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SEPIEmn3t "' im - " *- - -*- . ' . THE N...
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BEAUTIES OF BYRON. SO. 3E. "CBttDE BAKOL...
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* IEspauia, the ancient name of Spain. 1...
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TI # PURGATORY OF SUICIDES. A Prison S ,...
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sumed to adnritl&o the talenti^Uliid S t...
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THE ILLUMINATED MAGAZINE—Sephsmbbr, ; .....
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TAIT'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE-August and Sep...
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SIMMONDS'S COLONIAL MAGAZINE,—September....
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Confession Op ait old Offender.—The Stan...
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«t;-8fl&'-
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Political Railway AccibESX.—'An accident...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Sepiemn3t "' Im - " *- - -*- . ' . The N...
SEPIEmn 3 t " ' - " * - - - * - . ' . THE NORTHERN STAR . 3 .
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Beauties Of Byron. So. 3e. "Cbttde Bakol...
BEAUTIES OF BYRON . SO . 3 E . " CBttDE BAKOLD » The poet' s nest theme Is HISPANIA . * Ob , lovely Spain ! renown'd , romantic land ! Where is that standard which Pelagio bore . When Cava ' fi traitor-sire first call'd the band That dyed thy mountain streams with Gothic gore Where are those bloody banners which of yore Wav'd o ' er thy sons , victorious to the gale , And drove at last the spoAlerB to their shore I
Red gleam'd the cross , and waned the crescent pale , While Afric ' s echoes thrill'd with Moorish matrons * wail . Teems not each ditty with the glorious tale ? Ah ! such , alas ! the hero ' s amplest fate . ' When granite moulders and when records fail , A peasant's plaint prolongs his dubious date . Pride ! bend thine eye from heaven to thine estate See ho iv the mighty shrink into a song ! Can Volume , Pillar , Pile , preserve thee great ? Or must thou tmst tradition ' s simple tongue , When Flattery sleeps with thee , and History does thee wrong !
Awake , ye sons of Spain ! awake ! advance I lo ! Chivalry , your ancient goddess , cries ; Rut wields not , as of old , her thirsty lance , Nor shakes her crimson plumage in the skies . Now on the smoke of blazing bolts she flies , And speaks in thunder through yon engine ' s roar ! In every peal she calls— "Awake ! arisa !" Say , is her -voice more feeble than of yore , - When her war-song was heard on Andalusia ' s shore I The following sis stanzas form a magnificent phiUipic against "the game of kings" : — Hark ! heard yon not those hoofs of dreadful note ? Sounds not the clang of conflict on the heath f Saw ye not whom the reeking sabre smote ; Kor saved your brethren ere they sank beneath Tyrants and tyrants' slaves !—the fires of death , The bale-fires flash on high—from rock to rock Each volley tells that thousands cease to breathe ; Death rides upon the sulphury Siroc , E « d battle stamps his foot , and nations feel the shock .
1 a ! -where the giant on the mountain standi , His blood-red tresses deep ' ning in the sun , With deatb-shotglowingin his fiery hands , And eja that scorcheth all it glares upon ; Restless it roUs , now fix'd , and now anon Flashing afar—and at his iron feet Destruction cowers , to mark what deeds art done ! For on this mora three , potent nations meet , To shed before Ms shrine the blood he deems most sweet By Heaven ! it is a splendid sight to see ( For one who hath no friend , so brother there ) Their rival scarfs of mix'd embroidery , Their various arms that glitter in the air ' What gallant war-hounds rorue them from their kir And gnash their fangs , load yelling for their prey I AU join the chase , but few the triumph share ; The Grave shaU bear the chiefest prize away , And Havoc scarce tor joy can number their array .
Three hosts combine to offer sacrifice ; Three tongues prefer strange orisons on high ; Three gaudy standards flout the pale blue skies ; The shouts are France , Spain , Albion . Tictoiy ! The foe , the victim , and the fond ally That fights for aU but ever fights in rain , Are met—as if at home they could not die-To feed the crow on Talavera ' s plain , Arid fertilise the field that each pretends to gain . f There shall they rot—Ambition ' s honour'd fCOli J Tes , Honour decks the turf that wraps their clay I Tain Sophistry ! in these behold the tools , The broken tools , that tyrants cast away By myriads , when they dare to pave their way With human hearts—to what t—a dream alone . Can despots compass aught that hails their sway ? Or call with truth one span of earth their own , Save that wherein at last they crumble bone by bone t
Not so the rustic—with his trembling mate He lurks , nor casts his heavy eye afar , Lest he should view his vineyard desolate , Blasted below the dun hot breath of war . So more beneath soft Eve ' s consenting star Fandango twirls his jocund Castanet : All , monarchs ! could ye taste the mirth ye mar , Not in the toils of glory would ye fret ; The hoarse duU drum would sleep and man be happy yet ! Here follows a beautiful portrait of THE 3 lAH > OF SASiGOSSA . Glorious as a patriotic heroine , she has been not less fortunate than heroic to have had such a poet as JJraox to immortalise her deeds and name : —
Is it toy this the . Spanish , maw , aroused , Hangs on the willow her unstrung guitar , And , aU unsexM , the anlace hath espoused , Sung the loud song , and dared the deed of war ? And she , whom once the semblance of a scar ApnaU'd , an owlet's larum chill'd with dread , Now views the column-scattering bay ' net jar , The falchion flash , and o ' er the yet warm dead Stalks with llinerva ' s step where Mars might qnako to tread . Ye who shall marvel when you hear her tale , Oh' . had vouhnown her iu her softer hour , JIark'd her black eye that mocks her coal-black veil , Heard her light lively tones in Lady ' s bower , Seen her long locks that foil the painter ' s power ,
Her fairy form , with more than female grace , Scarce would you deem that Saragossa's tower Beheld her smile in Danger's Gorgon face , Thin the closed ranks , and lead in Glory ' s fearful chase . Her lover sinks—she sheds no ill-timed-tear ; Her chief is slain—she fills his fatal post ; Her fellows flee—she checks their base career ; The foe retires—she beads the sallying host : Who can appease like her a lover ' s ghost ? Who can avenge so well a leader ' s fall ! What maid retrieve -when man ' s flush'd hope is lost % Who hang so fiercely on the flying Gaul , J Foil'd by a woman ' s hand , before a batter'd wall ! "Set are Spain ' s maids no race of Amazons , But form'd for all the witching arts of love : Though thus in arms they emulateher sons ,
And in the horrid phalanx dare to move , 'lis hut the tender fierceness of the dove , Peeking the hand that hover ' s o ' er her mate : In softness as in firmness far above Remoter females , famed for sickening prate ; Her mind is nobler sure , her charms perchance as great The seal Love ' s dimpling finger hath impress'd Denotes how soft that chin which bears his touch : Her lips , whose hisses pout to leave their nest , Bid man he valiant ere he merit such : Her glance how wildly beautiful ! howmueh Hafh Pheehus woo'd in vain to spoil her cheek , Which glows yet smoother from his amorous clutch ! Who round the ^ Xorth for paler dames -would seek t How poor their forms appear ! lioir languid , iran , and weak J
Match me , ye climes ! which poets love to laud ; Hatch me , je harems of the land ! where now J 1 strike my strain , far distant , to applaud Beauties that even a cynic must avow ; Match me those Houries , whom ye scarce allow T « taste the gale lest Love should ride the wind , with Spain ' s dark-glancing daughters 11—deign to know , There your wise Prophet ' s paradise we find , His black-eyed maids of Heaven , angelically kind .
* Iespauia, The Ancient Name Of Spain. 1...
* IEspauia , the ancient name of Spain . 1 " Sorely were we puzzled how to dispose of that same victory of Talavera ; and a victory it sorely was somewhere , for everybody claimed it The Spanish despatch called it Cuesta's , and ma « le no great mention of the Viscount ( Wellesley ); tlie French called it theirs { to my peat discomfiture— -for a-French consul stopped my mouth iV ?* 06 lvith a P estu ' ent Paris Gazette , just as I had kUea Scbastina , 'in buckram , " and King Joseph , ' in Aeiidal grcen ' j—and wc have not yet determined what to can it , or tchosc ; for certa , it was none of our own . "Bteox . i "Such were the exploits of the Maid of Saragossa , who , by her valour , elevated herself to the highestrank of heroines . When the author was at Seville , she walked daily on the Prado , decorated with medals and orders , fay cwnmand of the Junta "—Ur & os .
The exploits of Augustina , the famous heroine of both TCcSS p f , Sara S ° » are recorded at length in Southey ' s SS ^ S ** J " ? 1 ' cmusular War . At Hie time when she SSfS not 5 ce » "y mounting a battery where her in hL tlf ' ' , * " *« S a «™ in his P >»« S- ehe was I « W ^^^ " *™" * ycoLimw 12 ' ^ languishing eyes , clear olive XmSv ^ i and ^? BS more S ^ ceM in motion than can bewnceived try anEngushmau , used to thedrowsy listless uW rf 1 COuutr ? "'owen , added to the most becoming woTlii £ ; L ^ S 3 me time » «« most decent in the E 5 & SK 52 ? Leamy - ^ a * - " - *™* *>
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Ti # Purgatory Of Suicides. A Prison S ,...
TI PURGATORY OF SUICIDES . A Prison S T ? Boolis - By Thomas Cooper , the Uiorfarf . London- j HoWj 132 j FJect _ street > C Continued from the Star of Sept . Gth . ) to oin ^ I ? tllis ?** a Pleasing fact io communicate aeZar ra V Jnthe Britannia ( a high Tory weekly S ^ aper . published in the metropolis ) , of August A wt ax a ? PeaMd * « view of Thomas Cooebr ' s one net % **«*»• The review is a remarkable Mr ' CnL V for tue Praise therein lavished -upon imnorrZE 8 | P ° et « al talents , but also for the very the \ r ~ « adlUlssl 0 ns made by the reviewer , as to * it *} ° v heChartlst *&> an " tlicaeces ^
w & inn *« . -, - Tno present oraer oi mings « wfer & 2 «! T £ £ fcnnidable party . Be it pesesseVV ^ - - Brilan ™ , although anewspaper , » nd aTr „ "f "netive character as a literary paper , lWtWr ho r tlin literary matte * ranks high . teW „ ^ ° /^ om a critic so ™] 1 qaalified , and "latGriipr iaflue "Ce . is praise-indeed , and miist ** i 5 £ *?* " CoWEH - lfc is w * ™> d for Win } , ?_ , £ I ° W ° t e another , on the same work ; fe kno -v wi * iir \ ci" , and wishing our readers * wnat a writer for the aristocracy is con-
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sumed to adnritl & o the talenti ^ Uliid S the Ohartist ranks , we take the liberty to taxriSfer t » our critic m ° ^ P " 1111 * P ° inta Of thtf jBWtonnia ' s The reviewer first gives a summary of Mr . Coopbb ' a PKiace . which appeared entire in the Star of last W tt i J ? , conclU ( »» the summary with these words — lie ( Air . Cooper ) went into gaol-a Chartist spouter ; he has come forth—no prejudice against pernicious opinions must blind ns to -the truth—a great poet . '" The remarks immediately Mowing this we extract entire : — .. ,
We repeat it emphatically that Thomas Cooper is ^ ie of those great poets , stamped by nature ' s ownhand ^ hot fashioned by schools , not taught by labour to string rhymes together , hut pouring forth from the fuUness of his own mind and heart a torrent of burning and impetuous eloquence . We may greatly disapprove of his conceptions , but we are compelled b y the law of our being that constrains admiration , to do homage to the richness and fertility of his imagination , and to that amaiiag command of language , and supreme faculty of expression that makes his Terse , while full , various , and eminently poeflc , the perfect expositor of his thought . The impression forced on his mind by his verse is , that it is the work of inspiration rather thau of labour . It never stops or falters in i
ts magnificent fli ght . It has no feeble passages , no weak rhymes , no compromise of strength to rhythm . Throughout its seven or ei ght thousand lines , It is a genuine and ardent outpouring of a great spirit irritated by envy , or fancied wrong , depressed and pained by calamity , dark with imperfect knowledge , distorted by feelings of hate , fired by illusory ideas of man ' s equality , but still retaining even in its greatest faults unquestionable power of intellect of the very rarest and highest kind . Our judgment may be dtsputed--the world may disregard this mighty and daring effort of an irregular but lofty genius , though we do not think it will , —yet still we shall hold to our opinion that this Prison Rhyme is the most wonderful effort of intellectual power produced within the last century .
Amidst so much to strongly condense , we cannot consent to pass by this work with a slight notice . We must remember the condition of the writer in passing sentence on his errors . They spring much more frem a darkened understanding than a corrupted heart . They are notth * engrained sins of that great poet , the orightness of whose genius yet made the world forget Kb' spots . There is nothing mean , low , vicious , or lascivious in the verse of this Chartist . He has the finest feeling for the beauty of the New Testament , for the sublimity of the Old ; but the doubts of neglected youth cling to him , and shake his soul with the agony of unbelief . -
The poem is written in the Spenserian stanza . Grander and more nervous than " Child * Harold , " which , in Its reflective passages it somewhat resembles—evidencing much deeper reading , much profounder thought , ' much greater power of the forcible and the terrible in expression , though with less beauty of poetic imagery—this Prison'Eh yme comes nearer than any other poem In our language to the grand works of Milton . The spirit of that mighty master which hitherto has looked so coldly and contemptuously on all its worshippers , has found out this imprisoned Chartist , and breathed upon him in his cell . Wonder of wonders , this self-taught shoemaker is hardly less versed in curious and mystic lore than the sightless bard , to whose mental vision all antiquity audits fables , its heroes , and its creeds , seemed revealed .
Be it understood we speak only of the genius of the writer ^—genius is the proper , the only correct word to apply to his poetic fire . We havo read with sorrow wo cannot express , those fearful revelations of the doubts which torment and read bis soul , leading him to distrust his own consciousness , and sometimes'tremblingly to regard the grave as a dark and eternal sepulchre—that hoarded bitterness of years of poverty and neglect—that torrent Of reproach which he hurls against kings , ' ministers , and the priests of all religions- ^ and that fiery wrath
with which he enwraps the objects ef his hate , as if he would consume them in its folds , till his muse assumes almost a fiend-like aspect . Much , very much , is there in this hook to shock and horrify a well-regulated mind beyond the scope of words to tell . It is not to be lightly read ; it is not to be placed in young hands . We might even be disposed to wish it had never been written . But here it is , full of power , full of eloquence , full of grand detached passages—beyond all question the most singular poem in the English language . It will Suggest SOnie SOriom reflections to ns hereafter .
We omit the quotations from the poem given in the Britannia , as these and other quotations we shall ourselves give in due order . "We give some further extracts from the critique : — With wonderful pomp and luxuriance does the author recal the great names of antiquity , and invest the form of each with peculiar and distinctive characteristics . The stanza , SO difficult of management in an inferior hand , is by him wrought , even in the most elaborate and difficult descriptions , with as much ease as a skilled hand weaves osier rods into basketwork . He is master of his verse , and -uses it as a master , not a servant . He makes it subservient to his thought ; with a boldness more to be admired than condemned he employs rhymes and words unafhorised by authority rather than suffer his muse to be fettered by commonplace rules .
There are , in this volume , at least a thousand of such stanzas as we have quoted . Some purely beautiful ; some shocking , malignant , and terrible ; but all evincing triumphant poetic genius . Think , then , of the entire work being composed in a dungeon ; of all the gorgeous images and glowing splendours that shine upon the page , being conceived in the darkness , pain , and privation of a prison cell , and , acknowledging how superior tbo mind can rise to all external circumstances , let us frankly , with allits faults , acknowledge this Prison Ithyme to be one of the most wonderful productions of which the world has preserved record .
It suggests deep thoughts , not to he lightely expressed , not to be heedltssly discarded . We cannot suppress genius of this kind . ' It will rise superior to all fetters . It resembles the elements of the natural world , which may be controlled but cannot be annihilated . The torrent that unrestrained would desolate a country may be turned into channels to fertilize it , and made to contributeto the service and pleasure of man . What might this poet not have been had his infancy and youth been less neglected , had he been cared for by the state , had his mind been trained to a knowledge of truth , and reared with reverent
regards for things holy ? Is not this book a great evidence of the danger we run , in letting our youthful , population grow up like rank weeds , without knowledge , care , or culture ? Self-taught men are self-willed . They re-COgnise ' no obligations , no authority . They conceive they owe all to themselves ; and , acknowledging none of the higherduticsoflife , iioneofthe responsibilities of intellectual power , they burl back -spoil society its scorn or contempt of themselves , We know not what effect this book will have ; we almost fear pernicious . There is mora donger in the spirit it breathes , than in a thousand Chartist meetings by torchlight .
It gives another warning , a solemn one too , —on the danger of rudely disturbing old and settled institutions . The New Poor law has been long in operation , there appears no prospect of its repeal—yet see , in this hook , whioli speafcs the mind of millions , with what intensity it is bated , and with what joy a revolution would be hailed that should sweep it away . It is favourable to the good feeling of the author that he now deprecates all resort to violence . The path of minds like his is usually a rough one , but is cleared at
last . Genius in its progress has often to pass through dark caverns before it arrives at halls of light j under happier circumstances we trust they are dawning upon him , his temper may become softened , and his views of life extended and cleared . Then , from this great , but rude commencement , more great than the earlier works of some whose names are now imperishably embalmed in our language , may arise a lofty superstructure of poetic fame . His natural powers are so eminent that success must attend his efforts , to whatever labour he may turn his vigorous mind .
We have gone through the volume hastily , and have recorded our impressions of it with equal speed . It is one of those works in which there is so much to admire , so much to condemn , so much of sublimity and of beauty , so much of wrath and of fire , somuch of heaven , so much of hell , that the mind cannot easily pass a decided judgment on it , but can only in noticing it attempt to reflect the feelings and the sentiments it has originated . In quoting the Britannia's review of Mr . Coopek ' s poem , we do not forego our own right to criticise it , and express our own views as to its merits , which , whether we agree with tho Britannia reviewer or not , we shall honestly express when we come to the conclusion of the poem . A lengthy review of the Purgatory of Suicides appeared in the- <^«?« Eum of Saturday last ; we shall most likely give simo extracts therefrom next week . We now proceed with our extracts from the poem . The poet sleeps in his cell , and has a vision on his prison bed ,
Which took its tinct from the mind ' s waking throes . The openingportion of the vision is horrible enough to stand by the side of John Bunyan ' s famous "Valley of the Shadow of Death . " Metbought I voyaged in the bark of Death—Himself the helmsman—on a sky less sea , Where none of all his passengers drew breath-Yet each , instinct with strange vitality , Glared from his ghastly eye-balls upon me , _ And then upon that pilot , who upheld One chill and fleshless hand so witherhigly v That , while around his boat the hoarse waves swelled , It seemed as if their rage that solemn signal quelled .
I know not how these mariners I saw : Ifo light made visible the grisly crew : It seemed a vision of the soul—by . law Of corp ' ral sense unfettered , and more true Than living things revealed to mortal view . Nor can earth ' s Babel syllables unfold Aught that can shadow forth the mystic hue . Of myriad creatures—or their monstrous mould—Which ' thwart that dismal sea their hideous hugeness relied . Not stature terrible of mastodon Or mammoth;—longitude of lizards vast , Lords of the slime when earth , from chaos won ,
Grew big with primal life , until , aghast , She quaked at her strange children;—not all past Or present , which from out the dsedal earth , The human reptile , latest born , hath classed By guess , cleping it "Knowledge "— for the mirth Of future worms , crawling , in pride , to death—from birth
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Not old leviathan , oJHgtmcoufh ^ -v ~ C * Nor fabled krakft ., Wg | ia sea-borne trTiisfe % A- ' - N * t » U that sage * telSjKlwber sooth , ^ ? H ' Oftttatei ' sprogeny ^ rfflemphlcvale , N A ¦ Whichmni redundant Nile his beams exhoU}— " ^ Nor allthatpMenzied poets exorcise From ' memiy ^ grave , then weave with fancies frail JCM'Sw ??» Ta' < beip shades , or shapes , or size , Thoseoeean-dwellerg hogo beholding Death ' s empnze . The voyage , Vdyageri , and ocean-forms , Alik ^;*^ mnge , and wdd , and wonderful ; "i-. ?? M ? $ tilM § f ' w ' When . ofthatseaofstorma
s ? yjr . f ^ H ^ SSIgp snore , wie waves at once were lull —• ? 5 ??* b ^^^»^ 'ff evanished , and seemed null ; . And void as things that never were- ^ while they , Of late Death ' s pasifcugMs , so cold and dull , Took , with an air of stern resolve , their way . ' /' Into a gloomy land where startling visions lay , " Any one who wishes to " sup full of horrors" must read the stanzas immediately following the above , describing the march of the ghostly-crew through the land of shadows to which Death ' s bark has convoyed them . For ourselves we have no taste for such phantasies , however poetically described . In our boyhood , thanks to Bunyan , " prince of dreamers . "
we had quantum suf of such visions to last ua a moderate life-time . The next extract describes a mighty hall where are assembled the mighty suicides of the olden time : this visionary hall exhibits the poet ' s descriptive powers to great advantage : — By beam or rafter architectonic Undarken'd—with a roof of rainbows graced , Smiled that wide palace-hall : —yet , upward , quick ¦ ¦ And tim'rous looks old shapes columnar cast-That stretched their sinews as with effort vast To prop the heavenly arch whose fall they feared {—Distorted things—abortions of the Past—They were : Satyrs , with wild-goats' legs and beard , : And one-eyed Arimasp and Cyclops , there appeared- ;
Scythians , with heel in front , and toes behind—An old Imaus known ; and Ethiops dark ' And headless , wearing mouth and eyes enshrined In their huge breasts ; and countless monsters stark And staring , hymn'd divine by hierarch Of Ganges and old Nile—with heads , tails , arms , ' Tusks , horns , confused , of elephant , ape , shark , Serpehtj dog crocodile , or ox ; rile sivarmg Of hideous phantasies , half-sharing human forms . In triple colonnade around th' immense Ellipsis of that kail these creatures stood—Colossal images of ache intense And apprehensive dread;—while o'er them howsd The arch that still in jewelled beautyglowed . — Such horror , blent with grace , Apollo's priest 'Hid strangling folds of Neptune ' s serpents showed—And still doth show— enmarbled , undeceased—That breathing stone the Past to gem the Future leased
Area within , enclosed , of amplitude More spacious stretched than wide circumference ' Of sculptured temple , by far traveller viewed ' In Hindoo cave—or where Wild audience The Arab gives to hoar Magnificence . . Defying Buin , and in some huge tomb , Hewed for a monarch , nightly sleeps—from whence , I' th' morn , he blesses Mecca's seer—while gloom Bterno veils lifemnon ' s brow beholding Thebes' sad doom Throughout this column-girt enclosure rose Thrones , —some with fashion of a fortalice Or tower ; ' some , like cathedraUed shrine , where vows
Are paid to saintly heritor of bliss , Shewed niche , and pinnacle , and quaint device Of carven wonder-work ; while some parade Outvied of old renowned Acropolis ¦ Or Parthenon , where graceful shaft o ' erlaid With bossed entablature Man ' s noblest skill displayed . Significant depicturings of fraud Conjunct with force , —cfaimxras blending grim . Fierce forms with fascinations , ' —shapes that awed : Pelasgie men in ages old and dim , — For metope , along the plinth's broad rim , . ' Tween gem-dropp'd triglyphs , —wore each classic throne .:
; Rapine of harpy , smile of siren prim , ' Lewd lure of lamia , wile of sphinx , and frown Of minotaur and archer-centaur there were shewn . " Ol " , where a shrine-shaped throne / o ' ercanopied With perforated carvery , rose , —a pile 1 Of frail aerial wonder , —typified Were Fright and Mischief mixt with Stealth and Guila Hag rode her broomstaff , flankt with bugbear vile And goggle-eyed hobgoblin , while a host Led by Puck-Hairy mocked with infantile And puny trick the snake that wreathed and tossed . His trail ardund the skull and cross-bones of grim ghost
In tb jist of potentates , legislators , heroes , and others ,- v -o occupy this hall , there are Sardanapaliis , ( Edipus , xSgeus , Saul , Telamon , Codrus , Chow Sin , Lycurgus , Mark Antony , Nero , Mithridates , Dido , Cleopatra , & c , & c . These hold converse on jhe destiny of man . Sardanapalus , who conimehce ' sithe " war of words , " taunts Lycurgus with the ^ failure of his prediction that kings should cease to « feh , and mankind bow only to self-government . Sardanapalus points triumphantly to the ruins of Greece , and the extinction of Spartan virtue and ' Treedom , in proof of his assertion that ; ^; There mint be conqueringlords , and slaves that yield J I There hath been , —and there toiK be .
' Chow Sin , the Emperor of China , takes up the same strain , and instances China as the most ancient and flourishing of states , because conservative of its faith in kings and priests . Mark Antony answers the Cathaian despot , and shows tho real and degraded state of China . The stanzas put into the month of Mark Antony arc very fine . He predicts the speedy destruction of the old and worn-out empire of Chow Sin : — The restless pirates of the northern isles , — Breaking your barriers of three thousand years , — With their own eyes , your land of fabled smiles Behold , —and find it but a land of tears-Like their own . Jfero replies to the anti-monarchical scoffings of Antony , and administers a not undeserved scourgirijir to the 7 Hero of Aotium!—Vestal of the Nile ! y
In his turn Nero has his own vices rigidly pourtrayea by the heavy hand of Maximian . The quarrel is becoming " a very pretty quarrel , " each unmasking the other , when the fierce Pontic King Mithridates silences the disputants by appealing to Lycurgus to give his reasons for- his belief in the ultimate des ; ruction of kingcraft and universal reign of equality . Thus appealed to , Lycurgus answers : — The Power that forms , supports , and governs Man , Smiles On him evermore ; benignly woke His infancy with love ; unfolds its plan Of happiness in the fair-written book Of Man's own nature , and the forms that look Upon his essence from the outward world ; Implants no instinct in his hreast to mock His life ; but hath his sentient clay impeai-led With reason—sovereign gem in fragile folds cnfurled .
A thing of beauty , though but frail , in joy Perpetual might his mortal life be past ; But fablers do his peace and bliss destroy With falsest fears : each hour is overcast ^ . "With sadness , and each breath an antepast Jr * Becomes of some dread future , which , to shuri $ He must propitiate mystic demons vast , By rites that serve to load with pious boon The smooth and crafty priest who consecrates the throne Very beautiful are the stanzas comprising the ad dress of the areat Spartan : —
Te clepe me Prophet!—I accept the jest For earnest ; and , with mystic wreath thus crowned By your united voice , Mystery attest To be the tyrant Power from whose profound Soul-bondage man is breaking : whispering sound Of Truth ' s young breath greets Europe ' s grateful ear ; And Freedom , in some hearts , a throne hath found On that new shore where still , alas ! appear Earth ' s olden stains—the helot ' s stripes—thehelot ' s tear j Afric's dark tribes , and Asia ' s populous swarms , The voice of Truth , and Freedom ' s holy call Shall know , ere long—upstarting , —not to arms , For blood and slaughter , —but to disenthral Their new-born spirits from Faith's mystical Degrading chains , and shake their ancient slough Of sottish ignorance off : no more to crawl In abjectness 'fore hideous gods , nor throw Their slavish frames 'fore kings , in vile prostration low .
'' What follows , " says the reviewer in the Britannia , " is equal to tie noblest stanzas in Byron" : — Thrones , —ye perceive your splendours ' gin to pale;—And soon we must our penal throes renew . I cease my theme;—and mSy have erred , —for frail Is still our wisdom : it m ' ayJbo . ' the Few Shall still the Many trample and Tsiftrfue : That Truth andpyr ^ yWinnhl oo n - i—to Sift-Like glorious wiftgea ' thirijs , that , sftift nursue The suftheaox-fetsSR * t « wS day , then W . « Tode » th ,- ^ biending , as * twere . » VeHth—a smile—a sigh !
It rrwv '" be that the huraah . so ul is mist Wiflfj atufe . of decadence ^ and 'frn l change , Essay Oily ! that neVer staWy fist , - Bui ' -stable , eternally to range Frpri . ignorance to wisdom , ' —then , by strange ReVlsrn , ' to ignorance ,- —may be its fate , Jftevimbly ;—that when their brief revenge SlaWs take on tyrants , they emancipate Themstfves in vain , —And Nature doth their itrife frustrate-. Spirits , it may be emptier than a dream That fair Equably shall one day hold Sole sceptre on tho earth : that Man shall deem His brother man too sacred to be sold Or slain , —to be by any power controlled , Save the soft force of love and wisdom : field It is for thought : thy dogma , —monarch old , — "There must be eonqu ' ring lords and slaves that yield "— ,. ' ...., The Future may attest as the stained Past hath sealed .
Lycurgus proposes that other shades of great suicides should be invited to join in this supernatural conference ; as the monarchs express their assent , the dream of the poet is broken , and the first book ends . ( To le continued . )
Sumed To Adnritl&O The Talenti^Uliid S T...
$ fy $ k l ^ ROLD'S ]^ LLIi « x : MAGAU ^ f ^ ? IBME ^ - ^ ^' -fii ^'"<*» c ' e , 92 , ^ Fleet-street . ' . -if ^ Cf rW ^^^ :.-f , v- . r We return to this m ^ in ^ fro ^ which we gave ! an extract m our ¦ last ., lnH & c » ritiriuition in tho ! present month ' s number , of the editor * s otbry of " St . Giles and-St . James" is a powerfully written expose i of the ignorant and bloody barbarities of the " good I old times , as shown by the hanging of unfortunate wretches to the number of fifteen at once , as was the «" e afc ju gate , on the morning of the 23 rd of June , 1784 . We had marked this excellent piece of writing for extract , but cannot find room for it this week ; nevertheless it shall appear in this paper . " The Englishman in Prussia , No . II . " contains an account
ot that gigantic fraud , " The Holy Coat at Treves , " together with a number of similar irauds . Weneed say nothing in commendation of this well-timed and excellent article , as it sufficiently commends itself : the reader will find it in page 7 of this paper . '' The Child and the Criminal" is an interesting account of a most interesting establishment in Frame , the agricultural colony of Mettray , near Tours , established for the moral and physical recovery of young delinquents . What true glory might Lows Phiiippe and Goizor have acquired by imitating the noble example set by Messrs . De AIetz and De Bbetioxbres , doing nationally what these two noble-minded men ave doing locally Had the funds of the State , so mischievously and infamously souandered in th «
pvoIhistilement of Pans , been devoted to the establishment of similar colonies to that at Mettray , the King of ij tm es and the cllict' of tUe Doctrinaires would have won for themselves a reputation » s the benefactors of their country which time could never have obliterated . As it is , the one a perjured tyrant , the other a tyrant ' s tool , are , despite their acknowledged abilities , the most unpopular men living ; and will be amongst the most execrated when dead . As an example of what may be done , this Mettray experiment is of the first importance ; although next to valueless as a means ol national regeneration ; seeing ; that while the system at Mettray saves one unfortunate , the system at Paris , and throughout France generally , is destroying ,- at the - ] east .-a
hundred for every one saved by . Messrs . Du Meiz arid De Bretignebbs . After all , there is no real remedy but in changing the social system . - The philanthropists of Mettray may ameliorate the evil results flowing from the present anti-social state of things , but nothing short of the remedy proscribed by Babeuf and BuoNARnon will effect a thorough cure for the present , and prove a preventive for tho future . Still , all honour to the founders of Mettray ! If we can find room we may givo the article , in this paper , in a week or two . By the byo , the Socialists might turn the example of Mettray to account . Now . that the failure of the Harmony Hall experiment as a community is no longer doubtful , why not turn the establishment to the next best purpose , that of an
agricultural industrial college , for the training of youth in a practical knowledge of the social system , and habits in consonance therewith ? If there be any truth in the system of the Socialists , or any chance of that system being reduced to practice , experience has proved that it can only be by committing its working to a race trained free from the prejudices and habits of the present generation . "The Position of men of Letters" contains some good ideas , but also a . ' something which to us seems not sound .- There has of late iu this magazine , and several other publications , ; , been raised an outcry against the ' present political system in this country , which showers down honours and emoluments on certain privileged classes , to the exclusion of those who possess nothing-bat their talents io recommend tkem . for the services and rewards of public situations .
Tlie outcry is well-founded , and wc hope wili become louder and louder until the cause thereof be removed . The discontented parties Ave speak of desire that , instead of the booby sons of lords , or the brainless scions of wealth , claiming as by right tlie privilege to be enrolled in ' tho ranks of the rulers of the state , that the offices now in most instances so unworthily occupied , should be thrown open to the competition ef the men of genius , talent , and learning ; and that to the most worthy , regardless of birth or money , should be allotted the publbemployments . This principle is good and grand if taken in its fullest sense ; indeed , it is just what , as regards Government , the democracy are contending for . But we doubt the motives of some of these clamourcrs for
the " aristocracy of talent ; " and they furnish us with reasons for doubting , when we see them , as in the case of this writer in Jerrold's Magazine ( V The Position of Men of Letters" ) lauding the system which in France elevates (?) a Victor lluoo ' to the peerage ; in Prussia , where a IIumbolut is at once a peer and minister ; and in Spain ,. where the dramatist Mautixez de la Rosa is , or was , lately a minister . It may be a very good thing for Messrs . HUGO , Humuoldt , De la IIosa and Co ., that they should share with privileged . brigands , military adventurers , and jobbing politicians , the titles , crosses , orders , and pecuniary pickings derived from the plunder and hrutaiisation of the nations they respectively belong to . This may be ,-very well for the
clever gentlemen m question ; but of what benefit is it to tho millions of Franco , Prussia , and Spain , who aro not romancists , philosophers , or play-writers ? None . Nor , as experience has shown , does this " elevation" of the literati of a country to the functions and honours of public life tend at all to the aiW vancement of nations in political , or . even msntaf freedom . Indeed , the very contrary is the fact . ^^ No one knows this fact better than that crafty old sinner , Louis Philippe ; andseo the use ho has made ' of it . Alter the " three days , " the greater part . of the journalists , and other writers , who 'had stimulated that revolution , were forthwith rewarded by the king of . the shopocrats with p laces , pensions , orders , and other tit-bits of corruption ; the cunning old usurer ,
well knowing that by such means lib could attach these literary prostitutes to his cause , and so buy up the press as an engine for the support and conservation of his Eew tyranny . Almost the only honest man of the prominent journalists who remained true jtO the cause of the m . iiiy , who would neither bo made a , peer , nor a minister , nor a placeman of any kind , Akmasd Cakrel , was speedily got rid of , being conveniently killed in a duo ! , into which he was villanously entrapped . Writers not so prominent , but equally honest , such as the editors ot the Tribune , wore subjected to prosecution after prosecution , until , by the aid of villanous middleclass juries , they were utterly ruined in purse , and left to perish , in the dungeons to which they were
consigned . So that between corruption and persecution , honest journalism was . all but utterly stifled . What remained [ previous to the Fieschi affair was then llttevly ., pufc an end to ; and such superlative scoundrels as Thiers , Guizot and Co ., were the men who were ^ the prime movers in every infamous law adopted to' chain the press and fetter the millions . The public writers of France arc with a few —very few—honourable exceptions , tho basest set of knaves that ever prostitutedhrains or wielded pens , and yet that is the country where the ' * ' aristocracy of talent" has sway ; where poets are mado peers , and journalists ministers ! As to Prussia , wo do not fee wherein the Prussian people benefit by having Baron Humboldt . for a minister . We have not heard
that he has made even an attempt to abolish tllC censorship ,- and wc rather think he has not put pen to paper yet to prepare the constitution so long promised by the present perjured , pietistic king . Then look at Martinez de la Rosa , the grand tool and creature of the royal harlot CnmsiiXA . Has not this play-writing member of the " aristocracy of talent" been ' the associate of the blood-drinking monster Nakvam ? lifts he not sanctioned and approved , and helped to carry out all the atrocities of which the reigning faction in Spain have been guilty during the last two years ? Narvaez is a brute : but brute as he is , he is really respectable compared with this intellectual , elegant blood-dabbler , Rosa . If Rosa is a fair specimen of the " aristocracy of talent , " heaven preserve us from that aristocracy ' s rule !
• If the author of the article in Jerrold ' s Magazine which has called forth these remarks , ' imagines that the democratic movement in this country is intended merely to put one set of men down and place another set up ; remove hereditary aristocrats merely that their p laces may be filled with " babbling literati , " he makes a grand mistake ; a mistake which , with tho example of the Girondists before him , he might have avoided . They—the Girondistsdesired to put down monarchy , the aristocracy , and the priesthood , but only with the view of establishing themselves in the places of the discomfited orders of the old regime . They had no icea of establishing- a system of veritable liberty , which , to exist , must be based upon equality of labour
and enjoyments . The consequence was , that this would-be " aristocracy of talent" were trodden down by the men of energy who promised the masses a real liberty . Some of the promiserg were honest mon . Would that they had all been so ! Be it understood that we offer these observations not as the apologist of the present system , which excludes a Carlyle , a Dickens , a Jebhold , or a Cooper , from public employments , and confers them on such idiots as the Marquis of Londonderrv ; nor are wc opposed to the reign of an " aristocracy of talent ; " on the contrary , we earnestly desire to see its commencement . What we insist upon is this , that the power of that " aristocracy" shall emanate from , the people . Wo want no poets made peers of by King or Queen—no journalist called to high office because his prostitution of intellect is calculated upon
betorc-hand , by those who give him his degraded " elevation . " As the Whigs are only good for anything when out of office , so , while the present system lasts , it will not trouble us much ' to sec the " men of letters" remain as they are . Their discontent is a powerful hel p to the enfranchisement of all . « Revolutions arc not made with rose-water" —and that being the case , if ever a revolution should come upon this country , we trust it will have mightier ends , and achieve happier results , than the merely giving us such precious rulers as Thiers , the Jvinghistorian , cr Mawiisez » e la Rosa , the butchering play-writer . Of the Other contents of this number of Jerrold ' s Magazine we have no room to speak , save that wc have , as usual , read with much pleasure the " Hedgehog Letters . It would be superfluous for us now to say anything by way of recommending this publication—it best recommends itself .
The Illuminated Magazine—Sephsmbbr, ; .....
THE ILLUMINATED MAGAZINE—Sephsmbbr , ; ...- , London : J , Clayton , 320 . Strand . , This is the third number , of the new series of . a magazine which , beforetime , it has often been oiir pleasing task to speak of in approving terms . The first and second numbers of the present series we have not seen ; and so have not had the pleasure of reading the commencement of the exciting story of "The Dead Guest" from the German of IIeikmch Tyschokkk . " Sketches of Indian Sports" arc highly entertaining ; we hope to have mora from the same pen . " The Life and Adventures of Bob Thin" is a literary curiosity , not so much for its verse , —though that is not bad , —as for the quaintand original illustrations with which It is profusely garnished . , " The Recreations of Mr . Zigzag the Elder , " contains some curious recollections of , and pleasing gossip concerning Elias Asumole , and his house in Little Shire-lane ; and the immortal Boar's Head , of Eas £ cheap . "Zara , the Rich Man ' s Daughter , " is a
well-written but . melancholy tale . The "Popular Rationale of Gliosts " . coutains some good sense on a subject fertile of inexhaustless nonsense .. The writer of "The Past , the Present , and the Possible , " we have met before in the old series of this magazine , and right slad wo are to meet him again . . His' present contribution would do credit to any publication . There is some good poetry in this number .. As regards the illustrations , this magazine is once more worthy of its name . Indeed , in the best days of the old series , this magazine was never so , truly " the Ill \ jmisatkt > " as now . There are magazines for which the charge is half-n-crown , or three shillings and sixpence , which certainly can claim no superiority , as regards literary ability , over this ; while , as regards their pictorial embellishments , they are as farthing rushlights to tho groat sun itself , when compared with the Lluminated ; at the same time the latter is published at less than half the cost of the high-priced monthlies .
Tait's Edinburgh Magazine-August And Sep...
TAIT'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE-August and September . . Edinburgh : W . Tait ; London Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . Circumstances , it were useless to , explain , prevented us noticing tho August number of this old established , and deservedly popular magazine . '< It would , however , be unjust not to notice tho August number , simply because August has gone by . The opening article is a review of the celebrated work of the French historian , M . Michelet , on " Priests , Women , and Children . " Tho review is not bo much to our liking ns some reviews of the same work we have seen in other publications . Still it is a valuable article—indeed the most . valuable in the number . M . Michblet's work is ono of the most valuable contributions to the cause of free thought , — the foundation and safe-guard of all freedom , —which has appeared since the time of Voltaire . His exposure of priestcraft , as it exists in France at the present day , was much needed , and will , wo trust , be
productive of the hoped-for results . There is ground , too , for so trusting ; for before it appeared in an English dress , it had sold to the extent of fifty thousand copies in France . The review of "The Memoirs of Lady Hester Stanhope , " extending through fourteen double-columned pages , must , at any rate , hare , thoroughly ; skimmed the creami of the work . This review is most cleverly prepared ^ ' and the reader of Tait . ' will scarcely find it necessary to read the original work after / having perused the review . "Servia , the Youngest Member of the European Family , " gives the reader much interesting information— thanks to Mr . Patch ' s book—of a country hardly known to western Europe , and a people who seem to possess qualities which" require but fair cultivation to fit them for greatness . Reviews of the "Life of Jean Paul Richter , " and "The Works of De La Motte Fouque , " aro very interesting , and altogether tllis ( the August ) number is a capital shilling's worth .
The number for the present month ( September ) also possesses several articles of interest . The first of these is a critical examination of " Wordsworth ' s Poetry , " by Thomas De . Quikcy , better known as tho English Opium Eater . Wo fancy this to bo one of the ablest pieces of criticism that has appeared in any publication for a long time past . The critic is an enthusiastic admirer of Wordsworth , but is yet not blind to his faults as a poet , nor does he hesitate to expose theni . " The Excursion" is rather severely handled . The false philosophy of the poet as exhibited in liis treatment of the disappointed misanthrope in tho fourth book of the poem is ably commented on in the following hopeful and eloquent sentences : —
the trench devolution . Indirectly , besides , it ought not to be overlooked that , as respects tho French Revolution , the whole college of philosophy in "The Excursion , " who are gathered together upon the case of the recluse , make the same mistake that he makes . Why is the recluse disgusted with the French Revolution ? llccauso it had not fulfilled many of his expectations ; and of those which it had fulfilled , some had been sooa darkened by reverses . But really this was childish impatience . If a man depends for the exuberance of his harvest upon the splendour of the coming summer , you do not excuse him for taking prussic acid because it rains cats and dogs through the first ten days of April . All in good time we say : take it easy ; make acquaintance with May and June , before you do anything rash .- The French
lievolufclon has uot even yet ( 1 S-15 J come into full action . It was the explosion of a prodigious volcano , which scattered its lava over every kingdom of every continent , everywhere silently manuring them for social struggles ; tllis lava is gradually fertilizing all : the revolutionary movement is moving onwards at this hour as inexorably as ever . I / isten , if you have ears for such spiritual sounds , to the mighty tide even now slowly coming up from the sea to Milan , to Home , to Jfaplcs , to Vienna . Hearken to the gentle undulations already breaking against the steps of that golden throne which stretches from St . Petersbui-gh to Astrachan;—tremble at the hurricanes which have long been mustering about the puviiions of the Ottoman Padishah . All these arc long sivells setting : in from the French Kcvo . ' ntion . Even as
regards France herself , that which gave the mortal olfence to the sympathies of the solitary was tho llcigu of Terror . But | how thoughtless to measure the cycles of vast national revolutions by metres that would not . stretch round an ordinary human passion . Even to a frail sweetheart , you would grant more indulgence than to M on' in a pet because some transitory cloud arose between you . The reign of terror was a mere fleeting phasis . The Napoleon dynasty was nothing more . Ei'en that scourge , which was supposed by many to have mastered the Revolution , has itself passed away upon the wind—leaving no wreck , wdioue , or record behind , except precisely those changes which it worked , not as an enemy to the Revolution ( which also it was ) , hut as its servant and its tool .
The " Passages in the History of Knockarow" arc brought to a conclusion . The whole story has been ably told , and will well repay perusal . The critique on the third and fourth volumes of " Thiers' History of Napoleon" should be read by all who desire to get at the truth of French history . There are several other reviews in this number , including " A Scottish Craftsman ' s Travels in the United States and Canada , " written by William TH' -mson , of Stonehaven , a sensible and well-written work , if wo may judge by the cxtraclsin Tait ; andCuaul . es Mackax ' s ' " Legends of the Isles and other poems , " a true poet , whose success we shall be delighted to hear of .
Simmonds's Colonial Magazine,—September....
SIMMONDS'S COLONIAL MAGAZINE , —September . London -. Shumonds and Ward , 18 , Cornbill . This number contains the usual amount of statistical and descriptive information on colonial subjects , for which this magazine has earned so fair a fame . Among the more important contents are articles on the " Imports and Exports of Demerara ;" "Tho Agriculture of Hindostan ; " the " Progress of Wealth , Trade , and Population in Canada ; " "The Newfoundland Fisheries" ( being tlie Report of the Committee appointed by the General Assembly of Newfoundland to inquire into the state of the Fisheries of that Colony ;) " The Geography of Africa" ( an article contributed by Mr . James M ' Qunjui , containing much curious information on the subject of African discovery ); and lastly , a-very valuable article on "Hong Kong , and the Five Chinese Free Ports . " Accompanying this article is a view of Victoria , the English capital of Hong Kong , which it appears has already becoiAe a place of
importance . In August , 1 S 4 I , not a single house was yet built , but in June , 1842 , the town was considerably more than two miles long , and its increase since then has been nearly proportionate . It now contains hundreds of excellent shops , a well supplied marketplace , several tine public buildings , good roads , & c . This number contains also several articles of lisbt reading , amongst which are " The Merchant ' s Bride " ( concluded ;) " Reminiscences of the Island of Cuba ; " and a very interesting account of "The Murichi , or Ita Palm of Guiana . " We arc glad to learn by the preface of the volume just concluded , that tho proprietors and conductors of this magazine are enabled to record the " continued and unexampled success" of their venture . This success is certainly well deserved . Tho present number commences the sixth volume , which , if as well conducted as its predecessors , cannot fail to win a still further increase of public patronage ;
Confession Op Ait Old Offender.—The Stan...
Confession Op ait old Offender . —The Standard of Wednesday says , "The advice of the great Lord Chatham to the Lord Grantlcy of his time « to say nothing when he had nothing to say , ' is excellent for Members of Parliament , but it will not do for newspapers . We must say something every day , whether we have or have uot anything to say , and the consequence is that we must occasionally write a great deal of nonsense , a great deal of impertinence , and some of us , at least , a great deal that is false and mischievous . " Natbhal . —If a village beggar wcro to hoard money , in what funds would be invest it ? In anything but the stocks !
A Lumping Pusn ' orth . —" Now , my man , " said a London Alderman , ton "Young Kid" in London streets , " what would you say if I save you a penny ?" Boy : " Vy , that you vosajoily old brick . "—Punch .
«T;-8fl&'-
« t ; -8 fl &' -
Political Railway Accibesx.—'An Accident...
Political Railway AccibESX . — 'An accident lately happened to one Peel , the driver . of the engine called " Expediency , " ' belonging to the express train on the government line of railway . It is well known that the line is exceedingly crooked ,, and tho ins and outs have always been considered very dangerous . Peel , who is a reckless fellow , and who has lost his place once or twice for improper conduct , put the engine at full speed , though it had got an enormous weight to pull against in the shape of an
article for Maynooth , which was very awkwardly placed , and if it bad fallen down miist inevitably have crushed him ; regardless of consequences , ho urged the engine on ; and if it had not happened to be " Expediency , " which he is in the habit of driving , the result would probably lnjjre been fatal . It was , however , by keeping up the speed that he succeeded in keeping clear of tho dead-weight at his back , - and there being fortunately nothing in his way te cause a collision , he arrived in safety at the end of his journey . —Punch
Forthcoming Railways . —We have been favoured with the following list of railways which Yfill . 1 ) 0 brought before Parliament early next session : —A railway from the Stock Exchange to the Bethleni Hospital , with a branch to Newgate , and another to , the Queen ' s Bench . Tim . shares arc already at / a very heavy premium , having been principally bought up by largo speculators ab Leeds . . Tho . chairman is the late projector of the Diddlesex Insurance Company . —A railway froni-Covent Garden Theatre to ; Portugal-street , with branches to the Strand , Olym- ; ,,. ^ . nic . and other minor theatres . Mr . Charles Keanyfgss
and Mr . Vandenhoff have taken a number of sharea ^^ in this railway , which is now known familiarly as the . ; v . ~ tragedian's line . —Branch railways from the different' ^ , termini of the principal railways in-London to tKe . w largest metropolitan hospitals will be opened as soon ,: ' ~ y as sufficient accommodation can be made in the latter for the great access of business this contemplated junction is sure to bring . Investment of capital to , any amount may be considered perfectly safe in any of these iiew lines , as from tho intimate connexion . . / that has long existed bet iveejj the respective localities of each , the weekly traffic in passengers and property must bo immense . —ibid . '
THE JOILT TOCNQ DABBI 8 TIB . And did you not hear of a jolly young Barrister , At the Old Bailey who used for to ply 1 He mode out bis case with such skill and dexterity , Twisting each fact , while he glosed o ' er each lie . He stuck at nothing ; and that so steadily , The felons all sought his aid so readily , And he saved from conviction so many a thief , That this Barrister ne'er was in want of a brief . .... What sights of fine rogues he got off hy his blarney ; ' : His tongue was so glib , and so specious withal : He was always retained hy the great City forgers - To Newgate from Mansion House sent , or Guildhall And often the Press would be gibing and jeering , But'twas all one to him , its carping and sneering ; He'd swear black was white iu behalf of a thief . So this Barrister ne ' er was in want of a brief .
And yet , only think what strange morals haTc Inwycrsj The Bar of such conduct think nothing at all : Whilst should any poor Counsel report for a paper , " To Coventry with him ! " that instant they call ! From their mess they'll expel him , he'll find , to his sorrow ; But they'll dine with the housebreaker ' s hireling to .
morrow ; Then hurrah . '—though his client be swindler or thief , — For tho Barrister never in want of a brief . —Ibid . Interesting Relic at Rosenau . —At Roscnau , where his Royal Highness Prince Albert" first saw light , they show affectionately , not only the " cradlo in . which the royal infant was laid , but the silver sjwon which he had in his mouth when he was born . The correspondent of the Morning Herald fainted when ho saw this admirable relic . It is as large as a soupladle ; handsomely embossed with the arms of England ; and in tho custody el Madame liyergliick , his Royal Highness's excellent nurse . —Prince Leopold ( now King of the Belgians ) was born with a similar ornament . It is kept at Gotha , under the charge of the lady who brought up his then Serene Highness by hand , Madame Panpenhcim . —Bid .
Tub Caose or the lath Bad Weather . —M . Aragoj lias discovered that the inclemency of the weather in Paris is occasioned by certain blocks of ice floating about in the Atlantic . ^ From this we may inter that ; the cold weather which wc have lately experienced has arisen from the large quantities of VVcnham Lake ice which are daily carried about the streets of London . —Ibid . How about tub Statue ot CrOMweia?—Is Oliver Cromwell to have a statue in the New Houses of Parliament ? That is , is he proper company for the
deceased Kings and Qucensof England ? At first thought , we should be disposed to say that he was : but when wc come to compare him with the respectable King Henry the Eighth , and the beneficent daughters of that Sovereign , Mary and Elizabeth , not to mention as fat , if not as notorious , a monarch of later date : and withal to put ourselves in the Protector ' s place ; we doubt whether that place would be along with those said personages . Is Cromwell fit to stand among them ? Arc wo fit to carry food of a certain description to a bear !—Ibid .
New Line of Business . —Wc understand that medical students , instead of walking tlie hospitals , intend to apply ; for permission to walk the different railways , as , from the number of accidents that occur on each lino , they expect to finish their surgical education in one-half of the usual period . —Ibid . SOVEltEIGN SPOUT ; OJt , THE STAC-SI . AOGini . lt AT goteta . " This day a stag must die , "— - Vow version of Old Song Morn rose in Coburg ; glorious morn ! The rcvcillee rung loud , ¦ While sounded every huntsman ' s horn , 'Mongst Gotlia ' s joyous crowd . ' The English Queen ! our Christian Queen ! Our Albert ' s monarch mate , Goes , pleasure-plumed , to forest green , To •¦ beast ballue" in . State .
Oh 1 biilhant was our Queen ' s cortege—Kings , princes , ladies , lords ! On Cobuvg ' s greensward , hist ' ry ' s page Such nobles ne ' er records . The myriads throng each ridge and hill , Guards round the slaughter scene ; The Court arrives j 'midst acclaim shrill , PavilionM sits—our Queen ! 'Tis said the youthful Queen of Spain Ou bull-fights loving doats ; The Queen who doth o ' er Britain reign On other slaughter gloats ! T 1 \ C bC-Vn ' gain SWnds ' . ttie s ' g : iaVsgiven , On dash in maddening frhjhc The forest ' s free-born—ruthless driven To yield a Queen delight ! Goaded and chafed , their antlers clash , The ) ' close th' innn-isoneu round ; For freedom hold they make a dash , But futile is their bound !
Again—again , the proud entrapped For glorious freedom hie ! "When , hark ! a Prince ' s gun hath snapped—The noble hrute must die ! The slag ' s but type of Freedom's fate , The sport of each crowned head ; Its pant for right is sport of Stale ; 'Tis marked at , doomed , and dead ! If such as this be Queenly sport , And worthy of renown , Changed soon may be the sport of Court , And pleasure of each croirn . Catherine do Mcdieis once stood , And cheered her son to slaughter ; Th' Huguenot stags sank bathed " in blood , " And with as little quarter ! * - * * * The bull-fight glads ths Queen of Spain The bull-bait pb ascd our million ; What sport glads Vic ? let truth prevail ,
From Gotha ' s stained pavilion!—Satirist . Somewhat too CoscirsivE . —In the examination into tho dreadful case of the Andovcr Union , which is going on by direction of Government , a reverend gentleman was oucstioncd upon the nature of his spiritual instruction to a sick pauper : — " You had heard that this woman had lived in a state of adultery ? Yes . —And you went for the purpose of getting at the truth ? No ' : I felt it my duty to point out the sins of that woman , and I mentioned adultery and other sins of which we are ail auiltt / . " ( Laughter . )—A voice : " Speak for yourself , if you please , sir . " ( Renewed laughter . )—The impartiality of evidence with which the reverend gentleman included himself in the commission of the crimes in question is , to say the least , a rare occurrence of candid confession .
A Foolish Father . —At Boston , United States , a poor simpleton , who .-under tho belief that the world " was coming to an end , made over all his property to his son , and went about preaching Millerism , and is now suing the son for its restoration . Makiso -riir . Most ov it . —A sailor , who had Jived On the bank of the canal , lately fell into the water and was drowned . A few weeks afterwards , hie widow , Jenny , discovered something floating on the canal , which , on drawing ashore , turned out to bo her husband . From the body there issued a great Quantity of eels , which the careful Jonny gathered into a largo hamper . A friend of Jenny ' s happening to pass at tho time , she accosted her thus : — " 0 dear nic , Mary , here ' s my man , and I have got a'thao eels out o'him . What shall I do wi' him ? " "Why faith , Jenny , " says her friend , " if he was mine I would just set him in again . You might mak . ' a grand trade o' the eels . "—Falkirk Herald .
Tub Law of Gravity . —Ladies were in the habit , some years ago , of wearing bonnets as big as prize cabbages . The monstrosity gradually , subsided to their arms , and assumed the form of " gigot sleeves . " It lias now fallen still lower , and become a " bustle . " Where next !
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Sept. 13, 1845, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_13091845/page/3/
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