1822.] 
ducing such a production to the notice 
of our readers, we are conferring a re- 
ciprocal pleasure upon them and our- 
selves. There are characters of whom 
a correct estimate can scarcely be 
expected to be formed, till the effer- 
vescence and irritability of party feel- 
ing have had ample time to subside ; 
and the man whose firm resistance to 
oppression has rendered him obnoxious 
to the powerful, and whose steady ad- 
herence to principle has offended the 
unprincipled, cannot hope to escape 
calumny and misrepresentation. But 
“* Comperit invidiam supremo fine domari.”’ 
and when posterity, unbiassed by 
prejudice, shall decide upon theclaims 
of individuals with reference to their 
true merits only, the gentleman to 
whom we are indebted for the vo- 
lume before us, will rank as one in 
whom the courage of the patriot was 
united with the attainments of the 
scholar, and who, forced by uncontroul- 
able circumstances into the political 
storms of his day, still retained his 
passion for the ‘- liter humaniores,”’ 
and wood the muse amid the gloom 
that surrounded him. 
The present. collection is composed 
of poetical and critical effusions, ex- 
tracted from the Champion, during the 
time that journal was under the direc- 
tion of Mr. Thelwall; and is a selec- 
tion at once judicious and interesting. 
Some of the pieces are by different cor- 
respondents; but sv much the greater 
portiou is from the editor himself, that 
we shall beg leave to consider the work 
as entirely his own; and wish our re- 
marks to be understood with reference 
to him alone, unless a specific state- 
ment is made to the contrary. 
Many of Mr. Thelwall’s poetical 
productions have already met the pub- 
lic eye, but they have never before 
made their appearance, in a regular or 
collected form, and the present may 
therefore be considered as the first fair 
opportunity that has been afforded of 
ascertaining his true character as.a, poet. 
Judging from these specimens, we 
should say, that the soft and tender is 
more his forte than the bold and sub- 
lime; he is better fitted to chant the 
amourous lay of the Troubadour, than 
the spirit-stirring strain of the warrior; 
and seems rather to aim at culling a 
wreath of the wild flowers that nature 
has strewn in his way, than at svaring 
into the loftier regions of Parnassus, 
and giving “ to airy nothing a local 
habitation and a name.’ Nor will he 
suffer by this preference in the es- 
Poetical Recreations of the Champion. 
133 
timation of those persons, who are no 
admirers of certain bards of high re- 
nown, that have mistaken rhapsody 
for sublimity; have deemed horrors 
and crimes to be the most appropriate 
subjects of soothing song, and have 
couceived that they approach the per- 
fection of their art, in proportion as 
their language becomes remote from 
common understanding, and their de- 
scriptions from versimilitude. With 
writers of this stamp, Mr. Thelwall 
has certainly nothing in common; but 
he may justly claim an honourable 
station among those who have excelled 
in strains of sweetness and lenderness, 
and in awakening the better feelings, 
and kindlier sensibilities of our nature. 
His anacyeontics, of which theré are 
several in the collection, exhibit ver 
Superior powers; we subjoin the fol- 
lowing as a specimen. 
lf when the sparkling goblet flows, 
1 braid my temples with the rose, 
And, while reflected o’er the brim, 
I see the deepening blushes swim, 
With wilder ecstacies of soul, 
I bid the tide of Bacchus roll, — 
*Tis that the blush that paints the rose, 
A type of thee, my fair, bestows, 
And bath’d within the cup I’d be, 
That glows with love, and glows of thee. 
If, when retiring to repose, 
Still in my chamber bloom the rose, 
And, twin’d in many a wreathing string, 
O’er all my couch a fragrance fling, 
Which scattering on my fervid breast, 
Sooths me, with opiate charm, to rest ;—— 
*Tis that the fragrance of the rose 
The breathing of thy lip bestows ; 
Aud dreams of bliss it wafts to me, 
That breathe of love, and breathe of thee. 
Then come, Naéra!. sweeter rose ! 
For whom my restless fancy glows; 
Come—whelm in dearer joys the soul 
Than ever bath’d in flowing bow! ;— 
Come, and, in waking kisses, deal 
Such rapture as my dreams reveal ; 
And while, with mingling soul, I sip 
The balmy fragrance of thy lip, * d 
More—more than vision’d bliss, twill be— 
To wake to love, and: wake for thee. 
Into some of his songs and minor 
poems, the writer has infused the rich- 
ness and elegance of the British Ca- 
tullus, together with much of the sim- 
plicity of our elder poets, while the 
greatest purity both of language and 
sentiment pervades the whole. From 
many -of equal merit, we offer to our 
readers, the beautiful piece entitled, 
“ Hope Deterred.”’ 
Brimful ef bliss: the goblet! flow’d, 
Twas lifted to the very lip; wate 
it 
