The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-09 00:00:00

NOTICES.

The Manchester Keepsake. Edited by William Gaspey.
Manchester : B. Wheeler. Pp. 78.

More poetry from Manchester ! Why, the place will
be as famous for its rhyme-spinners as its cotton-spinners
—its weavers of delicate po”tical fabrics as its manufac-
turers of silks and muslins! Well, the more the merrier.
It is pleasant to find that literature goes hand in hand
with commerce. Although Byron says,
" It fills the pocket, though it clogs the brain,"

the brains of most commercial men are-clear enough.
The present brochure (if such it may he termed) cannot
fail to be well received by the lovers of poetry, not only
for its very varied contents, but for its neat and pleasing
appearance. The getting-up is extremely good, and the
typography undeniably excellent. Amongst the contri-
butors we notice that our fair and accomplished towns-
woman, Miss Christiana Weller, is numbered ; a very
fanciful and graceful poem from her pen appearing at
page 72. The other contributors are Mr. Wm. Gaspey,
the editor, (son of the talented author of " Lollard's Life
of Lord Cobham," and other sterling works,) the Rev.J.
Davies, A.M., T. J. Ouseley, J. B. Rogerson, Ner Gar-
diner, Dr. Bowring, Lord John Minners, J. E. Carpen-
ter, Rev. G. Gilfillan, F. Kempster, Mrs. Craven Green,
Mrs. Caulton, Mrs. Thomas, &c. " The Manchester
Keepsake" is a very creditable production, and the price
places it in the power of every one wishful of making a
gentle friend or dear relative a pretty and amusing pre-
sent, to do so at small cost. We annex the following
from its pages :

THE CHRISTIAN MISSION.

BY MAURICE HARCOURT.

Oh, God ! the cloud of ignorance
Hangs over Pagan lands;—
Send forth thy messengers of truth
To those benighted strands.
Cammand the dawn of Gospel-light
Its cheering rays to shed
O'er hearts, untouched by Christian grace,
To Christian virtues dead.

Oh ! may the heralds of thy Word
Its saving power proclaim,
Inspiring Afric's dusky suns
To praise Messiah's name :
And, as within the cottage-homes
O'er-arched by milder skies,
Beneath the Indian's wigwam rude,
May strains of worship rise.

Grant that the ice-fields of the north,
The prairies of the west.
The trackless deserts of the east,
May have their altars dressed,—
In p ace of flowers, (that, bright to-day,
To-morrow lose their bloom,—)
With hearts that, through the Cross, have won
Deliverance from the tomb.

Lord ! bless the ministry of those
Who seek, in every clime,
For heirs unto Eternity,
Amid the sons of Time;
And let Salvation's standar ' be
On heathen shores unfurl'd,
Until the Sun of Righteousness
Shine over all the world !

Blackwood's Magazine.

The number for the present month is, in our opinion,
one of the best that has appeared for a long time, and this
is saying much for a periodical which is admitted on all
hands to be invariably clever. " The Pirates of Segna,"
a tale of the Adriatic, founded on historical facts, but
wrought up with romantic energy of imagination and
great strength and individuality in the portraiture of cha-
racter is here concluded. We should not be surprised to
see it ere long dramatized, as it is full of striking incident,
and would furnish ample scope for scenic effect. An ar-
ticle on the slave trade—a review of " Fifty Days on board
a slave vessel, in 1843," by the Rev. P. G. Hill, Chap-
lain to H.M.S. Cleopatra, will be read w th interest, not
unwingled wi' h deep regret and reprehension of the un-
accountable mismanagement of some of our own officers
of the navy, in charge of a slave ship captured off the
coast of Madagascar, about twelve months ago, by which
54 of the poor slaves were .smothered in the bold in one
night, and so many afterwards died from consequent
suffering and disease that nearly half of the whole' living
cargo (450 in all) perished before they could be landed at
the Cape of Good Hope ! The reviewer properly remarks,
that if this statement and its consequences be true, the
conduct of the persons by whom it was brought about
(without any apparent necessity) ought not to be passed
over without inquiry. A paper, entitled the " Moslem
Histories of Spain," is full of interesting historical facts—
a succinct and authentic history in fine of the reign of the
Arabs of Cordova, from the period of their conquest of
that country, and the consolidation of their power under
that magnificent and extraordinary prince Abdurrahman,
to the expulsion, A.D., 1036, of the last member of that
illustrious dynasty, which had ruled over Andulus (Spain)
and a great portion of Africa, for 284 years. The accounts
given by the Moslem compiler of these histories, Ahmed
Al Makkari, of the splendour of the court and palaces of
Abdurrahman, his encouragement of literature, education,
and the fine arts. and his benignant policy, both as a
warrior and a legislator, are extremely curious. "Two
Nights in Southern Mexico," details the perils endured,
in flood and field, by two Americans and their compa-
nions, on a journey through a most extraordinary portion
of that remarkable country. The descriptions of some of
the sublime and beautiful scenery of the splendid valley of
Oaxaca—nearly 300 leagues in I
length —and of the dread-
.
ful storm of thunder and rain by which the party were
overtaken and nearly engulphed, appear to border on the
romantic, but, we believe, are nevertheless not exaggera-
ted pictures of the diversified localities and climate of that
extraordinary portion of the American continent. The
next paper, on " The British Fleet," besides a variety of
historical reminiscences of the progress and advancement
of navigation, through the science, discoveries, and perse-
verance of Britons, embodies a memoir of the life and
character of " the gallant Jervis," including accounts of
his principal victories. " Marston, or the Memoirs of a
Statesman," is continued, and increases in interest—the
hero being left in perilous proximity to the guillotine, from
which heaven knows how he is to escape. "The Two

P ti ons" is a stay of the lighter and more amusing de-
cription, replete with character and quaintness. The
number concludes with an article on " Ireland" and the
late state trials, evidently from the pen of me who is
ma=ter of his subject. The stanzas ervitled " The Child's
Waring" are pathetic and beautitul. A few extracts from
this number will be found in our present sheet.