The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-07-11 00:00:00

MIDNIGHT AT SEA.

(From the Illuminated Magazine for July.)
Alone with God upon the boundless sea,
No spot of earth in view, no sombre cloud,
The glittering stars and gentle moon to shroud;
On rides the bark in calm tranquillity—
Quiet the autumn breeze, while in the lee
The billows part without a sign of life.
Silent the mighty ocean vast and free—
Seeming to herald some portentous strife.
Alone with God ! how limited the power
Of man the creature here to shit Id or save,
For few the bounds that part the yawning grave;
Most awful thought at this most solemn hour.
Alone with God ! alone to worship Him
Before whose throne all worldly thoughts grow dim.
W. B.

THE SONG OF THE PAUPER.

(From the Illuminated Magazine for July.)
Spring cometh to the world ;
Spring cometh not to me :
There is no Spring in the poor-house yard,

For the prison'd Misery.
The fond Spring whispereth;
The merry birds are singing;
The chime o' the flowers is ringing
But mine is prison breath.

Spring shouteth jubilee ;
The pauper may not fare,
From the closeness of his winter yard
Into the fragrant air.
Spring looseth the frozen earth ;
The forests their free arms are flinging
Abroad : to me are clinging
Death and the rule of dearth.

Spring smileth : the free birds mate ;
The free flower blossometh :
The house of the pauper is desolate ;
The grave.weed is his wreath.
There is no smile for me :
No child to my life is clinging;
Though the buds on the moors are springing,
I have no family.

Spring cometh to the world;
Spring giveth life to all;
Oh ! when shall the Spring of poor Humankind
Proclaim its festival ?
The fond Spring whispereth ;
The merry birds are singing ;
The chime o' the flowers is ringing :
But mine is prison breath.

NOTICES.

THE SERIALS.

From Blackwood, Fraser, the Dublin University, Tait,
and Ainsworth, we quoted so largely in our last, that it
would be supererogatory to give here any detailed notice
of their various contents. We have allowed our readers
an opportunity of becoming acquainted with their quali-
ties ; and a sample is at all times better than mere praise.
We cannot, however, omit the opportunity of reminding
the lovers of periodical literature, that, with most maga-
zines, this is the month for commencing a new volume.
In addition to the above, we have received—

Punch,
which is rich in drollery and wit, as usual.
The Story Teller, or Table-Book of Modern Literature.
No. 3. Cunningham and Mortimer. London.

To the occasional reader this series will afford a fund
of entertainment. It is got up in good style ; the literary
contents excellent; and is decidedly a cheap publication.
The Asiatic Journal. July. W. H. Allen and Co.,
London.

To those interested in the welfare of our Indian posses-
sions, it is full of information and sound practical views of
passing events.

The Illuminated Magazine. Edited by Douglas Jerrold.
We have quoted from this magazine some spirited
stanzas, which will be found in our poetical department.
The prose contents are equally excellent, and the illustra-
tions above all praise. It has been left for the present
age of illumination to produce such a periodical as this
for the low price of one shilling.

The Abbotsford Edition of Waverley. No. 32. Robt.
Cadell, Edinburgh ; Houlston and Stoneman, London ;
and G. Philip, South Castle-street, Liverpool.
The " Heart of Mid-Lothian" is completed in this
number, and terminates the third volume of the series.
The illustrations still maintain their excellence and beauty.
Men and Manners in America. By Thomas Hamilton,
Esq., author of " Cyril Thornton." Wm. Blackwood
and Sons, Edinburgh.
We have been favoured by the spirited publishers with
a new and neatly-got-up edition of this production of the
lamented author of " Cyril Thornton." In addition to
the contents' of former editions, we are here presented
with a selection of letters addressed by the author to va-
rious friends and relatives, during his sojourn in Ame-
rica; which are most valuable, inasmuch as they convey
to us what may be termed his undress opinions of the
country, so vividly described afterwards by his graphic
and truthful pen. Mr. Hamilton was a soldier, a scho-
lar, and a gentleman ; and if, in his delineations of their
character and their manners, he has not spared our trans-
atlantic brethren, a comparison of his first impressions,
conveyed in the letters in question, with his subsequent
representation of them in his " Men and Manners,"
proves that he has rather endeavoured to " extenuate,"
than " to set down aught in malice."

Harlin Chuzzleteit. By Boz. W. Webb, Liverpool.
Martin's progress in the United States is detailed in the
present number. The characters introduced are outra-
geous caricatures ; they will at any rate excite plenty of
merriment if not admiration. "The New York Sewer,"
and the " Rowdy Journal" with its editor, are palpable
hits. We cannot but express a fear that Mr. Dickens is
not sufficiently acquainted with American manners to
paint anything like a true picture of " things in general,"
and we can even in this his outset in Martin's .lareer ob-
serve a feebleness in his outline. In London, where every
inch is familiar to him, Dickens in description stands
alone. Witness his scenes at "Todger's," where every
inch smelt of Billingsgate fish and Thames-street oranges—
where the Monument stared the reader in the face as if it
stood before him, with its erased superscription on the
base and its golden urn at the pinnacle. " Martin
Chuzzlewit" is certainly heating a new bush, and doubt-
less game of some sort will spring out of it.

Our Mess. By Harry Lorrequer. Walmsley, Liverpool.
Tom Burke receives an invitation to visit the " Pavi-
lion de Fiore," and there becomes possessed of a secret.
lie is afterwards placed in a dilemma, and finally is sta-
tioned as guard of honour at Versailles. The illustrations
are not in Phiz's best style ; they want point and humour.

The North of England Magazine. Bradshaw and Black-
lock, Manchester. Liverpool : Robinson.
The story of the Calabrian outlaws is continued.
" Progress of English Society in the Eighteenth Century,"
by W. C. Taylor, is a clever article. " Wild Life in the
Pyrennees" presents us with Chapter 111. It is well
written, and full of material. " Prison Discipline" we
recommend to the notice of all who are, and who call
themselves, philanthropists. This is an article that every
body must read, for the subject must interest all. "
Bam-
ford's Poems" come next under review. Theintroduc-
tion to them is sensible. It does not follow as a matter of
-course that a poet must be a sentimental looking wretch,
with a pale face and die away appearance, whose conver-
sation may be compared to a rotten posey in a dust-bin ;
a poet and a man with true poetic feeling within him is as
different to your pretended poet as Shakspeare is to a
writer of Catnach ballads. Mr. Bamford, if we may judge
of him by his works, is one of the manly poets of the day ;
and those who read the stanzas, "God help the Poor,"
Fill admit that hips heart is in its right place. " The

Weakness of a Strong Government" is not to our taste.
It evidently emanates from some of the Manchester cheap
tea !Shops. The literary notices are well written.

The British Farmer's Magazine. Rogerson and Sons,
Piccadilly. Liverpool : J. Cannell.
One of the best articles in this quarterly is " Mr.
Joshua Trimmer upon the condition of the Agricultural
Labourer." Some very excellent papers render this work
worthy the earnest attention of the " British Farmer."
Mr. Towers on " Manures and the nutriment of plants,"
&c., is very replete with information.