him; and accordingly arrives in the next scene to still the tossing of his wounded spirit, with her meek eyes and enchanting voice. He recognizes her almost immediately, and regains his perfect recollection; and she says

Thy face

Is all at once spread over with a calm

More beautiful than sleep, or mirth, or joy!
I am no more disconsolate. We shall die
Like two glad waves, that, meeting on the sea
In moonlight and in music, melt away
Quietly 'mid the quiet wilderness ! '

p. 147, 148. She then clasps him in her arms; and he says

Thy soft white spotless bosom, like the plumes
Of some compassionate angel, meets my heart!
And all therein is quiet as the snow

At breathless midnight.

A sweet mild voice is echoing far away
In the remotest regions of my soul.
'Tis clearer now-and now again it dies,
And leaves a silence smooth as any sea,

When all the stars of heaven are on its breast.

Magd. We go to sleep, and shall awake with God.
Frank. Sing me one verse of a hymn before I die.

One of those hymns you sang long, long ago

On Sabbath evenings! Sob not so, my Magdalene. p. 149. We pity the reader who does not feel the beauty and the pathos of those simple expressions. He dies in that pure embrace: and she remains entranced upon his bosom. The Priest

says

See her breath just moves

The ringlets on his cheek!-How lovingly

In her last sleep these white and gentle hands

Lie on his neck and breast!-Her soul is parting!' p. 151. She does not die there, however; but is present at his funeral in the concluding scene. She faints at the edge of his grave, and is thus commiserated by the by-standers.

That one small grave-that one dead mariner

That dying Lady-and those wond'rous friends

So calm, so lofty, yet compassionate

Do strike a deeper awe into our souls,

A deeper human grief than yon wide pit.
With its unnumber'd corpses.

Another Voice.

Woe and death

Have made that Angel bright their prey at last!
But yesterday I saw her heavenly face

Becalm a shrieking room with one sweet smile!
For her, old age will tear his hoary locks,

And childhood murmur forth her holy name
Weeping in sorrowful dreams!

Another Voice.

Her soft hand clos'd

My children's eyes,-and when she turn'd to go,
The beauty of her weeping countenance

So sank into my heart, that I beheld
The little corpses with a kind of joy,
Assured by that compassionate Angel's smile
That they had gone to heaven.' p. 162.

She dies at length in blissful resignation, and the scene closes with prayers and benedictions.

We have dwelt so long upon this leading part of the volume before us, that we can afford to give but a short account of the rest. There is another dramatic fragment, entitledThe Convict,' which we think has extraordinary merit.The subject is the conviction and deliverance, at the place of execution, of an innocent country man, upon whom accidental circumstances had fastened irresistible suspicions of murder. The topics may seem low and ignoble, but the interest excited is prodigious, and of a true tragic character,-while the piety of the unhappy victim, the innocent simplicity of his wife and children, and the rustic images belonging to his condition, serve to redeem the horror of the main incidents, and lend a certain elegance and dignity to what might otherwise appear but a dreadful or an edifying story. The great merit of the piece, however, consists in the fine dissection and leisurely display of all the terrible emotions that belong to such an occurrence, and in forcing the reader to contemplate it steadily and fixedly, till all the powerful emotions with which it is pregnant are developed, and find their way to the heart. We have not room now to give any considerable specimens of the way in. which this is executed. But we must add a part of the last One compassionate and distant spectator observes,

scene.

I see the hill-side all alive,
With silent faces gazing steadfastly

On one poor single solitary wretch,

Who views not in the darkness of his trouble

One human face among the many thousands

All staring towards the scaffold! Some are there
Who have driven their carts with his unto the market,
Have shook hands with him meeting at the Fair,

Have in his very cottage been partakers
Of the homely fare which rev'rently he blessed,
Yea! who have seen his face in holier places,
And in the same seat been at worship with him,

Within the House of God. May God forgive them!' p. 283.

The whole process of dreadful preparation, with its effect on the sympathizing crowd, is then described with admirable force of colouring. When all is about to be concluded, the true murderer is accidentally discovered, and dragged to the foot of the scaffold, amidst shouts to stop the execution; at this instant the prisoner's wife, followed by her children, bursts through the crowd, and exclaims,

'Come down-come down-my husband! from the scaffold. -O Christ! art thou alive-or dead with fear!

Let me leap up with one bound to his side,

And strain him to my bosom till our souls

Are mix'd like rushing waters.

Dost hear thy Alice? Come down from the scaffold,
And walk upon the green and flowery earth

With me, thy wife, in everlasting joy!

[She tries to move forward, but falls down in a fainting fit.] One of the crowd. See-see his little daughter! how she tears The covering from his eyes-unbinds the halter

Leaps up to his bosom-and with sobs is kissing

His pale fix'd face. "I am thy daughter-Father!"
But there he stands—as lifeless as a stone-

Nor sees-nor feels-nor hears—his soul seems gone
Upon a dismal travel!

[The PRISONER is led down from the scaffold, with his daughter
held unconsciously in his arms.]

Prisoner. Must this wild dream be all dreamt o'er again! Who put this little Child into my arms?

My wife

Lying dead!-Thy judgments, Heaven! are terrible.

The Clergyman. Look up-this world is shining out once more In welcome to thy soul recalled from death.

The murderer is discovered.

[The prisoner falls on his knees, and his wife, who has recovered, goes and kneels by his side.]

Clergyman. Crowd not so round them-let the glad fresh air Enter into their souls.

Prisoner. Alice! one word!

Let me hear thy voice assuring me of life.

Ah me! that soft cheek brings me by its touch
From the black, dizzy, roaring brink of death,
At once into the heart of happiness!

-Gasping with gratitude! she cannot speak.

Wife. I never shall smile more-but all my days
Walk with still footsteps, and with humble eyes,

An everlasting hymn within my soul

To the great God of Mercy!

Prisoner (starting up). O thou bright angel with that golden hair,

Scattering thy smiles like sunshine through the light,

Art thou my own sweet Daughter! Come, my Child,
Come dancing on into thy Father's soul!

Come with those big tears sparkling on thy cheeks,
And let me drink them with a thousand kisses.

-That laugh hath fill'd the silent world with joy!' p. 287-89. The two most considerable of the other poems are • The Children's Dance,' and The Scholar's Funeral, both written with very considerable elegance, and full of the author's characteristic sweetness and tenderness. The first is not the celebration of a city ball, but of the annual assembly of the infant rustics around Grassmere and its romantic neighbourhood, who meet in a little lowly room, garnished with holly boughs and Christmas roses, to exhibit before their delighted parents their proficiency in the arts taught by the old village dancing-master, the judicious instructor of more than one generation. It begins, • How calm and beautiful the frosty Night

Has stol'n unnotic'd like the hush of sleep

O'er Grassmere vale! Beneath the mellowing light,
How sinks in softness every rugged steep!' p. 171.
Through many a vale how rang each snow-roof'd cot,
This livelong day with rapture blithe and wild!
All thoughts but of the lingering eve forgot,
Both by grave Parent, and light hearted Child,' &c.
All day the earthen floors have felt their feet
Twinkling quick measures to the liquid sound
Of their own small-piped voices shrilly sweet,-
As hand in hand they wheel'd their giddy round.
Ne'er fairy-revels on the greensward mound
To dreaming bard a lovelier show display'd:-
Titania's self did ne'er with lighter bound
Dance o'er the diamonds of the dewy glade,

Than danc'd, at peep of morn, mine own dear mountain-
maid.

Oft in her own small mirror had the gleam,
The soften'd gleam of her rich golden hair,
That o'er her white neck floated in a stream,
Kindled to smiles that Infant's visage fair,
Half-conscious she that beauty glistened there!
Oft had she glanced her restless eyes aside
On silken sash so bright and debonnair,
Then to her mother flown with leaf-like glide,

Who kiss'd her cherub-head with tears of silent pride. '

p. 172, 173.

The description of the whole scene is equally beautiful and touching; but we can afford room for no more than the breaking up and retiring of the party.

• But now the lights are waxing dim and pale,
And shed a fitful gleaming o'er the room;
'Mid the dim hollies one by one they fail,
Another hour, and all is wrapt in gloom.
And lo! without, the cold, bright stars illume
The cloudless air, so beautiful and still,
While proudly placed in her meridian dome

Night's peerless Queen the realms of heaven doth fill
With peace and joy, and smiles on each vast slumbering hill.'
The dance and music cease their blended glee,

p. 185.

And many a wearied infant hangs her head,
Dropping asleep upon her mother's knee,
Worn out with joy, and longing for her bed..
Yet some lament the bliss too quickly fled,' &c.
O'er Loughrig-cliffs I see one party climb,
Whose empty dwellings through the hush'd midnight
Sleep in the shade of Langdale-pikes subline-
Up Dummail-Raise, unmindful of the height,
His daughter in his arms, with footsteps light
The father walks, afraid lest she should wake!
Through lonely Easdale past yon cots so white
On Helm-crag side, their journey others take;
And some to those sweet homes that smile by Rydal lake.'
He too, the Poet of this humble show,

Silent walks homeward through the hour of rest—
While quiet as the depth of spotless snow,
A pensive calm contentment fills his breast!
O wayward man! were he not truly blest!
That Lake so still below-that Sky above!
Unto his heart a sinless Infant prest,

Whose ringlets like the glittering dew-wire move,
Floating and sinking soft amid the breath of love!'

p. 186, 187. The scene of the Scholar's Funeral' is at Oxford; and it commemorates the untimely death of a glorious youth, who sickened and died while pursuing his studies at that seat of learning. It is written throughout with singular elegance and beauty; and has an air of sad reality about it, that assures us of its being drawn from nature. But we can afford no more extracts-and must here close our notice of this interesting volume.

We take our leave of it with unfeigned regret, and very sincere admiration of the author's talents. He has undoubtedly both the heart and the fancy of a poet; and, with these great requisites, is almost sure of attaining the higher honours of his art, if he continue to cultivate it with the docility and diligence of which he has already given proof. Though his