The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-07-04 00:00:00

Kiterature

We feel that in time past we have frequently led the
seeders of the STANDARD too exclusively through the
the turmoil of political controversy. The necessity of
our position is the only apology which we shall offer.
cooped up within the space of a single sheet, and our
time well nigh occupied with the labours incident to a
double publication, we had little opportunity for afford-
ing ourselves, or our readers, the relaxation of an ex-
cursion into the fairy-land of song or of romance, or for
the more severe, yet not less delightful, pursuits of
criticism and philosophy. We are now, however, by
the new arrangement of our time and space, happily
emancipated from the thraldom, in which thus far we
have been held. Our prison doors are open. " Fresh
Selds and pastures new"—grateful to the sense as the
irst breath of heaven to the cheek of the fever-worn
tonvalescent—are spread before us ; and we shall, from
lime to time, and with no sparing hand, endeavour to
gather their flowers, and present them here fresh and
verdant, to those readers who will bestow a favouring
eye upon our humble labours.

To those of the correspondents, and especially of thefair
correspondents of the STaNDARD, who have honoured
as with occasional communications—to which, for the
reasons given above, we have sometimes been compelled
to accord less than the consideration due to them—we
are enabled now to offer a more ample measure of
justice than has hitherto been within our power ; and
whilst we shall, on every occasion, prize originality, we
shall not close these columns against extracts from any
new publications which may be forwarded us for notice.
We propose, in fact, making this portion of our paper a
kind of miscellany—a collection of poetry and prose,
criticism, and philosophy—designed to amuse and in-
struct those readers, whose attention is not altogether
absorbed by the dry details of political or economica
controversy.

PHILHELLENIC DRINKING SONG

BY B. SIMMONS

Blackwood's Magazine for A

the,r memory,
weeks cf old—
On shore and sea the Famed, the Free,
The Beautifu!—the Bold !
The mind or mirth that lights each page,

m their age—

Gems s

linter'd from their wit.
Then drink we to their memory,
Those glorious Greeks of yore
Cf great or true, we can but do
VS h t they have done before!

We've had with THE
What if the scene he saw—
The modern Xerxe —from the slope
Of rimson Quatre-bras,
Was but the fruit we early won
From tales of Grecian fields.
Such as the swords of Marathon
Carved on the Median shields.

EAT KING to cope—

Oh, honour to those chainless Gre
N. e drink them one and all,
Who block'd that day Oppresion'l
As with a brazen wall!

Theirs was the marble land where, wood
By love-born Taste, the Gods
Themselves the I fe of stone endued
In more d vine abodes
Than blest their own Olympus bright ;
Then in supreme re; ose,
Afar, star-glittering, high and white
Athea's shrine arose.

o to the days of Pericles
The votive goblet 11'1—
In fane or mart we but d stort
H s grand achievements still

Fill to their Matron's memory—
The Fair w•ho

no fear—
)'s shield to be
or his bier.*

We b
That I

ntless blood--it fills

li-woman's vein

Whose praise shall pek
JELLALABAD, are plains
That LADY'S health ! who doubts
Of Greece, and loved to hear?
wheat, two thousand years interr'd,
rills' ' its harvest bear.t
The lore of C

ish when thy hills,

With Plat

le book still bright
s thought—

The The ban- 's i
_ Stagyra's sor

,ar —the judging-right
hist taught—

Bard, Critic, Mon
Can but their sr

ist today

. .
sine thoughts transfused. Away,
not Gael but Greek.
Then drink, and dream the red grape weeps
Those dead but deathless lords,
Whose influence in our bosom sleeps,
Like music in the chords.

Yet 'tis not in the chiming hour
Of goblets, after all.
That thoughts of old Hellenic Power
Upon the heart shout,. fall.
Go home—and ponder o'er the hoard
When night makes silent earth:
The gods the Romans most adored.
lie worshipp'd at the hearth.
Then, di ink and swear by Greece, that there
Though Rhenish Huns may hive,
In Britain we the liberty
She loved will keep alive.

CHORUS.
And thus we drink the'r memory
Those glorious• Greeks of old,
Dn shore and sea the Failed and Free—

the Bold !

h me or upon it ! " was the well-known in.
ek mother, as she handed her son his shield
•ht

A PICTURE OF A VERY YOUNG NUN,

ADING A DOCTRINAL BOOK OPEN BEFORE HER, AND NO'

CONTEMPLATING A CRUCIFIX BEHIND lIER

BY HARTLEY COLERIDGE

From Tait's Magazine fur July

young, consign'd to cloistral shade
led—wedded—yet a maid ;
left no thought, no wish behind,
iloyment for the wandering wind,
old be proud to waft a sigh from thee,
Sweeter than ought he steals in Araby?
Thou wert immured, poor Maiden, as I guess,
In the blank childhood of thy simpleness.
Too young to doubt, too pure to be ashamed,
Thou gave't to God what God had never claim'd;
And didst, unweeting, sign away thine all
Of earthly good—a guiltless Prodigal.
The large reversion of thy unborn love
Was sold to purchase an estate above.
Yet, by those hands upon thy bosom prest,
I think, indeed, thou art not quite at rest.
Yon Christ, that hangs upon the sculptured cross,
Is not the JESUS to redeem thy loss;
Nor will that book, whate'er its page contain,
Convince thee that the world is false and vain.
Even now, there is a something at thy heart
Would fain be off ; but may not, dare not start.
Yes, yes, thy face, those eyes, thy close lips prove
Thou wert created to be loved, and love.

YEW BOOKS

nd Antiquities of Ireland, illustrated by
'rawinps, by Bartlett; the literary department by N.
P. 'Willis, Esq. London, G. Virtue.

The Scenes

We have received Part XXVI. of this work, which
continues to be got up with the same spirit and liberality
in illustration, and the same interest in the descriptive
department, that characterised the earlier numbers. This
part embraces some peculiarly interesting parts of Ireland—
the metropolis, and portions of its romantic environs.
There are four beautiful engravings (on steel), by cele-
brated artists, namely, of Sackville-street, (with Nelson's
monument in the centre,) taken from the bridge across
the Liffey, at the south end ; Waterford, with its long
elegant pile-bridge, its shipping, &c. ; Carrickfergus
Castle, peering on a rock, washed by the sea ; and the
Augustinian Abbey of Adare, a noble gothic ruin, still
overtopped by a square embattled tower. These are all
executed in the finest style of the art, and are each so
beautiful that we know not which most to commend. The
literary portion is written with the author's accustomed
ability, and tact of conveying much pleasing information,
anecdote, and historical reminiscence within a small corn-
He briefly notices the celebrity of Ireland and her
universities in the early ages, and the causes of its gra-
dual decline; describes the celebrated Hall of Tara; gives
an account of the nature and extent of several of the vast
bogs of Ireland ; and passing from Trim to Dublin, by
way of Kilock, Maynooth, Carton, and Leixlip, furnishes
an animated and pleasing sketch of the metropolis, and
its diversified and romantic environs—to be continued in
he next number. The work would form an excellent
look of reference for the tourist, and will be found equally
cceptable in the parlour or the drawing-room. We
aote the following passage, descriptive of Leixlip, as a
ecimen of the style, selected for its brevity, rather than
a favourable specimen of the author's general
ers, which are better displayed in subjects of higher

uport :
"The

ar the bank
. From ti