Star.
London, England, 1823-05-05 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

TO THE YELLOW VIOLET.—Br •x AmmucAN POW.

When beechen buds begin to swell,
And woods the blue-bird's warble know,
The yellow violet's modest bell
Peeps from the last year's leaves below !
Ere russet leaves their green resume,

Sweet flower ! I love, in forest bare,
To meet thee, when thy faint perfume
Alone is in the virgin air !
Of all her train, the hands of Spring,

First plant thee in the wat'ry mould;
And I have seen thee blossoming
Beside the snow-bank's edges cold!
Thy parent Sun, which bade thee view
Pale skies, and chilling moisture sip,
Has batti'd thee in its own bright hue,

And streak'd with jet thy glowing lip !
Yet slight thy form, and low thy seat,
And earthward bent thy gentle eye,

Unapt the passing view to meet,
When loftier flowers are flaunting nigh!•

Oft in the sunless April day

Thy early smile bas stay'd my walk ;
But, 'midst the gorgeous blooms of May,
I pass'd tbee on thy humble stalk !

So they who climb to wealth forget

The friends in darker fortunes tried ;
I copied them—but I regret
That I sbonld ape the ways of pride !
And when again the genial hour,
Awakes the painted tribes of light,
I'll not o'erlook the modest flower
That made the woods of April bright !

ITINGAN GILHAIZE ; or, The CovEl+Asvratts. By the Author of
" Annals of the Parish," " Sir Andrew Wylie," " The En-

tail," three vola. 12mo.

We have here another excellent Work from the pen
of one of the best of our living novel writers ; but of a
cast somewhat different fsofin that of his former Works.
" The Annals of the Parish" and " The Entail; were
family histories, drawn from real life ; Ringan Gil-
haize" is a hero of fiction, by whose life and adven-
tures the author endeavours to make more manifest
than has yet been done, the spirit which guided the
course of events during one of the most interesting
periods of the national history e 4 Scotland.
Sir Walter Scott has in several of his Novels, parti-
cularly that of Old 41kt-tidily, exhibited the ancient
Covenanters in the light 'of men stout of heart and
mind, yet very unreasonable and iidiculous person-
ages withal ; the purpose the writer of ,this novel is
to unfold and vindicate their character—to shew the
high and just motives by which they were actuated,
and the great national good which through their in-
strumentality was effected: he takes for the epigraph
of his writ k these fine lines rinds country man Grahame,
the author of " The Sabbath :" •
Their con -fancy in torture and in death,—
These on Tradition's tongue shall live, these shall
On History's honest page be pictured bright
TO latest times.

Of the success with which the Author has accom-
plished this most laudable object, we feel bound to
veal.. most Itingan Gilhaize," is a work
of deep and intense interest; and must carry to every
unbiassed mind a thotough conviction that it was in-
deed from much cruel wrong, that the Covenanters
were " tatOit to feel, know, and understand the di-
vine tipht of resistance." We shall quote as a speci-
men a sliort passage, which describes the state of pub-
lic feeling, on the prtclamation of the bans of mar-
riage between Q.leen Mary and the Earl of Bothwell,
the reputed murderer of her previous husband, Darn-
ley. The clergyman who figures on this occasion
was Mr. William Craig, the colleague of the morel,
celebrated John Knox. _
_ _ _

On the morning. of the first appointed day my
grandfather went thither; a vast concourse of the
people were assembled, and the worthy Minister,
when he rose in the pulpit with the paper in his hand,
trembled and was pale, and for some time unable to
speak ; at last he read the names and purpose of
maitiage aloud, and he paused when he had done
so, and an awful solemnity froze the very spirits of
the. congregation. He then laid down the paper on
the pulpit, and lifting his hands and raising his eyes,
cried ith a v;.hement sadness of voice—' Lono Goo
of the pure Heavens, and all ye of the earth that
hear me, I protest, as a Minister of the Gospel, my
a'iliorrence and detestation of this hideous and adul•
terous sin ; and I call all the Nobility and all of the
Queen's council to remonstrate with her Majesty
against a step that must cover her with infamy for
ever and ruin her past all remedy.' Three days did
he thus publish the bans, and thrice in that manner
did he boldly proclaim his protestation ; for which
he was called before the Privy Council, where the
guilty Bothwell was sitting ; and being charged with
having exceeded the bounds of his commission, be
replied with an apostolic bravery—
. My commission is.from the word of GOD, good
laws, and natural reason, to all which this proposed
marriage is obnoxious. The Earl of Bothwell, there
where he sits, knows that he is an adulterer,—the
divorce that he has prom ed from his wife has been
by collusion,=and he knows likewise that he has
murdered the King and guiltily possessed himself of
the Queen's person.'
Yet, notwithstanding, Mr. Craig was suffered to
depart,, even unmolested by the astonished and over-
awed Bothwell ; but, as I have said, the marriage
was still celebrated; and it was the last great crime
of papistical device that the Loan suffered to see
done within the bounds of Scotland."
ORSIRTATIONS on the EFFECT'S of LIGHTNING en FLOATING Bo-
oms ; with an Account of a new Method of applying fixed and
continuous Conductors of Electricity to the Masts of Ships.—
In a Letter, addressed to Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Byam
Martin, K.C.13. Comptroller of his Majesty's Navy, &c. Etc.
by WILLIAM SNOW 11 A RRIS, Member of the Royal College of
Surgeons. Royal 4to. pp. 92.
The nature of this work is very fully expressed in
the title. Though its principal object be the pre-1
servation of ships from accidents by lightning—a
most important subject—in other respects it is well
deserving of the attention of electricians, containing
many curious facts in their favourite branch of science.
Mr. Harris effects his object by inserting in a groove;
ploughed longitudinally in the aft part of the fixed
and sliding masts, slips of copper about an eighth of
an inch thick, and one inch and a half wide, with an,

adequate tuetallii connexion in the caps through
which they slide, and a similar connexion with the
sea through the keel. The whole is so contrived, that
any elongation or contraction of the masts, or the re-
moval of either of them, will in no way break the
continuity of the conductor. The work is accompa-
nied with five lithographic prints, and a well-con-
trived experimental illustration of the course of the
lightning, effected by lines of gold (on paper) sub-
jected to a violent electrical discharge.