Star.
London, England, 1829-12-03 00:00:00

s-4

the history of his life; &cod Nnnets to b Oak friend are indet d
but faint scintillations,- •dt seems hapesibleto make out to whom
they were dedicated.:• Dr. Drake-ieriplooplbly, bust by no means,
I think, conclusiveli, contends that their object was Lord South-
ampton. If this be the fact, it is rather odd to find the poet call-
ing a peer of the realm " his sweet boy," at a•time when his Lord•
ship must have beep thirty-giz years of age. Mr. Gen. Chalmers,
whose ingenuity always repays its errors, by giving ample occa-
sion for a laugh, insists that they were addressed to Queen Eliza-
beth. •What must her unsezed Majesty have thought uf -the 20th
Sonnet ?

Considering these Sonnets merely as poems, without reference to
thier biographical importance, it is manifest that some of them
lack an important characteristic of true poetry, namely, their
being genuine draughts of the poet's mind ; for when he extols
the personal charms and complexion of his friend, we recognize
only an assumption of a fictitious- character, borrowed in mo-
ments of thoughtless accordance from the capricious rhodo-
montade of the times. To take the fashion of the age, and
its unmeaning licence of language, into allowance, would be but
justice to him if he were the commonest sonneteer, but most
emphatically is it due to his hallowed memory as the master of the
human heart. Still, at the same time, that very allowance leaves
his language to be held unmeaning, and therefore, in several pass-
ages, uninteresting. Many of the Sonnets, nevertheless, express
an unelargerated friendship that'is truly Shakspearian and endear-
ing ; and the fancy, harmony, and diction of the greater portion of
the whole collection betoken the hand of a master. They form,
altogether, the best of our sonnet poetry anterior to that of Drum•
mond ; for George Stevens's comparison of them with Watson's
productions is unworthy of an answer. If the same Commenta-
tor's question, " What have truth and nature to do with sonnets ?"
deserve any reply, we may simply extinguish it, by telling him that
they as much to do with the sonnet as with any other short spe-
cies of poem. It is very true, that any long series of effusions,
clothed in uniform metre, inspired with slightly varying sentiments:
and devoted to the same subject, will produce, when collectively
read, a certain monotonous effect, from which I cannot deny that,
these sonmets are totally free any more than those of Petrarch.
It is delightful to take a short walk through side-rows of sweet-
briars and honey-suckle; but it would tire us to make a day's jour-
ney through interminable alleys of them. There is no necessity,
however, for our making a toil of a pleasure in reading either the
sonnets of Shakspeare or Petrarch, for the character o( tedium be.
longs not to those pieces individually, any more than the pressure,
of a crowd belongs to the presence of a single person. To say that
these Sonnets add but little to Shakspeare's fame, is as excusable
as to say that a considerable rock might appear but as a pebble if it
were piled on the top of Olympus. But in many of them all the ma-
jesty and grace of Shakspeare is as distinct, and impress us with that
peculiar aspect, as if thoughts that voluntary move harmonious,
numbers were the spontaneous respirations of his mind. I was
beginning to enumerate the more exquisite portion of his sonnets,
such as the Bth, the 30th, 123 d, and others, but let me spare the
reader the officious aid of a cicerone, where he may so easily judge
for himself. I will not preach to his taste and ear by commenting
on the exquisite richness of music and meaning in the following
lines :

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Amidst impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,—
Or bends with the remover to remove :
0 no ! it is an ever•fued mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken ;
It is the star.to every wandering bark,
Whose_ worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come ;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks;
But bears it out e'en to the edge of doom.
If this be errour, and upon me proved,
I never writ, and no man ever loved. T. C.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

GREAT STEEPLE CHACE—Dtc,i.

The long-talked-of match for 100sovs, pp. between Captain
Roses Clinker and Mr. Osbaldeston's Clasher took place yes-
terday morning in the neighbourhood of Melton-Mowbray, In
the presence of a great concourse of sporting characters. By the
terms of the match, the weights were fixed at 12 stone each ;
Clinker being ridden by the celebrated Dick Christian, and Clasher
by his spirited owner. The starting and coaling-in points were
not fixed till a few hours before the time for meeting, when they
were declared to be Great Dalby, and a field near Tilton. The
interest excited by the match was extraordinary, especially in the
two counties ( Northampton and Leicester), of which the two
horses were respectively the champions. Clinker has long been
known, not only in the Melton Hunt, but in every sporting county
in the kingdom ; he was formerly hunted by Mr. Holyoake, and
was considered a remarkable superior horse at a burst; he was af-
terwards purchased by Captain Ross for 500 guineas to run the
great steeple duce with Lord Kennedy for 2,000 guineas, in which
be proved successful ; he also started in the sweepstake last sea-
son, his defeat being attributable to injudicious riding. Clasher
has only been known in the immediate vicinity of the Pytcbley
Hunt, and came into node last year by winning the Welter Cup at
the Hunt Meeting. Mr. Osbaldeston has all along expressed the
greatest confidence in him; and this will account for the compa-
rative timidity with which the Leicestenbire people laid odds on
Clinker. At the time appointed for starting the parties appeared
at Great Dalby, and without any unnecessary delay, went off
abreast at a killing pace ; they kept tide by side over Burrow Lord-
ship, Twyford, Marfieet Lordship, the chances throughout appear-
ing so equal that the most experienced could not venture an opinion
on the race; the leaps (and there were some rasping fences) were
taken with admirable coolness, horses and riders doing their work
in the cleanest and most sportsman-like manner. Nothing decisive
could be gathered till they got to the last fence which separated
them from the winning field. Mawr went at it as if he was be-
ginning the chase, cleared it iu a style that cannot be too highly
admired, and in an instant was in the Tilton field; not SO Clinker,
who fell in making the leap, lay some time before be got up, and
of course lost the race. _ _ _

It is allowed that this was one of the finest things of the hind
ever Ken at Melton ; nor can it be denied that Mr. Osbaldeston
and Christian displayed first-rate horsemanship.
The betting on this match was eaceedingly heavy. and it is
reported that Mr. Osbaldeiton has won a very large sum. The
Meitonlans are bit very hard, and are evidently less sanguine
about the second match between the same parties, which is fixed
for Saturdey peat, near Northampton. The distance run was
about five miles. We omitted to state that neither Clinker not
his jockey was hurt by the fall.

A new club is about to be established at the West-end
of the toss*, to be called the Huirsdnans. If recruited from the
other clubs, it cannot fano( becoming uncommonly numerous.
Yesterday afternoon an inquest was held at the Rose
of Normandy public-house, in High-street, Marylebone, before
Mr. Stirling, touching the death of Miss Mary Ann Tessier, a
young lady who was burnt to death at a boarding-school in that
neighbourhood, and the following evidence was given :—Min
Emma Beardmore, of 26, Beaumont-street, aged twelve years,
was at school with the deceased on Friday morning, at No. 103,
High street, and about half-past nine o'clock the detested endea-
voured to reach a piece of paper from behind an image Which stood
upon the chimney-piece of the school-room, and her clothes went
too neat the bars of the grate, and her frock caught fire. The de-
ceased screamed, and ran out of the room, and the witness did not
see her again until she was put into bed. In answer to the Co-
roner, and some ofthe Jury. she said there were two other children
in the room at the time. The deceased was younger then her.
self. The governess was not present, fur the school hours did
not begin till ten o'clock. The deceased had been occasionally
corrected for getting too near the fire. Mr. John Dever mew.
pies apartments in the same house where the accident took
plate, and is a tailor. He heard the screams of the child, and
ran to meet her on the stairs In flames; he accidentally had
piece of woollen cloth in his hand. and hi threw it over her
shoulders, and with the assistance of Mr. Galilee, the land.
lord of the house, the fire was extinguished, and the child was car-
ried into the back• parlour, and in about three minutes the assist.
ante of a surgeon was obtained. Mr.' Natio. Grant; of Thayer.
street, was celled in ; he found her shoulders, end nen; and back,
and amt., and nee leg of She deceased; very • much umt. 'and ko
arplied the necessary remedies. Alt she Bogeyed and dled at "St,
o cluck the neat evening, in coosequelpcit orthe Cled...—Yerdicf.—•
Accidental