The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-16 00:00:00

JESSIE,

[We have much pleasure in quoting the follow-
ing beautiful and tender lines to a young lady
from Mr. Imlah's poems, which we noticed with
deserved commendation last week.—En. SUN.]
My blessings upon thee—my bonny young lassie,
My blessings upon thee by night and by day ;
May health, peace, and joy, be thy handmaids, sweet
Jessie,
And all whom thou lovest companion thy way ;
To thee may this earth bloom as Eden-like even,
As hope's fondest dreamings all beauty and bliss,
0 sweet be thy portion till welcomed in heaven,
The realm whose beings thou'rt like to in this
Thou art fair as the rose blushing new into blossom,
And pure as the lily that peeps on the lea,
0 I close mean the heart be and cauldrife the bosom,
Where love kindles not in the light o' thy e'e.
The star burns the brighter as eve grows the dimmer,
Sae lendcst thou life's gloom a heavenly ray,
Yes, welcome and warm as the sunbeam o' simmer,
Thou smil'st—and the tempest-cloud passes away I

LITERATURE.

VIVIA PERPETUA.
Fox, London, 1841.

This is a dramatic poem by a lady named
Adams, and turns on the circumstance of the
conversion to Christianity, and subsequent mar-
tyrdom, of a noble Roman matron, Vivia Per-
petua, an account of whom is to be found in most
of the histories that relate to the early Christian
Church. The scene of action lies in Carthage,
and the period referred to is the commencement
of the third century, when the numerous enemies
of the Christian converts were inveterate in their
hostility towards them. Massinger, it may be
remembered, has a fine play on this subject, and
we suspect it was his " Virgin Martyr" that first
suggested to our authoress the idea of her present
drama. In her delineation of the character of
her heroine, Vivia Perpetua, there occur some
touches of feeling that would lead us to imagine
that the old dramatist's play had been studied by
her with great attention; but it is but just to add
that she is no servile imitator, but depicts natural
emotions in a free and spirited manner. The
closing scenes of her play are the best, for the
earlier acts move heavily and languidly, and are
too much taken up with dialogues that lead to no
result.

D ODD'S PEERAGE, ke.
Whittaker, London, 1841.
A useful work of reference containing an ac-
count of the peerage, baronetage, and knightage
of Great Britain and Ireland, together with all
necessary particulars respecting the junior
branches of the nobility and all the titled classes.
The compiler is Mr. Dodd, who has performed a
troublesome task with skill and efficiency, and
to whose active industry we are indebted for the
" Parliamentary Pocket Companion."

ASIATIC JOURNAL.
Allen, London, 1841.

In this Number we find a brief memoir of the late
MissEmmaßobarts, a clever authoress who contri-
buted largely to the periodicals of the day, and
whose latest work entitled " Scenes and Charac-
teristics of Hindostan," is one of the liveliest and
most graphic of its sort in the language. There
is also an article on the subject of the recent
campaign in Affghanistan, which exhibits no little
descriptive vigour.

COLONIAL MAGAZINE,
Fisher, London, 1841.

Among the staid, serviceable, matter-of-fact
miscellanies that from time to time challenge the
attention of the public, we know of few more
worthy of encouragement than the '' Colonial
Magazine," which, taking for its motto " Ships,
Colonies, and Commerce," gives us much prac-
tical information on these important subjects, and
discusses them in a lucid, dispassionate manner,
creditable to the good sense of the Editor, Mr.
Montgomery Martin. The present Number—
which is the fourteenth—contains, in addition to
an accurate map of Austral-Asia, a well-digested
dissertation on the question of the revision of
our commercial tariff, wherein the. writer justly-
lays it down as an axiom, that " to make com-
merce valuable to the entire community, it
should be freed to the utmost possible extent
from Government taxation and protective enact-
ments, making in fact freedom from taxation the
rule, and prohibiting duties the exception, in our
commercial Tariff." There is also an interesting
account of Cooke's visit to the Austral-Asian
Islands ; several statistical details relative to the
present prosperous state of the British West In-
dian colonies, from which we learn that the Duke
of Buckingham's estate in Jamaica has doubled
in value since the abolition of slavery, which is
an experiment that has been attended wiih
nal ,iiceess ; and a curious sketch of Port Artlifir
in Van Diemen's Land, which is a penal settle-
ment for the worst order of British convicts,
from which we quote the following Port
Arthur is situated at the extremity of a point
called Tasman's Peninsula, the neck of which is
guarded by a military detachment who have nu-
merous fierce dogs to apprise them of the ap-
proach of any runaways. To Port Arthur the
educated convicts of Britain are sent ; boy con-
victs are also ordered there, and placed under
teachers qualified to make them useful in several
trades; colonial convicts, and prisoners reconvicted
in the settled districts, are likewise removed to
this great penitentiary. They are conveyed from
Hobart Town to Port Arthur by sea. When
landed, they are mustered and stripped ; and af-
terwards clothed in tho garb of the place, which
is made of tanned sheepskin, exceedingly pervious
to wet, amid which much of their toil is passed.
The hours of labour are from sunrise to sunset;
their rations are scanty, consisting of flour, bis-
cuit, peas, and salt beef or pork ; few vegetables,
and rarely fresh meat. Tobacco, which is a
positive passion with such men, is strictly prohi-
bited. Innumerable schemes have been devised
for its concealment;' but woe to the miserable
wretch in whose possession it may be found. It
subjects him to seventy-five lashes, and such
lashes! The superintendent of shipwrights in-
formed the writer (and he was an old man-of..
war's man) that the stoutest man he ever saw tied
up to the triangles had the blood streaming in
his shoes at the fifth lash. The hopelessness of
the convicts' position, the unvarying and unmiti-
gated misery and desolation of all around, tends
to Utter demoralization or reckless ferocity. This
system, which in the colony has been attributed
to a British Judge, is said to have been devised
to render transportation a punishment worse than
death."

MONTHLY LAW MAGAZINE.
Crofts, London, 1841.
There are several well-argued legal articles in
this Number, one of which, " On the Law of
Deodands," will be sure to attract the attention
of the profession. But the article which will
please the most generally, is the biographical
memoir of the celebrated French advocate,
Dupin, from which we learn that he was born
six years before the breaking out of the first
great. Revolution, and distinguished himself in
1816 and 1817 by his zeal as a Commissioner for
classifying the laws of the empire. His greatest
forensic triumph, however, was his defence of
Marshal N ey, which he conducted, though un-
successful, with uncommon tact and courage, and
has often since been heard to say that the con-
demnation of his client was not just, for that his de-
fence was not unfettered. " Dupin," says his pre-
sent biographer, " created a new style, that of
familiar eloquence. An advocate above all, he
cared far more to gain his cause than to round a
period. When he held a brief, the subtlest points
never escaped him; he could at once gain the at-
tention of the Jury by the seductive manner in
which he detailed the circumstances of his case,
and knew also full well how to minister to the
prejudices of the Jude who presided at the trial.
His language, sometimes not very choice, but
always lucid and energetic, interwoven with quo-
tations, metaphors, proverbs' taken at random
from the drawing-room or the street ; his voice
clear and sharp ; the sarcastic expression of his
face—all tended to give to his address a novelty,
by the aid of which he carried everything before
him."

THE HUNGARIAN DAUGHTER.
Mitchell, London, 1841.
There is some vigorous writing in this dramatic
poem, but even in its most emphatic passages,
we can detect a certain haziness of thought, as if'
the author had no very clear or definite concep-
tion of the idea he was anxious to impress on the
reader's mind. He seems to us to be a man of
ambitious but undisciplined intellect, who dallies
with themes above the reach of his capacity.
That he is not devoid of feeling and even fancy,•
is evident ; but if we except one or two brief
passages in his Hungarian Daughter, he does
not know how to give fit utterance to his emo-
tions, and as to his fancy, it is too often frittered
away in mere verbiage, or runs into fantastic
prettiness. Here is an instance in point, which
will show that we do not condemn him without
cause. Describing a cheerful summer dawn, he
says:—
.6 The morning breaks; the blue arid vigorous air
Doth shake his wings; the blythe, immortal day
Bounding to light the darkness of the earth
On yonder ocean..shore is young again."
Now if we strip this description of the load of

MORNING EDITION.

words with which it is encumbered, we shall find
that its whole sum and substance are comprised
in the first half line, " the morning breaks," and
that all the rest is a mere repetition of this mat-
ter-of-fact. Yet almost immediately after Wards,
we find a really beautiful idea, where, still pur-
suing the same theme, the author says—
"'The golden sun-%iith thoughtless speed
Shakes day about, like perfume from his hair."
We judge from this and similar indications in his
play that Mr. Stephens has much of the sterling
ore of poetry in his nature, but that he is utterly
deficient in the art of turning it to account. As
regards melody of versification, in particular, h.e
does not seem to have the slightest notion of 14.--
for many of his lines are as harsh, abrupt, and
dissonant as the bray of the animal that chews
the thistle. In a word, he has many defects to
remove and many requisites to gain, ere he call
hope to achieve success as a dramatic poet.