The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-29 00:00:00

LITER A TLTItE

SHEL I, hY' S POEMS. Vol. 4.
Moron, London, 1839.

The present ♦olume contains one of Shelley's most
effective poems, his " Lament for the Death of John
Keates," which evinces more real feeling than any other
he ever wrote, We find here also his admirable and
well-known translation of the " Witch Scene" on the
Brocken, from Goethe's Faustus ; his " Witch of
Altas"—a strange sort of poetic phantasmagoria—
several minor poems on a variety of subjects ; and a few
explanatory and biographical notes from the pen of the
editor, Mrs. Shelley.

SPENCER'S TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA-
-2 'From
Coburn—London-1839.

As we noticed these volumes at some length on their
first appearance, a year or two since, we need say little
more on the present occasion than that Ihe work has
reached a second edition, which, in addition to several
notes and minor corrections, contains an interesting ac-
count of the Austrian military cordon on the frontiers
of Turkey and Russia, in the course of which the
author—who has evidently taken great pains with this
part of his subject—urges the expediency of establishing
a similar boundary in Canada on the side of the United
States,

EARLY EFFORTS.
Whittaker, London, 1839.

Our attention has been called to this little volume of
poems, as being the first production of two sisters, by
name Moss, the eldest of whom is only eighteen, while
the youngest is not more tban sixteen, years of age.
We have perused their maiden efforts in verse with
some attention, and with the majority of them have been
gratified in no ordinary degree, for they evince much
of the true poetic spirit—that is to say, they are steeped
in the golden hues of a rich and fervid fancy ; are chaste
and simple in expression, and full of healthy sensibility.
When time and practice have matured the young
writers' genius, we doubt not that they will produce
some poem that shall gain them great celebrity. As a
specimen of their manner, we subjoin the lines intitled
the " Gamester's last Stage." The subject is a back-
flied one, havin,2: already been discussed, both in prose
and verse, at least a hundred times ; still it will bear
repetition—especially when treated as it is here by the
Misses Moss :
" The last stake's down, and the die is cast,
' 'Tis but one throw, and his hopes are past;
I mark'd his wild and frenzied eye,
As he look'd around despairingly,
"[was a circlet of gold, with bright hair wove,
The first fond pledge of her early love,
The last last thing his folly had left,
And now he had lost e'en Adela's gift.
Back to his cold and cheerless home
The wretched, ruin'd gamester's gone,
I followed his steps as he pass'd along,
Amid the thoughtless and heartless throng,
To that home where bright smiles were wont to greet him,
But a different welcome now must meet him;
Yet no reproach from her he fears,
Save downcast looks and silent tears;
But she was lighthearted once, and gay,
Till she saw her substance day by day,
At the gamisig table wasted away,
Till she knew that her husband's heart was changed,
Tilt she knew his love was from her estrang'd;
While she and her babe were left to die,
In helpless and hopless poverty.
Yet she chided him not, but strove to deck
With smiles her wasted and care-worn cheek;
Three days, three sleepless nights alone,
She'd watch'd and pray'd for his return,
And sad and lonely vigils kept,
In the chamber of her dying child ;
And oft and bitterly had wept,
Or clasped her hands with gesture wild ;
She fancied each step of the passer by,
Was the one she long'd for so ardently,
She fancied each voice that was borne on her ear,
Was the accents of him she loved so dear,
But the voice was hushed and the step passed on,
And she sat in the chamber of death alone."

HEMANS'S LIFE AND WORKS, VoL.
Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1839.

We have had more than one memoir of Mrs. Hemans,
already, but none so full, so accurate, so, in every way,
satisfactory, as that which is now lying before us, and
which is the production of her sister, who plays the part
of biographer with skill and judgment. Of course, the
Memoir is panegyrical throughout ; but there was " a
daily beauty" in the life of the poetess that warrants her
relation's warmest culogium. Though a woman of
superior genius she did not neglect her household
duties, but attended as rigidly to the education of her
five boys, and the conduct of her establishment, as
if she had been one of those ungifted, common-place
mothers whom Mr. Theodore Hook, and the writers of
his school, hold in such sovereign contempt, because
they live in the neighbourhood of Bloomsbury-square,
and are oftener to be found in their children's nursery
than at Almack's or the opera. Moreover, though
generally popular among the higher and middle classes,
Mrs .Hemans was utterly destitute of the ambition of
showing off as a lion. She shrunk from anything like
display, and was never so happy as when living in strict
retirement in the bosom of her own family, among the
mountains of North Wales. As a poetess, though we
cannot place her in the front rank, remembering who
were her contemporaries, yet we may assert, with•
out fear of contradiction, that she has Written
several poems which the world will not " wil-
lingly let die." Her " Voice of Spring" is one of
these, in which we are at a loss which most to admire,
the rich glowing fancy, or the pure and truly feminine
delicacy of the sentiment that pervades it. In general
the great defect of Mrs. Humans' verse is its exceeding
redundancy of epithet. She cannot be called a tawdry
or inflated writer, but she heaps words on words
in her more ambitious and elaborated passages, in a
style vt hich, while it shows her command of language,
is destructive of all energy. Her minor lyrics—such
as her " Willow Song," and her " Palm Tree"—are her
best, for here she writes from the heart, and with-
out any straining after effect. The present Memoir
exhibits her as a friend and mother, and indeed in all the
social relations of life, in a light which it is delightful
to contemplate. A woman of more irreproachable morals,
or of loftier and more generous sensibilities, never yet
gladdened earth with the sunshine of her presence. In
early youth she is described as havinc, been exquisitely
beautiful, and of such precocious intellect, that at six
years of age she had read through the plays of Shaks-
peare, which " formed her choicest recreation." " The
powers of her memory too, were so extraordinary," adds
her biographer, " as to be sometimes made the subject of a
wager by those who were sceptical as to the possibility
of her achieving what she would in the most undoubt-
ing simplicity undertake to perform. On one of these
occasions, to satisfy the incredulity of one of her
brothers, she learned by heart, having never read it
before, the whole of Heber's poem of Europe,' in
one hour and twenty minutes, and repeated it without a
single mistake, or a moment's hesitation. The length
of this poem is four hundred and twenty-four lines."
Mrs. Hemans died in Dublin, in the year 1835, at the
age of forty-one ; worn out, as it should seem, by that
commonest and most fatal of all our English maladies,
consumption.

THE WELLINGTON MEMORIAL

By the following correspondence it will appear that
his Imperial Highness the Hereditary Grand Duke
Alexander of Russia has subscribed most liberally and
magnificently to the memorial to the Duke of Welling-
ton's military achievements :
" Brook-street, le 18 Mai, 1839.
" MONSIEUR LE Duc—Monseigneur le Grand
Duc Cesarowitch ayant en connaissance que votre
Grace est a la tete de la souscription ouverte
pour un monument que la nation Anglaise doit
eriger en l'honneur du Due de Wellington, a desire
aussi se reunir a un hommage si merite rendu aux
services militaires de ce grand capitaine ; si sa gloire
appartient a l'Angleterre, ses services appartiennent a
l'Europe entiere. Son Altesse Imperiale me charge,
Monsieur le Duc, de vous faire tenir ci-joint la somme
de 300 livres sterling en vous priant de Is compter au
nombre des souscripteurs.

Veuillez agreer, Monsieur le Duc, l'assurance de
ma haute consideration,

" COMTE ORLOFF.
" A Monsieur le Due de Rutland."

" Bolton-street, ce 19 Mai, 1839.
" MONSIEUR LE COMTA—M. de Benkhausen n'a pas
manque de me remettre la lettre du 18me courant,
que vows avaiz daigne m'ecrire, accompagnee de
la somme de 300 livres sterling, que Monseigneur
le Grand Due Cesarowitch veut bien souscrire
au monument que nous allons eriger en l'honneur
du Dec de Wellington. Cette souscription mag-
nifique, fait par un Prince dont le nom illustre et
les qualites nobles qui I'ornent ont procedes son arrivee
personneile en Angleterre, penetrera avec les sentimens
de la plus sincere gratitude, non seulement le Comite
qui a la direction de la souscription, mais tousles sou-
scripteurs et memo la nation Britannique, qui se glori-
fiera de compter Son Altesse Imperiale au nombre des
souscripteurs.
Veuillez agreer, Monsieur le Comte, les sentimens
de la haute consideration avec lesquels j'ai l'honneur
d'e t re,
" Votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur,
" RUTLAND."

We have good reason to believe that the Marquis
de Dalmatic, son of Marechal Soult, is to be French
Amblitsador in London, in the :place of General Comte
Sebastiani. —Morning Post.
THE LATE THOMAS HA.YNES BAYLY, ESQ.
—lt is proposed to give, under high and distinguished
patronage, a grand dramatic .and musical performance at
Drury Lane Theatre, on Friday, June the 7th, for the
benefit of the widow and children of the above-named
poet and dramatic author, whose long illness, terminating
in his lamented death, has thrown his pecuniary affairsiaffairsinto a state of embarrassment. A host of prufessors have
kindly volunteered to form a committee for the manage-
ment of the benefit.