The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-13 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

1.-IrS ;' THE .1;COTTISI1 CAvALLERks:
and Other Poems. By William Ednunulstoune
Aytoun.
The genius of the old Ballad Literature has in-
spired the Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres
in the University of Edinburgh. With the subtle
discrimination of a scholar, and the exquisite instinct
of a poet, Mr. Aytoun has imbibed from his childhood
a devotion for that rude but impassioned song which
has consecrated Wallace to the affections of Scotland
and Robin Hood the Outlaw to the admiration of
England. He has here paid the tribute of his homage
to the memory of the patriot bards from the apochry-
phal era of Blind Harry to the almost contemporary
days of the Ettrick Shepherd. The elegant volume
of his " Lays to the Scottish Cavaliers," reprinted in
a collected form from the pages of Blachtvood's Ma
gazine, is honourable alike to his ability and his en-
thusiasm. The Lays themselves are impregnated
throughout with that masculine sensibility which
finds its passage at once to the core of the heart, and
through the heart in tears gushing to the eyes.
Best of all amongst them, "The Execution of Mon-
trose," reminds us of that glorious Ballad of Sir
Charles Bawdin, otherwise known at the "Bristowe
Tragedie"—that masterpiece among the acknow-
ledged poems of the incomparable stripling Chatter-
ton. That is a noble picture of the great Marquis on
his road to execution :
" He is coming ! he is coming !
Like a bridegroom from his room,
Came the hero from his prison,
To the scaffold and the doom :
" There was glory on his forehead,
There was lustre in his eye,
And he never walk'd to battle,
More proudly than to die.
" There was colour in his visage,
Though the cheeks of all were wan,
And they marvell'd as they saw him pass,
That great and goodly man."
Again, in "Edinburgh after Flodden," the descrip-
tion of the Knight telling the tidings of the disaster
;o the magistrates of the capital is infinitely touching.
There is genius in the lines we have printed in italics
in the following quotation :
" Then in came Randolph Murray—
His step was slow and weak,
And as he doffed his dinted helm,
The tears ran down his cheek:
" They fell upon bis corslet,
And on his mailti hand,
As he gazed around him wistfully,
Leaning sorely on his brand.
" And none who then beheld him,
But straight were smote with fear,
For a bolder and a sterner man
Had never couched a spear.
" They knew so sad a messenger
Some ghastly news must bring:
And allot them were fathers,
And their sons were with the King."
That is an heroic portraiture moreover—that of the
chivalrous James IV. guarded by a human rampart
of his defenders--

" Every stone a Scottish body
Every step a corpse in mail!"
And remembering the matchless bravery shown by
that unfortunate monarch ou the day of his over-
throw and destruction, it is scarcely possible to read
that exclamation of Randolph Murray without a
thrill, when he " lifts his riven banner," crying out-....
" Never was a royal banner
Steeped in such a costly dye;
It hath lain upon a bosom
Where no other shroud shall lie.
Sirs! I charge you, keep it holy,
Is the life-blood of your King!"
The whole of this chaunt of lamentation is filled with
ForK Keep
pe
isttaaisn
ay sacred rseede
uthpionng,i t
a nervous eloquence that commands the emotions of the
reader. In " 'The Heart of the Bruce" we have a
reminiscence of the chivalrous incidents celebrated by
the inimitable translations of Mr. Lockhart.
" Come hither, come hither,'my trusty knight,
Sir Simon of the Lee"—
is too much like the stanza in the first canto of
" Childe Harold :"
" Come hither, hither my staunch yeoman,
Or shiver at the gale?"
But that is a noble outburst of the Spanish Sovereign,
Why
yt dolt tdhroeuadlo a sook
French palfe?
o
Oreman ?
when he finds the Douglas dead upon the field of
victory :
" The King he lighted from his horse,
He flung his brand away,
And took the Douglas by the hand,
So stately as he lay.
" God give thee rest, thou valiant soul,
That fought so well for Spain;
I'd rather half my land were gone,
So thou wert here again 1"
Lockhart could not have penned it better. " The
Burial March of Dundee" is preceded by an impas-
sioned vindication of the famous Claverhouse, who
has been caricatured into a monster by a succession
of illustrious Avriters, from Walter Scott down to
the fataliy steel, and scorching flame,
theofmindthe field
battle's Passed the spirit of the Grange I"
"The Widow of Glencoe" would be interesting if
1 thunder,i ecran
Shot, and ki
e
only as affording us in the introduction incontestable
evidence that that infamous crime was the work of
William of Orange not of his Minist,ers,but of William
himself. The " Lay "is inspired by the same feelings
which affected Mr. Sergeant Talfourd in the composi-
tion of his fine drama of Glencoe—feelings of horror,
pity, and indignation. " The Island
of the Scots"
commemorates a striking instance of bravery on
the part of the exiled Scottish gentlemen who had
followed the unfortunate King James into banishment
—reminding us of the capture of the island near
Wagram, just anterior to that extraordinary
victory of the Emperor Napoleon over the Aus-
trians. The cry of the Captain—" Remember our
dead Claverhouse I "—calls to our recollection that
glorious signal with which Sir William Hoste com-
menced the battle of Lissa—" Remember Nelson !" Of
all these noble ballads, however, the most affecting,
and for that reason the most fascinating to us, is the
one entitled " Charles Edward at 'Versailles." It is
inexpressibly melancholy. Well may the ill-fated
Prince—one of the bravest heroes that ever trod the
earth—exclaim in his exiled pomp—
" Take away that star and garter,
Hide them from my aching sight."
And how natural the feverish remembrance of his
last fatal battle—
" Bring my horse, and blow the trumpet !
Call the riders of Fitajames ;
Let Lord Lewis head the column I
Valiant chiefs of mighty names—
Trusty Keppoch ! stout Glengarry
Gallant Gordon ! wise Lochiell I
&o. &c. sco.
But the sudden dissipation of his illusion is mournful

" Ah, my God where am I now?"
We coincide fully with Mr. Aytoun in anticipating
e
a very different close to the expedition listenedof
4Charles
the
with eager expectation to the narrative of this royal
ifhis
a
enterprise
of
"Thethe last o
ld
Scottishc e n tu r y
Cavalier
a lthe"er pen of b
gives—firsti r .
Macaulay:
an entertaining biography of Lord Pitsligo, and of
atdpviceerby. had
We
been e
lnook forward to
his hair-breadth 'saves when a venerable man past
eighty years of age ; and secondly, an ingenious
adaptation of the metre and music of the " Old Cour-
tier of the Queen—the Queen's Old Courtier 1"
After the mere prominent productions in the volume,
are grouped together nine miscellaneous pieces, upon
several of which we have commented as they appeared
from month to month in Blackwood. We have a
marvellous liking for that version of the " Scheik of
Sinai in ASO,' from the German of Freiligrath—
where the Scheik hearing that the Franks are again
in Africa, imagining it to be Napoleon, and demand-
ing in explanation to see a coin of the invader, sighs
and speaks thus—
"'Tis not his eye—'cis not his brow--
Another face is there:
I never saw this man before—
His head is like a pear !
But our especial favourite is that charming lament
for " the merry days when we were young." " The
Buried Flower" is the name of
.this tender, gentle,
natural effusion of the heart. A mere fragment will
reveal its sweetness of melody and its sadness of
sentiment.

" Early wert thou taken, Mary I
In thy fair and glorious prime,
Ere the bees had ceased to murmur
Thro' the umbrage of the lime.
" Buds were blowing, waters flowing,
Birds were singing in the tree,
Everything was bright and glowing
When the angels came for thee.
" Death bad laid aside his terror,
And he found thee calm and mild,
Laying in thy robes of whiteness,
Like a pure and stainless child.
" Hardly had the mountain violet
Spread its blossoms on the sod,
Ere they laid the turf above thee,
And thy spirit rose to God.
" Early wert thou taken, Mary!
And I know 'tis vain to weep—
Tears of mine can never wake thee
From thy sad and silent sleep."
We cannot close our notice of Mr. Aytoun's beau-
tiful contribution to our poetic literature more appro-
priately than with these sweet but mournful lines of
lamentation. They are enough to prove the writer's,

claim to a higher title than that of a mere versifier—
they ~,,now that his mind is fu-: •

rc;~o~;o;1a1.

FREEMASONS' QUARTERLY RE VIE W.
We regret to learn from the address to the Maso-
nic craft, with which the present number opens, that
Brother Robert Thomas Crucefix is about to retire
from public duty in Masonry. His assistance, which
could at all times be but ill spared, is now of more
importance to the well-being of the craft than ever,
and we hope that he will be induced to reconsider his
determination, and at all events to postpone for the
present his contemplated retirement from public duty
in Masonry. In addition to a full and ample chronicle
of Masonic intelligence, the present number contains
many papers of great interest to the general reader,
such, for instance, as the account of Freemasonry in
Turkey, Persia, and Japan. The circumstance of
masonry existing in the latter country would seem to
point out the propriety of employing none but mem-
bers of the craft in any expedition which it may be
deemed expedient to send to the " tiled lodge" of the
world. If they cannot " work their way," no one
can. This is an excellent number of the Freemasons'
Quarterly.

THE BRITISH, POLITICAL, COMMER-
CIAL, ECCLESIASTICAL, and HISTO-
RICAL GAZETTEER; Travellingßoadßook,
and County Atlas.
The fourth part of this national publication has
just reached us, and fully sustains the high promise
of the preceding parts. It contains a well-executed
map of the county of Dorset, and is embellished with
a beautifully finished engraving of the Conway,
Tubular Bridge on the Chester and Holyhead Rail-
way. The execution and accuracy of this engraving
could not be excelled ; indeed, as a mere picture, or
specimen of artistic excellence, it is worth more than
the enterprising proprietors receive for the whole part.
We rejoice to see they intend extending their labours
to Ireland and Scotland ; and we have no doubt these
portions of the British empire will contribute a
generous support to so useful and comprehensive an
undertaking. We cannot too earnestly bespeak
public support for this Gazetteer, more comprehen-
sive in design and more minute in detail than any
ever yet attempted, and which when completed will
form one of the most accurate, useful, and beautiful
histories of the United Kingdom hitherto published.