252 
ings we have a vast mass; the natural 
facts are usually true; the supervatural 
relations are, as usually, flourishes of the 
narrator, Why not apply this style of 
commentary to the gospels, rejecting the 
annunciation, ‘the ascension, and the 
other supernatural descriptions; receiv- 
ing the crucifixion, the resurrection, and 
the other natural facts?’— You class the 
resurrection,” asked Beausobre, ‘* arnong 
the natural facts ?”—“ Surely so,” an- 
Original Poetry. 
[April 1, 
swered Toland; “ there was nothing in 
the crucifixion to endanger life itself; 
unless .”—* Eh quoi! vous ne croyez 
pas a la mort de Jesus Christ !” exclaim- 
ed the queen, in violent perturbation ; 
*€ i donc, Mousieur Toland, il ne faut 
pas nier ainsi une histoire averée.” And 
thus»royalty awarded, as usval, the palm 
of victoty to piety and priesthood.— 
See this dialague, in greater detail, in the 
Bibliothegue Germanique, vol. vi. 
fn 0 en a A eh nN on et | 
ORIGINAL POETRY. 
Ee 
VERSES, 
WRITTEN AT MIDNIGHT, BY THE REV. 
I. PROCTOR, DURING A LATE SEVERE 
IN DISPOSITION. 
NIGHT's sable curtain now surrounds the 
sky, 
Sacred rites houts to health-restoring sleep; 
Yet, ’midst chis scene of solemn silence, I, 
Unhappy man, perpetual vigiis keep: 
1 seek the god : he hears me not; he flies; 
And thus I prayeeyet thus I pray in vain: 
«Oh! let thy balmy slumbers seal mine eyes! 
Oh! grant one moment's short release 
from pain!” 
Vain my entreaties! quick he flies from woe! 
I trace him to yon trav'llers lonely shed, 
Where, stretch’d at ease, the Jab’ring peasants 
know 
A sound repose, nor hard their straw-made 
bed. 
Weary and restless, sure the hours move slow, 
In health and ease they oft too swiftly run 3 
The village cock, when shall I hear him 
crow ? ; 
When shall I see the day-creating sun ? 
Vain wishes all ! still dreary midnight reigns, 
And now pale spectres quit th’ abodes of 
Death ; 
In Fancy’s eye they skim along the plains, 
a. haunt the place where they resign’d 
their breath: ‘i 
My spirits sink a prey to gloomy fear! 
Now Theft and Murder stalk beneath the 
sky: Ps 
Hark! i a distant noise invades my ear, 
A light pale glimm’ring meets my af- 
frighted eye: 
No, ’tis illusion all! - Vain is my fear! 
All-gracious Heaven! Thou guardian of 
“thejust; | 4 
Make me (tho” undeserving) ‘still ‘thy care 5 
Nor blast my hope, nor’ disappoint my 
+59 trust, dat ‘4 
Secure and calm then shall 1 pass these hours, 
OF, if I'sleep or wake, I need not fear : 
Nay, seiz’d by death, with all its frightful 
t pow'rs, : 
What can I dread?=-My God is with me 
' there! 
STANZAS. 
AND can you, Laura, say I feign 
And idly sing a mimic pain, 
And seek but to betray ? | 
Ah! no, the blush that stains those cheeks, 
A gentler, kinder language, speaks, 
And fondly bids me stay. 
Oh! place me where no summer’s breeze, 
Shall ever fan the dying trees, 
But tempests how] around 5 
Where Nature fails beneath the héat, 
And burning sands assail the feet 
That seek to press the ground. 
Yet while I live, I live for thee, 
Whate’er my wayward fate may be, 
For thee, and love, I live ; 
Without thee, pleasure turns to pain, 
And every other joy is vain, 
Save those which thou can’st give. 
a 
TO AN EXOTIC. 
TENDER nursling of my care, 
Hast thou brav’d the wintry blast 
Batt’ring sleet, congealing air, ? 
Thus at Spring to droop at last ? 
Many.a night-storm howling dreary . 
Vainly rag’d around thy shed, 
Many a keen morn’s breath austere 
Fail’d to bow thy shelter’d head.- 
Ah! a counterfeit of Spring, 
Soothing with deceitful breath, 
Hid beneath a Zephyr’s wing 
Shafts of winter—shafts of deaths 
Phebus lent a treach’rous ray, 
’ Luting confidence and joy ; 
Lufing only to betray,’ 
" Warming only to destroy. Mr chytad 
Then thy soft dilating heart, 
Gave its shvots, and shed its fears 
Swift the phantom hurls her dart, 2 
As in the clouds she disappears, : 
Gentle 
