MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 527 



Still, still I mourn, with each returning day, 



Him snatch'd by fate in early youth away : 



And her through tedious years of doubt and pain 



Fix'd in her choice, and faithful but in vain ! 



See me ere yet my destined course half done, 



Cast forth a wanderer on a world unknown ! 



See me neglected on the world's rude coast, 



Each dear companion of my voyage lost!" 



Many years subsequent to this time, when he abandoned the werld, 

 with which he had in vain striven to cope, we find him writing as follows 

 to his friend Mr. Newton : 



" I do not mean to say that I am never cheerful. I am often so always 

 indeed when my mind has been undisturbed for a season. But the effect 

 of such continual listening to language of a heart hopeless and deserted, is 

 that I can never give much more than half my attention to what is 

 started by others." 



It was upon a mind like this, filled with delusions, and borne down by 

 a load of imaginary woes and sorrows, that religion was sure to be of the 

 most soothing and holy influence. And it is here, that the memory of 

 Cowper is under deep obligations to Mr. Grimshawe and we are sure 

 that his labours will be appreciated by the reading public. 



The subjoined remarks on Cowper's productions are exceedingly just: 

 " The circumstances under which he commenced his career as an 

 author are singular. They form a profitable subject of inquiry to those 

 who analyze the operations of the human mind : for he wrote in the 

 moments of depression and sorrow, under the influence of a morbid 

 temperament, and with an imagination assailed by the most afflicting 

 images. In the midst of these discouragements, his mind burst forth from 

 its prison-house, arrayed in all the charms of wit and humour, sportive 

 without levity, and never provoking a smile at the expense of virtue." 



The volumes are full of interest the letters of Cowper are models of 

 epistolary writing easy, graceful, and abounding in truth and feeling. 

 The work is beautifully got up ; and, taken altogether, it is one of the best 

 specimens of the popular works of the day. The illustrations will be 

 found noticed elsewhere. 



Hector Fieramosca, or the Challenge of Burletta. Translated from 

 the Italian. Longman and Co., London. One vol. 8vo. 



This work, which is very popular on the continent, and which was read 

 by us some time ago in its original language, was supposed to be written 

 in a great degree by the celebrated Manzoni. His son-in-law, the Marquis 

 D'Azeglio, is we believe the writer of it. It is an historical romance of 

 very rare merit ; bringing before the eye names famous in the sixteenth 

 century, and painting characters and manners with a master hand. 



The translator, we were about to say, has more than done his part that 

 is a praise, however, which we are sure he would not wish to have ; and 

 suffice it to say, that the Italian is rendered with great felicity, lightness, 

 and grace of diction. 



The sports and jousts of the flower of European chivalry, Bayard and 

 others, are brought before us in very graphic descriptions. Hector 

 links his romance and the beauty of his young manhood upon our 

 imagination; whilst the beautiful Ginevra, Vittoria Colonna, and the 

 young and thoughtless daughter of the celebrated Gonsalvo, the "great 

 captain" of his age, are pictured forth with a fine feeling of the affections 

 and attributes of woman. The blood-stained fratricide, Caesar Borgia, 

 son of the pope Alexander the Sixth, is briefly sketched but sketched so 

 as to make one loathe his very name. 



