When winter torrents, by the rain and snow,
Surlily dashing down the hills, were fed,
Its mighty mass of waters seem'd to flow
With deafening course precipitous: its bed
Rocky, such steep declivities did show

That towards us with a rapid course it sped,
Broken by frequent falls; thus did it roam
In whirlpools eddying, and convulsed with foam.
Flank'd were its banks with perpendicular rocks,
Whose scars enormous, sometimes gray and bare,
And sometimes clad with ash and gnarled oaks,
The birch, the hazel, pine, and holly were.
Their tawny leaves, the sport of winters' shocks,
Oft o'er its channel circled in the air;
While, on their tops, and midway up them, seen,
Lower'd cone-like firs and yews in gloomiest green.

So many voices from this river came

In summer, winter, autumn, or the spring; So many sounds accordant to each frame

Of Nature's aspect, (whether the storm's wing
Brooded on it, or pantingly, and tame,

The low breeze crisp'd its waters) that, to sing
Half of their tones, impossible! or tell
The listener's feelings from their viewless spell.

When fires gleam'd bright, and when the curtain'd room,
Well stock'd with books and music's implements,
When children's faces, dress'd in all the bloom
Of innocent enjoyments, deep content's
Deepest delight inspired; when nature's gloom
To the domesticated heart presents
(By consummate tranquillity possest)

Contrast, that might have stirr'd the dullest breast;

Yes, in such hour as that-thy voice I've known,
Oh, hallow'd stream-fitly so named-(since tones
Of deepest melancholy swell'd upon

The breeze that bore it)-fearful as the groans
Of fierce night spirits! Yes, when tapers shone.
Athwart the room (when, from their skyey thrones
Of ice-piled height abrupt, rush'd rudely forth,
Riding the blast, the tempests of the North ;)

Thy voice I've known to wake a dream of wonder!
For though 'twas loud, and wild with turbulence,
And absolute as is the deep-voiced thunder,
Such fine gradations mark'd its difference

Of audibility, one scarce could sunder

Its gradual swellings from the influence

Of harp Æolian, when, upon the breeze,
Floats in a stream its plaintive harmonics.

One might have thought, that spirits of the air
Warbled amid it in an undersong;

exhibits the same great intellectual power and ceaseless activity of thought, which characterize the Thoughts in London. Mr. Lloyd has taken the common incident of one lover resigning his mistress to another, and the names of his chief characters from Boccaccio, but, in all other respects, the poem is original. Its chief peculiarity is the manner in which it reasons upon all the emotions which it portrays, especially on the progress of love in the soul, with infinite nicety of discrimination, not unlike that which Shakspeare has manifested in his amatory poems. He accounts for the finest shade of feeling, and analyzes its essence, with the same care, as though he were demonstrating a proposition of Euclid. He is as minute in his delineation of all the variations of the heart, as Richardson was in his narratives of matters of fact;-and, like him, thus throws such an air of truth over his statements, that we can scarcely avoid receiving them as authentic history. At the same time, he conducts this process with so delicate a hand, and touches his subjects with so deep a reverence for humanity, that he teaches us to love our nature the more from his masterly dissection. By way of example of these remarks, we will give part of the scene between a lover who long has secretly been agitated by a passion for the betrothed mistress of his friend, and the object of his silent affection whom he has just rescued from a watery grave-though it is not perhaps the most beautiful passage of the poem:

He is on land; on safe land is he come:

Sophronia's head he pillows on a stone:

A death-like paleness hath usurp'd her bloom;
Her head falls lapsing on his shoulder. None
Were there to give him aid! He fears her doom
Is seal'd for evermore! At last a groan
Burst from her livid lips, and then the word
"Titus" he heard, or fancied that he heard!-

Where was he then 1 From death to life restored!
From hell to heaven! To rapture from despair!
His hand he now lays on that breast adored;
And now her pulse he feels; and now-(beware,
Beware, rash youth!) his lips draw in a hoard
Of perfume from her lips, which though they were
Still closed, yet oft the inarticulate sigh,

And oft one might have thought, that shrieks were there Issuing from thence, he drank with ecstasy.

Of spirits, driven for chastisement along

The invisible regions that above earth are.
All species seem'd of intonation (strong
To bind the soul, Imagination rouse,)
Conjured from preternatural prison-house.

But when the heavens are blue, and summer skies
Are pictured in thy wave's cerulean glances;
Then thy crisp stream its course so gayly plies,
Trips on so merrily in endless dances,
Such low sweet tone, fit for the time, does rise
From thy swift course, methinks, that it enhances
The hue of flowers which decorate thy banks,
While each one's freshness seems to pay thee thanks.
Solemn the mountains that the horizon close,

From whose drear verge thou seem'st to issue forth:
Sorcery might fitly dwell, one could suppose,

(Or any wondrous spell of heaven or earth,
Which e'en to name man's utterance not knows,)
Amid the forms that mark thy place of birth.
Thither direct your eye, and you will find
All that excites the imaginative mind!

Still were they cold; her hands were also cold;
Those hands he chafed and, perhaps to restore
To her chill, paly lips their warmth, so bold
He grew, he kiss'd those pale lips o'er and o'er.
Nay, to revive in their most perfect mould

Their wonted rubeous hue, he dared do more;-
He glued his mouth to them, and breathed his breath
To die with her, or rescue her from death.-

Thou art undone, mad youth! The fire of love
Burn'd so intensely in his throbbing veins,
That, had she been a statue, he might prove
A new Pygmalion, and the icy chains
Of death defy. Well then might he remove
The torpor which her o'er-wrought frame sustains.—
If sweet, revival from such menaced death;
More sweet, revival by a lover's breath!

She feels the delicate influence through her thrift,
And with seal'd eye lay in a giddy trance,
Scarce dare sbe open them, when had her will
On this been bent, she felt the power to glance

The tale of Titus and Gisippus, which fol-Their lights on him. No, with a lingering skil— lows, while it is very interesting as a story,

Oh, blame her not!—she did awhile enhance

MR. OLDAKER ON MODERN IMPROVEMENTS.

[NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.]

pect as when, in my boyish days, I felt my chuckling over the fall of a brother into a trap heart beating with a strange feeling of mingled set artfully for him in the fair guise of liberal pride and reverence on becoming one of its pleading-now whispering a joy past joy in a members. The fountain yet plays among the stumble of the Lord Chief Justice himself, old trees, which used to gladden my eye in among the filmy cords drawn about his path! spring for a few days with their tender green, When the first bottle was despatched, arrived to become so prematurely desolate. But the the time for his wary host to produce his front of the Inner Temple hall, upon the papers in succession, to be drawn or settled terrace, is sadly altered for the worse. When by the joyous pleader. The well-lauded inspiI first knew it, the noble solidity of its appear-ration of a poet is not more genuine than that ance, especially of the figure over the gateway, with which he then was gifted. All his nice cut massively in the stone, carried the mind discernment-all his vast memory-all his back into the deep antiquity of the scene. skill in drawing analogies and discerning prinNow the whole building is white-washed and ciples in the "great obscurity" of the Year plastered over, the majestic entrance supplied Books-were set in rapid and unerring action. by an arch of pseudo-gothic, and a new library On he went-covering page after page, his pen added, at vast cost, in the worst taste of them giddy mazes running," and his mind modern antique. The view from the garden growing subtler and more acute with every is spoiled by that splendid nuisance, the Water- glass. How dextrously did he then glide loo Bridge. Formerly we used to enjoy the through all the strange windings of the case, enormous bend of the river, far fairer than the with a sagacity which never failed, while he most marvellous work of art; and while our eyes garnished his discourse with many a legal dwelt on the placid mirror of water, our imagi-pun and learned conceit, which was as the nation went over it, through calm and majestic light bubble on the deep stream of his knowwindings, into sweet rural scenes, and far in-ledge! He is gone!-and I find none to reland bowers. Now the river appears only an oblong lake, and the feeling of the country once let into the town by that glorious avenue of crystal, is shut out by a noble piece of mere human workmanship! But nature never changes, and some of her humble works are In the greater world, I have observed, with ever found to renew old feelings within us, not-sorrow, a prevailing disregard of the past, and withstanding the sportive changes of mortal a desire to extol the present, or to expatiate in fancy. The short grass of the Temple garden is visionary prospects of the future. I fear this the same as when forty years ago I was accus-may be traced not so much to philanthropy as tomed to refresh my weary eyes with its green- to self-love, which inspires men with the wish ness. There I have strolled again; and while I personally to distinguish themselves as the bent my head downwards and fixed my eyes teachers and benefactors of their species, inon the thin blades and the soft daisies, I felt as stead of resting contented to share in the vast I had felt when last I walked there-all be-stock of recollections and sympathies which tween was as nothing, or a feverish dreamand I once more dreamed of the Seals, and of the living Sophia!-I felt-but I dare not trust myself on this subject farther.

semble him in this generation-none who thus can put a spirit into their work, which may make cobweb-sophistries look golden, and change a laborious life into one long holiday!

is common to all. They would fain persuade us that mankind, created a little lower than the angels," is now for the first time "crowned with glory and honour;" and they exultingly The profession of the law is strangely altered point to institutions of yesterday for the means since the days of my youth. It was then surely to regenerate the earth. Some, for example, more liberal, as well as more rationai, than 1 pronounce the great mass of the people, through now find it. The business and pleasure of all ages, as scarcely elevated above the brutes lawyer were not entirely separated, as at pre-which perish, because the arts of reading, sent, when the first is mere toil, and the second lighter than vanity. The old stout-hearted pleaders threw a jovial life into their tremendous drudgeries, which almost rendered them delightful. Wine did but open to them the most curious intricacies of their art: they rose from it, like giants refreshed, to grapple with the sternest difficulties, and rejoiced in the encounter. Their powers caught a glow in the severity of the struggle, almost like that arising from strong exertion of the bodily frame. Nor did they disdain to enjoy the quaint jest, the far-fetched allusion, or the antique fancy, which sometimes craftily peeped out on them amidst their laborious researches. Poor TW. was one of the last of the race. He was the heartiest and most romantic of special pleaders. Thrice happy was the attorney who could engage him to a steak or broiled fowl in the old coffee room in Fleet-street, were I have often met him. How would he then dilate, in the warmth of his heart, on all his professional triumphs-now

wring, and arithmetic, were not commonly diffused among them; and on the diffusion of these they ground their predictions of a golden" age. And were there then no virtuous hardihood, no guileless innocence, no affections stronger than the grave, in that mighty lapse of years which we contemptuously stigmatize as dark! Are disinterested patriotism, con-jugal love, open-handed hospitality, meek selfsacrifice, and chivalrous contempt of danger and of death, modern inventions? Has man'sgreat birth-right been in abeyance even until now? Oh, no! The Chaldæan shepherd did not cast his quiet gaze through weeks and years in vain to the silent skies. He knew not, indeed, the discoveries of science, which have substituted an immense variety of figures on space and distance, for the sweet influences of the stars; yet did the heavens tell to him the glory of God, and angel faces smile on him from the golden clouds. Book-learning is, perhaps, the least part of the education of

the species. Nature is the mightiest and the such a change as shall make the printed Bible kindliest of teachers. The rocks and unchang-alone the means of regenerating the species. ing hills give to the heart the sense of a dura- An age of Bibles" may not be an age of tion beyond that of the perishable body. The Christian charity and hope. The word of God flowing stream images to the soul an everlast-may not be revered the more by becoming a ing continuity of tranquil existence. "The common book in every coltage, and a drug in brave o'er-hanging firmament," even to the the shop of every pawnbroker. It was surely most rugged swain, imparts some conscious-neither known nor revered the less when it ness of the universal brotherhood of those over was a rare treasure, when it was proscribed whom it hangs. The affections ask no leave by those who sat in high places, and its torn of the understanding to "glow and spread and leaves and fragments were cherished even kindle," to shoot through all the frame a tre- unto death. In those days, when a single mulous joy, or animate to holiest constancy.copy chained to the desk of the church was We taste the dearest blessedness of earth in alone in extensive parishes, did it diffuse less our childhood, before we have learned to ex- sweetness through rustic hearts than now, press it in mortal language. Life has its uni- when the poor are almost compelled to possess versal lessons far beyond human lore. Kind-it? How then did the villagers flock from disness is as cheering, sorrow as purifying, and tant farms, cheered in their long walks by the aspect of death as softening to the ignorant thoughts not of this world, to converse for a in this world's wisdom, as to the scholar. The short hour with patriarchs, saints, and apostles! purest delights grow beneath our feet, and all How did they devour the venerable and wellwho will stoop may gather them. While sages worn page with tearful eyes, or listen delighted lose the idea of the Universal Parent in their to the voice of one gifted above his fellows, subtleties, the lowly "FEEL after Him and find who read aloud the oracles of celestial wisdom! Him." Sentiment precedes reason in point of What ideas of the Bible must they have entime, and is a surer guide to the noblest reali-joyed, who came many a joyful pilgrimage to ties. Thus man hopes, loves, reveres, and en- hear or to read it! Yet even more precious was joys, without the aid of writing or of the press the enjoyment of those who, in times of perseto inspire or direct him. Many of his feelings cution, snatched glances in secret at its pages, are even heartier and more genuine before he and thus entered, as by stealth, into the parahas learned to describe them. He does not disiacal region, to gather immortal fruits and perpetually mistake words for things, nor cul- listen to angel voices. The word of God was tivate his faculties and affections for a dis- dearer to them than house, land, or the "ruddy cerning public. His aspirations "are raised, drops which warmed their hearts." Instead of not marked." If he is gifted with divine ima- the lamentable weariness and disgust with gination, he may walk in glory and in joy which the young now too often turn from the beside his plough upon the mountain side," perusal of the Scriptures, they heard with mute without the chilling idea that he must make attention and serious joy the histories of the Old the most of his sensations to secure the ap-Testament and the parables of the New. They plause of gay saloons or crowded theatres.heard with revering sympathy of Abraham reThe deepest impressions are worn out by the ceiving seraphs unawares-of Isaac walking multiplication of their copies. Talking has out at eventide to meditate, and meeting the almost usurped the place of acting and of feel-holy partner of his days-of Jacob's dream, and ing; and the world of authors seem as though of that immortal Syrian Shepherdess, for whose their hearts were but paper scrolls, and ink, instead of blood, were flowing in their veins. "The great events with which old story rings, seem vain and hollow." If all these evils will not be extended by what is falsely termed the Education of the Poor, let us at least be on our guard lest we transform our peasantry from men into critics, teach them scorn instead of humble hope, and leave them nothing to love, to revere, or to enjoy!

love he served a hard master fourteen years, which seemed to him but a few days-of Joseph the beloved, the exile, the tempted, and the forgiver-of all the wonders of the Jewish story-and of the character and sufferings of the Messiah. These things were to them at once august realities, and surrounded with a dream-like glory from afar. "Heaven lay about them in their infancy." They preserved the purity-the spirit of meek submission-the The Bible Society, founded and supported, patient confiding love of their childhood in no doubt, from the noblest motives, also puts their maturest years. They, in their turn, inforth pretensions which are sickening. Its ad-stilled the sweetness of Christian charity, drop vocates frequently represent it as destined to by drop, into the hearts of their offspring, and change all earth into a paradise. That a com-left their example as a deathless legacy. plete triumph of the principles of the Bible Surely this was better than the dignified pawould bring in the happy state which they look tronage now courted for the Scriptures, or the for can never be disputed; but the history of pompous eulogies pronounced on them by our religion affords no ground for anticipating rival orators! The reports of anniversaries such a result from the unaided perusal of its of the Bible Society are often, to me, inexprespages. Deep and extensive impressions of the sibly nauseous. The word of God is praised truths of the gospel have never been made by in the style of eulogy employed on a common mere reading, but always by the exertions of book by a friendly reviewer. It is evidently living enthusiasm in the holy cause. Provi- used as a theme to declaim on. But the praise dence may, indeed, in its inscrutable wisdom, of the Bible is almost overshadowed by the impart new energy to particular instruments; flatteries lavished on the nobleman or county but there appears no sufficient indication of member who has condescended to preside, and