New Publications [pp. 854-860]

New Publications. 855
the Irish people at heart, and increases work is not one which will command the
the debt of gratitude which all her coun- respect of scientific men, and its appeartrymen in America owe to the accom- ance is rather to be regretted,astending
plished authoress. to the spread of infidelity, by giving the
We have reserved our remarks on the impression that religion and science
poetry which fills this goodly volume to cannot well be reconciled.
the last. It has its chief interest and
significance from its relation to the
topics of which we have been speaking.
It was one of the instruments through THE HOLY GRAIL, AND OTHER POEMS.
which Mr. McGee gave voice to his pa- By Alfred Tennyson, D.C. L., Poettriotic sebtiments, and sought to kin- Laureate. Boston: Fields, Osgood
die the same in the hearts of his coun- & Co. 1870.
trymen. That his themes are in themselves il~~ fittest possible for the most All lovers of" Tennyson's enchanted
stirring poetry, cannot be questioned. reverie" have here another true feast.
He was endowed with a large share of The four Idylls, the main portion of the
genuine poetic gifts, and the great num- volume, are fully equal to the first four:
her of really fine pieces which are con- as faultless, as sublime, as instructive.
tained in this volume, thrown off in lei- We do not hesitate to say that the whole
sure moments, in haste, and amid all his series of these "Idylls of the I~ing," as
other labors, prove that, if he had made the author intends them to be read,
it his chief aim to become a poet, he forms a work which, for all il~at is best
would have attained great eminence. of epic and didactic, is not only unsurSome of his most perfect pieces are passed, but unequalled, in the poetry of
truly exquisite, as a specimen of which the world. Besides its artistic beauty,
we may designate the one called "lona which out-Homer's Homer, it is emito Erin," first published in this magazine. nently Catholic. The poet's genius
We il~ink the editress might judiciously could not fail to perceive that on Cathohave omitted some of the more unfin- lic ground alone is real romance to be
ished and imperfect pieces, and others found; and, as the result of deep and
written in the earlier part of his career, accurate study, his poem is a splendid
and containing too much of that unhal- proof of the Catholicity of the ancient
lowed revolutionary and vengeful fire British church. He is also the purest
which afterward gave place to a more of poets. None appreciates so well, on
holy and Christian flame. We hope this the one hand, the dignity of love and
volume of genuine Irish poetry will be- the sanctity of marriage; or, on the
come a favorite book with the millions other, the glory of virginity and the blessof exiles from Erin who have made their edness of divine espousals.
home in this new world, and that their The rest of the volume bears the
children also will learn from it to love stamp of the same master-hand as ever.
and venerate both the national and reli- We only regret to find so few lyrics.
gious traditions of the country of their Of those with which he has deigned to
forefathers. enrich us, that entitled "The Higher
Pantheism" is especially worthy of
note-for such, at least, as are capable
CREATION A RECENT WORK OF GOD. of understanding it. Tennyson has the
By the Rector of St. Mary's Church, art of extrinsicating, and shaping in
New York. New York: Pott & "closest words," intuitions which all
Amery, Cooper Union. 1870. minds have in common, but mostly
without the power of analyzing them, or
This is an attempt to sl~w that il~e even without the consciousness of their
literal theory of creation in six days is presence. He uses the word "pandeducible from the observed facts of theism" here in the sense that "God is
geology. The author occasionally shows all," and not that "allis God." He insome ingenuity, but on the whole the sists on the objectivity of truth, and