The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1877-07-26

kuE 0Ab kuAuCAs UuQ IOAl0W ApO4l0 NUE.
agetes AZ 9yerIthe. Epzld ~ he Hhocssss
to- Snly as w Sas SEs5TS s q pRRS ,s
from stfangsls surprised BY the bsidty,
or hvm dwsllers grstefnl for the con-
slant cQnsolations Of nature, but there
y something attractive and musical In
the very names OF many Of the ancient
homes o. man. Here, In England, we
are not, perhaps, altogether fortunate
Id these titles or districts, towns and
rivers. Hut the earlier rsces have left
|lnwild Wales, and In the maBchesan
ARS fasq|a : q ie q the Yak R0XH Lines;
Cader idris, to Agned CstSreeomon, is
matter Of fSct ID natural poetry. The
Celtic and possibly even earlier words
suggest and inspire poetry, the Teu-
tonic names only suffer themselves to
be used with reluctance. Mr.. Tenny-
sons idyiH show what melody there IL
In the Cornish terms, and Hcott's SON.
orous list Of peaks and ravines where
the hunted stag fled IL an impeyishable
passage Of poetry. Lord 'Macaulay's
similar list, IN the ballad OF the Ar
mazda, has to deal with more stubborn
stuff. The names are names Of English
homes and towers above the deep, the
spirit OF the song Is high and free, but
In the hill countries, where the older
terms abide, there lingers surely on
mountain and moor o magical note, as
It were Of the last sounds OF Arthur's
or OF Roland's horn 81 yioas9 ssl,.I
10 use names OF places 80 as to bring
out their melody, and blend 1t with
verse, has been thought the mark Of q
great poet. One thinks Of Milton, and
the melancholy which his muse lends
to the titles of ancient cities, half for
gOttensin the distant East, "Memphis
and Babylon, and either Thebes,n 10
quote q poet .who Also felt the beauty
of names. In Virgil and Homer, the
lake Benacus, and the stream Cayster,
and the Withdrawn recesses where
Niobe dwells, q woman Of stone, and
the mysterious Ogygia, and the noun
tains alive with the dances of the
Spartan maidens-these and q hum
dred other places are preserved to all
time. Mr.. Mathew Arnold has lent
the same kind of charm to even the
sands ID &c entrals Asia--to Box hara,
whefe tiie king lay Sick in summer to
Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he
had :" and to the shining of the stars
on the Aral Sea. Indeed, wherever
men may wander the genius Of poetry
has been before them, and has made
strange places friendly, apd familiar
PLACED las II were, ehchAnted. Even
at Dover, where Lord Byron only
found an extortionate innkeeper; even
at Dover, where the tide rolls the
gravel on the beach, the SOUND seems
to repeat how "Sophocles long ago
heard 1t on the Egan," and to recall
that chorus, in which the words, ring
and reply, like the waves on q desolate
coast. There is no way Of escaping
these recollections, and Mr.. Longfel-
low has only helped our weak modern
memories by Collecting the poetry OF
places. His volumes are q kind of
new necessity to the travellers i'm this
country, especially, perhaps, /, to the
American traveller, who finds fresh in
England q hundred associations of
home, which use has dulled to the IN
habitants ofthe island. Without STIR
ring from home, too, the reader can
enjoy these "Travels by the Fireside, -
which Mr.. Longfellow has himself
described =
Let others traverse sea and land,
And toll through various climes,oN
turn the world round with my hard,
Reading these poets rhymes, . p
But that quiet mood is likely to end
with the end of the bad weather
which Mr.. Longfellow beguiled with
song, when "for three days past' the
ceaseless rain had been falling. The
| Preside journey is all very well In the
wet, and travellers are 1uckless who
have to keen moving like Mr.. Tenny.
son, when q plague Of rain beset him
on the Lombard plain.U But when
the sun returns it is natural to leave
the fireside, and follow, If possible
Drayton, and Scott, and Wordsworth,
and 'Spenser up and down England.
There Is q natural affinity between
the poets in this new collection, and
the places they best loved, and best
liked to write about. The Fens, fol
example, were just the contrary fol
Crabbe, and the desolation where the
rushes bend their brown fiowerets, u
where the poor 'dredger "drains the
remnant of diluted gin," exactly
suited his clear-eyed A pedestrian
muse. The Fens have that kind OF
poetry In their aspect, aud the Other
poetry, too. of wide-winged sunsets
and Of endless distance and melan.
oholy, which Mr.. Tennyson has found
in Lincolnshire. 'Berkhampstead, in
much the same way, was not too retir'
ed and simple for Cowper; and, in 8
fgood gabled house ffontlng the street
| with q. garden through which q rivu.
let ran, who could be happier or more
Pin his element than Abraham Cowley;
silqHere, limo sordid poverty, orr
80 He bfaves t6e,worid, and can defy
Its frowns and batteries,
On the other hand, and by way Of
exception, to y the. rule, Hampstead
should scarcely have been the birth.
place of Keats Ode to the Nightingale
RathAfiuah Island or the Greek sea-
FORA garden of Damascus, he should
have listened, while from her place In
tho thick; fresh foliage the slaughter
! Of aPandareos made her lament for Ity.
4 lus! at Is . more natural conincidence
which hniteS the names OF EtOn and
of Gray. Oxford has her poet, and D
very sYeet and !schoiarly poet, in Mr.
Norton, AS we go north and west
poets become more common, and Mr..
I Hdwkef seems as much at home on
I Tie nfastIc and solemn coast OF Corn.
.wall,as' SOoleridge, and Wordsworth
apnpg, their lakes and bills. In q
cont test of north and south the poets OF
England are strong on the former
side. Wh0,has w1itt0if in 30 surly q
mind Of Tweed, and Tall and Tyne
and why has Mr.. Longfellow omitted
1.-THE ways are sair nom Till tC
TypeY 2T-.ast Robert Herrick WROTE Of
pretty, dull Devonshire, --s q; uss a
bean-bonfn, farewell, !. never look 10, see :,
80 - pesne or thy warty incfyfity.n : .,ose.s
g Discontehts IN Devon, indeed, - ano
warty, incivflity OF sortwhich NO poet
has found II in his heart TO bestow on
1.-THE north, countrie."y ~ H. ~. g, ss
The Battle OF Cerro Gordo.
I,stf s.,2tr5rt s'stau -------i srsflii sil.4f o.
sos y From General shislds "Reminiscences.