316 
beautiful imagery, the perusal of which 
will, we think, justify all that we have 
said in Mr. Bryant’s favour :— 
The Green River: 
When breezes are soft and skies. are fair, 
I steal an hour from study and care, 
And hie me away to the woodland scene, 
Where wanders the stream with waters of green, 
As if the bright friage of herbs‘on its brin 
Had given their tinge to the wave they drink; 
And they, whose meadows it murmurs through, 
Have nam’d the stream from its own fair hue, 
Yet pure its waters, its shallows are bright, 
With colour’d pebhles, and sparkles of ligut; 
And clear the depths where the eddies play, 
And dimples deepen and whirl away; 
And the plane-tree’s speckled arms.o’ershoot 
The swifter current that mines its root; 4 
Thro’ whose shifting leaves, as you walk the hill, 
The quivering glimmer of sun and rill, 
With a sudden flash on the eye is thrown, 
Like the ray that streams from the diamond stone. 
Oh! loveliest there the spring days come, 
With blossoms, and birds, and wild bees’ hum ; 
The flowers of summer are fairest there, 
And freshest the breath of the summer air, 
And the swimmer comes, in the season of heat, 
To bathe in these waters so pure and sweet. 
Yet, fair as thon art, thou shunnest to glide, 
Beautiful stream! by the village side, 
But windest away from the haunts of men, 
To silent valley and shaded glen; 
And forest and meadow, and slope of hill, 
Around thee, are lonely, lovely, and still; 
Lonely—save when, by thy rippling tides, 
From thicket to thicket the angler glides ; 
Or the simpler comes, with basket and book, 
For herbs of poyer on thy bank to look; 
Or huply some idle dreamer like me, 
To. wander, and muse, and gaze on thee, 
Still—save the chirp of birds that feed 
On the river-cherry and seedy reed, 
And thy own wild music, gushing out 
With mellow murmur, or fairy shout, 
From dawn to the blush of another day, 
Like trayeller singing along his way,— 
That fairy music | never hear, 
Nor gaze on those waters so green and clear, 
And mark them winding away from sight, 
Darken’d with shade, or flashing with light : 
While o’er thee the vine to the thicket clings, 
And the.zephyr stoops to freshen his wings; 
But I wish that fate had left me free 
To wander these quiet haunts with thee, 
Till the eating cares of earth should depart, 
And the peace of the scene pass into my heart; 
And I envy thy stream as it glides along, 
Through its beautiful banks, in a trance of song. 
Tho’ fore’d to drudge for the dregs of men, 
And scrawl strange words with the barbarous pen; 
And mingle among the jostlin crowd, 
Where the sons of strife are subtle and loud; 
T sometimes come to this quiet Hist 
To breathe the air that ruftles thy face, 
And gaze upon thee in silent dream; 
For, in thy lonely and lovely stream, 
An image of that calm life appears, 
That wop ny heart in my greener years. 
We fully agree with the editor in 
the partiality with which he regards 
Mr. Bryant’s productions ; one more of 
which we are tempted to present to 
the reader, who, without any com- 
mendation of our’s, will not fail to do 
justice to its beautics. 
To a Waterfowl. 
Whither, *midst falling dew, ~- 
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, 
Far thro’ their rosy depths dost thou pursue ~ 
"Phy solitary way? 
Vainly the fowler’s eye 
Might mark thy distant flight, todo. thee wrong, 
AAS; 
darkly painted on the crimson sky, 
Thy figure floats along. 
Seck’st thou the plashy brink 
Of weedy lake, or maze ofriverwide, 
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink 
On the chaf’d ocean side? 
News from Parnassus—No. XVII. 
[May 1, 
There is a Power whose care 
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,— 
The desert and illimitable air,— 
Lone wandering, but not lost. 
All day thy pring have fann’d;. 
At that far height, the cold thin atmosphere ; 
Yet'stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, 
Tho’ the dark night ismear, 
And soon that toil shall end V5 
Soon shalt thou find a summer home and rest, 
And scream among tly fellows; reeds shall bend 
Soon o’er thy shelter’d nest, 
Thou’rt gone; the abyss of heaven 
Hath swallow’d up thy form: yet on my heart 
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, 
And shall not soon depart. 
He who, from zone to zone, 
Guides thro’ the boundless sky thy certain flight, 
In the Jong way that I must tread alone, 
Will lead my steps aright, 
A variety of fugitive pieces, drawn 
from different sources, conclude this 
pleasing epitome of American genius, 
our opinion of which, after the details 
already given, it is hardly necessary 
further to express. Its publication 
will, we have no doubt, have the effect 
of redeeming the poctical character of 
that nation from the neglect, and, we 
may say, the contempt, with which it 
has hitherto been treated amongst us ; 
and thus lead the way to more strenu- 
ous efforts on their part, and more 
honourable: achievements. Destined 
as they are to sustain a part of unpa- 
ralleled interest and dignity: in) the 
future annals of the world, we rejoico 
at every indication of their advancing 
cultivation and refinement; ‘and ‘we 
look forward to the time when ‘the 
lustre of their literary triumphs shall 
give ample demonstration, that des- 
potic power and courtly associations 
are as little requisite for the splendour 
and embellishment of a great country, 
as they have long since proved them to 
be for its prosperity and protection. 
We may remark in conclusion, that 
the duties which the editor has /pre- 
scribed to himself, are performed ina 
very satisfactory manner. In’his pre- 
face, and in the remarks prefixed to 
the different poems, he displays a fair 
and liberal spirit of criticism ; and we 
feel convinced that the English public, 
and the stranger bards with whom he 
has been instrumental in making them 
acquainted; will esteem themselves 
mutually indebted to him for this sea- 
sonable and agreeable introduction. 
— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
N reading, in the Number of your 
Magazine for October, 1821, W. 
S, R.’s remarks on the Usury Laws, a 
train of reflections arose! that* have in- 
duced me to give my decided opinion 
in 
