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COVENTRY PATMORE.

MR. COVENTRY KERSEY DEIGHTON PATMORE was born July 23rd, 1823; he is the son of the late Mr. Peter George Patmore, author of The Months,' 'Chatsworth,' 'Literary Reminiscences,' etc., who was one of the earliest contributors to 'Blackwood's Magazine,' and the intimate friend of Charles Lamb, Hazlitt, Barry Cornwall, Plumer Ward, and various other writers of the last generation.

Coventry Patmore's early education was in great part conducted by his father, to whose accomplished taste in poetry, and strict but appreciative criticism of his son's early verses, that son in his maturer age attributes whatsoever artistic merit he himself discovers in his poetry.

For some two or three years he pursued the study of mathematics and chemistry with much ardour, the first impulse as to his career in life being towards science. During a subsequent period the Church was his intended profession, but his hopes in this direction were frustrated, firstly through the difficulty experienced by his father in providing him with the needful University education, and secondly through his own uncertainty as to the true position of the Church of England. He did not, however, abandon these studies until he had accumulated a stock of Scriptural and theological knowledge which materially assisted him in his subsequent writings, and which has tended to give his principal work that gravity of intention which distinguishes it from other poems on similar subjects.

In 1844, whilst his entering Holy Orders was still a matter of uncertainty, Coventry Patmore published his first volume of 'Poems,' which, although it met with much favourable notice.

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from the critics, nevertheless provoked a furious onslaught in 'Blackwood's Magazine.' The most important result of the publication of this volume, at least in reference to the career of the young poet, was, that, unsolicited, an eminent statesman offered to obtain for him some public employment which should relieve him from the necessity of making literature his principal means of livelihood. Thus, probably, the production of The Angel in the House' is ultimately, although indirectly, due to the thoughtful kindness of this nobleman.

Unquestionably, however, its direct cause was owing to the poet's marriage with Miss Emily Andrews, the daughter of the Rev. Edward Andrews, LL.D. This lady appears, from the dedication of the poem and a note appended to an edition of it which was published after her death, to have been not only the inspirer of the work, but to have constantly assisted its progress by her suggestions and criticisms.

Whilst still in the heyday of her youth and beauty, this lady, after a long illness, died, leaving her husband six children, and the consolation of having honoured her by his works to the fullest of his powers.

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The Poems' published in 1844 were succeeded, after a period of nine years, by Tamerton Church Tower.' This volume consisted mainly of experiments and studies toward the chief work of the writer's life, The Angel in the House.' This graceful and carefully elaborated poem had already been some years in progress. It has been published in four separate parts, the first in 1854 and the last in 1862, only a few months previous to the death of the poet's wife.

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To this beautiful and tender delineation of high-minded, noblehearted, Christian conjugal affection, The Angel in the House,' Ruskin refers in the appendix to his Elements of Drawing,' when, enumerating the poetical works of the best English and American authors, he observes, “The Angel in the House' is a most finished piece of writing, and the sweetest analysis we possess of modern domestic feeling."

To the above we may add, that the work which Dante, Petrarch, and Camoens did for their age and nations in the celebration of their ideals of female beauty and excellence, Mr. Patmore may without untruth be said to have done for the nineteenth century.

"There lies before his constant mind

An image, time-endeared, of one

Who is to him all womankind;

Honoria call her; she confers

Bright honour when she breathes his name."

And around this cherished image, the loving husband and graceful poet has created a poetical world, filled with the refinements and ennobling influence of English domestic life. The prototype of "Honoria" was essentially his muse, his Beatrice, his Laura, his Catherine, and in the poet's own words we will give the origin of the poem which began in the love of this lady and has closed in the unspeakable sorrow of her death. The poet, Felix Vaughan, and his wife, are conversing about the subject of the poem which he is about to commence. Honoria suggests the heroic deeds of "Prince Arthur" or the " Fall of Jerusalem," but her husband observes,

"Neither your gentle self, my wife,
And love, that grows from one to all.
And if I faithfully proclaim
Of these the exceeding worthiness,
Surely the sweetest wreath of Fame
Shall, to your hope, my brows caress ;
And if, by virtue of my choice

Of this the most heart-touching theme
That ever tuned a poet's voice,

I live, as now I dare to dream,

To be delight to future days,

And into silence only cease

When those are dead who shared their bays

With Laura and with Beatrice,

Imagine, Love, how learned men
Will deep-conceived devices find,
Beyond my purpose and my ken,

An ancient Bard of simple mind!

You Sweet, his Mistress, Wife, and Muse,

Were you for mortal Woman meant?

Your praises give a hundred clues

To mythological intent!

And, severing thus the truth from trope,

In you the Commentators see

Some Faith, some Charity, some Hope,

Some, wiser, think you all the Three."

In the following lines the poet expresses the chivalrous and

ardent love for womanhood which has ever dwelt in his heart, and for the graceful expression of which womanhood will ever remain his grateful debtor.

"I think with utterance free to raise

That Hymn for which the whole world longs,
A worthy Hymn in Woman's praise;
A Hymn bright-noted like a bird's,
Arousing these song-sleepy times
With rhapsodies of perfect words,
Ruled by returning kiss of rhymes,

And were such post to seek I'd ask
To live her Laureate all my life.
On wings of love uplifted free,

And by her gentleness made great,
I'd teach how noble man should be

To match with such a lovely mate;
And then in her would move the more
The woman's wish to be desired,
(By praise increased,) till both should soar,
With blissful emulations fired.

And, as geranium, pink, or rose

Is thrice itself through power of art,
So might my happy skill disclose

New fairness even in her fair heart;

Until that churl should nowhere be

Who bent not, awed, before the throne

Of her affecting majesty,

So meek, so much unlike our own;

Until (for who may hope too much

From her who wields the powers of love!)

Our lifted lives at last should touch

That blissful goal to which they move;

Until we find, as darkness rolls

Far off, and fleshly mists dissolve,

That nuptial contrasts are the poles

On which the heavenly spheres revolve."

In this age of feverish hurry, and of rapid publication of rapidly conceived and rapidly executed works, honour is due to Mr. Patmore for the respect which he has shown to the public in the care with which he has matured his poems, and in the patience and self-restraint which he has exercised in giving them forth to the world, as shown in the long periods which have elapsed between the date of their respective publications.

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