The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-05 00:00:00

SONG OF THE UGLY MAIDEN

Oh ! the world gives little of love or light;
Though my spirit pants for much ;
For I have no beauty for the sight,
No riches for the touch.
I hear men sing o'er the flowing cup
Of woman's magic spell;
And vows of zeal they offer up,
And eloquent tales they tell.
They bravely swear to guard the fair
With strong protecting arms;
But will they worship woman's worth
Unblent with woman's charms?
No! ah, no ! 'tis little they prize
Crooked-backed forms and rayless eyes.

I join the crowd where merry feet
Keep pace with the merry strain ;
I note the earliest words that greet
The fair ones in the train.
The stripling youth has passed me by,
He leads another out I
She has a light and laughing eye,
Like sunshine playing about.
The wise man scanneth calmly round,
But his gaze stops not with me;
It bath fixed on a head whose curls, unbound,
Are bright as curls can be;
And he watches her through the winding dance
With smiling care and tender glance.

The gay cavalier has thrust me aside,
Whom does he hurry to seek?
One with a curving lip of pride,
And a forehead broad and sleek.
The grey-haired veteran, young with wine;
Would head the dance once more;
He looks for a hand, but passes mine,
As all have passed before.
The pale, scarred face, may sit alone,
The unsightly brow may mope ;
There cometh no tongue with wins
To flatter Affection's

Oh, Ugliness! thy desolate pain
Had served to set the stamp of Cain

Man, just man! I know thine eye
Pelighteth to dwell on those

Whose tresses shade, with curl or braid.
Cheeks soft and round as the rose :

I know that thou wilt ever turn
To the beauTiful and bright ;
But is it well that thou shouldst spurn
The one God chose to blight ?
Oh ! why forget that a charmless brow
May abide with a gentle breast?
Oh I why forget that gold is found'
Hidden beneath the roughest ground?

LITERATURE.

BOOKS FOR REVIEW, &c.—Books, New Prints, Music, &c.,
intended for review, may be left at Mr. C. Mitchell's, Red-
lion-court, Fleet-street, London, addressed "to the Editor

of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD," when they will be forwarded

and receive attention

Blackwood's Magazine. London : Blackwood.

We are reluctantly compelled, owing to the pres-
sure of assize news, to give but a brief notice of the
contents of the April number. It opens with a
vigorous paper on " Temperance and Teetotal Socie-
ties," which will, no doubt, be eagerly read by the
numbers interested in the question. The story of
4" Lady Lee's Widowhood" and that of " Jack
Rintml, or the fragment of the Wreck," are conti-
nued. Then we have "A modern French Comedy,"
" Lombardy and its irrigation," and " Twenty
years in the Philippine Islands;" and the magazine
concludes with a political essay, entitled " Hints
for legislation," which we shall turn to again.
We shall endeavour next week to find room for
some extracts.

Bits of Turf. London : Racing Times office.
Here we have a few sketchy articles reprinted
from the columns of the sporting newspaper
in which they were originally published by
" Priam." The wit is of the usual race-course
standard, and is not much elevated by a few wood-
cuts presumed to be of a comical character.

Descriptive Catalogue of the Woods commonly used
in this Country. By Charles Holtzapffel, A.C.E.
London : Holtzapffel and Co.

When we reflect that the utmost confusion and
ignorance prevails with respect to the history of
our timber and furniture woods, notwithstanding
their vast importance in commerce and the con-
structive arts, we must hail with satisfaction any
attempt to extricate them from this position, and to
render their designations intelligible, and to make
their qualities known. Still more have we reason
to be satisfied when a gentleman of Mr. Holtzapffel's
well-known experience takes the matter in hand,
and gives us the large amount of practical know-
ledge which he has acquired. The title of the book
before us is hardly calculated to do justice to the
work, which is a complete history of a large
number of the common and rare woods used in
building, cabinet work, and turnery, giving the
fullest information as to the adaptability of the
various kinds for the uses to which they are gene-
rally applied. To the amateur and practical workers
in wood this volume is invaluable ; it is also of use
to the scientific student, in consequence of copious
botanical information contributed by Dr. Royle.

SERIALS FOR APRIL.—A more readable publi-
cation devoted to science than Corks's Musical
Miscellany never gladdened the musical firesides of
Old England. The music is of a highly respectable
class, and the letterpress is not a whit behind it.—
ogy's Instructor is this month adorned with a
steel engraving of the learned Sir Charles Lyell, in
its turn illustrated by a pen-and-ink sketch, which
is sure to find readers in an age addicted to that
most delightful species of literature, biography. A
Scottish emigrant contributes some original notes
relative to the spread of spirit-rapping on the
other side of the Atlantic, from which we learn that
not fewer than a dozen newspapers have been
founded in the New World to support that fearful
delusion. The Journal of the Photographic So-
ciety (Taylor and Francis, London,) has been
established for the interchange of thought and ex-
perience among photograpers ; and, as it is taste-
fully conducted, and contains papers by the most
accomplished men, the publication will in all like-
lihood attain a remunerative circulation. The
members of the Photographic Society recently
established in Liverpool, under the presidency of
the Mayor, must hail the new magazine with
pleasure.