less, a study of the great poem unequalled in its way; and, perhaps, the best help we can have to an unprejudiced reading of the work itself. For the strange gloss of "stateliness" and "dignity" with which our modern associations insist on clothing the picturesque and vivacious epic, needs removing, quite as much as the film of ignorance that prevents our listening to the words in which it was spoken first. It is no disparagement to what Mr. Arnold has done, by way of poetic elucidation, to say that, on many points where he has crossed Mr. Newman's path, he has decidedly the worst of the en

counter.

As to the form of verse or stanza which best fits a version of the Greek hexameter, it is perhaps an idle controversy. Mr. Arnold's brief essays at an English reproduction of it prove as valuable as Mr. Newman's somewhat monotonous and languid cadence. One translator, whose name we are unable to recall, ventures in the Iliad the intricacy of the Spenserian stanza; which Worsley had found so admirable a medium for the Odyssey. For ourselves, we incline to think that the rhymed fourteen-syllable measure, the same employed by Chapman, but suffering comparative neglect at the present day, when cultivated and developed up to the standard of euphony, ease, and strength now demanded, will yet prove the most adequate. If we go beyond careful scholarship or conventional smoothness, and look for the finer poetic qualities, where else shall we find them, even now, as we find them in Chapman? A model of conventional smoothness and good taste, with considerable of manly force and vigor, we find in Lord Derby's version; but, within the few months since it appeared, five new competitors are stated to have entered the field, — pretty good evidence that it is not to be considered as having supplied the want. And yet it may not be too much to say, that, for the average English reader, with average English taste, it is the most satisfactory version that has yet appeared.

*

Without encumbering himself with hexameters or rhymes, or any of the metrical absurdities which sometimes beguile unwary translators, Lord Derby has wisely adopted that simplest and most useful of all metres, the heroic blank verse. "In the progress of this work," he writes in the preface," I have been more and more confirmed in the opinion which I expressed at its commencement, that (whatever may be the extent of my own individual failure), if justice is ever to be done to the easy flow and majestic simplicity of the grand old poet, it can only be in the heroic blank verse." His management of this measure evinces much skill and judgment; and his verse is, except in a few instances, strong, clear, polished, and harmonious. In respect to an almost literal fidelity, he is also entitled to high praise; and, though the necessities of a translator sometimes compel him to weaken the force of the original by the adoption of a too diffuse style, his sins

* The Iliad of Homer, rendered in English Blank Verse. By Edward, Earl of Derby. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. 2 vols.

in this particular are comparatively few. Much of the spirit and vivacity and homely simplicity of the original have been preserved; and the language of the translator is uniformly correct and dignified where these characteristics are justified by the original.

It is well that these beautiful and not too costly volumes have done something to nationalize among us the taste for this fascinating study; but wish that some publisher might feel justified in offering to American readers the advantage of comparing it with Newman's Iliad, with Worsley's Odyssey, and with some one or more of its five successors in the field.

THE author of "Atalanta in Calydon,"* by a single effort, has placed himself in the foremost rank of the younger English poets; and, if the future productions of his pen redeem the promise of his first poem, he will prove himself the undisputed successor of Tennyson and Browning, and their worthy rival. Adopting for his theme a well-known Greek myth, he has treated it with so much power, with such an affluence of imagination, and such a command of the resources of his art, as to make his comparatively brief tragedy one of the most remarkable productions of its class, which, so far as we remember, has been written within the lifetime of this generation. Thoroughly classic in spirit and form, it bears enough of the marks of modern taste and culture to make it welcome even to those who care little for the Greek drama. The story itself is one of the saddest of the Greek fables; but it is admirably suited to Mr. Swinburne's purpose, and in its development he has shown at once how thoroughly his mind has been saturated with the influence of Grecian literature, and how rich and various are his powers. His imagination is vigorous and healthful; and, if his diction is sometimes too copious and affluent, it is never weak or commonplace. There are single lines and passages of the most exquisite beauty and finish scattered all through the poem, which linger in the memory long after the reader has closed the volume. Indeed, Mr. Swinburne's skill in versification is scarcely less striking and admirable than the strength of his imagination and the warmth of his fancy. In only one respect is his versification justly open to criticism: the exuberance of his imagination sometimes renders him obscure, by leading him to multiply metaphors and comparisons; but this obscurity is never, we believe, the result of ambiguity in the mind of the writer, while his verse is always smooth and graceful. From powers of so high an order much may be anticipated; and we shall look with great interest for Mr. Swinburne's next volume, which we see is already announced as in press.

THE most elegant volume which has issued from the American press during the current year is the new selection of "Gems from

Atalanta in Calydon. A Tragedy. By Algernon Charles Swinburne. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1865. 16mo.

Tennyson." * Of the contents of the volume, we need only say that it comprises most of the favorite pieces to which every reader first turns in any selection from Tennyson; and the paper, press work, and binding are unexceptionable. But the chief attraction is in the engravings, thirty-two in number, which are not only beautiful as pictures, but are real illustrations of the author's meaning. Many, perhaps most, of them, we are glad to say, are by American artists and engravers; while those to which English names are attached have been selected with excellent judgment. Where all the illustrations are so meritorious, it might be difficult to select any for special praise; but we have been particularly struck by those from the pencil of Hennessy, and by a little sea-view by Kensett. In no respect is this book inferior to the best illustrated editions of the poets which have appeared in former years; and the illustrations, we think, are better than we have seen in any similar volume.

NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

THEOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS.

Congregationalism; what it is, whence it is, how it works, why it is better than any other Form of Church Government, and its Consequent Demands. By Henry M. Dexter. Boston: Nichols & Noyes. 8vo. pp. 306.

The Radical Creed; a Discourse. By David A. Wasson, at his Installation as Minister of the Twenty-Eighth Congregational Society of Boston. With the Installation Services. Boston: Walker, Fuller, & Co. pp. 40.

Address at the Funeral of Rev. Samuel Abbot Smith. By Thomas Hill; with the Discourse by Rufus P. Stebbins on the Sunday following; and a Sermon by Mr. Smith. Boston: Walker, Fuller, & Co. pp. 32.

The Nation's Sacrifice; Abraham Lincoln. Two Discourses by A. D. Mayo. Cincinnati: Robert Clark & Co. pp. 28.

East and West. By the Same. pp. 33.

Sabbath Psalter; a Selection of Psalms for Public and Family Worship. Compiled by Rev. Henry J. Fox. New York: Carlton & Porter. pp. 236. Reminiscences, Historical and Biographical, of Sixty-four Years in the Ministry. By Rev. Henry Boehm. New York: Carlton & Porter. 12mo. pp. 493.

HISTORY AND POLITICS.

Life of Michael Angelo, by Hermann Grimm. Translated by Fanny Elizabeth Bunnètt. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 558, 519. (A brilliant and enthusiastic sketch of the period and the group of celebrated men famous as the age of Michael Angelo. It is somewhat overcrowded with incident, though generally picturesque and clear; and the translation, while mostly easy and idiomatic, sometimes leaves the author's sense obscure, betraying here and there an ignorance of detail in the translator, which careful editing should remove. It is one of the most beautiful works of the American press, and deserves a more full review, which we hope to give in January.)

* Gems from Tennyson. With Illustrations by W. J. Hennessy, J. F. Kensett, S. Eyhinge, jr., F. O. C. Darley, &c., &c. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1865. 4to.

Thoughts on the Future Civil Policy of America. By John William Draper. New York: Harper & Brothers. 8vo. pp. 325. (We are disappointed of the review we hoped to receive of this very valuable and striking book. As a picturesque exhibition of the physical condition of American life, the facts of climate, and of physical as connected with political geography, together with the parallels furnished by other times and lands, it stands alone. In some of its most brilliant passages, such as that on what we owe to Asia (p. 72), and on the career of the Saracens in Europe (pp. 179-198), it forms both a parallel and a sequel to Professor Draper's History of the Intellectual Development of Europe. With its many merits, we think, however, that its value as a discussion of political philosophy is injured by the form and style of Lectures which it adopts.)

The Works of the Right Honorable Edmund Burke. Revised edition. Boston: Little & Brown. (A very convenient and beautiful library edition.) Crown 8vo. Vols. i. ii. pp. 537, 576.

Speeches of John Bright, M.P., on the American Question. With an Introduction by Frank Moore. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. 12mo. Pp. 278.

POETRY AND FICTION.

Companion Poets for the People. Illustrated.-1. Household Poems. By Henry W. Longfellow. 2. Songs for all Seasons. By Alfred Tennyson. 3. National Lyrics. By John G. Whittier. 4. Lyrics of Life. By Robert Browning. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 16mo. pp. 96. 5. Voices of Nature. By William Cullen Bryant. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

The Poetry of the Orient. By William Rounseville Alger. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 16mo. pp. 337. (An edition of this work, numbering sixteen hundred copies, was published in 1856. It is now out of print. The present edition is enlarged by considerable new introductory matter, and by over one hundred additional specimens; also by an Appendix, consisting of poems not of an oriental character.)

Works of Charles Dickens; Household edition. Pictures from Italy and American Notes; 2 vols. Also, The Uncommercial Traveller. New York: Sheldon & Co. pp. 285, 318.

My Married Life at Hillside. By Barry Gray. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 12mo. pp. 290.

Denis Donne. By Annie Thomas; Belial. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Standish; a Story of our Day. Boston: Loring.

SCIENCE AND EDUCATION.

Hypodermic Injections in the Treatment of Neuralgia, Rheumatism, Gout, and other Diseases. By Antoine Ruppaner. Boston: Burnham. 16mo. pp. 160.

An Intellectual Arithmetic, upon the Inductive Method, with an Introduction to Written Arithmetic. By James S. Eaton. Boston: Taggard & Thompson. pp. 176.

Chambers's Encyclopedia; a Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People. Vol. vii. Numismatics-Puerperal Mania. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 8vo. pp. 828.

The Tenth and Twelfth Books of the Institutions of Quintilian, with Explanatory Notes. By Henry S. Friezer. pp. 175. Hand-book of the Steam Engine, containing all the Rules required for the Right Construction and Management of Engines of every class; with the easy arithmetical solution of those rules, constituting a Key to the Catechism of the Steam Engine. By John Bourne. pp. 474. On Radiation: the "Rede" Lecture, delivered before the University of Cambridge. By John Tyndall. pp. 48. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

INDEX

TO THE

CHRISTIAN EXAMINER,

NEW SERIES, VOL. XVII.

JULY TO NOVEMBER, 1865.