"One stern tyrannic thought, that made All other thoughts its slave; Stronger and stronger every pulse Did that temptation crave,- "Heavily I rose up, as soon And I saw the Dead in the river-bed, "Merrily rose the lark, and shook For I was stooping once again Under the horrid thing. "With breathless speed, like a soul in chace, I took him up and ran ; There was no time to dig a grave Before the day began; In a lonesome wood, with heaps of leaves, I hid the murder'd man! "And all that day I read in school, And a mighty wind had swept the leaves, "Then down I cast me on my face, And first began to weep; For I knew my secret then was one "So wills the fierce avenging Sprite, "Oh, God! that horrid, horrid dream And my red right hand grows raging hot, "And still no peace for the restless clay, The horrid thing pursues my soul,- That very night, while gentle sleep Two stern-faced men set out from Lynn, THE DEATH-BED. We watch'd her breathing through the night, Her breathing soft and low, As in her breast the wave of life Kept heaving to and fro. So silently we seem'd to speak, So slowly moved about, As we had lent her half our powers Our very hopes belied our fears, We thought her dying when she slept, For when the morn came dim and sad, Her quiet eyelids clos'd-she had ROBERT POLLOK. (1799-1827.) THE author of "The Course of Time" adds one more to the list of minds too early quenched by the very ardour of their pursuit of greatness. He was born at Muirhouse, in the parish of Eaglesham, in Renfrewshire. Destined for the dissenting Presbyterian ministry of Scotland, he passed with reputation through his curriculum of study. But the severity of his application induced consumption, which cut off the young poet at the age of twentyseven; he died in the south of England, to which he had been removed for the recovery of his health, shortly after his license to the ministry and the publication of his great poem. Among the dissenting population of Scotland, "The Course of Time" is extolled as rivalling the sublimity of Milton; it has gone through many editions. Its plan is original; the history of the world is supposed to have been wound up, and young angels in heaven inquire of an "Ancient Bard of earth" its eventful history. The Bard proceeds to relate the destinies of mankind till the judgment sealed up their story. The poem is pregnant with spiritual hope, but overshadowed by gloomy views of merely human objects and pursuits. The style is often turgid, without the epigrammatic vividness of Young. As the production of a youth, "The Course of Time" must rank among the most wonderful efforts of genius. (6 LIBERTY. True Liberty was Christian, sanctified, The graces, meekness, holiness, and love! Giving to God, and man, and all below, That symptom showed of sensible existence, Their due, unasked; fear to whom fear was due; To all, respect, benevolence, and love: Companion of religion! where she came, There freedom came; where dwelt, there freedom dwelt; Ruled where she ruled, expired where she expired. "He was the freeman whom the truth made free;" Who, first of all, the bands of Satan broke ; Who broke the bands of sin; and for his soul, Who heard temptation sing, and yet turned not And yet would not go up; felt at his heart The sword unsheathed, yet would not sell the truth; Who blushed alike to be, or have a slave; Who blushed at nought but sin, feared nought but God; Of soul, 'midst want, or riches, or disgrace, Of stormy folly breaking at his feet, Now shrill with praise, now hoarse with foul reproach, Alone,-The approbation of his God, Which still with conscience witnessed to his peace. This, this is freedom, such as angels use, And kindred to the liberty of God. First born of virtue! daughter of the skies! The man, the state, in whom she ruled, was free; THE GENIUS OF BYRON. He touched his harp, and nations heard, entranced. Rapid, exhaustless, deep, his numbers flowed, 1 Byron appeared as Scott's poetical reputation declined. 483 SHERIDAN KNOWLES. Then turned, and with the grasshopper, who sung Suns, moons, and stars, and clouds, his sisters were; And seemed to mock the ruin he had wrought. Of Fame's dread mountain sat; not soiled and worn, But, as some bird of heavenly plumage fair, He looked, which down from higher regions came, JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES. MR KNOWLES is a dramatic writer who has attempted to revive the style of the age of Elizabeth and James I. In the effort he occasionally degenerates into bombast, sometimes into littleness; but his writings abound with admirable scenic pictures, and frequently rise into impassioned poetry. His dramas consist of tragedies, and of that semi-comedy denoted by the term "play." His plots and characters are generally interesting and truthage." The ful, though the reader often feels painfully the imitation of an " See the extracts from Byron, p. 451, supra. Pollok seems to have deeply admired the literature of Byron's poetry; indeed, there is considerable resemblance between the idea of the "Course of Time" and that of "Childe Harold." Both are views of conspicuous points in the world's history. 2 Mr Knowles has perhaps injured his genius by sometimes writing with a view to the This is said with the utmost deference to Mr Macrepresentation of a particular actor. ready's genius; but imagination, which "bodies forth the forms of things that are not," must be stinted in her flight by a process which reverses the order of the two departments of the drainatic art. |