Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

That fringes it they leaned, and talked so long, That from contiguous worlds they were beheld, And wondered at as beams of living light.'

While thus they stood or lay, there passed by A most erratick wandering globe, that seemed To run with troubled aimless fury on. The virgin, wondering, inquired the cause And nature of that roaming meteor world. When Cela thus :

"I can remember well

When yon was such a world as that you left;

A nursery of intellect, for those

Where matter lives not. Like these other worlds,

It wheeled upon its axle, and it swung

With wide and rapid motion. But the time
That God ordained for its existence run,

Its uses in that beautiful creation,

Where nought subsists in vain, remained no more! The saints and angels knew of it, and came

In radiant files, with awful reverence,

Unto the verge of heaven, where we now stand,
To see the downfall of a sentenced world.
Think of the impetus that urges on

These ponderous spheres, and judge of the event.
Just in the middle of its swift career

Th' Almighty snapt the golden cord in twain
That hung it to the heaven. Greation sobbed!
And a spontaneous shriek rang on the hills
Of these celestial regions. Down amain
Into the void the outcast world descended,
Wheeling and thundering on! Its troubled seas
Were churned into a spray, and, whizzing, flurred
Around it like a dew. The mountain tops,
And ponderous rocks, were off impetuous flung,
And clattered down the steeps of night for ever.

""Away into the sunless, starless void

Rushed the abandoned world; and thro' its caves,
And rifted channels, airs of chaos sung.

The realms of night were troubled, for the stillness
Which there from all eternity had reigned
Was rudely discompos'd; and moaning sounds,
Mixed with a whistling howl, were heard afar,
By darkling spirits! Still with stayless force,
For years and ages, down the wastes of night
Rolled the impetuous mass ! Of all its seas
And superfices disencumbered,
It boomed along, till, by the gathering speed,
Its furnaced mines and hills of walled sulphur
Were blown into flame.-When, meteor-like,

Bursting away upon au arching track,
Wide as the universe, again it scaled

The dusky regions. Long the heavenly hosts
Had deemed the globe extinct, nor thought of it,
Save as an instance of Almighty power.
Judge of their wonder and astonishment,
When far as heavenly eyes can see, they saw
In yon blue void, that hideous world appear,
Showering thin flame and shining vapour forth
O'er half the breadth of heaven! The angels paused,
And all the nations trembled at the view.

"But great is He who rules them! He can turn
And lead it all unhurtful thro' the spheres,

Signal of pestilence, or wasting sword,

That ravage and deface humanity.

"The time will come when, in likewise, the earth Shall be cut off from God s fair universe;

Its end fulfilled.— But when that time shall be,

From man, from saint, and angel, is concealed."-pp. 52, 57. We must be more brief in our notice of the remaining parts' of the poem. Part the Third is written in heroic couplets, and opens with an invocation to the harp of ' Imperial England.’

• Come thou old bass,—I lov'd thy lardly swell,
With Dryden's twang, and Pope's malicious knell.'

We should recommend Mr. Hogg, however, to omit in the next edition of his volume this and the three succeeding couplets, as very ill-according with the character of the poem, and altogether impertinent. The argument of the book is briefly summed up in the following lines.

Sing of the globes our travellers viewed, that lie
Around the sun, envelop'd in the sky;

Thy music slightly must the veil withdraw,
From lands they visited, and scenes they saw;
From lands where love and goodness ever dwell,
Where famine, blight, or mildew never fell;
Where face of man is ne'er o'erspread with gloom,
And woman smiles for ever in her bloom;
And then must sing of wicked worlds beneath,
Where flit the visions, and the hues of death.'

In this canto the reader sensibly perceives himself to be nearing the earth again. Cela seems already transformed into a guide of material mould, and the poet, his pinions failing in that planetary atmosphere, assumes more of the appearance of an Aeronaut. The stiff and stately regularity of the rhyming couplet is well adapted to this alteration of movement; and, in

deed, the judicious variation and felicitous choice of rhythm throughout this poem, make it evident that a distinct untransferable character, and a peculiar power of expression attach to the different forms, of versification, apart from the purpose for which they are employed, and constituting their adaption to particular subjects, while they shew that Mr. Hogg is well acquainted with his business as a versifier.

There are passages in this part of his work, however, of no ordinary merit; and we think it probable that with many the whole canto will be the favourite one. It is more didactic than the rest, and contains some fine strokes of satire, and some beautiful sentiments. The idea of the planet Venus, as

• The land of lovers, known afar,

And named the evening and the morning star;

[ocr errors]

Is very happy. The warlike sphere that wades in crimson like the sultry sun,' detains our poet too long, though it is made the subject of some fine descriptive passages. We can make room, however, only for the following very striking lines, which are introduced as illustrative of the idea, that there are prisons in the deep below.'

"O! it would melt the living heart with woe,
Were I to sing the agonies below;

The hatred nursed by those who cannot part;
The hardened brow, the seared and sullen heart;
The still defenceless look, the stifled sigh,
The writhed lip, the staid despairing eye,
Which ray of hope may never lighten more,
Which cannot shun, yet dares not look before.
O! these are themes reflection would forbear,
Unfitting bard to sing, or maid to hear;
Yet these they saw, in downward realms prevail,
And listened many a sufferer's hapless tale,
Who all allowed that rueful misbelief

Had proved the source of their eternal grief:
And all th' Almighty punisher arraigned

[ocr errors]

For keeping back that knowledge they disdained.' p. 86.

We think our readers will concur with us in ascribing no ordinary character to such poetry as this.

[ocr errors]

The conclusion of the third part leaves Mary within the 'grave alone.' The Poet concludes,

Here I must seize my ancient harp again,

And chaunt a simple tale, a most uncourtly strain.'

Part the Fourth is, accordingly, in the varied measure of the modern metrical romance, and forms an appropriate sequel to the wondrous tale. The opening of it describes the terror and

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

confusion which prevailed at Carelha, when Mary was first missing. Her maidens knew

The third night of the moon in the wane.
They knew on that night that the spirits were free;
That revels of fairies were held on the lea:

And heard their small bugles, with airysome croon,
As lightly they rode on the beam of the moon.'-

Her breathless form is at length found prostrate on the sward, as if in calm and deep devotion.' Her death-like appearance is beautifully described; but

All earthly hope at last outworn,

The body to the tomb was borne.'

We will not forestal the sequel, but leave our readers to satisfy their curiosity by perusing the volume for themselves; only just remarking that the effect of her mysterious return, at the hour of the ghost one sabbath night,' the exclamation of her lady mother, who instantly recognizes the foot of her daughter, but checks herself with

The grave is deep, it may not be !'

And their meeting, when the door of the hall is opened, are in the most picturesque style of romantic adventure, and exquisitely touching.

That mould is sensible and warm,

It leans upon a parent's arm.

The kiss is sweet, and the tears are sheen,
And kind are the words that pass between;
They cling as never more to sunder,

O! that embrace was fraught with wonder!'

Our limits warn us to conclude this article; and we have said enough to shew our estimate of Mr. Hogg's poetical genius. We rely upon him to justify our praise by his subsequent productions. If we have in any measure over-rated his abilities, it has not been owing to our having any private acquaintance with the man, or any partiality to the Author, save that partiality which we may be pardoned for feeling, in meeting with a production so delightfully adapted to the wildest rovings of our untamed fancy, and distinguished at the same time by so high a tone of purity and moral feeling.

An Ode to Superstition closes the volume. It is in the Spenserian stanza, and is interesting, not only, on account of its intrinsic merit, but as developing some of the peculiar traits and sentiments of the Author's mind. We should have been glad to have entered at large into the subject in its relations to poetry, as we deem it one which has not obtained adequate at

tention, but we must reserve our remarks for another occasion. Mr. Hogg has meritoriously abstained from eking out his volume with notes, but a brief explanation of some local references, and of a few Scottish or provincial words, would have been very acceptable to his Southern readers.

Art. VI.-1. New Mathematical Tables, containing the Factors, Squares, Cubes, Square Roots, Cube Roots, Reciprocals, and Hyperbolic Logarithms, of all Numbers, from 1 to 10,000; Tables of Powers and Prime Numbers; an extensive Table of Formulæ, or General Synopsis of the most important Particulars relating to the Doctrines of Equations, Series, Fluxions, Fluents, &c. &c. By Peter Barlow, of the Royal Military Academy. 8vo, pp. lxii. 336. Price 18s. boards. London, G. & S. Robinson. 1814. 2. Mathematical Tables, containing the Logarithms of all Numbers, from 1 to 10,000; the Logarithmic Lines and Tangents to every Degree; a Traverse or Table of Difference of Latitude and Departure; with a Table of Rhumbs. By the Reverend William Alleyne Barker, 24mo. p. 226. London, Reynolds, Oxford street, 1814.

IN proportion to the augmentation of the stock of mathematical knowledge, arises the expediency of tabulating results. Among the ancients, when the whole of mathematics consisted of plane and solid geometry, the conic sections, and a few elementary applications to mechanics, optics, and astronomy, men might carry all the principles, theorems, and problems in their minds, without any such burden as should drive them to seek adventitious aids; but in consequence of the wonderful extension given to the abstruse sciences during the last two centuries, circumstances have considerably changed. An investigator of sound and well exercised intellect, will remember principles, will be expert in his processes, and can, therefore, always deduce results: but that he may not find it absolutely necessary to waste his time and strength in deducing what has been inferred before, it is advisable, not merely that the most valuable particulars should be exhibited in the logical order in which they occur in our best treatises, but that theorems and other useful results should be thrown into synopses and tables, where they may at once be found; and employed in the investigation of the new problems upon which men of theory and men of practice are constantly employed. To find the square root or the cube root of any proposed integer, requires an operation which every school-boy may perform; yet it would be exceedingly irksome for the mathematical investigator of some problem in pneumatics or hydraulics, to be arrested in the midst of an inquiry, till he could carry through

« ForrigeFortsett »