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By Root 15962 0

” etc., etc. These passages are taken from the Argument prefixed to Part I. The general thesis of the poetess may, perhaps, be stated as the demonstration that the superior wisdom is moral rather than intellectual; but it may be doubted whether her subject was ever precisely apparent to herself. In a word, she seems to have vacillated between several conceptions — the only very definite idea being that of extreme beauty and purity in a child. At one time we fancy her, for example, attempting to show that the condition of absolute sanctity is one through which mortality may know all things and hold converse with the angels; at another we suppose it her purpose to “create” (in critical language) an entirely novel being, a something that is neither ­angel nor mortal, nor yet fairy in the ordinary sense — in a word, an original ens. Besides these two prominent fancies, however, there are various others which seem continually flitting in and out of the poet’s vision, so that her whole work has an indeterminate air. Of this she apparently becomes conscious towards the conclusion, and in the final stanza endeavors to remedy the difficulty by summing up her design —

The sinless child, with mission high,

Awhile to earth was given,

To show us that our world should be

The vestibule of heaven.

Did we but in the holy light

Of truth and goodness rise,

We might communion hold with God

And spirits from the skies.

The conduct of the narrative is scarcely more determinate — if, indeed, “The Sinless Child” can be said to include a narrative at all. The poem is occupied in its first part with a description of the child, her saintly character, her lone wanderings, the lessons she deduces from all animal and vegetable things, and her communings with the angels. We have then discussions with her mother, who is made to introduce episodical tales, one of “Old Richard,” another called “The Defrauded Heart,” (a tale of a miser,) and another entitled “The Stepmother.” Towards the end of the poem a lover, Alfred Linne, is brought upon the scene. He has been reckless and sinful, but is reclaimed by the heavenly nature of Eva. He finds her sleeping in a forest. At this point occur some of the finest and most characteristic passages of the poem.

Unwonted thought, unwonted calm

Upon his spirit fell;

For he unwittingly had sought

Young Eva’s hallowed dell,

And breathed that atmosphere of love,

Around her path that grew:

That evil from her steps repelled

The good unto her drew.

Mem. — The last quatrain of this stanza would have been more readily comprehended if punctuated and written thus —

And breathed that atmosphere of love

Around her path that grew —

That evil from her steps repelled —

That good unto her drew. ­

We may as well observe here, too, that although neatly printed, the volume abounds in typographical errors that very frequently mar the sense — as at page 66, for example, where come (near the bottom) is improperly used for came, and scorching (second line from the top) is substituted for searching. We proceed with Alfred’s discovery of Eva in the wood.

Now Eva opes her child-like eyes

And lifts her tranquil head;

And Albert, like a guilty thing,

Had from her presence fled.

But Eva marked his troubled brow,

His sad and thoughtful eyes,

As if they sought yet shrank to hold

Their converse with the skies.

Communion with the skies — would have been far better. It seems strange to us that any one should have overlooked the word.

And all her kindly nature stirred,

She prayed him to remain;

Well conscious that the pure have power

To balm much human pain.

There mingled too, as in a dream,

About brave Albert Linne,

A real and ideal form

Her soul had formed within.

We give the punctuation here as we find it; — it is incorrect throughout, interfering materially with a proper understanding of the passage. There should be a comma after “And” in the first line, a comma in place of the semicolon at the end of the second line, no point at the end of the third line, a comma after “mingled,” and none after “form.” These seeming