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    Art . VII . —Sacred Specimens , selected from the Works of the Early English Poets . With Prefatory Verses . By the Rev . John M itford . Baldwin , Cradock and Joy . 1827 . When we have mentioned the works of Spenser , Cowley , Waller , Carew , Dryden , Herrick , Qtiarles , Vaughan ,

    Southwell and Raleigh , besides many more , as having been put in requisition by Mr . Mitford , to furnish out this little volume of Specimens , we shall have raised our readers' expectations : and yet we cannot but own that , although it contains some beautiful things , we have risen with a feeling of disappointment , and a wish either that at least two-thirds of its

    contents had been permitted to remain where they were and better substitutes found , or that the attempt had been let alone altogether . We do not wish to exercise any very severe controul over poetical antiquarians ; they have a right to be pleased themselves and try their chances of pleasing others . But in the publication of religious poetry we could desire

    to limit them a little , and we think a kind feeling towards antiquity itself would incline them to submit to it . Why must absurd and disgusting ideas on devotional topics be brought forward merely because they were put forth two or three hundred years ago ? If their design be to recommend their pursuits , why bring us weeds where the flowers are abundant ?

    Where there is nothing great , nothing poetical , either in thought or diction , why bring verses to light merely to startle us by their oddity , and by the barbarism and bad taste of their authors and , we may add , collectors ? There are few more reasonable objects of literary curiosity than the early history of poetry ; but to satisfy this , we have enough without bringing forward bad versions of bad

    theology . Dr . Johnson has talked of the difficulties of giving variety to devotional poetry , but we surely shall not mend the matter by reviving nonsense and absurdity . Lines like those we have now to quote , ( and there are plenty more such , ) will , we think , fully justify these observations . They are from " Trivial Poems and Triolets , " by Patrick Carey ( 1651 ) .

    " Christ in the Cradle . Look , how he shakes for cold How pale his lips are grown ! Wherein his limbs to fold , Yet mantle he has none . His pretty feet and hands

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    ( Of late more pure and white r Than is the snow That pains them so ) Have lost their candour quite ; His lips are blue , ( Where rose 3 grew ) He ' s frozen every where . All the heat he has , Joseph , alas ! Gives in a groan , or Mary in a tear" '

    There are two more by the same author no way better . What shall we say , too , to such verses as these ?—(( And Simeon fast his dying words doth ply , O how the blessed souls about him trace ! It is the Sire of Heav ' n thou dost embrace ! Sing , Simeon , sing : sing , Simeon , sing apace !"—P . 70 .

    We cannot but suspect a much better collection of Sacred Specimens might have been made than this before us ; although we have it not in our power to verify our suspicion further than memory allows . We are struck with the omission of Roscommon ' s name . His noble

    Hymn , " O azure vaults , O crystal sky !" is one of the grandest things in our language . It is curious to compare this fine version of the 148 th Psalm with that of Thomas Heyrick , ( 1691 , ) p . 223 , which has also great merit and is more full than Roscommon ' s , but not equal in energy . We are disappointed , too , not to find Sir Henry Wotton ' s name in the collection ; what can be more beautiful than his character of the good man ?

    " How happy is he born and taught Who serveth not another ' s will , Whose armour is his honest thought , And simple truth his only skill ! Whose passions not his masters are , Whose soul is still prepar ' d for death ; Untied to this vain world by care Of public fame or private breath !

    * * Who God doth late and early pray More of his grace than gifts to lend , To crave for less and more obey , Nor dare with Heav ' n ' s decree contend ! This man is freed from servile bands , Of hope to rise , or fear to fall , Lord of himself , though not of lands , Aud , having nothing , yet hath all . "

    Mr . Mitford # ives us a piece from Du Bartas , translated by Sylvester , not unlike the above both in spirit and scope . Perhaps Sir Henry Wotton borrowed something from the same source .

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    64 Critical Notices .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1827, page 64, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1792/page/64/