Trembling awhile with joy she stood,
And felt the sun's enlivening ray,
Drank from the skies the vital flood,
And wonder'd at her plumage gay.
"And balanc'd oft her broidered wings,
Thro' fields of air prepar'd to sail;
Then on her vent'rous journey springs,
And floats along the rising gale.

Go, child of pleasure, range the fields
Taste all the joys that Spring can give-
Partake what bounteous Summer yields,
And live, while yet 'tis thine to live.
Go sip the rose's fragrant dew—
The lily's honey'd cup explore-
From flower to flower the search renew,
And rifle all the woodbine's store.
And let me trace thy vagrant flight,
Thy moments, too, of short repose:
And mark thee, when, with fresh delight,
Thy golden pinions ope and close.
But hark! while I thus musing stand
Pours on the gale an airy note,
And breathing from a viewless band,
Soft silvery tones around me float.
They cease - but still a voice I hear,
A whisper'd voice of hope and joy -
Thy hour of rest approaches near,
Prepare thee, mortal! thou must die!
Yet, start not! on thy closing eyes
Another day shall still unfold;

A sun of milder radiance rise,

A happier age of joys unfold.

Shall the poor worm that shocks thy sight,
The humblest form in Nature's train,

Thus rise in new born lustre bright,
And yet the emblem teach in vain?
Ah! where were once her golden eyes,
Her glitt'ring wings of purple pride?
Conceal'd beneath a rude disguise!
A shapeless mass to earth allied.
Like thee, the helpless reptile lived,

Like thee she toiled, like thee she spun;

Like thine, her closing hour arrived,

Her labours ceased, her web was done.

‹ And shalt thou, numbered with the dead,
No happier state of being know?
And shall no future sorrow shed,
On thee a beam of brighter glow?

II

• Is

• Is this the bound of

power divine,
To animate an insect frame?
Or shall not he who moulded thine
Wake at his will the vital flame?
Go, mortal! in thy reptile state,
Enough to know to thee is given ;
Go, and the joyful truth relate,

Frail child of earth, bright heir of heaven.

ANONYMOUS."

These anecdotes are printed on a neat type, and illustrated by several wooden cuts. In a somewhat more enlarged, purified, and corrected form, we have reason to believe that they would more amply recompense the compiler's trouble and that of his publishers.

MONTHLY

CATALOGUE,

FOR MAY, 1818.

POETRY.

Art. 15. Belshazzar's Feast. A Seatonian Prize Poem, with Notes relative to the History of the Babylonian and Assyrian Empires. By the Rev. T. S. Hughes, A. M. Fellow of Emanuel College, and Junior Proctor of the University. 8vo. 3s. 6d. sewed. Mawman, &c. 1818.

It is not often that we meet with so spirited a composition as Mr. Hughes's prize poem. The subject is indeed magnificent, and it is treated with great animation and dignity. We shall select a few passages which, we trust, will fully justify our favourable report:

Such is thine own impending fate, O King!
Else, why that start? that livid cheek? why fling
The untasted goblet from thy palsied hand?
Why shake thy joints? thy feet forget to stand?
Where roams thine eye? which seems in wild amaze
To shun some object, yet returns to gaze,

Then shrinks again appall'd, as if the tomb
Had sent a spirit from its inmost gloom,

Dire as the unearthly form which met the eye

Of Israel's King, and spoke his destiny;

Dread as the phantom, which in night's dark hour
Reveal'd the terrors of the Almighty's power,

When o'er the couch of Eliphaz it stood

And froze the life-streams of his curdling blood.

Such are the terrors that appal thine eye

And blight the promise of expected joy.

"The King"-"the King"-burst forth from every guest. When lo! one universal shriek confest

REV. MAY, 1818.

H

The

The cause of horror, as Belshazzar raised
His arm, and pointed where the vision blazed!
For see! enrobed in flame, a mystic shade,
As of a Hand, a red right hand, display'd!
And slowly moving o'er the wall, appear
Letters of Fate, and characters of Fear!
'Tis that Almighty Hand that shakes the pole,
Wings the swift bolt, and bids the thunder roll;
That launch'd each radiant orb, and still sustains
The glowing fabric of the starry plains.'

The opening of Daniel's reply to Belshazzar is very finely managed:

'Unutterably awful was the eye

Which met the Monarch's; and the stern reply
Fell heavy on his soul" Thy gifts withhold,
Nor tempt the spirit of the Lord with gold:
Ambition's wreath for other brows prepare;

I scorn it and thou know'st what thorns are there.
Yet he who lowers the proud can raise the weak
His spirit will have utterance, and I speak."'
We have room but for one extract more.

This fate foretold, the strains prophetic cease,
But e'er the prophet's feet depart in peace,
The chain of gold upon his neck they cast,
The robe of scarlet gird around his waist;
And proclamations thro' the land declare
Daniel third ruler, next Assyria's heir.
In the fell carnage of that night's dead hour,
Crush'd mid the ruins of his crumbling power,
Belshazzar fell: but secret was the blow,
Unknown the hand that laid the tyrant low.

'Hades then rose to meet him- then the dead

Burst their sepulchral searments- -they who bled
Beneath his ruthless hand, raised the loud yell
Of horrid laughter thro' the depths of hell,
To greet the tyrant! mark them! how they shew
Scorn's finger as he comes, and mock his woe!'

This appropriation of the splendid imagery of Isaiah, xiv. 9., is in the best taste; and indeed the whole poem is of a very superior cast, and highly creditable to the talents of the author, whom we understand to have been long distinguished for his attainments in the University of Cambridge.

The notes will be found useful and valuable both to the scholar and the general reader, throwing considerable light on the history. of the Babylonian and the Assyrian empires.

Art. 16. The Banks of Isis, and other Poems. By Thomas Gillet. 12mo. pp. 94. Boards. Law and Whittaker. 1817. A very modest and unassuming advertisement, prefixed to this little collection of poems, apprizes us of the great disadvantages

under

under which they were composed: stating that the author's education was such only as he could receive at a crowded school during a few months in the twelfth year of his age; when, it appears, he was compelled to enter on a profession injurious to his health, while it deprived him of all farther means of advancing in literary acquirements. Notwithstanding these obstacles, we have no hesi tation in saying that the poems are superior to those which we generally find in this department of our critical duties: they are classical, elegant, and chaste; though, at times, we detect the venial blemishes of the less experienced warbler in the Muses' grove. We trust that years will mature this early promise of industry and genius, and realize the hope, which the author indulges, of being able to cultivate those studies to which he has been accustomed to resort for pleasure and improvement.' We copy two short specimens.

STANZAS.

• Launch'd into life's tempestuous sea,
Without or sail or oar,

No compass points my devious way,
No rudder thro' the swelling bay

Guides my lone bark to shore.

But still she's borne,

Thro' tracks forlorn,

Of adverse winds the sport, of angry waves the scorn.

O that I now could haply reach
Some peaceful friendly port,
Where safely moor'd, at anchor fast,
I might escape the raging blast,

And billows' lawless sport,

No fell despair,

Should haunt me there:

I'd bid a glad farewell to sorrow and to care.

• But ah! no friendly track appears,
Tho' perils thicker swarm,

Yet, yet resign'd, I'll bear on still,

And trust that heavenly Pilot's skill,
Whose voice controls the storm,
He thro' the tide,

My course may guide,

1

And land me safe at length where peaceful joys preside.

"For know, there is a glorious haven

Far in the radiant skies,

Where tempests ne'er deform the scene,

But all is calm and more serene,

Then e'er was Paradise:

And pleasure's rose

There sweetly blows,

And thro' the realm divine perpetual fragrance throws."

CANZONET.

"Maiden, let not gloomy sadness
Triumph o'er that gentle breast,
Which should be the seat of gladness,
And of love the downy nest.
Why from hence is pleasure banish'd?
Youth and beauty still are thine;
Yet the radiant smile is vanish'd
From those rosy lips divine.

6 Maiden, faithfully thy lover

Vows he'll ever cherish thee;

Let not then thy sighs discover

Cares from which thou should'st be free.

· Why so long, with sorrow sitting,
Hast thou hugg'd her iron chain,
When sweet joy, with air inviting,
Courts thee to his golden reign?'

Art. 17. The Crescent, a National Poem, to commemorate the glorious Victory at Algiers. By Mrs. McMullan. 8vo. pp. 61. Longman and Co.

If perseverance be the road to glory, Mrs. M'Mullan can scarcely fail to arrive in due course of time at the highest honours; but, if other qualifications in the mind of a poet, such as taste, genius, judgment, and discrimination, be essential as guides and companions to the temple of fame, the result of this lady's efforts may possibly be more questionable. We mean not, however, to disparage unjustly the short poem before us, which contains perhaps fewer blemishes than we had occasion to notice in some previous productions of the same pen; and in which the sentiments are patriotic and unexceptionable, while the language is not void of poetic spirit. We have, however, in this as in all our national poems, too much of the flummery of Britain's glory,' • Britain's thunder,' Britannia's car,' and all the other virtues and qualities of that good lady, of which the whole tribe of our minor poets are so fond of giving us an abundant dose. We recommend to Mrs. M. our former advice with regard to revision, ́accuracy in language, and discrimination.

Art. 18. Transmigration; a Poem: containing an Outline of the Pythagorean Philosophy, and of the Opinions of the Ancients on many Subjects. To which are added Miscellaneous Pieces. Principally from the Pen of the late W, B, Esq. 12mo. pp. 92. Boards. Sherwood and Co. 1817.

We must do the late Mr. W. B. the justice to suppose that, whatever portion of these miscellaneous rhymes proceeded from his pen, it was never intended by him to advance farther into the world than the limits of his writing-case; and that he is indebted to the kindness of his friends, for introducing to the notice of the public that which was probably designed only as the trivial amusement of a vacant hour. The quaintness of some of the minor