1865.] It is proposed that the constituency Enough has been said to indicate that England is rushing into what in history is called an art epoch. National wealth, the exigencies of commerce, and the growth of lux- E CLEOPATRA. HERE, Charmian, take my bracelets, A gauze on my bosom throw, I dreamed I was with my Antony, Ah, me! the vision has vanished- The flame and the perfume have perished— That wound the blue smoke of its odour Scatter upon me rose-leaves, Reach down the lute, and play me To rhyme with the dream that has vanished, There, drowsing in golden sunlight, The lotus lolls on the water, And opens its heart of gold, And over its broad leaf-pavement Those feathery palms to wave, Ah, me! this lifeless nature Take rather his buckler and sword, Hark! to my Indian beauty- 1865.] Cleopatra. Look! listen! as backward and forward There-leave me, and take from my chamber With its bright black eyes so meaningless, The thing without blood or brain,— Or, by the body of Isis, I'll snap his thin neck in twain ! Leave me to gaze at the landscape Their earthy forms expire; And the bald blear skull of the desert I will lie and dream of the past-time, And through the jungle of memory Supple and cushion-footed I wandered, where never the track I knew but the law of my moods. When he heard my footstep near, I sucked in the noontide splendour, Or yawning, panting, and dreaming, 255 Then I roused, and roared in answer, And struck at each other our massive arms— As he crouched and gazed at me, Often another suitor For I was flexile and fair- Till his blood was drained by the desert; To breathe him a vast half-hour. We drank their blood and crushed them, And the hungriest lion doubted Ere he disputed with him. That was a life to live for! Not this weak human life, With its frivolous bloodless passions, Come to my arms, my hero, The shadows of twilight grow, Come not cringing to sue me! W. W. S. THE LATE ELECTIONS. THE elections are over, and to all outward appearance they have resulted less favourably to the cause of constitutional government than we had hoped rather than anticipated. The Liberals tell us that they have gained twenty seats at the least. It remains to be seen whether in this, as in many other incidents in human life, that which seems to be really is. A gain of twenty seats, counting as forty votes on a division, would, however, be something to boast of were it quite sure. But is it quite sure? We think not. In the first place, the Liberals, looked at as a party, are but a heap of sand. There is no real bond of union among them, and the absence of such bond will, unless we greatly deceive ourselves, become even more apparent in the the new Parliament than it was in the old. In the next place, the new House of Commons is made up of a larger number of untried men than any which has met for the transaction of business since 1832. Till the push comes, no one can say how six out of eight of these gentlemen will vote. No doubt there has been, to a greater extent than on any previous occasion since the Reform Bill, a readiness among Liberal candidates to pledge themselves to whatever seemed to be the favourite crotchets of their constituents. But this circumstance, among others, goes some way to assure us that the measure of the Ministerial success is by no means what it seems to be. Men most prompt to take pledges are not always the most firm in redeeming them. It is a lax notion of morality which compels them, in the first instance, to substitute for their own convictions that which they believe will gratify their constituencies; and the same lax notion of morality which hurried them into rash promises at the see hustings, will bear them out in falsifying their honour without a pang, whenever the proper inducements are presented to them after their seats are secure. It appears, then, to us, that the shout of triumph set up by the Government and their supporters in the Liberal press is, to say the least of it, rather premature. Wait till the Houses meet. Wait till we what the policy of the Queen's Ministers is; and till it shall be clearly ascertained under whose auspices the business of the session is to be carried on. Then, and not till then, we shall be able to determine whether Liberalism, in the well-understood sense of that term, has really gained or lost by the issues of the general election. Meanwhile, our business is to look a little narrowly into the details of the contest which has just closed, and to draw from the premises thereby established such conclusions as the case may seem to warrant. We begin by acknowledging that, however much we may regret, we can experience little surprise at the turn which events have taken. Not that our belief is at all shaken by it, in the spread of Conservative opinion throughout the country and among the constituencies. But Conservatism is still, what it has always been as a motive power, forbearing rather than aggressive; more prone to put up with ills which are not positively intolerable, than eager to stir up and mix in strife with a view to get rid of them. You cannot rouse this spirit to active exertion unless you are in a position to appeal to some obvious peril hanging over the constitution. Remote dangers, the slow but steady advances of the enemy, attract indeed the notice and rouse the vigilance of the observing few. But the masses are |