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stock, whilst the book may be compared to rests mainly on a single drama. It is as a new and fertile island which is made to the author of Ion that he takes rank in the spring up where all before was a barren republic of letters; and this remarkable waste of waters? The common law of Eng-production was first printed for private cirland gave the author his copyright in per- culation-i.e., for all practical purposes, petuity. Why should the Legislature in-published-in April 1835, just after his terpose to limit it? Surely if the sacred election for Reading, and in the plenitude of principle of property was to be infringed at his forensic celebrity. The circumstances all in his case, the wiser and juster species under which it was composed are detailed in of interference would have been a law to the preface. From boyhood he had been save him from the consequences of his own passionately attached to the drama; and improvidence, by prohibiting the entire his fondness for it had been naturally enalienation of his works, as in the case of hanced by its having been originally tasted some celebrated recipients of the national in the tempting shape of forbidden fruit. bounty. Unless military exploits so far "Denied by the conscientious scruples of transcend literary or scientific services as to friends an early acquaintance with plays," exclude the parallel, there is no reason why he enjoyed them with all the keener relish Scott's Novels, or Burns' Poems, should when he was at liberty to indulge his longnot have been permanently entailed as well suppressed inclinations; and the stage forthas Blenheim or Strathfieldsaye. Plausible, with became in his eyes the grand centre of if not incontrovertible, as were such argu- interest,—the luminous point in the horizon, ments, Mr. Macaulay, Mr. Warburton, and towards and around which (with the due Mr. Grote met and neutralized them, by reserve for professional duties,) all his dwelling on the great advantage to the pub- thoughts, wishes, and associations were to lic of cheapening standard books by deduct- converge and cluster. During many years ing the author's profit, and by expatiating the dramatic department of the New Monthon the contingency that an heir might turn ly Magazine was under his management; up bigoted or stupid enough to be ashamed and he was required to discuss the merits of of his literary progenitor, and anxious to every new play or performer of note,—a suppress his works. Why authors should task which he executed with spirit, with be plundered for the supposed benefit of the ability, and with as much impartiality as public was not very clearly shewn, whilst could be commanded by a critic who seldom the impossibility of suppressing a published summoned courage to pass a condemnatory book is notorious; but Talfourd had laid sentence on the most incorrigible offender, himself under a disadvantage by claiming and who rarely made a passing allusion to only an extension of the legislative term, friends without praising them. He speedily instead of carrying out the principle of got acquainted with the leading actors; and property to its legitimate consequences, and so completely did he indentify himself with at the end of a five years struggle he was the varying fame and fortunes of those obliged to rest satisfied with an addition of amongst them who best embodied his favourseven years. ite characters, as to feel their occasional

In 1848, he was raised to the bench of triumphs and successes as his own. His the Common Pleas, and received the cus-intimacy with Mr. Macready-in whom tomary honour of knighthood. His promo- were combined the feelings and accomplishtion was justly due to his professional posi- ments of a highly educated gentleman, with tion and general character. He was a sound aristic qualities of rare and acknowledged lawyer: he was the soul of honour and excellence-obviously exercised a strong integrity: his judgment was clear, and his and durable influence on his studies and understanding excellent; nor did he in any modes of thought; indeed, there can be litrespect disappoint the favourable expecta- tle doubt that the part of the hero in each tions which those who knew him well had of his own plays was consciously or unconformed of his fitness to be a judge. The sciously composed with an especial reference peculiar incidents of his death must be to his friend: and when he was moulding freshly remembered by most of our readers. Ion, Thoas, or Halbert Macdonald, into He was struck by apoplexy in the act of shape, the bodily image constantly present addressing the Grand Jury from the judicial to his mind's eye was that of the familiar seat at Stafford during the Spring Assizes of form with which all his liveliest impressions 1854, and he died a few hours afterwards at his lodgings in that town.

We now turn back to the most eventful era in his life, considered with reference to his claims on posterity. His literary fame

of scenic heroism, dignity, grace, and tenderness were mixed up. In his preface he thus alludes to the progress made by the drama during the preceding twelve years:—

"It has happened to me to be intimately ac-Fortune, and the Furies, are constantly at quainted with all those who contributed to this hand to account for any improbability of inimpulse, and to take an immediate interest in cident or inconsistency of character; and their successes. I also enjoyed the friendship of the delightful artist to whom all have, by turns, been indebted for the realization of their noblest conceptions, and was enabled to enjoy, with more exquisite relish, the home-born affection with which these were endued, and the poetical grace breathed around them, by finding the same influences shed by Mr. Macready over the sphere of his social and domestic life. It will not be surprising that, to one thus associated, the old

itself to me."

provided the turns and surprises be in 'keep-
ing with the old superstition, and hang tole-
rably well together, neither readers nor au-
dience will be over-rigid in enforcing the
Horatian precept, that the knot should be
worthy of the god.

If Talfourd made free use of this recognised license, it must be admitted that he did not abuse it. The plot, although its march wish to accomplish something in dramatic shape is somewhat slow and funereal, is not devoid should recur, not accompanied by the hope of sharing in the scenic triumphs of his friends, of interest; and the scene in which Adrastus but bounded by the possibility of conducting a discovers his son, and the catastrophe, are tale through dialogue to a close, and of making well contrived. The illusion is rarely broken it subserve to the expression of some cherished by an incongruity, and the blank verse is thoughts. In this state of feeling, some years smooth, graceful, and flowing,-indeed, too ago, the scheme of the drama of Ion presented flowing, for the meaning is often clouded by a redundancy of harmonious sentences, The title, he had already stated, is borrow- which the author poured forth with a facility ed from the tragedy of Euripides, which rivalling that of the gentleman (mentioned gave the first hint of the situation in which by Horace) who wrote standing on one foot. the hero is introduced-that of a foundling There are passages, too, instinct with deep youth educated in a temple, and assisting reflection, as well as whole scenes of soft and in its services; "but otherwise," he adds, winning sentiment; but still the vis vivida, "there is no resemblance between this im- the creative touch, the inspiring power, are perfect sketch and that exquisite picture." wanting. There are no thoughts that breathe Garrick complained He does not appear to have been aware that or words that burn. the same resemblance might be traced be- of Johnson's Irene, that declamation roared, tween Ion and the Joas of Racine's Athalie. whilst passion slumbered. In Ion, declamaIt has been thought strange that an enthusi- tion rather murmurs than roars, and passion astic admirer of the dramatists of the Eliza- never actually falls asleep; but the critic, bethan period, and one, too, who had neither whether reader or spectator, sees that his been bred up at a university nor lived much proper business is to attend to a succession with professed scholars, should have chosen of rhetorical effusions, whilst passion is so a subject from ancient mythology, and have controlled by destiny or decorum, that she elected to cast his thoughts in a Greek mould. is hardly to be distinguished from duty. It He did not belong to that now extinct, or is difficult to imagine a soberer or betteralmost extinct, race of old Etonians and behaved lover than Ion, who is equally calm Oxonians, like the late Marquis of Wellesley and self-possessed whether he has to meet or the late Lord Tenterden, who continued through life to be prouder of their hexameters and iambics than of their exploits as statesmen or judges; neither are his miscellaneous writings distinguished by classical illustrations, nor by that purity or peculiarity of tone which is supposed to be acquired by the assiduous perusal of the Greek and Roman masterpieces. But, as his circuit friends agree, he had long been in the habit of reading Sophocles and EuriIts unprecedented celebrity for a period pides in the original; and he instinctively felt that his genius was better adapted for was owing to a variety of concurring cirmoving gracefully under certain restraints cumstances. In confining the circulation to and within prescribed limits, than for float- a chosen set in the first instance, Talfourd ing free upon the wings of invention, or for was undoubtedly actuated by unaffected soaring up into the dizzy regions of original- diffidence, yet he could not have adopted a ity. A destiny play, on the Greek model, more effective course for securing success. saves a world of trouble and anxiety to an Every recipient of a copy is conciliated by author who is simply in search of a vehicle the compliment, and is led by gratified for his thoughts and sentiments. Fate, vanity to talk kindly of the book. By the

Altoor quit his mistress, or whether he is ordained to stab his father or himself. gether, this play may fairly take rank, as the pleasing and blameless production of a refined and cultivated mind, amongst the best dramas that have been composed for the closet; but when the author's friends proceeded to proclaim it as a decided work of genius in the highest sense of the term, they were clearly hurried into a palpable mistake.

time it is regularly published, hundreds of were constantly reverting in his own deinfluential persons have predisposed the spite to the footlights, and he longed unceas public in its favour; and they must defend ingly for another taste of that publie apthe judgment which they may have laid plause which he had enjoyed in its most down hastily or inconsiderately. In this in- concentrated and intoxicating shape. His stance, also, the author was a popular mem- favourite haunt was the Garrick Club, and ber of a numerous profession, and he had he seldom missed an opportunity of turning just entered the House of Commons, pre- the conversation on the theatre. One would ceded by a well-earned reputation for talent have thought that the House of Commons, and eloquence. Be this as it may, Ion ra- if only by the novelty of the arena, would pidly acquired an extent of fame which will have effected a diversion; yet in 1838 we haply puzzle posterity, and which has been find him writing avowedly for the stage, already followed by a reaction equally dis- with an immediate view to representation, proportioned to the real merits of the poem. from a conviction that he might thereby But the crowning triumph was to come. promote the interests of a friend. "The Mr. Macready selected it for his benefit- existence of the following scenes," he says night, and, on May 26, 1836, it was per- in the Preface to the Athenian Captive, “is formed at Covent-Garden, with all the aids entirely to be attributed to the earnest desire which scenic art could give it. Macready, which I feel to assist, even in the slightest of course, acted Ion, and, although he hardly degree, the endeavour which Mr. Macready looked the stripling, he did full justice to the has made this season in the cause of the essential beauties of the character and the acted drama." The best, honestest, and poetry of the part. He was admirably most clear-sighted of men, are too frequentsupported by Miss Tree, (now Mrs. Kean,) ly self-deceivers, or some surprise might be in Clemanthe; and the audience-mostly felt how Talfourd could so soon have forcomposed of legal, literary, artistic, and gotten what he himself had said about the fashionable notabilities-came prepared to impossibility of moving a modern audience allow for admitted deficiencies of plot and by characters and machinery copied or imistage effect. Amongst the anomalies of the tated from the Greek dramatists. Racine night was a stage-box entirely occupied by induced his patrons to sympathize with his Serjeants, some of whom, it was rumoured, classical heroes and heroines by giving them had never before risked their morals or the conventional costume, manners, and their gravity in a theatre. This performance language of his contemporaries. Shakspeare was eminently successful. The curtain fell attained the same end by nobler means,amidst thunders of applause; and Talfourd by clothing his Greeks and Romans with found himself actually revelling in the in- the attributes which are independent of time toxicating joys of a position which, we sus- and place, and by subjecting them to the pect, had been oftener the subject of the springs of action which are inseparable from waking dreams of his matured ambition human nature all the world over. Talfourd than the woolsack. The author who is pre- requires his public to transport themselves sent on such an occasion has the same evi- to Argos, Corinth, or Athens, and to feel dence and feeling of triumph as the applaud- precisely as Attic readers or spectators ed actor; and John Kemble used to say might have felt 400 years B. C. This is too that there was nothing in life equal to the great a stretch for an English public; and electric sympathy of an excited pit-to that the partial success of his pieces as acting agitated sea of speaking faces and waving plays was certainly owing to the peculiar hands and handkerchiefs. The most admir- circumstances of their production. Galled ed writer, even a Macaulay, gets his praise at this suggestion, although evidently half by driblets. The actor swallows it at a conscious of its truth, he resorted to an exdraught. It is only by a bold figure of periment, which is thus mentioned in the speech that a patriot can read his history Preface to Glencoe :in a nation's eyes," whilst to say that an actor, or an orator, reads his in the eyes of the spectators or audience, is the plain statement of a fact.

66

It was Hazlitt's ordinary advice to any friend who was absorbed by a subject or pursuit," Write a book and clear your mind of it." We collect from Talfourd's Preface that, in printing his drama, he meant to follow this prescription, but it completely failed in his case; his thoughts and wishes

-

"Since this play was prepared for the press it has undergone the ordeal of representation; and, having avowed myself its author, I feel it right to state the circumstances under which it was written and 'commended to the stage.' It was composed in the vacation of 1839, at Glendwyr, in the most beautiful part of North Wales, chiefly for the purpose of embodying the feellands of Scotland had awakened, when I visited ings which the grandest scenery in the Highthem in the preceding autumn. I had no distinct intention at that time of seeking for it a

The manner in which Helen justifies her preference for Henry is exquisitely graceful:

:

trial on the stage; but, having almost uncon- To shapes resembling human, till I saw
sciously blended with the image of its hero the Dimly reveal'd among the ghastly train,
figure, the attitudes, and the tones of the great Familiar forms of living clansmen, dress'd
actor, whom I had associated for many years In vestments of the tomb ;-they glided on,
with every form of tragedy, I could not alto- While strains of martial music from afar
gether repress the hope that I might one day Mock'd their sad flight."-
enjoy the delight of seeing him give life and real-
ity to my imperfect conceptions. After my re-
turn to London the play was printed, merely
for the purpose of being presented to my friends;
but when only two or three copies had been pre-
sented I was encouraged to believe that it would
one day be acted, and I suppressed the edition.
I found that my friend, Mr. Charles Dickens,-
whose generous devotion to my interest amidst
his own triumphant labors I am most happy
thus to boast, had shewn it to Mr. Macready
as the work of a stranger; that it had been read
by him with deep interest; and that he had de-
termined to recommend its production as the
first novelty of the present Haymarket season."

If Mr. Macready did not, on a single perusal, discover that the chief part had been written for him by his old friend and admirer, he is not, nor ever was, the acute and discriminating critic, as well as consummate actor, that we took him for. Why, Glencoe is Talfourd all over, with every one of his characteristic merits and defects-his gentleness and nobility of feeling, his purity of tone, his superabundant flow of mellifluous verse, his fondness for the supernatural, his want of vigour and invention, and his dreaminess. Moreover, if Mr. Macready had not believed Talfourd to be the author, he should have returned the drama as a plagiarism: for Halbert M'Donald bears too strong a likeness to Ion and Thoas to leave a momentary doubt of his parentage; and unswerving faith in the Highland crone's prophecy removes him as completely beyond the reach of common motives as if his course had been

"Pardon me, sweet lady,

But when with Henry, I recall old times,
I look across the intervening years
As a low vale in which fair pastures lie
Unseen, to gaze upon a sunlit bank
On which my childhood sported, and which
grows

Near as I watch it. If his nature seems
Unsoften'd by reflection,—like a rock
Which draws no nurture from the rains, nor
drinks

The sunbeam in that lights it, yet sustains
A plume of heather,-it is crown'd with grace
Which wins the heart it shelters."

Talfourd married young, and was singularly happy in his domestic relations. All his personal experience of women was in their favour, and affectionate devotedness is the distinguishing quality with which he invests each of his heroines. Helen, alone, is redeemed from downright insipidity by a natural touch of feminine weakness. She falls in love with the gay, fickle, and treacherous soldier, instead of the grave, thoughtful, and noble-minded recluse; and although it is difficult to imagine Halbert blind to the real state of his pretty cousin's heart, he accounts for his self delusion in language which amply excuses it :

"Before Heaven,

Of winter's dismal evening, while I strove
I summon you to witness! In the gloom
To melt the icy burthen of the hours
By knightly stories, and rehearsed the fate
Of some high maiden's passion, self-sustained
Through years of solitary hope, or crown'd
In death with triumph, have you not observed,
As fading embers threw a sudden gleam
Upon her beauty, that its gaze was fix'd
On the rapt speaker, with a force that told
How she could lavish such a love on him?

marked out by the finger of destiny. In each of the plays, also, the most striking situation is the one in which the hero stands prepared, from a sense of duty, to inflict death against his will. At the same time, if Mr. Macready thought Ion and the Athenian Captive worthy of the care he bestowed upon them, we do not wonder that his voice was given for the representation of Glencoe; for there is more animation and probability in the plot, and the declamatory passages are, in our opinion, the finest of Talfourd's poetic I have; and then I fancied that she loved you. effusions. For example, when Halbert is narrating his alleged vision:

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LADY MACDONALD.

HALBERT.

Fancied good mother, is that emptiest sound
The comfort that you offer? Is my heart
Fit sport for fancy? Fancied! 'twas as clear
As it were written in the book of God
By a celestial penman. Answer me,

Once more! when hurricanes have rock'd these
walls,

And dash'd upon our wondering ears the roar

Of the far sea, exulting that its wastes
Were populous with agonies; with loves
Strongest in death; with memories of long years,
Grey phantom of an instant,-as my arms
Enfolding each, grew tighter with the sense
Of feebleness to save ;-have you not known
Her looks, beyond the power of language, speak
In resolute contest, how sweet it were
To die so link'd together?"

tunate for the poet's sanity that he was not there to arbitrate. A young Scotchman who alone, of all the original party, had endured the pitiless pelting of the storm, having decided in the Professor's favour, the learned Serjeant protested against this judgment as unfair, and seizing his hat, rushed out to appeal to the watchman, who was crying "past two," before the door. He could His posthumous drama, The Castilian, never recall the terms of the Scotch Dogmanifests no enlargement of range or im- berry's award; but he well remembered provement in execution, and is mainly wor- waking and finding himself, the next afterthy of note as an additional proof of his un- noon, in bed, at his hotel, his intention havabated passion for the stage. In fact, he ing been to start at 8 A. M. for Loch Lomond. watched every fresh competitor for the hon- The effects of the constant study of Wordsours of dramatic authorship with a feverish worth may be traced in all Talfourd's meanxiety, which not unfrequently caused one trical compositions; and some of his sonnets of the kindest-hearted and most generous of have a good deal of the elevating tone and human beings to wear the guise of a jealous practised hand of the master. The followand carping rival. Although always readying, for example, "To Charles Dickens, on in his writings to admit, or even to exagger- his Oliver Twist," is good :— ate, the merits of contemporaries, he was a perfect Sir Fretful Plagiary whenever a new play was discussed in his presence; and many a former object of his idolatry sank down into a commonplace or faulty writer from the time when he or she was perforce compared with the author of Ion. If he took up a newspaper, his eye wandered instinctively to the theatrical columns, and he may have been seen daily stopping to read one set of play-bills after another, on his way to and from Westminster Hall. The late Mr. Rogers used to relate that a literary friend, with whom he was walking on the sands near Broadstairs, happening to say that he should see Talfourd that evening, he (Rogers) asked, "Are you going to town or is he coming here?" "Neither one nor the other; but I see that Glencoe is to be acted to-night at the Dover Theatre. I am sure he will be there; and as I wish to see him, I shall go over upon the chance." He did go, and the first object that met his eye on entering the theatre, was Talfourd in a stage-box, listening in rapt attention to his own verses.

ever

Next in order to this mania, was his admiration for Wordsworth's poetry, "which," he maintained, "has exerted a purifying influence on the literature of this country, such as no other individual power has wrought." He was fond of telling an amusing illustration of his enthusiasm on this subject. During one of his visits to Edinburgh, he was dining with the late Pro fessor Wilson, who professed the same taste, and when they were tolerably far advanced into the mirth and fun of a Nox Ambrosiana, a laughing dispute arose as to which recited Wordsworth best; and here we must be excused for suggesting, that, if the Professor did not recite better than Talfourd, it is for

"Not only with the Author's happiest praise
Thy work should be rewarded; 'tis akin
To deeds of men, who, scorning ease, to win
A blessing for the wretched, pierce the maze
Where fruitful Sorrow tracks its parent Sin;
Which heedless ages spread around the ways
Content to listen to the wildest din

Of passion, and on fellest shapes to gaze
So they may earn the power which intercedes
With the bright world, and melt it; for within
Wan childhood's squalid haunts, where basest
needs

Make tyranny more bitter, at thy call
An angel face with patient sweetness pleads
For infant suffering to the heart of all.”

The best specimens of his composition, however, are to be found in his prose works, and the delineation of character was a department in which he strikingly excelled. His sketches of Lord Brougham and the late Lord Abinger, in his Essay on the Bar, are admirable; but we prefer quoting the following graphic portrait of the late Lord Tenterden from the Law Magazine for February 1833, because it has not been reprinted, and will be new to most readers :

"The elevation of Lord Tenterden to the

highest judicial seat in the Common Law Courts of England, and the character which he sustained while he filled it, afford a vivid example of the truth, that men succeed as often by their deficiencies as by their endowments. He reached his place, and held it to the general satisfaction of his countrymen, not only without the aid of any great or splendid qualities, but by reason of his entire want of all. The sole judicial virtue of his mind, was that of impartiality; not mere independence of external inthe mind itself to take a part or receive a bias. fluences, but the general absence of tendency in How beneficial this peculiarity must prove in the judicial investigation of the ordinary differ

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