BOOKS.

THE PURPOSE PURPOSE OF THE AGES.*

TEE author of The Purpose of the Ages, whom, in accordance with the title-page, we shall call Miss Morison, although we believe that she has long ago changed her name, has undertaken a profoundly difficult task. Hitherto, she has been chiefly known as a lyrical writer, especially as a writer of Scottish ballads. Her present work is more ambitions, and, in our judgment,. muchless

successful. The object of the poem is a noble one. "The divine education of the human race," says Professor Sayce, "and of The individual within the race, the unity of God's dealings with man, is the central idea whose development forms the very -essence of the poem. Faith that reveals itself in obedience, and finally attains the perfect liberty of oneness with God, is the instrument whereby that development is worked out." And he goes on to say that the writer, having made herself thoroughly acquainted with the recent revelations of Egyptian and Assyrian research, has spared no pains "to inspire them with that living spirit which comes of warm sympathy and poetic insight."

Now, it does not need much thought to see that a poem built

upon the researches of archaeologists lays no slight tax on the imagination. Poetical inspiration is, no doubt, in the highest -degree indebted to knowledge, and the acquisitions of great poets have been frequently immense. A poet cannot know too much ; but it makes all the difference to him in the world whether that knowledge is a part of his intellectual growth, or whether he has, as it were, "crammed" for a subject in order to write about it. This has been the case with Miss Morison, who has evidently sat down to study Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities with the -design of basing a poem upon them. A proof of this may be -seen in the fact that nearly half the volume consists of closely printed citations from the authorities on whom she leans.

The book begins with the early life and call of Abraham, and ends with St. John at Ephesus. Many of the Bible scenes are touched suggestively, others are described more fully ; but the nearer the writer keeps to Scripture, the less striking is her verse, since it is then brought into comparison with passages as familiar as they are beautiful. Her anxiety to follow accurately her learned authorities leads also at times to such obscurity in the narrative, that Miss Morison is forced in nearly every line to refer the reader to some elaborate note without which it is wholly unintelligible. Milton knew how to use proper names so that they increased the harmony of his verse ; but this wonderful craft is beyond the skill of a writer whose ear for music is as faulty as Lord Byron's, and who masses unfamiliar titles in lines through which the reader has to stumble as best he may. We readily accept Miss Morison's statement that her work is "true, so far as our present knowledge goes, to the life and surroundings of those dark and distant days ;" but the truth required of the archasologist is not the prime requisite of a poet. The difficulty of writing a poem involving so mush research must have been very great; the critic, however, is not called upon to consider the difficulties, but the result. And the general impression we have received, after reading the book with the attention it may fairly claim, is that, in spite of several picturesque passages and much elaborate workmanship, the poem is likely to excite more curiosity than imaginative delight, and that the writer is encumbered by the learning with which its pages are weighted. This, in our judgment, is a correct esti- mate of the work as a whole, but there are passages of high excellence which lead us to hope that the writer, when she essays another poetical flight, will choose a less ambitious theme.

Having said so much in depreciation of a poem which, in

spite of its defects, is fall of ability, it is time we should state its character more precisely, and give one or two favour- able illustrations of the poet's art which will suffice at least to prove that the author is no commonplace versifier. The Purpose of the Ages consists of three books,—the first of which is entitled "Faith (Childhood) ;" the second, "Fealty ,(Yoath);" and the third," Freedom (fifanhood)." In the first, we have the boyhood of Abrahamt whichreveals the future man, for in his youth he shows a contempt for his father's idols, and wanders forth a lonely seeker after the true God, and resolved to die in seeking rather than give up the quest :— "Onward he journeyed through the sultry day,

Through the cool eve, and when night shone with stars."

• The Purpo,e of-the Ages. By Jeanie Morison. With Preface by Professor A. 1H. Space. of Oxford. London Moou,u10 and Co.

The account of what he saw on the way, and of the people he discoursed with, is very happily given. The brightness of an Eastern sky is over some of the scenes the reader witnesses with Abraham, the most poetical, we think, that are to be met with in the volume. His father, Terah, an idol-maker, had turned him out of the house for denying the gods he made; but when the youth has found the true God—thanks to the instruction of the aged Shem—he returns full of faith to Ur, nothing doubting but that Terah will now accept the message which he brings :—

" Even had fallen when he stood once more Before the well-known door, and heard, within, The busy whirring of his mother's wheel At work among her maidens; each heart-throb Seemed as 'twould choke him, as he raised the latch, And stood again within his childhood's home. —One cry of joy and Miloah fell, weeping, Upon his neck, while little Lot clang feat To his robe's skirt with shouts of childish glee, And Sarai stood beside,—her fair, flushed face Radiant with smiles and tears,—and maidens all,— Their spindles quite forgok—with clamour glad Greeted the wanderer home. Torah alone Held back with frowning brow, as at his feet In lowly homage Abram knelt and prayed The blessing still withheld."

But Terah will not listen to his son's entreaty, whom he regards as impious or mad, and he decrees that Kndar-Lagamar, King of Elam, shall judge betwixt them on the morrow. So the stern idolater bows before the King, craving for judgment on his son ; and Abram, prostrate upon the dust, asks how it is possible he can worship idols carved by his father's hands :—

"Then be thou like to me and worship Ba'al, The mighty King of Fire, First Principle

Of all that lives.' But there is that, oh king !

That quenches fire, and so must be more strong ;— May I not pray to Water that o'ercomes

The power of Ba'al ?"Pray then to mighty Val, God of the earth-refreshing rain." Hear me, Oh king! what holds the rain must be than rain More great ;—may I not worship Clouds that hold The rain ?" Pray then to Clouds." Hear once again, Oh king ! for there is that more strong than clouds; May I not pray to Wind that drives the clouds ?' 'Pray then to Wind.' 'Be not wroth, oh my king ! That not to wind or cloud, or rain, or fire, May I bow down to pray,—but unto Him Who made them, who made me, ay, and made thee, Oh king !—who snake to Noah, and who speaks To me,—Hira only may I serve, oh king !'

Then let him taste the power of mighty Ba'al,— Him whom he holds the least,—and see if He, Be serves can save him from the King of Fire!' And at a signal from the king, they seized, And binding, led him where a furnace flame Darted its fiery arrows to high heaven.

Bound hand and foot they cast him in, but In! The fiery arrows sank, and in their stead Bloomed garden fair of roses, and the boy Walked with a smile, unshackled, in their midst! Then all the people shouted, 'Live the God That Abram serves '—And troubled in his soot The king bade his slaves loose, and let him go."

In the next scene, Abraham, now an old man, recalls in the presence of Isaac and Ishmael the events of his life. Then the reader is carried to Egypt, where the Israelites groan under the lash of their taskmasters, while the boy Moses, loving his

princely mother and his Hebrew nurse, grows— "like a stately palm in Merrhis' home, Wearing the Horns locks that marked him son Of Pharaoh's royal house ;—the daily task Conning at feet of Hor-iii.khuh's old priest ;— Waiting at morning sacrifice the while Fair Merrhis bare the sistrum of the god ;— Loving his princess mother, loving too, His simple Hebrew nurse."

The Goad life of Pharaoh, and the Egyptian festivals and sacred mysteries, afford an opportunity of picturesque descrip- tion which Miss Morison knows how to use with a considerable measure of success. This, indeed, is one of the most attractive portions of the poem, and the colour and warmth of an Eastern landscape brighten the writer's pages. The glow and glory of a lovely climate, the scenes of Egyptian life, and the career of Moses, so far as it admits of poetical treatment, are described with admirable skill and judgment. Something more than this - we demand from the poet, and that is denied,—ability being far more evident than creative power.

As the poem progresses, it cannot be said to grow in strength ; and it must be admitted that in dealing with New Testament incidents—the murder of the Innocents, the angel's visit to Mary, the mission of Sohn the Baptist, the works and words of our Lord, and the treachery of Judas, for example—the difficulty of giving poetical life to incidents so familiar is well- nigh insuperable. We are struck with the writer's tact in avoiding much dangerous ground where failure would be almost inevitable ; but there is not sufficient vitality in her verse to infuse new life into the themes she has selected for illustration.