TO NIGHT. Mysterious Night! when our first parent knew Thee from report divine, and heard thy name, Did he not tremble for this lovely frame, This glorious canopy of light and blue? Yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, Hesperus with the host of heaven came, And lo! Creation widened in man's view. Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed Within thy beams, O Sun! or who could find, Whilst flow'r and leaf and insect stood revealed, That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind! Why do we, then, shun Death with anxious strife? If Light can thus deceive, wherefore not Life? Despite the opinion of one great modern poet, "with this key Shakespeare unlocked his heart;" he never soared higher than when he wrote that marvellous warning against yielding to the sway of the senses; one feels the breath come quicker, as he flashes out the mad pursuit of pleasure, followed by swift disenchantment, ending with the bitter cry: All this the world well knows; yet none knows well To shun the Heaven that leads men to this Hell. It is difficult to select a representative sonnet of Shakespeare's, but the following one is a fine example of his sweetness, and most of the critics seem to consider that the principal quality of his sonnets. I cannot help thinking, however, that Shakespeare, when he spoke of "deepbrained sonnettes," held a different opinion. The following one is a most exquisite description of sunrise, the sun afterwards being obscured by clouds, and Shakespeare compares it with the course of his friendship. Probably the allusion was to an estrangement caused by William Herbert's intimacy with "the dark lady" during Shakespeare's absence. He feels that friendship is too great a thing to be renounced, no matter how rudely it is assailed. Full many a glorious morning I have seen Flatter the mountain tops with sover eign eye, Kissing with golden face the meadows green, Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy: Anon permit the basest clouds to ride With ugly rack on his celestial face, And from the forlorn world his visage hide, Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace: Even so my sun one early morn did shine, With all-triumphant splendor on his brow; But out! alack! he was but one hour mine, The region cloud hath masked him from me now. Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth; Suns of the earth may stain, when heaven's sun staineth. The closing couplet is particularly fine. Shakespeare did not adhere to the Italian form; his sonnets usually work steadily up to a climax, with no appreciable break, instead of being divided into two systems. In Mr. Palgrave's edition they are divided up into three quatrains and a couplet, quite ignoring their construction. He has also very considerately invented fancy titles for them! Shakespeare sets aside the usual rule that there should not be more than two rhymes in the first eight lines, and also the order of the rhymes. Milton did not follow his example, but partially reverted to the Italian style, although maintaining a certain individuality of his own, such as making the break in the middle, instead of at the end of the eighth line, and aiming at one accumulating effect all through the sonnet. His sonnets are too little known, but the following is frequently quoted by some, who would be unable to state whence the quotation was drawn: ON HIS BLINDNESS. When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, And that one talent, which is death to hide, Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest He, returning, chide. "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need Either man's work, or his own gifts. Who best Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state Is kingly. Thousands at His bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve, who only stand and wait." Milton seems to have been familiar with Spenser's "Hymn to Heavenly Love," where the angels are said: Either with nimble wings to cut the skies, When He them on His messages doth send, Or to His own dread presence to attend. But these lines are far inferior in dignity and beauty to those of Milton. In reading his twenty-four sonnets we feel how each is the outcome of some special event or strong feeling, so that each almost might be the heading of a fresh chapter in his history. It would be impertinent to criticise such a poem, but the most casual student will not require attention called to the fact that it belongs to quite a different class of sonnets from Shakespeare's, different from Shakespeare's because so disconnected. Of Venice did not fall below her birth, And what if she had seen those glories fade, Those titles vanish, and that strength decay; Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid When her long life hath reached its final day: Men are we, and must grieve when even the Shade Of that which once was great is passed away. Wordsworth's sonnets include his very best work, as his worst faultswordiness and prosiness-are almost impossible in this form of poetry. When we study the above it is surprising to see how much is condensed in fourteen lines. The brilliant suggestiveness of the octave, with its rich coloring, is in keeping with the history of Venice in her palmy days; then follows the lower-toned sestet, telling of decay, autumn following summer. According to Sharp's classification of sonnets, the last three quoted each belong to a different class; (1) the English, or Shakespearian, (2) the Miltonic (one with unbroken continuity), (3) the Petrarchan, or natural sonnet. I shall next quote one of Rossetti's translations from the "Vita Nuova," "Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare." The reason for choosing this one was not only on account of its great intrinsic beauty-and perhaps it is the most beau tiful sonnet Dante ever wrote-but also because it is such an admirable specimen of Rossetti's unrivalled gifts as a translator and as a master of sound. This poem has the warm, rich coloring of a Giorgione, and Rossetti carries you completely into the spirit of Italian poetry. Dante describes his lady, and we are at once conscious of the subtle charm that surrounds her. She is the Once did She hold the gorgeous East in counterpart of Chaucer's "verray parfit fee: gentil knighte," and belongs to that And was the safeguard of the West; the class of beings who lived in the age of worth chivalry, of whom in this prosaic age we can but form a dim conception. The picture is rendered still more complete by the sonnet which follows it, describing the effect of his lady's unconscious influence on other women. At the same time it is not at all a necessary sequel, as the previous sonnet is quite a rounded whole in itself. Some critics object to sonnets being in any way connected with one another, assigning as their reason that it is contrary to the law of sonnets, which demands that only one idea be expressed and that it should be complete in its development. The argument is plausible, still there seems no reason why complete poems should not be strung together like a chaplet of pearls, the beauty of each pearl being enhanced by its setting. Above all we must not forget that, with the exception of Milton, all the greatest sonneteers, both Italian and English, have set their sonnets in clusters: Dante (La Vita Nuova); Petrarch (Vita e Morte); Spenser (Amoretti); Sydney, Shakespeare, Rossetti (The House of Life); Wordsworth (The Duddon Sonnets); Mrs. Browning (Sonnets from the Portuguese); all these and others have written suites of sonnets. In the same way, in music, songs have been grouped together by the most eminent composers. Heine's poems, for instance, have been treated thus by Schubert and Schumann. In this connection it may be well to mention that the sonnet was originally set to music. To those who are familiar with Dante in the original there is an added charm in noting the marvellous fidelity of his sonnet as a translation. On comparison the words seem to be almost literally translated, yet when read, the melody of the poem and the sonorous ring of the lines make you oblivious of the fact. Truly Rossetti had a right to say, that "the life-blood of rhythmic translation is this commandment-that a good poem shall not be turned into a bad one." My lady looks so gentle and so pure When yielding salutation by the way, That the tongue trembles and has nought to say, And the eyes, which fain would see, may not endure. And still, amid the praise she hears secure, She walks, with humbleness for her ar ray; Seeming a creature sent from heaven to stay On earth, and shew a miracle made sure. A sweetness, which needs proof to know it by; And from between her lips there seems to move A soothing essence that is full of love, Rossetti adheres to the same form as Dante with regard to the number and order of rhymes, but does not give the double or triple rhyme, which charms the ear in Italian. It is too heavy when used in English in a short poem, though it gives a greater richness of sound 1 Compare with this two other fine translations of the same poem by T. W. Parsons and Keegan Paul. Despite their beauty, you cannot help feeling conscious that they are translations, while Rossetti's possesses the spontaneity of an original poem. "So gentle seems my lady and so pure When she greets any one, that scarce the eye Such modesty and brightness can endure, And the tongue, trembling, falters in reply. She never heeds, when people praise her worthSome in their speech and many with a penBut meekly moves, as if sent down to earth To shew another miracle to men! And such a pleasure from her presence grows On him who gazeth, while she passeth byA sense of sweetness that no mortal knows Who hath not felt it-that the souls repose Is woke to worship, and a spirit flows Forth from her face that seems to whisper 'Sigh.'" The sestet appears very superior to the octave, And seems as though she were an heavenly fruit when used with judgment. For instance, in the original of the above poem the rhymes are, "onesta pare"-"guardare;" "vestuta"-"venuta;" "al core"-"d' I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints-I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears of all my life!-and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. amore;" "l' amira"-"sospira," etc., but when you get so many double endings in an English sonnet you feel at once While Mrs. Browning's poems have that it is a mistake. Perhaps the reason the same ring of intense passion that we is that in English you are obliged to use see in Rossetti's, they are entirely free a larger number of words and the sibilfrom what I may venture to call the lant sound is almost inevitable. A short "earthiness" of his; there is no need to quotation, taken from an otherwise fear the enervation of soul, which rebeautiful sonnet by Mrs, Meynell, will sults from too frequent reading of "The illustrate my meaning: House of Life." Hers have a subtledelicacy of touch, which is as beautiful as it is rare. There is an interesting passage on the sonnet in Moulton's book on the "Lit erary Study of the Bible," raising a question as to the primary characteristic of the sonnet. We are all aware that there is a very wide range of poetical literature within the covers of that one book, and very naturally we compare the Your old self, whose thoughts went like different forms to see what corresponds last year's pansies, Look unto me: no mirror keeps its glances; At the present time no one ranks higher than Mrs. Meynell as a sonnet writer, and she is a worthy representative of woman's powers in this branch of literature. Women may be proud that Mrs. Browning is named by eminent critics with Wordsworth and Shakespeare. In the following sonnet she seems to soar highest in her suite of songs, and it is followed by one other only to relieve its high tension of passion: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of For the ends of Being and Ideal Grace. Most quiet need, by sun and candle light I love thee purely, as they turn fron I love thee with the passion put to use with our own literary forms. Each one will judge for himself whether he finds the sonnet there; the author says that, although unlike in the matter of number of lines, "the true distinction of the Sonnet, like that of the Fugue in music, is that it reverses the usual order of things, and presents us with matter adapting itself to external form." The type is fixed, "not to one particular number of lines, but to the working out of a number form, indicated in the opening verses." The following quotation from the Apocrypha may be taken as an illustration: WHAT WISDOM LOVES AND HATES. In three things I was beautified, The concord of brethren, But three sets of men my soul hateth, And an old man that is an adulterer, inck ing understanding. "Two leading devices are-reversing nationality to obtain supremacy over the order of parts, and augmenting." the others; to dictate in absolute Any one who has studied the Psalms fashion, though perhaps by so-called from a literary point of view will see constitutional means, to the other races, at once how easily many of them fall is bound to lead to the most violent and into this sort of arrangement. There is dangerous internal struggles, and ultithe ebb and flow, the pause and volta mately to the destruction of the Aus(literally, turning-the lesser break be- trian Empire. Under a completely abtween tercet and tercet), on which solute, paternal, despotic system of Italian sonneteers laid such stress. government, such as formerly existed Our stupid, prosaic way of printing in Austria (that part of the monarchy them prevents our noticing this, but a which to-day is called "Cisleithanien," little intelligence brought to bear on the in contradistinction from Hungary or subject would soon make it clear. "Transleithanien") the only guiding What passages might be looked on as principle of the emperor was Divide et sonnets is left to the judgment of the Impera. This theory of governing his individual, but probably the one which peoples (in the plural, not "his people") will most readily recur to all minds is proved quite satisfactory. But with the that lovely poem, "Remember now thy dawn of a new era new methods had to Creator in the days of thy youtu." be found, and even invented, for the purpose of governing so heterogeneous a realm. According to the latest official figures the numbers of the different nationalities and races are as follows:IN AUSTRIA. To sum up, the reasons for the pursuit of this study are-that there are a great number of most beautiful poems on many subjects written in this form; that spare moments can well be used in studying them; that some of the greatest minds have expressed their highest thoughts in them; that they are an excellent training for the ear; and finally, that if once you commence the study you will soon be unable to give it up, for very love of it. "And here I will make an end. And if I have done . . . slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto," but on that account "scorn not the sonnet." EMILY G. KEMP. From The Contemporary Review. THE DEAD-LOCK IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. Situated between the almost homogeneous empires of Russia and Germany, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, with its dozen of nationalities and races, can only have one policy-that is, to maintain, above all, the principle of conciliation of all the races and nationalities within its borders; to concede the greatest possible measure of self-government or autonomy to each of the nationalities; and to bring into harmonious agreement all their different interests. Every attempt of any one |