Star.
London, England, 1824-07-12 00:00:00

POETRY.
-...--

FROM snELLErs a

POEMS."

=1,••••
This volume contains, in addition to the hrger poems, a great
number of what may be termed geese in poetry—small pieces,
wherein some exquisite idea it worked out in a manner remarkably
concise and complete, leaving the Reader's mind delightfully filled
with the images conjured up, and with admiration at the an of
the author. There is more than enough in these minor pieces alone
to entitle Mr. Shelley to the character of a poet of true genius
and refined taste.
There ii something quite Mimic both in the thought and ex-
es of the following : and its pathetic grandeur is heightened
by the reilectioo, that the gifted Author was a victim to that Ocean
"tom which he takes his simile :

" TIME.

Uxrattioxana Sea! whose waves are years,
Ocean of Time, whose waters of deep woe
Are brackish with the salt of human tears !
Thou shoreless flood, which in thy ebb and flow
Ciaspest the limits of mortality !
And, sick of prey. yet howling on for more,
Vomitest thy wrecks on its inhospitable shore,
Treacherous in calm, and terrible in storm,
Who shall put forth on thee,
Unfathomable Sear
The quiet versification of the following Sonnet admirably
the effect:

" SON N ET.
ALAS! good friend, what profit can you see
In hating such an hateiess thing as me ?
There is no sport in bate where all the rage
Is on one side. In vain would you assuage
Your frowns upon an unresisting smile,
In which not e'en contempt lurks, to beguile
Your heart, by some faint sympathy of hate.
0 conquer what you cannot satiate !
For to your passion I am far more coy
Than ever yet was coldest maid or boy
In winter noon. Of your antipathy
If I am the Narcissus, you are free
To.pine into. sound with hating me I"
The third piece we shall select breathes the very essence of ten-
derness and truth, expressed with peculiar grace and neatness :

" GOOD NIGHT.
1" Good night 1 ah ! no; the hour is ill
Which severs those it should unite g
Let us remain together still,
Then it will be good night !
How can I call the lone night pod,
Though thy sweet wishes wing its eight I
Be it not said, thought, understood,
Then it will be good night !
r, To hearts which near each other move
Brom evening close to morning light,
The night is good; because qty love,
They_never osy good night!"

LAW REPORT.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, JULY 10.
CON:•-HONZYSET W. NOCKLAND.
• This was an action to recover damages for a criminal
conversation with the plaintiff's wife.
Mr. Serjeant Pau. stated the case to the Jury, and
said its circumstances were of a peculiarly delicate na-
ture. The plaintiff, Mr. Honeyset, was a person who
kept an inn at Tunbridge Wells; the defendant a sort
of Gentleman farmer, residing in the neighbourhood.
lie had belonged to he Army, and had retired at the
peace with an ample fortune. The plaintiff married
his present wife in 1812, at East Grinstead—he was at
that time about 27, and she, perhaps, not more than 16
or 17. He afterwards went to reside at Tunbridge
Wells, and kept the Swan Inn. They had five children,
and the last was born in the Spring of 1823. The de-
fendant was in the habit of visiting the house, and he
was received with all courtesy. The plaintiff's wife was
a woman of great personal beauty, and of course, in the
situation in which she was placed, she was more exposed
toattack than the wife of any other tradesman. Bat
that circumstance was in no way FAvonrable to the de.
fendant, who, as a married man, a soldier, and a man
of honour, was the more bound to abstain from such a
criminal course as that which he had pursued. The
Learned Serjeant then related the circumstances which
were afterwards spoken to by the witnesses, tending to
prove a criminal intercourse : she ultimately eloped from
her husband.
After witnesses were heard, Mr. Serjeant VAUGHAN
addressed the Jury. He stated that the plaintiff
had actually slept and lived with his wife since the
transaction on which he founded his present corn-
plaint. Did the Jury start at this ? Alas ! they were
destined to hear something still more strange, and
even more revolting than it was strange. lie (Mr.
Sergeant Vaughan) meant not merely to charge the
plaintiff with conniving at his own dishonour, but even
with a conspiracy, aye, and a conspiracy with his wife,
to obtain information on which to bring forward this
action, merely with a view to put money in his own
pocket, and to enable him to live comfortably at the
defendant's expense. lie should prove this by two let-
ters, one written by the wife and the other by the hus-
band, and directed to Miss Mary Bolding, who was a
cousin of the wife's. The Learned Serjeant was about
to read the wife's letter, when he was interrupted by
Mr. Serjeant Pau., who objected that it was not evidence
against the Plaintiff.—Mr. Serjeant VAUGHAN answered
that it was, inasmuch as it was written at the same time,
on the same sheet of paper, and sealed with the same
seal. Yes, whatever the Jury might think of such a
statement, it was positively true. There sat the " ruined"
husband and the criminal wife," cheek by jowl," con-
spiring to discover evidence by which the defendant
could be made answerable in an action of this sort.
He should read these two letters to the Jury, not in the
order in which they were written, for, to gratify his
Brother Pell, he would read the husband's first, although
it began by referring to the wife's, which had bees
written above it. This letter of the husband's had been
proved to be in his hand-writing, by Mr. Winch, and
though no such proof had been offered as to the wife's,
yet being referred to in the husband's, both were evi-
dence. They were as follows :—Addressed "To Miss
Mary Bolding."
Dear Mary Yon will see by the above that it is Mrs. Hooey-
oet's wish for you to inform me of what you can recollect d the
transaction between Rockland and her, es she says you know that
Beckland and she have been together in the bed-room, and you
most have sees many things pain 'between them when they were to-
ther. I have no doubt but you wish us both well, and more
happy than we have beet lately. end modoubt you SSA afford saris.
faction, by being mai*, and giving every information which may
bring this business to an end. I, as well as Mrs. H. shall be most
happy to see you se the Wells, that you might converse together.
I will pay your expenses ; fee, by what she says, probably it would
he best to come than write."
So much for the husband's letter; now for the wife's,

to which it tefetred :
I hope you win give Mr. 0. every information respecting the
yet badness that he *rites aboet, and t hoe yoq wig pine
to the Wens as be wishes, for I very math wish to see yea norm*.
ins 'many different things. Whatever has mod between ni let It be
forgotten, for I have wore ort ray mind thee ally other pastes; but
700 blow, dear Mary, you will Mt tend we by glides Mr. IL
every information respecting what he farina sheet.
" Year affsdlonate Cowie
How kind—how amiable - No offmme at being thus
exposed; no, for it would enable them to live " mese
happily" than they had lately done. Would the Jury

F