"What sudden change appears to pass, Throughout that fair and festive throng; Warriors and maidens oft repass

That brilliant scene. The bridal song
Is hush'd, and silence, stern and deep,
Like ruin's stillness, seems to sweep
Above the young, who, coy the gay,
Amid the warmth of joy's array.

A shriek of horror breaks at last,
From many a wan and trembling child
Of beauty as the brow o'ercast
With terror, lowers cold and wild,
Above the brightness care defiled.
Whilst many a warrior stands aghast,
As though some strange and distant tale,
Scathing the soul with ruin's blast,
Had o'er the shudd'ring spirit past,
Searing the heart it could not quail :
Some rush towards the chamber, where
The bride retired at close of day,
Fatigued with joy, and rapture's care;
Whilst others, pale and sad, betray
The fear their hopes cannot allay.

And ZENAH was the first who, led
By the attendant bridesmaids, near'd
The chamber, and approached the bed

Where LAIS slept: the moonlight shed
A pale and placid light around-

And not a sigh, and not a sound,

Broke on the calm affection fear'd.

She stirr'd not !-o'er her frame the flood
Of eve-light fell-a horror stole

O'er ZENAH-for he mark'd the blood
Full gushing from her heart;-the soul
Had fled its tomb of mortal clay—
And by her side IANTHE lay

Senseless a dagger from her hand

Fallen-she spoke not-sigh'd not, they
Who saw her, deem'd that life had flown
In passive agony, away—

But one of that pale throng alone,

Felt her heart throb,-and felt the dew
Of the cold lips, o'erheated breath-
As sinking in the arms he threw
Around her, without tear, or groan,

She slept the dreamless sleep of death."

ART. XXXI.-Floreston, or the New Lord of the Manor. Rickerby. THIS is a tale which is intended to represent the "History of a Rural Revolution from Vice and Misery, to Virtue and Happiness;" which revolution is brought about by a new lord of the manor. Prior to this, the district united in its manners and government many evils, or at least features characteristic of English rural corners and parishes. It contained sporting sprigs of nobility and aristocratic bloods, with the hangerson and poaching fraternity which such a school usually fosters. The clergyman was a magistrate; but above all, and what is the object of the Author's bitterest satire and denunciation, the new Poor Law Commissioners had taken the pauper population and indigent labourers of the place into their special keeping by means of a Union; the farmers with their high rents being, as well as their landlords, thus relieved of a nuisance, and a considerable portion of burden and annoyance. But the extravagance,

wrongs, and vice inseparable from a state of things such as now alluded to, are not destined to be perpetual. A change comes over the scene. The lands of his "Lordship," as well as those of his principal local ally, are brought to the hammer, which a gentleman of great opulence, of still greater generosity, humanity, and virtue, purchases. Everything is done by him which schools, example, and patronage can accomplish to enlighten and ameliorate the community around him. Idle and sporting habits are checked; the wages of honest industry are raised to a pitch which we think it could not be within the power of the "New Lord" to establish by any fiat of his, nor otherwise than by an unbounded and increasing recourse to his own pocket; the rents are much reduced; and the poor are brought back from the work- house to be cared for and supported by this modern "Grandison." By these and many other benevolent and

wise measures, he in a few years works out the mighty revolution intimated by the title of the book.

The first observation to be made respecting such a work, and with such a design as the one before us, is, that it is from beginning to end a fiction,— the author's particular, and it may be peculiar opinions and feelings, fashioning facts exactly to suit his own purpose. In the second place, we assert that even in his own Floreston, much less in other localities and rural parishes, we cannot believe that the wondrous revolution described, could have been produced by the means, and within the space of time mentioned. It is, for instance, impossible that there can be, or ought to be many New Lords of Manors, like unto him here pictured. In fact the Author's portraits, sketches, and dialogues are so overstrained, as to take them beyond our power of imaginary realization. At the same time he proclaims with pith many wholesome truths. His reflections are frequently original, as well as happily introduced; while his satire is keen, and tells powerfully. Above all,-and this is an achievement sufficiently great and praiseworthy to establish the fame of the book,-he makes the reader to feel, as well as to understand, that the wrongs of the poor are numerous, oppressive, and misguiding. Even Charity is for the most part insulting.

We have not space for any adequate specimen of the higher or more touching lessons, and must therefore be content to take a sample of the satire, which is the Author's forte. The passage contains an account of an accident which occurred to an "Honourable Member" at a "Division" of the "House."

"There's been two attacks," said Maxey, "and both on 'em's been rayther sudden, and pretty sewere too; 'speciously his Floreston attack, that's just forced him to unharness and go to bed."

"Do tell me what has happened, Maxey."

"Why, Sir," said Maxey, "in the first place, about three weeks ago, his honour's nose happened to get catched in a door of the Hass o' Cummins, as he calls it. But I can't think, for my part, what gentlemen can want to run their noses into such places for; nor did I ever expect that any good should come from so many on 'em all a trying to run through a narrow doorway together, from the first moment I seed 'em a trying it on, to the very night his honour got catched by the smeller. P'r'aps, Sir, you've never been a member of that Westminster stud, and don't understand the rigs they very oftens have to run?"

"No, Maxey; it is well known that I have given up my interest in the county entirely to his honour."

"But you may put up for the county, some day, on your own account; and I'll jist tell you beforehand what representing a county or a borough means, for I must know, 'cause I goes in with his honour's great-coat and have seen 'em all at it. There you shall see a score on 'em'-ay, fourscore, and sometimes more, all in a room together; some a sleep, some at cards, some a larking, some a talking about-but you know, Sir, gentlemen will be gentlemen everywhere-some a eating and some a drinking. Well, Sir, jist in the midst of all this, a man as stands in a entry, and is wide awake to every move in the game as is going on in a bigger room jist by, among the

members as howl, and crow, and bray, and makes speeches, sings out Diwision! Whew; up our party jumps in the twinkling of a horse-block; and down go cigars, chairs, glasses, newspapers, cards, and knives and forks, canes, whips, spectacles, and snuff-boxes; doors slam and boots creak, and Old Nick take hindmost! You have seen tumblers run and leap through a hoop, I s'pose?"

"Many times, Maxey."

"Then it's jist so that I've seen forty counties and as many boroughs, as a body may say, run and leap one a'ter another through a doorway no wider nor a man's body, to give their wotes, when whistled for by their backers and leaders. They darts along a passage with their tails straight out, like the runners for the Darby. Master's foot, you see, Sir, happens to slip; his chair flies up behind him, and he was distanced: and so to make short of a horrible story, bang went the door, and our county, in a manner o' spakin', got catch'd by the nose; and there would have been an end to all our sneezing, though hurricanes of snuff might have come to brush off all the sweepstakes for years to come. But fort'nately Lord Splinn's coat-tails was rent off, and left sticking between the door and door-post: and so our nose was not quite scroug'd all to shivers."

ART. XXXII.-The Nautical Steam Engine explained for the use of Officers of the Navy By COMMANDER R. S. ROBINSON, R. N. London. Saunders and Otley. 1839.

THE use and importance of steam-vessels, should this country ever again be engaged in war, are now foreseen by every nautical man who has turned his attention to the subject. Not only as acting in concert with Ships of war, but singly and independently their services will be most essential. Indeed Commander Robinson asserts, that "whatever of dash, whatever of enterprise, whatever of combined prudence and skill, is to be performed in a future war, will be performed through the agency of Steam. The high road," he continues, "to distinction and fame will be found on the Paddle box of a Steamer." It will no longer do for Sailors to deride these boats, or the skill necessary to the management of them as beneath the spirit and dignity of the naval profession. Lord John Hay has already illustrated on the coast of Spain how much may depend upon the speed, the certainty, and the assurance that are identified with the wonderful application of artificial power to navigation. The munitions of war and fresh troops, to any amount, may be transported from place to place, wherever the ocean in common rolls, with a celerity and a certitude, which we need not describe. There is great hope in this for England to cherish, should she ever be called on to maintain her supremacy upon the high seas, or her rank among nations, considering our present unrivalled improvements of nautical steamers. But the superiority of our steam vessels and our machinery will not avail unless a Commander when stationed upon the Paddle box, and throughout every branch of the manoeuvring of the vessel, knows how to instruct and direct all that are under his charge; for then, it is quite obvious, that our "right arm," and our "strong staff," as Captain Robinson calls it, must go for next to nothing.

It is with the view of communicating to his fellow officers, in a small space, the knowledge and skill referred to, that he has composed and published this little work, which contains, first, such a description of the properties of Steam, and, secondly, of the nature and component parts of the Marine Steam engine, as shall enable any officer to understand, without much loss of time, the principles, names, and natures of the things he has to direct, and for himself carry further out, by reading more elaborate and scientific books, by inspection, and questionings, his studies and knowledge to a greater length. The author makes no pretension to originality, but only to a careful selection and compilation from what others have written before him, he having applied what he has collected to a practical description of the marine engine. The book is what it professes to be, and will be found a good manual and guide in a department which has not previouly been treated in the same manner, but which has become so important to nautical men.

ART. XXXIII.—Popular Treatise on the Kidney. By GEORGE Corfe. London: Renshaw. A VITAL organ of the human constitution is here treated of in a learned and ingenious manner. Mr. Corfe brings science and practical knowledge to bear forcibly upon the anatomy and physiology of the kidney, and furnishes an able summary of the most important treatises and views of which it has been the subject on the part of preceding writers and medical authorities; together with his own opinions and modes of treatment in the case of diseases of the organ. But there is one feature of the work which has particularly struck us on account of its novelty and fancifulness in a professedly medical publication,-viz. a theoretical effort to discover, trace, and explain certain functions, parts, relations, and combinations belonging to the kidney in a spiritual sense, and as if these were mystical types of religious doctrine, —that is, of the religious creed which the author has adopted. We think the attempt is in every way objectionable; and that even had it been more sedately managed than we find it to have been, recurrence to far plainer and fuller sources of spiritual instruction ought to be recommended greatly in preference.

ART. XXXIV.-A Reply to the Rev. Sidney Smith's Third Letter to Archdeacon Singleton, in a Letter to the Venerable Archdeacon Wetherell. By the REV. A. SAYERS. London: Whittaker.

MR. SAYERS' wit is not so keen, his hand not so pliable, his taste not so fine as Sidney Smith's. Still he is a willing and not unskilled antagonist. He has also, we think, the best of the argument.

ART. XXXV.—The Religion of Jesus Christ defended from the Assaults of Owenism. By J. R. Reid; in nine Lectures. Simpkin.

A FAR less able defence than is here offered, would at any time be a sufficient answer to Owenism.