Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

She kissed his cheeks so downy,

So beautiful, so brown, And amid his locks so golden

She wove a silver crown.

Her breath was music round him,
And her presence fancies fair
That cradled the happy dreamer
In a winged and rosy lair.
She looked on the sleeping shepherd
And her love with gazing grew,
And the limbs of the lovely mortal
She bathed in immortal dew.
"O, happy shepherd of Latmos,
What sleeping bliss divine!
I might close mine eyes for ever,
To win one sleep like thine!"
Thus sang the gentle Acis,

And rose to pluck a bloom,
With the hair of the lovely sea-nymph
To mingle its sweet perfume.
A noise was heard-a rumbling,
A crushing sound.-"O stay!
Oh, Acis, Acis!"-Buried
Beneath a rock he lay.

The rock came from the high cliff-
A huge and pointed stone-
By the hand of the savage monster,
The bloody Cyclops, thrown.
He stood on the craggy summit,

And laugh'd with a laughter wild; "I have slain at once, and buried, False goddess thy mortal child!" The lovely Galatea,

She stood in speechless fear;

On the rock that covered her Acis
She dropt the streaming tear.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

In a gorgeous room a lady sat when many years were o'er,

She flung aside with discontent, the heavy crown she wore ;

Oh love and hope, life's only dower, how dark when you are gone,

Is all the world may fling around the tenant of a throne !

But she pass'd on, in glory pass'd-for mortals dare not know

The solemn hours, the mystery of that lone spirit's woe.

Men saw her power, men spake her praise, but man might never tell

How she felt when Mary's son was born, or gal. lant Essex fell.

How often, 'mid her revelry, when seemingly most blest,

She felt as woman only feels whose heart has found no rest!

How oft proud England's Queen might dream even of youth's captive day,

How wake to weep o'er vanished hopes, it boots now to say.

Within a still and darken'd room the last proud Tudor slept,

And England's noblest, bravest, best, as for a mother wept;

And she had known in death's lone hour, how vain even prayer must be

To win another lot for us than what is Heaven's decree !

A SWISS MELODY.

Oh, sing of fair Lucerne,

Ye troubadours gay, Its snow-covered mountains, Where, at break of day, The lover of nature,

Its steep ascent won, From Righi's high summit Stands hailing the sun.

Oh, sing of Pilatus,

Where, old legends say, The spirit of Pontius Doth oftentimes stray: Where credulous peasants, Too timid to roam, Warn strangers to flee from The suicide's home.

Oh, sing of wild Burglen,

Its village and dell, Oh, crown with due honor

The birth-place of TellOf him who fought nobly His country to save: A strain for the hero! A song for the brave! Oh, sing of the true hearts, The gallant, the free, Who perish'd in battle, But won Liberty.

[blocks in formation]

The Beautiful and True, dear love,

The Beautiful and True,

Oft they meet to part, but yet

They never say, Adieu: The stars, how gloriously

they greet!

But then, as morn comes on, Heaven's pavement to their glittering feet, Is echoeless and lone. Brightly they dance away, but still Such partings yield no pain; For ne'er they bid adieu, until They've sworn to meet again, Dear love,

They've sworn to meet again!

I saw two birds, like Faith on wings,
Meet o'er the waters blue;

O they could part like hopeful things,
Nor breathe a last adieu.

I saw a warrior, armed for fight,

Quit his lady fond and true

But their lips first held a meeting bright,
And thus they bade adieu !

I saw two ships part company,

O'er the ocean's sparkling foam,

And the "Outward Bound," a song of glee, And the "Homeward," a song of home, Dear love,

And the "Homeward," a song of home!
O Minnie, thy words may breathe," Farewell!"
But thy voice hath a binding thrill,
Whose latest sound shall wreathe a spell
To keep thee present still.

The touch of thy hand, when kind and fond,
And thy smile, and thy waving hair,
And thy soft deep eyes, with their hopes beyond
The gloom of each passing care,
Shall haunt me still, and when thou art gone
I will live in a dream of thee,
And with thee will rove when the night comes
Through the grove to our trysting tree,
Dear Love,

Through the grove to our trysting tree.
Banks of the Stour.
J. B.

PART II.

DESCRIPTIVE PIECES.

A PROSPECTIVE JUBILEE ON THE BANKS OF THE MERSEY.

[on,

"Was it a vision or a waking dream?"-KEATS.
While stretched beside broad Mersey's stream
One sunny winter's day,
When January's genial beam
Looked like the shades of May,
I mused myself into a dream,
But whether waking or asleep,
Suffice it not to say.

But sounds as various as the leap
Of myriad-life in summer woods,
And hues as manifold and deep
As color autumn's solitudes,

Seemed to surround my ear and eye,
And clothed the naked Cheshire side
With more than Thames' fertility!
And those low swamps that now divide
The dock-banked Mersey from the Dee,
(Perchance uniting them before
Man's daring hand walled out the sea,)
The yellow hue of harvest wore,
And in its ridged abundance waved
Among farm-yards and cottages.
Fruit trees, that had not vainly craved
Help to sustain their bending load,
Were propped in most prolific ease
Before each laborer's abode.

And mingled sounds of lowing kine
And laughing childhood rose above
Such notes and hummings as combine,
In lowlier hymns, to peace and love.
While on the noble river's breast
There was a press of pleasure boats,
And on its bank, all gaily dressed,
A joyous crowd,-such a denotes
A more than common holiday!

I joined, methought, the happy throng
That seemed in such delight to stray
With fruitful Nature, as if wrong
And homeless want had passed away-
Now laughing at the graceful freaks
Of childhood gambolling on the grass,
Admiring now the rosy cheeks
Of bright-eyed maidens as they pass,
Until my heart, its load of care
Thrown off, became as light as air!

At length arose a strong desire
To know the cause of all this joy;
While hesitating to inquire,
An old man (with a little boy
Who begged not vainly, his grandsire
To let him join the revelry
Of laughing groups) accosted me.
"I did," said he, "in my hot youth,
My utmost to prevent this scene;
But struggling 'gainst the tide of truth
A waste of strength has ever been!
'Tis strange, but 'twas a common creed
With those who loved the Church and State,
That fruitless ruin would succeed,

And England become desolate

Her unploughed fields o'ergrown with weeds;
Her every grange a ruined heap
For owls to hoot in; and her deeds
Of matchless prowess on the deep
Be only heard in idle song,

To soothe the ear of slavery.
And yet how far all this was wrong,
How very few have lived, like me,
To witness in this jubilee !"

I listened more and more perplext,
Like one (too late) who hopes in vain
The sermon may reveal the text;
But said at last: "Will you explain
The nature of this great event

I fain would learn. Astonishment
Seemed to dilate his aged eyes,
And make his reverend brow appear
A furrowed field in Autumn guise;
His lips, meanwhile, appeared to wear
A tortured shape, as if surprise
Must have its leaven of contempt
E'en with the time-subdued and wise.

Yet he replied: "Can you behold
Such celebration as is here,

Till now remaining to be told

That this is Free Trade's Fiftieth Year?

THE HARP OF MEMNON.

POETRY.

L. D.

[On the Plains of Thebes there stood, in ancient times, a statue of Memnon, the Egyptian Apollo, bearing a harp. At sunrise a breeze passed through its strings, and called from them a wild music.] Recall ye how, in distant clime,

The silent Harp that Memnon bore-
When through its strings at dawning time,

Airs from the sun's-rise rushed once more-
Sent streams of Harmony more deep
Than Music the star-orbits keep?
I see within that sultry land,

'Neath clustering dates, an Arab band,
Young mother and her child are there,
'Mid stern sons of that burning air.
Silence is keeping watch,—
-no sound
Hovereth the unmeasured waste around,
Save the small bell the camel wears
Tinkleth, as up from sleep he rears.
Upon the farthest circling line,
Where seems the morning first to shine
Between the bright sky and the Earth,
As from the heights of each its birth,
Arises a resplendant form:

No earthly passion's touch may warm
That brow serene,-that glorious face
May sully with its lightest trace.
He looks upon the silent plain,
As that were safe beneath his reign;
Yet catching from its sons of fire
No restless aim, no fierce desire.
The earthly image of the Sun,

Who through the calm skies speedeth on,
Shedding all splendor,-but who takes
Impress from nought he glorious makes.

Resteth a lyre in those still hands;
But whence the impulse that commands
From those hushed strings the descant high
Should to their master's look reply?
No mortal hand from those strong chords
May rouse a speech more sweet than words;-
No human touch from them may pour
Music that unto heaven should soar.
Only the breeze, with its pure wings,
May reach the treasures of those strings,
And loosen from their slumber deep,
The charmed melodies they keep.

Gone is the hour of midnight rest,
The faint Moon sinketh in the west,
And, making bright the horizon dun,
Upsoar thy mighty rays-thou Sun!
The Sun's beams dart across the plain;
Hark! whence may come that answering strain?
Far as the horizon circleth round
Extend those mighty waves of sound-
Joyous as though the sun-light, turned
To song, within their music burned;
Wild- -as if ether-born they seem;
Changeful-as melodies we dream;
Yet deep-as if the notes were sung
By watching Power o'er Earth that hung.
Are they from chorus round his Throne?
When has such lay on Earth been known?
Come they from chambers af the Night,
To greet his step who wakens Light?

|

[Ост.

The Babe within its sleep has smiled
As o'er it streams that influence mild;
Nay, springs it up, with look of love
As mounts that harmony above.
'Twere dangerous then should Cairo's Lord
Claim tribute from those chieftains' sword;
Yet were there peril round his throne,
Resistless aid from them were known.

But now that small band mingled there,
Are kneeling towards the Sun in prayer,
And hail the sign they deem is given
From that bright watcher of their Heaven.
O Harp of Memnon! 'tis from thee
Those glorious harmonies may be !
Though feeble prototype, thy Lord,
Of Him through Egypt's land adored,
Yet influences on Him that wait
An hour of life for thee create ;-
Enough of sympathy maintains

Between ye,-that this desert ground
Is vocal with responsive strains

Through Him, thou shedd'st around. The dream is past,-from childhood's hour, O'er me the tale holds charmed power, And ever hath its emblem shown Power waked by sympathy alone.

STANZAS.

BY MISS GEORGINA MUNRO.

From the Metropolitan.

E. H.

THE air is heavy with the breath of flowers,
And music floats around me like a dream;

I see the smile of beauty in her bowers,
And clustering lamps like stars above me
gleam;

I hear the voice of merriment sweep by,
But wake no echoing gladness in my breast;
I know that light and happy hearts are nigh,
But feel mine own with heaviness oppress'd
There is a thought all gladness overpowers,
And renders beauty dim unto my sight-
O where are they, whose smiles in former

hours

Have filled my soul with happiness and light? Go, ask the deep the wanderers o'er it range

Go, ask the earth!-for it hath claim'd the dead-

Go, ask the winds!-like traitor-friends they change-

The true were taken!-and the false are fled! "Tis ever thus!-the flowers we pluck must

die !-

And those we love must perish, or forget!— To think of other hours, is but to sigh-

And memory, but a title of regret! 'Tis ever thus !--or earth would be too bright, And hearts would love to linger in its bowers But who would mourn eve's coming, when the

light

Of day hath gleam'd alone on blighted flow

ers?

SCIENCE AND ART.

on

OLD PAINTINGS.-A dozen of old paintings, or a small scale, are now exhibiting at the Egyptian Hall, and attributed (or at any rate eight or nine of them) to Giotto. Their history is, that they had lain two hundred years as lumber, in the house of an individual near Bristol, and were accidentally brought to light by a sale of his effects. They are on copper, and six represent the life of Christ from the annunciation to the crucifixion; the other six are scriptural and classical subjects. It is hardly possible to imagine the series to have been painted by one hand; nor can we think that either Giotto or Breughel (to one of whose names several are ascribed) have had aught to do with these productions. The Annunciation is a beautiful piece, finely drawn, and possessing a degree of elegancy quite inconsistent with the condition of the arts at the early period of Giotto; and its companions, though widely different in character, certainly neither pertain to that artist nor his age. As for the three Breughels, "the old," "the velvet," and "the hellish," there is no mark of the pencil of one or another in any of these subjects. Whose they are, we cannot tell; but they are curious performances, and merit the inspection of amateurs. In some there are parts of admirable coloring; in others high talent of design; other portions, again, are ludicrous and grotesque, full of deformity in limb, and burlesque in feature. The costumes, oriental, Roman, &c., are strange and antique, and, in most, the general effects of an artist-like description.-Lit. Gaz.

WOLLASTON PILE-A Wollaston pile, with a concentrated solution of sulphate of zinc for the exciting liquid, and a little sulphate of copper and sulphuric acid added, maintained the same intensity for several days together; and not only required no cleaning, but the more it is used, the more regular its action becomes, the solution of zinc concentrating itself more and more at the expense of the elements which compose it. When the current begins to be weaker, it is sufficient to add again a small quantity of sulphate of copper

and sulphuric acid. This pile may be thus used up with renewing the exciting liquid.—Ibid.

THE DURHAM MONUMENT.-The monument to the memory of the late Lord Durham, a Grecian temple on the summit of Painshaw-hill, in the county of Durham, is to be commenced on the 28th, with great masonic ceremonies. The foundation-stone is to be laid by the Earl of Zetland; and the stone for the building has been generously given by the Marquis of Londonderry, from a neighboring quarry on his estate.-Ibid.

ELECTRIC FLUID.-M. Thilorier and M. Ch.

Lafontaine have submitted for the opinion of a committee of the Academy of Sciences, Paris, experiments which appear to them to prove the existence of a new imponderable fluid analogous to electricity or to magnetism. The committee to examine and report are MM. Magendie, Chevreul, and Poncelet.—Paris Letter.

MODE OF PUTTING NEW ROOTS TO OLD TREES.

It appears to consist in cutting off a tap root and grafting fibres all round the stem, which shoot out (like grafts in the ordinary manner on trees above), and draw the nutriment to the plant, as if they had formed its original parts.-Lit. Gaz.

LACH.-Several German journals give an account of an extraordinary phenomenon which took place a short time since in the lake near the convent of Lach. While the weather was perfectly serene, the waters of the lake rose in a few minutes, and overflowed the banks on all sides. They after a short space again subsided, and retired to a point far lower than their original level, exposing several extensive abysses which had been hitherto unknown. A loud subterraneous noise was at the same time heard; the trees on the banks were torn up by the roots, and large crevices formed in the banks. A sulphurous vapor arose, and a great number of fish were observed to float dead on the surface of the water. Many birds were also suffocated by the odor.—Athenæum.

stars, we shall be able to predict with certainty the wind that will prevail, and the rain, storms, &c., that will take place on the following day. M. Gravier declares that he has for several months passed entire nights in observing the falling stars, and that every morning at seven o'clock he delivered to M. Arago, at the Observatory, his prediction for the day, without having been once in error!-Athenæum.

OBSERVATIONS were made at the Observatory | tion, number, and changes of color of the falling in Paris during the eclipse of the moon on the 31st ult. On this occasion the light of the moon, although under what is called a total eclipse, did not entirely disappear; but at the height of the eclipse gave forth a dull red light. This light used to be attributed to phosphorescent emanations from the moon, but the modern astronomers ascribe it to the solar rays refracted by the terrestial atmosphere. The light, however, at the eclipse of the 31st ult. presented too frequent and rapid variations of intensity to have any connexion with the changes that were possible at the same time in the earth's atmosphere. The wellknown but curious phenomenon of the appearance of two moons at one period of the eclipse

added to its grandeur.--Athenæum.

FRENCH ANTIQUARIAN INTELLIGENCE.-The visitors of Normandy may be glad to hear that a small work has been lately published on some L'Etretat Souterrain, and contains a description curious Roman remains at Etretat. It is entitled of the various objects and remains found there in

1835 and 1842, with views of the Roman build

EXPLOSION OF GUNPOWDER.-M. Piobert has as-ings, vases, and tombs-the whole from the pen certained that gunpowder will not explode unless of the Abbe Cochet.-The Institut Catholique, an the grains be compact, and that if the interstices ecclesiastical and archæological journal, publishbetween them be filled up with finely-powdered ed at Lyons, is becoming daily more esteemed in charcoal, the gunpowder, if set fire to, will not the French antiquarian world. All the medieval explode, and will fuse slowly. When the pow- antiquities of that part of France are successively der is removed from the magazine for use, all noticed in this periodical, and some valuable conthat is necessary to restore the explosive property tributions are made by architects and professors is to sift it. M. Piobert made a communication of archæology in the ancient primatial metropolis on this subject to the government, but it does not of Gaul. There is a project on foot for rebuildappear that his plan was put to the test. In Rus-ing, in one of the suburbs of Rheims, the celebrasia, however, it has been tried, and there has ted abbatial church of St. Nicaise. The prefect been received from M. Fadeioff an account of of the department and the archbishop of the prothe numerous essays made by the members of a vince take much interest in the undertaking, and commission, appointed to report on the discovery. funds are collecting for the purpose. The new M. Fadeioff states that the trials were successful. edifice will be rather smaller than the old one; -Ibid. but the same plan, decorations, &c., will be ad hered to.-Ibid.

ANCIENT CHURCH-MUSIC.-M. Jouannet, librarian of Bordeaux, has presented to the Comite Historique a facsimile copy of an ecclesiastical chant of the tenth century. The original forms the termination of a New Testament, a мs. on

SILICIC ETHERS.-M. Ebelmen, the discoverer of boric ether, has just succeeded in obtaining silicic ethers by the action of alcohol on chloride of silicium. He described the process, and announced farther interesting reactions of alcohol on the chlorides of titanium, tin, phosphorus, arsenic, and sulphur; the details will form the sub-parchment of that date, and coming originally jects of future communications.-Lit. Guz.

A GHRONOLOGICAL CHART OF ANGLICAN CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE.-Has just been published * on a small sheet of paper (stretched and folding up on canvass), about 22 inches by 14, and got up in the neatest style, so as to be quite a picture, as well as a capital index to the various periods of Anglican church-building. It is divided into the Anglo-Saxon, 600 to 1066-Anglo-Norman, to 1154-transition, to 1189-early English or lancet, to 1272-decorated, 1377-perpendicular, florid, or Plantagenet, 1485-Tudor, to 1547and debased, to 1640-epochs as accurately fixed as the subject would admit, and with examples of each from existing specimens, well engraved, and running transversely across the page to printed descriptions of the various characteristics. To have so much in one point of view is a great desideratum, and the convenience of the plan is heightened by its gay antique and many-colored typography.-Ibid.

FALLING STARS PROGNOSTICS OF WEATHER. M. Coulvier Gravier thinks that all the changes which take place in the terrestial atmosphere have their origin in the upper regions. If, says says M. Gravier, we watch at night the direcSunter, York, and various publishers in London, Oxford,

and Cambridge.

from the abbey of La Suave. The notation and the lettering of this Ms. are exactly similar to those of the Mystere des Vierges folles, from a celebrated Ms. once at Limoges, but now in the Bibliotheque Royale, and from which a facsimile extract has been published in the volume of instructions issued by the Comite on the subject of ecclesiastical music -The restoration of the Gregorian chant in many parochial churches of Paris has been attended with the best effects. None but male voices participate in them; and from seven to eight hundred men of the working classes may now be seen at vespers in some of the larger churches, joining in this solemn ancient spiritual exercise.-The Comite have authorized M. Bottee de Toulmon to publish three masses of music, chosen from among the most interesting of the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. The music is to be printed with moyable types, not engraved, and the original notation is to be accompanied by a transport into modern notation. A short explanatory notice is to auger is making rapid progress with his collecaccompany each mass.-The learned Dom Guertion of ancient ecclesiastieal music, already mentioned as intended for publication. It will consist, when complete, of 6000 pieces of plain chant selected from all epochs down to the sixteenth century; the whole accompanied by the modern system of notation.-Ibid.

« VorigeDoorgaan »