The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-11-08
'Twere all as we'll to bid a cloud to stand
Or hold a running river with the hand.

| So say we; mocking, as we pass away
| These lovely shadows wherewith thou dost play.
| This song proves Mr.. Arnod's lyric powers
! to be of sngularly fine and effective quality.
| 1t reminds the reader Of similar work OF MIR.
William Morris both in its thought and its
| cadences. Prince Siddarth a--to return to the
story-asks his attendants many questions
about the world from which the tender, ieal-
Gus care of the king has always withheld him.
Tho king accedes to his desire to ride forth and
see it for hin1self-but issues decree that the
city be set in festal order, and nothing be seen
that may hint at suffering, old age, OF death
So Prince Siddartha rides ON through ways
strewn with flowers; happy folk bring their
children to see the royal procession pass; and
the Prince has great joy of his land, until a
crippled and diseased old man crosses his
path. The prince is moved with pity and fear,
and asking his attendants what ails the old
man, is told that he is old and near his death.
The prince rides home sadly, and when his
wife seeks to comfort him, he replies in o pas
age Of the most exquisite and impassioned
poetry. An ensuing passage relates the dream
of the prince, the seven fears which made
the vision of his sleep" Again, the next day
the prince rides forth, and this time it is a man
suddenly plague-stricken that turns his
thoughts again to their sad channel. Then a
bier is borne on mems shoulders and Siddar-
tina beholds for the first time-death. He
asks Channa, his attendant
is this the end which comes
To all who live?
This is the end that comes
To all, quoth Channa, he upon the pyre
whose remnants are so petty tnat the crows
Cav hungrily, then quit the fruitless feast
Ate, drank laughed, loved, lived, and liked life we'll
Then came-who knows?-some gust of jungle wind
A stumble on the path, faint in the tank
A snakes nip, half span OF angry steel,
A chill, fshbone or falling tile,
And life was DER and the man is dead
"a passage fairly Shakesperian in its grim hui
man knowledge. Overcome by fears and
doubts Siddartha fees to his house.
The fourth book opens with brilliant de-
scription, as refined as it is fascinating, of the
palace where the Princess sleeps, surrounded
by her maidens. A dream foretells to her that
Prince Siddartha is soon to leave her. The
speeches OF the Prince are singularly elevated
and strong in poetic quality. He forsakes the
palace and its delights, his wife and his friends,
charging Channa to
Give the King all, and say
Sddartha prays forget him ill he come
From lonely searchings and the strife for light;
Where, if | conquer loi all earth is mine
Mine by chief service!-tell hm-mine by love.
Since there is hope for man only in man,
And none hath sought for this as will seek,
Who castaway my world to save my world.
In Book fifth we find the Prince, dwelling in
a mountain cave, with the harmless birds and
little creatures of the wood about him, una
fraid Each day he goes into a town near by
to beg his food and passes by company Of
YogiS, who by their living martyrdom and
their cries and contortions, hope to win the
happy heavens. With these woebegone folk
Siddartha holds some conversation. Next oc-
ours, as an episode, the pathetic story of the
woman, whose child being dead, prayed Bud
dha to restore him, and had for answer that
she should bring a measure of mustard-seed
from house wherein no person had ever died.
This legend, already known to English read
ers, is told with grace and effect by the poet.
Next, Buddha prevents the sacrifice of inno-
cent beasts
showing how man, who prays
For mercy to the gods is merciless,
Being as God to these; albeit all life
Is linked and kin, and what we slay have given
Meek tribute of the milk and wool, and set
Fast trust upon the hands which murder them
s. Nor, spake he, shall one wash his spirit clean
BY blood; nor gladden. gods, being good with blood;
Nor bribe them, being evil; may, nor lay
Upon the brow of innocent bound beasts
One hairs weight of the answer all must give
For all things done amiss or wrongfully.
The next episode, too long for quotation here
(since enough examples have been given to
prove the superb and equal manner of Mr.. Ar
nold's blank verse) is of the strange sacrifice
Of Buddha, when at time which legend sets
far back of the duatar Of Siddartha-the god in
Brahmin's form, gave himself to be eaten by
famshing tigress and her cubs. The mag
nificently picturesque and powerful treatment
of this episode cannot be too highly praised.
In the sixth book Siddartha's meditation is
disturbed by the song Of nautch-grl, tune
full setting of metrical form which Mr.. Ten
nyson has adapted from olden prosody with
fine effect:
Fair goes the dancing when the sitar IS tuned
Tune usthe sitar neither low nor high,
And we will dance away the hearts OF men.
The string o'ersretched breaks and the music flies,
The string o'erslack is dumb and the music dies;
Tune us the sitar neither low nor high.
The meeting of Siddartha with the happy
and faithful Sujdta is related in passage of
tranquil beauty, containing some notable lines.
The narrative of the temptations of Siddartha,
the crowd Of sins, grotesque and strange as In
uldu luplS, Uldl SurEOuUu llul, pOWCAluily
treated, and evinces thorough and curious ac-
quaintance with Hindoo myths. The triumph
al chant of the hero is first given in the Hin
doc language-and its sounding sylIableS un-
meaning to our ears, are yet impressive in
their strange long cadence. The author trans
lates this song into fine English verse, at once
clear and mystical.
The seventh Book shows us the Princess
Yas6dhara mourning the long absence of her
husband. A band of travelling merchants
bring news Of the Prince; and King Suddh6-
dana and the Princess send him their ardent
prayers for his return. He comes back with
the worlds saving won, to lead a happy life
with his family and people.
The eighth and last Book contains the teach
ings of Siddartha, set in sonoroUs and large
verse; and full of the mystic and subtle wis
dom of the East. The enrol of the Buddhist
narrator is superbly musical cry of rapturous
faith. Upon this high and vibrating note-the
poem ends. So long a review has been consid
cred suitable, that it may in some sort point
out and recommend to the literary public
poem of exceptionally rare and thoroughly
sustained merit. In all that makes up the
technical beauty of verse, Mr.. Arnold has fine
taste and ready and brilliant touch. Every
dramatic and lyric resource, every grace of as
sonance of which he avails himself, is employed
with ease and suitability; and the sketch
which this review gives of the argument of the
poem will suffice to show the deep and imagi-
native quality Of Mr.. Arnold's thought. 1t is
pleasure to recognize in new singer, man
born to be one of the kings of the verse Of to-
day.
History of therise of the Huguenots in France,
by Henry M. Baird, Professor in the Univer-
sity of the city of New York (New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons; Portland: Loring,
Short & Harmony, is a valuable and attractive
historical work. in two volumes elegantly
printed and bound. Prof Baird writes in a
spirited and graphic style, which in its fullness
and excellent choice of DETAIL resembles the
method of the eminent historian, Prof. Green
The period embracing the years from 1515-74
may, observes the author, be regarded as the
formative age of the Huguenots in France