460 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[Oct, 



tions, and catch the commencement of de- 

 rangements ; let him watch not only his 

 stomach, but his head. Abernethy thinks 

 it enough to keep an eye upon the stomach, 

 and let the head take care of itself — for 

 which the author before us seems disposed 

 to question the soundness of his own. He 

 himself urges at least an equal vigilance 

 with respect to the head. Neither under- 

 work it, nor overwork it, is his practical ad- 

 vice : each generates mischief. The author 

 inclines to believe the stomach sympathizes 

 with the brain, rather than the brain with 

 the stomacli. Tlie brain is the head- 

 quarters of the nerves, which every thing 

 affects, and, especially, whatever passes 

 under the terms of mental trouble and 

 mental labour. The stomach is, indeed, 

 the grand and general organ of sympathy ; 

 it suffers, more or less, whatever organs or 

 parts of the animal economy suffer. A blow 

 on the head, even a slight one, will give a 

 qualm ; and excessive or irregular motion, 

 set you a-eating. 



But to keep well — violence from with- 

 out apart — the burden of our physician's 

 song (he should give his name) is — regu- 

 larity, and moderation, and sim])licity of 

 life — not alone in eating and drinking, but 

 in habits of every kind — in solitude, or in 

 companj' — in pursuits of all kind, mental or 

 bodily. Shun excesses of labour, and ex- 

 cesses of anxiety ; meet the approaches of 

 the enemy, and suffer him not to make a 

 lodgment in tlie citadel ; and life, in all 

 conmion cases, may be shielded from the 

 general plagiies, that bring with them ano- 

 ther — tlie physician and his fees. The cha- 

 racteristic of the writer is that of soimd 

 sense ; for, whether he talks of general prin- 

 ciples, or of particulars — of dietetics, or 

 mineral waters, or the sea-side— and he 

 does largely of all — the reader may be sure 

 of direct opinions, and the grounds of them. 



The Wanderer^s Legacy, ^c, by Mrs. 



Godwin; 1829 



Beautiful sjiiiit! that didst guard of old 



The son^-inspiring fount of Castalie — 



Thou, unto wlioui supremacy is given 



And sway o'er realms of boundless intellect: 



Lijjlit of the lonely, solace of the sage, 



Beneath whose influence e'en the dungeon 



smiles, 

 And earth's worst desart fair as Eden blooms : 

 To whom are offered pure the unchang'd 



thoughts, 

 Warm aspirations, and the rare first-fruits 

 Born of young Genius, when her spring-tide 



teems 

 With rich imaginings — to whom belongs 

 The glorious harvest of niaturer years — 

 Enchantress! at whose magic touch the mines 

 Where Memory keeps her deathless stores, fling 



wide 

 Their golden gates, and all their wealth dis- 



clo^e — 

 Call, from the depths of ocean and of earth. 

 And from the blue ethereal elements, 

 Knchanlress Queen ! call up tliy mighty spelU 



— The writer of this extract from a bold and 

 eloquent Invocation to the Spirit of Poetry, 

 is no new candidate for the laurel. Under 

 her maiden name of Catherine Grace Gar- 

 nett, she is the author of numerous pieces, 

 and particularly of a dramatic sketch entitled 

 Sappho. Tlie present volume consists of a 

 collection of poems, composed in different 

 scenes and in different moods, but all in- 

 clining the same way, and indicating, gene- 

 rally, feelings of disappointment, though 

 not of whining disappointment, nor so much 

 of the individual as of the race, whose yoimg 

 hopes, and fond imaginings, and warm pas- 

 sions are so often early blighted by the rude 

 and cold realities of hfe. The lady is now, 

 we beheve, a widow, who, after spending 

 her marriage state in distant countries, re- 

 turns to her native seats, where her medita- 

 tions fall naturally upon early remembrances 

 and defeated anticipations, to which she 

 gives vent imder the disguise of imaginary 

 adventures. 



Tlie principal tale is entitled the " 'V\''an. 

 derer's Legacy," where she paints the early 

 recollections of one who had been driven 

 from his country by the caprice and faith- 

 lessness of one he loved, not wisely but too 

 well — and who, returning after many years, 

 anld finding himself, by the course of nature, 

 a onely being, settles quietly in the scenes 

 of his birth, cultivates his little domain, 

 spends his remaining days in doing good, 

 and sinks, gradually and resignedly, into 

 the grave. In his recollections he is not 

 very communicative, but often forcibly 

 elegant, often beautifully soft, and ener- 

 getically spirited : — 



He stood and gazed — "Once more, in life's 

 decline. 

 Home of my sires, retreat of infant years! 



Let me bow down before thine ancient shrine. 

 Where still the spirit of the past appears. 

 Youth's ardour worships — man's calm mood 

 reveres — 



Experience of the world's delusive joy, 

 A heart unstained by crime, tho' not by tears. 



Bids us too late reject the base alloy. 



And turn in age to things that charmed the boy. 



" We turn — but, oh I with what an altered sense 

 Of that ereat book of human life, whose page. 



First opened, seems such glories to condense. 

 It well may youth's idolatry engage — 

 Whose context makes us subtle, sad, or sage. 



I have not broke, nor would I break, the dreanii 

 Nor doth my heart yet feel the ice of age ; 



But I have quaffed of truth's immortal stream. 



And learnt to view mankind other than they 

 may seem." — &c. 



Among other recollections, he runs over 

 his favourite poets. Of Spenser, he speaks 

 thus : — . 

 Nor let me here withhold thy due reward, 

 O courtly minstrel, whose kind Fairy Queen 

 Led my entranced steps through many a bower 

 And sylvan haunt sowondrously bedigbt, 

 None but a poet's eye might image it. 

 Nor could the splendid hues wherein all things 



