The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-24 00:00:00

Li 4 C.

POETRY.

THE WRECK OF THE MIDGE.

(For the Liverpool Standard )
A Mr. Wocel. understood,
Went on a wind day.
To take a steer on Windermere,
And pass his time away.
Those sailors who for pleasure go,
And take s,, much
Their skill to try when winds are high,
Should s e that 41 is right.

If a miata e r.ey chance to make,
And -ails upset the boat,
For trips so gay their lives must pay,
ale•s like Wood they fir at.
The day we name the tempest came,
Each swelling wave ran high;
But Mr. Wood, with courage good,
Did swelling waves de*y.
The wind it blew, the Midge she flew,
Each wave broke on her deck,
Till at the la t a sudden blast
Made her a total wreck.
The boat she sank, aid every plank
Deserted Mr. Wood,
And !eft him there, upon the M re*,
To shirt as be,t he could.
And strange to tell, he ',hilted well,
For he tyok in each hand
An oar strong and he swam along
In hopes to reach the land.
With spirit bold he kept his hold
Amidst his watery way ;
Be had no tear but he mule steer,
And land about the Wrayt.
But glad am I he'd not to try
His s, ill upon the raft,
-For such a day said length of way
Requi,ed a tatter craft.
While hope and fear around the Mere
Fli'd many a breast with awe,
A gallant boat which was afloat
Did to his succour draw.
The surge ran high. the low'ring sky
Seemed on destruetion'bent,
Yet without fear the crew drew near
And a willing hand they le t.
He to-k Ins le - ve. nor did he grieve,
Nor hat nor wig deplore;
He left his raft Ira. a bet e, craft,
And he lauded safe on shore.

Anableside. JAMES GIBSON.
* Wray Castle. the residence of James Dawson, Esq.
t Windermere, the Queen of the iakes.

The sheep that treads the thorny brake
tz,ome portion of its fleece shill shed—
All things that m ye on bind or Like,
Are by same secret influence led
Dame Nature owns a tr ctive power,
Each mind s me kindred mind in pires;
What wonder, then. in witching hour,
A Woolley shout be fixed by Briars?
Hereford, Dec. 15,1844.

NOTICES.

Mount Grace Abbey: a P-on. By the Rev. James
Holmes A. 8.. Vitar of Kirkleatham ; author of " Lei-
sure Musings," " Memoir of Mrs. Presgrave," &c.
London : W. E. Painter, 342, Strand.

We took up the little volume before us with an expec-
tation, induced by its title, that the story and incidents
would be d rected to illustrate this fine old relic of the
Monastic ages, and to paint the splendid scenery by which
it is surrounded. In this, however, we were disappointed,
the incidents having no relation to Mount Grace, except
that the first canto narrates the death of its founder, the
Earl of Furrey, and that the remainder assume the form
of " lays," recited, by a minstrel who has taken refuge
there, for the edification of the worthy priors assembled
within its walls. Canto second is devoted to a narrative
of the life of the minstrel himself, with a description of
part of the magnificent scenery bordering the east coast
of Yorkshire from Whitby to the Teesmouth. The re-
maining four cantos centain some stirring details of the
wars of Edward the Fourth, concluding with a descrip-
tion of the Battle of Crecy, and the subsequent marriage
of his noble son, Edward the Black Prince.
The versification and form of the work are after the
manner of Sir Waiter Scott; and although its reverend
author never appreaches closely the excellence of the
model which he has chosen, he has succeeded in pi odu-
dng several fine descriptive and other passages, which,
if not highly poeti al, are marked by great chasteness of
feeling and perception of the beautiful. Some of the
sacred melodies, with which the first and second cantos
are interspersed, are elrgantly and forcibly written. As
a whole, indeed, " Mour.t Grace Abbey " is a creditable
production, although ixe rether question whether its reve-
rend author, in producing it, has selected the line best
suited for the display--or most likely to conduce to the
usefulness—of his evident talents, and particularly of that
research in historical and theological subjects which ap-
pears in the notes to this volume.

The Chimes: a Goblin Story. By Charles Dickens.
London : Chapman and Hall.
" Another Christmas Carol ! " was the involuntary
exclamation of all the reading world, Young and old,
grave and gay, on perusing the announcement of this
little volume ; and puzzled and curious were all to learn
what could he the story of " some bells that rang an old
year out and a new year in." By this time tens of thou-
sands—literally tens of thousands—have gratified their
Curiosity. We have our,elves read it twice, for a reason
which we shall presently inform our readers, who must
not, by the bye, suppose that we are here about to present
to them the book itse 1, as some critical people are in the
habit of doing when a popular author is in the case, but
merely to express our opinion of its artistic merits.
• We have read the work twice over, then, because a first
perusal impressed us with the idea that it was not quite
equal to Mr. Dickens' former productions, and was espe-
cially inferior to his " Christmas Carol." Not that we
failed to observe, in some of the characters delineated,
the fine hand of the painter of Tiny Tim and Bob
Cratchit, Tom Pinch and the sweet little Ruth. Trott),
Yeck is a thorough Boz, an undoubted original. We
have met with coarse specimens of the character in actual
life again and again; but Trotty is its spiritualization—a
concentration of the excellencies of the entire genus, di-
vested of that portion of it which is, in an offensive de-
gree, "of the earth, earthy." Meg Veck, his daughter,
is such a creation as the genius of Dickens only has suc-
ceeded in pourtraying ; and Richard and poor Lilies are
equally fine specimens of his pencil. But with some of
the other and repulsive characters we were not satisfied,
nor were we with the framework of the story. Mr.
Dickens' bells, though sweet, we thought were " jangled
out of tune"; and we set about another perusal to satisfy
ourselves.
That second perusal, we must say, has not satisfied us,
although, like a second and a third perusal of every book
of this writer, it has disclosed to us a hundred beauties
unnoticed in the first—a hundred fine tints and shades of
colouring—a hundred scintillations of creative genius—a
hundred finely-drawn traits of character, which, like the
paintings of a Landseer or a Wilkie., only shew their dis-
tinctive and minute beauties atter we base mastered the
effect of the whsle, and are scrutinising the execution of
the parts. Thus, in the somewhat repulsive character of
Will Ferns, the discontented, threatening labourer, arid
at last the inc-ndiary, we are brcuuht to recognise an
under-stratum of noble humanity which prompts him to
undertake, with his straitened means arid almost hopeless
prospects, the care of his broth-r's orphan child—the
germs of a nature made for better things; and are com-
pelled to acknowledge and deplore that vicious system of
treatment of the class to which be belongs, which drags
down so large aportion of it to a felon's practice and a
felon's doom. Lillian the beautiful, whose fall we have
too hastily set down to the imt ulse of womanly vanity
and weakness, becomes more worthy of our sympathy
and pity, when we reflect upon the disproportion of the
burthens which st e had to bear to the strength of the
nature which had to bear them. Perhaps, te:), the pic-
ture held out to us may teach us to visit less uncharitably
the errors of her sex. St►ll, however, a few of the other
characters introduced remain, what they were perhaps
intended for, caricatures.
As a whole, we cannot yet think these " Chimes" equal
to the average of Mr. Dickens' writings. There is, how-
ever, a fine healthy rein of morality and genuine philan-
thropy running through them, and a genuine English
reprobation of the heartless quackeries of Malthusianism,
as well as of the more esti►rable, so far as motive and
feeling are concerned, although ill-directed projects of
that new party amongst us which would give the agricul-
tural labourer a cricket ball or a May-pole when his fa-
mily wants a loaf, and the artizan the k►to.vledge of the
Athenaeum er the Mechanics' Institute when his more
urgent need is a knowledge of his own nature and of his
God.

Monastic Institutions; their Origin, Progress, Nature,
and Tendency. By Samoa Philips Day, lately con-
nected with the lklontistery of the Presentation Order
at Youghal. Dublin : Curry and Co. ;. London :
Longman and Co. 18-14.
The uriter of this book is a young man, who has seen
the errors or Popery, and has become acquainted with a
better way. His " local habitation" while in the service
of Home was at Youglul, where, our rcadt•rs may remem-
ber, a bungling attempt at miraculous power was made
some time ,ago in a monastery. Oil that occasion the
editor of an English paper, conducted by Boman Catho-
lics, and faiourahle to Romanism, was obliged, after a
personal examination of the whole m,tter, to retire with
horror and di gust. In this town Mr. Day was located
as a member of a monastic body. That he had opportu-
nities of knowing someling of the system, cannot be
denied ; for h's intimate connexion with the daily working
of the whole process of monastic duties would at once
give the lie to such a denial. In order to he of some ser-
vice to the good cause a hich is now the child of his adop.
tion, he gives his undivided attention to the consideration
of the monastic orders from their earn, st period down to
the present day ; and he publishes the result of hislabonrs
in a condensed form, not omitting to put on record his
own experience, and to introduce us into the penetralia
of modern monachism. We take for granted that his
evidence is worthy of respect, as the reverend gentleman
who has kindly written a preface to she work, states that
" " he bears an unsullied character. Ile further says—
The impression left upon my mind is, that he is per-
fectly conversant with the subject ne has taken in hand,
and that he has seceded •from the ranks of the Apostacy
with a character even above suspicion." We are not to
SE pect a Ltboured history of "religious houses" in a work
a5.,..,0p0n so limited a scale ; but it would appear that it con-
- %Ins information sufficient to let us into the secrets of
• • •

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ON THE RECO'ZCILIATION OF MR. WOOLLEY
MISs BRYARS.