The Sun.
London, England, 1836-06-29 00:00:00

I

LITERATURE.

" If ever cbance two wandering lovers brings
To Paracleto's white walls and silver springs,"

" Ab, who can tell what visions high
May bless an infant's sleeping eye,"

EDRIC THE SAXON. 2 Vols.
Macrone, London. 1836.

TIM BIRTH-DAY, AND OTHER POEMS.
Inudzroog, Edinburgh. 1836.

Miss Caroline Bowles, a lady well known by her
aimpositions, both in verse and prose, is the authoress
vf this little volume, which consists of one principal
poem, the " Birth-day," penned in the simple, unaf
fated style of Cowper, and displaying much of his
peculiar talent for scenic description ; and a variety of
minor pieres, not a few of which have already appeared
in the pages of our leading Periodicals and Annuals.
Our favourite " The Dying Mother to her Infant,"
is among the number, and we scarcely know a poem
of the same length that more deserves republication,
from the exquisite grace and purity of its sentiment ;
the free, musical flow of its rhythm ; and the deep
pathos that pervades it. Miss Bowles has the rare
art of touching the heart by the mere repetition of a
word, which in less skilful hands would be nothing
'more than a tame expletive. Thus in her beautiful
couplet—

" And hast thou not one look for mc? Those little, restless
eyes
Arc wandering—wandering every where, the while thy mo-
ther dies,

the lengthened pause after the first " wandering," and
its immediate repetition, have all the effect of the most
touching sentiment. The late Mr. Hazlitt used to
say that he could never repeat Pope's well-known
lines—

without feeling the tears start to his eyes, and we may
say pretty nearly the same of Miss Bowles's couplet,
which we have caught ourselves repeating a hundred
times, just as one is apt to hum, half unconsciously,
some fine old Scotch or Irish ballad. In like manner
do we find our memory haunted by Wilson's imagina-
tim lines—

and by the more sounding and impressive ones—

" Stand aloof 1
And let the Pest's triumphal chariot
Have open way, advancing to the tomb,"
-which occur among many other magnificent passages
in the " City of the Plague." But to return to the
volume before us. It is as full of beauties, as May
(not last May I) of flowers, but chiefly of the gentler
sort, for Miss Bowles has little of vigor in her intel-
lect, and has too much good sense to attempt a flight
beyond her capacity. It is for this reason that we
prefer her, as a writer, to Mrs. Hemans. The latter was
apt at times to be too ambitious and ornate, and think
she was developing fine ideas, when she was merely pa-
rading fine words. Those who are fond of the simple
and the unassuming in poetry, will derive much plea-
sure from the perusal of this little duodecimo, for the
fair authoress's imagination is truly of a violet cha-
racter—as sweet as it is modest.

This is a tale of the eleventh century—a period,
we fear, far too remote for any novelist, except one
endowed with the inventive genius of a Scott, to ren-
der interesting. It is but fair, however, to state that
the tale is pleasingly written, so far as manner goes,
but labours somewhat under a deficiency of incident.
To us, the most amusing portion of the volumes is the
Introduction, in which the peculiarities of the Yankee
captain of a merchant vessel is hit off with much spirit
and humour.