"Ye woods, that oft at sultry noon Have o'er me spread your massy shade: My second flask was laid to cool: Ye feasts beneath the greenwood tree: Ye baskings in the vernal sun: Ye slumbers in the summer dell: Ye trophies that this arm has won: And must ye hear your friar's farewell?” Although he published some half a dozen volumes of poems and plays, the above lines come about as close to entitling him to the claim of having been a poet, as anything else Peacock ever wrote. The following is one of the best pieces of writing in "Maid Marian: "In the very best of "I am in fine company," said the baron. company," said the friar; " in the high court of Nature, and in the midst of her own nobility. Is it not so? This goodly grove is our palace; the oak and the beech are its colonnade and its canopy; the sun, and the moon, and the stars, are its everlasting lamps; the grass, and the daisy, and the primrose, and the violet, are its many coloured floor of green, white, yellow, and blue; the Mayflower, and the woodbine, and the eglantine, and the ivy, are its decorations, its curtains, and its tapestry; the lark, and the thrush, and the linnet, and the nightingale, are its unhired minstrels and musicians. Robin Hood is king of the forest both by dignity of birth and by virtue of his standing army, to say nothing of the free choice of his people, which he has indeed; but I pass it by as an illegitimate basis of power. He holds his dominion over the forest, and its horned multitude of citizen-deer, and its swinish multitude of peasantry of wild boars, by right of conquest and force of arms. He levies contributions among them by the free consent of his archers, their virtual representatives. If they should find a voice to complain that we are "tyrants and usurpers, to kill and cook them up in their assigned and native dwelling-place," we should most convincingly admonish them, with point of arrow, that they have nothing to do with our laws but to obey them. Is it not written that the fat ribs of the herd shall be fed upon by the mighty in the land? And have not they, withal, my blessing!- my orthodox, canonical, and archipiscopal blessing? Do I not give thanks for them when they are well roasted and smoking under my nose? What title had William of Normandy to England that Robin of Locksley has not to merry Sherwood? William fought for his claim. So does Robin. With whom both? With any that would or will dispute it. William raised contributions. So does Robin. From whom both? From all that they could or can make pay them. Why did any pay them to William? Why do any pay them to Robin? For the same reason to both because they could not or cannot help it. They differ, indeed, in this, that William took from the poor and gave to the rich, and Robin takes from the rich and gives to the poor; and therein is Robin illegitimate, though in all else he is true prince. Scarlet and John, are they not peers of the forest?-lords temporal of Sherwood? And am not I lord spiritual? Am I not archbishop? Am I not Pope? Do I not consecrate their banner and absolve their sins? Are not they State, and am not I Church? Are they not State monarchical, and am not I church militant? Do I not excommunicate our enemies from venison and brawn, and, by'r Lady! when need calls beat them down under my feet? The State levies tax, and the Church levies tithe. Even so do we. Mass! we take all at once. What then? It is tax by redemption, and tithe by commutation. Your William and Richard can cut and come again, but our Robin deals with slippery subjects that come not twice to his exchequer. What need we, then, to constitute a court, except a fool and a laureate? For the fool, his only use is to make false knaves merry by art, and we are true men, and are merry by nature. For the laureate, his only office is to find virtues in those who have none, and to drink sack for his pains. We have quite virtue enough to need him not, and can drink our sack for ourselves." With its many and glaring imperfections, "Maid Marian" will not set the literary world agog on this, its second type-birth. It failed on its first appearance seventy-three years ago, and it might better have been permitted to continue its peaceful slumbers in its merited grave. Thomas Love Peacock (and not "J. L. Peacock," as Chambers' "Cyclopædia of English Literature" has his name at p. 510 of v. II.) was born at Weymouth, in 1785, and died in London, January 23, 1866. In 1818 he obtained a situation in the East India House, and during twenty years (1836-1856) was Examiner of India Correspondence; in 1856 he was retired on a pension. He was noted as a Latin, Italian and Greek scholar. He was on terms of intimacy with many noted authors of his day, among others Shelley (whose executor he became) and Charles Lamb. He published: "Palmyra and Other Poems," 1806; "The Genius of the Thames; a Poem, 1810; " The Philosophy of Melancholy; "a Poem, 1812; "Headlong Hall; "a Tale, 1816; "Melincourt;" a Tale, 1817; "Nightmare Abbey; a Tale, 1818; "Rododaphne;" a Poem, 1818; "Maid Marian; "a Tale, 1822; "The "Crotchet Castle; Misfortunes of Elphin; " a Tale, 1829; Tale, 1831;"Gryll Grange; " a Tale, 1861;"Gl' Ingannati; " a Comedy; and "Ælia Lælia Crispis " (Shaksperiana), 1862. a THE LITERARY WAYSIDE. ETHAN ALLEN'S "WASHINGTON." Mr. Ethan Allen has issued Part I of his "Washington; or, The Revolution,' a drama founded on the historic events of the war for American independence. Such a production, covering so large a period as that which began with the Boston massacre and ended with the surrender of Burgoyne, must necessarily be of a very sketchy nature, affording opportunity for neither development of leading characters nor proper setting of distinctive details of important events. Its adaptability to the stage is not to be seriously considered; it must be ranked among the closet dramas. Mr. Allen displays a very accurate and commendable knowledge of the period of American history he treats of, but his familiarity with the English language as it was written and spoken nearly a century and a quarter ago, is not as subject to praise. On page 104 he makes Col. Rall speak of "Washington and his bleeding tramps;" "tramps" is a word of much later date than the Revolution; again, the English alluded to our ancestors as "the colonists," and not as "the Americans; "similar oversights as these occur here and there in the book. The author also forgets at times that news had no modern railroads and telegraphs to depend on for transmission in the Revolutionary days. But the gravest sin he is guilty of is of making his characters, English, French and Americans, use almost the very same form of speech. If we call attention to these defects, we do it in a kindly spirit, and not to pick flaws for the flaws' sake. There is much to praise in the book, and not the smallest meed of that praise should be that Mr. Allen has had the courage to attempt so thoroughly patriotic and ambitious a piece of literary work as "Washington." Furthermore, his command of language, and his power of dramatic effect, are notable, and he frequently becomes eloquent in his patriotism, as, witness the following tribute of General Putnam to Dr. Warren: "PUTNAM: Dead! Warren dead! you've chilled the very pith and marrow of my life to tell me so. Gallant and gentle Warren dead; and we of only half his worth still left with vigor. This is rank injustice, chargeable to death. Martyr to the rights of man, in immortal realms be now chief embassador to annul these wrongs of tyrants. My friend gone! Forever gone! This loss this heavy loss to us is like that of a man with a limb lopped off, an eye plucked out, and compelled to go the way of life henceforth without their helpful service. For he was both prop and sight upon our toilsome journey. This sorrow will sit on every lid throughout the land, and flood great grief with tears. The festering victims, now strewing yonder slopes, all combined in one, were fractionized in life, by the greater virtues of this single soul. Immortal spirit! hover near us now, while yet the battle warms; our vengeful swords will exact great recompense, or some of us shall bear you friendly company?" (ps. 35 and 36.) Of course, some realist (Mr. Howells, perchance), might urge that this is exaggerated sentiment, and that such language put in the mouth of rough “Old Put" is false art, etc., etc., but we will pass over such objections, averring that greater dramatists than Mr. Allen have been guilty of similar offences. Even Shakspeare and Molière have sinned in this respect. 66 Washington" is embellished with many little woodcuts and portraits of the author, Washington, and Martha Washington. F. Tennyson Neeley, Chicago, publisher; p. c., price, 50c. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS. Du Maurier's " Society Pictures" is worthy of a place on the shelves alongside of his "Trilby." No further comment is necessary. Chicago: Charles H. Sergel Company, publishers, cloth, $1. PROF. Max Friedrich's "Prince Bismark and the Re-establishment of the German Empire," contains nothing either new or of any special importance as to the great German Chancellor and Germany. It is a good reference book, being accurate and handy. It is also interesting. Laird and Lee, publishers, Chicago; cloth, 50c. MR. Edwart T. Townsend's "Chimmie Fadden, Major Max and Other Stories," is a book of a certain class of popular humor that addresses itself to the common tastes of the day. The Bowery does not furnish the material for refined literature. Financial returns is the only excuse can be made for issuing such books as “ Chim |