Harold, in the close of the second scene of the same act, and in his conversation with the Duke's ambassador in the first scene of the fifth act, is spirited in the highest degree. But in the punning use of a word, in different senses in the same sentence, so skillfully employed by Shakspere, Tennyson falls lamentably short. for instance this paralysis of the verb to make : Tostig. The King hath made me Earl; make me not fool! Nor make the King a fool, who made me Earl! Harold. No, Tostig, lest I make myself a fool Who made the King who made thee, make thee Earl. And this of the verb to save: William. ACT I., Scene 1. Perchance against ACT II., Scene 2. Their saver, save thou save him from himself. As In compensation for which we may notice the last words of Act IV., addressed to a bearer of bad news, as of the ring of the old drama. Break the banquet up * * * Ye four! And thou, my carrier pigeon of black news, One of the features of the play is Harold's hopelessness after his false oath upon the sacred relics, which is not improved by the abrupt and almost pert way with which he breaks out on page sixteen when speaking of Tostig's hypocrisy, and, on page fifty-seven, in conversation with Malet about the promises required by the Duke, "Better die than lie!" The manner of the sentence is quite offensive, and its repetition is too inartistic a sign-board to the purposes of a poet. In the first scene of Act III. the dying Edward relates a most involved and unpoetical dream. It has in it a good deal of the prophetic force which the experience of some centuries is apt to give. The green tree! Then a great Angel past along the highest Crying "the doom of England," and at once Edward. He stood beside me, in his grasp a sword This reminds us to say that though the play is in its historical incidents most accurate, the treatment of them is quite anachronistic. Abraham Lincoln, at Gettysburg, did not more accurately define the government by the people, through the people and for the people, than do Harold and Edith of the Swan Neck in the first scene of the fifth act. Edith. Harold. No, First of a line that coming from the people, And fighting for And dying for the people And in his last words in the fifth act the conqueror says, quite in the manner of a constitutional lawyer: I am King of England, so they thwart me not, And I will rule according to their laws. Wherever bold straightforward sentiments are expressed the language is good, but the tone of the speeches generally is a little too elevated to be dramatic. BOOKS RECEIVED. History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America. By Henry Wilson. Vol. III. 8vo. Pp. xxiv; 774. Cloth, $5.00. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co. [Porter & Coates. The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilization in the Vegetable Kingdom. By Charles Darwin. 12mo. Pp. viii; 482. Cloth, $2.00. New York: D. Appleton & Co. [Porter & Coates. The Various Contrivances by Which Orchids are Fertilized by Insects. By Charles Darwin. Second Ed., revised. Illustrated. 12mo. Pp. xvi; 300. Cloth, $1.75. New York: D. Appleton & Co. [Porter & Coates. Bulletin de L'Academie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 45° année, 2o série, tome 42. No. 12. Bruxelles: F. Hayez, Imprimeur de L'Academie Royale. Silence. By S. Miller Hageman. 16mo. Pp. 107. Dodd, Mead & Co. [Porter & Coates. Cloth, $1.00. New York: Cloth, $2.50. History of French Literature. By Henri van Laun. 2 vols. 8vo. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. [Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger. The Best Reading. Edited by Frederic Beecher Perkins. New Ed., revised and enlarged. 12mo. Pp. x; 343. Cloth, $1.75. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. [Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger. The Cradle of the Christ. A Study in Primitive Christianity. By Octavius Brooks Frothingham. 12mo. Pp. x; 233. Cloth, $1.75. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. [Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger. 8vo. 16mo. Pp. Black Spirits and White. By Frances Eleanor Trollope. With illustrations. Essays on Political Economy. By Frederick Bastiat. 12mo. Pp. xi; 291. Questions Awakened by the Bible. By Rev. John Miller. 12mo. Pp. 152. Cloth, $1.50. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1 THE PENN MONTHLY. MAY. THE MONTH. DIPLOMACY has had its last word on the Eastern Question, but really the Diplomatists have shown such slowness in get ting so far, that we begin to doubt their sex. The Protocol at last obtained the signature of the English minister for foreign affairs, and thus received the sanction of all Europe. Its contents were substantially what we deciphered last month out of a complexity of inconsistent telegrams. It announced that the reforms demanded by the Conference express the wishes of all Europe and must be carried out by Turkey, and that the Great Powers hold themselves responsible for them. But it fixed no date for the termination of Turkey's probation, and promised no action in case Turkey either refused to accept the Protocol, or, having accepted it, failed to act in its spirit. And it made the document the basis of an agreement between Turkey and Europe, which, if Turkey had agreed to it, would have postponed hostilities. Lord Granville signed it with the proviso separately added that both Russia and Turkey must disarm in case it were accepted. As we predicted, Turkey flatly refused to accept it. The Sultan dare not take such a step. The tone of popular feeling among the Moslems of Turkey would have made it madness, and the Porte is evidently relying upon that to carry him through the war, which thus became inevitable. Nor are we sure that this is a mistaken estimate, for religious zeal is one of the most incalculable forces in history. It has wrought miracles and removed mountains enough in the past, to make'us hesitate about saying that it is unable to keep the Slavs beyond the Danube. As in 1854-6, the seat of war will be both in Europe and in Asia. Ever since the beginning of the century, Russia has been crossing the Caucasus and encroaching upon the Asiatic possessions of Turkey and Persia. English officers at the head of Turkish troops prevented any extension of territory in the last war; but the Nestorian and Armenian Christians of these regions will without doubt rejoice in the annexation of their provinces to Christendom, even though they are, unlike the Georgians, heretics in the eyes of the Greek church. If Russia succeed, therefore, the Turk will not be expelled from Europe merely, he will be stripped of some of his oldest possessions in Asia also. ENGLAND has not played a very dignified or creditable part throughout the negotiations just terminated. Her ministry have surrendered the right to protect the Christians of Turkey, the very right which the Crimean war was waged to acquire from Russia, as Palmerston interpreted the struggle. They have made sure that if Turkey in Europe is to be annexed to Christendom, it will become part of that Empire, whose interests are the most likely to clash with their own. Their organs affect to regard with dislike the methods and principles of Russian rule. These methods and principles are of a very low and despotic sort, and England has given over a vast area of Europe and Asia to the Czar, in order that he may have new fields for their application. They profess to entertain fears that Europe is endangered by the crude notions and theories of the Panslavists and Communists of Russia. That fear is not unfounded; and if Russia succeed in this struggle, the Panslavist and Communist tendencies will gain a new strength, and find new avenues of access to the rest of the continent. Every word that they have spoken against Russia but adds to the condemnation which history will pronounce upon themselves. And when we turn from the Ministry to the Opposition, we find things not much better. Half a century of Liberal government— government according to the theories of the Manchester schoolhas left the nation in such a plight of dependency that it has become treason to English interests, and especially to the interests |