The death of "C. S. C." will be heard of with regret by all who enjoy the lighter forms of English poetry, such as are to be found to perfection in his two little volumes, entitled "Fly Leaves" and "Verses and Translations," published by Messrs. G. Bell and Sons.
Mr. Calverley had an extraordinary ear for rhythm, and could imitate, at will, the measure and metre of any poet. Taking some comically trifling topic, he could so write it up as to reproduce not only the style, but even the very mode of thought of his original. Thus, in his poem, "The Cock and the Bull," he has caught far more of Robert Browning than the mere verbal eccentricities; "Wanderers" contains the very best of all parodies of Tennyson's "Brook" (quoted on page 30); Matthew Arnold is well imitated in "Thoughts at a Railway Station;" whilst the "Ode to Tobacco" reads like a continuation of Longfellow's "Skeleton in Armour." For refined parody, as distinguished from mere verbal burlesque, Mr. Calverley was unapproached, and no collection of humorous English poetry would be complete, which did not include several of his best pieces. His humour was ever genial and pleasant, without a tinge of malice or ill-will, and even those whom he so deftly parodied could have taken no offence at his clever banter. Mr. Calverley was also a considerable scholar, as his translations testify, and he left at Oxford (where he studied before going to Cambridge) a considerable reputation as a wit and conversationalist.
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H. W. Longfellow.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born at Portland, Maine, on February 27, 1807, and died on the 24th March, 1882, having thus just completed his 75th year. After graduating at the age of eighteen at Bowdoin College, he entered the office of his father to study the law. Soon afterwards, however, he left America for Europe, where he travelled for three years and a half, in order to qualify himself for a professorship of modern language, which had been offered to him in the college where he had received his education. A few years later he was appointed to a similar position in Harvard College. In order to become acquainted with the literature and language of Northern Europe he again left America and travelled in Scandinavia, Germany, and Switzerland, entering upon his new duties in 1836. Mr. Longfellow commenced his career as an author while yet he was an undergraduate, and continued to write almost to the last. A mere list of his works would occupy considerable space. They are thoroughly well known wherever our language is spoken, and have obtained in this country a popularity second to that of no English writer. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge both conferred degrees upon Mr. Longfellow, and he was also elected a member of the Russian Academy of Science and of the Spanish Academy.
The following are the poems which have been most frequently selected as the models for Parodies:—A Psalm of Life; Beware!; Evangeline; The Song of Hiawatha; The Village Blacksmith; Excelsior; Curfew; The Bridge; and several parts of the Saga of King Olaf.
A PSALM OF LIFE ASSURANCE.
TELL me not in mournful numbers,
Life Assurance is a dream,
And that while the public slumbers,