The Carnival of Death; a Poem, in two Cantos: BY THOMAS BAILEY, Author of "What is Life ?" and other Poems. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1822, pp. 122, 4s. boards. With such views, we cannot but approve the spirit and tendency of Mr. Bailey's publication; which is designed to turn off the attention from the glare of false glory, and the fond illusions of victory, to the mischiefs and desolations which it brings in its train. In this deIr was a fine expression, with which sign he has, we think, well succeeded, King Henry VII. began his treaties both in the appropriate title he has "When Christ came into the world, given to his poem, The Carnival, or high peace was sung; and, when he went festival of Death; and, in the horrible, out of it, peace was bequeathed;" and, if all kings and statesmen had acted yet faithful picture, he has drawn of the ravages of war, and its consequences, of upon this principle, the warrior, by pro- pestilence, famine, the disruption of fession, would have been disappointed social ties, and every demoralizing ef of his honours, and starved into the fect, that it produces. We are far from pursuit of a more merciful calling. It thinking, with some of our contempois not a matter of wonder, that men, who find the life of their hand, or the rary critics,* that the execution of this gratification of their avarice and am- poem falls so much below the former bition, in the cultivation of war, should productions of his pen. The subject is different, and admits of a more disfollow it with ardour; nor, is it sur- cursive fancy, a bolder use of imagery; prising, that hireling writers should ap- the pruriency of which may verge plaud their deeds; but, it is strange, sometimes upon extravagance; but, a and the indication of a very evil bias in few faults of this kind, are not sufficient our nature, that men of the finest to condemn the whole piece; there are talents should be found ready gra- spots even in the sun; but who thinks, tuitously to prostitute those talents, to eulogise those, who, however excusable But, to come to proof-the opening on that account, of despising his light? they may be, from having been nur-description of the tranquillity and cheertured in the delusive principles of a worldly policy, can be considered as nothing better than the licensed murderers of mankind. But, so it is; and thus atrocities that, if perpetrated singly, would fill every one with horror, and entail the curse of Cain on the perpetrators, are extolled as the greatest efforts of heroism, when committed by nations, and sanctioned by the great ones of the earth. "One murder makes a villain; millions, a hero; Princes are privileged to kill, and numbers sanctify the crime." Bishop Porteus. This, however, is not all; war has found its advocates among the followers of the Prince of Peace: among the disciples of the meek and merciful Jesus, there have not been wanting some, who have devoted themselves to its pursuits, and others who have panegyrized its exploits. They have, indeed, endeavoured to justify themselves, by distinguishing between of fensive and defensive warfare; but this is, at the best, making a virtue of necessity: the only alternative which it presents, is the utrum mavis malorum, the mere choice of evils. fulness of nature, ere yet disturbed by So sweetly tranquil was the morn, Then, as the coursers of the day But Nature, on her couch repos'd, * See the Monthly Magazine, for February or March. Appearing as if life was flown, And earth no more her voice should own; Upon the rose's damask bloom, Filling its wings with sweet perfume, The moralizing of Death, as he views the martial array, is well conceived, and conveys a very cutting, yet just rebuke of those, whose ambition or whose counsels have directed, or fomented the bloody strife. DEATH look'd around with wond'ring gaze, About the right to some vile place,- Some fort, some hamlet, bound'ry stone, Or to relieve some Statesman's spleen, They now would seek to find new life Of riot and debauchery, By revellings for victory; Or, to decide some abstract truth In which divines, kings, schoolmen sought, "Then rise,-bow,-smile,-and haste away "Ten thousand fall beneath the brand, "Which was unsheath'd at their command. "But surely they whose pride creates, "Whose madness, folly, generates "The cause of War,-incur more guilt "From lives thus lost, and blood thus spilt, "Than even does the hireling sword, 66 That deals its vengeance at their word: "For in the crime the agent bears, "For Councils, Senates, Courts, and Kings, The onset, the bloody fray, the dire rout, and the carnage, and scenes of rapine and cruelty that follow, are strikingly represented; with the joy of the monster, and all the baleful passions attendant on his progress; but, we have not room for more than one extract, which we think very fine, and displaying the author's imaginative power, as of no very common cast. "Slow o'er the hills rose, round and large, Of forest pines,-through which its rays, More frightful, from its shadowy gleam. Like Alpine Avalanche, still rush'd Roll'd o'er its shelves with bounding shock, That could with this wild scene compare; Where moving masses ev'rywhere Were hurl'd, in one huge ruin, round, As back recoil'd, with thund'ring sound, The baggage, horsemen, infantry, We mean not, however, to say, that the poem is without fault: it evidently wants polish and finish more than Mr. B's. former work; some parts of it | border closely upon prose, and, in some instances, a mere jingle of sounds occurs, which has no other merit than its rhymes. But, these are merely the blemishes of a good picture; and, we are persuaded, the author has a master-hand to retouch it. Were the faults even more numerous, we could forgive them, in regard to the design and tendency of the piece; as it is well adapted to divest ambition of its disguise of false glory, and to exhibit, in its true light, one of the most dreadful effects of human depravity, and the most fearful scourge of the world; nor, can we hope, until men shall universally take this view of the subject, that those happy days will arrive, which the author hails in the conclusion of his work: “Oh! hail Millennial days! hail days of Peace! When Wars shall end, and Discord's voice shall cease! When Zion's KING shall hear his glorious name Resound through Earth, with one vast, loud acclaim: And morn's first beam,-and eve's last ling'ring ray, Bear witness still to our MESSIAH'S Sway! Songs of Zion; being Imitations of Psalms. BY JAMES MONTGOMERY. London: Longman, and Co. 160 pages, F. c. 8vo. 5s. 6d. boards. 1822. THE pen of Mr. Montgomery has often been employed in ministering to the information and pleasure of chaste and cultivated minds: and we freely acknowledge that we know not a living poet to whom we ourselves are under obligations for so many hours of gratifying recreation. But never has his muse, in our opinion, been so usefully applied as in the work before us-in clothing the inspired compositions of the Jewish church, in the chaste and simple attire of English classical versification which they here sustain. In a preface, characterised by the amiable author's well known diffidence and modesty, he tells the reader that, "in these Imitations of the "Songs of Zion," he does not profess to have succeeded better than any that have gone before him; but, having followed in the track of none, he would venture to hope, that, by avoiding the rugged literality of some, and the diffusive paraphrases of others, he may in a few instances, have approached nearer than either of them have done, to the ideal model of what devotional poems, in a modern tongue, grounded upon the subjects of ancient psalms, yet suited for Christian edification, ought to be." We hesitate not to affirm, and that in the most unqualified terms, that he has succeeded in his object, to a very high degree; and while we bear an humble testimony to the excellence of his undertaking, we must add, that we have derived inexpressible satisfaction from finding it executed so perfectly in accordance with our own views of what the subject required. He adds, in his preface, that "he has endeavoured to do his best; and, in doing so, he has never hesitated to sacrifice ambitious ornament to simplicity, clearness, and force of thought and expression. If, in the event, it shall be found that he has added a little to the small national stock of " Psalms and Hymns, and Spiritual Songs," in which piety speaks the language of poetry, and poetry the language of inspiration, he trusts that he will be humbly contented and unfeignedly thankful." This praise is certainly his, but we most ardently hope, that he will not rest "contented" until he shall have perfected the good work of which he has yet furnished only the beginning. The Psalms of David are a hundred and fifty in number, of which Mr. Montgomery has versified only fifty-six. We earnestly hope that his days will be prolonged, and health and leisure afforded him for completing his design. He will then have rendered a most important service to the church of Christ, he will have put her in possession of what has long been a desideratum, not only with us, but with thousands of the Israel of God-a version of these divine compositions, in which a just medium is preserved between the luxuriant paraphrases of Watts, and the meagre renderings of a host of writers too numerous to particularize. We will furnish our readers with some specimens of Mr. Montgomery's simple, chaste, and beautiful lines, in our poetical department, the first moment we can make room for them. Letter to W. Wilberforce, Esq. on the Catholic Claims. BY AMICUS PRO TESTANS. [Concluded from page 150.] We now resume the consideration of these Letters, which have acquired ad In the 19th Letter, he professes to find among the advocates of the Roman Catholic claims, "a great majority of the DISSENTERS.' "Their object, he assures us, is, manifestly to ride to the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, upon the shoulders of the Roman Catholics, and for this end, they are (in the true spirit of Don Quixotte) as steadily determined to make a bonfire of all history, as other moderns who are equally wise in their own conceit." This is not the most courteous style that the writer could have found, in which to speak of the great body of Dissenters, and we must be allowed the liberty of telling him that it is liable to very great objections. We should be glad to know what proof he has to satisfy his own mind, that the object which the great majority of the Dissenters have in view, in advocating the Catholic claims, in the hope of obtaining the refusal of the Test and Corporation Acts? Why can he not give them credit for being actuated by the same mistaken motives, by which his own Evangelical clergy are influenced? Why must he attribute to them any thing so dis ditional interest since the publication | of the principles on which the national of our former Number, by the success establishment rests for its support; for, that has attended a motion in the House had he a full conviction on his own of Commons, for leave to bring in a mind, that its foundations were ScripBill, having for its object to allow Ca- tural, why should he be so troublingly tholic Peers to sit in the Upper House. alive to apprehensions for its safety? In his ninth Letter, the writer pro- Magna est veritas et prevalebit! poses to consider how far the concession of their claims will convey to Roman Catholics the power of annoyance; but his reasoning on this particular point is far from possessing the full force of demonstration, and we should think that he himself can scarcely expext Mr. Wilberforce to allow much weight to it. In truth, he blinks the question altogether; and, instead of shewing us the indissoluble connexion between relieving the Catholics of their present disabilities, and the ruin of our Protestant establishment, he substitutes a very different consideration. "Put the worst," says he, "that can happen to your own country upon the present system, and what is it, but that she will lose the possible advantage of the unknown and untried services of some Papist statesman, warrior, or judge, who, under existing circumstances, can neither enter the Senate House, preside at the Bench, nor attain the highest rank in the field," &c. This the reader will see does not touch the question with which the writer began his Letter. In the tenth, and eight following Letters, he addresses himself to such of the Evangelical clergy of the estab-honourable? The fact may have been lishment, as think the Catholic claims avowed by a few individuals, but is that may be safely conceded. He goes a sufficient ground for his exposing the over the different pleas that have whole body? We know the Dissenters been urged by them in favour of Catho- much better than he does, and therelic emancipation; such as, that it will fore we tell him, that if the Protestant dry up the sources of complaint and ascendancy be maintained in the British disaffection, and in this very way bring empire, he must be content to remain about Christian union and peace-that indebted for it, to the powerful influence it will promote the great object of Pro- of the great body of Dissenters, rather testants in diffusing education and than to that of the Semi-Papistical memknowledge, particularly in Ireland, &c. bers of the church of England. We &c.; in reply to which, he labours to beseech him to enlarge his views on convince Mr. Wilberforce, that instead this subject, let him consult the page of any such excellent effects being pro- of history that is past, and look around duced by it, the certain consequences him for the purpose of ascertaining the to be apprehended are, that the Church effects that are making in the present of England will be amalgamated with day to counteract the influence of Po the Church of Rome, and partaking of pery, and stem the torrent of its inroads her sins, she will receive also of her upon us, and he will find, what may plagues. Indeed, from the whole te- perhaps surprise him, that his primary nour of his reasoning with the Evan-obligations are due to the Dissenters gelical clergy of his own church, it from his own favourite church. appears manifest that he has very little refer him to the writings of Mr. M'Ga confidence in the truth and goodness vin, of Glasgow, Mr. Fletcher, of Black We burn, Mr. Roby, of Manchester, and others, all Dissenters, and we ask him, after making himself acquainted with the labours of those Gentlemen in behalf of the common cause, whether the great body of Dissenters merit at his hands the supercilious scorn with which he has treated them! This is a topic on which it was more easy for us to enlarge, than to suppress facts and evidences, but our limits forbid it; and indeed it is become the less necessary, by reason that our Author himself finds it necessary in a subsequent Letter, to make the amends honourable to the Dissenters, and to supplicate their continued exertions in defence of his own church. On this subject his conduct is amusing enough, but there is nothing new in it. We have witnessed it a thousand times. The advocates of our Episcopal establishment, while in the possession of the loaves and fishes, can snarl at the Dissenters, and treat them with as much hauteur, as though they were unworthy of the crumbs that fall from their table; but let an alarm be sounded in their ears, that "the church is in danger," whether from Catholics or Deists, or any other quarter, and then-Oh, and then-who but the Dissenters! Our readers cannot but be much amused with the twentieth Letter in this collection, but we have not room for extracts, and must now take our leave of the volume, by once more recommending it to the notice of our friends as an useful publication at the present moment. The Life of Poor Sarah, an American Indian: a true Story. Stirling: printed for J. Forman, and sold by Waugh and Innes, Edinburgh; Wardlaw, and Cunningham, Glasgow; and W. Jones, 7, Lovel's Court, London. 1822. pp. 16, price two-pence. THE subject of this narrative, whose name was Sarah Rogers, lived and died in a small town in the eastern part of Connecticut. The editor of the Reli gious Intelligencer, an American paper, says, "We are well acquainted with the writer, and can assure our readers, that the account here given is true." She seems to have been well known in the place of her residence, and deservedly esteemed for her. faith in, and love to, the Saviour; but the most prominent trait in her character was, her pious re signation to the will of God, her contentedness with her humble lot, and her exemplary patience under all the priva tions and hardships to which she was exposed. She appears to have been the subject of strong religious feeling, which occasionally led her into enthusiasm, but her narrative presents an useful example to professors of every description, high and low, rich and poor. Sarah lived to a good old age, and when the writer of her story, who had many opportunities of knowing her well, heard that she was no more, the inquiry," Is Sarah dead?" gave rise to the following stanzas, which are printed at the close of the tract: the poetry would do no discredit to a higher theme. "Is Sarah dead? let not a sigh arise, Rather let tears of joy suffuse the eyes To mourn her exit from this world of woe; That oft have wept her suffering state below. Is Sarah dead? then those poor aged limbs, So long with pain and weariness oppress'd, An easy bed in yonder grave shall find, 'And long and sweet shall be the sacred rest.' Is Sarah dead? then never, never more, Shall hunger sorce her from her wretched cot With eager step, a morsel to implore, Where poverty und tears are heeded not. No longer bent beneath a heavy load, Since thy Redeemer deign'd his love to show, And wrote thy name in life's immortal book. And rather, far, would I thy triumphs share, (And ere the triumph all thy sorrows feel,) Than gain the laurel earthly conquerors wear, And all the sceptres kings and princes wield. Thus, while the pen of many a ready writer is employed in imparting instruction, reproof, or correction, to the rising, or risen generation; while the deeds of the mighty are recorded with splendour, the exploits of the heroes proclaimed from the housetops, and the virtues and charities of God's people are exhibited, that others may see their good works, and glorify their Father humble ability, snatch from oblivion the who is in heaven, I would, according to my example of one, who, though scorned by the proud, and overlooked by the great, yet was known and beloved by a humble few, and by them the grace of God was magnified on her account." |