CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW Pl/BLICATIONS. 133 



the great waste of coal which is unavoidable in the excavation of 

 the air-heads. 



The chapter devoted to Mineralogy and Geology is highly inter- 

 esting, but as our space will not admit of more extended extracts 

 we must refer our readers to this section of the work. 



Mundi et Cordis : De Rebus Sempiternis et Temporariis : Carmina. 

 Poems and Sonnets. By Thomas Wade. pp. 285, 8vo. London. 



This is a volume of intrinsic poetry, instinct with all the attri- 

 butes of the master — one who seeth through things clearly with a 

 spirit's eye. Thomas Wade is the interpreter betwixt Wordsworth 

 and Shelley : he has all the holy glow and fiery fervour of the one, 

 with the profoundness of the other, united to a solemn splendour of 

 expression peculiarly his own. His mind is of a high order ; the 

 keenest sensibility is wedded to profoundest thought : he has an ear 

 attuned to the nicest shades of harmony — a soul that trembles into 

 emotion at touch, sound, colours. Stored with the riches of classic 

 lore, imbued with the spirit of the antique, pre-eminently with that 

 which exalts, ennobles, purifies — with that which, while it lifts us 

 above " this sphere of earthliness," reconciles us to, and makes sup- 

 portable, the infirmities of our humanity. Mr. Wade is neverthe- 

 less, like all true poets, in advance of the spirit of the age. In his 

 muse there is a majesty, a voluptuous and august refinement of 

 diction — the outward and visible sign of thought — altogether new 

 and unprecedented. The volume before us consists, for the most 

 part, of minor pieces and sonnets ; but their brevity is atoned 

 for by their quality. The sonnets, of which there are more than a 

 hundred, are of great beauty and variety, and will endure the test 

 of " Time." The love enunciations of that composition are of in- 

 toxicating beauty. Every gradation of feeling of the all-absorbing 

 passion is pourtrayed with a potential subtlety startling and new. 

 We will introduce some examples : — 



"PROMISE. 



" I go ; but do not weep ! — I will remember 



Thine very accent till we meet again ; 



The bright tire of my love shall ne'er know ember, 



But purely burn, like to the soul of wine : 



I'll think and dream of thee : I'll ne'er recline 



To slumber, but I'll wish my couch were thine ; 



Nor wake and sigh not for thee : and by letter 



I'll break the distance which our love doth fetter, 



And speak to thee in love-born characters : 



And on the wide sea-waving of my verse 



A rich shower of sweet thoughts of thee shall rain, 



And stories of our hearts will I rehearse : 



Let this assurance stanch thy bleeding woe — - 



Thine image follows me where'er I go." 



