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found in the social state around us ; the cry is now as of old : — " Pro- 

 phesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things." Yet the 

 poet has, we believe, rightly construed his task in preferring to inspire 

 men's minds with doubt as to the absolute perfection of the age, by 

 shewing that several of the tendencies of the day are in a diseased and 

 false direction. 



'' Wretchedest age, since Time began," 

 is the reflection of the hero, and again — 



" There is none that does his work, not one ;" 

 and how much there is in the world around to excite such trains of 

 thought is only too familiar to every observing and thoughtful mind. 



We thus find that in " Maud," Tennyson reflects in the mind of his 

 hero the best aspirations and tendencies of his age. The amelioration 

 of social wrong is a subject for the deepest contemplation, and one 

 which, at the present day, occupies the thoughts of the most acute 

 minds, and the hearts of the most philanthropic of our fellow-men. If 

 the poet has succeeded in keeping alive a desire to improve this state, 

 and thus helps indirectly to its attainment, he has conferred a benefit 

 which ought to be acknowledged and appreciated. 



We trust we have succeeded in shewing that there is a deeper 

 meaning and a higher purpose in " Maud" than some have been 

 willing to discover ; that great and necessary truths are here taught, 

 with an earnestness and a potency which may well excite our highest 

 admiration. We find the ordinary personages of daily life chosen as 

 the illustrations of the general law — that man is best enabled to 

 accomplish his duty by learning to love the beautiful and the good, and 

 that he finds the fulfilment of his mission in combating with moral evil 

 within, and mateiial evil without ; we find that law manifested with a 

 distinctness which attests the power and earnestness of the writer 

 — we find in the space of this short poem many passages of exquisite 

 truth and beauty in themselves, though it has been less our task to 

 dwell upon individual beauties than to endeavour to explain the object 

 and tendency of the poem ; and finding these, we do not hesitate to 

 proclaim our conviction that Tennyson has hero afforded us another 

 beautiful instance of those powers with which he is endowed, devoted, 

 as before, to the instruction and elevation of his fellow-men. Many 

 there are at the present day who find the expression of their hopes and 

 longings in the pure anticipations of the Poet Laureate, and are ready 

 to exclaim with him — 



" King out a slowly dying cause, 



And ancient forms of party strife 

 Ring in the nobler modes of life, 



With sweeter manners, purer laws. 



