And blows more warmly from the south, to ceptible of being viewed through a poetic | Which, when the east wind sees, he chops. about, medium. If in the following a less attractive topic than the preceding has been selected, it should be remembered that it portrays a natural meteorological phenomenon, by no means infrequent during the warm season, and often attended by singularly striking accompaniments. What is more grateful and reviving than a copious rain on a sultry day in summer! III. The noonday shower, that scarce three hours Drenched the dry streets, is dying now away; Now faintly heard from out the leeward sky red. How freshly now the trees and flowers smell! The air, how golden-misted, pure and loving Yon far off glistening steeple-vanes just O beautiful! O could we but foretell, The appearances presented by the changes of the visible heavens after such a shower as is here attempted to be depicted, frequently form views of the most magnificent character conceivable ; and, combining with the refreshing influences of the purified atmosphere, they are capable of imparting an elevation to the spirits, as well as vigor and elasticity to the animal frame. It is perhaps to be regretted that these influences are not oftener resorted to than they usually are, by the class of persons who may be supposed best able to appreciate the following: IV. I ride, I get high views of things denied That goodly couch, so smooth, so round, so And there a damsel, fresh complexioned, young, With arms more white, more round, more smooth! A sight his reverie broken by the sudden discovery The indignation of the poet on finding that he has taken the wrong 'bus, is finely expressed by the abrupt interruption of the last sentence. Nothing is more vexatious, especially in the night-time, than to neglect the precaution of reading the route usually painted on the outside of these public carriages above the windows, and thereby, after a tedious ride, to find oneself a mile or two further from the point proposed than when the journey began. "O for a retreat in some rural solitude, where there should be no necessity for other means of locomotion than those furnished by the bounty of nature!" has often been the exclamation of individuals, when disquieted by this and kindred annoyances incident to an urban residence. V. O never let my free immortal mind Succumb to care, and take the hue of earth, come Anguish may mark my face, misfortune Lit On famed South Boston Hill. The wind was blowing Freshly and clear, and far the sunset glow- What was it all to him? Black emptiness; Dorchester Heights, of which the hill alluded to in this sonnet is the principal, is where the continental troops, under Washington, threw up a redoubt overlooking Boston, then occupied by the British forces, in a single night. Hence the propriety of the epithet "famed," as applied to this hill; it being annually visited by large numbers of persons who come to see the old fort. It is quite high and airy, and commands an extensive and beautiful prospect, including the city and the harbor, with its picturesque islands-for which reason it has been appropriated to the Asylum for the Blind. This makes it credible that a "blind boy" might have been seen in that particular locality. VI. This world is all a stage, and all the men And women merely players. So says Jaques; Or rather, so great Willy Shakspeare makes Jaques say. "Tis partly true, I grant. But then I seem to hear th' objector speak-" if all That do inhabit this our earthly ball, 66 "I fear you lack the true poetic eye; A metaphor of Shakspeare's is no task For ciphering heads or arguing debatersHas not the world, this year at least, SPECKT TATERS?" This is a mere quibble upon words, that does not answer the real point of the objection. But has not the poet also laid himself open to the imputation of fabricating an objection on purpose to answer it with a quibble? Prima facie, the evidence that he has done so, with most readers, will probably be so strong that a denial would only operate against him. But even admitting that fact as proved by confession, and still the poet is not left altogether inexcusable. For supposing it granted that the objector is a mere man of straw, advancing an idea which could never be seriously entertained by a sane mind, on purpose to have it refuted, he is, we contend, only acting the character in which he usually appears in doctrinal discourses from the pulpit, where he frequently puts forth cavils much more absurd than the one urged in the present instance. It were a pity that poets should not be allowed immunities which are accorded to theologians. VII. There are frail vessels on life's troubled ocean, Light-winged barks, that feel the gentlest breeze The summer sends, and over tranquil seas Skim swiftly with a joyous dancing motion; But when rough weather comes, and winds blow high, And billows blacken, they careen so low They make no headway and to leeward go, While fleets of sluggish sailers pass them by. Luff, now, my hearties," is the Captain's word, "And keep her to the wind. Pass round the can And wait for calmer weather; let the gale Blow out its worst, we'll ride it like a bird; We've many a heavier storm than this out ran, And can lie to when naught will else avail." The advice here given to " pass round the can," is, of course, not intended to be understood in a literal sense, but was designed simply as a poetic figure, to be interpreted by the context. Perhaps the whole thought of the piece might be quite as well, if not better expressed in plain prose, without the introduction of a labored comparison creating a necessity for the phrases of maritime life. It is simply an exhortation to be patient under adversity, and when the mind is oppressed by a weight of calamity, to resolutely feign cheerfulness and turn unwelcome thoughts out of doors. Alas! this sublunary state is full of trouble. Too often does every one find it necessary to reduce these suggestions to practice! in a literal sense, is an ineffectual relief for at least one species of mental anguish. Rum-punch, which is usually compounded of Jamaica spirits and hot water in nearly equal proportions, and rarebits, (vulg. Welch rabbits,) which are slices of bread thickly covered with melted cheese, and eaten with large quantities of mustard, one would suppose a sufficient quietus for the heartache, or any of the thousand shattering knocks that flesh is heir to. But though they are frequently recommended among young gentlemen as anodynes, the writer believes that if proper inquiries were instituted, a sufficient Body of evidence might be procured utterly to disprove the existence of their alleged nepenthean qualities. The "pious tavern" alluded to in the first line is probably the Marlbro' Hotel in Boston. The epithet is by no means used as a term of reproach, but simply by that figure of rhetoric which places the container in lieu of the contained; i. e., the tavern is called pious because it is filled with pious people. Or may we not, without a figure, style that a pious tavern in whose office a large copy of the Lord's Prayer is made to serve as a specimen of chirography, and whose parlors are pervaded with a smell of ancient black broadcloth-the true odor of sanctity? This hotel, the writer is informed, is one of the neatest and best kept in New England. Baked beans (vulg. pork and beans) are administered at all our principal hotels every Sunday, and form, with Indian pudding, the national Yankee repast. "Poor-preaching" must not be taken as a slur upon country clergymen who come into the city to spend the anniversary week every May. That they preach any more poorly than their city brethren is not likely, 1st, because of the absence of affirmative circumstances, and 2dly, because, a priori, it does not appear possible. But they are poor, and they preach; therefore they are properly styled poorpreaching. How infinitely more exalting is the strain of noble resolution in which this is conceived, than the irreverent recklessness which pervades the preceding one! But it is the peculiarity of "this foolish compounded Clay man," that his brain is omniform and omnific. In poetry, he can pass from Blair's Grave to the fables of Gay, and from what is lively to what is severe. Thus do various extremes unite in single individuals; and they who are most sensitive to what is ludicrous, are often the readiest to echo the voice of lamentation. Of buffalo that sound afar like storms And cloud the air; of heats and grateful rains, So much thy pictures charm my fancy's eye, But why introduce them at all into this sonnet? Why mention that particular house, or any house? The poet can only answer that this was written at a very immature age, and he desires it may be considered only the caracoling of youthful genius, before falling into the regular jog-quisite lyric commences is admirably subtrot on the road to excellence. The bold inspiration with which this exdued by the suggestion of awakening re flection. Many an adventurer, now wandering under sickly skies in remote parts of the habitable globe, would give worlds had he only taken the view of his original circumstances indicated in the fine concluding line There is a fine vein of philosophy touched upon in this last couplet, which is eminently calculated to promote habits of carefulness and study in young writers. The late Dr. Aiken, or some other distinguished critic, name not known, has very excellence is very “On th' whole I guess I'm just as well off here." justly observed that " XI. How much that passes current by the name Braving men's pity and her sex's scorn, With reckless front without, within forlorn, Judge not too harshly. Dress she may admire Whose trade it was to make it; for the rest, Thou seest she still is young, and has been fair, Though all is faded but her raven hair— The story of her shame is easy guessed: Young hopeful heart, with hopeless toil contending, Was the beginning of this wretched ending. Oh, what a heaven upon earth this mortal state will be when the whole human race shall have settled down into one vast Fourierite phalanx! When the curse of labor shall have been avoided by the invention of man, and all intelligent existences shall vie with each other in acts of goodness and benevolence! When there shall be no sin-no temptation! Glorious GLORIOUS! But in the mean time we must eat a little somewhat every day; and it is very hard for a man even to be copperless and alone in a great city. Truly it is wonderful that the world takes care of itself so well as it does. rarely obtained in any department of human labor without much persevering study," a maxim which cannot be too frequently or too impressively inculcated upon those who feel a desire to distinguish themselves in the pursuits of literature. The same contemplative spirit which appears in the above will be found to characterize the following little morceau, and perhaps, if the expression may be pardoned, a little more so :— trees, I'd no idea 'twould clear before to-morrow, The reader will not fail to observe the remarkable degree of similarity which obtains between this and the one commencing "Fremont, when I," &c., indicating it to be the production of the same hand. The peculiar turn of mind, an ardent imaginafabric of good sense, is identical in both tion checked rather abruptly by a solid examples. go, No fear that I shall old and merry grow! But while contemplating these melancholy scenes, we should remember not to sorrow as those without hope. For all the evils attendant upon social inequality, there is balm in Gilead-consolation in Fourier! a "good time" is on its way hither, and when it comes we shall have one. The reader's respectful attention is requested, in view of these things, to the quotation which will be found appended to the remarks upon the sonnet next succeeding. Unless the present writer be mistaken in his opinion, this quotation, especially its last sentence, enunciates eternal truth, and is as applicable now as when originally committed to paper. The sentiment expressed in the foregoing can hardly claim the merit of novelty, though the author has been the first, so far as he is aware, to present it in this particular form. In the hundred and name of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., the responsible editor, but has since been generally attributed to Joseph Addison, a gentleman employed in his office : "I could never read any of our modish French authors, or those of our own country, who are the imitators and admirers of that trifling nation, without being for some time out of humor with myself and everything about me. Their business is to depreciate human nature and consider it under its worst appearances. They give mean intepretations and base motives to the worthiest actions: they resolve virtue and vice into constitution. In short, they endeavor to make no distinction between man and man, or between the species of men and that of brutes." XVI. When daylight sinks beneath the western sky, And the harsh din of noisy streets grows still, Then, leaning on my attic window sill, While brightly shines the moon and soft airs I have my deepest thoughts. O, awful deep sigh, Sometimes they are-as deep as Idria's mines, Or deeper than the deepest dipsey lines Or wells Artesian. Yet I hold them cheap, Because I know that I can fish up more. Here's one, an eighty fathom thought at least, I'll sell, or give 't away, no matter which; As thus: "I think (what ne'er was thought before) My happiness in life would be increased The idea that the accession of wealth to an individual, by affording him the means of supplying his physical necessities and surrounding himself with the ordinary comforts of existence, may increase his happiness, is far from being the novelty here apparently supposed. The rudest savage, as he roams the uninhabited wilds of his tion as his quiver is filled with serviceable native deserts, feels more secure in propor for he can then as he wanders arrows; "On Torno's cliffs or Pambamarca's side," eighth paper of the Tatler, an English or by the banks of "wild Oswego," hear periodical which had an extensive circulation in London about a hundred and forty years ago, we find much the same thought very well expressed in prose. The paper alluded to appeared at the time under the without intimidation the "Wolf's long howl on Oonalaska's shore !" Such are some of the advantages attendant upon affluence in the earliest states of society. As we look through the history |