The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-08-16 00:00:00

*Tharp,

THERE 'S A CHARM IN THE WOODS.

BY JAMES STONEIIMISE.

(For the Liverpool Standard.)
There 's a charm in the woods at the beautiful dawn,
When the bright sun is warming the earth with his ray;
When dew-drops, like diamonds, ensparkle the lawn,
And the lark high in air seems to welcome the day.
Then sweet 't is to rove where the rivulet streams,
Where for ever it singeth its sweet little song ;
•
Oh ! the breath of the morning most exquisite seems,
Perfumed by the flowers in floating along.
There 's a charm in the woods when the daylight declines,
When the hum of the village no longer is beard,
When the glowworm's pale lamp on mossy bank shines,
And stilled are the voices of bee and of bird :
Then wander with me ; for, though morning may waken
The heart's gayest feelings of gladness and joy,
At the twilight alone earth's cares are forsaken,
And we think that such moments possess no alloy.

SPRING.

(For the Liverpool Standard.
The loveliest and the sweetest gifts
Revolving seasons bring
From nature's rich and varied stores,
Are those bestowed in spring.
The flow'rs we loved and prized the most,
Though hid awhile from view,
By winter's snow or autumn's frost,
Spring's genial days renew.
The warblings of our sweetest birds,
Most welcome to the ear,
Proclaim, more eloquent than words,
The spring-time of the year.
The carols of the tuneful lark,
Whilst soaring to the sky,
On fluttering pinions, mark
Its gratitude on high.
The verdure on the grassy plain,
The leaflet in the dell,
All, all, in one harmonious strain,
A sweet spring-tale now tell.
All nature, then, above, below,
On earth, through air and sea,
Teeming with life, in myriads, show
Their joy, from winter free.
Are we, (the noblest works of Him
Who by His mighty will
Called into being this varied life,
His fiat to fulfil)—
Are we not grateful for the change
We witness now around?
Beats not the heart with quickened pulse
When blessings thus abound?
Yes! young and old, alike with joy
The cheering influence feel,
Of spring's reanimating powers,
Which o'er the senses steal.
Then youth, with bright and buoyant hopes,
Bounds lightly o'er the ground,
And as each day fresh beauties rise,
New joys to him are found.
And manhood, too, though sobered now
By life's realities,
Still feels, in spring's reviving days,
New joys, new hopes arise.
Each flower, each tree, and shrub,
Then bursting into life,
Some day or hour long past recal,
With joy or pain still rife.
And feeble age, though pale and wan,
And hast'ning to decay,
The current of his life's brief span,
Fast ebbing now away—
Yet views with mingled joy and pain
The buds and flow'rs of spring,
As friends of old, restor'd again,
And old affections bring ;
And fervent prayers too will arise,
That soon to him be given
Eternal spring beyond the skies—
Eternal life in heaven.

S. K.

(For the Liverpool Standard.)
Away ! thou shalt haunt me no more.
Thine image shall fade from my breast ;
And the love that I cherished before
Shall fly like a bird from its nest !

My heart was as true to thine own
As the needle that turns to the pole,
But the charm of those moments is flown,
And their memory chased from my soul.

Thy vows were as prints that are traced
On the sand by some blue river's side,
That no sooner are seen than effaced
By the billow that heralds its tide.

0, Love ! thou sweet jest of an hour,
Why leave me to sorrow a prey ?
A fair but a delicate flower,
Which blooms and then withers away.

Our hearts are the blossoms that die,
The kisses of woman the dew,
The ruin they leave is a sigh,
And the blisses they promise untrue.

A tale of the East I have heard,
That the pilgrim who wanders along,
Oft encounters a beautiful bird,
With the music of hope in its song ;
So this world was my valley of gloom,
And a bird but too sweetly could sing,
For it rifled my heart of its bloom,
Then the bird of the desert took wing!
L. 11.

Liverpool.

THE. CHURCH AND THE TRACTARIANS.

It would be well for those who think lightly of the pro-
ceedings of the disciples of Dr. Pusey, to consider with some
little attention the light in which their operations are viewed
by intelligent Roman Catholics at home and abroad. Their
papers congratulate the Romish church on the probable large
accession to the number of its members, and speak with the
greatest respect of the persons and the writings of the tracta-
rian party. An article in a French paper, L' Univers, speaks
boldly on this subject :
" Since the day," the writer remarks, " when the avowals
of the Oxford professors became sufficiently explicit to raise
in the Catholic world hopes that a future, not far removed
from us, was about, perhaps, to realise itself, but more
especially since the time when the instruction of these
learned theologians determined many eminent men to study
and embrace the Catholic faith, the minds that follow with
interest the work of regeneration which is going on in the
Anglican Church are occupied by an anxiety to know the
numerical force of the Puseyites, and what the attitude
is which the Anglican bishops assume towards the Re-
formers. The answer to these two questions is, it will be
understood, the solution of the religious question which
is being agitated in England. We therefore have applied
ourselves to a collection of the facts necessary to throw light
upon them ; and, if we do not deceive ourselves, these facts
show that the Puseyites are at this day in a'majority at Ox-
ford, that they are masters of the situation, and that they
have no longer anything to fear from the ill-will of their an-
tagonists. The Anglican episcopacy, on the other hand,
which in the beginning had declared against the Puseyites,
now, at the sight of the prodigious success obtained by their
instruction is reconsidering the matter; it fears to be shat-
tered in its inertness if it opposes a dam to such a torrent ;
it takes their part and ranges itself under the standard raised
by Drs. Pusey and Newman."
It is not true, as all who are in in any degree acquainted
with church matters are very well aware, that the bishops as
a body have in their charges countenanced the tractarian
heresies. On the contrary, they have boldly and honestly
condemned them. Such exaggerated statements as those
we have extracted from the French paper are easily accounted
for. A London morning paper has recently been blazoning
forth the charges of two or three bishops, who have spoken
highly of the writers of the Oxford school, and because they
have paid this tribute to their characters, without at all
pledging themselves to their peculiar doctrines, the Bishops
of Exeter, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, are declared to be sup-
porters of the new school, and as the report travels it gains
as might be expected, and the Anglican episcopacy are said
to have ranged themselves under the standard raised by Drs.
i'aseY and Newman.
After alluding to some of the expressions in the Tracts,
and in the Bishop of Salisbury's recent sermon at St. Paul's,
the writer in the Univers thus concludes :
" Let us gather up these precious avowals, and these ex-
planations more precious still. Let us determine with joy
the immense progress made during the last ten months in
the Anglican church, on the path which, to all appearance,
cannot but lead to her re-union with Rome. Already she
proclaimsr
uie ady she fatnili • herself with the idea of a reconcilia-
tion.!irises
Her isolation overwhelms her ; she confesses that a
culpable schism
we desire in the shakes her foundations. What more could
The events of short space of time that marks her return ?
eloquence to leh we are witnesses speak with sufficient
land ; the,interest the Catholic world in favour of Eng-
prodigies." prayers (4 the church will soon effect new