512 



flTr. Lucas on the 



picUirc ! But, to proceed with the 



«{iiolation — • 



He saw upon the golden sand 



Of the sea shore, a maiden stand, 



Before wliose feet the exinring waves 



Flung their Inst trilmte with a sigh ; 

 As, in the east, exhausted slaves 



Lay down Ihe f<ir~l>roiigUt tti/t, and die ; 

 And, while the lute hung by her, hush'd, 



As if unequal to the tide 

 Of snn^^ that from her lips still gusli'd. 



She rais'd, like one beatified, 

 Those eyes, wiiose lii;ht stein'd rather 

 given 



To be ador'd than to adore;— 

 Such eyes, as may have look'd/rom heaven, 



Hut ne'er were rais'd to it before. 



Expiring waves flingiug their tri- 

 bute, we may perhaps pardon ; be- 

 cause, though we cannot very well 

 embody the image, we may compre- 

 hend the idea, liut what to make of 

 the simile, of this tlingiiig verb begot- 

 ten, •' exhausted slaves laying down 

 tlte far-brought gift, and dying," we 

 probably should never have conceived, 

 if we had not recollected, at last, an 

 incident relative to tiio collection of 

 the )K)ison of the Upas-tree in Colc- 

 Bian's " Law of Java." It is the ex- 

 hausted slave laying down the far- 

 brought poison of the Upas, then, and 

 expiring under the eilects of the infec- 

 tion contracted in the act of collecting 

 it, that is compared with the expiring 

 waves Hinging their last tribute at the 

 feet of warbling beauty. O ! most 

 wonderful and apposite similitude! 



The ensuing image, however, — that 

 of a tide gushing from the mouth of a 

 lady, — the painter might have repre- 

 sented : the vicinity of the sea (from 

 the tjualms sometimes excited by such 

 proximity,) might have given credi- 

 bility, at least so far, to the representa- 

 tion ; and perhaps, by a proper admix- 

 ture of the customary notation of 

 eroicliets, quavers, semiquavers, &c. 

 in tlie gushing stream, he might have 

 given us some idea that it was a tide 

 of song that was so gushing. 



"But are not the last four lines 

 \astly pretty?" the boarding-school 

 misses will perhaps enquire: "Eyes 

 rather given to be adored than toadorel 

 Sucli eyes as may have looked from 

 Leaven, but never looked to it Ijcfore !" 

 Why, aye ; in one of Mr. Moore's 

 very pretty, half bantering, half flat- 

 tering and cajoling, love-songs, they 

 would have been i)retty j i'or they 

 would have been in place, 'i he idea 

 was fit enough for the toilet and the 

 muaicroom ; and for such (hey should 



Auction-Duty, Sfc. [J"ly '» 



have been reserved: but for the exalted 

 regions of imagination in which tho 

 " Loves of the Angels" should have 

 breathed, they are as unfit as one of 

 Mr. Moore's douhle-entendre love- 

 songs woidd be for a hymn in church. 

 But, if the thought was really too 

 pi-etty to be laid aside, as Mr. Moore 

 had reduced his amorous angels to 

 the common - place level of mere 

 maudlin, love - making mortals, he 

 should have put it into one of their 

 mouths, and have left the lover and 

 the love responsible for the hyper- 

 bolical half-nonsense of the conceit; 

 instead of taking the inanity of it une- 

 quivocally upon himself. But, if the 

 thought required some redeeming 

 grace, shall we find such redemption 

 in the euphony of the concluding lino, 

 — with its necessary emphasis of anti- 

 thesis on its twittering particles? " But 

 ne'er were rais'd to it before." Too-wit, 

 too-wit, too-wit! This is harmonizing 

 the voice of the Muse to the minstrelsy 

 of the plover, or the lapwing. 

 3/^2/15,1823, N. B.C. 



Tu ihe Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IAiM obliged to Mr. Green for his 

 notice as to the law of the case 

 with respect to brokers seizing more 

 goods than are enough to cover tho 

 amount of rent due.* It appears that 

 I used the wrong word ; 1 should have 

 said custom, and not law : for, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Green's account of the trial 

 he was present at, the broker api)oared 

 to think he had at all events a custo- 

 mary, if not a legal right, to seize moro 

 furniture than might be sufficient to 

 cover the demand. But I am glad to 

 be told that Chief Justice Abbott gave 

 the public sort of lecture he did to tho 

 " wan," as he emphatically called him ; 

 and I quite agree with Mr. Green, that 

 misinformation on this subject should 

 not be suflered to exist in the public 

 mind, and therefore again I thank him 

 for his notice. 



I shall embrace this opportunity of 

 mentioning, that I committed another 

 error in the same communication that 

 Mr. G. has alluded to, in saying that 

 government "might forego, without 

 much loss of revenue, the auction-duty 

 of five per cent, on all goods seized for 

 rent." I am given to understand that, 



* We should be glad to see some obser- 

 vations on the iniquitous practice of 

 s eiziiig tiie goods of lodgers for the rent and 

 taxes of the housekeeper,— Editor. 



