meteor would be followed by all eyes for a while; and why? Because it is as evanescent as bright; we must gaze at once, or it will be too late. Yet the mind soon returns to the contemplation of the eternal stars which light up the heavens with enduring lustre. Any popularity, obtained by gratifying a perverse taste, is essentially transitory, while all that is benevolent and social, and that favors truth and goodness, is of universal and perpetual interest. "These are but plain inferences from facts in the history of literature. The plays of Dryden were written to please an audience of a vicious taste; they may have been received with boisterous applause, but nobody likes them now, though in the form not unsuited to the stage; and as for the grossest scenes, any merit in the invention is never spoken of, as compensating for their abominable coarseness. On the other hand, Milton's Comus, though in its form entirely antiquated, has the beautiful freshness of everlasting youth, delights the ardent admirer of good poetry, and is always showing new attractions to the careful critic. And where lies this immense difference in the lasting effect of these two writers? Dryden, it is true, fell far short of Milton in poetic genius; but the true cause lies in this; virtue, which is the soul of song, is wanting in the plays of Dryden, while the poetry of Milton bears the impress of his own magnanimity. "We are contending for no sickly morality; we would shut out the poet from the haunts of libertinism, not from the haunts of men; we would have him associate with his fellows, hold intercourse with the great minds that light up the gloom of ages, and share in the best impulses of human nature; and not, under the influence of a too delicate sensibility, treat only of the harmless flowers, and the innocent birds, and the exhilarating charm of agreeable scenery: and still less, in the spirit of a sullen misanthropy, delight in obscure abstractions, find comfort only in solitude, and rejoice, or pretend to rejoice, chiefly in the mountains, and the ocean, and the low laces of the earth. Their pursuit of moral beauty does not lead to an affected admiration, or an improper idolatry of the visible creation The genius of the poet can impart a portion of its eloquence to the external world, and elevate creation by connecting it with moral associations. But descriptions, except of scenes where moral beings are to move, possess little interest. If landscape-painting is an inferior branch of that art, though the splendid works of Claude demand praise without measure, landscape poetry is a kind of affectation, an unnatural result of excessive refinement. Description is important, but subordinate. The external world, with all its gorgeousness and varied forms of beauty; the cataract, with its glory of reflected light;' the forests, as they wave in the brilliancy of early summer; the flowers, that are crowded in gardens, or waste their sweetness on the desert air; the noise of the hidden brook, that all night long in the leafy months sings its quiet tune to the sleeping woods; the ocean, whether reposing in tranquil majesty, or tossed by the tempest; night, when the heavens are glittering with the splendor of the constellations; morning, when one perfect splendor beams in the sky, and is reflected in a thousand colors from the glittering earth, these are not the sublimest themes, that awaken the energies of the muse. It is mind, and mind only, which can exhibit the highest beauty. The hymn of martyrdom, the strength by which the patriot girds himself to die, 'God's breath in the soul of man,' the unconquerable power of generous passion, the hopes and sorrows of humanity, love, devotion, and all the deep and bright spings of affection, these are higher themes, of permanent interest and evaited character. "Here, too, we find an analogy between poetic and religious feel MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 339 ing. The image of God is to be sought for, not so much in the outward world, as in the mind. No combination of inanimate matter can equal the sublimity and wonderful power of life. To impart organic life with the power of reproduction, is a brighter display of Omnipotence than any arrangement of the inanimate, material world. A swarm of flies, as through their short existence they buzz and wheel in the summer's sun, offer as clear, and, to some minds, a clearer demonstration of Omnipotence, than the everlasting, but silent, courses of the planets. But moral life is the highest creation of divine power. We, at least, know and can conceive of none higher. We are, therefore, not to look for God among the rivers and the for ests, nor yet among the planets and the stars, but in the hearts of men; he is not the God of the dead, but of the living. "Those who accord with the general views which we have here maintained, will be prepared to express unqualified approbation of the literary career of Mrs. Hemans. Had her writings been merely harmless, we should not have entered into an analysis of them; but the moral charm which is spread over them, is so peculiar, so full of nature, and truth, and deep feeling, that her productions claim at once the praise of exquisite purity and poetic excellence. She adds the dignity of her sex to a high sense of the duties of a poet; she writes with buoyancy, yet with earnestness; her poems bear the impress of a character worthy of admiration. In the pursuit of literary renown, she never forgets what is due to feminine reserve. We perceive a mind endowed with powers to aspire; and are still further pleased to find no unsatisfied cravings, no passionate pursuit of remote objects, but high endowments, graced by contentment. There is plainly the consciousness of the various sorrow to which life is exposed, and with it the spirit of resignation. She sets before herself a clear and exalted idea of what a female writer should be, and is on the way to realize her own idea of excellence. Living in domestic retirement, in a beautiful part of Wales, it is her own feelings and her own experience which she communicates to us. We cannot illustrate our meaning better, than by introducing our readers at once to Mrs. Hemans herself, as she describes to us the occupa tions of a day. AN HOUR OF ROMANCE. • There were thick leaves above me and around, As of soft showers on water,' &c. &c. "The poetry is here as beautiful as the scene described is quiet and pleasing. It forms an amiable picture of the occupations of a contemplative mind. The language, versification, and imagery, are of great merit, the beauties of nature described by a careful observer; the English scene is placed in happy contrast with the Eastern, and the dream of romance pleasantly disturbed by the cheerfulness of life. But we make but sorry work at commenting on what the reader must feel." "It has been said that religion can never be made a subject of interest in poetry. The position is a false one, refuted by the close alliance between poetic inspiration and sacred enthusiasm. Irreligion has certainly no place in poetry. There may have been Atheist philosophers; an Atheist poet is an impossibility. The poet may doubt and reason like Hamlet; but the moment he acquiesces in unbelief, there is an end to the magic of poetry. Imagination can no longer throw lively hues over the creation; the forests cease to be haunted; the sea, and the air, and the heavens, to teem with life. The high est interest, we think, attaches to Mrs. Hemans's writings, from the spirit of Christianity which pervades them. "The poetry of our author is tranquillizing in its character, calin and serene. We beg pardon of the lovers of excitement, but we are seriously led to take notice of this quality as of a high merit. A great deal has been said of the sublimity of directing the passions; we hold it a much more difficult and a much more elevated task, to restrain them; it may be sublime to ride on the whirlwind, and direct the storm; but it seems to us still more sublime to appease the storm, and still the whirlwind. Virgil, no mean authority, was of this opinion. The French are reported to be particularly fond of effect and display; but we remember to have read, that even in the splendid days of Na. poleon, the simplicity of vocal music surpassed in effect the magniflcence of a numerous band. It was when Napoleon was crowned Emperor in the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame. The Parisians wishing to distinguish the occasion by some novel exhibition, and to produce a great effect, filled the orchestra with eighty harps, which were all struck together with unequalled skill. The fashionable world was in raptures. Presently the Pope entered, and some thirty of his singers, who came with him from Rome, received him with the powerful Tu es Petrus of the old-fashioned Scarlatti; and the simple majesty of the air, assisted by no instruments, annihilated in a noment the whole effect of the preceding fanfaronade. And in literature the public taste seems to us already weary of those productions which aim at astonishing and producing a great effect, and there is now an opportunity of pleasing by the serenity of contemplative excellence. "It is the high praise of Mrs. Hemans's poetry that it is feminine. The sex may well be pleased with her productions, for they could hardly have a better representative in the career of letters. All her works seem to come from the heart, to be natural and true. The poet can give us nothing but the form under which the objects he describes present themselves to his own mind. That form must be no ble, or it is not worthy of our consideration; it must be consistent, or it will fail to be true. Now, in the writings of Mrs. Hemans, we are shown how life and its concerns appear to woman, and hear a mother entrusting to verse her experience and observation. So, in The Hebrew Mother, the spring-tide of nature' swells high as she parts from her son, on devoting him to the service of the temple : "Alas, my boy, thy gentle grasp is on me, And silver cords again to earth have won me; "And oh! the home whence thy bright smile hath parted, Turn'd from its door away? While through its chambers wandering, weary-hearted, Went like a singing rili? "I give thee to thy God--the God that gave thee, Aud precious as thou art, And pure as dew of Hermon, He shall have thee, And thou shalt be His child. "Therefore, farewell!--I go, my soul may fail me, Yearning for thy sweet looks- But thou, my first-born, droop not, nor bewail me, The Rock of Strength--Farewell!' MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 341 "The same high feeling of maternal duty and love inspires the ittle poem, "The Wreck,' which every one has read. The Lady of the Castle,' 'The Grave of Korner,' The Graves of a Household' are all on domestic subjects. But why do we allude to poems which are in every one's hands? The mother's voice breaks out again in the piece entitled 'Elysium.' Children, according to the heathen mythology, were banished to the infernal regions, and religious faith had no consolation for a mourning parent. "Calm on its leaf-strewn bier With its bright smile!--Elysium! what wert thou, For the fair creature from her bosom gone, Like the Spring's wakening! But that light was past-- Not where thy waters lay in glassy sleep!-- Fade, with the amaranth plain, the myrtle grove, Of whom Fame speaks not with her clarion voice Around their steps! till silently they die, Not then, nor ever, what pure thoughts are fied! Come back when night, her folding veil hath spread, The long remember'd dead? But not with thee might aught save glory dwell- And the same feelings of a woman and a mother dictated The Evening Prayer at a Girls' School,' a poem which merits to be cor sidered in connexion with Gray's Ode on a Distant Prospect of Etor College.' "Oh! joyous creatures that will sink to rest, "Of other spirited, and lively, and pathetic short poems of Mrs. Hemans, which form some of the brightest ornaments of the lyric poetry of the language, we take no particular notice-for in what part of the United states are they not known? So general has been the attention to those of her pieces adapted to the purposes of a newspaper, we hardly fear to assert, that throughout a great part of this country there is not a family of the middling class in which some of them have not been read. The praise which was not sparingly bestowed upon her, when her shorter productions first became generally known among us, has been often repeated on a care. ful examination of her works; and could we hope that our remarks might one day fall under her eye, we should hope she would not ve indifferent to the good wishes which are offered her from America, but feel herself cheered and encouraged in her efforts, by the prospect of an enlarged and almost unlimited field of useful influence, opened to her among the descendants of her country in an independent land. The ocean divides us from the fashions as well as the commotions of Europe. The voice of America, deciding on the literature of England, resembles the voice of posterity more nearly than any thing else, that is contemporaneous, can do. We believe that the general attention which has been given to Mrs. Hemans's works among us, may be regarded as a pledge that they will not be received with indifference by posterity."-PROFESSOR NORTON, in North American Review. IN a preceding page we gave the opinions of our most celebrated Cisatlantic critics regarding the poetry of Mrs. Hemans, and we think it but right in this to show the general estimate in which her genius is held in America, as evidenced by the North American Review, the best-known and most widely-circulated of the Transatlantic periodicals. Judging from the state of feeling in America-from the ideas of practical philosophy entertained there-and from the pervading utilitarian bias of its prose literature, we must confess that, had we been asked to name any votary of the British muse more likely than another to be appreciated in that country, we should have had very little hesitation in fixing upon Crabbe. And why? Because his poetry is characterised by a stern adherence to the realties of life, as contradistinguished froin romance, and because his characters and situations are taken from existing aspects of society, appreciable by all. In this theory it appears we are wrong; and Professor Norton has here done his best to account for it. We are most given to admire what is least attainable; and so therefore it is that the spiritual glow which Mrs. Hemans has blent with human sentiment-the imaginative beauty with which she has clothed the shows of earth and heaven,"-and the tone of romance which she has mingled up with the communications of daily life, have, as lucus a non lucendo, been the elements of, and not the impediments to, her American popularity. MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. WRITTEN AFTER VISITING A TOMB, NEAR WOODSTOCK, IN THE COUNTY OF KILKENNY.* MRS. TIGHE'S Poem on the Lily. I STOOD where the lip of song lay low, Where the dust had gather'd on Beauty's brow; And a marble weeper kept watch above. I stood in the silence of lonely thought, Of deep affections that inly wrought, See the "Grave of a Poetess," in the "Records of Woman," on the same subject, and written several years previously to visiting the scene. |