Reviews Of New Books.

REVIEWS OF NEW BOOKS .

Idylls of the Kimj . B y ALFKED TENNYSON , D . C . L ., Poet Laureate . Svo . Moxon and Co . ( 2 G 0 pp . ) It has long been a matter of notoriety , in literary circles , that Mr . Tennyson hacl fixed on the legend of King Arthur as the subject for a long poem . With that view the laureate has visited numerous localities identified with the legendary history , has

carefully gone over many ancient histories of the wizard Alerlin , the King Arthur , and the Knights of the Round 'fable , ancl that portions of the poem had been placed in the printer ' s hands , proofs revised and corrected , many of ivhich had been cancelled , and others entirely re-written , ancl that the work was ready for the press a year ago , but from some unaccountable cause held back . Rumour haslioweverstepped in ancl supplied the reason

, , , which is said to be , that when the author was about to print the book—or even after it hacl heen sent to press—some friend to whom it was submitted expressed an opinion that the Idyll " Vivien " ivas unfit for publication . This view made the poet nervous and apprehensive , and so disgusted him that there was reason to suppose the work ivould never see the light . Time

and reflection , together with the opinions of others who saw the objectionable portion in another li ght , at last prevailed , ancl Mr . Tennyson finally sent the book to press , ancl it has at last appeared with many beauties and some imperfections on its head . The volume before us is divided into four poems , with a thread of connection between them ; these poems hear the names of "Enid , " "Vivien , " "Elaine , " aud " G-uincvre . " In this arrangement it is

obvious that the poet lacks the concentration and sustained power requisite for telling a long story , and it costs him a manifest effort to keep up the stately march requisite for the effect of an epic of a hundred lines . There is too a want of rugged grandeur in the verse when dealing with a subject as large and wonderful as Stonehenge ; for our author revels most when an opportunity oilers itself to run off into liquid warblingssuch as the three love songs in the Idlls .

, y The verse is excellent , and bears more of the stateliness and " retarding art , " belonging to the highest Avalks of poesy , than any other production of Mr . Tennyson's muse ; but there is a sweetness that closely verges on the cloying , ancl a want of strength ivhich should have been displayed when dealing ivith the rude and massive stories of the Round Table .

In the poem entitled "Enid" we have the story of Gcraint ' s courtship and his union with her , briefly told . Iu his fear that a taint may attach itself to the purity of her heart , from court scandals which arc rife about Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevrc , she is removed to his country home , where they give themselves up to the happiness of wedded love . After a time his vassals and retainers murmur that the brave kni ght has tied up his valour in

his wife's fair locks , ancl ask when he means to abandon his silken dalliance and lead them forth as of old' ? Enid hears this and grieves for her lord ' s name and fame ; and , whilst he one day appears to he sleeping on his couch , she reproaches herself with keeping him from martial glory and knightl y deeds , and he overhears her say" 0 me , I fear me I am no true wife , "

an ejaculation which he , of course , misconstrues . Thereupon he calls for his horse ancl arms , and in rough dudgeon sets out to seek adventure , with Enid equiped as his squire . He treats her coldly ancl unkindly , but she returns good for evil till an accident clears up his doubts of her love ; he makes friends again , ancl they live and love peaceably to the end of their clays . From this part of the poem we quote the song Gemini hears her sing ' uv when he falls in love Avith her : —

' ENID s SOXG . " Turn fortune , turn thy wheel and lower the proud ; Turn thy wheel thro' sunshine , storm , and cloud : Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate . " Turn , fortune , turn thy wheel with smile or frown ; With that wild wheel we go not up nor clown ; Our hoard is little , but our hearts are great .

^ " Smile , and ive smile , the lords of many lands ; Frown and we smile , the lords of our own hands ; Vor man is man and master of his fate . " Turn , turn thy wheel above the staring crowd ; Thy wheel and thou are shadows in the cloud ; Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate . " Our poet gives us an cxcpiisite touch of nature—of that most mysterious kind of all—woman ' s nature , conveying a lesson to mm , when dealing with a susceptibility that he cu ' ujiot understand

yet often acknowledges . When Geraint has been disabused from the inference he had drawn , and satisfied of the possession of the entire love of Enid , and when only an assurance from her is needed , to set his mind at rest : — " And Enid could not say one tender word She felt so blunt and stupid at the heart . "

The question Avill naturally arise , which of us have not , at times , misunderstood the silence of our dearest friend , who was merely " blunt and stupid at the heart , " from excess of emotion ? In some of Sir . Tennyson ' s imagery there are yet far-fetched allusions , take , for instance : — " Arms on ivhich the standing muscle sloped , - j As slopes a wild brook o ' er a little stone ,

Running too vehemently to break upon it . " In this , the contour of a muscle , which is stretched across a bone , is not , to the eye , so obviously like the curve of a rippling brook . In another instance ive can detect the figure of Geraint riding into the court-yard of the castle , where" His charger trampling many a ] 3 i-ickly star Of sprouted thistle on the broken stones , "

Aiid it is also very appropriately -said of a woman ' s dress : — " How fresh the colours look , How fast they hold , like colours of a shell That keeps the wear and polish of the wave . " In another place we are told how a loi'er meets the lad y of his loA'e : —

" And glancing all at once as keenly at her , As careful robins eye the delver ' s toil , Made her cheek burn and either eyelid fall , But rested with her sweet face satisfied . "

The second , poem , entitled " Vivien , " which is by far the shortest , is the story of the false and heartless damsel who makes love to the old sage Merlin , in the " wild woods of Broceliaude , " and extracts from him the knowledge of a charm " of woven paces and of waving hands , " ivhich she henceforth puts in force against her teacher , and binds him in a hollow oak , " as dead , and lost to life , and use , and name , and fame , for ever , " and then

sends him to sleep ivith it , crying , " I have made his glory mine . " It is to this part of the book , and the two following poems , that objection have been taken , these three treating more or less of an impure attachment ; and it was to have been wished that Mr . Tennyson had chosen some purer theme where lords and ladies , knights and squires , could have moved ivithout a back ground of vice . Rut the subject once chosen , there is no room for

findingfault with the Poet Laureate ' s treatment of it . He does not linger in the unwholesome air , or dwell unnecessarily on the evil which his story presupposes . Dismissing this , the only fault of magnitude , wc quote : —

"VIVIEN ' S SOXG . " In love , if lovo be love , if love be ours , Faith and unfaith can ne ' er be equal powers : Unfaith in aught is want of faith iu all . ' ' It is the little rift within the lute , That by ancl by will make the music mute , And ever widening slowly silence all .

' The little rift within the lover ' s lute , Or little pitted speck iu garnoi- 'd fruit , That rotting inward slowly moulders all . " It is not worth the keeping ; let it go ; Hut shall it ? Answer , darling , answer no . And trust nie not at all , or all in all . " In the same poemwhen Vivien teases the grey enchanter for a

, sig ht of the book containing the potent charm she is desirous of possessing , there occurs the following simile : — " Smiling as a master smiles ou one That is not of his school , nor any school But that where blind and naked Ignorance Delivers brawling judgments , unashamed , On all things all day long , he answered her . "

" Elaine" loves Sir Lancelot , who goes to king Arthur ' s diamond tourney in disguise ; and when he has gone she dies of a broken heart , ancl floats dead down the stream to the palace of the queen , in time to clear up a jealous quarrel between the latter ancl Sir Lancelot . "Guinevre" is simply the story of the discovery ofthe love between the queen and Sir Lancelot , the queen ' s flight to Almesbury , the king ' s reproof unci forgiveness , and her departure ' ¦ ' 'To where , beyond these vices , there is peace . "