1829.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



«87 



the attitude is painfully constraineil — nor is 

 there any making out what she is about ; 

 and the verses, almost as a matter of course, 

 only perplex the matter more. " Milton 

 and his Daughters," is all but a joke. " The 

 Blue Bell," ti turn ti. Bonnington's 

 " Negro Girl," only spoils the beautiful 

 landscape ; and the exquisitely engraved 

 gem, called " Ada," wants explaining. 



Of the literary part, which is more within 

 our province, the poetry is for the most part, 

 as usual with the Annuals, very well, as 

 mere vers de societi. A " Scrap, written 

 in an alcove," by Sir Thomas Croft, an 

 " Address from Leonora d'Este to Tasso," 

 and some " Stanzas on Bed," by Shee, are, 

 perhaps, distinguishable. Foscolo's " Son- 

 net," descriptive of his own person and 

 character, is correctly offensive — while the 

 lines on the King, though among the best of 

 the volume, are too "personally loyal for oiur 

 taste, or for any body's, we shoiUd hope, but 

 those who are honoured with his personal 

 acquaintance. AVe quote a few stanzas of 

 " Bed." 



Peace to his bones, tlie tirst who spread 

 Tlie swellinfr. soft, luxurious bed, 



For man's indulgence given I 

 Still as I stretch each weary limb, 

 I cast a grateful thought on him 



And wish him rest in heaven. 



Refuge of sickness, toil, and woe I 

 Sweet home of half our lives below ! 



Where still our welcome's warm : 

 Soft, downy duck, where sense repairs 

 [ The damage done by daily cares. 



To brave again the storm I 



'VVniether with costly curtains closed, 

 Of feathers, or of docks composed. 



In camp, field, tent, or truckle, 

 The lucky bard that's shelter'd snug, 

 In bis own nest, beneath his rug, 



May bless bis stars and chuckle. 



To rest, in vain Suspicion tries ; 

 The lover cannot close his eyes. 



Whom some proud Beauty scorns : 

 Guilt finds Remorse upon bis couch ; 

 The slave will e'en in slumber crouch ; 



And Tyrants sleep on thorns. 



Tlic poet, too, who goes to bed, 

 With half a stanza in his head, 



Findi rhyming not compitsing ; 

 The muse still labours as be lies, 

 And if he sleeps, reviewers rise 



To damn him as he's dozing. 



■yet still th' unhappy in their beds 

 Find acliing hearts and aching hc.ids. 



In some degree relieved there ; 

 E'en culprits ca^t for death by law, 

 Will slumber on their beds of straw. 



And dream they arc reprieved there. 



Several of the talcs arc good, especially 

 the " Negro (iirl," if the negro father's sen- 

 timents had been described instead of I)eing 

 expressed. " Long Jiingagcnicnts," is, per- 



haps, the best ; and the "Student of Padua," 

 and " 11 Traditorc" very weU after tlieir 

 kind. 



The Musical Bijou; 1830 Of the 



music we are, of course, no competent 

 judges ; but the volume presents several 

 original contributions by composers of emi- 

 nence, both native and foreign. The quarto 

 forms affording larger dimensions, the plates 

 have aU been lithographed; but, though 

 good of their kind— and the start which 

 lithography has recently made is prodigious- 

 there is no contemplating them with any 

 pleasure — filled as we are with recollections 

 of the most delicate executions on steel and 

 copper in the cotemporary Annuals. But 

 the bijouterie of the volume is, of course, 

 the music — the merely ornamental is qidte 

 a secondary consideration ; and so, perhaps, 

 is the literary department, though the 

 pieces come fairly up to the " Annual" 

 average, both in prose and verse. Lord 

 Nugent has told his tale of the " Suspicious 

 IMan" well, but for the abrupt conclusion. 

 A few lines written in the blank leaf of Mr. 

 Bayley's Loves of the Butterflies, by Lord 

 Ashton, to whom the said Loves were dedi- 

 cated, are more than comparatively good. 

 The fluttering Butterfly of old 

 Was emblem of the Soul ! we're told : — 

 To you the type may well belong. 

 Your Butteitly'3 the soul of song I 

 But why to me inscribe a tale 

 Of Loves that flutter in the gale 

 Of Spring — or Summer's genial ray?-- 

 To me, who hasten to decay I 

 Why not address the sportive song 

 To Helen, beaut'ful and young? 

 She well may claim a Minstrell's skill, 

 Although a Wife — a Mistress still : 

 Yet such the magic of your strain. 

 E'en Age might live and love again, 

 While Fancy renovates the theme 

 Of Hope, and Joy, and Love's young dream. 



The Literary Souvenir ; 1830 The 



Jjitcrary Souvenir has very superior en. 



gravings of some charming conceptions , 



Howard's Oberon and Titania, CoUins'sPet- 

 Ivamb, and Allston's Jacob's I^adder. But 

 some impediments, according to the editor, 

 are unexpectedly thrown in the way of tliese 

 picture-engravings, on the part of some 

 greedy artists. One, in particular, that we 

 know, who ought from his station to set a dif. 

 ferent example, claims a sort of copy right in 

 his paintings, wherever such right has not 

 been expressly resigned, which, of course, is 

 not once in a thousand times ; for who has 

 dreamed of stipulating for such a resigna- 

 tion ? The pretension itself is absurd. En- 

 graving and painting are two different things, 



and essentially of different value copying 



by the graver will never equal the original, 

 like printing one book from anotiier. The 



common sense of the thing is this the 



painter, when he has finished his job, and 

 been paid for it, has done with it. Every 

 thing belonging to it, except wliat cannot 

 be separated, the act and merit of crcutiuu, 



