314 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



His coursers, proud and impotent, Behold! 



Beside him now they lie; equal in death, 



One general heap of dust, and ashes frail. 



The hurrying night comes down with sudden gloom, 



The awestruck crowds disperse was God aveng'd ? 



That night was long remember'd with strange dread. 

 Blasted were all their hopes, their fears increas'd ! 

 Their expectations wild, inhuman, blasted ! 

 Wild shouts of hideous terror, echoing 

 Tremendously, back from the furthest shore, 

 Struck trembling hearts, accounted bold, with fear. 

 They fled not without hope. Our God is great ! 

 Entreating heaven to spare, they flee with life. 

 Their lives were given, but their peace destroy'd. 

 And thus was the insulted God aveng'd : 

 A monarch smote with death ; his realm destroy'd ! 

 A nation humbled, desolate, and fall'n." 



In general, the verse is smooth and correct, but we do not altogether 

 approve of the admission of the Alexandrine into blank verse, and there are 

 here and there bold phrases which severe critics might think objectionable. 

 The passage in praise of beauty at page 77 is exquisitely beautiful, but we 

 must leave this and the numerous delightful morceaux of the poem to the 

 reader, who will be most gratified by being led by them to a satisfactory 

 perusal of the several divisions of the whole. The mind of the author is 

 manifestly enriched by acquired knowledge, as well as animated by that 

 divine sentiment derivable only from a close and earnest contemplation of the 

 Scripture. We ought to add, that each of the books is dedicated to one of 

 the dignified supporters of the Church of England, and that each well merits 

 the attentive perusal of those ornaments of our ecclesiastical establishment. 



Rainbow Sketches, in Prose and Verse. By JOHN FRANCIS, &c. 

 pp.218. Joseph Thomas, Finch Lane. 1835. 



Mr. Thomas, or Mr. Francis, which means the same person, we presume, 

 is evidently acquainted with small book-making. We regret, in justice to 

 the public, whom it is our duty to guide, if not inform, that we cannot 

 conscientiously bestow a syllable of praise on the publication before us. 

 We owe it to truth, to make this candid avowal. This unmeaning affair, 

 light nonsense, of 



" trifles light as air," 



is made up of what is deemed prose and poetry : from which, after a patient 

 investigation into the contents, with a view to extract, we are at a loss to fix 

 upon a single piece, which, to our minds, appears above mediocrity. And 

 does Mr. Thomas, or his coadjutor, Mr. Francis, imagine that the " INTEL- 

 LIGENCE of the age" will be delighted with any thing below with their 

 mangel-wurzel stuff? It is high time these gentlemen of the "small fry" of 

 literature should prove themselves utilitarians. The public cannot be thus 

 imposed upon with impunity. But this is not all. Mr. Thomas and his 

 quondam friend, Mr. Francis (author of Sunshine or Lays for Ladies), 

 have, in this volume, attacked the Ladies' Bazaar system in a most unkind, 

 if not impertinent spirit, censuring our fair and humane countrywomen 

 without any reservation ; the onus of which impotent slander will recoil 

 upon their own heads. In fact, the copy of verses entitled (by these gentle- 

 men of the muses) " The Charity Bazaar," is no more nor less than a libel 



