For ever! Gazing then upon the sky, And now a change came on; the blood sunk back Beneath her radiant cheek, her eye-lids mov'd And all her beauty quite empyreal turn'd, Considerable tenderness, and delicacy of feeling are displayed in " Pompeii, and other Poems; to which is added a Dissertation on Lord Byron, by James and Edward Aston." Grateful, however, as these offerings of the muse may have proved on the altar of affection and friendship, we doubt whether they are of sufficient importance to engage much of the attention of the public. The first poem, occupying eight pages, is an apostrophe to the City of Her hand fell downward with her farewell sigh Pompeii; and the themes of the other Her spirit had departed! poems, filling fifty-six closely-printed A few lines, also, we must take from pages, are those on which youthful poets from time immemorial have exerted their "London by Midnight:❞— And, see! I stand on ground, whose glorious name Might turn a coward brave: on thy huge bridge, genius; viz. Songs, Elegiac and Valedictory Stanzas, verses to young ladies on every imaginable occurrence, Stanzas written in Albums, on the Forget-me-not, the Moon, Night, &c. &c. They are characterised by kind and amiable sentiments; and, with some trivial exceptions, are written with ease and correctness. In "Socrates; a Dramatic Poem, by Henry Montague Grover, Esq., of St. Peter's College, Cambridge," the author's aim appears to have been to bring together the most remarkable points in the trial and death of Socrates, and to present, in a popular form, the leading tenets of the To all true lovers of poetry we earnestly sublime doctrine taught by the Athenian recommend the perusal of " Metrical Es- Sage. Finding, however, that these ma→ says, on Subjects of History and Imagina- terials possessed not sufficient variety for tion, by Charles Swain." Many of the the formation of a drama, Mr. Grover was poems contained in this little volume have compelled to have recourse to fiction; in before claimed our admiration; and we drawing from whose stores, he has neither believe nearly all of them have appeared deviated in any important degree from in different periodicals. We rejoice to historical fact, nor introduced any incisee them in their present collective form. dent or character, beyond the range of The noblest effusions of Mr. Swain's muse probability. Socrates is known to have have been called forth to celebrate deeds had two wives, Xantippe and Myrto; the of arms; to cast a halo of glory around latter of whom he married in obedience to some scene of departed grandeur; or to a law passed in Athens, commanding every immortalise some act of self-devotion in man to have two wives. Anna, the daughthe cause of patriotism or affection. ter of Socrates and Myrto, is introduced as Capsalis, Agrigentum, Carthage, Paulus a disciple of her father, and attached to Æmilius, are spirited productions. Great || Aristos, the son of Anytus, a principal depth of feeling, pathos, and tenderness, accuser of Socrates. The passion of are frequently displayed; and Richard III. || Alcibiades is excited by the charms and his Son, A Monarch's Lament for the of the maiden. He gains over the Death of his Son, and The Death of the priesthood to his views, and Anna is deWarrior King, forcibly remind us of some tained in the temple of Minerva, where of the most successful efforts of Mrs. he extorts an oath from her to be his, upon Hemans. We refrain from extract, since, || condition of his procuring the liberation of as already stated, nearly all the poems her father. Hipparete, wife of Alcibiades, have before met the public eye. reveals the plot to the Senate, through whom it reaches the ears of Socrates. He refuses the proffered means of escape, drinks of the fatal chalice, and exonerates Anna from her oath. The trial of Socrates is, to use the words of the author in his preface, "almost a literal extract;" and, in the succeeding scenes, where so much scope might have been given to the powers of the poet, little or no effect is produced. The scenes in which Alcibiades pleads his suit with Anna, fall tame and spiritless, and we scarcely wonder at the obduracy of the maid to so unimpassioned a wooer. Equally cold is the subsequent meeting between Anna and Aristos, at which the lovers breathe their vows in the most approved terms of philosophy and science. Anna never forgets that she is the daughter of a philosopher; and her knowledge of physics, &c., is displayed on every possible occasion. The drama closes with the death of the sage, previously to which he joins the hands of Anna and Aristos. Pope's line Coldly correct, and critically dull, may serve to characterise this perform ance. Appended are notes occupying Appended are notes occupying twenty pages, and consisting principally of extracts from the Apology and Dialogues of Plato. To those who are not thoroughly conversant with the French language, but whom curiosity and a love of novelty may induce to visit the French theatre," The Gentleman Cit, a Comedy in Five Acts, being a translation of Moliere's Bourgeois Gentilhomme, by the translator of M. Jouy's Sylla," will prove acceptable. The translator has, with a few slight exceptions, performed his task very ably. The neatness, cheapness, and portability of the book are additional recommendations. "Annotations on the Mutiny Act, 4th Geo. IV. Cap. 81, with some Observations on the Practice of Courts Martial, both in his Majesty's, and in the East India Company's Service, by Captain M'Naghten, late Deputy Judge Advocate General, Bengal Army," are not much in the way of ladies' tions upon the act of duelling in the army, call for general attention. NEW MUSIC. "Calmly beams yon azure Sky," a Song, by Attwood.-Cramer and Co. "The Wish," a Canzonet, by C. Horn.Do. "Leave, oh leave the Heartless World," a Ballad, by Do.-Do. "The Butterfly," a Cavatina, sung by Miss Forde, composed by Alexander Lee.— Willis and Co. The melody of Mr. Attwood's song is a Siciliano, modelled on the Rossinian style, and, as usual, enriched with such floods of rich harmony, as could only proceed from a disciple of the pure German school. "The Wish" is precisely such as we should desire in our amatory moods, to pour into the ear of our "Ladie Love." The poetry is pretty, and the adaptation light but expressive; two qualities which it is very difficult to amalgamate. Leave, oh leave," a plaintive ballad, with an arpeggio accompaniment, altogether more pleasing than original, and adapted to a mezzo soprano voice. The opinion of the musical world has been divided respecting Mr. Alex. Lee's productions; but the majority seem to consider that, though he has shewn his taste by his selections (principally from the Scotch) yet he has not manifested much discretion or modesty in affixing his own name to them in quality of composer; we trust, however, that the present composition, which is really his own, will go some way towards forming a character for original composition. "The Butterfly" is something in the "Bid me Discourse" style, with a very pleasing melody, some elegant little embellishments, and an accompaniment well harmonized, though simple, and the general effect sufficiently original at once to rescue him from the charge of being a mere compiler. PIANO-FORTE. reading; but, as most ladies have military || A Grand Sonato for the Piano-forte, with friends and connexions, it may be serviceable for them to be informed of the recent publication of such a book; and, also, that Captain M'Naghten has performed his task with great ability. His observa Accompaniment of Flute and Violoncello, dedicated to E. Allen, Esq., by J. B. Logier. Op. 23.-Chappell and Co. Mr. Logier's sonata, from its size, deserves the title of grand, even if we were inclined to refuse it on any other grounds; theatre, arising out of the exorbitant terms proabove thirty pages of music is quite alarm-posed by Signor Veluti; in consequence of ing in a single piece. The opening phrase which, the manager has made an attempt and is almost note for note from Dussek's Soin our estimation a most satisfactory one-to do without that singer. It was intended that, upon nata in B flat, dedicated to Mrs. Chinthe revival of Mayerbeer's opera, Il Crociato in nery; and the general style of the first Egitto, Veluti should resume the character he movement reminds us strongly of that had formerly sustained; but, through the discomposer; for to the similarity of manner agreement alluded to, the part was given to we by no means wish to object. Mr. Madame Pasta, whose performance was loudly Logier could scarcely have chosen a more and even vociferously applauded. However, we unexceptionable model; but using a pro- must be permitted to say that we have seen that minent passage, like that above named, great actress and singer more at home, and more was ill judged, for it could not fail of effective. Several of the performers were imdetection. The first movement, the alle-perfect; and, altogether, the music, which is not distinguished by ease, freedom, or grace of execution, went off indifferently. gro con spirito, is bold and shewy, and contains some very ingenious passages. The adagio is extremely short and orchestral in its style. The theme for the variations seems to us to be rather a modification of one of our old friends, than a genuine Irish air; but we confess ourselves not very deeply skilled in the catalogue of the Planxtys. The variations, which, both as to quantity and quality, constitute the principal part of the work, do the composer great credit: they are ten in number; our favourites are the sixth, seventh, and the Polacca finale. The accompaniments are evidently composed by a person well acquainted with the peculiarities of the instruments for which he writes, and so much enhance the effect, that we think the word ad libitum, in the title, should be altered to obligato. ENGLISH THEATRICALS. THE KING'S THEATRE. ONE of the chief novelties since our last, is Madame Schutz, from the Opera House at Paris, who appeared here for the first time, on the evening of March 1, as Sesto, in Mozart's almost divine opera of La Clemenza di Tito. This lady is, we believe, a native of Munich; a lively agreeable actress, possessing a well-tuned and sufficiently powerful voice of the mezzo soprano character. Her performance was greeted with cheering applause by one of the most numerous and splendid audiences of the season. Her most successful effort, in our estimation, was the beautiful accompanied recitative of Oh Dei che smaria è questa. Madame Schutz, however, is not a singer of the first order of excellence. Madame Caradori has not sufficient weight, power, or dignity, for the part of Vitellia. Some weeks ago, a pleasant revival was presented in the ballet of Le Sichin, ou L'Amour Peintre. Mdlle. Albert, a slight and sylph-like young creature, made a most successful début on this occasion. Mdlle. Sontag is to appear after Easter. DRURY LANE. WE have before questioned that policy which is apt to proclaim the merits, in "good set terms," of any actor or actress before the eventful first appearance in the metropolis. How frequently has a lady, who has delighted "the Mayor and Corporation" of one of our goodly cities who has gone through the provinces, like a dramatic comet-come to London, with all "her blushing honours thick upon her," and suddenly declined into a very respectable fourth-rate actress, and taken for the remainder of the season, a station with the "illustrious obscure." We have, through those "best public instructors," as they are called, the newspapers, heard more than enough of the dramatic attractions of Mrs. Duff, whilst at Dublin. How has a trip across the Channel injured the histrionic fame of the lady! Mrs. Duff appeared at this theatre as Isabella; it was a very tame and inefficient performance. Further criticism is needless, as the lady has never repeated the character. Don Pedro, a tragedy from the pen of Lord Porchester, has been represented with very equivocal success. Various are the opinions it has called forth. We shall not enter into a detail of the plot, as the tragedy has been withdrawn, and as doubtless many of our readers have already perused the production. Its chief deficiency is a want of condensation; there is too much mere trifling, whilst, on the other hand, there are two or three situations of highly dramatic interest. Mr. Macready played the hero, which certainly admitted of but little forcible de There has been a serious difference at this lineation; we think, however, the actor never rose above the author; it was an effort of mere mediocrity. Cooper's Don Pedro was grave and sensible. Wallack played a revengeful Jew, and endeavoured sometimes successfullyto throw as much melo-drama as possible into the character. We again enter our protest against the appearance of Messrs. Mude and Thompson in any tragedy whatever. They are the Gog and Magog of tender sentiment. Miss E. Tree played Blanche with mingled tenderness and dignity. Mrs. W. West we have been accustomed to praise: her Maria-a kind of Millwood, by the way was unnecessarily repulsive by the anxiety she took to prove herself a bad, designing woman. We never saw a more annoying exhibition of grimace-never endured more terrible ejaculations. The tragedy was very coolly received on the first night, and has since been only once repeated. COVENT GARDEN. MR. MORTON's Invincibles, a musical afterpiece, is the only novelty at this theatre for the past month. The piece is from the French, and abounds with that spirit of equivoque, so distinguished in our continental neighbours. The whole whim of the drama consists in a scheme projected by Victorine (Madame Vestris) a waiting-maid, to get into an old garrison, in which are imprisoned several officers; and among them, the lover of Juliette. Victorine habits herself as corporal; her mistress, and four other females, also become soldiers, and the plan succeeds. The trick is, however, subsequently discovered. General Verdun (Fawcett) pretends an attack upon the fortress, when the ladies throw down their arms and run away. Madame Vestris is, of course, the spirit of the piece, and exercises her troop most commendably. Power plays an Irish corporal with considerable humour. Some of the music is pretty, without possessing much originality. The Invincibles has been eminently successful. FINE ARTS' EXHIBITIONS, &c. We have repeated our visit to this gallery, again and again, and each time with increased satisfaction. Our opinion is confirmed, that the present is one of the best assemblages of modern art that the British Institution has ever had to boast. A Covenanter (2) by H. P. Parker, is distinguished by strength, spirit, and force of character. respect to his Christ's Agony in the Garden (49). The Christ is a very clumsy man, with flesh of a colour far removed from that of nature. A curious effect is produced in the Sun setting in a Storm (75) with a View of the Shagstone Rocks, at the Entrance of Plymouth Harbour, by J. Y. Gant. Dearman, a successful follower of Cuyp, is, this season, remarkably happy in his choice of subjects, and in their mode of treatment. The Figures (28); then a charming little pair of first that we meet with is A Group of Sheep with landscapes (91 and 92) with sheep, cattle, and figures; and, besides a Cottage Scene (254) by J. and E. Dearman, mentioned at page 135, a Coast scene, with cattle and figures, in the evening (285). Clearness and brightness, softness, mellowness, and sweetness, characterise this artist's productions. F. P. Stephanoff's Castle of Indolence (94) is fine in composition, and equally excellent in colouring. We cannot account for the difference of taste which exists between us and some of our contem poraries, with reference to the Execution of the Doge Marino Faliero (102) by E. Delacroix, We have heard this production lauded to the very echo. Had it been otherwise, it would scarcely have attracted our notice. We admit that it possesses great merit-that it has a fine Venetian tone of colour-and that the closest attention has however, the composition is defective: it prebeen paid by the artist to costume. Certainly, the groups; every thing is in angles, square sents no line of beauty, no pleasing formation in within square, in numerous succession. The principal light falls upon the broad, vacant, cold, white, stone staircase of the palace; from thing important has been removed, and ought to which the spectator is made to feel that somebe restored. Several of the principal figures, however, are indicative of true historic feeling. At the north end of the middle room is a picture (178) by Partridge, entitled to much consideration. It is called The Mother. The drawing is good. Modest and unpretendingremoved from every thing flimsy and meretricious it possesses solidity without hardness, and is altogether in a fine mellow style. Balfour of Burley, in the Hayloft, hearing Claverhouse's Cavalry in pursuit of him (188) by Andrew Morton, from Sir Walter Scott's Old Mortality, is a very strong, firm, and cha racteristic, painting. The act of listening is most accurately expressed. Edwin Landseer's Deer fallen from a Precipice (195) is not one of that artist's most suc We are always sorry when our taste or judg-cessful efforts. Its composition is remarkably ment remains unsatisfied with any production of the veteran Northcote's. Such is the case with stiff and formal. The glassy projecting eye of the deer, however, is nature itself; and the raven is very spirited. In the same painter's Scene in the Highlands (206) the horse and the dog have merit; but we like not the picture as a whole. At the first glance of an Overshot Mill (201) by Lee, we mistook it for a piece of Constable's. This is no mean praise.. A Group of Birds, &c. (209) by N. Chantry, is very delicately finished. Devotional Reading (213) by Miss Eliza Jones, is admirable in expression, colour, and general effect. Archimedes discovered in his Study (216) by King, may pass for a tolerable academical effort, but it is not worthy of its subject, nor of its situation in the gallery. Great merit is apparent in Morning, Dutch Vessels at Anchor off Greenwich (300) by T. M. Richardson. Old Houses at Dolgelly, from a sketch by E. V. Utterson, Esq. (243) by George Jones, R.A., is a charming specimen of colour. S. W. Reynolds's View near Calais (238) has much sweetness of tone. Game Keepers returning (230) by S. E. J. Jones, is highly finished; the foreground not unfavourably reminding us of Cuyp; but the sky is not equally good. A Gamekeeper cleaning his Gun, by Pidding (338) is entitled to favourable notice. Walsh's Old Woman (340); a Toper (341); and an Old Man (360) incur a risk of being We overlooked from their diminutiveness. therefore wish to point them out as so many little treats to the amateur. The Old Woman, in particular, is quite a Rembrandt. Lewis's View on the River Tamar, at Ensleigh, in the Grounds of his Grace the Duke of Bedford (388) is in some respects a clever picture, but the greens require to be subdued. The canvass is all green-heavy, overpowering green. Reading the Fifth Act of the Manuscript (376) by Theodore Lane, is in bad taste. poet must not have been enthusiastic, but mad, to think of reading his tragedy to such auditors. Mr. Lane is an artist of much promise; but he must be careful not to mistake the wild and outrageous for the humorous. The Hudson's Puck and the Fairy (423) is a poetical gem of exquisite beauty. The spirit is truly Shaksperian. Fishermen preparing to put to Sea, Morning (477) by G. P. Reinagle, is much in the style of Callcott, and scarcely, if at all, inferior to some of the ablest productions of that artist. The Last Shooting Excursion of his late Royal Highness, the Duke of York, on his Grey Pony, near Belvoir Castle, attended by his Gamekeeper, Godfrey, groom Iley, and celebrated dog, Neptune, the retriever (478) by Van Worrell, will, from its subject, prove interesting to many; but, as a work of art, the picture is entitled to very little consideration. Brockedon's Transfiguration (482) is not without merit in composition; but the countenance of Christ is almost any thing rather than divine. A Shrine in a Chapel near Rouen (485) by Crawford, is in good keeping. Wood's May Morning (483) from Akenside's poems, enjoys a far superior situation to that which it occupied last year at Somerset House. The composition of this picture is unexceptionable; its colouring may be pronounced splendid; and, as an allegorical conception, it is imbued with much spirit and beauty. Linnell's Itchen Ferry, near Southampton (510), deserves notice, not only from much that is unusual and remarkable in its appearance, but also from its intrinsic merit. Scene on the Medway, with Fishermen (497), by Dagnall, is, in its sky, a perfect Cuyp. We are glad to find that there is no lack of spirit in purchasers this season. HOBDAY'S GALLERY OF MODERN ART. THIS establishment, if well conducted and its present appearance is most favourable-cannot fail of proving beneficial to the arts, to artists, and to the public. Considering it merely as an exhibition of pictures, if the requisite attention be paid, in receiving only such works as are valuable, or at least respectable, it must be always more or less attractive; and, as a commission-room, its eligibility of situation (PallMall) will afford great facilities for sale. At this time, the number of exhibitors is nearly eighty: amongst them, we find the names of many of our best artists; and, altogether, there are upwards of one hundred and fifty subjects in the gallery. Loutherbourg's Battle of Alexandria, and his landing at Aboukir Bay, Egypt; Westall's Marys at the Tomb; W. Daniell's Ooriamarum, or Umbrella Tree; Brockedon's Mother and Child; a Coast Scene, by Stanfield; Davis's Boar Hunt; Stump's Cain and Abel; Rigaud's original sketch of his large picture in the Council Chamber at Somerset House, of Samson breaking his Bonds, and many other interesting pieces, are here. SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS. THE rooms of this society, in Suffolk Street, Pall-Mall East, were opened to the public on Monday, the 24th of March, a period of the month too late to admit of our entering upon a detailed notice of the Exhibition. In our next, we shall have great pleasure in reporting at length upon its merits: at present, we can only mention, in general terms, that, to numerous works of talent are affixed the names of Stanfield, |