Retrospect of Domestic Literature—Poetry, 
And hazle was his eagle eye, 
And auburn of the darkest dye 
His short curl’d beard and hair. 
Light was his footstep in the dance, 
And firs his stirrup in the lists; 
And, oh! he had that merry glance, 
That seldom lady's heart resists. 
Lightly from fair to fair he flew, 
And lov’d to plead, lament, and sue 3 
Suit lightly won, and short lived pain } 
For monarchs seldom sigh in yain. 
In the sixth canto we have The 
Battle. The previous scene between 
Clare and De Wilton, in which the latter 
relates lis history, is truly interesting : 
bat the finest strain of pvetry. is to be 
found in the description of the conflict, 
and the arrangement of the hostile ar- 
mies. 
** Blount and Fitz Eustace rested still 
With lady Clare upon the hill ; 
On which, (‘or far the day was spent,) 
The western sun-beams now were bent, 
[ he cry they heard, its meaning knew, 
“ould plain their distant comrades view ¢ 
Sadly to Blount did Eustace say, 
‘ Unworthy office here to stay ! 
Wo hope of gilded spurs to- day. 
Buz, see! look up—on Flodden bent, 
The Scottish foe has fired his tent. 
And sudden as he spoke, 
¥rom the sharp ridges of the hill, 
All downward to the banks of Till, 
Was wreathed in sable smoke ; 
Volumed and vast, and rolling far, 
The cloud enveloped Scotland’s wary 
As down the hill they broke ; 
or martial shout, nor minstrel tone, 
Announced their march; their tread alone, 
At times one warning trumpet blown, 
At times a stifled hum, 
Told England, from his mountain throne 
King James did rushing come. 
Scarce could they hear, orsee their foes, 
Until at weapon- point they close. 
They close, in clouds of smoke and dust, 
With sword-sway, and with lance’s thrust t5 
And such a yell was there, 
O! sudden and portentous birth, 
As if men fought upon the earth, 
And fiends in upper air, 
One fault is how ever ta be found with 
the story. The hero is ly bo means one 
who excites regard in the reader. From 
the opening of the first canto, to the con- 
Clusion of the last, nothing appears to 
interest us in his fate. James might 
have imprisoned him, or Douglas hanged 
him at Tantallon ; and we should have 
proceeded to the end of the tale with as 
jittle pity, as when he dies upon the field 
ef Flodden. 
dhe notes, which eecupy nearly a 
595 
fourth of the volume, are not merely ex 
planatory, but replete with curious infor- 
mation, highly illustrative of the manners 
of the sixteenth century; containing, 
besides, two or thr ee specimens of ancient 
Border-poetry. They show, also, that 
many incidents which in the. poem might 
be esteemed bat fanciful creations, had 
examples in real history. Two or three 
of the closing notes, afford the true par- 
ticulars of Flodden-fight. 
Of the epi istles, the best and most poe 
¢tical, isthat to Mr. Heber. 
The editor of ** The Cabinet of Poetry,” 
in six valumes octavo, justly complains 
thac the poets at large, like the statutes 
qt large, are prover bial for the useless 
lumber which they contain, and have 
long been a heavy tax, not only upon the 
purse, but on the patience of the public. 
Phe present work 1s compiled on the 
principle of rejecting all the worthless 
and uninteresting parts of their compo- 
sitions, and retaining only the best and 
most exquisite pieces. It is in regard 
to the mass of English poetry, strictly a 
CABINET OF GEMS; and though it may 
wot include every poem which, ac- 
cording to yartous opinions, might pros 
Rev'y appear in such a selection, no arti- 
clés will be found in it which do not pos- 
sess unquestionable beauty, and afford 
adequate specimens of the peculiar 
genius and manner -of their respective 
authors. Prefixed to the whole, is an 
essay on poctry; and to the works of each 
author, a concise biographical sketch: 
the latter, containing dates of facts and 
shart criticisms. ‘Lhe last volume affords, 
amang others, selections from the poetry 
of Warton, Cotton, Blackluck, Mason, 
Puen, and Beattie. The portrait of 
some eminent poet, from the graver of 
Miss Watson, is prefixed to each ‘yor 
lume. 
Mr. Stewart's poem on “ The Re- 
surrection,” abounds in specimens of 
elegant composition, in a strain oF pure 
and unaffected piety. 
Amceng poems of the satirical kind, 
we have not seen one of greater point or 
brilhancy, fora considerable time, than 
thé “ Heroic Epistle to Mr. Winsor, the 
Patentee of the Hydro-Carbonic Gaus 
Lights.’ From the exordium we shall 
transcribe the wish which the poet ex. 
presses for the’ extensian of light to the 
mind. 
0! could thy gas ees equal power convey, 
To the minds eye an intellectual ray, 
With flame etherial decompos’d from coal, 
[lume and Hy DRO-CARBONATE the soul ; 
Oxs 
