She too is strong, and might not chafe in vain Wit and humour are rarely attempted by the American muse, and then generally with slender success. We might have said that a court and a circle of gay nobility were requisite for this light species of composition, did we not recollect the names of Shakspeare and Burns. The American mind seems, however, to have a sort of earnest and determined reality, ill suited to these playful effusions. Bryant has attempted repeatedly a sort of light irony, which is well conceived, but somewhat rudely developed. The following, from "Address to a Musquito," may be given as an instance, with the remark, that the insinuation against the fair leaders of fashion in New York, of a taste for artificial adornment, has been made from other quarters : At length thy pinions flutter'd in Broadway; Shone through the snowy veils like stars through mist; Bloom'd the bright blood through the transparent skin. Oh, these were sights to touch an anchorite! Thou wailest, when I talk of beauty's light, As if it brought the memory of pain: Thou art a wayward being-well-come near, And pour thy tale of sorrow in my ear. What say'st thou-slanderer !-rouge makes thee sick? And Rowland's kalydor, if laid on thick, Poisons the thirsty wretch that bores for blood. Go! 'twas a just reward that met thy crime But shun the sacrilege another time. The same train is followed up perhaps more happily in another poem, "Spring in Town.” -Here are eyes that shame the violet, And the spring-beauty boasts no tenderer streak, Locks that the lucky Vignardonne has curl'd, And bake, and braid those love-knots of the world; Then, henceforth, let no maid nor matron grieve Had blush'd, outdone, and own'd herself a fright. James G. Percival may be ranked immediately under Bryant, to whom indeed he is preferred by some, but we think with very little reason. He appears, however, to be a man of more varied attainments, and in this respect superior to almost any other of his countrymen. He was born in 1795, at Berlin, Connecticut; where his father, an intelligent physician, carefully watched over his mental culture. Having soon mastered all that was to be learned at a village-school, he devoted himself to private study, shunning the society of schoolfellows, and spending his time in his apartment, or in the depth of the woods. He thus acquired a vast store of knowledge, yet contracted also a recluse and sensitive disposition, which was unfavourable to his progress in life. He is represented as most completely looking the poet, with feeling, melancholy, and enthusiasm traced in his features, a startled timidity in his air, and an eye bright with mysterious fire. After completing his studies at Yale College, he was appointed in 1824 professor of chemistry in the military academy at West Point. From ill health, or, by some accounts, from an incident which wounded his too sensitive pride, he threw up the situation, and has since depended almost wholly on the scanty remuneration obtained in his country for literary employment. He translated Malte-Brun's geography, and laboured hard upon the great etymological dictionary of Dr Webster. He resides at Newhaven, and has recently been appointed to make the geological survey of Connecticut. Percival's good poems are bold, lofty, energetic, and full of thought, but little polished, and presenting occasional rudenesses and blemishes which Bryant has carefully avoided. What is more, there is a want of imagery, softness, and variety; the language is too abstract and speculative; the merit being rather perhaps that of oratory than of poetry. The picture of his youthful emotions in the contemplation of nature, though we can only extract a part, will be read, we think, with no little interest : Well I remember, in my boyish days, How deep the feeling, when my eye look'd forth How my heart gladden'd, as the light of spring And, Oh! I stood, in breathless longing fix'd, Fresh from the hand that wrought her; where the eye Woven of bright Apollo's golden hair. Nor, when that arch, in winter's clearest night, Intensely bright, roll'd, like a fountain, forth Down the long galaxy, a flood of snow, Bathing the heavens in light, the spring that gush'd Of all-maternal nature. These I saw, And felt to madness; but my full heart gave No utterance to the ineffable within. The address "To the Eagle" is one of the most finished and characteristic of his pieces :— Bird of the broad and sweeping wing, Where wide the storms their banners fling, And the tempest clouds are driven. Thy throne is on the mountain top; And hoary peaks, that proudly prop Thou sittest like a thing of light, The midway sun is clear and bright; Thy pinions, to the rushing blast, O'er the bursting billow, spread, Where the vessel plunges, hurry past, Like an angel of the dead. Thou art perch'd aloft on the beetling crag, And the waves are white below, And on, with a haste that cannot lag, They rush in an endless flow. Again thou hast plumed thy wing for flight To lands beyond the sea, And away like a spirit wreathed in light, Lord of the boundless realm of air, In thy imperial name, The hearts of the bold and ardent dare The dangerous path of fame. Beneath the shade of thy golden wings, The Roman legions bore, From the river of Egypt's cloudy springs, He has celebrated on several occasions, and with considerable power, the praises of liberty. The poem entitled "New England" may be given as a good example; but we prefer quoting several stanzas from that entitled "Liberty to Athens." The flag of Freedom floats once more Pours down its light around those towers, As in their country's noblest hours; Oh! may she keep her equal laws, While man shall live, and time shall be. The pride of all her shrines went down ; Her helm by many a sword was cleft: Where grew the palm, the cypress rose, And sounds redemption to the Greeks. It is the classic jubilee Their servile years have roll'd away; And Beauty wakes a fairer spring; Richard H. Dana was born in 1787, of a good family, and son of an eminent lawyer, who became chief-justice of Massachusetts. He himself was bred to the bar, but, like others smitten by the muses, soon relinquished that profession, and even a seat in the legislature, de |