The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-03-10 00:00:00

Z.lttraturr.

POETRY.

NIGHT.

(Written for the Liverpool Standard.)
Night, solemn priestess ! reigns. Na k, hear'st thou not
Her voiceless call to worship ? Earth's delights,
The gilding of its baubles dimm'd, are gone ;
Its cares cease to distract, and the calm soul
Becomes a temple consecrate to peace;
Whence the heart's incense to the sky is given.
I hear thee, Night, declare the present God!
Thy myriad gems are flaming; not alone
To Nature lights, but lamps to Reason too.
Bright orators, mysterious, of his praise;
They herald the Eternal, and proclaim,
In characters sublime, his attributes.
This was the theme of the primeval song;
The burden of Creation's morning hymn;
The still small voice through distant ages dim.
0 Night! thy gl-res these; and yet too well
They mark the boundaries of our love, and seem
The flaming swords that guard the way of Truth.
Brunswiek-roart.

SAML. HUGGINS

THE CLOUD IN THE WEST.

(From the Dublin Cairerstly Magazine.)
A cloud is on the western sky,
There's tempest o'er the sea,
And bankrul t states are blustering high,
But not a whit care we.
Our guns shall roar, our steel shall gleam,
Before Columbia's distant stream
Shall own another's sway;
We'll take our stand,
And draw the brand,
As in the ancient day.

They count on feuds w:thin the isle,
They think the sword is broke,
They look to Ireland, and they smile—
But let them hide the stroke.
When rendered one in hand and heart
By robber war, and swindler art,
Home griefs all cast away;
We'll take our stand,
And draw the brand,
As in the ancient day.

Oh, let them look to where in bonds
For help their bondsmen cry— •
Oh, let them look ere British hands
Wipe out that living lie.
Beneath the flag of Liberty
We'll sweep the wide Atlantic sea,
And tear their chains away ;
There take our stand,
And draw the brand,
As in the ancient day.

Veil, starry banner, veil your pride,
The blood-red cross before.
Emblem of that by Jordan's side,
Man's freedom-price that bore.
No land is strong that owns a slave,
Vain is it wealthy, crafty, brave;
Our freedom fot our stay,
We'l' take our stand,
And draw the brand,
As in the ancient day.

Shoat, dusky millions, through the world !
Ye scourge•driven nations, shout!
The flag of Liberty's unfurl'd,
And freedom's sword is out !
The slaver's boastful thirst of gain
Tends but to break his boudsman's chain ;
And Britain's on the way
To'take her stand,
And draw the brand,
As in the ancient day.

SELECTIONS.

CHARACTER OF THE MOVEMENT IN GERMANY.—In
principle Ronge appears to be a rationalist of the lowest
school, professing principles widely different from Czerski,
who is at the head of another section of the movement
party, professing an orthodox Christian creed. The reli-
gious principle is much more strongly developed in the
latter than in the former of these two great leaders.
While Ronge complains in nervous strains of the load
which Rome has laid upon his spirit, of the weariness he
feels under her yoke ; Czerski dwells entirely upon the
degradation which falls upon him as a Christian, and the
absolute incompatibility of the maxims enjoined by the
Romish Church with the pure and unadulterated Word
of God. The tendency of ell the pamphlets I have read
upon this subject seem decidedly in favour of the presby-
terian form of church government, as will at once be
apparent from a perusal of the document I annex. and I
fear the creed professed by the party is very nearly similar
to the Ariau schism as it exists in this country ; so that
although any remove from downright popery is an altera-
tioa for the better, much remains yet to be accomplished
before the new Catholic Church in Germany can prove
permanently useful. In a very able article upon this sub-
ject in a former number of this magazine, the writer ex-
presses his conviction that the introduction of our liturgy,
or some similar form of worship, would prove of most
material benefit to the permanence of the new German
church ; and this writer is happy to state, that in the
town where he was a resident, the clergyman of our Es-
tablishment, who was the chaplain there, had procured,
from the society in London for the Promotion of the Gos-
pel in Foreign Parts, an abundant. supply of Common
Prayer books, translated into German, and was actively
engaged in distributing them among the new congregation,
the leading members of which professed their extreme
gratification at our simple and beautiful forms of prayer,
and appeared most anxious to obtain the introduction of
them into the course of the new service.—Dublin Univer-
sity Magazine.
LORD PALMERSTON'S HOBBY.—However much Lord
Palmerston may fall into the sham-patriotic vein in his
usual party speeches, there is one subject on which, as we
have said, he is inconveniently in earnest. Touch his fo-
reign policy, and on the instant his soul is in arms. Nay,
he does not wait till it is touched, aspen-like though his
vanity be on that theme. So intimately possessed is be
of the absolute excellence of his foreign administration,
and of its importance to mankind, that he is unceasingly,
and without being asked, expounding and explaining it.
lie defends himself spontaneously, without having been
attacked ' • and he never defends himself without gratui-
tously attacking some one else. Sir Robert Peel once
charged him, in well-sugured parliamentary phrase, with
assurance. The imputation was well aimed ; every one
instantly responded to it; for, indeed, the noble lord has
no unnecessary modesty in speaking of himself or his ser-
vices. He is assiduous, and altogether unrestrained by
delicacy, in trumpeting his own exploits as foreign minis-
ter. All the wars he didn't and all the wars he did bring
about ; all, his dexterous manceuvres by which, while pro-
claiming peace, he was countenancing a kind of war in
disguise ; these have been paraded session after session,
upon all imaginable pretexts, before the House of Com-
mons, till Lord Palmerston's pertinacity has become pro-
verbial. His amour propre, in fact, on the subject of his
foreign policy, almost takes the shape of a mania. His
constant references to it, and the extent to which he has
trespassed on the patience of the house, have detracted, to
a considerable extent, from the influence which his unde-
niable talents as a speaker, and even his admitted abilities
as a foreign minister, have long since entitled him to and
secured for him. He is so easily excited on this topic,
that whatever subject he may be talking on, however much
his speech may necessarily be confined to subjects of a
domestic nature, hiS mind seems, by a natural affinity, to
glide into the one great theme which occupies his thoughts
At a guess, it might be hazarded that. taking the average
of his speeches during the last ten or twelve years, four-
fifths of them, at least, have consisted of self-praise, or
self-defence, in connexion with his foreign policy.—Con-
temporary Orators, in Fraser's Magazine.
THE PENNY-A-LINER.—The penny-a-liner, like Pope,
is " known by his style." His fine Roman hand once
seen, may be sworn'to by the most cursory observer. But
though in this one respect of identity resembling Pope, he
bears not in any other the least resemblance to any author
dead or living. He has no brother, and is like no brother
in literature. Such as he was, he is. He disdains to ac-
commodate his manner to the ever-altering taste of the
times. He refuses to bow down to the popular idol, in-
novation. He has a style, and he sticks to it. He scorns ,
to depart from it, to gratify the thirst for novelty. He ;
even thinks that it improves with use, and that his pet
phrases acquire a finer point and an additional emphasis
upon every fresh application. Thus in relating the last
fashionable occurrence, how a noble family has been
plunged into consternation and sorrow by the elopement
of Lady Prudentia a month after marriage, he informs
you, as though the phrase itself carried conviction to the
heart, that the " feelings of the injured husband may be
more easily conceived than described." If he requires
that phrase twice in the same narrative, he consents to
vary it by saying, that " that they may be imagined, but
cannot be depicted." In reporting an incident illustrative
of the.fatal effects of taking prussic acid, he states that the
" vital spark is extinct," and that not the smallest hopes
are entertained of the unfortunate gentleman's recovery.
A lady's bag is barbarouslyistolen from her arm by " a
monster in the human form." A thunder-storm is de-
scribed as having " visited" the metropolis, and the me-
mory of the oldest inhabitant furnishes no parallel to the
ravages of'the " electric fluid." A new actress " sur-
passes the most sanguine expectations" of the public, and
exhibits talents " that have seldom been equalled, never
excelled."' A new book is not simply published, it " ema-
nates from the press." On the demise of a person of
eminence, it' is confidently averred that he had a hand
" open as; day to melting charity," and that, " take him
for all in all, we ne'er shall look upon his like again."
Two objects not immediately connected are sure to be
" far as the poles asunder ;" although they are very easily
brought together and reconciled in the reader's mind by
the convenience cf the phrase " as it were," which is en
especial favourite, and constantly in request. He is a
great admirer of amsflitude of title, for palpable reasons;
as when he reports, that " Yesterday the Right Honour-
able Lord John Russell, M.P., his Majesty's Secretary of
State for the Home Department, dined with, &c." He
is wonderfully, expert in the measurement of hailstones,
and in the calculation of the number of panes of glass
which they demolish in their descent. He is acquainted
with the exact circumference of every gooseberry that
emulates the plenitude of a pumpkin ; and can at all times
detect a phenomenon in every private family by simply
reckoning up the united ages of its various members. But
in the discharge of these useful duties, for the edification
and amusement of the public, he employs, in the general
course of things, but one set of phrases. If a fire can be
rendered more picturesque by designating it the " devour-
ing element," the devouring element rages in the descrip-
tion to the end of the chapter. Once a hit, always a hit;
a good thing remains good for ever; a happy epithet is fe-
licitous to the last. The only variation of style that be
can be prevailed upon to attempt, he introduces in his
quotations. To these he often gives an entirely new as-
pect, and occasionally; by accident, he improves upon the
originals. Of this; the following may stand as a speci-
men:--_ . _

"'Tis not in mortals to deserve success ;
But we'll do more Sempronins, we'll command it."
—Latnan Blanchard's Life and Remains.