Of SorrcptO, the visionary minstrel Of