The Sun.
London, England, 1819-05-20 00:00:00

LAW ASSOCIATION.

MR. EDITOR—An error appeared in your Paper
of Monday, respecting this Association, which
states Mr. ANDORTON to be its promoter. No,
Sir, it is distinctly different from what he has en-
deavoured to form, and which is now in its ini-
tiation, under the name of the Metropolitan So-
ciety of Atrornies ; distinguished from an old
one, widen declined to countenance a Parliamen-
tary inquiry into the spurious practice of those
who, cediing themselves Conveyancers, share the
profits of the science as pretenders, without the
ordinary vestments of legal authority: The
Metropilion Society is little more than social.—
They tweet not on business, but conviviality.—
The Law Association is' of a charitable nature,
for the benefit of decayed or distressed Attornies
of deserving characters, their widows and children.
Mr. MURRAY is Secretary, as is Mr. ANDERT,ON
to the Metropolitan, who has nothing to do with
it. As you adhere to what is correct, I need not
crave your excuse for thus intruding Lyon you
what 1 believe to be the

TRUTH.

1' OETRY.

To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, Rtq.,,
On Me PaMullion of " PETER BELL."

BY BERNARD BARTON.,

pcautiful Poet ! as thou art, -
In spite of all that Critics tell,
I thank thee, even from My heart,
For this thy Tale of " PETER BELL."

It is a story worthy one
Who thinks, feels, loves—as thou bast motts

It is a story wm thy too
Of a more simple, primal age,
When feeling-i-nat'ral, tender, true,
Hallow'd the Poet's humblest page
Ere trickery had usurp'd the place
Of unsophisticated grace;

I quarrel not with those who deem
Essential to poetic mood,
High sounding phrase, and lofty themes

And ready " arts to frieze the blood,"
Intent to dazzle, or appal ;--
But Nature still is best of all.

To be by Taste and Fashion's laws,

The favorite of this fickle day ;
To win the Drawing-room's applause,
To strike ! to startle, and display,—.
And giv'e effect;--appears the aim
Of most who bear the Poet's name.

For this—one idol of the hour,
Brilliant and spaaling as the beams
Of the glad sun ;—culls every flower,
And scatters round—dews, gems, and stream:,
until the wearied, aching sight,
Is " blasted with excess of light."

Another leads his readers on

lVith scenery, narrative,. and tales
Of legends wild, and battles won,
Of craggy rocks, and verdant vales ;
Till always on amazement's brink,
We find—ive have no time to think.

And last—not leasta master mind,?
Around whose proud and haughty brow,
Had he but chosen, might have twin'd
The Muse's brightest, greenest bough,
Who, would be his own victor be,
Night seize on immortality. •

lie, too, forsooth, with morbid vein,
Must ding a glorious Faroe away,
Instruction and delight disdain,
And make us own yet loathe his sway ;
From Helicon he might have quaff 'd,
Yet turn'd to Ach'ron's deadly draught.
0! shame and glory of age !

With talent's such as scarcely met
In Bard before thy magic page,
Who can peruse without regret,
Or,think with cold, unpitying. mien
Of what thou art and might' st have been.

Enough of such--.front these I turn,
From sparkling wit and amorous lays,
From glooms which chill and " words that burn,"
And gorgeous pomp of feudal days—
I turn from such, as things that move
Wonder and awe, hut wake not love.

To thee, and to thy page despis'd
By worldly hearts, I turn with joy,
To ponder o'er the lays I priz'd,
Whcn once a careless, happy boy;
And all that fascinated then, •
More understood delights again.

Nor is it, Wounswortm, trivial test
Of thy well-earn'd poetic fame,
That the untutor'd youthful breast
Should cherish with delight thy Dame.
If feeling be the test of truth,
That touchstone is but prov'd in youth.

Poetry is no complex art,
Which after-life alone can give
The power t' appreciate ; in the heart
Its purest, holiest, canons live;
And Nature's tact is most intense
In the heart's earliest innocence.

'Tis then the sun, the sky, the air,
The sparkling stream, the leafy wood,
The verdant fields, the " mountains bare,"
Are/di—though little understood
We care not, seek not then to provc.
Effect, or cause; we feel and love.

And in that day of love and feeling.
Poetry is a heavenly art,
Its genuine principles revealing,
In their Own glory to the heart ;
Nature's resistless, artless tone
Awakes an echo of its own.

These truths, for such they are, by THEt,
Illustrious Poet, well are seen,
And to thy wise simplicity
Most sacred have they ever been ;
Therefore shalt Tnou, before the Nita&
Othciate—in their INAtosr SHRINL !

Then journey on thy way ;—though lowly,
And simple, and despied, it be,
Yet shall it yield thee visions-1161y,
And such as worldlings never see;
Majestic, meek, simple, sublime,—
And worthy of an earlier time.
Continue still to cultivate

In thy s,quester'd solitude,
Those high conceptions which await
The musings of the wise and good ;
Conceptions lofty, pure, and bright,
Which fill thy soul with heavenly light.

Thou need'st not stoop to win applause
By petty artifice of style,
Or studied wit, that. coldly draws
From Fops or Fools a vapid smile;--
And still leo need'st thou stoop to borrow,
Affected gloom, or mimic sorrow.

But take thee to thy groves and .fields,
Thy rocky vales, and " mountains hare,"
And give us all that Nature yields
Of manners, feelings, habits, there.
Please and instruct the present age,
And live in History's latest.page.
•
Woodbridge, Suffolk.

We readily give place to the foregoing verses, because
we acknowledge ourselves to be admirers of Mr. WORDS..
WORTH'S Poems. That some of his subjects are susceptible
of ridicule, we admit, but what may not give scope to ridi-
cule ? lil all the Compositions of this Poet there will be
found simplicity, truth, nature, and an original vein of
thought, which will entitle him to the praise that Mr. BAR-
ON bestows on him, in sjute of Pedaniq and Fashion.