The other fell 'mid peace and song, Oh blessed earth that to thy breast LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. The evening sunlight slept on the bay, And the children shouted along the shore. The stars went out, and the storm came down, In the evening calm the sunlight slept Like an amber flood all over the bay; The wives sat down on the cliffs and wept, But the ships sailed on to lands afar, And knew not the lingering grief on the shore; The nightingale trilled to the evening star, And the ways of the world went on as before! The thrush pipes sweet to his mate on the thorn, JAMES CRANSTOUN, LL.D., 'LASSICAL Master in the Royal High School of Edinburgh, is an author and poet of much learning, varied accomplishment, and refined taste. He has proved himself to be a most faithful and vigorous translator from the Latin poets-exhibiting at once high attainments in scholarship and in literature. Dr Cranstoun was born in 1837 at Crossridge, in the parish of Carmichael, Lanarkshire, and was educated at the Parish School. He entered Glasgow University in 1852, and graduated B.A. in 1855. In 1856 he was appointed Classical Master in Hamilton Place Academy, Edinburgh, and was transferred to the Rectorship of the Grammar School of Kirkcudbright in 1860. He held this office till 1872, when he was appointed Rector of Dumfries Academy. In 1873 he received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Glasgow, and on being chosen as Classical Master in the High School of Edinburgh in 1878, he removed to that city. His sound scholarship and profound culture eminently qualified him for that distinguished post. It We have already indicated that it is a popular notion, and not without foundation, that eminence in literature is inconsistent with success at the bar. is true that solicitors as a rule shun the young advocate who is known to dabble in verses, just as they avoid the great cricketer or the eminent bass singer. The same idea is prevalent in regard to other learned professions, including medical men and teachers. Yet in the fields of literature some names come before us as brilliant exceptions to the general rule, and the subject of our present sketch is one of these. In the midst of his arduous duties Dr Cranstoun has found time to court the Muse, and it has been said that several of the Latin poets have found in the Scottish schoolmaster the most faithful and vigorous of translators-for he has performed his task with wondrous felicity of language, with a daintiness and delicacy above praise, and altogether creditable to Scottish scholarship. Indeed, fitness for such a work presupposes not only a thorough acquaintance with the style, idioms, and measures of the poets, but the possession of considerable poetic power on the part of the translator. In 1867 Dr Cranstoun published "The Poems of Valerius Catullus" in English verse (Edinburgh: Nimmo), with life of the poet, excursus, and illustrative notes; in 1872 "The Elegies of Tibullus; and in 1875, "The Elegies of Sextus Propertius" (Edinburgh: Black wood), with life and notes. These works have been highly spoken of by the leading reviewers of the day, and additional value has been given to the translations by the excellent lives of the poets and truly valuable notes. The undertaking was encompassed with difficulties of no ordinary description, and he has reason to feel proud that the result of his labours has called forth the gratitude, not only of the "gentle reader," but likewise of the professional critic-one of the latter writing as follows:-"Possessing rare qualifications as a translator, he is justly entitled to take a most creditable position among those who have exerted themselves to make the English reader familiar with the works of the leading classical poets. There is a pleasing absence of slovenliness in the present translation. The careful manner in which he has rendered each of the pieces, combined with the voluminous and learned notes that form the latter portion of the volume, shows that he considers no work should be attempted if not deserving of being well performed." 66 Regarding Catullus" it has also been said that the freedom and seeming ease of his style, the result of that high art which conceals itself, together with an unsurpassed richness of imagery and passionate power of conception in his graver pieces, make the translation of the poetry of Catullus as delicate a duty as any scholar can assume. Honour due, then, to such poets as brave old Catullus-in truth he was not old, never will be old-and to the scholar proved and good who here introduces him in modern attire." The notes are full of much pleasant and ingenious criticism, while the parallel passages from other poets are numerous, apt, and beautiful, showing sparks of that high, pure power, which springs from true genius, and to which no mere versifier can ever attain. Here we can only give selections from Dr Cransstoun's miscellaneous poems. These have as yet only appeared in our magazines and literary miscellanies, but we hope soon to hear of their being published in book form. They are of sufficient merit to secure the admiration of the general reader, as his translations have been found eminently useful to the scholar and the critic. Many of them abound in bright pictures of some of Nature's aspects-thoughtful and sympathetic, with numerous passages of much beauty. Dr Cranstoun might well be pronounced as a pure lover of Nature, and he gives evidence in the following verses of an appreciation of her beauties such as is given only to the true poet. THE NEREID. In radiant splendour, on the glassy waters, When, clothed in beauty, one of Ocean's daughters Softly she issued through the azure portal, She came, her silken tresses round her trailing, Fair was her face, her soft blue eyes bright-beaming; I felt as if I'd drunk some magic potion, O for one glimpse of that undreamt-of glory! The heartless world may jeer in cold derision, MAY MORNING. Sweet is the breath of the merry May morn Flow'ret and leaflet of glad Beauty born Hail May! blythe Comer! First-born of Summer! Welcome to thee! Sweet is the breath of the merry May morn Myriads of insects of glad Beauty born Rivulets glancing Lambkins a-dancing Wayward of will! Sweet is the breath of the merry May morn Leaf, bud, and blossom of glad Beauty born Riverward drooping Lovingly stooping Tranced they seem. Sweet is the breath of the merry May morn Odorous showers. |