The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-11 00:00:00

MORNING 14M1TI0N.

' LI

IMLAH'S POETIS AND SONGS.

Cunningham, London. 1841.
Mr. Imlah's muse is a lively, romping jade,
of animal spirits, and of so d?eideuly ardent,
solal, and vigorous a turn of that when-
:ver she attempts anything like
ensiveness or
sentimentality, she ak,,ays gives us the idea that
she is shommillg, and we are strongly tempted, in
consequence, to laugh outright in leer Our
author's genius, indeed, seems wholly oppGsed to
melancholy. eis most at home in the 12olfly
dashing, of-hand war-sorig, the sprightly bali..-td,
or the festive lyric. Now and. then he essa)'s
the bathetic; hut if he cries with one eye, he seenmf
to us to be laughing with the other, like seine gay
nerdy youth when endeavouring to put on al?' g
face at the funeral of his guardian who has just
left him a fat legacy. The majority of Mr.
Imlah's poems are on Scottish themes, and well
calculated they are, by their earnest simplicitYy,
to ensure the favourable sufthages of .his count 3--
men. In some places, where the author spel k$
out from his heart without any regard to effect,
he reminds us of Burns ; but oftener we c; Itch tl. e
manner of Hogg—hi;; buoyant fancy, antal easy
melody of versification. This is :to slight p.-ait-e,,
and were the age less disregardfill of work.l
of
this sort than it is, we should have no hesitat ;(311
in predicting Mr. Imlah';s popularity. But, alitsy
the current of public opinicn is setting strongly'
in an anti-poetic direethin, antel nothing goes down
now but statistics. and slight }rose works of fic-
tion. A select few may still turn an attentive -
ear to the music of the singine,•-tirds of Par-
nassus, but the uhdiserirnating many are far better
pleased with a ewgate Calepdar roniance, a diE-
sertaion on the steam-engirt , or a pamphlet on
the Corn-laws. We have übsc-k.ved. that the
-;rcater portion of Mr. Imlah's poems is on Scot-
tish subjects; we may add that the best of than
are on these themesikand we quote two, which,
we think, will satisfy our readers that Vre, have
not overrated his abilities :
SCOTLAND FOR EVER!

0 ! gland was the onset and gloriously ended.
And rcek'd the red earth with the blood of the bras-e,
Where the armies of nations in battle contended,
On the field doom'd for thousands—one wide gory grave;
In the heat of that fight for a loved mountain land,
A shout there arose—which forget we can never,
And the " Vice l'Empeieur 1" for " Napoleon le Granao
Sucn quailed to the war.cry of " Scotland for ever F'
They thought of their far distant mountains` and valleys,
And their kindred, that circled the blazins• turf fires,
They thought of the days of brave Bruce and witt.,;:q Wallace,
They felt and they lot ght like the sons of awls sires ;
And the brow of no traitor the Bonnet shall shad.',
The Tartan shall cover a coward's breast never,
But honour shall hallow the Plume and the Plaid,
When cheer'd to the onset by " Scotland for e‘et !"
Then wreathe for our warriors garlands of glory,
Fill the bowl to the brim—let it flow to their fame,
And loud let the minstrel's strain swell at their story,

Who have won for their country so noble a name ;
Yet still as we raise high the song and the shell,
Shall the dead of that day be forgotten ?—no, never.
Green—green be their graves on the field where they fah,
And their names be reinember'd with " Scotland for ever r
CW,IMUN N'AN FIER GAEL.
We come from a country of well proven worth,
The mountains of Mon-en—the Alps of the North,
Where the hills are historic from far distant day.
And each strath and each stream has its legend or lay.
Tho' years have swept past since from Albyn we earria--
Tho' changed be our habits—our hearts are the same,
And will here, o'er the bowl with the song and the tale,
Be at hcme on the hills and the glens of the Gael.
Strike up on the Bagpipe some Pibroch otiose peal
Shall kindle within us the old Highland zeal,
Whose wi:d native numbers shall fire us, as when
It muttered front mountain, and gathered from glen ;
With some lov'd Chieftain's Coronae!) now shall we melts
And feel all the grief that our fathers have felt
Then blithe let the strain be when 6. Hoigh 1" for the
We strive with strong arms in the Game of the Gael.
Then praise to the Plume on the brows of the brave,
That never has stoop'd to the crouch of a slave—
And whether it wave in the revel or raid,
The cloak of Clan Albyn, still prosper the Plani
To the cap of our country give dignity due,
The helmet of heroes—the Bonnet of blue?
May they merit and meet ever honour and hail,
The Plume, Plaid, and Bonnet—the Garb of the Gael j.

THE SCHOOLFELLOWS.
Bentley, London, 1841.
The idea of this story is a good one, and ithe6
been skilfully worked out. The two schoolfel-
lows, who are its heroes, and from whom it de; -
rives its title, are—the one, a rich, well-connected
youth, son and heir of a country Baronet, of air
cient descent, and great local influence; and the
other, the only child of a lady who has been
seduced, through the means of a•sham marriage,
by a scoundrel, who afterwards is tried and Cow •
victed of forgery, but, escaping from confinement' •
persecutes the innocent victim of his intrigues •
and her illegitimate son, for years, until he 1
finally removed to the colonies by the GoverinneLl •
for whom he had consented to act as a spy. Fail:
fully conscious ofthe stigma attached to himself ag •
his helplessmotherby this,conection, young Ma;`: .
ring—such is the name of the Spy's son—becomel
even in his boyish days, the unresisting slave ,
of his rich, high-born schoolfellow, Mandevibel,
who has accidentally discovered the secret 0'
his birth, and threatens to expose him, Unle66
he will consent to be his drudge—that is to saYi.
write all his school exercises for him, assist hint •'
in the annual scholastic examinations,
.and anew* ,
him to carry off the prize. To this Manning,'
though not without a sore struggle, consents ; an
at Cambridge, whither in due time the se
fellows are sent, the same system is pursued;
Mandeville so working on Manning's semilild
apprehensions, that the poor youth, insteu.o s'
trying to secure college honours for himself: le o
,
compelled to assist his task-master in sectuirit'
them. When they afterwards meet in Londouj
Mandeville still exerts his despotic influence, an.
is mean and unprincipled enough to take credit
for the authorship of certain popular works whict,.
Manning has written, but which he dare not ile"
knowledge. This constant sense of slavish de
pendenoe on a man whom he fears and despise .
produces a most blightin,g effect on the unfrienue.
and obscure youth's mind ; he toils, and toils -1,,0
vain,toprocure a competence for himself,and thre; ,;41
off his tyrant's iron yoke ; but, at length whe sq,
he has becothe almost desperate, his luck take
a turn ; Mandeville commits suicide; Mannin;
prospects begin to brighten ; the competence t e
so long coveted, lie obtains; and ultimatelY e
is enabled to marry the girl to whom /ei
had for years been attached. Such is a brle
abstract of a tale which possesses much of oh,/
gloomy power of Godwin, and in its contrasts
character exhibits more lan ordinary tact e,rli6
ingenuity. Mr. Johns, the author, proves by
forcible delineation of Manning, that he 110
derstands the subtle workings of the hula e{
heart, and can trace its hidden springs ,
action. Some of his chapters, however, see„
to have been thrown off in a great 11111.„7,4
for in one place we find Mannino; erho •
" Henry," and in another " Charles ;” anuf:r.
mother, now answering to the name of " I‘-1--re
garet," and now to that of " Edith." These aid
negligences which a little patient attention wollof - •
have rectified ; and we point them out, by waY: iu
a friendly hint to the author, who should heal
mind that if a thing is worth doing, it is `v°'
doing correctly. Verbuni sap.
GIDEON GILES.
Hayward, London, 1841.
Gideon Giles is a tale by Mr. Miller, publis ,ch
every fortnight in sixpenny parts, ten of
have already made their appearance. It is
,he
amusing story, and deserves especial praise fur the
beauty of its descriptions of rural scenery „eV
habits, with which the author is manifestly
• h e •
acquainted, and on which he dwells with teit
satisfaction. We cannot say much for the putif
in illustration of the story, for they are little/
at all, above common-place

3 Vozs.

NATURAL .HISTORY OF BRITISH AND'
FO REIGN QUADRUPEDS.
Thomas, London. 1841. 114
The author of this work, Mr. Fennell, 0,5
that it has been his object to make its perusiic
agreeable and lively a recreation as a ,`tend'
through the Zoological Gardens, to whicll, ere
he has purposely avoided, what he calls, eted
solemn and melancholy strain," so often agebeeti.
in works of this nature. We think he has
successful in his efforts, for his volume is alio
dantly seasoned with curious characteristic t:tterit'
dotes, and to the charms of a sprightly, mere'
manner of narration, adds a careful, and 09,11 its,
hen wive view of the peculiar appearances, I geral
and uses of the higher class of animals in geteer,
We regret, however, that he has seen fit test foot
in no indirect manner, at the authority (4'l2dtit
who will always he held in respect .for th dthe
genee with which he accumulated facts, a" dieri .v 4
patience and perseverance with which, even,olorile
beset by difficulties, he prosecuted his fai.se „.1
zoological studies. In his account of tit of
Mr. Fennel repudiates the popular notion,As---
courage and magnanimity, :on which the re' sari
a set of fellows who lie as fast as 0, h°lsnd o
gallop—have always laid such stress; 3 trefl''
serves that the animal is, on the contraryiiea,'
cherous and cowardly in his nature, nc
sr
in gof the tiger, he assures us that l'aisirooP
mendous jaws he can carry off a buffalo,n ofier-, -
without relaxing from his usual sf eer—
a all
tion, the justice of which we must, witj 1 doobt:
ference to Mr. Fennell, beg leave W.l3,,eteriL
Those who are desirous to obtain a ' 00,40(
knowledge of zoology, will find much to
their purpose in this volume.