A bright-haired child; and that, when these he left To dwell within a monstrous city's heart,
The trees were gazing up into the sky,
Their bare arms stretched in prayer for the snows.
When first we met his book was six months old,
And eagerly his name was buzzed abroad;
Praises fell thick on him. Men said, "This Dawn
Will widen to a clear and boundless Day;
And when it ripens to a sumptuous west
With a great sunset 't will be closed and crowned.”
Lady! he was as far 'bove common men
As a sun-steed, wild-eyed and meteor-maned,
Neighing the reeling stars, is 'bove a hack
With sluggish veins of mud. More tremulous
Than the soft star that in the azure east
Trembles with pity o'er bright bleeding day,
Was his frail soul; I dwelt with him for years;
I was to him but Labrador to Ind;
His pearls were plentier than my pebble stones.
He was the sun, I was that squab—the earth,
And basked me in his light until he drew
Flowers from my barren sides. Oh! he was rich,
And I rejoiced upon his shore of pearls,
A weak enamoured sea. Once did he say
"My friend! a Poet must ere long arise,
And with a regal song sun-crown this age,
As a Saint's head is with a halo crowned;-
One, who shall hallow Poetry to God
And to its own high use, for Poetry is
The grandest chariot wherein king-thoughts ride; -
One, who shall fervent grasp the sword of song
As a strong sword's-man grasps his keenest blade,
To find the quickest passage to the heart.
A mighty Poet whom this age shall choose
To be its spokesman to all coming times,
In the ripe full-blown season of his soul,
He shall go forward in his spirit's strength,
And grapple with the questions of all time,
And wring from them their meaning. As King Saul
Called up the buried Prophet from the grave
To speak his doom, so shall this Poet-King
Call up the dead Past from its awful grave
To tell him of our future. As the air
Doth sphere the world, so shall his heart of love— Loving mankind, not peoples. As the lake Reflects the flower, tree, rock, and bending heaven, Shall he reflect our great humanity:
And as the young spring breathes with living breath On a dead branch, 'till it sprouts fragrantly
Green leaves and sunny flowers, shall he breathe life
Through every theme he touch, making all Beauty
And Poetry for ever like the stars."
His words set me on fire; I cried aloud,
"Gods! What a portion to forerun this soul!”
He grasped my hand-I looked upon his face-
A thought struck all the blood into his cheeks,
Like a strong buffet. His great flashing eyes
Burned on mine own. He said" A grim old king,
Whose blood leapt madly when the trumpets brayed
To joyous battle 'mid a storm of steeds,
Won a rich kingdom on a battle-day;
But in the sunset he was ebbing fast,
Ringed by his weeping lords. His left hand held
His white steed, to the belly splashed with blood,
That seemed to mourn him with its drooping head
His right a broken brand; and in his ear
His old victorious banners flap the winds.
He called his faithful herald to his side-
"Go! tell the dead I come!" With a proud smile,
The warrior with a stab let out his soul,
Which fled and shrieked through all the other world,
Ye dead! my master comes!"
And there was pause
Till the great shade should enter. Like that herald,
Walter, I'd rush across this waiting world
"He comes!"
WOULDST thou, too, be a poet?
A passion has grown up to be a King,
Ruling my being with as fierce a sway
As the mad sun the prostrate desert sands,
And it is that.
Hast some great cherished theme?
Lovely in God's eyes, where, in barren space,
Like a rich jewel hangs his universe,
Unwrinkled as a dew-drop, and as fair,
In my poor eyes, my loved and chosen theme
Is lovely as the universe in His.
Wilt write of some young wanton of an isle
Whose beauty so enamoured hath the sea,
It clasps it ever in its summer arms
And wastes itself away on it in kisses?
Or the hot Indes, on whose teeming plains
The seasons four knit in one flowery band
Are dancing ever? Or some older realm ?
I will begin in the oldest; far in God.
When all the ages, and all suns, and worlds,
And souls of men and angels lay in Him
Like unborn forests in an acorn cup.
And how wilt thou begin it?
With the soliloquy with which God broke
The silence of the dead eternities.
At which most ancient words, O beautiful!
With showery tresses like a child from sleep,
Uprose the splendid-mooned and jewelled night,-
The loveliest boon of God.
Then your first chorus Must be the shoutings of the morning stars! What martial music is to marching men Should Song be to Humanity. In song The infant ages born and swathed are. A beauteous menial to our wants divine, A shape celestial tending the dark earth With light and silver service like the moon, Is Poesy; ever remember this—
With God and Silence!
When the great universe subsides in God,
Even as a moment's foam subsides again
Upon the wave that bears it.
A BRAVE Soul is a thing which all things serve;
When the great Corsican from Elba came,
The soldiers sent to take him, bound or dead,
Were struck to statues by his kingly eyes:
He spoke they broke their ranks, they clasped his knees,
With tears along a cheering road of triumph
They bore him to a throne. Know when to die!
Perform thy work and straight return to God.
Oh! there are men who linger on the stage
To gather crumbs and fragments of applause
When they should sleep in earth-who, like the moon,
Have brightened up some little night of time,
And 'stead of setting when their light is worn,
Still linger, like its blank and beamless orb,
When day-light fills the sky.
[A child runs past; WALTER looks after her.
O thou bright thing, fresh from the hand of God,
The motious of thy dancing limbs are swayed
By the unceasing music of thy being!
Nearer I seem to God when looking on thee.
"T is ages since he made his younger star.
His hand was on thee as 't were yesterday,
Thou later Revelation!
To set this Age to music-the great work
Before the Poet now-I do believe
When it is fully sung, its great complaint,
Its hope, its yearning, told to earth and heaven,
Our troubled age shall pass, as doth a day
That leaves the west all crimson with the promise
Of the diviner morrow, which even then
Is hurrying up the world's great side with light.
The sun is dying like a cloven king
In his own blood; the while the distant moon,
Like a pale prophetess, whom he has wronged,
Leans eager forward, with most hungry eyes,
Watching him bleed to death, and, as he faints,
She brightens and dilates; revenge complete,
She walks in lonely triumph through the night.
VOL. XCV,
NN
[N.B. The figures within Crotchets refer to the History.]
ACCIDENTS-Colliery accident at New
Cottam, 10; to a life-boat, 11; eight
persons burnt to death at Llanfihan-
gel Tal-y-llyn, 19; explosion of two
steam-boats, 37; colliery explosion
near Newport, 38; near Wigan, at
the Arley mine, 43; at the Dublin
Exhibition building, 51; on board
H.M.S. London, 72; at Brent Grange
Colliery, Oldham, 79; to two Eng
lish Tourists in Switzerland, 98;
gun accident at Portsmouth, 105;
accident at the Crystal Palace, Sy-
denham, 107; fall of a house in the
Strand, 119; death of Mr. H. E.
Strickland in a railway tunnel, 123;
accident at Preston by the giving
way of a floor, 129; a railway station
knocked down, 134; shocking acci-
dent on the river Medway, 30 persons
drowned, 137; fatal boiler explosion
at Blackburn, 144; singular case of
suffocation at Elsecar, 153. [See also
RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.]
ACTS, LIST OF, 16 & 17 VICT.-Public
General Acts, 352; Local and Per-
sonal Acts, declared public, 357; Pri-
vate Acts, printed, 367; Private Acts,
not printed, 369.
AUSTRIA-Attempt by Libeny to assas-
sinate the Emperor, [226] 23; execu-
tion of the assassin, [227].
BANKRUPTS, TABLE OF, 408.
BELGIUM-Marriage of the Duke of
Brabant to the Archduchess Maria
of Austria, [225] 109; the King's
Speech to the Chambers, [225].
BIRTHS, 172.
BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS, Tables
of, 408.
Burglaries and Robberies-At Heaton
Lane, 19; daring burglary at Mac
clesfield, 24; at Manchester, 26; near
Newcastle, 34; at the seat of Lord
Denman, 108; attack on, and plun-
der of, a gold escort at Melbourne,
126; burglaries frustrated at Glas-
gow and Manchester, 127; daring
burglary and assault near Penrhyn,
BURMAH The war; excursions of
predatory chiefs, [313]; attack on
Mea-Toon's stockade repulsed; but it
is captured by a second expedition;
successful operations in Bassein, [314];
termination of the war officially pro-
claimed, [315].
Burmese War-Gallant capture of a
stockade in the Aeng Pass, 45.
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE-Termination of
the Caffre war, [311]; proclamation
of General Cathcart, [312]; confer-
ence with the Caffre chiefs, [313];
the Constitution promulgated, [313].
CENSUS OF 1851, 415; machinery of,
416; numbers of inhabitants, 417;
religious worship, 421; religious wor-
ship (Scotland), 433.
Chobham, the Camp at-Grand military
manoeuvres, 77.
Colliery Explosions and Accidents-At
New Cottam coalpit, near Sheffield;
at Leasingthorn colliery, Bishop
Auckland, 10; at the Risca Vale
colliery, Newport, ten lives lost, 38;
at the Arley Mine, near Wigan, fifty-
eight lives lost, 43; at Brent Grange
colliery, Oldham, seventeen lives
lost, 79.
CORN, HAY, STRAW, CLOVER; AND
BUTCHERS' MEAT-Average Prices
of, 407.
DEATHS-Acland, lady, 258; Adam,
adm. sir C. 257; Adam, gen. sir F.
241; Adeane, miss M. A. M. 254;
Adeane, R. J. 275; Alexander, N.
206; Allan, major-gen. J. 213; Allen,
adm. 232; Allen, capt. H. 252; An-
derson, lord, 261; Anglesey, march.
of, 237; Arago, 259; Arbuthnot, gen.
sir R. 227; Arnold, rev. T. K. 219;
Arrighi, gen. duke of Padua, 221;
Arrow, capt. r.n. 246; Arthur, mrs.
241; Aston, quarter-master, 235.
Bailey, R. 225; Bain, sir W. 254;
Baker, sir R. 231; Baker, J. 217;
Bantry, countess of, 238; Baring, lady
A. 206; Barlow, hon. mrs. 206; Bar-
ton, gen. sir R. 220; Bateman, R. T.
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