The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-21 00:00:00

692

and always chosen with a strict regard to the
nature of the theme, Mr. Ainsworth achieves an
ease and freedom of versification and expres-
sion which have seldom been surpassed. A
third especial trait is novelty of matter. It
seems to be the peculiar province of the writer
to impart a vivid and picturesque interest to
scenes and incidents rarely visited by the in-
spirations of poetry, and to discover elements of
beauty in places where they are not generally
supposed to reside. Few of the hacknied
topics upon which the lyrical spirit is wont to
exhaust its enthusiasm are to be found here;
and when we are carried by the force of occasion
into any of the beaten tracks, the path is sure
to be strewn with unexpected flowers. In this
age of verse-making these qualities are suffi-
ciently uncommon to confer a distinctive cha-
racter on the volume.

The majority of these pieces, we believe,
are extracted from Mr. Ainsworth's published
romances, and having been written, like songs
in operas, to respond to particular dramatic
situations, they are here submitted to a severe
test by being taken out of their setting. Yet
there can be no doubt that they take a
stronger hold of the imagination as indepen-
dent compositions than as part and parcel of
a narrative. They are better than we ex•
pected to find them ; they tell their story in a
poetical spirit, which the literal accessories
and surrounding action of the romance con-
tributed somewhat to lower; and, like birds
liberated from a cage, they seem to sing higher
up in the air, and with a fuller throat. It is
favorable to their suggestive tendency that we
should know nothing of what went before, and
that our attention should not be divided by
any anticipations of what is to follow. They
have a clear audience to themselves; and
whenever we fancy there is something want-
ing to fill up the design, it helps to pique
rather than to disappoint curiosity.

But it is time to let the reader taste these
ballads and songs, and judge for himself.
Some of the characteristics we have alluded to
will be found in the following verses :

THE CARRION CROW.

The Carrion Crow is a sexton bold,
He raketh the dead from out of the mould;
He delveth the ground like a miser old,
Stealthily hiding his store of gold.
The Carrion Crow bath a coat of black,
Silky and sleek like a priest's to his back ;
Like a lawyer he grubbeth—no matter what way—
The fouler the offal, the richer his prey.
Caw 1 caw / the Carrion Crow !
Dig! dig! in the ground below.
11.
The Carrion Crow hath a dainty maw,
With savoury pickings he crammeth his craw ;
Kept meat from the gibbet it pleaseth his whim,
It never can hang too long for him !

Caw ! Caw !

Caw! Caw!

The Carrion Crow amelleth powder, 'tie said,
Like A soldier eseheweth the taste of cold lead;
No jester or mime hath mote marvellous wit,
For, wherever he lighteth, he maketh a hit !
Caw ! caw ! the Carrion Crow !
Dig! dig in the ground below.
If it be one of the chief means of success in
a lay of this kind to bring together a collec-
tion of figures that centralise in the one
figure it is the object of the composition to
exhibit in a kind of focal light, this little piece
must be admitted to be quite successful. Nor
is it a merit to be overlooked that the mea-
sure, language, and refrain help materially to
concentrate the effect.

Of a different kind is the drinking-song,
"My Old Complaint," which we formerly
quoted in our notice of " The Flitch of Dun-
mow." It has a man in it, whose nature and
habits are not to be mistaken It is not a
piece of affected jollity put together skilfully
like a house built of cards, but a substantial
reality. The verses are not mere adroit praises
of liquor—they are perfectly in earnest, almost
to gravity ; and there is not only a ruling sen-
timent running through them, but a face
looking out of them, and a voice singing so-
norously

norously in every syllable.
As we are not afraid that the inspiring strain
addressed by Dick Turpin to Black Bess will
tempt any of our readers into midnight ex-
jaloits upon Hounslow-heath, or awaken in
labitiliatirkeitteeSible desire to revive the glories