deeply he fe the difficulty, and in one, heeds the Speaker on Obstruction night.
addressed to a friend, he said he would The sitting was suspended, and resumed
rather retire from public life altogether in the afternoon, when the General was
than be guilty of ingratitude to the gallant permitted to continue his discourse with
volunteers. But their chief did not know a warning not to transgress the laws of
or believe that; and here was the cause Parliament. He began as if nothing
of the mischief-he argued from the had happened, and spoke at some length
false premises that the Ministry was without offence, but when he seemed to
inimical to him and his followers. If be again treading on dangerous ground
they had been only the thousand choice Nino Bixio, his lieutenant, who had
heroes who had followed Garibaldi to listened to the debate with extreme
Sicily they could easily have been dis- pain-almost anguish-at seeing his
posed of by drafting them into the regu- honoured chief discrediting himself and
lar army.
But "the Army of the South" injuring the cause, came to the rescue.
was over 60,000, containing a consider- He appealed to the combatants in the name
able amount of rubbish, as well as a of concord and of Italy, and entreated
fair quantity of fine soldiers, and a dispro- them to set their country above all party
portionate number of officers for the men. feeling. He believed in General Gari-
To keep them all on a war footing was im-baldi's sacred mission, but he believed
possible, nor were they suited for prolonged, also in Count Cavour's patriotism, and he
military service, it being contrary to the would lay down his life to see those two
nature of a volunteer force to continue shake hands. The Count was a generous
under arms when the occasion which has man, and he was sure he would agree that
called men and youths from their civil the first part of that day's sitting should
occupations is past. The Government be cancelled from their memory forever.
was prepared to make a selection to Prolonged applause from every part of the
amalgamate with the Royal army, and this House showed that Bixio's noble speech
was finally effected. But meantime, Gari- had been appreciated, and Cavour
baldi did not consider their work com- responded, in the same spirit; he denied
plete, with Venice and Rome unredeemed, ever having entertained hostile feelings
and he demanded immediate war. Hence towards the Volunteers, for had he not
the quarrel with the Ministry.
called them to the service of the King in
1859? And for their Captain he had
always felt the greatest esteem and admira-
tion, and bore him no grudge. Garibaldi,
struggling with bitter memories, tried to be
equal to Cavour in generosity. He replied
courteously, saying he never doubted the
Count's patriotic intentions; but he wanted
him to pledge himself to immediate war,
and this the Premier would not do, so the
new peace was broken before it was well
made, but not with such a violent scene as
in the morning sitting, Garibaldi simply
declaring that the Premier's answer had
fully dissatisfied him.

T

1

The General spoke at first very calmly, reading from notes he held in his hand, but at last his smothered rage against Cavour and his party broke out, and he indulged in fierce invective, asking the House if he could be expected to extend his hand to him who had made him a foreigner in Italy; asserting that the prodigies of the Southern Army were cut short by the cold and hostile hand of the present Ministry; and finally launched the following thunderbolt into the Assembly:"When the love of concord and horror of a fratricidal war, provoked by the Ministry itself --" A roar of indignation interrupted the sentence, and he was never permitted to finish it. The House was very patient, but this was too much, even from Garibaldi. Count Cavour grew pale, as he did on those rare occasions when his anger reached the uncontrollable point. He started up, and exclaimed in a choking voice, "It is not permitted to insult us thus. Mr. President, make the Government and representatives of the nation be respected."

I

then, not quite exact to say that the kingdom has been liberated by your arms. You ordered Colonel Tripoti to "receive the Piedmontese with grape-shot." You are, then, the real provoker of civil war. But I, who am an enemy of every tyranny, black or red, will combat even yours.*

If this quarrel had been pushed to a bloody issue, the example of the commanders would probably have led to many other encounters; and if either had fallen a victim, "a thousand swords would have leaped from their scabbards" to avenge the leader. Such horrible and unforeseen consequences as might have followed the simple fact of a responsible position losing the control of his temper, were averted by Garibaldi's reply. It is surely a marvel of moderation and gentleness, considering the provocation, and shows how his intense love of country enabled him now, as in Naples, to conquer every personal feeling.

Generai Garibaldi to General Cialdini. Turin, April 22, 1861. your friend and an

I also, General, was

a

luirer of your deeds. To-day I am whatever justification of myself with regard to the you will, not wishing to descend to offer a accusations in your letter of indecorous conduct on my part towards the King and the army, feeling, as a soldier and an Italian citizen, my conscience clear in all that concerns them.

As to the clothes I dress myself in, I shali wear them till I am told I am no longer in a free country, where everyone may dress as he pleises.

The words to Colonel Tripoti are new to me.

I

Decembe 1, 884.

spirits have been a prey at some crisis of
He who hesitates is lost, and
their lives.
our hero paused and dallied in that
precious half hour when the promptest
action was required. The good genius
which had enabled him to triumph over
every temptation in Naples, and immo-
late his amour propre on the altar of duty,
had forsaken him for the moment, and
an evil genius in its place whispered that
it would be base to fly. Let us hear him-

not

:

embraced like brothers. This was not enough for Victor Emmanuel, who never could be content while his two peerless subjects were at variance; Cavour and Garabaldi-" the mind and the arm of the State"-must be friends; but to effect a reconciliation was so easy as he imagined. To please the King Garibaldi consented to an interview, and a meeting was arranged in the Palace, but a much more prosaic one than the Brutus and Cassius scene between the two soldiers. self:It was, in fact, little more than an armed Cavour protruce for business purposes, mising to make a provision for the Garibaldian officers, and the General agreeing "Our not to oppose the Government. meeting was courteous, but not affectionate," said the Count. The Minister died a month after this, and Garibaldi, though he did not know it, lost in him his best friend, who steered him, in spite of himself, off the quicksands and shoals in his perilous enterprises. Signor Guerzoni acknowledges this fact frankly enough. No one but the Count knew how to guide and manage the Revolution. If the great Minister had lived only a few more years there never would have been an Aspromonte, much less a Mentana. The stupid delay of the Government in stopping the O Roma, O Morte movement, led Garibaldi to believe that it was not regarded unfavourably.

359

In short,
those not already arrived either did not wart
to join us or were already arrested.
a little irresolution on my part-I may say un-
usual-was chiefly to blame for what happened.
Now I must confess that when I saw the force

distance of three miles marching upon us
and no one saw it sooner than I did-at the
never passed through my mind, nor would it
with great solicitude, the idea of retreating
if it had been double the number. I only
ordered the head of the staff to rectify the line,
and take up some convenient positions. [Here
tected by the wood with a torrent between him
and the advancing enemy, and the disposi-
he describes the position on the heights, pro-
tion of his followers.] I have already said that
having committed the error of not retreating
on the first discovering of the troops I would
not march when they came in full view, for
that would be a flight: and we had no will
to fly. We contemplated tranquilly the celerity
with which the Italian soldiers advanced,
the other side of the torrent, and extending
coming in a trot up the hill in front of us, at
themselves in line, where they began an infer-
nal fire. It was a thing of a moment. I was
walking in front of our line-certainly g ieved
as I heard from the right that ours responded
for the turn things had taken-particularly
to the fire of the assailants-notwithstanding
that I continued to tell them not to fire, and
my aides-de-camp running alone the line said
the same.
I ordered the trumpeters to issue
the command, "Cease Firing." I was wounded
at the beginning, and accompanied to the edge
of the wood, where I was obliged to sit down.
It was almost impossible to distinguish what
further happened on the line. If we had had
to do with enemies mitters would have gone
differently. I should have place behind the
brush wood our chain of bersaglieri, aud I should
myself have remained with them. I should
have allowed the troops to advance to our side
the front from the high vantage ground and
of the torrent, then opened a close fire, changed
across our left.
the right flank with the same advantage,
the companies that were
All this might have been effected before the
have arrived tot ke part in the strife. I have
bersaglieri, marching through the wood, could
never doubted that, valiant as were the soldiers
in front of us, they could not have helped
being routed.

I have formerly eulogisel Colonel Pallavi-
cini's conduct, ani I am of the same opinion
In the first place, we might have
to-day.
fallen into worse hands; in the second, he

executed his orders with valour and resolution.

Aspromonte.

we

at

Those two days of marching in the moun-
tains were truly disastrous. My people had
eaten very little, and some of them nothing at
all. There was a great want of shoes, for
which we had to relax the march. And then
the great part of those who accompanied me,
besides being unaccustomed to fatigue, being
in easy circumstances, were extremely young;
and my heart was torn to see them in such a
miserable state, dragging themselves along
I marched in front,
rather than walking.
and, strange to say, the choicest of my people,
but had to stop sometimes, not to pass
in number about 500, not only kept up with me,
me, driven, poor fellows, by hunger and
finding something to eat
arrived
the hope of
last
At
on.
farther
the forest hut of Aspromonte, where we
hoped to find food, hut we found closed doors.
A field of potatoes satisfied the first that
arrived, who had the providence to bring
I think I have
dried brambles to roast the potatoes, and I
found them delicious.
already said that the las march, somewhat
forced, had the double object to get quickly to
the North of Reggio, and to seek food. This last
motive made me hurry, hence an immense elon-
In such a march it
gation of the column, so that the end remained
a good distance behind.
was impossible to find guides for every part of
the column, hence they took divers paths in
the darkness of the wooded mountains. So
many reasons operated to divide them, that
The position I took up was mag-
on the 28th there were more than 500 of ours
missing...
nificent; and if we had to combat an enemy
double the number of the Italian troops, I
would not have doubted about the victory.

1

mander

to send

me a

And here I committed a fault, which, out of
deference to me has not been spoken of by any
of those who have written about the grievous
affair of Aspromonte, but which in my re-
spect for truth I must confess. Not wish-
ing to fight-why did I await the arrival
Did I expect the com-
message before
of the troops?
attacking me? Ought not I to have known
that they would finally break the restraint,
thinking "a little fraternal blood would do no
harm," and that in order not to give the
soldiers time to recognise who they had in
front of them, they would begin the fire from
distance-as they did? I ought to have sup-
I ought to have
posed all this; and I did not.
marched before the arrival of the troops; I
could, and I did not. I might have some
motives to put forward in my favour; for
example, the distribution of the provisions
that had arrived, and were about to arrive.
While I saw the troops advancing upon us, I
also saw files of men and women in the dis-
tance loaded with provisions for us. This was
not a sufficient motive, for the men had eaten
something, and I could have made a short
march of two hours to St. Eufemia where the
I might have
population had invited us.
divided my people in parts. These measures,
which might for the moment have averted the
catastrophe, I had in my mind to do, and yes
did not. Another reason for waiting was to
have the rest of ours still behind united with
This also an insufficient motive, because
us.

Aspromonte has always seemed to us the most silly and unpardonable resistance to authority ever offered by an honest patriot, and altogether inexplicable. It was quite consistent with Garibaldi's quixotic character that he should invade the Roman territory with a few hundred followers, most of them so young and tenderly nurtured, that the sight of their uncomplaining suffering wrung his heart. He believed in the efficacy of irregular warfare, and relied on enthusiasm, and his successes in Sicily and Naples encouraged this faith, though he ought to have known that a French army was very different from a Neapolitan one. Still, counting as he did on the unanimous rising of the population, it was not an unnatural proceeding for Garibaldi. But that which could not be explained was the fact that having tried to elude the Royal troops sent in pursuit of him, and having perceived their approach three miles off, he did not either retreat or raise a flag of truce. He protested that he did not want to fight his "Italian brothers" who had combated side by side with him against the foreigner in the late wars. But why, then, receive them in battle array, and let them open fire without making any overture or sign of surrender? The General himself explains the puzzle in his unpub lished autobiography, quoted by Signor Guerzoni at great length, in which he makes a frank confession of his fault, and shows that he was seized with an wonted vacillation of purpose, to which some of the boldest and most resolute

un

That, notwithstanding, I repeat, if it were the enemies of Italy we had before us, Italy on that day would have counted one more splendid have already said that some recruits victory.

of the right wing responded to the fire of the troops-that I saw at the moment in which I

was wounded.

What I did not see, but centre and the recruits had executed a charge. learned afterwards, was that Menotti in the It is certain, however, that all parts of the line, from the centre to the left, where the majority were veteran volunteers of all the no one moved nor fired. battles, and were immediately around me,

I was seated and surrounded by my gallant companions, and my wounds were the first medicated - one in the right foot, and another, but very slight, in the left thigh. Meantime, them several who had served with me in there came up some of the troops, and among

times past. I saw grief written upon the
faces of all, except some few young officers,
who, doubtless, being quite new in battle,
thought they had won a splendid victory. I
was annoyed by the behaviour of some of these;
We were
but only for a moment.
treated as prisoners of war, anl as such con-
ducted on board the frigate Duke of Genoa, and
* Colo el Pallavi in i, not to be confound with Palie-
vicino, Garibaldi's pro-d ctator at Naples.

KINGSLEY AT WORK AS A POET--PERSEUS

DOCTRINE OF

conveyed to Spezia. From Aspromonte to Spezia I must record with gratitude the treate against the illustrious rebel, and the un- , mainland to draw thousands of volunteers ment of Colonel Pallavicini, Major Pinelli,

From every part of the Wlright (commander of the Duke of Genoa), to be severe; but the King would never country they flocked to his banner, singing Colonel Santa Rosa, Commandant Ansaldi at have consented to any harsh treatment;and the soul-stirring hymn, Varignano, and Captain Rossi (one of the Millo) D'Azeglio, who was specially summoned Oh, Garibaldi, nostro salvator! at Spezia.

to a council on the subject, said Garibaldi Ti sequiremo al campo dell'onor ! This chapter of Garibaldi's autobio. ought to be tried like any other citizen, We must make an end sometime, and graphy is interesting in more ways than and, after the sentence, receive immediate

we have not the heart to follow our hero one.

It explains the cause of the extra- pardon from the King. But the general to Mentana, or through the latter years ordinary mishap, and shows his frank and opinion was that Garibaldi was a unique of his life, when his glorious star was generous character, as well as his weak. being, and must not be judged by com- waning. Undoubtedly he had

, ness, in the most striking manner. While mon laws. A writer in the Daily News grieving over his faults, he insists on the said, "If Napoleon III. is tired of his Touched the highest point of all his greatness fact that he could have beaten his adver- throne and of his life, let him touch a on the day when he laid down the saries if they had been enemies. And he hair of Garibaldi's head."

Dictatorship in Naples; but though almost has nothing but praises and thanks for the He was amnestied after a brief impri- everything he did after that was a mistake, Italian officers who had him in custody- sonment, as we know; and in a year or they were mistakes dictated by such noble, a flat contradiction to the representations so, when his wound was sufficiently generous sentiments that we are forced to of bad treatment made at the time by his healed, he accepted the warm invitations | admire while we condemn. Nor were his Republican friends.

to England, where he made a triumphal exploits in every sense useless. The life. The fact was that the Italian officers progress becoming a Roman Emperor. It long example of such sublime disinterfelt, as was natural they should, deeply has been said that the extravagant enthu- estedness and devotion was wanting in grieved at the unhappy affair; and the siasm of the English people for a rebel this cold, practical, self-seeking age, and impertinence of one or two young subs who had just been guilty of as foolish cannot have been without effect on his did not in any way express the sentiments and unjustifiable an attempt as that of own and the rising generation. of the Royal troops. The circumstance Smith O'Brien in 1848, was not in keeping Garibaldi alludes to when he speaks of a with the character of a serious, law-abiding momentary loss of temper was the follow- nation; but, however inconsistent, it

STUDIES OF ENGLISH AUTHORS. ing: When the firing ceased, with the loss of proves, at least, that the British public do BY PETER BAYNE, M.A., LL.D. about six or seven killed, and little more than not worship success, and that there is notwenty wounded on each side, Pallavicini thing they admire so much as disinte- CHARLES KINGSLEY. sent to Garibaldi a messenger, who did not rested and heroic conduct. It was good observe the proper etiquette on the policy on the part of the Government to

AND ANDROMEDA-THE occasion. He was not preceded by a take possession of him, thus keeping him

SACRIFICE IN ITS DIABOLICAL FORM. trumpet or any sign of his mission, and from falling into dangerous hands and presented himself to the defeated hero doing unconscious mischief; and

Those admirable books! Yes; but those armed. Garibaldi exclaimed, angrily, "I doubt it necessary,

thrice-admirable letters ! To me it is

also, am making war these thirty years, and I cut short the triumphal march, for as plain as any perception of my mind's know the law better than you. It is not which the secretary Guerzoni can hardly eye

be that, in

that, in his books, thus an envoy presents himself

. Disarm forgive the English Ministers, yet he Kingsley has the awe of the great him!” He was instantly deprived of his acknowledges that there were breakers a world too much before him to be quite sword; but when he had heard the head which it was their duty to steer clear natural. He puts himself into what is General's

message it was restored to him. of, and that Lord Palmerston did not urge not his own pace—the difference is not And with this lesson in manners the or desire Garibaldi's visit, for good great, yet it is sufficient to take off the young puppy sent back to his reasons.

perfect easc, and with the ease the perfect commander, with the request for Two years later, the great rebel, once delightfulness, that we have in the letters. personal interview. Colonel Pallavicini more a good subject, joyfully accepted Writing to his friends, he is as open, as

very different style of man service under Victor Emmanuel, forgetting unreserved, as egotistic as a child ; but, from his messenger. He hastened to all his wrongs, real and imaginary, the since he is an entirely noble child, his comply with the wish of the General, and moment war was decided upon. The fol- egotism, tinged though it be with vanity, presented himself before the defeated and lowing note is touching and characteris. is engaging, not repulsive. About the prostrate rebel in reverent attitude, with tic:

time when Hypatia was getting off bis his hat in his hand; then kneeling on the

To General Pettinengo.

hands, his mind reverted to poetry. His ground beside him, he said, in the most

Caprera, March 14, 1866.

letters to Mr. J. M. Ludlow introduce us courteous tone, “My orders were Signor Ministro, -I accept with true grati- to his poetical workshop, and enable us, demand a surrender at discretion ; but I tude the dispositions made by His Majesty in as nearly as possible, to see the mystery of wait to hear your wishes." Ard when regard to the Volunteer Corps, feeling deeply poetical creation going on in his brain. Garibaldi explained his desires, he pro- with the command. Will you be my inter- the classic legend of Perseus and Andro

the confidence reposed in me, in entrusting me The poetical subject he had chosen was mised, as far as his power, went, to preter with His Majesty to express these my have them fulfilled ; but the matter' had sentiments, and the hope that I may be able meda, whose capabilities struck him as very to be referred to General Cialdini, who immediately to co-operate with our glorious great. The first thing to be decided on would not concede what was asked. We army in fulfilling the national destinies.

was the metrical form of the poem. He have seen that Garibaldi speaks always with which you have condescended to make tried several measures, and could not for with gratitude of Pallavicini's chivalrous the fact known to me.

some time please himself. “Rhymed bearing towards him. They did not regard

Believe me, your devoted

metres," he says, “run away with you, and each other as enemies, nor did their fol.

GARIBALDI. you can't get the severe, curt, simple lowers, many of whom shook hands im- A great ancestor of Victor Emmanuel objectivity you want in them, and unmediately after the contest. It was nothing once said, “I will stamp on the ground rhymed blank verse is very bald * in my but a mistake-Aspromonte--an unfor of my country, and it will yield me soldiers hands, because I won't write 'poetic tunate mistake, and the responsible person from every side.” So it was with our diction, but only plain English ; and so I

' was also the chief sufferer. The Emperor hero. The Camicia Rossa had a magic

• This word is printod "bold" in the biography; but the of the French u'et his powerful influence power, and had' but to be seen on the contest pioves 'bald” to be the true reading.

no
to

was

can

was

was

a

to

can't get mythic grandeur enough. Oh to make this measure serve his purpose in stirred the heart of Kingsley to grief and for the spirit of Tennyson's 'Enone'!" Evangeline. It has exhaustless capabili indignation. In the dark backward of He tells his friend that, when done with ties, both in respect of amplitude, frame- human history there is perhaps no fact Hypatia, he “will write no more novels.” work, and of variety, buoyancy, and free- more ghastly and appalling than that He will write poetry, and is confident he dom from monotony, of sound. Kingsley mankind, deeming themselves, in their exwill "do something that will live.” Then refuses to admit that hexameters are treme wretchedness, in their unutterable follows one of those self-revealings which, foreign to our language, and reminds his weakness and despondency, an object of when honestly made by remarkable correspondent of "the great quantity of displeasure to the gods, should have writers, are highly prized by critics. “I the Bible and Prayer Book which is actu- imagined that the unjust and preposterous feel my strong faculty in that sense of ally unconscious hexameter already." wrath of their divinities could be averted form, which, till I took to poetry, always Having meditated his subject and chosen by the murder of some intensely loved came out in drawing, drawing, but poetry his metre, he determines to spare no pains and radiantly innocent human creature. is the true sphere, combining painting and in execution. “I don't agree with you,” | De Quincey, a consummate classical music and history all in one." I think he writes, “about not polishing too much. scholar and one who had glanced deeply that Kingsley here judges himself rightly. If you are a verse-maker, you will of course into human nature, decides that the inand I explicitly endorse his estimate of rub off the edges and the silvering ; but if gredient in sacrifices understood to make the pen as a better instrument of form, you are a poet, and have an idea, and one them specially agreeable to the gods of including colour, than the pencil or the key note running through the whole, which paganism was the anguish of the victim. brush. Hear him again,-it is surely a you can't for the life define to yourself, Nothing roused Kingsley to more frank great privilege to do so, for we are thus ad- but which is there out of the abysses, de and passionate anger than the introduction mitted to the closest and most confidential fining you ; then every polishing is a bring into Christianity of what had any resem. friendship of an original and a richly-gifted ing the thing nearer to that idea, and there blance to this' haggard survival of primind. “You know that Andromeda myth is no more reason in not polishing, than meval devil-worship. The temptation, is a very deep one. It happened at Joppa, there is for walking about with a hole or a therefore, that lay upon him, in handling and she must have been a Canaanite; and spot on your trousers, a thing which drives the myth of Andromeda, to launch into I cannot help fancying that it is some me mad. If I have a spot on my clothes, denunciation of the priests, or to dwell remnant of old human sacrifices to the I am conscious of nothing else the whole upon the heroine's sense of wrong and dark powers of nature, which died out day long, and just as conscious of it in the cruelty, and thus to depart from the retithroughout Greece before the higher, heart of Bramshill Common as if I were cence and severe composure of Greek art, sunnier faith in human gods; and that I going down Piccadilly."

was very great. He triumphs over it, shall just bring out, or bring in, enough to The poem produced under these cir- however, dexterously contriving to make make it felt without hurting the classi- cumstances, though not faultless in the us feel the hideous atrocity of the procality, by contrasting her tone about the sense in which The Sands o' Dee and The posed sacrifice, and even to introduce a gods with that of Perseus, whom she is Three Fishers are faultless, is one upon word which has the force of a whip for a ready to worship as a being of a higher which Kingsley's reputation as a poet must certain theological party, without departing race, with his golden hair and blue eyes. greatly depend. It displays an extraordi- from the reserve and the quietude which Oh, my dear man, the beauty of that nary power in the moulding and chiselling he had imposed upon himself. It will be whole myth is unfathomable; I love it, of forms by means of words; and the forms necessary to quote a passage in illustraand revel in it more and more the longer which his imagination summons up move tion of these remarks. I look at it. If I have made one drawing onward in the dance-like, wave-like modu- The subjects of King Cepheus and of Perseus and Andromeda, I have made lation of rhythmic harmony. This is Queen Cassiopo:a had been afflicted by fifty, and burnt them all in disgust. If I the distinctive skill of the poetic a hideous sea-monster, that made havoc, conceive a thought (objective, that is, of artist. Kingsley is exceptionally suc

Kingsley is exceptionally suc- not only of their flocks and herds, but course), I almost always begin by drawing cessful also in the extent to which, in their fairest youths and maidens. The it again and again, and then the imcom- treating a classical subject, he has followed priests cast lots to find out what sin and pleteness of the pencil (for paint I can't) the Greek method. Modern literature, sinner had brought this woe upon the

. drives me to words to give it colour and prose and poetical, overflows with senti- people. The royal house was taken, and, chiaroscuro."

ment. Mindful of his classic models, in the royal house, the lot fell on Cassio. The measure which he finally chose was Kingsley aims at "theclearest and sharpest poeia. She was called upon for explana. the hexameter. The choice was dis- objectivity." I would venture to suggest tion:creet. He might, indeed, have pro- indeed, that he may have framed his con Stately she came from her place, and she spoke duced a more widely popular poem if ception of the Greek manner too exclu- in the midst of the people. he had described the beauty of Andro- sively on the works of Sophocles. Euripides " Puro are my hands from blood; most pure meda and the prowess of Perseus in the comés much nearer the moderns in respect this heart in my bosom. measure in which Macaulay sang of of copiousness in the expression of feel. Yet one fault I remember this day; one word

have I spoken; Horatius and Aytoun of Montrose, or in ing. But that the general character of Rashly I spoke on the shore, and I dread lest that which Tennyson uses so felicitously Greek poetry is distinctness of form, and the sea should have heard it. in Locksley Hall. But in Kingsley's severe avoidance of intrusion of the per- Watching my child at her bath, as she plunged hands these would certainly have been sonal sentiment of the author, admits of in the joy of her girlhood, too samely, too suggestive of the bell, or no dispute; and I doubt if any modern Fairer I called her in pride than Atergati,

queen of the orean. the cymbals, or the drum. The measure, poet, -not excluding Goethe, Keats, or Judge ye if this ise my sin, for I know none as he says himself, would have run away Tennyson,-has been more successful in other." She ended. with him. Norwas he sufficiently master of imitating the Greek manner than Kingsley Wrapping her head in her mantle she stood, unrhymed blank verse to have been sure of has been in Andromeda.

and the people were silent. using it successfully.

Auswered the dark-hrowed priests, "No word, The very greatest All the greater credit is due to Kings

once spoken, returneth, poets can adapt this measure perfectly to ley, on the score of genuine Hellenism in | Even if uttered unwitting. Shall gods excuse narrative; but only the very greatest, the the treatment of his subject, from the our rashness ? brothers, if such there be, of Shakespeare ) circumstance that one of the main ele- That which is done

, that abides ; and the and Milton, have this happiness, and ments of effect in the poem consists in Hers, and the wrath of her brother, the Sun

wrath of the sea is against us; there is no probability that Kingsley could the propitiation of supernal but fiendish have attained it.

god, lord of the sheep-folds. The hexameter re- powers by the sacrifice of innocence and Fairer than her bast thou boasted thy mained. Longfellow had already managed beauty. This was one thing that always daughter? Ah folly! for hateful,

What shall be likened to gods? The un-
known, who deep in the darkness
Ever abide, twy-formed, many-handed, ter-
rible, shapeless.
Woe to the Queen; for the land is defiled, and
the people accursed.

Take thou her therefore by night, thou ill-
starred Cassiopeia,
Take her with us in the night, when the moon
sinks low in the westward;
Bind her aloft for a victim, a prey for the
gorge of the monster,

Far on the sea-girt rock, which is washed by
the surges for ever;
So may the goddess accept her, and so may the
land make atonement,

Purged by her blood from its sin: so obey thou

the doom of the rulers. Accordingly Andromeda was bound with chains of brass to the rock looking seaward, to wait the approach of the monster to devour her. The wild weeping of her mother was over, and the last pilse of the retreating oars of those who had brought her died away on the waves. For a time she was speechless, then in feeble accents she began : Guiltless I am: why thus, then? Are gods more ruthless than mortals? Hive they no morey for youth? no love for the souls who have loved them? Even as I loved thee, dread sea, as I played by thy margin, Blessing thy wave as it cooled me, thy wind as it breathed on my forehead, Bowing my head to thy tempest, and opening my heart to thy children, Silvery fish, wreathed shell, and the strange

lithe things of the water, Tenderly casting them back, as they gasped on the beach in the sunshine, Home to their mother in vain! for mine sits childless in anguish!

Oh dreid sea! false sea! I dreamed what I
dreamed of thy golaess!
Dreamed of a smile in thy gleam, of a laugh
in the flash of thy ripple:
False and devouring thou art, and the great
world dark and despiteful.

It is not easy to imagine any one reading these and the lines previously quoted without being profoundly impressed by the horror and blasphemy of such an "atonement" as that made by the priests who forced Cepheus and Cassiopeia to yield their daughter to death; and yet it will be found that Kingsley does almost nothing beyond stating his facts, leaving the effect, in the true Greek and great fashion, to their mute and moving elo

quence.

fasting," and that his wife liked them.
Here they are.

The Sea-Maids.

Far off, in the heart of the darkness,
Bright white mists rose slowly; beneath them
the wandering ocean

Glimmered and glowed to the deepest abyss;
and the knees of the maiden

Trembled and sank in her fear, as afar, like a

dawn in the midnight,

Rose from their seaweed chamber the choir of
the mystical sea-maids.

Onward toward her they came, and her heart
beat loud at their coming,

Watching the bliss of the gods, as they wakened
the clifts with their laughter;
Onward they came in their joy, and before
them the roll of the surges

Sank, as the breeze sank dead, into smooth

green foam-flecked marble,

Awed; and the crigs of the cliff, and the

pines of the mountain were silent.
Onward they came in their joy, and around
them the lamps of the sea-nymphs,
Myriad fiery globes, swam panting and heav-
ing; and rainbows
Crimson and azure and emerald were broken
in star-showers, lighting
Far through the wine-dark depths of the

crystal, the gardens of Nereus,
Coral and sea-fan and tangle, the blooms and
Oaward they came in their joy, more white
the palms of the ocean.

than the foam which they scattered,
Laughing and singing, and tossing and turn-
ing, while eager, the Tritons
Blinded with kisses their eyes, unreproved, and
above them in worship

Hovered the terns, and the sea-gulls swept
past them on silvery pinions,
Echoing softly their laughter; around them
the wantoning dolphins

Sighed as they plunged, full of love; and the
great sea-horses which bore them
Curved up their crests in their pride to the
delicate arms of the maidens,
Pawing the spray into gems, till a fiery rain-
fall, unharming,

Sparkled and gleamed on the limbs of the
nymphs, and the coils of the mermen.
Onward they went in their joy, bathed round
with the fiery coolness,

Needing nor sun, nor moon, self-lighted: im-
mortal: but others,
Pitiful, floated in silence apart; in their bosoms
the sea-boys

Slain by the wrath of the seas, swept down by

the anger of Nereus;

Hapless, whom never again on strand or on

quay shall their mothers
Welcome with garlands and vows to the

temple, but wearily pining.
Gaze over island and bay for the sails of the
sunken; they heedless

Sleep in soft bosoms for ever, and dream of the

surge and the sea-maids.
Onward they past in their joy; on their brows

neither sorrow nor anger;

Self-sufficing as gods, never heeding the woe
She would have shrieked for their merey; but

of the maiden.

shame made her dumb; and their eye-balls Stared on her careless and still, like the eyes

Having spoken these words, Andromeda looks fearfully out to sea, expecting an answer of wrath. Instead thereof, she beheld the procession of the sea-nymphs, who went their own way, regardless of The sky is suddenly flooded with golden her or her sufferings. It was principally of the description of these sea-maids that light when Perseus, a splendid boy, clad in I thought when I spoke of Kingsley's dintless armour, girt with a sword that no power as a plastic artist. He sent the brass can resist, and carrying a deathlarger portion of the lines to Mr. Ludlow striking Gorgon's-head that will kill the at the time they were written, saying that toughest sea-dragon with a glance, appears. they had been "rattled off in the last two He cuts away the brazen fetters of Androhours, in the act of dressing and break-meda, and comforts her with assurances of

I safety from the monster. Aphrodite, watching the pair from the topmost Idalian summit, smiles well-pleased at the progress of their loves, when their attention is called to the approach of the sea-beast. Onward it came from the southward, as bulky and black as a galley,

Lazily coasting along, as the fish fled leaping before it ;

Lazily breasting the ripple, and watching by
sandbar and headland,

Listening for laughter of maidens at bleach-
ing, or song of the fisher,
Children at play on the pebbles, or cattle that
pawed on the sandhills.

Rolling and dripping it came, where bedded
in glistening purple

Cold ou the cold seaweeds lay the long white sides of the maiden,

Trembling, her face in her hands, and her tresses afloat on the water.

As when an osprey aloft, dark-browed royally crested,

Flags on by creek and by cove, and in scorn of the anger of Nereus

Ranges, the king of the shore; if he see on a
glittering shallow,
Chasing the bass and the mullet, the fin of a
wallowing dolphin,

Halting, he wheels round slowly, in doubt at
the weight of his quarry,

Whether to clutch it alive, or to fall on the
wretch like a plummet,
Stunning with terrible talon the life of the
braiu in the hind head:
Then rushes up with a scream, and stooping,
the wrath of his eyebrows

Falls from the sky like a star, while the wind
rattles hoarse in his pinions.

Over him closes the foam for a moment; then
from the sand-bed

Rolls up the great fish, dead, and his side
gleams white in the sunshine.
Thus fell the boy on the beast, unveiling the
face of the Gorgon;

Thus fell the boy on the beast; thus rolled up
the beast in his horror.

Once, as the dead eyes glared into his; then
his sides, death-sharpened,

Stiffened and stood, brown rock, in the wash
of the wandering water.
Beautiful, eager, tiiumphant, he leaped back
again to his treasure;

Leapt back again, full blest, towards aris
spread wide to receive him.
Brimful of honour he clasped her, and brimful
of love she caressed him,
Answering lip with lip; while above them the

queen Aphrodite

Poured on their foreheads and limbs, unseen, ambrosial odours,

Givers of longing, and rapture, and chaste content in espousals.

This is descriptive poetry of a high order, and it is as a master of description, whether in prose or verse, that Kingsley chiefly excels. In Santa Maura, however, he proved that he could give sympathetic and imaginative expression to profound and tragic feeling.