PLIK AXD PLOK. 321 



the execution ; it is detailed with exquisite minuteness. The 

 haggling bargaining of the executioner, about the price of his labour, 

 the mutilation, and subsequent death-blow, all are sketched with 

 fidelity arid accuracy. The manner in which his friend Tassillo 

 avenges his death, is not a little singular. He pledges himself to 

 the dying Gitano, that the whole population of Spain shall rue his 

 death, and he fulfills his threat to a letter. He sails to the coast 

 of Tangeir, in the pirate-boat, to the command of which he has 

 succeeded, by the death of the Gitano ; takes in a cargo of goods 

 infected by the plague, sails again for Spain, and casts them on the 

 shore. Of course they are carried away by the inhabitants, and the 

 consequence is, that the plague burst out amongst them, and carries 

 them oiF by thousands. Such was the revenge of Tassillo, for the 

 death of his commander and his friend. There is another tale in 

 this volume, in which the fate of the pirate Kernock, is meant to 

 serve as a contrast to that of the Gitano. After running the same 

 career of blood and rapine, Kernok withdraws from the scene of 

 warfare, enjoys his " otium cum dignitate," and his ill-got treasure, 

 and goes down the vale of years, a grey haired sire, whose only 

 frailty is an undue affection for the brandy-bottle, which ungener- 

 ously requites his predilection by causing his death. 



Such are M. Luc's powers, as demonstrated in the work before 

 us. He makes no unfair estimate of them himself, when he only 

 aspires to the honour of leading the way into an hitherto unexplored 

 field of composition, and pointing out to more elevated genius, 

 and more practised psns, what may be effected by them in this new 

 line. The real merits of his productions are neutralized by ex- 

 aggeration, and a continued straining after effect. He seems to 

 fancy, that; to be very horrible, is to be very sublime, and that a 

 disgusting account of massacres, and orgies, cannot fail, and must be 

 peculiarly agreeable to the reader. In this, however, he does not 

 differ from his compeers, as they are all infested by the same per- 

 verted taste. 



SONNET. 



BY KENRICK VAN WINCKLE. 



Our ship is drifting fast upon the shore. 

 O, for a being of a master-mind, 

 To take the helm ; who, looking not behind, 



Would steer right onward one not rich nor poor, 

 Nor of the vulgar, nor the too refined ; 

 Who has at once the will and power combined, 



Boldly this sea of rocks to guide us o'er 

 Not from self-love, but love of human kind. 



Clouds frown, winds howl, rocks threaten, billows roar, 

 And thunders burst. Quick ! or our doom is signed. 

 Clear the deck of its lumber ! Lame and blind, 



Make way! and we may hoist our sails once more 

 Once more our prow may beat the foaming seas, 

 Once more our flag may flutter in the breeze. 

 M. M. No. 93. 2 T 



