Though her brow was white; what though Her gentle heart in silence doom'd to break: All must to dust and clay, Oh! therefore patience to thy wet eyes take. Yet is meek sorrow sweet, And melancholy meet For those who miss a mortal from their side; It balms remembrance mild, Like nature's gentle child, And fills a space in mem'ry's waved tide. So that the dear soul sped, But still we think it living in the earth; That it can sigh and rue, Yet in deep feeling give the cause new birth. Then let me go with thee, Miss'd from the haunts of men, And in wild thought a sweet communion give. Such splendrous sorrow deeper than dull gloom. For man is like a flower, That sparkles for the hour, # Then droops, and droops, and bends unto the earth; His bones Time grieves, Till they are light as straws:-and such is mirth. Since grief and joy must die, And side beside lie, Till old oblivion shall become no space; Lie not there and grieve, But come and give Thy melody, my true song to grace. When the daisy goes to bed, My bosom burst the lace Oh! I retaste the luxury of woe. The sun, o'er the light blue hill, Comes wakefully to fill Trees, grass, and river with a splendrous gold; I'll thither fleet In vintage shades, to dwell on dear thoughts old. "I know this is but a slender and simple plot, and not over pregnant in hope, but there is no chance of success too small for a true lover alas! I know it." And Frederigo embracing him, said, "how shall I ever repay thee for thy solicitude about me? It should seem that thy proper distress is drowned wholly in mine: but I will do justice to the truth of thy friendship, and will set about this thing with such zeal, that shall discover the honour I pay to any kind attentions you may offer me. So they went from city to city, town to town; and, strange to say, Lucio was never tired of repeating that song, although he had sung it a thousand times; but often would he sigh, “Oh, Fortune, why persecute me thus? Why must my hopes spring from the grave of another?" It fell out as Frederigo wished, for one day a voice called to them through an iron grating of a convent, saying, "Minstrels, if minstrels ye be, ye have deeply touched the heart of a miserable daughter of this convent, by the sadness of your ditty. Come to me, I prythee, in the early morning, when the convent gate is open, for I would fain hear ye once more; and as I am pleased to think would speak to you also about that that you are come from Milan, I city." joiced, for his heart told him it was Away went Frederigo rehis lady's voice; but Lucio wept more and more, and trembled like a leaf in the wind. Frederigo's young spirits revived; and he went into the city and chose himself a rich knightly habit, but Lucio would not; and they covered themselves in the morning early, for neither of and went to the convent. Frederigo them could sleep upon their beds, asked for the lady Julia, who came, full of astonishment that her name was known. The spirit of Titian's image of Frederigo's heart, stood canvas, the living substance, the pale and now before him. She was very worn with sorrow, but supreme in patient meekness. Frederigo glorified the Saints, and was full of fervent affection; but Lucio was sick at heart, and left them to come into the air. Frederigo opened his minstrel's habit, and shewed himself to be a knight, and, taking Julia's gentle hand, told all the travail of his love; touched on the tender strings of hopes and fears; wept for her kindred, but bid her rejoice and lift her eyes from the ground, and cast them up to Heaven in hopes for happy days. Need it be said his passion won her heart? Rescued from sorrow and adversity, the happy vision swam before her eyes and filled her bosom with re-animating delight. She took Frederigo's faith, and gave him her love. They were married, but Lucio died. And Frederigo came suddenly in to Julia, saying, "My wife, we must suspend the harvest of joys; let down thy hair, put on a sable coif, and muse on dying flowers, for the youth who has travelled many a wearied mile for me-the melancholy Lucio, is dead-yet not he, but she-no youth, no Lucio, but Titian's niecethe gentle Aimé, whose heart Fate hath chosen me to be the cruel instrument to be so long in breaking. TO A YOUNG COUPLE ON THEIR MARRIAGE. 'Tis done, and your God hath recorded above May the sun of prosperity cheer with its rays May the angel of peace, like the ark-sheltered dove, And the sunshine of hope, and the spirit of love, Make the years of your pilgrimage blest. When Time's rapid changes, the world with its cares, And foes with their malice assail you, When the friends you have cherish'd surround you with snares, In heart and in counsel united remain, Though misfortunes around you are frowning; Should years, as they vanish, erase from my mind This wish and this prayer would be still left behind, But we one and all must soon cross the drear wave, Then, oh! may we meet when life's visions are past, J. R. W. FOREIG N. BIOGRAPHY, RECENT PUBLICATIONS, AND Literary and Scientific Intelligence. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE BARON DENON. THIS distinguished individual and eminent artist, Dominique Vivant Baron Denon, is now more than eighty years of age, and has been the witness of four remarkable eras of natural existence, having moved in public situations from the reign of his early patron, Louis XV. through that of his successor, then through the stormy period of the Revolution, then through the period of Napoleon's splendid career, until he at length witnesses the son of his first royal master seated upon the throne of his ancestors. A man of genius, who has been in constant communication with the numerous, diversified, and original characters, which these periods have been so fertile in, is likely to possess that fund of information and that conversational superiority which have always been attributed to the Baron Denon. He was born at Chalons-SurSoane, of a noble family, and 'being an only son, was destined, according to the French practice, to be brought up to the law. But it is related that he imbibed a strong disposition to visit the metropolis, and to enter into gayer scenes than the law, in consequence a gipsy having told his fortune when he was only seven years old, and having predicted that he should be a distinguished favourite of the ladies and a frequenter of numerous courts. We must presume that his faculties were rather precocious, as he had acquired a very familiar acquaintance with Paris and Versailles, even at the age of sixteen. At this period he had to undergo the operation of lithotomy, and bore both the disease and its violent remedy with great fortitude. of Introduced to Louis XV. his vivacity and the elegance of his mind attracted the particular attention of that monarch. It is well known that his royal patron had always lived in voluptuous indolence, and that, under the name of intellectual pursuits, he had successively adopted those recreations into which Eur, Mag. Vol. 83. his mistresses had, for their own reasons, persuaded him to enter. Mademoiselle de Romans had persuaded him to study botany, and Madam de Pompadour had excited in him a desire to be able to engrave upon gems. He therefore collected a cabinet of antiques, and this pursuit, acting upon his own predeliction for the study of history, soon produced a wish to acquire a knowledge of medals. A collection of medals was therefore soon formed, and the care of this and of the cabinet of engraved gems and antique stones was entrusted to M. Denon. A desire of gallantry among the French actresses now induced him to write his comedy of "Le bon Pere," and it was not until this period of his life that he had received any instruction in drawing. His parents were naturally uneasy at his being absorbed in the trifling and dissipation of a court, to the exclusion of more important occupations, and at length he accompanied the French ambassador on a mission to St. Petersburgh. Being intrusted with dispatches, he stopped at Potsdam with a hope of being allowed to offer his homage to Frederic the Great, and that monarch condescended to admit him to an interview. At St. Petersburgh, he gave some personal offence to the capricious and extravagant archduke Paul, which prevented his being favourably received by the Empress Catherine. On the death of Louis XV. M. Denon left the court of Russia, and joined Monsieur Vergennes in Denmark, who had been the French ambassador at Stockholm, but who was on his return to France to assume the functions of foreign minister. Mr. Vergennes, his new patron, now entrusted to him a diplomatic mission to Switzerland, in which he ably executed his public trust, and took every advantage of acquainting himself with the natural beauties of that country. He afterwards visited Voltaire at Ferney, where he was received with 2 G favour. He was for three years attached to the suite of the Count de Clermont d'Amboise, the French ambassa dor at Naples, and was himself after wards Chargé d'Affaire for four years at the same court. It was during this latter period that he executed his celebrated Journal and designs from the views of Naples and its environs, and from La Pouille, Calabria, Sicily, and Malta. These works were published in a most superb style, and met with that distinction to which their merits so justly entitled them. He was now admitted to an intimacy with the Cardinal de Bernis, the French ambassador at Rome. The splendid mansion of the Cardinal was then the resort of the Sovereigns and first characters of Europe; and Denon here became acquainted with the Emperor of Germany, Joseph II. and with Gustavus of Sweden, who was afterwards assassinated at the ball, both of these Monarchs were then living in philosophic enjoyment, relieved from the cares of state, and from the rigours of the less hospitable climates of their native countries. It was remarkable at that period, that all the crowned heads of the continent were philosophers, whilst their subjects were sunk in ignorance and barbarism. Now philosophy is supposed to have deserted the monarch, and to have found refuge with the people. The death of Monsieur de Vergennes terminated the diplomatic employment of Monsieur Denon, but he again resorted to that country for objects of art. Upon his return to Paris, it was proposed to him to belong to the academy, and he would have been elected into their body as an amateur, but he preferred being a candidate as an artist, and the works, which he submit ted to that body in support of his pretensions, immediately secured his elec tion. As he had as yet visited only the southern states of Italy, he was now desirous of returning to that country to pursue at his leisure a study of the various schools of art in Verona, Bologna, Venice, and Florence. He repaired to Venice, and during a residence of five years he prosecuted his celebrated collection of drawings from every school of painting, and specimens of the engravings of every age. It is this invaluable collection which forms the delight and occupation of his old age. The influence of the French Revolution at length obliged him to fly from Venice to Florence, and, being again compelled to leave Florence, he repaired to Switzerland, hoping that in a country so retired he might find an asylum; but the French authorities having declared every Frenchman an alien who expatriated himself at this revolutionary crisis, M. Denon was obliged to return to France at the period of the most terrific anarchy. In Paris he had now neither friends nor pecuniary supplies, and his being of noble descent alone exposed him to dangers. He was about to be conveyed to the department of his family, when the painter David, of his own accord, procured an order to detain him at Paris, to paint the national costumes which were about to be adopted. This act of considerate benevolence on the part of David has never been forgotten by M. Denon. His new office brought him in constant contact with the various sanguinary characters of the revolutionary period, but it may be observed that many of them did him services, whilst he experienced injury from none. On one occasion M. Denon was summoned before the Committee of Public Safety to give an account of the progress he had made on the national costumes. Here he had the equivocal good fortune of attracting the notice of Robespierre, who, to M. Denon's alarm and astonishment, passed the rest of the night with him, and evinced, by his conversation, that he was capable of appreciating superior education, and the manners of higher society. It was at the house of Madame de Beauharnais that the artist first became acquainted with the rising prodigy of the age, and his intuitive penetration into character immediately determined him to devote himself to Napoleon. Upon Buonaparte's offering to allow him to join the intended expedition to Egypt, M. Denon, although nearly sixty years of age, did not hesitate to accept the proposal, and he accompanied the army as one of the Sçarans. His work upon Egypt, both for the merits of the text and the beauty of the engravings, has justly acquired him the praise of Europe. In this splendid work are evidences of a capacity for profound thought, for acute observation, and ingenious as well as learned elucidations of what was imperfect or obscure his engravings and paintings embrace the most diversified objectsthe relics of antiquity—the grand and imposing features of nature in the deserts and on the Nile and plains of Egypt-the costumes and characters of the Turks and Arabs, and their battles with the French. After so well acquit |