The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-17 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE USES OF THE SENSES. 1 Vol.

Pp.. 335. By Catlifirine Lake.

Wiihout being a mere cop iKt, or a serv>le imitator,
the authoress of th;s intelligent 'volume has
taken a suggestion from the C,,rrespondence of Mrs.
Chapone, and from the Convf=rsations of Peter Parley,
and has, by carrying out those suggestions upon a
religious framework, produced a book of a very agree-
able and entertaining character. Sometimes, we
must acknowledge that the tone of the writer sounds
rather too dogmatic ; but, generally speaking, the
work abounds with wholesome and elevated thoughts,
gracefully expressed
.and illustrated by perpetual al-
lusion, to the Universe. The title is sufficiently in-
dicative of the contents ; and the argument of the
whole production tends to impress the mind of the
reader with a conviction of the beneficence and omni-
science of the Divinity. This object alone would be
enough to elevate the writer from amongst the herd
of ordinary bookmakers, and to invest the volume
with a novel and dignified charm. Of the wood cuts,
which are intended to form the embellishments
of the narrative, we can say nothing whatever,
and of the incidental verses scattered through
the pages very little, indeed, in commendation. The
excellence of the book is restricted almost exclusively
to the letter-press, and of that letter-press to the
prose, and of that prose to its tendency. Inasmuch
as the writer enlarges upon the blessings attendant
upon the laudable employment of the five senses—
upon the chaste use of the eyes, the ears, the palate,
the nerves, and the nostrils—she demands and re-
ceives our eulogium. Although the manner of the
authoress is too frequently sedate and chilling, from
the dogmatism of tone already spoken of, it is evident
that she has written throughout from her heart's
earnestness.

CLOUDS AND SUIVSIIIIVE; with other Poems.
By John James Balls,B.A.

As among the first fiutterings of a young spirit on
poetic pinions, we receive the verses contained in this
little volume with all due tenderness. We have a
covert sympathy for those who bend in a reverential
mood to the streams of Helicon, to quaff their earliest
draughts of Hippocrene. And among these reve-
rential votaries we class the author of" Clouds and
Sunshine." As in the majority of such instances, his
most ambitious efforts are his least successful ; take,
in point, his " Napoleon," and " Richard the First at
Acre." Occasionally his conceits are ,quaint, but
sometimes a delicate thought is marred by an abrupt
conventionality of language,—as where, in " The
Condemned Soldier," he drops suddenly into the
bathos of the prosaic by telling us that the captain of
the regiment gazed upon the betrothed of the private.
There is a dry humour in the lines called " Mathe-
matics versus Poetry." But we cannot give a more
felicitous example of the style of Mr. Halls than in
the following dream, penned under the inspiring
remembrance of Robert Herrick or of Sir John
Suckling :

THE FIVE SENSES.
" I SLEPT. bethought my form around
A fairy girdle, rich and bright,
Seem'd cast—which, by its magic, bound
Each separate sense in new delight.
" A beauteous scene before me spread;
Arabia's odours filled the air;
And heavenly music seem'd to shed
Its softest notes upon mine ear.
" Something more soft than India's web,
With silken touch stream'd o'er my cheek;
And nectar'd draughts were at my lips,
That king's might leave their thrones to seek.
" I WOKE—and found the vision real,
For thou wert bending o'er me there;
That silken touch was not ideal,
For o'er me waved thy glossy hair.
" More than Arabia's spices choice
Thy breath swi et perfume shed around;
And in the whispers of thy voice
I heard prolong'd that music's sound.
" The neetar'd cup, the zone of light,
Well might I deem them both divine;
Thine arms had form'd that circle bright,
Thy lips were gently press'd to mine."
in the Sensuous school of poetry the author has found
his efforts to be the happiest ; and for this reason we
take the title of his volume to be not altogether inap-
propriate.

THE OLD JUDGE ;