The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-12-27 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THEODRIC, A DOMESTIC TALE, AND OTHER
POEM".
lIV THOMAS CAMPBELL.
Longman, &c.

When we recollected with what exquisite felicity of genius
Mr. CAM ritELL had pourtrayed the Pleasures of llope,
and with what sublimity and pathos be bad touched several
lighter subjects, we opened the present volume of his poems
with high expectations, but we regret to add that we
closed it with sad disappointment. We wonder that any
one who had deservedly canted so considerable a share of
fame, should no carelessly risk the loss of it. Them:ric is
said to be " a domestic tale," but the incidents are so un-
natural, and the machinery so ill-contrived, that we should
have considered any writer whose poetic talents were power-
ful enough to make it interesting, as blameable for wasting
them on characters so feeble, and events so ill chesem
Julia, the principal peraonsge, hid conceived a romantic
passion for Tit Eonate. a leader in the Austrian army,
whom she had never seen ; she has, however, a brcther,
Uvotrn, " sixteen summers old," serving under him :
the letters which he wrote home b'azoued forth the virtues
of his leader, and he wrote, it arms,
•• With such hyperboles of yont.Vad style
As made his mmHg dry iheir tears—and smile,
But ditrerently far his words impresti'd
A nond'iing sister's s ell.l, lies iu ti east."
And this her confiding propensity is greatly increased
by the circumstance of her brother having been wounded
in au affair of outposts, and being succoured by Tie ro»nte,
who touted him " welterim,' on the ground." At length
the conflict of war ceases, and !ipotesi returns to breathe
again, in peace, among his native mountains of Switzer-
land, bringing with him the portrait of TN zonate, who
hitherto hall only appeared to his sister in dreams ; this por-
trait, as it clothes her imagination with a little more per-
spicuity, gives her fresh fuel ; her fancy ascends still nearer
to " the misty mountain's top," and her attachment to
the Great Unknown becomes more intense than ever.
The description of CooLeit's return has nothing in it
which reminds us of Mr. Campbell's former productions;
it is prosaic and common-place beyond the license allowed
cren to magazine poetry in the present day. A traveller is
said to recognise Edinburgh blindfold, by the sole guidance
of his nose ; U1101.1.'1 is represented as employing this pro-
jetting feature iu his journey homeward, in the same
unreetied service, though certainly with a more egreeable
regale
• But journeying home, how rapt his spirits rove !
How light his footsteps eroded St. Gothard's snows!
flow dear leClll.4i vett the waste and wild Shreckhorn,
Though *rapt in clouds, and frowning as in scorn,
Upon a downward world of pastoral charms;
XI here, by She very smell of dairy.farms
And fragrance front the mountain.herba;e blown,
Blindfold his native hills he could have known !"

The lines which follow the above, and which carry on
the detail of his journey homeward, havo nothing that can
at all recommend them to a musical car, to say nothing of
their offence against grammar and good taste.
Ills coming down yon lake,—ins boat in 7•;015
Trindo:cr %here love's fluttermg kerchief Hew.—
The anus spread out for him—the tears that bur st,—
("I' was Jokes, 'twas his sister's met him first :)
Theis pride to sec war's medal at his breast.
And .-ll their rapture's greeting may be ghrri'd.
Ere long, his bosom triumph'd to unfold
A gilt he meant their gayest mom to &Id,—
The picture of a frk ml in warlike dress ;
And who it was he first bade Julia guest.
•• Yes." she replied, •• "twas he methought is sleep,
When yeti were wounded. told me not to weep."
Some time after the arrival of his picture, the original,
Tit aonni c himself, who, it seems

-" had year before
Leann Easterlies tongue
instead of following his portrait to Switzerland, where 1i
would have been so welcome a visitant, bent his voyage to-
wards the Thames, and
" - explore I the land
WNW nature, freedom, art, smile hand in hand.
Her aonien fah- ; her men robust for toil ;
Her vigorous soots high .uttered as her s.tiL"
Fair women and fat men are ..•rtainlv not peculiar to our
island ; though it can, rerhaps, :voth..tee the best sample.:
of both descriptions. his Austrian stranger, so far, dill
not see more than we native,- see every day ; but he saw, it
seems. acme int:resting oljects, with is Inch we are nut yet
familiar; he saw

`• Ikr towns, where civic swnr TE!lnr wcz jn,g,
gatintlrt do-.e:, to SENATES. Uut: NTS. <Phi h 15111 S."
Far b 2 it fn nn us to dispute the fact. This, however, is
the first Ilinerarium Curicsuns in wit:cit we find any re-
cord of this heroic courage in our Mayors and Corpora-
tions.

While be remained in London, and when he was shout
to hid it adieu, thete took place, it appears, a day of public
rejoicinsj
A trivial chance postponed his parting day,
And public O.:en/4 rained, is that delay,
An English Jubilee."
At night there was an illumination, and crowds, as Is usual
on such festive exhibitions, were drawn abroad, in carriages
and on foot, to witness the lighting up of the metropolis,
and the arrangement of the coioured lamps. Among this
crowd was 'ruminate, and in this crowd he lost, not—
es might be supposed—his handkerchief, but—his Ivan.
The en/mound Jet la fell in love with blm in her vkep;
while he—thint.s happen so oddly in this world—not
only •in ewe when wide awake, but catching a
portion of light and warmth from the illuminated
annesibtre, was sul.slucal by the first glance he got at a
btauty in a chariot; a heat, Inure tierce and fatal than the
enneentrated lilaze of all the lamps and candles that were
burning and guttering about him, was instantly lighted up
in his breast ; most luckily the carriage containing this fair
cue contributed for a minute or two to stop the way, and
the Eiwah•mt,', bad time enough to read the motto, and
take a note of the arms on the patina ; this clue, and the
Court Guide, no doul t soon enabled him to so his curiosity
at rest. I;ut we will let Mr. CAM vaELL recount the affair
in his own way :

.
" ' fires, a glorious right ;
At eve stupendous Landon. clad in light,
J'our'd out triumphant multitudes to gsza •
loath. atze, wealth, retairy, smiling in the blare;
1.1.• anuosphere s as warm and bland,
.teal Beauty's groupea, the fairest of the hind,
ieuittis. a, is 110411 h! wide festive
I:I upon chariots pass'd with pearl and plume.
Amidst them he remark'd a lovelier mien
'Ulan e'er his thoue.hts hail shaped, or eyes had seen :
'l' lie throqg detaiii'd her till he reited his aired,
Anil. ere Me beauty paas'd, had time to read
The motto and the snits her carriage bore.
lsed by that clue, he left not Ltglaturs dune
Till ha hail knot a her—"

This, it aeons, was no tliiEcult matter: how he contrived
to intrt:dnea himself is not L 01,1; it is enough to be in-
formed that
'• Ile sought, and war: her, and resolved to make
Ilia future home 1:1 Engl.md for her sake."
While Cupid was smoothing his pinions, and Hymen was
taking measure for the crow', some " matters of concern"
summoned TIII:OPItIC back to the Continent, but urgent
as those matters were,—so urgent as to delay the marriage
ceremony,—they did nevertheless not prevent his going
round by Switzerland to the abode of UnoLett and his
family, where he had never yet been, and promising to re-
main a month with them, or, as Mr. Campbell base:pressed
it in a line which rivals the poetry of John Runyan—
. .

A womb he protnisiuftrA74;;-1-stuilti;:4
The lore-sick Julia, whom Aloe elites only had hither-
to introduc.:d to Tile °nate, is no sooner gratified with his
real lit esenee, than she became, to all outward (reining, at
once a ghost atti a ;fern, but with her wit surviving nrough
both transformations, although inlaid with something
which we canntit exactly comprehend :—we will giro it,
however, for the reader's interpretation:—
•• Fair Jl' LIA Welted her brother's wfun'd
A CVO rellectmr, Salute's purest Light—
And s ith Ler graceful wit :here was inwnsught
A':l,lly ax. et I ir.rortil;nris qtr.o.4-1,4"
It was to be supposed that the si cret of Jr LTA'S attach.
meta would semi discover itself, for love, in its menet., is
extremely volatile, and, 11e tenth, it " will out." Music
is said to he the language of love, aunt accordingly in that
language the secret was conveyed. The following is the
description given of her while the melodious cotln
was going on :
.• Inspir'll and warbling, rapt limn things around,
She Itv.letl the very mutt: of magic sound,
Peat* hi stmt., the fir,r:lts of fry end tem.
I: mil the mind's eye uts than met and
Till we read those lines, we had no conception of what
might he done by en cm :feu- hi this was, or that !tingles:

r f "4„,,e, ..
ninia;adgeintieletirh,:!iii::::!("4. a love e„lif,-1. i
k';;li-;:;i!!:Il11.1;;I'''s
science was capable of ouch magical eftets. We ean e„i.,.
taress of St.( 'vei!is, ronfined.lierself to paimiug in sou'iki,:
" And prat, so IP.ltll to give its pathix a••
flowcver, " L0v.... has ey.,,,- :toil an explanzien etsues
Til rookie. who :I; as coul,—bh, rat least,—as a w.ode,,
idol could possibly b:., informs her of his pre-eneseitnen. t;
rhesisuthscme;ptainb(ll,.fijntdiiiii,,,,,
CeN oTA , cr. and hips her swear by "tkril;;:;00,;t-,,.,„,',,,'
1 i ts-l" to lid hur..elf of all fondness for him. -li is ratI;;;
reversing the order of thing.; for our sex to administer thi,
hers.-If by oath to ,!)
sort of cath :as the preroattre, wherever the il;gc.,„ 0,..
womankind is concerned, lias betn usually considersi!..„
tminine, and heretofore has !Ken exereistil on the oth:r
side: the ~ fi,r,,,.e/ me nor has aceerilinely
the masculine motto. I:ut this Austrian Gentleman Ise iiin;
,ugys,
it: fiimnt :i.:::;:er,0 ii hisiiainii,et::ilelaar.istitiiirileti.irsit:ei,:ittit i
the test site frin to 4,41 ma &rain. ".Sorar," :Ira he, .I,i
he says it t•ith as much coolness as if he were crier ace
court of Cupid,
oat, just

•• Az..;r that when I am glue yoell da yak,- 1, 0.
To chase this !team of fondness from your breast."
'We arc told

.• Tii• a,a.upt appeal etrirlfrJ hie thought"
And very natural it should ; what would rot such 1
philosophical ,pork as this electrify? Notwithstandia; tt„e
t ffect of this ehar:.,,e on her nervous system, she was aLit
:3
give iigi:i :11:.t 3112. tr.adri do lwr br:.l.
.• She looked to Heaven as if its :lid she snipett,
I hied hastily the tar-drops from her clo.ek:
An,1.;,c0i..,;,.4 the vow she could not qv 41:. "
Electric agt.ticy, as we all know, is made lip ef a svwer ef
attructions and reripirienx; lb:. tiers% sof the tentlyr.h ;It
might have sum ired a ?minion explesinn, hut their.
tensity of this ..1,0:4; WI% too much. Before her dips, tar
however, from this world of troubles, she wrists 3 im,
cot juring Tile on at c in turn, to tijar 10.1• lins widi brws.
ing reb;guatinn, and she words lief request very r%tilv.
1 •‘ But I coniurit your manliness to h, air
Ily logs with noble spirit—not desps!r:
I a.k you, by our lot e, to pow title i Ms,
An:l Zip th ••re Iv: rdr whirr I hay.: 1.)? n Vtr,
1 It:. li.teat from nit, living lips :o yotes"....
I —.. Word. that will solace him wh:le life endows."
And so the," ought, more espeially as he had taken an 21-
sistsnt to solace its the lilt an thee, having
" Ime.chsnged with CoNsTA%-c12., ,w-. ' resit,
The sweet etcrLai rows that Lcural their f.ith."
Thus, at the very tithe that he lanais zed the lowly ,It :IA
with his electric t x:ieriuneut, he hail bound himself cyan-
wally to to N STA 'r E.
" To thug existence with her, and to gain
Sparks front h., hive's electm:ying ale n."
And with this I.;:qiiish Bride, except now anti then perks;:,
a twitch occasioto-,1 Inv the t splosion of some small eharpd
.Jar, his felicity, wt st:ppose, was without alley. Barr.
gartt to the ill-fated .f:- I.IA, the :WO C511e:lei!1:.; lines of tie
Elwin in Patin us that
" Though lie mourn'd her long, 'tarns -4.;04 sac's wt':,
An 11 :I!•r,pirit wntcli'd bins hate below."
.... ..

Who could Lore suppoictl flat such a perm as
could he the oii'llring of the sante tons.. ti.at
./.,ckie/ and the Ifi,/tenlinden? stir::
a pia.'m which c;:unot the ; tam infatuation could in,!trN
its author to rstailpt writing dean his ovn reputati.•!,'
lit the rceni btft,r,.. us, Mr. t'airphell betrays a tool7c.::
fond:l,lz fir a:turation. Thus, in the description of Uno; ?t,
we are told
" The rigorous, and heara.
Li)b and Attincr in the field,
Aeu 1,...r hino.elf right soldier-like. till now
The third cmnpai4ii had manlier 1,,,,v.rd his 4rrr."—p
" And brd.w.ti :And titighten'd Jr I. i A'S
And in the 3111IC page we have the following line.
" :on JL,, wiper's breath, their walks how

This is in hail taste ; :t )rings to cur mind the " three Es-
bflitis in a line bladder ;" it is almost on a p:•r with In s!!i.
terativi. account which a wit has semewlit re given ef a ihn.
ner, where• at the nil of the table, there seas a pi',
and bOuir cried plaice : at the lower end, pickled pork at,!
parsnips: in :he middle, a pigeon-pee with riff irste
the one aide, a potato pueltEnz, and on the

The Duke of York attended divine service yesterLe:.:
the Clia,H 1 Royal, Sr. James's Pithlee.
The 10..ieheNs of Kent atteml.d divine stervc! t':.c
neva! German ( hire' on S.tturday, hying Chriamasse::.
and heard a :venom% by the Rev. Dr. Kuper.
.cr..tary Ca.ming was not so well on S2turtiay.`en:
was muelt bytter yesttstiay. The Right Hon.
w. en 'it!tirday and yesterday by Dr. Holland.
The Chatteel'or of the Exchequer left tea' on Thurc•
day en a visit tee Lard Grenville, at his scat at I)Typ:cc.
and rt hunvll to town on Saturday. In the evannig the
(ha•le. ror of the Exchequer left his resitlenee in Dtrii-
ing-strect fur Bast Coombe, the scat of Lady Buclit.gLar.:
alti:.e.

Earl (4,7 and family, lion. and Rer. Kr. and M
Taylor, Hon. 11 a. Ilarris, Le Cotute Viscottnt, Sir I.:t>.
Laity l'alk, Sir W. Burr, Lady Taylor, Lady Lanier.
Lady Hewitt, and lien. Wood, are amongst the latearriiils
at limit.

The Lord Chancellor and Lady Manners have left tows
for llocLingliam, the seat of Loral Lorton, lot the Cluis:.
Mtn holidays.—Dubin
Lord Gwydir, with his usual lx nevolcncc at this seaSO!".
distributed many waggon loads of fire-wood, to the pocr
Llanrwst, and the neighbourhood.
It is said, that Lent Ennismore, wishirg to have
residence in Kerry, has purchased Itiversilale, mar Lis:-.•
well, film Col. (keen. This is a hands.-me seat, and u,-
present occupied by Mrs. 1{11)- Molla.
IVe understand from authority, that Sir Jarrns
tosh will be unable to visit Glasgow unti' Apii! rest,
the installation of !.!r. Brouw ain (the election of
we are enabled positively to announce) will tale 1.1 v,:
and, no doubt, a trc.at highly intellectual and patriotic *A
erisue.—CAtsgoui Free
It is rumoured that Mr. Hume will be pzcFsed fir i'..
city of London at the nest election.
On Saturday, T. A. Smith, E: q. Loill Lieutenant for f -.-
narvolishire, arrived at Vaynol. Ins scat nein schc.
according to annual cistotn, hc spends dr; Chrisnras .T

Madame Catslani and her daughter are spending ey
ariatinas holidays at Roschill. near star.
In the case of " Foote v. Rayne," it is said to k
tended to move for a new trial, on the ground of emsnie
damage s.
The Grand Ball for the Black Rock Ladies' Assecitio
took place on Friday evening se'nnight, at Cork. TIT har!
of the City of Cork. Militia and that of the 15th Dew
atttudgil. The room. was crcwtkd by Amu '23to f.ishicra-
bles of Cork and its at iglibourhood, among *hem sac
Admiral Lord and Lady Coleville. Sir John and Lsill
Lambert. the lion. Mrs. Il.tunish, Sir W. and Lads( Ch:!-
tenon, Sir and Lad:. Perrier, Mrs. Newenhani o.f (*rel.
more, Captain rentsford. M.P., Colonel lloddcr, ace
great piaj.irity of die efHeers of the garrison.
The angle gentlemen of Itomses plc a, elegant
and supper at the new Town Hall, on Tuesday Iva, to
ladies of ltomsey and its vicinity, which were numeroas,
and resrectably attend: d.
A Society, for the purpose of instructing poor
/,‘", on the Welsh harp, has recently I:c,n feint..
Brecon, under the title of the " Ikeeonsliire Sock ty
11'elsli Minstrelsy." .

. .
ELortmEwv—The neighbourhood of Ludlow has la.
been the ncene of considerable agitation, occasioned l'
elopement of a young
!ally, possessing considerable
so-al charms, with a Fallant Sots of lars„ who has ;.-
sorne months rusticating to rec:wer live t reds of a 110,
India campaign. The fugitives, nett is 'undies ever!
.;
tram of hors and frost-hove, Wcf.: quickly pursued, .‘:
overtaken by a relative of the fair one. :111 attemp:i
[lei-suasion to return home haviug been fruitier.l;.y errpr
recourse was had to :ite police. Even under these cror:
cancer; the lady continued firm, and we are given tot,
demand, they proceeded Ott the it I at-nn:on to the tier,
The voting late} 's parcnts remain in a state of great ova
end distress, owing to circumstances, which we 3: ll'
are prevented front alluding to.—E:eiieg !'r -
An Irishman reading the inseriptiJu wh:c.
in gold letters in front of our Dirpmsary, v;!---*

l ~.

V ~'c~•

narrotishire and Anglesey utis sr Dispensary
to his fellow travcller, " OA! honey, and r-
po3r Radi..4l was sick, the d-1 a cr stun l .1
111,.. -.