WE

ON THE POETRY OF THE PRESENT DAY.

From the European Magazine.

"Corvos poetas, et poetridas picas There is no need to go far back to Cantare credas Pegaseium melos." enter upon this inquiry. The Ancients PERSEUS. is a term so familiar, as to imply every E have been told it as the ex- thing of character and persons; and pression of a lady, after reading those authors, as they are the originals a late effusion of a certain noble Poet and models of the literature now so union a domestic occurrence, that if the ap- versally diffused, are enshrined in the peal had been made to her, she could perfection of their different characters, not have forborne flying into his arms and without descanting upon them, we and certainly the warm and unconstrain- have only to look towards them, and ask ed feeling with which his lordship's ver- why and how we have departed from ses abound, will justify us in supposing their examples. Fabius and Scipio this sentiment to be pretty generally ex- were inflamed with the desire of glory tended. Mr. Scott, whenever he choo- from beholding the images of their anses to send a poem into the world, can cestors; and the commencement of depend upon a rapid and wide circulation modern literature was by copying the of it, for indeed it must be read: every writers of the classic ages. The conone asks his neighbour if he has seen the sciousness of mind inspires every man new poem; though this can scarcely be with the lust of being distinguished, and called a distinction, for the palm is divid- emulation is its first impulse. The fire ed with, I may almost say, every novel- of poetry was long kindled on the altars ist of the day; and to judge from the that had outlived the ruin of many ages: continued torrents the press pours out, and that this was not a superstitious

every

minor rhymster has his share of bays. reverence, we have sufficient proof, from When an author is read and applaud- its having been observed by the best ot ed by every body, his fame seems to the later poets. But learning, even in have the most sure foundation, and it is later times, was still confined; and it like the portent of an earthquake to ques- has been pregressively, and during a tion it, or try its solidity. And yet a comparative dearth of the exalted genius curious speculator may find some exer- of Poetry, that it has spread itself over cise for his ingenuity in inquiring into this country. The competition for fame the poetical taste of the present day; and has naturally followed its course; and if the subject were well followed, it the cloud of candidates who found in the might not, perhaps, prove a superfluous path of classical taste and beauty the re-tiges of those who had preceded

examination.

S

Eng. Mag Vol.T.

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On Poetry in the present day.

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tiousness and attention. No one in the present day can live in society without some degree of learning; but society itself is an obstacle to a depth of learning; and most people seek improvement mere

them, who tread it seldom, but whose gratitude renders them the admirers of marks are indelible, started from it to the author who does not impose on them trace a road for themselves in the wild- the task of perusing his works with cauness and exuberance of their own imagination. On the revival of letters in Italy, some of the learned men laboured to reestablish the taste for poetry, by compositions which were rigid but servile copies of the ancient poets; they followed ly for the sake of mixing with others, and them strictly in the metre and rules of only read to talk. The classical taste composition; but in this attention they of this major part, therefore, cannot be lost sight entirely of their spirit and beau- correctly formed, and they are willling ty. Genius was rising in the nation, to give the character of genuine poetry and was disgusted with the insipid imi- to the wildest and most unformed effutation. To this disgust we owe the de- sion, which dazzles and surprizes them lightful and romantic wanderings of at the first view, rather than offend their Ariosto. But it is only an illustrious self love by examining it more closely, spirit that can assume originality with and by discovering its imperfections be success, and we have not an Ariosto compelled to acknowledge the infirmity now. Since the pursuit of letters be- of their own judgment, and the error of came general amongst us, there have their taste. The poet, of course, takes been many examples of failure in imita- advantage of this indulgence, and gives tion; but I am afraid our deviations are himself credit for the talents that the not more successful. The permanent public are too indolent to dispute with reputation of our authors has not risen him. From abuse springs still greater since booksellers sunk from scholars to licence; and hence we are overwhelmed tradesmen. When every one reads by monsters and fictions which have something, and even a partial approval neither elegance nor moral to support insures a momentary circulation for a their mass, and which are presented in work, publication becomes a traffic, and, all the irregularity and ruggedness of as Puff says, in the Critic, "the surest diction that the inventor finds convenrecommendation of a book is, that every ient; who cannot be expected to give body reads it, and that nobody ought to himself more pains than are demanded read it." This is not to be understood from him. Unity and perfection of acas general; but I believe the same cause tion are found in the barren plot, which that gives our modern poets their easy is developed the moment it is entered careless style, provides them with read- upon; and as if Meyer meant a prodiers; the author pours out a rhapsody gy, vast and unnatural conceptions are of vulgar images in jingling metre; and substituted for grandeur and sublimity. while he runs on in a strain of common- Nature is certainly the same she was place phrases, imagines that his course is when the first poets followed and deurged by the divinæ particulam aura, scribed her; but those who think it necand mistakes a rhyming knack and slov- essary to look beyond her for their subenly expression for the force of genius ject, are led rather by their ignorance of and the impulse of inspiration; while her magnitude than by a failing in her with his reader, what is understood with- abundance: the accidents and revoluout effort and read without trouble often tions of the world, the objects of notice imposes itself as the production of taste and inquiry, every circumstance that and skill. The greater part of society roused or soothed the earliest genius, who make pretensions to literary know- are still supplied from a constant source; ledge, have naturally but a small share of and if we do not find them seized and it, and they are perfectly content to let amplified with the vigour and graces their imaginations be caught with the which Nature only can give, it is because tinsel of improbable inventions and false she is more sparing in bestowing genius colouring, provided their judgment is than matter for the exercise of it. not engaged in the developement and It must be this consciousness that has

AT the hotel or inn where you arrive ed to the husband far exceeds any idea - you may find the husband in the habit that can be formed by those who have of going to market, and of keeping the not resided in France. But all advanbooks; but all other business, such as re- tages have their drawbacks, and this ceiving the travellers, adjusting the bills, assistance is not afforded without several superintending the servants, male and fe- important sacrifices, among which we male,falls under the province of Madame. are to reckon the almost universal negAgain, if you you go to an upholsterer's lect of neatness in the interior of the to buy a few articles of furniture, you house, and the more serious charge of may observe the husband superintending inattention to the health of their chilhis workmen in the back shop or yard, dren. The greater proportion of the but leaving it to his fair partner to treat latter are separated from their mothers with customers, to manage all cash re- at the time when parental tenderness is ceipts and payments, and, in many cases, most wanted, and entrusted to country to fix on the articles to be purchased out nurses, who are frequently very deficient of doors. The mercer's wife does not in the means of preserving their health, limit her services to the counter, or to the or providing for their comfort. mechanical tasks of retailing and measur- If we look to the higher circles, we ing-you see her at one time standing be- shall find every where examples of simiside the desk, and giving directions to the lar activity and address. Your readers clerks; at another you hear of her being may have fresh in their minds the mulabsent on a journey to the manufacturing tiplied letters and applications of Matowns, and are desired to suspend your dame Ney, and the more fortunate expurchases, not till her return, which ploit of Madame Lavalette. They will would be remote, but for the few days ne- not have forgotten the courageous stand cessary to let her send home some marks of her progress, car madame nous fait ses envois à mesure qu'elle fait ses achats.' In short, women in France are expected not only to lend an assisting hand to their husbands in business, but to take This is a very delicate topic, and one a lead in the management, to keep the on which I take the liberty to differ from correspondence, to calculate the rate of a great number of our countrymen. In prices, and to do a number of things nothing does the exaggerating propensity that imply not merely fidelity and vigi- of the French appear more conspicuous lance, but the habit of deciding and act than in the tale of scandal; not that such ing by herself in the most important de- tales are particularly frequent in this partments of the concern. We need country, but, because, when they do hardly add, that they are abundantly come forth, they are arrayed in a garb zealous in points so nearly connected that would hardly ever enter into the with the welfare of their families, and imagination of any of our country

made by the Duchess of Angouleme at Bordeaux, in March 1815, and her repeated addresses to the troops of the garrison.

MORALS.

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French Peculiarities.

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in a somewhat higher degree than in other countries; but how small is the Proportion of these idlers to the great

ass of the population! The middling and the lower ranks follow the same habits of industry as with us; a married couple can find a maintenance for their family only by a cordial support of each other; and the time of the husband is occupied to a degree that leaves him very little leisure for planning projects on his neighbour's wife.

women. On our side of the Channel a rumour, whether among the fair or t' mercenary part of the public, genera has probability, in some degree, for foundation; but in France all you require is the direct allegation, the confident assertion. Nobody thinks of scrutinizing your evidence, and you are in no danger of being afterwards reminded of your fallacy, in a country where almost every thing was absorbed in the thirst of novelty. A lady in France, who may happen to have a quarrel, or There is, however, a very marked who may give rise to a hostile feeling by distinction in the degree of reprobation her vanity or affectation, is not, as with affixed by French and English ladies to us, merely satirised for the eccentricity individuals of their sex, labouring unof her dress or manner, but is doomed der unfavourable imputations. While, forthwith to encounter the most vehement with us, the exclusion from society attacks on her reputation. Lovers are takes place on a general scale, in France immediately found out for her, and the it is only partial, owing not (as the circumstances of assignations are recapi- wags will argue) to a community of tulated with as much precision as if the impropriety on the part of those who parties had been present at the forbidden still continue their countenance; but to interview; if she has eclipsed her rivals a facility of temper, a wish to view at a ball, or received the marked attentions of a leading personage, the unkindly rumor will fly from mouth to mouth, without exciting, among at least nine-tenths of the public, the least doubt of its reality. It lasts, indeed, only for a few weeks, until some other female becomes equally the object of jealousy, and is made to furnish materials for a fresh series of wonderous anecdotes.

things on the favourable side, a credulity in listening to the vindication of the accused party, a partiality to whoever courts protection; in short, to a variety of causes that do more honour to the heart than the head.

Parents in France are very scrupulous in regard to their daughters, and make a rule of not allowing them to go into company or to places of amusement without the protection of a relation or friend, whose age or character will prevent any loose conversation from the young or giddy part of the other sex. This, to be sure, is paying but a bad compliment to the male part of the society; but it give an English family residing in France an assurance, that their daughters may go without hazard into female society, particularly of an age corresponding to their own. Musie, drawing, and dancing, form in that country, as with us, the general occupation of unmarried ladies.

A residence of several years in a provincial town of considerable size and of much genteel society, has satisfied me that nine-tenths of the tales circulated against particular individuals are unfounded, and were never meant by the inventors to produce any thing beyond a temporary discredit to the obnoxious party. Common sense tells us, that, in every civilized country, a woman will look for her happiness in the affection of her husband, and in the esteem of the respectable part of her sex; nor can France be accounted an exception, unless it can be shewn that, by some strange Paris.-There is a material difference peculiarity, the men in that country are between the French of Paris and the indifferent to the chastity of their wives provincial towns, so that the favorable and daughters, or the women callous to part of my picture is to be understood every thing in the shape of vice. Gal- as applicable chiefly to the latter. Paris lantry is the vice of an idle man; it is has always been the residence of an excharacteristic of the higher ranks in traordinary number of oisifs, whether France, in the same manner, and perhaps officers, noblesse, or others, who have

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French Peculiarities.

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just money enough to pay their way satisfaction a fine turkey, and three or from day to day; and who, without four excellent fowls, revolving before a being absolute adventurers, are perpe- brisk wood-fire. But he must remove tually falling into all the exceptionable from this hot stewing bustling scene to habits of the inexperienced and idle. attend "Leonore," the fille de chambre, A Frenchman is the creature of habit, who by this time steps forward with he has no fixed principles, and follows, vivacious countenance, dainty white with all imaginable pliancy, the exam- cap, black sparkling eyes, and hoop ple or solicitation of those with whom ear-rings, as large as a half-crown, and he happens to be connected for the mo- kindly offers to conduct M. Anglais, ment. Such a flexibility of character "enhaut," whither he proceeds, by a must inevitably pave the way to a va- staircase, quite as dirty as the street, riety of irregularities, and eventually to "to make himself comfortable." vices; time is wasted at theatres, at In the French chamber there is more shows, or at the more dangerous occu- decidedly an appearance, at least, of a pation of the gaming-table: and, al- want of what is so well understood by though the habitual exaggeration of the us in the word, comfort :-no ponderous French leads them (when speaking of mahogany four-post bed takes its stathe vices of the metropolis,) to exhibit a very outré picture, particularly in what relates to the fair sex, there can remain no doubt that Paris is a place to be avoided, and that it is the scene where, of all others, the national character of the French appears to the greatest disadvantage.

FRENCH HOTEL.

tion in the principal part of the chamber -no warm curtains hung, by rings, on a rod; the sound of which, when closed upon the tired traveller, is so grateful to his ears; but a couch-like, or sofalooking, bed, wheeled up with its side to the wall, and not unfrequently in a recess, with doors to close and exclude it altogether from view, as an unimportant piece of furniture. The curtains, The kitchen of a French inn is so pending, tent like, from an ornamented frequently placed in the front part of point, are capable of more tasteful arthe house, that the chance is very much rangement than those in the square solid in favor of its being the first room into English form, and much space is obwhich the stranger is shewn; and here viously gained by this compact dispoM. Anglais receives the respects of sition of the beds. No carpeting, not Madame, the mistress of the hotel; not even by the bed-side; the linen freof her husband, whose pleasures and quently damp! The floors, in the best pursuits seem to be confined to saun- houses, of dry-rubbed wainscot, laid in tering about and taking snuff in the various diamond forms, but very commorning, presiding at the table d'hote, monly paved with octagonal red tiles, and in the evening playing back-gam- even to the garrets; and, to increase the mon or picquet with the cook. While chilly appearance of things, the set of congratulations on safe arrival and other drawers and tables are covered with compliments are passing, the stranger the almost universal marble slab-a has a glance of the interior of this im- shallow oval wash-hand basin, with a tall portaut department. The principal jug in it, resembling the one with which cook, in his white cap and apron, is bu- the stork in the fable entertained the sily employed in looking into, stirring, fox-a large, thin, damp napkin-a and tasting the contents of at least a small morsel of "veritable Windsor" score of copper stew-pans, ranged in a few stained rush-bottom chairs--due order on a long stove; and which, a couple. of easy ones, stuffed, caned, in the midst of their hissing and frying, and covered with crimson velvet--and send up one of those compound savoury several magnificent mirrors, reflecting smells that go to remind me of Smol the elegant landscape paper-hangings, lett's "feast after the manner of the about complete the furniture of a bet ancients." As the roast is probably termost French chamber. more to his taste, he sees with no small

February, 1817,