131 



bud ; likewise preparations of hemp used iu Africa for smoking, put up 

 iu a peculiar manner, from the Bight of Biaffra. 

 The following paper was then read : — 



ON SOME OF THE MENTAL AND SOCIAL PHENOMENA 

 OF THE DAY, WITH THEIR POETICAL SOLUTION, AS 

 ILLUSTRATED BY TENNYSON'S " MAUD." 

 By J, C. EEDISH, Esq. 



The civihzation of the present age is so often dwelt upon and so much 

 applauded that it may not be amiss if we examine carefully into one of 

 its manifestations, and enquire in what degree it is truly entitled to our 

 admiration. 



"The development of the individual and mental existence — the 

 development of man himself, of his faculties, sentiments and ideas," 

 is pronounced by M. Guizot, as proclaiming, with no less uncertainty than 

 " the development of society, properly so called, of the relations of men 

 amongst themselves," that a nation is truly civilized; and of all active 

 mental existence, that which attests the poet is the highest. In enter- 

 ing then into the enquiry, whether the last poem of England's Poet 

 Laureate be worthy of his fame and our admiration, we are at the same 

 time indirectly enquiring whether, in one of the great tests of civiliza- 

 tion, we are entitled, as a nation, to the fame we boast and the rank 

 ■we claim; for we think we are justified in the assumption that the 

 nation, at the present day, is content to accept Tennyson as its repre- 

 sentative poet, and is prepared to allow its poetical pretensions to stand 

 or fall with him. Poets have been pronounced the " unacknowledged 

 legislators of mankind," and there can be little doubt of the immense 

 influence they have exercised over the destiny of man ; in seeking, 

 then, to learn whether the natural influence which is now wielded by 

 Tennyson be rightly and legitimately used — in other words, whether he 

 is true to his high vocation, — we shall also learn whether we may look 

 for good or evil as the result of the tendencies of the present age. 



Just in proportion as the poet's view of human life is true — just in 

 proportion as he is enabled, by the light of a pure creed, to view man 

 and his destiny aright — and so far as he succeeds in embodying the 

 truth he has to proclaim in a garb that will attract and a form that will 

 endure ; so may he hope, by appealing to the higher part of man, his 

 nobler sympathies, his unselfish feelings, his love of the beautiful, to 

 rouse him to loftier views of truth, and, as a necessary consequence, to 

 more ennobling action. 



Now we believe that this correct view of life is one of the chief 



