The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-28 00:00:00

.E SEA-SPIRIT AND OTHER PO.EWS.
By Airs. Stephen Lushington.
Many of the poems contained in this volume have
already appeared In the pages of Fraser's Magazine,
but their re-publication in this collected form will be
welcome to all who are acquainted with their grace-
ful and harmonious character. One of the most
beautiful pieces in this volume is entitled "The Poet's
Life," beginning
" The poet's loveliest thoughts can ne'er be told."
The concluding stanzas gracefully illustrate the pecu-
liarities of the inward life of the true poet by a very
felicitous simile :
His secret life is like an Indian isle,
Where stately trees and fairest blossoms grow,
Where days and nights of cloudless beauty smile,
And scented winds thro' long, green pathways blow;
Gay woods are there whose verdure dab not fade,
And fountains of delight sing bcftly in the shade.

And there he dwells, and there the midnight stars
Look down on him like friends; there seldom sound
The moan of care, the din of worldly wars.
In spells of peace and love that isle is bound;
The very waves that kiss its happy shore
Seem hashed, ai if the storm could never wake them more.
And yet the unresting sea of out ward lif
Whose treach'rous waters seemed for ever husked,
Hath still iti darker hours of storm and strife,
And pain may come where pain for aye seemed crushed.
Change they may bring to that sweet sunny isle.
Thank God! they mar its beauty only for awhile.

Tho storm may rend a few green boughs away,—
May break the tender stems of some fair flow'rs;
Its louder voice may drowa the fountain's play,
Its rage alone be heard a few short hours;
But then must end its mad destructive reign,
And earth is beautiful, and heav'n is calm again.

Then from that lovely isle there floateth out
Unwonted fragrance o'er the chang6 ful deep,
Till they who chance to wander thereabout,
Feel strange delight, and eyes long dry will weep
Such tears as have in them a deeper bliss
Than the unquiet laughter of a world like this.

Ohl who, because a storm at times may break
O'er that fair scene, could wish one flower the loss?
Who from the poet's life one vision tak,,,
In dread le,t after-hours should bring distress?
Fear not for him, no sorrow can destroy
His heaven-implanted sense of beauty and of joy!

_ -
lie may have cares to duller souls unknown,
And grief we know not be to him re►ealed;
Fear not for him! his gladness is his own,
Nev springs of comfort are for him unteded.
his life is more than ours; to him are given,
Even on this dull earth, thoughts that belong to heaven!
Occasionally Mrs. Lushington writes in a style of
exceeding simplicity, which greatly enhances the
pathetic interest of some of her descriptive p'eces.
Among these is " A Tale of Real Life," which de-
tails the hopeful, anxious expectation of a maiden
whose betrothed is at sea :
"The early buds are swelling;
The time will bOOTA be come,--
The blessed time he promised
I should sec him here at home.
Ile said, 'I will be with th(e
Ere the leaves are on the bough;'
And the time will soon be coming,
For the buds are swelling now!"

Thus she murmured in her glainess
To her loving heart alone,
Thus she hoped, and thus she trusted
Till the spring was nearly gone;
Thus watched she till the larch boughs
Had donned their veil of green,
And hidden from her window
The water's sunny sheen.

Then stole she forth at morning,
Then stole she firth et eve,
(For she knew his heart too truly
To drum ha could deceive);
With weary eyes still watching,
Yet she hoped with ttoadftst heart;
" When ho cometh hona#," she whispered,
" lie will never more depart!"

Though she saw ti e scatt .red daisies,
Unfolding one by one,
Till many a starry blossom
Lay laughing to the sun;
Though the larch's feath'ry shadow
Fell dark upon the slop
Yet she watched v.ith quiet patience,
And herd with constasit hole.

She wandered by the waters
Where he first hnd t pld hist ove,
With the summer sea fir witness,
And the placid stars above;
Where silo listened, look ingdownward,
With a Llush on check and brow,
And a heart that fluttered wildly
To the music of his vow.

That music had not failed her,
Though I er home was fall of strife;
It quelled, by its sweet power,
the harsher tones of life;
And she serTed the frowning stranger
Who filled her mother's place,
Wilk a spirit full of meekness,
And au ever smiling face.
In the tender melancholy of these unpretending lines
there is an infinitely greater charm than many ela-
borate and pompous productions can boast. Alto
gether " The Sea-Spirit and other Poems" is a volume
of most pleasing character.

THE CABINET LAWYER; a popular Digest
of the Laws of England. Fifteenth Edition.
Tne present edition of this most useful and popular
work brings down the legal decisions and statutes to
Michaelmas Term, I'2 and 13 Victoria, so thaCr.
presents a complete mirror of the law as it actuallyi a
at present. The work has been carefully revised and
entirely re-printed throughout, and has now incorpo-
rated with _it the provi.ions of the Bankrupt Law
Consolidation Act of last session, of the laws affect-
ingsteam-navigation, merchant
Courtscomp]
le Arta, c t.s.
commercial and
shipping, pilotage, and emigrant passengers, and
the present
new
been Countyadded a
diction-
ary of law terms, and an addenda T:
much
useful information pertaining to the fees of
of the courts
and law charges generally. lt is the most useful,
the most comprehensive, and the most accurate
popular digest of the laws of England that has ever
been presented to the public.

LIVERPOOL, SATURDAY .—,The royal mail steam-
ship Europe, Cuptsin Lott, left the Mersey this after-
noon for llahffx and New Yotk, with the semi-
monthly mails and u full e,mplument I f pamengers.
She has a large cargo of and foreign manufac-
tured Goode.

ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIM—MajOr H. Itaw!ingot),
the East India Company's political agent in Turkish
Arabia, and her Majey's Consul at Bagdad, who bas
lately arrived in this country from Bagdad, has brought
with him a quantity of casts of Babylonian inscriptions,
and also some packages containing figures rf stone and
terracotta, being remains (f Assyrian antiquities; and
they are intended to be deposited in the British Mu-
seum and ether scientific institutions of the metropolis;
and as, from their extreme age and very delicate cha-
racter, they are liable to injury if unnecessarily dis-
turbed previously to being deposited at their destination,
the Gallant Major has rs quested that the greatest care
of them may be observed by the nuthoritier, and that
they may be delivered for the Ableutilic PurPon mos"
tioaed.

, chequered career will, without doubt, be perused with
I very general interest. Iler early years were apa.
' rently characterised chiefly by their sorrows. beautiful or attractive in childhood, although so pe-
culiarly ch Arming in after life, the quiet, sensitive girl
was subjected to continual annoyance, and be-
fore sbe attained the age cf fifteen was com-
pelled F
by her parents into a marriage with
Captain armer. the object' of her especial dread
and dislike. After the death of her first
hushband, and her marriage with Lord Blessington,
a cange come over the spirit of her dream.
Wealth, pleasure, and admiration surrounded the
fascinating Lady Blessington. In addition to tbis
interesting memoir, " Country Quarters" is embel-
lished with a portrait of its authoress. It is hardly
necessary to criticise or commend a
work whict
h, on
account of the peculiar circumstances
under which i
makes its appearance, will be sure of a wide circuta•
tion among novel readers. " Country Quarters" is
without doubt a very delightful work, abounding
with adventures, brilliant sketches, and lively ca.
ricatures. The style is graceful and easy, and the heroes and heroines numerous. The number of the
dramatis persona to a certain extent diminishes the
interest of the work by diffusing it in many di-
rections. We are not particularly enthralled by the
story of any one pair of lovers, that of the hero and
heroine, par excellence, being of a very insipid
character. But in default of this attraction each
individual group is sketched off in a masterly, if
somewhat exaggerated, style. 'We have one story
of a wild Irish girl, who marries a simpleton for his
money, and then, her heart touched by the kind
welcome of his parents, she endeavours with wonder-
ful success to reform her husband, and so proves a
blessing to the family. Again we read of two
sisters who, after an anxions search, suc-
ceeded in obtaining rich husbands. The one
finds the life of a wife to be almost worse than slavery,
and the other very rarely catches a glimpse of her
unsociable husband. Numerous little histories of a
similar character, for the most part teaching some
practical lesson, fill up the pages of " Country
Quarters." Here and there are some beautifully
pathetic touches, and in other places, as in the cha-
racter of the unnatural Lady Mordant, are specimens
of very useless exaggeration. On the whole, how-
ever, " Country Quarters" abounds in matter of
amusement, if deficient in subjects of very intense
interest. It is a book likely to wile away an idle
hour, or make a dull evening pass pleasantly. Its
sketches of men and manners are in the main truthful,
and in consequence may be studied with benefit.
TIE