sert it, and, admiring it greatly, yet do not think that Psyche has reason to dread the comparison.

And hither Morpheus sent his kindest dreams,
Raising a world of gayer tinct and grace,
O'er which were shadowy cast Elysian gleams,
That play'd, in waving lights, from place to place,
And shed a roseate smile on Nature's face.
Not Titian's pencil e'er could so array,

So fleece with clouds the pure ethereal space;
Nor could it e'er such melting forms display,
As loose on flowery beds all languishingly lay.
No, fair illusions! artful phantoms, no!
My muse will not attempt your fairy-land:
She has no colours that like you can glow;
To catch your vivid scenes, too gross her hand.'-

Castle of Indolence, Canto I.

We will add, from Psyche, yet one other extract, as a specimen of the manner in which, consonantly to the ideas thrown out in the former part of this article, Mrs. Tighe fills the interstices of her story with contemplative effusions suggested to her mind by her subject. It should be premised, however, that much less than justice is done to such a passage by exhibiting it in a detached state. Neither the pertinence, nor the full effect of a digression can be appreciated by any but those who arrive at it in the course of a progressive perusal of the entire piece.

'When vexed by cares and harassed by distress,
The storms of fortune chill thy soul with dread,
Let Love, consoling Love! still sweetly bless,
And his assuasive balm benignly shed:
His downy plumage o'er thy pillow spread
Shall lull thy weeping sorrows to repose;
To Love the tender heart hath ever fled,
As on its mother's breast the infant throws
Its sobbing face, and there in sleep forget its woes.
Oh! fondly cherish then the lovely plant,
Which lenient Heaven hath given thy pains to ease;
Its lustre shall thy summer hours enchant,

And load with fragrance every prosperous breeze :

And when rude winter shall thy roses seize,

When nought through all thy bowers but thorns remain,

This still with undeciduous charms shall please,

Screen from the blast and shelter from the rain,

And still with verdure cheer the desolated plain.'-pp. 180, 181. To Psyche are added, in the volume before us, a number of minor poems, not intended by the author for publication. They are of various merit; but mostly bear marks of haste or carelessness. Some

HH 2

of

of these, however, did not our limits warn us against proceeding, we should be happy to transcribe; and as to one, we cannot refuse ourselves that satisfaction. It was the last production of the author, penned only three months before her death, and under the How much pressure of an illness plainly prophetic of the worst.

of the interest, which it seems calculated to excite, must be ascribed to the circumstances amidst which it was composed, we are not able, and not very willing, to determine; but, most assuredly, the reader to whose bosom it conveys no emotion, is incompetent to feel the true charm of poetry. We have only to add, that the twelve last lines, being of very inferior execution to the rest, we shall take the liberty to omit.

ON RECEIVING A BRANCH OF MEZEREON, WHICH FLOWERED AT WOODSTOCK, DECEMBER, 1809.

"Odours of Spring, my sense ye charm
With fragrance premature;

And, 'mid these days of dark alarm,
Almost to hope allure.

Methinks with purpose soft ye come
To tell of brighter hours,

Of May's blue skies, abundant bloom,
The sunny gales and showers.

'Alas! for me shall May in vain

The powers of life restore;
These

and watch in pain
that weep
eyes

Shall see her charms no more.

No, no, this anguish cannot last !
Beloved friends, adieu!

The bitterness of death were past,

Could I resign but you.
'But oh! in every mortal pang

That rends my soul from life,
That soul, which seems on you to hang
Through each convulsive strife,
Even now, with agonizing grasp
Of terror and regret,

To all in life its love would clasp
Clings close and closer yet.

'Yet why, immortal, vital spark!

Thus mortally opprest?

Look up, my soul, through prospects dark,

And bid thy terrors rest;

Forget, forego thy earthly part,

Thine heavenly being trust:

Ah, vain attempt! my coward heart
Still shuddering clings to dust.

Oh

Oh ye! who sooth the pangs of death
With love's own patient care,

Still, still retain this fleeting breath,

Still pour the fervent prayer.'-pp. 307-309.

We shall close our strictures with an interesting advertisement which the editor has subjoined to this melancholy and striking poem.

The concluding poem of this collection was the last ever composed by the author, who expired at the place where it was written, after six years of protracted malady, on the 24th of March, 1810, in the thirtyseventh year of her age. Her fears of death were perfectly removed before she quitted this scene of trial and suffering; and her spirit departed to a better state of existence, confiding with heavenly joy in the acceptance and love of her Redeemer.'-p. 311.

ART. XII. A Narrative of a Voyage to Surinam; of a Residence there during 1805, 1806, and 1807; and of the Author's Return to Europe, by the way of North America. By Baron Albert von Sack, Chamberlain to his Prussian Majesty. 4to. London. 1810.

THE highly embellished and fanciful frontispiece, with which the Baron Albert von Sack, Chamberlain to his Prussian Majesty, has thought it becoming to adorn the present publication, first drew our attention to it. Negroes, Indians, tropic-birds, flying-fish, dolphins, sugar canes, coffee trees, cotton plants, bananas, pine-apples, water-melons, &c. &c. formed an assemblage altogether irresistible. This happy thought of bringing under our eyes, at one glance, the most remarkable productions of a tropical climate, in some measure encouraged the conclusion, that the Baron had been equally ingenious in the literary arrangement of his volume: we saw, indeed, that the bulk was not very considerable, the type large, and the margin wide; but we still flattered ourselves that, in this small compass, much valuable matter might be contained. We opened the book, therefore, with the most pleasing expectations.

Seventeen letters, and an appendix, compose the work before us, of which twelve only relate immediately to Surinam. It appears, that these letters were originally written in the German language, and that it was the intention of the author to introduce them to the public through the medium of the German press; but the disturbed

HH 3

disturbed state of the continent opposing considerable obstacles to his return to his native country, he was persuaded to lose no time in unburthening himself of the mass of information which he had collected, and to submit, without hesitation, his valuable lucubrations to the judgment of a British public. The wish to improve himself in the English language, and the tædium attendant upon a long confinement to his chamber, induced the Baron to undertake the translation himself; when finished, it was submitted to the revisal of a literary friend, and at length presented to the world in the form which it now wears.

All this is told us in the preface; where we also learn, that'the principal object in the publication of these letters is to show, by facts, that the climate of Surinam is not so unhealthy as it has been generally thought and represented in Europe.' But we are very much inclined to doubt the correctness of the assertion, that this was the principal object; more especially as the facts, which the Baron has adduced, by no means bear him out in his conclusions with respect to the healthiness of the colony. We rather suspect that the principal object of the publication of these letters, may be gathered from the following passages:

The abolition of the Slave Trade has been determined upon by the Parliament of Great Britain: if it should hereafter be found, upon a fair trial, that the Africans themselves do not reap such advantages from it, as were at first expected, and if at the same time experience should shew, that the colonies are not yet come to such a state, as to do without new recruits of labourers, perhaps the same legislature may be willing to institute some other regulations for the colonial supply and benefit.— (Preface, p. 4.)

And again:

'Benevolence operating at a great distance from the scene of observation naturally prompts the measures most congenial to its feelings; and to enforce their immediate adoption, either represents evils, which do not exist, or are much exaggerated; and suggests schemes of improvement, which the present condition of the colonies renders difficult for a speedy, and at the same time beneficial improvement.'-(Preface, p. 4.)

Should we, however, be disposed to give full credit to the Baron's assertion, that he was actuated solely by the desire of rescuing the colony of Surinam from the bad reputation attached to its climate; at least we may be allowed to suspect that the esteemed friends, who so earnestly recommended the publication, were influenced by motives widely different. In these letters they must have seen, as we do, a cautious, but upon that account not the less determined,

attack

attack upon the policy of the late acts of the legislature with respect to the abolition of the slave-trade. Hostility to these measures is, indeed, the principal feature in the work; and this, coming from a quarter apparently uninfluenced by any interested motive, presented. to us as the result of the personal investigation of an unprejudiced observer, was probably conceived more likely to produce effect, than if it had assumed a more questionable shape. But we shall enter upon this subject hereafter: at present we must turn our attention more immediately to the Baron himself, and pursue our remarks upon his epistles in the same regular series in which he has given them to the public.

In the first letter, the Chamberlain of his Prussian Majesty opens upon us in the interesting character of an invalid residing in the island of Madeira for the recovery of his health. A dread of the cold winds of February and March, which are there particularly keen and piercing, induces him to turn his thoughts towards a warmer climate, and after some little hesitation as to the country to be preferred, we find him (we confess rather unexpectedly) fixing upon Surinam, a country, that (whatever attractions it may offer to the commercial speculator) has never been supposed to possess many allurements for the valetudinarian. The Baron, however, was not of this opinion: having derived little benefit from the celebrated climate of Madeira, he was determined to try the more powerful influence of a tropical sun. At the same time he confesses, that other motives tended to influence him in his determination, and these he promises to relate to his friend upon a future occasion, (page 2.) We must, however, rest satisfied with the general plea of health, for the Baron never offers any farther elucidation of these mysterious motives either to his friend, or to the public.

On the 25th of January, 1805, our author sails from Funchal in the Jason of 300 tons, commanded by Captain Martin. Gentle breezes, and a cloudless sky are the constant attendants upon his voyage. At length, on the 19th of February, the low land of Guiana appears in sight, its immense forests apparently floating on the ocean. We are not, however, to suppose, that these three weeks are lost to the Baron, nor that he passes over, thus lightly, the circumstances of his voyage: very far from it. Reclined upon the deck of the Jason, he indulges in all the reveries of a German imagination, and these he recapitulates to his friend in a strain of benevolence, equally amiable and entertaining. Is a dolphin seen? the Baron immediately informs his friend, that it now remains only a matter of conjecture, why the ancients attributed to this fish the power and the will of rescuing the human species from a watery grave: but he hazards a perhaps upon the subject, which is too characteristic

H H 4