The Portland daily press., 1876-02-19
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.

prosiness and even Stiffness of Wordsworth's
verse become very apparent, and the defects of
his art painful "Wordswortb." he saws.
never quite learned the distinction between
face. Wnicn suftocates the Muse, and Truth,
which is the very breath of her nostrilsi
We cannot, If we would, read the
poetry of Wadsworth as mere poetry; at every
other page we find ourselves entangled in a
problem of aesthetics" OF the Excursion 'ft
is only the episodes that are universally read,
and the effect of these is diluted BY the con-
Meeting and accompanying lectures on meta
pnyslcs." He recognizes him however as tho
1ather OF modern English poetry, and does not
rail- 10 give ample praise to his highest and
pest thought I'm proportion" he says, 'to
the intensity needful to make his nature
thoroughly aglow is the very high quality Of
his best verses. They seem rather the produc-
tions OF nature than of man, and have the
the same startle of newness and beauty that
pleased our youth Is it his thought? Il has
the shifting inward lustre of diamond. Is 1t
his feeling? 1t is as delicate as the impressions
OF FOSSIL ferns. He seems to have caught and
hxed forever in Immutable grace the most
evanescent and intangible of our intuitions,
the very Iipple-marks on the renotest shores
of being"
The essay on Milton is rather castigation
of David Mason, the biographer of the poet
and editor of his works, though opportunity is
taken TO render splendid tribute to Milton him
self. For DR.. Mason he has no mercy. eff"
he says, there is anything worse than an un-
imaginative man trying to write imaginatively,
it is heavy man when he fancies he is being
facetious. He tramples out the last spark Of
cheerfulness with the broad, damp foot of
hippopotamus." Then he goes on to arraign
his victim for having SO poured out his mind
upon circumstances that bis work reminds one
of Allston's picture of Elijah in the Wilder
ness, where good deal of research at least
enables us to guess at the prophet absconded
like conundrum in the landscape where the
very ravens could scarce have found him out
except by Divine commission" In this con-
nection he gives the following bit of advice:
IAN author should consider how largely the
art of writing consists in knowing what to
leave 10 the inkstand."
Last OF all Mr.. Lowell writes Of Keats,
tenderly and appreciatively, as one of three,
the others being Wordsworth and Byron, who
were the great means of bringing back English
poetry from the sandy deserts of rhetoric, and
recovering for her the triple inheritance of
simplicity, sensuousness and passion. "His
poems mark an epoch in English poetry. In
him vigorous understanding developed itself
in equal measure with the divine faculty;
thought emancipated itself from expression
without becoming its tyrant, and music and
meaning floated together, accordant as swan
and shadow, on the smooth element of his
verse. Without losing its sensuousness his
poetry refined itself and grew more inward,
and the sensational was elevated into the
typical by the control of that finer sense which
underlies the senses and is the spirit of them"
RATIONAL METHOD For LEARNING FRENCH. BY
Claude Marcel. First Book. New York: ID. Ap-
pleton & Co. For sale by Dresser, Mcclellan q
Co.
The Marcel system of language teaching has
commended itself to nearly every one who has
examined it as, the natural and rational meth
cd of acquiring foreign tongue. Grammar,
as is proper, falls at first into a subordinate
place, and the two powerful instincts, curiosity
and imitation. are played upon. Example,
kept in mind, and the natural order, from ideas
to signs. from phraseology to words, is the or
der strictly adhered to. The present volume Is
constructed in accordance with this system. It
is manual with a double purpose, to teach
the Englshman French, to teach the French.
man English. Every even page is in the Eng
lsh tongue; every odd page 10 the French, and
the exercises are translations each of the other
In the introduction, which bears the proper
| tion of an enormous porch to q house Of ordi
nary size, this rule, as in examples given, has
to be slightly departed from, but the deviation
| is trifiug.
In acquiring foreign tongue the author pur-
sues the following order; the art of reading;
the art of hearing; the art of speaking; the art
of writing. In this manual only the first two
are sought to be taught. He argues that il 10
better to avoid learning words as preparation
to reading, preferring the learning of phrase
logo. Words should be learned, not In yocabu-
laries, but orally or through written express
sions, their relations to each other determining
the sense, and associating them in the mind
by logical connection of ideas. The system
of reciprocal translation fulflls these require
ments, the two texts being opposite to each
other, and each clearly and correctly interpret
ing the other. Thus not only words are taught
bnt also the expressions generally used in con-
versation. The superiority OF this method over
all others has received ample demonstration.
aud it is not extravagant to assert that as
much facility in French can be acquired from
this volume in thirty days as can be obtained
from the ordinary grammar in year.
d
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Boston: j. R. osgood &
Co. For sale by Bailey s. NOyes.
These volumes will be he artily welcomed by
the public. The Passages" appear in two
volumes of the Little Classic form, and are
edited, as is we'll known, by the authors wife
Sophia Hawthorne. In accordance with the
expressed wish Of Hawthorne himself and the
desire of his family, bis life has never been
written. The admirable essay of Mr.. Fields is
the nearest approach to anything of the kind.
1t was Hawthorne's custom, both while at homo
and during his residence abroad, to keep Q
journal. His "Note Books" French, Italian,
American and English, are the sources to which
we must 60 for knowledge Of his individuali-
ty. With how much greater pleasure and profit
does the reader turn to those pages than to any
them we may draw our own inferences as to
his character without being influenced by the
bias or prejudice of an interpreter. Hawthorne
was, perhaps, more at home in Europe than in
America. The sources of history and tradition
and the surroundings of the highest works of
| art, in all its range. were sources Of inspira-
tion. Especially in England. where the advan.
tages of common language and customs admit.
ted greater freedom, did he find food proper for
his mind. .aa
FRENCH CHILDREN AT HOME. By Madame De
Peyrac. New York: d. Appleton q Co. For sale
by Dresser, Mcclellan s. Co.
Those who have learned to appreciate the
Marcel system of teaching French and the
value of the work. Comment on Parle q Paris
constructed In accordance with 1t, will gladly
welcome this little volume by the same author.
French Children at Home" is an introduction
to Comment on Parle Paris" is designed
for very young students, and introduces the
l same characters that figure in that work. 1t