AustLit

The 'Flaneur' muses on Sydney's recent political and social occurrences. The focal point of his article is the attempt by the colonial government to introduce a Treason Felony Act following the attempted assassination of H. R. H. Prince Alfred in March 1868. The 'Flaneur' quotes from the Spectator's response to news of this proposed act. The English journal describes the move in the following terms: 'This Legislative Act we can call by no other name than an outburst of violent and alarming political delirium'.

The 'Flaneur' also discusses William Morris's new poem 'The Earthly Paradise', saying that Morris's writing is 'musical without being unintelligible, rich without being gaudy, and warm, with the genial warmth of Heaven's sun, and not with the fires of Hell.' The 'Flaneur' explains the poem's premise and provides 'a specimen'.