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•Mi IffjwawmT ,i,>gT-III - •ji. •■m»,i '^i-Wj """"m^m.. ^SS^^' a. u'h\. J6g THE ATTEMPT A LITERARY MAGAZINE CONDUCTED BY THE MEMBEIIS OF THF. EDINBURGH ESSAY SOCIETY. VOLUME IV. "AUSPICIUM MELIORTS MN l: PRINTED FOR THE EDINBURGH ESSAY SOCIETY. COLSTON & SON, EDINBURGH. MDCCCLXVIII. CONTENTS. (.-■^'^ PAGE A Few Thoughts about Newspapers, by Zoe, ..... 107 A Little Learning, by M. L., . 25 An Hour's Musings in an Old Library, by Lutea Reseda, 185 A Royalist, by Mas Alta, .... 134 A Slight Sketch of Ulrich von Hutten, by Zoe, . 282 A Song of the Forest, by Mas Alta, 184 A Thousand Miles, by Mas Alta, 257 A Visit from the Frog, by Frucaxa, 30 Cloris and Daphne, an Idyll, by Lutea Reseda, 13 Claymore, by Mae Alta, .... 109 Contemporary Poets, by des Eaux, 121 Don Pedro's Bride, by Mas Alta, 153 Forgotten Friends, by Agnella, 64 Fragments of a Life, by Enai, 98 From Malta to Aden, by Elsie Strivelyne, 155 Giving Back, by 0. M., .... 113 Hector's Departure, from the German of Schiller, by Dido, . 128 Hope and Memory, by E. H. S., . 209 Hubert's Letters, being MSS. Tempore Caroli Primi, now first published , by Mas J ata, 20, 14, 67, 92 In an Orchard, by Mas Alta, .... 226 In Memoriam, by Alma, .... 71 Islands, by Enai,, . 214 ii CONTENTS. PAGE Knowledge of Ignorance, by des Eaux, .... 118 Lines, by Veronica, ... , 117 Longings, by R. M., ..... 119 " Love me Little, Love me Long," by Dido, 247 Monument to Two Children, by Chantrey, by E. H. S., 48 Musical Education, by Einna, ..... 9 Net-Mending on the Beach, by Mas Alta, 200 Notes upon the History of Music, .... 145, 169, 217, 257 On a Forget-me-not brought from Switzerland, by E. H. S., . 89 On lU Luck, by Dido, ..... 59 On the First View of Switzerland, by E. H. S., . 140 On the Uses of the Study of Science, by R. N., 129 On SeK Cultme, by R, N., . 241 Origin of the Blush Rose, by Agnella, .... ,5 Our Moor, by 0. M., . 137 163, 178, 203, 227, 248 Outremer, by Mas Alta, ..... 56 Personal Advantages, by Dido, .... 174 Phenomena Attendant on the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, by Excelsior, 115 Red Letter Days in Norway, by Alma, .... 83 Reminiscences, by Dido, ..... 210 Sappho's Death Song, by Meigeag Bheag, 82 Similes, by Lutea Reseda, ..... 43, 264 Something about Everything, by Elsie Strivelyne, . 1, 222, 251 Spring Cleanings, by Dido, ..... 78 Stanzas for Music, by E. H. S., 63 The Blessing of the Meek, by Veronica, 12 The Church Congress in Dublin, by Ahiia, 275 The Death of the Bruce's Foster-Brother, by Meigeag Bheag, 97 The Fu-e-Light, by Etna, ..... 29 The Furnace-Watcher's Soliloquy, by Lutea Reseda, 274 The Hunter's Wife, from the German of WUhelm Muller, . 284 1 The Influence of Rhyme on the Poet's Mind, by Lutea Reseda, 193 ! CONTENTS. iii PAGE The Leaf, from the French of Amhault, by Echo, . 187 The Mari-Stem, by Alma, 101 The New Year, by K. M., . 8 The Reason Why, by Clarence, 72 The Rocking-Stone, by Agatha, 166 The Rose Tree, from the French of De Legre, by Echo, 168 The Seasons and their Plants, by K. H. D., 41,89,110, 140, 188 232, 272 The Turn of the Wheel, by Dido, 150 The 23d of April, by Lutea Reseda, 73 The Wisdom of Passiveness, by Enai, 37 Thoughts on " The Cliristian Year," by Enai, 49 To ——, by E. H. S., . 235 To the Famous Taj at Agra, by Dauphin^, 177 Tourists, by Dido, .... 236 Violets, from the German, by Dido, 37 Waiting behind the Veil, by Lutea Reseda, 104 VVhat Christmas brought to Hfllne Grant, by Enai, 265 Why should We Two Love each Other, by Lutea Reseda, 149 Winter, by Meigeag Bheag, 19 Acrostics and Answers, . 24, 48, 144, 168 191, 216 Enigma and Answer, 216, 240 • » THE ATTEMPT. Som^t^ing about ^ir^rgt^ing. (MILESTONES.) LIFE is full of milestones, quoth a friend of mine, whose grey hairs shewed he had travelled many leagvies on the gi'eat highway, and though a trite remark, it furnished some food for thought. We know the look of them so well, these milestones that are memorial stones, and that thicken so ominously on the path as we go ; they are of strange sorts : some were tombstones to mark where another year had died, some overshadowed with the gloom of loss and grief, some, and there are fewest of these, with a gleam of everlasting sunshine about them to show where, with the unexpectedness that adds intensity to joy, our steps turned suddenly into a shady dell of rest and beauty. They are not equidistant seemingly, for years may roll on monotonously while we toil along the unmarked road between one and another of them, while elsewhere we shall find places where each hour appears to add ages to our existence, and each minute deserves its chronicle by the wayside. Each stone as it is erected is photographed into the panoramic picture of the past that we carry in our memories : the child's mind is a pure white scroll, on which the impressions are at first wavering and uncei-tain, but they soon deepen, and cover the fair sheet more rapidly, till the last line is filled in, and the long document is ready for^, the final unrolling ; ere that comes, a man must be inclined to meditate somewhat seriously on the notable spots where these memorials claim his attention. They each record the existence of some thing whose influence no power can wholly oblitei-ate from our own, or other lives ; and one cannot but think that were this fact rightly comprehended, it would surely be accounted of more weight in the regulation of our conduct; it is not merely the positive deed, the actual good or 2 THE ATTEMPT. evil committed that is of consequence, but the negation, the thing not done, should, in many cases, be marked by a milestone, as a minute of chief importance, the neglect of which shall in some way cause suffering. Every good influence, every kindly word, every opportunity of usefulness which we have let slip or passed wilfully by, is matter of moment, and the weight of these alone might crush most of us; often enough we try to hide behind the shield of cir- cumstance, throwing off", on the alleged guidance of a blind chance, the responsibility we fear to assume, but such an argument bespeaks the sybarite if not the coward; there is an intentional, or at least a permitted blindness which clouds most men's eyes on some subject or other, and woe be to them if, in the broad light of day, they call such films of theii- own creating the work of fate. There are milestones for nations as well as for individuals, and one of such this country appears to have reached. How long it may be before we find ourselves beside another none can say, nor can we, for nations or individuals, do more than guess vaguely at the events that lie between one crisis and another in a history. It were but rejieating the words^of the wiser among us to say that the auguries are dark and strange, and that it behoves men to look to their arms and keep watch ; the words of one of England's bravest fighting men apply to more than mere bodily warfare ; and did we " trust Providence and keep our powder dry " in every kind of battle, it would be well for our country and ourselves. Unliappily such advice can hardly commend itself to those who doubt its efiicacy, and if we look around (with eyes cleared from self-made films), we shall see little enough of the faith, which, in rougher and simpler days, went far to bring about the events that are the milestones of foregone ages. This is no mere womanish preaching; it is a conviction that must inevitably force itself on those who can observe the commonest indexes of thought calmly and impartially, and if we, so watching, know perchance some steadfast soul who does trust Providence, and does mle his life by a worthy standard, such knowledge will only deepen the contrasted darkness. Life as it is, almost makes us think that life as history depicts it is indeed a mere picture, beautiful but deceptive. We seem so far away from the great men and women of the past, so far in spirit from the time when Britain's gentlemen were patriots in the noblest sense ; patriotic, as a matter of course, following their professions heartily for the honour of old England. As " Noblesse oblige " was supposed to be sufficient incentive to all nobleness by our French neighbours, so here, the fact of being an Englishman laid a THE ATTEMPT. 3 proud obligation on every man to be honourable and brave, whence it followed that many a milestone was raised, recording some fresh leaf added to the heavy wreaths of English laurels. Then, too, it was the glory of English wi-iters that their literature was pure and worthy of discriminating readers, as at the other end of the social scale, it was the pride of English workmen that their work was faithful and thorough, like none other in the world. This, at least, is the painting already completed for us : that now in progress is somewhat different. Here and there we find conscience and principle valued above place or power, but with the average of mankind the ruling motives are a desire for mere selfish aggrandisement, popularity, wealth, or whatever object is deemed precious for the time, and a devotedness to idle pleasure literally marvellous to lookers on, who see the possibilities of good that surround the idlers, and the meanness of the pursuits for which they are neglected.

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