The innocent confession of the hitherto inexperienced passion of love which springs up in the heart of Iolanthe, at the presence and sound of the voice of her unknown betrothed, is a passage of rare beauty and originality. He asks her to place her hand upon his head to mark his height, that when he returns she may remember him. She answers:
"What need of that?
I know that few resemble thee in height;
Thy utterance comes to me as from above,
Like all that's high and inconceivable;
And know I not thy tone? Like as thou' speakest
None speak beside. No voice, no melody
I've known in nature, or in instrument,
Doth own a resonance so lovely, sweet,
So winning, full, and gracious as thy voice.
Trust me, I'll know thee well amidst them all!"
The final tableau, in which Iolanthe, with restored sight, recognizes her father, and she and Count Tristan, her betrothed, each other, is full of dramatic power. We promise the reader a pleasure in the perusal of this poem such as he seldom enjoys.
OUT OF TOWN.
1 vol. 12mo, pp. 311. New York: Hurd & Houghton.
This is a sprightly book wrought out of a common and everyday subject: a change from a city to a country life. The story is told in an easy, off-hand, and peculiarly attractive way, and engages the attention of its readers, particularly those of the rising generation. The writer contrives to invest the most ordinary topics with a zest which keeps alive the interest of his reader to the close. It is a perfect pot pourri of fun and humor, dished to suit all palates and all ages. But it has a fatal blemish in our judgment:—a perpetual parade of decanters and pipes. The writer seems to think that there can be no such thing as conviviality or good cheer without intoxicating libations. Why cannot those who write books for the young avoid this rock of offence? Surely there is small need, in these days, of such temptation. Everyday life reeks with the disgusting and pernicious habit of tippling. Why does it become necessary that every new book for our children should be redolent of the fumes of the bar-room? Are our book-makers aware what an impetus they are imparting to that wave of desolation which is swelling over the fair face of our beloved country, and which threatens, more than any other one thing, to submerge and sweep away all those barriers of virtue and morality on which rely our hopes for the protection of religion and a healthy morality?
SADLIER'S CATHOLIC DIRECTORY, ALMANAC, AND ORDO, for the year of our Lord 1867. New-York: D. and J. Sadlier & Co.
This volume consists of about 647 pages of matter of which 290 pages are devoted to the Church of the United States, 100 to the Church of British North America and Ireland, and 257 to advertisements. As a popular Catholic Directory for the United States it may be said that at least one half of it is but of partial interest.
The portion devoted to the United States is apparently very full, and as accurate, no doubt, as the publishers have been able to make it. We observe however, that the Church statistics of Ireland and British America possess a valuable little summary at the end of each while no such summary is given for the Church of the United States.
If one would look anywhere for it we think it would be in just such a publication as the one before us, and we must confess to being disappointed in not finding it here.