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CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS 4
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Art . I . —Specimens of the Russian Poets : with Preliminary Remarks and Biographical Notices . By John Bowring , F . L . S . 12 mo . pp . 264 . Hunter . 1821 . THIS is on many accounts a most interesting volume . It is the first attempt to naturalize in England
the poetical literature of Russia ; and to make us familiar with the sentiments and manners of the people of that great and growing empire : and we think the " Specimens" will raise the character of the reading classes of the Russian population in the estimation of the British public . Where poetry of so cordial a kind as that with which
Mr . Bowring has enriched our borrowed stores ia popular , no refinement will be long absent . The translator has given " biographical notices" of the poets whom he
has admitted into his " Anthology /' partly his own and partly the contributions of his friend Von Adelung , which quicken the interest taken in the Selections . Some " preliminary remarks" are made in the Introduction
on the peculiarities of the . Russian language , " the mother tongue of nearly forty millions of human beings , and which in the course of thirteen
centuries has undergone no radical change . " The translations are introduced to the reader by some beautiful original lines which shew that Mr . Bowring may lay claim to much higher merit than that of being a competent and faithful translator .
We extract from the " Specimens " an address to the Deity by Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin . This poem has been translated into the Chinese and Tartar languages written on a piece of rich silk , and suspended in the
imperial palace at Pekin . ( M . Repos . XV . 736 . ) A version of it into Japanese also has been made by order of the emperor , and is hung up , embroidered with gold , in the Temple of Jeddo .
GOD . O Thou eternal One ! whose presence bright All space doth occupy , all motion guide ;
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Unchanged through time ' s all-devastating flight ; Thou only God ! There is no God beside ! Being above all beings ! Mighty One !
Whom none can comprehend and none explore ; Who fills ' t existence with Thyself alone z Embracing all , —supporting , —ruling o ' er , Being whom we call God—and know no more !
In its sublime research , philosophy May measure out the ocean deep—Hiay count The sands or the sun ' s rays—but , God ! for Thee There is no weight nor measure ;—none can mount
Up to Thy mysteries ; Reason ' s brightest spark , Though kindled by Thy light , in vain would try To trace Thy counsels , infinite and dark And thought is lost ere thought can soar so high , Even like past moments in eternity .
Thou from primeval nothingness didst call First chaos , then existence ;—Lord ! on Thee Eternity had its foundation : —all
Sprung forth from Thee : —of light , joy ., harmony , Sole origin : —all life , all beauty Thirib . Thy word created all , and doth create ; Thy splendour fills all space with rays > divine .
Thou art , and wei t , and shalt be ; Glorious ! Great ! Light-giving , life-sustaining Potentate ! Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround ; Upheld hy Thee , by Thee inspired with breath !
Thou the beginning with the end hast bound , And beautifully mingled life and death !| As sparks mount upwards from the fiery blaze , So suns are born , so worlds spring forth
from Thee ; And as the spangles in the sunny rays Shine round the silver snow , the pageantry Of heaven ' s bright army glitters in Thy praise . *
* " The force of this simile can hardly
Critical Notices Of New Publications 4
CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS 4
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1821, page 175, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2498/page/47/
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