Feb 1883 by StPetersYork

THE

PETERIT VOL . V .

FEBRUARY, 1883 .

No. 34.

SWINBURNE AND THE POETRY OF THE PERIOD.

ARLYLE'S maxim in " Hero Worship," that it is the age that moulds the poet, and not the poet that moulds the age, is pretty

:obviously a true one . That therefore this age can boast of no great 1 noet is entirely its own fault. Ilad we been more manly, we had not had the femininity of Mr . Tennyson ; nor, on the other hand, should we have been forced on to the rugged rocks of the poetry of Mr browning, or the sensuality of the earlier part of Swinburne's works, each of whom struck out his line, as it appears to me, in disgust at the excessive " supply of milk for babes," as Swinburne himself calls it, which they found when their poetical careers began. Mr . Tennyson was the first of the poets of our day to appear, and he began as one of the " moral milkwomen " of whom Swinburne complains . There was nothing in his first book of poems that ever attracted attention . Then came a second volume, in which was " The Dream of Fair 'Women, " " Q?none, " " The Lotos Eaters," " The Jliller's Daughter," and " Lady Clara Vere de Vere, " and others more or less known . From that time and with these poems his fame began and has been ever increasing up till the last five years, when his most ardent admirers were forced to confess that the time had come for him to cease writing . The fault of his poems, as I remember reading somewhere, is that there is no fault at all to be found—save one—that he is not great enough to commit a fault . His art is exquisite, his thought is wonderfully sweet and touching at times, he has the most perfect command over words ; his poetry is everything in fact, but great. It is nearly always pretty, but hardly ever sublime . Of course you may

SWINBUI NE AND TILE POETRY OF Tltli PERIOD.

find here and there sublime pieces, or here and there a verse or two of strong manly poetry, but that is not enough ; if that is a sufficient reason for the name of great poet, there is hardly a poet who ever lived who has not a right to be called a great poet . I could show lines in a hundred poets who are by now forgotten that equal anything that has ever been written . But it is not so. In your estimation of a poet, you must to a certain extent take into account the quantity as well as the quality . It is only sustained greatness that makes a great poet . And that, as I said, is never to be found in Tennyson . There is hardly a great poet in the language to whom he has not been compared, but I question if anyone can experience the same satisfaction in Tennyson as in Shelley, Byron, Spenser, or a dozen more to whom the is likened. There is no poet of the day who has not felt this want of greatness in the poetry of the day . Browning, Swinburne, Arnold, Morris, all complain of it, and each has tried to remedy it in his own way . Which way is the best remains for us to see. Mr . Browning first appeared in 183$ with " • Paracelsus ." Mr . Bi owning's early works, like Mr . Tennyson's, were a type of all that was to follow . The "-Pztracelsus " shewed that the author might be a great philosopher, but never, by any chance, could he be a poet . To be a deep thinker is not necessarily to be a sublime or lofty thinker : to have great command over words is not necessarily to be able to write musical verses ; nor again does writing verses mean writing poetry. Browning can and does think deeply—he has a great command over word, and he can (occasionally) write verses . But his vocation is not poetry. IIad he taken to prose, he might have made an everlasting name for himself, but as it is his works are destined to die . For after all it is style, as I believe Goldsmith says, that lives—" You may have all the great thoughts in the world, but if you cannot express them they will be lost for ever ." If the " Paradise Lost " had been written in prose, I question if it would have been known now ; and equally I question, if it were not for the want of a great poet, which everyone feels, whether Browning would be known at all, even now. There are two other well-known English poets, Matthew Arnold and Mr . Morris . Each has felt the want I have spoken of ; and each has lamented it in very beautiful and very melodious verse, but neither has done anything to supply the want ; though very inconsistently with their own acknowledgment of lack of power, both have gone on writing.

SWINBI;IINE AND THE POETRY OF TILE PERIOD .

But out of England the world is changing : a broader, wider, and more liberal of the relations of man to man, and community to community is beginning to prevail . A heroic age is coming though very gradually . The great revolution inevitable in Russia and in Germany, and possible indeed, as many say, all over the civilized world, will bring forth a race of poets equal perhaps to those who calve immediately after the French Revolution—Shelley, Byron, Keats, Coleridge, Wordsworth. Poets will have then, as they have now, a theme in the growing spirit of cosmopolitanism, and of liberty—themes as grand as any poets have ever had ready to their hands since the world began. Liberty of course they have had : but cosmopolitanism is new to poetry, and therefore the more to be welcomed when it is found . And there is a poet who has written in English, besides Tennyson and our other fellow-countrymen, to whom the esthetic school, headed by the brothers Rossitt, have strongly inclined, viz ., Mr. Walt . Whitman. He feels, as he says, that the poetry of the period is either that " of an elegantly weak sentimentalism, at bottom no'h :ng but maudlin puerilitics, or more or less musical verbiage, arising out of a life of depression or enervation as their result," and has given to the world some stuff that he believes to be really masculine . As is the case with the rest of the objects of the admiration of the aesthetic party, there is a good deal of ground for their liking for Whitman ; but his fault is somewhat the same as Browning's, though more exaggerated . He has deep thoughts, often great and lofty thoughts (the monotony is varied, it is fair to say, by filthiness so great that only expurgated editions are allowed in England), but no idea how to clothe his thought . Professedly his metre is copied from that of the verses in the English version of the Bible ; so that for reasons before given his productions cannot be poetry. And now we come to the last, who is also the greatest, in my opinion, Swinburne . IIe has exhibited most of the qualities that go to make up a great poet. He has sublime thought, a force and vigour unsurpassed by any poet in the language ; he has the lyrical faculty to an unbounded extent, and the very greatest rhythmical power ; he has shown in his " Chastelard " eminently constructive genius ; he has an intense earnestness of purpose, united with an ardent love of liberty, and deep sense of the vices and follies of this age ; he has, in fact, all the powers of •a great poet, with all the opportunities. But he is not great—and to be great he must forget utterly his narrow bigotry against the Christian religion. IIe must get rid of a part and style he displays, half French, half Greek

SWINBI:RNE ANI) TILE POETRY OF TILE PERIOD.

in fact he must make his poetry universal . Of course, I admit that as yet, he has produced no great work that will live as yet ; but I contend that he has done enough to show that he might be great. In his earlier years, in disgust, as he says in a preface to one of his books, at the maudlin, feeble style of poetry then prevailing, he prostituted his powers by indulging in the most loathsome sensuality ; which, however, fails to do harm, because the feeling it must invariably produce is mere disgust . But he has almost entirely lost that fault now, but for it has substituted bitterness against Christianity, which is just as sickening, and just as harmless . Both these faults have contributed in great measure to the obscuring of his fame . But set aside this same bigotry, and in his later works you will find as great poetry as in the works of any poet in this century . IIis " Songs before Sunrise " are unexcelled, perhaps unequalled in vigour by anything in the English language . His " Pilgrims " ; his a Litany of Nations," his " ° Eve of (:evolution," his " Mater Triumphalis," his " IIertha," his " Peruide et Cadaver," all raise him immeasurably above his contemporaries . It only remains for him to leave these fragments, and build up a great poem, and he will live . If he would make such a poem universal in its sympathies, as he easily can do, and forget his anti-Christian spirit, posterity will rank him, I am confident, among the greatest of our poets. Obviously, space forbids me quoting what would suffice to prove all of what I say. I can only quote a few lines taken almost at random out of Swinburne's works, not to represent any particular beauty, but merely to serve as an example of his ordinary work . IIere are a few verses of the " Pilgrims." The "Pilgrims," I may add, are supposed to be the heralds of the religious and social system of the future, who are questioned by unsympathizing bystanders ` Who is your lady of love, oh ye that pass Singing ? And is it for sorrow of that which was That ye sing sadly, or dream of what shall be ? For gladly at once and sadly it seems ye sing ." " Our lady of love by you is unbeholden, For eyes she hath none, nor eyes nor lips nor golden Treasure of hair, nor face nor form ; but we That love we know her more fair than anything ." " Is she a queen having great gifts to give? " " Yea, these : that whoso hath seen her shall not liva Except he serve her, sorrowing with strange pains, Travail and blood-shedding, and bitter tears .

SWINB RNE AND TILE POETRY OF THE PERIOD .

And when she bids die, he shall surely die ; And he shall leave all things under the sky And go forth naked under sun and rain, And work and wait and watch out all his years ." " And ye shall die before your thrones are won? " "Yea and the changed world, and the liberal sun Shall move and shine without us, and we lie Dead ; but if she, too, move on earth and live, Put if the old world, with all the old irons rent, Laugh and give thanks, shall we not be content, Nay, we shall rather live, we shall not die, Life being so little and death so good to give ?

" But ye that might be clothed with all things pleasant, Ye are foolish that put off the fair soft present, That clothe yourselves with the cold future air, When mother and father, and tender sister and brother, And the old live love that was, shall be as ye, Dust, and no fruit of living life shall be ? " She shall be yet who is more than all these were, Than sister or wife, or father unto us or mother." " Is this worth life, is this, to win for wages ? Lo the dead months of the awful grey-grown ages, The venerable, in the past that is their prison In the outer darkness, in the unopening grave Laugh, knowing how many as ye now say have said— How many, and all are fallen, are fallen and dead. Shall ye dead rise, and these dead have not risen? " " Not we, but she who is tender and swift to save." " Are ye not weary and faint by the way, Seeing night by night devoured of day by day ; Seeing hour by hour consumed in sleepless fire, Sleepless ; and ye, too, when shall ye sleep ? " " We are weary in heart and head, in hands and feet, And surely more than all things sleep were sweet, Than all things, save the inexorable desire, 11'hich whose knoweth shall neither faint nor weep . " " Is this so sweet that one were fain to follow, Is this so sure, where all men's hopes are hollow, Even this your dream that by much tribu l ation, Ye shall make whole flawed hearts, and bowed necks straight ." "?day, though our life were blind, our death were fruitless, Not, therefore, were the world's high hopes rootless But man to man, nation would turn to nation And the old life live, and the old world be great ."

SWINIL'RNE AND TILE POETRY OF TIIE PERIOD.

and so on, the greatness of the poetry being sustained all through . One stanza more, from the poem ' In memory of Barry Cornwall ' : " Time takes them home that we loved, fair names and famous, To the soft long sleep, to the broad sweet bosom of death But the flower of their souls He shall not take away to shame us, Nor the lips lack song for ever that now lack breath. For with us shall the music and perfume that die not, dwell, Though the dead to our dead bid welcome, and we farewell ."

EXCELSIOR. I

N other respects I was a model youth . I had learnt the length of the Mississippi and the height of Cotopaxi . At a moment's notice I could have reeled off the list of the kings of Israel and Judah, the dates of birth, marriage, and death of every one of Henry the Eighth's wives. I knew the distance of Uranus from the earth, and had trod the " Asses' Bridge . " I was well acquainted with the composition of gunpowder and other interesting chemicals . I could do the " herring and a half " sum without a slate, write out avoir and ctre and the four conjugations without a book, parrot-like to perfection . At the dame's school of my infancy I used to take the boobies down wholesale and make a clean sweep of the prizes every Midsummer . But, alas, I never had the inestimable blessing of a classical education. Let this little piece of autobiography be a warning to you who neglect your Wordsworth and Kennedy. For me poetry always had its charms, and I was a profound reader of the transatlantic bard . I devoured Hiawatha and his canoe, and trudged manfully through Evangeline ; but there was one poem, the refrain of which baffled my untutored ingenuity. Its meaning was a mystery—" Excelsior ." I asked my father . He deeply regretted he had long since forgotten his algebra. I asked my mother . She lamented that she had not kept up her French, but she thought it meant "play it over again," as if I didn't know that was " Da Capo ." I asked my nurse . She whipped me soundly and told me not to ask naughty questions about things that I didn't ought to know anything about. How I cried . I searched Bradshaw—it wasn' t the name of a station . The Stores hadn't it in their catalogue . It didn't occur in Cruden's Concordance or Ilaydn's Dictionary of Dates . The Encyclopwdia Britannica did not explain it .

EXCELSIOR .

The dread enigma, the unsolved problem of " Excelsior " haunted me night and day . Already one grey hair was visible among my hitherto raven locks . I determined to discaver the monster by the light of nature . The shades of night were falling fast As through an Alpine village past A youth who bore mid snow and ice A banner with a strange device Excelsior. Now what could this device be? Who the youth ? Perhaps he was the greedy boy of a Y . M. C . A . They had been for a " treat "—a day's excursion--and he had stayed behind to finish up the buns and ginger beer, or, overpowered by copious cake and tea he had sunk to sleep behind some spreading chesnnt tree, and had lost his way ; or he may have been a sandwich man announcing the arrival of a menagerie at the neighbouring town, or of the Swiss equivalent to " Patience "— His brow was sail, Perhaps he was neither school-boy nor sandwich man, but hawking some patent medicine warranted to cure toothache, dyspepsia, and the " thousand other natural shocks that flesh is heir to," " makes excellent furniture polish or writing ink ; useful in mending broken glass and china—no family should be without it," a regular

" p ie plus ultra ." Perhaps it was " Reckitt's Blue " or " Eno's Fruit Salt ." IIe was sad because he could not sell any in spite of his "flashing eyes" and "clarion voice ." In the next verse we learn that "from his lips escaped a groan ." I suppose he must have been trying his patent . Very simple of him, but it served him quite right ; he should have known it would make him seedy . But, lo, the proprietor of the village public appears on the scene. Not wishing to miss a customer, he vainly tries to persuade him to stay the night and be returned by the "'bus" next morning to his disconsolate parents . It was very mean of the old man to frighten him, but he needn't have shouted him down like that with his loud clarion voice. (I don 't quite know what a clarion is, but I presume it is something like a cornet . It must have caused a sensation and have been very useful for hawking purposes, but hardly conducive to a quiet talk) . Here, no doubt ` Excelsior,' is some very strong expression, not to say an oath ; we may put it down as " rot" or " nonsense ." IIow long the angry colloquy would have lasted we don't know, but the worthy landlord's daughter now interposes . The youth was melted to tears, it seems, by the kindness of this pert maid (it was will that her mother wasn't there)

EXCELSIOR.

but he was " very sorry that he really must decline on account of prior arrangements"—it is equivalent therefore to " Can't possibly ." But the avaricious publican is not to be daunted, and he generously adds a few more mountain horrors, but the youth had already made tracks, and once more repeated the mystic word, no doubt here "youre a fool," or something to that effect . We can imagine the old man's " Good night" would be, " You're another "—a remark perfectly justified by the occasion . Some time is supposed to elapse and we find the monks of St. Bernard at morning chapel . They had been making a night of it and hadn ' t got to bed . One less attentive to his devotions or more wideawake than the rest heard the strange cry of " Here, you fellows ." They rushed out and found the traveller in these various commodities buried in the snow. The hound, faithful to his canine instincts, had gone to' exhume for his breakfast the mutton-bone he had hidden on the previous day and had come across the mysterious one. While the monks were debating, whether to inscribe his name on the tombstone as— Excelsior, Esq., or Mr . Excelsior, this excellent youth tried a marvellous ventriloquistic performance . " His voice fell, like a falling star " that would be peculiar in itself, among the astonished talkers . We can picture how they girded up their monkish robes and fled, leaving the young man and his inexhaustible and inexplicable ` Excelsior' convulsed, with laughter at the success of his practical joke . CALLOO.

OXFORD LETTER.

SUPPOSE I should be transgressing against all precedent if I abstained from saying a word at this season about the 'Varsity

Eight, though you will all have had much later news from the " dailies . " Iliggins, to the joy and surprise of many, was seen at stroke on the second day of the term, but he has since gone down, having only come up to take his degree . For a while an old school-fellow of his Anson, from Magdalen College School—occupied the place he vacated. But at present Sharpe, of Hertford, is stroking, and remarkably well, too. Of the old crew, A . R . Patterson (New Inn Hall, late of Trinity) the President, G . S . Fort (Hertford), R . S . de Havilland (Corpus), G. C. Browne (New College), are left . Roberts (Hertford), Fyfe (Wadham), and McLean (of New College, an Eton Freshman); and How (of Exeter) are being tried . This will probably be the boat of 188'3

OXFORD LETTER .

unless Roberts gives place to Bourne, and De Havilland to R . S. Kindersley, who may row, as I hear he has left his mastership at Radley. He was President in 1881 . In any case the boat will be remarkably strong, and already it goes splendidly . So it looks a bad thing for the Cantabs. The football match against Cambridge, which was put off on account of the frost, will take place in the same week as the sports and race. At one time early in the season it was thought that Cambridge with their magnificent captain Don Wauchope, the best half-back in the kingdom, Chapman, (who is by the way an old Worcester man) and Faller might have a fair chance of winning . But the match between the United ' Varsities and London proved Oxford to be far stronger. We have no less than eight men who are in the English Team :— Evanson and Wade (three-quarters,) Rotherham (half-back), Tatham, Vassall, Strong, Woolridge, Kindersley, Moore . The Oxford contingent gained the majority of ties and contributed most to the success of England against Wales and South v . North. Besides these we have J. G . Walker, Grant-Asher, A . O . Mackenzie and Paterson, who have played for Scotland, with reserves like Allen and Lindsay . I have omitted Cave, who through ill-health could not play in the match against London, and I have no doubt that he would have distinguished himself as much as Evanson or Wade . We have not yet been defeated, nor are we likely to be, although Walker is disabled by a hurt received from Edinburgh, and from what I hear Woolridge will not be able to play ; we have still what is possibly the strongest team anywhere, and in the event of their playing England, they would not be disgracefully defeated, if at all . Their passing is simply perfection, and I have seen the opposing backs stare in helpless bewilderment while our men rushed the ball down the field by most unselfish play—to see a man collared with the ball is a very rare sight indeed. The Torpids will be rowed on the 22nd . At present it is too early to judge with any certainty, but New College will inevitably be dislodged from its position as head of the river. The sports will be keenly contested. We have lost Ilobhouse, of Ch. Ch ., the three mile man . But with Bruce Williamson, Carter, Cave, Lindsay, and Evanson, we are pretty safe of the hundred yards, and quarter mile and weight . As for the other events—save perhaps the mile with Wells—it is too early to prophesy .

OXFORD LETTER.

After all, the Prince of Wales ' s son is not coming up—this term at least—to the House . The Prince himself is to open the New Indian Institute next month. This is an age for improvements in Oxford The Union expect to have the electric light in working order by the first week in February. The contract is taken by the Midland Brush Light Company at the cost of £240 per annum, which is less than gas costs . It can hardly fail to be an improvement, as the gas light is simply wretched—almost as bad as in York. By some remarkably good fortune we found the theatre—otherwise known as the " Vic ."—opened for the first two weeks of Term . There are doubts whether this improvement is to be attributed to more liberal ideas on the part of the Vice-Chancellor or to a strange oversight on account of the unusually early date at which our term began. I hear that a certain college nearly lost, in a somewhat summary . manner, two veritable pillars of the R . U . F . C ., who had the greatest difficulty in inducing the head of their college to pardon a mistaken idea of the right place for pyrotechnic displays . Towards the end of last term, with misdirected generosity they gave a favourite tutor (who failed entirely to appreciate their good nature) the benefit of a grand Ike gratis, and in his rooms too. Last, but not by any means least, I have the great pleasure of announcing that Mr. John Ruskin has consented again to take the Slade Professorship of Art . CECI.

CAMBRIDGE LETTER.

HIS term, of course, the primary consideration is the 'Varsity Eight, and its chances of success . As yet they have been

together such a short time that we can hardly give a fair prophecy as to the result ; but they are a very strong, fairly neat set of oarsmen, and with careful attention and judicious treatment, ought to turn out as good an eight as we have had for some time . Atkin, who has come up to row stroke, is a very long, plodding, even stroke, and is well suited to the Putney to Mortlake course, but he wants a more marked beginning, and has not much life or spirit . Moore, the president, is rowing well at seven, but Fairbairn is not so good as last year. Churchill, the Eton Freshman, at five, is a quickly improving man, and his weight, 13st . 51b., will be of use in the middle of the boat .

CAMBRIDGE LETTER .

ltogether, our prospects are bright, and if care is taken to provide a suitable boat (last year their ship was all down by the head), they will not improbably win back for us some of our lost prestige on the river. The Cam is now daily crowded with college eights preparing for the Lent Races ; but it is yet too early to speak of their respective merits. Mallinson is again stroking Christ's first boat, and Douglas is rowing 2 in their second, while Crawshaw has also figured in the same boat, hut is not as yet a certainty . Eyre is stroking Corpus I ., with Peters at bow. Griffiths is at present 3 in Clare IL, and shows great signs of improvement . Collinson is rowing in a Queen ' s II ., which is trying to get on the river, and Marshall is steering Cavendish I. To return from the river, our prospects of winning the odd event in the sports seems fairly good, as we have still available—Colbourne, who won the high jump ; Hough, for the three miles ; Ware, for the long jump ; and Don Wauchope for the hurdles . We have also a Freshman, La Touche, of Pembroke, who can do the mile in 4 .31 . Our great loss is Macaulay from the quarter, but Grace, of Clare, is good for a little under 52 secs ., and as Oxford have lost Hughes, we shall not feel it so much. I see that Gibson, of Pembroke, has got a third in the Theological Tripos, and Fox, of the same college, has passed his special in the same branch of learning . The latter is now at Ridley Hall, which seems to be growing very popular . We were all much charmed a week ago at seeing Mr . and Mrs . Adams, who were up for a short stay, and were sor ry we could not persuade them to make a longer visit. Hockey is being somewhat patronised up here now by those who do not go in for rowing, and certainly there is rather a dearth of employment at this time of year . By the time the next Peterite comes out the ' Varsity boat will be in full training, and you will be able to be edified by the observations and criticisms of your own correspondent. K . K . K.

THE SCHOOL LETTER.

WING to the very short notice given, the difficulty of collecting

information is considerable . Still I thought, by going back as far as November, and looking forward into the dim vista of future i rospects, to get out of it . But vain hope! the dreary close of the last

TIIE SCHOOL LETTER.

year in snow precludes any football triumphs to celebrate, and the only other topic has already been fully dealt with—the Theatricals. Of the future, however, there is more to be said . I believe I am correct in saying that the matches which were prevented by the weather last year will take place during the present term . Unfortunately the fixtures are rather late, but still need not interfere at all with boating. Incidentally I may mention here that an Old Boys' match will be played on March 27th, and any wishing to take part can do so by letter to L . E . Stevenson, or E . W. Clayforth before that date . The probable termination of the boat races is a very open question . The School House will, in all probability, secure the Senior, but the Junior races must be left alone at present, as the composition of the crews is still unknown . No entries for the pairs or sculls have yet cone to hand. So much for the athletic side . For the rest, Oxford will, I believe, be favoured by at least one Peterite. Of course, the scholastic element of the School is somewhat jubilant at the turn taken in the object of the " IIey Memorial .' " Quite the most sensible and practical plan ." The ranks of the present masters will be considerably thinned by the loss of two prominent masters, the Rev . T . Adams, appointed to the future school of Gateshead, and the Rev . E. Balmer to a living in York, though that may not perhaps necessitate the abandonment of his post. Preparations are being already made for the event that is to transform this ancient city next July. York is somewhat electrified at the forthcoming prospect of a Royal Agricultural Show and Royalty . Otherwise York has been enlivened by the performance of Gade's ' Psyche, ' given by the York Musical Society. Yours truly' will not presume to criticise the work, which was first performed at Birmingham, but will be content with giving the opinion of a not-a-hundred-milesoff daily. To quote, the piece contains the germs which, "Fertilized by the dew of sentiment " give promise of a considerable genius. The performance was a great success, in spite of the absence of one of the principal performers. According to ancient precedent some intending competitors in the ensuing boat races began a semi-course of training on Shrove Tuesday, which passed off without any noteworthy incident . The early date of the festival, however, prevented many from following the energetics example.

THE SCHOOL LETTER .

The mystery of the Ackroyd is to be again solved this term ; the examination probably takes place in March, and we hope the school, which will furnish one or two candidates, will be as fortunate in finding the correct solution—correct from its point of view—and find its representatives to the fore as in past years . ODOD.

NOTES AND ITEMS. MUSICAL IloNot;R.—Since the performance of his work, •' By the

Waters of Babylon," at the last Orchestral Concert of the Royal Academy of Music, F . K . Hattersley (Balfe Scholar) has been unanimously elected a Sub-professor of Harmony at the Academy. IIis composition has received warm commendation. A . A . Gibson and R . S . Fox, of Pembroke College, Cambridge . have taken their degrees : the former in the Theological Tripos, and the latter in the Theological Special Examination. Rev . T . Adams has been appointed to Head Mastership of the new Gateshead Grammar School. PRINCE ALBERT ' S REGIMENT (13TH) .—Lieut . Bryan Palmes to be Captain Vice Brevet-Major ; H . H . Parr, C .M.G .—Gazette, 9th January, 1883. BENGAL STxir' C'or,rs .—Lieutenant Alexander Thomas Weller to be Captain .—Gazette, "ilth January, 1883.

Rev . F . Watson, M.A ., IIulsean Lecturer, has preached on Sundays, January 21st and 28th, and will preach on February 4th and 11th. E, P . Allanson is one of the editors of a new magazine, entitled, " Scribbler's Monthly ." REVIEW.

The Scribbler's Monthly, No . L, January, 1883. We have pleasure in calling the attention of our readers to a new literary venture which makes its appearance with the year . The

Scribbler's Monthly has an energetic manager in Mr . R. Ward Carroll, an Old Peterite, and one of its three editors is Mr . E . P . Allanson, whom many of our readers will remember as a master, and some as a pupil, at St . Peter's. The first number has been sent to us for review, and consists of 32 well-printed pages, enclosed within an exceedingly tasteful cover, designed by Mr . T . Crane, the artist . Mr . Allanson contributes

NOTES AND ITEMS.

the first instalment of a novel, and a neat little essay. One of the other editors, Mr . Boas, of Balliol College, who served his literary apprenticeship some time ago as editor of The Cliftonian, contributes a just and well-written estimate of Scott's novels and poems ; if we have any fault to find with it at all, it is that it was scarcely necessary for him to quote at length so hacknied a piece as the description of " Fair Melrose ." Next comes an amusing Irish sketch—an essay on 00 Manner," founded on some words of Lord Chesterfield's, and two poems exhaust the contents of the number . As the editors say, the magazine "must inevitably require a little time to settle itself into proper form," but it certainly starts well for an amateur undertaking . Mr . Crane's design would cover, if necessary, a multitude of sins, but it happily has not many sins to cover. We hope that The Scribbler's Monthly will be taken up by both past and present Peterites—we see several already on the preliminary list of subscribers—and help to encourage literary interest in the school . If it does, our own pages will feel the benefit . We should add that the subscription, which includes postage, is lOs . per annum, and that all information regarding the magazine will be given by the Secretary and Treasurer, Mr . R. W . Carroll, Coombe Mavis, Chislehurst, Kent .

FOOTBALL. v . MR . THOMPSON'S FIFTEEN. Played on the School Ground on Saturday, November 25th. The School had to deplore the loss of Clayforth, haye, and Williamson, who were represented by English, Johnson, and Lofton. Steavenson went three-quarters, and II . Crossley went forward . The School lost the toss and played up for the first half, the lower end of the ground being under water in places . Stevenson soon began to show, but was several times well collared by Bellerby . The game before half-time was very fast, the visitors scoring several touch-downs . The School forwards, especially the brothers Crossley, Robinson, and English, played finely against their weightier opponents, for whom two men from the Training College, Tyne and O'Neale, played up best . Another Training College man, Kitson, at three-quarters succeeded in crossing the School line, but lost the ball, and Stevenson touched down . O n half-time being called, the School met with a serious reverse, Cobb

FOOTBALL.

scoring a try, owing to the back slipping as he tried to save ; Kitson, however, failed to land a goal . The School now played up hard, and ran the ball down to the visitors' goal line, and Stevenson scored a try, but no goal was kicked . Soon after he obtained a second, and Taylor kicked . This was followed by a magnificent dribble on the part of II. Crossley, ending in a try and a goal . After the kick off, H . Crossley was again to the fore, and, with the aid of his brother, scored a second try, Stevenson failing at goal . Taylor next got in after a good run, but his kick was charged down . Almost immediately after time was called, the School winning by two goals three tries and two minor points, to one try and six minor points . For the School Stevenson played with his usual brilliancy, the two half-backs also doing good work, Rhodes' passing being most unselfish . In the forward division the Crossleys were always on the ball, Robinson, Lane, and English also showing up well. For the visitors Gay kicked well at back, Kitson making some good runs ; forward, Tyne, O'Neal, and Watkinson were the best. Mr. Thompson's Fifteen : Back, Gay ; three-quarter backs, F . Kitson, . A Bellerby, F. Ware ; half-backs, G . G. Thompson, W . H . Cobb ; forwards, O'Neal, Tyne, Todd, Potter, Brooks, Watkinson, Trotter, Bellerby. Football has been resumed this term to take the place of less deserving amusements, and with some success . Matches with Thorp Arch and the Yorkshire Wanderers will be played, besides others to employ the afternoons, till the time when boating will require undivided attention . This will not probably be for some time, as the two sports can go on simultaneously for a considerable time without causing any detriment to the latter . The second team has played one match, an account of which, in answer to many requests, is enclosed . An attempt to form a third team has been made, but has not prospered as yet, partly owing to the lateness of the season, and partly to the inability of finding opponents, several of whom have pleaded the inequality of the match proposed . The school ought to congratulate itself on the terror inspired by the prowess of its football teams, as one of the opponents who pleaded this excuse was not afraid to encounter the second team in past seasons . The first fifteen is the same as in last year, with the exception of C . II . Steavenson, whose place will be taken by T. H . English, who has frequently represented the school before. There is also a rumour that literary occupations or aquatic duties will prevent Kaye from assisting .

FOOTBALL.

SECOND FIFTEEN v . MR. BURIiILL S FIFTEEN. This match was played on the school ground on February 3rd. The school captain kicked off, but the ball was well returned by the opposing three-quarters, and the first scrimmage was formed at the half-way flag . Short runs by the school half-hacks and three-quarters gradually carried the ball into the other's twenty-five, though the good safety-play and kicking of Bu kill prevented any material score . Twice the school forwards carried the ball over the line, but touchdowns only resulted, and once Spencer crossed the line, but being held by two antagonists, a maul ensued, in which he lost the ball and a touchdown again followed . After the kickoff, Rose got the ball and succeeded in gaining a try, which was at first disputed on the ground of the ball having been dead . The point was afterwards conceded, and Ford made a good attempt at goal, the ball striking the cross-bar . Time was shortly called, and it was expected that, with the wind against them, the school would he pressed by their heavier opponents . This now proved erroneous, as the game rarely passed their half-way flag, and when it did. the ball was promptly brought back by Marshall, who played a good game throughout, but did not seem at home in the mud. Bradley soon scored a try which was disputed, and Spencer twice got in, but the points were given in . Metcalfe, however, was more successful, but Marshall failed to do the necessary from a very difficult kick . Just before the close Wilson got in, and this time Marshall made up for his former non-success . The second team played remarkably well, and its success was mainly owing to the passing among the forwards ; Wilson at half would do well to imitate them. English and Crosthwaite were the pick there, until Marshall and Rose did good work behind . Their opponents only got the ball across the line twice, a touchdown resulting on one occasion, while on the other the try was disallowed . The game consequently resulted in a victory for St . Peter ' s by one gral, three tries (one disputed), and minor points to one minor point. Second Fifteen :—E . Marshall (back), J . C . Ford, C . Johnson, C. Rose (three-quarter backs) ; W . Wilson and A . Spencer (half backs), T . English, W. S . Gofton, A . D . Hart, C. B . Clarke, R . Crosthwaite, W. E . Bradley, J . Kroenig, F. W . Metcalfe, W. C . Ralph, (forwards) .