Page images
PDF
EPUB

whole verse into unity. It is impossible here and in like manner nothing resembling the to do more than indicate the value of liquids, vulgar alliteration can be endured. It is only whether alliterative or not, in giving ease the more subtle kind which yields any pleasand swiftness to the flow of words; or to ure in the mouth of an orator or a philosdwell upon the curious affinity which some opher. The following sentence from Sir letters manifest for one another and whence Thomas Browne, who is confessedly one of are derived the semi-alterations of b and pand our most musical prose writers, will prove to of t and d, etc. what extent the harmonies of assonance and alliteration may be employed upon the gravest subjects :

It remains to speak of what we termed assonance. This chiefly consists in the use of open vowels, and for this reason all the most "Even that vulgar and tavern music which harmonious passages of prose or verse abound makes one man merry, another mad, strikes in o's and a's. On this depend the full-voice in me a deep fit of devotion, and a profound and flowing harmonies of the Dorian Hexam- contemplation of the first composer." eter; and this gives more grace to the open- We have marked some of the consonants in ing of Coleridge's Kubla Khan than even its italics to show how complex and interwoven profuse alliteration. When the successions is the alliterative structure of this passage. of similar consonants and vowels are propealy The sentence falls naturally into two sections. interwoven, we derive the most exquisite In the first the assonance of a is predomipleasure that the sound of language can nant, in the second the assonance of o. convey. This charm, for instance, pervades such lines as

"Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore."

and that passage of the Paradise Lost which begins

"Anon they move

In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood
Of flutes and soft recorders-"

where sound succeeds to sound in mazes like
the labyrinthine rhymes of Danté's Comedy;
nor is the voice or ear fatigued by quick and
clipping repetitions.

Hitherto, we have drawn our illustrations only from verse. But the same analysis may be applied to all prose writing of the higher sort which pretends to any rhythmic movement and melodious sound. As the structure of prose, however, is far less regular, though often more complex, than that of verse, so also the alliteration and assonance which may infallibly be detected in its periods as soon as they become harmonious are sometimes more difficult to trace. A rhyme or a jingling cadence is instantly perceived in prose writing,

In these remarks we have done no more than vaguely indicate two elements in the music of language. It is clear that they by no means constitute all or the greater part of this music, which, like that of sound, is a perfect and organic whole, incapable of disintegration into harmony, melody, time, phrase, and rhythm, except for the purpose of analysis. Indeed, too great dependence on their aid, as we have seen, will lead a poet into fantastic and tedious extravagance. He should not think of them in the process of composition, but trust to his ear; for if he can beat out any music at all, he may be sure that none will come without a certain proportion of both assonance and alliteration. To know how to use them justly, and how to help a halting sentence by their aid during the process of correction, is almost as important to good writing as an ear for the proper collocation of short and long sentences in a paragraph, or of short and long words in a sentence, or for the avoidance of disagreeable sibilations and teeth-breaking knots of consonantal sounds.

A

THE SOUTH NOT ABLE TO STAND.

[From the Army and Navy Gazette, the accepted British military organ, of the 15th of August, chiefly conducted by W. H. Russell, the former correspondent of the Times.]

strike any longer; in fact, something is to take place, which has certainly not yet taken place, and which is to undo the knot of facts accomplished which is just now pressing under the Southern ear.

COMPENSATIONS OF THE WAR.

WHAT use, then, is there in prophesying Let us continue-let us stick now to our or speculating, in view of the facts before our hard facts. In July, 1861, after the battle eyes? These facts are, the retreat of Lee to of Bull Run, the boundary of the Southern the neighborhood of Richmond, after a disas- Confederacy, as drawn by their bayonets in trous attempt on Pennsylvania, founded, it actual line, ran through the line of the appears, on a miscalculation of the resources Potomac, the center of Kentucky, and the of the Confederate Government in men, and center of Missouri. The Confederates held the consequent re-occupation by the Federals the Green river, had camps at Columbus, from of the Shenandoah Valley and of the line of which they threatened Cairo, and encamped the Rappahannock; the complete possession higher up in Missouri, held St. Louis itself of the Mississippi by the Federals, so that, in alarm; they had possession of every seaport contrary to our expectations, trade has com- south of Baltimore; they had a blockade of menced between St. Louis and New Orleans; the Potomac. Fort Pickens was the solitary their solid establishment in Tennessee, and standpost for the Federal flag in Southern their less tranquil, but not less secure, sway seas. The line has now receded far indeed, over Kentucky; their undisputed dominancy and to it have marched up the advancing in the State of Mississippi itself, their ap- Federals. This has been accomplished, we proach to the frontiers of Georgia and Ala- are told at the cost of an actual debt, on the bama; their grip of the seaboard tightening 1st of July, 1863, of $1,097,274,356, or in gradually; their strongholds established along round numbers, of £219,600,000. Gold the coast of North Carolina and South Caro- stands at 24 premium in New York; in Richlina and Florida; their effectual severance of mond it is 1100 premium. the States of Texas and Arkansas from the rest of the Confederacy, and their undisturbed hold of Missouri. Add to this catalogue the danger, very imminent, to Charleston, Savannah, ONE of the compensations of the war, if prosand Mobile, of destruction or capture by the ecuted to righteous conclusions, may be a more Federal forces, and the increasing stringency universal and deeper and truer sentiment of naof the Federal blockade the vast losses of tionality. This sentiment has been to a large men not to be replaced on the part of the extent wanting heretofore. Almost from the Confederacy, and the constant spread of Fed- formation of the Union, sectionalism has preeral conquest, and it requires philosophy, vented us from being one people., Multitudes metaphysics, historical parallels, and im- at the North have really known but little of mense faith to believe that the South can the South; whilst the immense majority at the continue her resistance to the North in the South have been grossly deceived and sadly field, or preserve her States from the sway of ignorant in regard to the North. Trade and Washington pro-consuls. On the other hand, commerce and social intercommunion have there is said to be dissension in the North; not prevented this unfortunate alienation from there certainly have been riots in some North- being carried so far as to make portions of ern cities; the people will not enlist, and will the country respectively as almost foreign not suffer conscription to be enforced. They lands. The causes of this putting and keepwill all be ruined by a financial crisis. The ing asunder have been obvious enough. The war is only carried on by shoddy contractors "-very gallant must they be-and politicians and clergy-very numerous and very valiant must they be, too. The country is so vast that it cannot be conquered or held. The North is not in earnest, or is tired of the war, or is corrupt or cowardly, and only fights with Irish and German hands, which wont

66

interests of ambitious politicians and aristocratic slaveholders explain it. These parties understood whence their whole strength and influence was obtained. Accordingly they fostered a vicious, exclusive local pride, urged the doctrine that allegiance was first due to a single State, instead of the United States; and claimed a virtual independence of the

They were able to do this by acting together as an oligarchy, by keeping up a system of misrepresentation, by appealing to the fears of those harassed with the system of slavery, and by making bargains and compromises with mere partisans, who were kin-politicians.

Federal Government, whenever it interfered | vile lies of arch-conspirators, aided by the with their arrogant pretensions. equally vile misrepresentations of Northern demagogues. Thousands at the South will soon come to understand that the North is contending for nationality, the Union, and republican freedom, and that slavery is the only antagonist to these, as it is used by ambitious

dred spirits, in the Free States. Working Thousands at the South are beginning to these appliances, they succeeded in produc comprehend what the one obstacle is to their ing an isolation which separated their terri- amicably rivalling the Free States in populatory from the rest of the country by a sort of tion, prosperity, and all that ennobles compolitico-moral Chinese wall. At last they monwealths. They are studying contrasts overdid their work. They ventured upon an and instituting comparisons. The result of attempt to split the Republic, and on one of this will be a greater devotion to the unity of its fragments to set up a dominion of their the republic and a conviction that in that own. The question was thus raised whether unity they are to be themselves strong. Slavthe nation should allow itself to be destroyed, ery is not only on trial,-it is already doomed. to be shorn of its strength, glory, and fame, With the passing away of that, the partition and have the fundamental principles of its or- wall falls; and concord and harmony are sure ganization repudiated on its own soil. Those to come sooner or later. All fear of the perwho brought up the fearful issue recklessly manence of bitter hatred is absurd. Annihiappealed for its settlement to the sword. late the despotism of the slave power, and those whom it has kept under its iron rule will speedily read its real character, and learn that the war it began to wage to increase its dominion was-overruled to be a war for their deliverance.

Notwithstanding the fearful instrumentalities to which they have resorted, they bid fair to build rather than destroy-to cement rather than to disintegrate. They have invited the North down into the South. They have brought those together, who otherwise might never have met, for a mutual understanding. True, the meeting is at first in fierce conflict and as foes. But this is not to be the end of it. Only a small minority-a minority that amounts only to a fortieth part of the population-in the Slave States, have a strong personal interest in this contest. The majority are betrayed into it by their own prejudices and passions, and deluded through these by unprincipled and despotic leaders. As after a fight the opposing combatants often lose animosity and fraternize in reciprocal helpfulness, so will it be with this collision of sections that have been forced into false relations. Thousands at the South will soon find out that the usual charges against the North are the

Add to these considerations, that the Eastern, Western, and Middle States have been struggling side by side, that the Pacific shore has sent men to stand shoulder to shoulder with the men of the Atlantic coast, for one flag, one country, and one equal, just, and free Government, and it requires no gift of prophesy to foretell how much stronger and purer than ever before will be the sentiment of nationality. The war-path will thus prove to be the way of wisdom and the road to an honorable peace. Nothing to-day postpones the grandest concord except the autocracy of the slave power, and the selfish, sordid partyspirit, that is ready to sacrifice everything to mere party ascendency.-Boston Transcript, 22. Sept.

THE ANGEL IN CAMP.

FROM Old St. Paul till now,

Of honorable women not a few

Have left their golden ease in love to do
The saintly work that Christlike hearts pursue.

And such an one art thou, God's fair apostle,
Bearing his love in war's horrible train;
Thy blessed feet follow his ghastly pain,
And misery, and death, without disdain.

To one borne from the sullen battle's roar;
Dearer the greeting of thy gentle eyes,
When he aweary, torn, and bleeding, lies,
Than all the glory that the victors prize.

When peace shall come, and homes shall
again,

"MORE LIGHT."

"MORE light! more light!" when sunset hues

are steeping

All heaven and earth in waves of living light,
And Silence o'er creation calmly creeping,
With lifted fingers whispers her good-night.

"More light! more light!" when dawn's soft
golden tresses,

Blown through the sky, proclaim the vigil o'er, And rosy, to the zephyr's sweet caresses,

Aurora smiles through Heaven's half-opened door.

"More light! more light!" when doubt with iron fingers,

Has fastened on the ardent living soul. smile"More light!" to cheer the heart where love yet lingers,

A thousand soldier-hearts in Northern climes
Shall tell their little children with their rhymes,
Of the sweet saint who blessed the old war-times.

THE HERO'S MOTHER.

And point the way that faith may find the goal.

"More light!" when from the rugged road of duty,

The tempter with his lures would lead astray, "More light!" to sweep the mask of joy and beauty

[blocks in formation]

From promises which wile but to betray.

More light!" when from the heart the hope most cherished

Goes out in deepest darkness and despair. "More light! to live when life's desire has perished,

And Heaven seems to close against our prayer. "More light!" upon the page so full of wonder, Which God's great gracious love to man has

given;

That through the yeil which Christ has rent
asunder

The light may stream to show the path to
Heaven.

"More light!" for dying eyes when sunlight fails them,

And all creation quivers to the sight,
"More light!"-O God! Thy light alone avails
them,

And Thou wilt give it, for Thou art the Light.
-Temple Bar.

THE CRIMSON TREE.

I PASSED through the woods one Autumn day,
And watched the flashing glory

Of oak and walnut and maple and fir,

And heeded their saddening story. The sermon they preached was searching- and deep,

But the beauty of their strain,

The glittering hues on the mountain steep,
Hushed the troubled thoughts again.

Picture worthy of artist divine,

Where splendor heaped on splendor,

Where lightness with dark, where sombre with

gay,

Where rocks and leafage tender,

Where blue and green, and golden. and brown,
Melt into an artist's dream.

And this pictured temple, myriad hued,

Reared on the faded sod,

Made me inwardly murmur, in accents subdued, "Its Builder and Maker is God."

As I looked, I saw the color of blood,

One tree with crimson dye

Reached upward above the colored flood,
And touched the gentle sky.

Yet 'twas a hue from God's own hand,

His touch had set it there,

Who could never impose on himself command
To mar a dream so fair.

And so when I look on another scene,
The blessings of Home and Land,
The flashing, golden, myriad tints,
The splendors on every hand,
And see the solemn crimson of blood,
It blends with the flashing glory,
And God's own pencil throws a flood
Of light on the saddening story,
And though we sometimes sit and weep
At crimsoned waters flowing,

At the crimsoned leaves on the mountain side,
At the crimson sod slow growing,

Yet this blending of tints, this sombre with gay,
Reveals the hand of the Lord,

And we gladly, and yet all solemnly say,
Its Maker and Builder is God.
-Springfield Republican.

JESSIES SONG.

WHEN the dimpled water slippeth,
Full of laughter on its way,
And her wing the wagtail dippeth,
Running by the brink at play;
When the poplar leaves atremble

Turn their edges to the light,
And the far up clouds resemble

Veins of gaze most clear and white; And the sunbeams fall and flatter,

Woodland moss and branches crown, And the glossy finches chatter

Up and down, up and down: Having music of her own,

On the grass through meadows wending, It is sweet to walk alone.

When the falling waters utter
Something mournful on their way,
And departing swallows flutter,
Taking leave of bank and brea;
When the chaffinch idly sitteth

With her mate upon the sheaves,
And the wistful robbin flitteth
Over beds of yellow leaves;

When the clouds, like ghosts that ponder
Evil fate float by and frown,

And the listless wind doth wander
Up and down, up and down:

Though the heart be not attending
Having sorrows of her own.

Through the fields and fallows wending,
It is sad to walk alone.

JEAN INGELOW.

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »