1821.] 
Letter from Brasil , by a Swiss Colonist. 
325 
many of which need not shrink from a The busy bee hath huimn’d himself to rest; 
comparison with the productions of Flowers dry to seed, that held the sweets 
loftier hards in the same department. of spring; 
Our limits will not admit of extracting Flown is the bird, and empty is the nest ? 
more than two or three among those 
that have struck us most: but justice 
to the poet requires us to observe, that 
several others are to be found, not at 
all inferior in merit to those that we 
have inserted. 
44 Ah, when this world and I have shaken 
hands, 
And all the frowns of this sad life got xhe joys of this workfare but born to die. 
through, 
His broods are rear’d, no joys are left to 
sing. 
There hangs a dreariness about the scene, 
A present shadow of a bright has been. 
Ah, sad to prove that pleasure’s golden 
springs, 
Like common fountains, should so quickly 
dry, 
And be so near allied to vulgar things 
When from pale care and sorrow’s dismal 
lands, 
I turn a Avelcome and a wish’d adieu y 
How blest and happy, to eternal day, 
To endless happiness without a pain, 
Will my poor weary spirit sail away, 
That long long-looked for 4 better place’ 
to gain 
How sweet the scenes will open on her eye, 
Where no mere troubles, no more cares 
annoy ; 
All the sharp sorrows of this life torn by, 
And safely moor’d in heaven’s eternal 
Several passages in the above extracts 
are very pleasing, and in no small de¬ 
gree poetical; indeed, they must be 
confessed to be very superior to any 
thing that could have been anticipated 
from the limited resources and defec¬ 
tive education of a man like Clare. So 
far, therefore, he is certainly entitled 
to praise. But we fear, when every 
allowance is made, tiiat sober judges 
will hardly he disposed to assign these 
poems at the utmost, a place above 
mediocrity; and the elegant critic of 
Sweet J wHl it seem to Fate’s oppressed 
worm, 
As trembling sunbeams creeping from the 
storm. 
-I care not where ’tis 
44 I seek for peace 
found ; 
On this rude scene in briars and bram¬ 
bles drest, 
If peace dwells here, ’tis consecrated 
ground, 
And owns the power to give my bosom 
rest *, 
To soothe the rankliug of each bitter 
wound, 
Gall’d by rude Envy’s adder—biting 
jest, 
Mediocribus esse poetis, 
Non di, non homines, non concessere co¬ 
lumns®.” 
We cannot but regret, that those who 
were disposed to serve the author, have 
not hit upon a better expedient than 
that of endeavouring to force public 
patronage in his favour, on the ground 
of claims which we cannot consider as 
established, notwithstanding the im¬ 
posing assertions of an anonymous wri¬ 
ter, in an introduction prefixed to the 
poems, that 44 Clare has created more 
never-dying forms in the personifica¬ 
tion of tilings inanimate and abstract, 
And worldly strife y 
round 
For peace’s hermitage, can it be found ? 
Surely that breeze that o’er the blue wave 
curl’d, 
Did whisper soft,. 4 thy wanderings here 
are blest 
How different from the language of the 
world; 
Nor jeers, nor taunts in this still spot are 
ah, 1 am looking ami has scattered them more profusely 
about our paths, than perhaps any poet 
of the age, but one.” Such extrava¬ 
gant commendation could hardly be 
admitted on the mere ipse dixit, even 
of a judge of recognised and unques¬ 
tionable ability: much less can it be 
acceded to on the ground of unknown 
authority. 
given: 
Its calms a balsam to a soul distrest; 
And where peace smiles, a wilderness is 
heaven.” 
44 The spring is gone, the summer-beauty 
wanes, 
Like setting sun-beams in their last de¬ 
cline j 
As evening’s shadows, lingering on the 
plains, 
Gleam dim and dimmer till they cease to 
shipe, 
For the Monthlii Magazine. 
letter from NEW FRIBURGH. new 
HELVETIA, in BRASIL, by a SWISS 
COLONIST, dated January 28///, 1821. 
I T is near two years that I have been 
separated from you and my ancient 
country. (This was the district of 
Porqjitruy, which was taken from 
France, in 1815, and united to the 
Canton of Berne; since that event, the 
emigrations for Brasil have been con¬ 
siderable 
