A world of wonders! where creation seems No more the works of Nature, but her dreams; Great, wild, and beautiful, beyond controul, She reigns in all the freedom of her soul. Where none can check her bounty, when she show'rs O'er the gay wilderness her fruits and flow'rs; None brave her fury, when, with whirlwind breath And earthquake step, she walks abroad with death. O'er boundless plains she holds her fiery flight, In terrible magnificence of light; Her thirst at Nile's mysterious fountain quells, Or bathes her swarthy limbs where Niger swells. An inland ocean, on whose jasper rocks With shells and sea-flower wreaths she binds her locks, She sleeps on isles of velvet verdure, placed Midst sandy gulphs and shoals for ever cry. At sun set, when voracious monsters burst From dreams of blood, awak'd by madd'ning thirst; When the lorn caves, in which they shrunk from light, Ring with wild echoes through the hideous night; When darkness seems alive, and all the air Leads the light leopard on his eager way, In these romantic regions man grows wild; Here dwells the negro, nature's outcast child, comm'd by his brethren; but his mother's Sees in his flexile limbs untutor'd grace, Power on his forehead, beauty in his face; Sees in his breast, where lawless passions rove, The heart of friendship, and the home of love; Sees in his mind, where desolation reigns, Fierce as his clime, uncultur'd as his plains, A soil where virtue's fairest flowers might shoot, And trees of science bend with glorious fruit; Sees in his soul, involv'd in thickest night, An emanation of eternal light, Ordain'd, midst sinking worlds, his dust, to fire And shine for ever when the stars expire. Belie his virtues; since his wrongs began, There are also, we think, some sublime strokes in the following pas sage, suggested by the Maroon war, which not long ago raged in the West Indies: Tremble, Britannia, while thine islands tell Th' appalling mysteries of Obi's spell; The wild Maroons, impregnable and free Among the mountain holds of liberty, Sudden as light'ning darted on their foe, Seen like the flash, remember'd like the blow. 1 Slave; The dæmon spectres of Domingo rise, God is a spirit, veil'd from human sight In secret darkness of eternal light; Through all the glory of his works we trace The hidings of his counsel and his face; Nature and time, and change, and fate fulfil, Unknown, unknowing, his mysterious will; Mercies and judgments mark him every hour, Supreme in grace, and infinite in power Mida Midst reeling mountains, and disparting plains, Tell the pale world, the God of vengeance reigns. The title of Mr Graham's poem is," Africa delivered, or the Slave Trade abolished." His subject does not take the same wide range as that of Mr Montgomery. He has adopt ed a plan more of detail, and better suited for giving scope to his own peculiar powers, which, without being inferior to those of Mr Montgomery, are of a somewhat different cast. Domestic pictures and incidents, blended with the detail of simple scenery that intimately harmonizes with them, seem to afford his favourite and happiest themes. There is much of this in the present poem; and though the subject has now been treated so often as to be with the utmost difficulty redeemed from common-place, yet many passages are extremely interesting and affecting. Mr Graham begins with some account of the origin of the trade, and imagines a vessel sailing to the fatal coast for its human cargo. Then, supposing them to excite a war for the purpose of curing slaves, he describes the attendant calamities. 4 pro The murderous league, The bribe for blood is struck, the doom pronounced, By which a peaceful unoffending race Calm was the eve, and cooling was the gale That gently fanned Kooma's Bentang tree: Beneath its canopy the aged throng Sat garrulous, and praised the lightsome days Of better years, yet blessed their lot that now, Beneath the boughs which waved above their sires, They see their children round about them sport In mirthful rings, or hear the horn that sounds The herd's approach: alas, 'tis not the sound Of herdsman's horn: it is the trumpet's voice, Distant as yet, and faint among the hills. Homeward each warrior hies, and grasps the spear, And slings the quiver o'er his throbbing breast; Trembling for those who, weeping, round him wait, But bold in conscious courage and his cause. formed voice, half The name of man, waits for the chieftain's call; Even boys, who scarce can string their childish bows, Press keenly forward, and, like untrained dogs, Are rated home. To stem the tide of war, Forward the warrior's haste: the foe apThe bonbalon resounds; the murderous yell, pears, Impatient of delay, is raised; no pause volved die They form a writhing globe, and poisoned By mutual wounds. Not so the combat ends That seals Kooma's doom: right yields to power. O'erwhelmed by numbers, fathers, hus bands, lie Dead, bleeding, dying;-blessed are the dead! They hear not the oppressor's chain, nor The bolted iron; while, from a neighbour feel ing hill, The pale-faced, ruthless, author of the war, Surveys the human harvest reaped and Fire, sword, and rapine, sweeps away at bound. once The cottage with its inmates, and transforms name, Is left; as when a forest is laid low,⠀⠀ Haply some single and far sundered trees Are spared, while every lowly shrub, and flower, That sheltered smiled, droops shivering in the breeze. The following picture, which is drawn after the victims are suppos ed indistinct--more distant-more of Already I behold the wicker dome Around the shapeless pillars twists the vine. The house of God with odours, passing far And die in cadence soft; the preacher's voice Succeeds; their native tongue the converts hear In deep attention fixed; all but that child, Who eyes the hanging clusters, yet withholds, In reverence profound, his little hand. The last poem is by Mr E. Ben ger, whose name we do not recollect to have before met with, but who able share of poetical merit. "He appears to possess a very considerhas not, indeed, the magnificence of Montgomery, or the pathos of Grahame; but he possesses a sweet, flowing, mellow tone of poetry, which, without ever rising very high, appears to most advantage, we is always correct and pleasing. He think, in simple domestic pictures, where no strong passions are called forth. The following may afford an agreeable specimen: The simple negro hears, with cold disdain, Mr Graham concludes, like Mr Montgomery, with celebrating the downfall of the slave trade, and the merits of those who were instrumental in effecting it. With regard to this part of both poems, we cannot help remarking, that, contrary, probably, to the intention of the authors, it is by no means the best. The names and subjects are too real, too familiar, too colloquial, if we may use the expression, to kindle poetic enthusiasm. This, we apprehend to be one chief reason Child of tradition! all his soul requires why poetry, on ephemeral subjects, Is bounded by the mem'ry of his sires: and on the characters of the day, is seldom possessed of merit. The region of genuine' poetry is one more Of climes far distant from his native plain; engage Till, blanch'd by time, his few spare locke The sacred reverence youth bequeaths to age! Like them he sallies on the ambush'd foe, springs, Green Green as the pensile leaf to which he clings; Or, like a tempest, drives the woods among, With skill that tames the fierce, and awes the strong; Or hov'ring o'er the river's banks of green, To fence his borders with the neat bamboo; The social door, that latch or bar has none, grave; For, near that cherish'd spot, at parting day, He deems some friend his lifeless corpse shall Lay; Clad in such garb as erst his hands had wrought, (A task, perhaps, performed in pensive thought), White as the silkworm's soft funereal vest, Yet Afric's humble son is doomed to share lore; (So well loves man, his daily cares resign'd To fill with dreams, perturbed, the vacant mind), While the cool Tabba's beech-like shade descends O'er sires and sons, a family of friends. Nor vainly here the wanderer seeks a seat; But drops the sandals from his bleeding feet; Hail'd, though unknown-to simple man what claim So strong, so sacred, as the stranger's name? Is there a spell the negro's soul to wean From childhood's lov'd traditionary scene? No! long estranged, through slow revolv ing years, The exile pours his unexhausted tears: Even he, the favoured man, from thraldom free, Yearns to behold his tutelary tree, rest. We have been particularly copi ous in our extracts out of this work, as, from the splendid, and, conse quently, expensive forth, in which it is published, it can come into the hands of comparatively few readers. New Works published in Edinburgh. THE Advantages, Abuses, and Obligations of Masonry. By the R. W. Master of the Edinburgh Defensive Band Lodge. 2s. A General View of the Agriculture of Galloway. By the Rev. Samuel Smith, Minister of Borgue. 8vo. plates, 9s. The Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom, relative to the Strata of Coal, Mineral Veins, and the preVailing Strata of the Globe. By John Williams, E. S. S. A. Mineral Surveyor. The 2d edition; with an appendix, containing a more extended view of mineralogy and geology. Illustrated with engravings. By James Millar, M. D. F. A.S. A.Š. 2 vols. 8vo. 24s. First Report of the Edinburgh Bible Society. 1s." Commentaries on the Laws o ́ Scotland, and on the principles of Mercantile Jurisprudence. By George Joseph Bell, Esq. Advocate, 2d Edition, 4to. 21. 2s. 6d. A A General View of the Agriculture of Kincardineshire, and the Mearns. By George Robertson. Svo. 12s. Scottish Literary Intelligence. R ROBERT KERR has anMR nounced his intention of undertaking a General History and Collectaking a General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels. This work is to be divided into five parts, containing, 1. Voyages and Travels, during the middle ages, down to the commencement of the 15th century. 2. General Voyages and Travels, from the above era to the year 1760. 3. Particular Voyages and Travels, arranged in systematic order, geogra phical and chronological. 4. Voyages and Travels during the reign of George III. 5. Historical Deduction of the Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest times, down to the present period. It is proposed, that this work shall consist of 18 volumes; a part, or half volume, to appear every two months. We understand that a new edition of Decerpta ex P. Ovidii Nasonis Metamorphoseon Libris, with Eng lish notes at the foot of the page, and a copious Index of the proper names at the end of the volume, by Mr Dymock, of the Grammar School of Glasgow, will be publish ed in the course of next month. unfolded, partially or wholly, by Mr Hayter, were suffered to fall into the hands of the French, notwith standing the repeated remonstrances of this gentleman to the Neapolitan court to have them removed, or sent to England. We learn, however, that Mr Hayter had previously copied and corrected ninety-four of those which he had unfolded, and miles, were transmitted by him to that these copies, which are fac-sithe Prince of Wales, and have since by his Royal Highness, through Lord Grenville, been presented to the university of Oxford. Among these was a Latin poem, which Mr Hayter conjectures to have been composition of Varius, the friend of Virgil. Of this Latin poem, as well as of an ingenious treatise on Death, been engraved. Unfortunately his by Philodemus, the fac-similes have Sicilian Majesty also left behind him at Naples, engraved fac-siniles of three books and a half of Epicurus de Natura, of which the discoVery was an invaluable acquisition; but we have the pleasure to announce, that the fac-simile copies of those and other four books are among the ninety-four now at Oxford.. A Miscellaneous Collection of Critical Observations, from the manuscripts of the late Professor Por son, purchased by Trinity-college, Cambridge, will shortly be given to the public by Professor Monk, Mr Dobree, and Mr Blomfield, the three gentlemen to whom this task has been entrusted by the master and fellows of the society. An English gentleman, lately es caped from France, has in the press, A Picture of Verdun; being an interesting statement of every circumstance connected with the detention of our countrymen. This work contains: An account of their arrestation--Detention at Fontaine and Valenciennes Confinement at Verdun-Incarceration at Bitche-A musements |