out the impress of highest genius, and breathing a moral charm, in the midst of the wildest, and sometimes even extravagant imaginings, that shall preserve them forever from oblivion, and embalm them in the spirit of love and of delight. The following specimens, of this class, are written in a familiar style, and display strong inventive genius, making much out of little-educing useful reflections from objects in themselves worthless : TO A SPIDER. "Spider! thou need'st not run in fear about I won't humanely crush thy bowels out, Nor will I roast thee with a fierce delight One day roast me. "Thou'rt welcome to a Rhymer sore perplex'd. There's many a one who on a better text Then shrink not, old Free-mason, from my view, Do thou thy work pursue, As I will mine. "Weaver of snares, thou emblemest the ways Hell's huge black spider, for mankind he lays When Betty's busy eye runs round the room, The earth shall clean? 'Spider! of old thy flimsy webs were thought, To emblem laws in which the weak are caught, And if a victim in thy toils is ta'en, Like some poor client is that wretched fly, His life-blood dry. "And is not thy weak work like human schemes Such are young hopes and Love's delightful dreams, So does the Statesman, while the avengers sleep, "Thou busy laborer! one resemblance more For, Spider, thou art like the Poet poor, We work, as Nature taught, with ceaseless pains, I spin my brains." THE FILBERT. Nay, gather not that Filbert, Nicholas : Hath Nature's wisdom for the world ordain'd; Him the mouse, Gnawing with nibbling tooth the shell's defense, Him may the nut-hatch, piercing with strong bill, The squirrel bear, at leisure to be crack'. Man also hath his dangers and his foes As this poor maggot hath; and when I muse SECTION XVIII. JAMES MONTGOMERY. The Moravian Hymns are said to have led his mind into the culture of poetry. His chief characteristics are purity and elevation of thought, harmonious versification, and a fine strain of devotional feeling. His poems can not be too highly commended to the frequent perusal of the young. The variety of subject adds much to the interest of his works. THE GRAVE. "There is a calm for those who weep, Low in the ground. The storm that wrecks the winter sky I long to lay this painful head For misery stole me at my birth, Take home thy child. We hope to receive the thanks of young ladies who intend to provide themselves with an ALBUM, that social and literary luxury, for inserting here a collection of admirable mottoes, from the versatile and vigorous pen of the fine poet now under review. Some may need to be informed, that the term Album is derived from a Latin word, signifying white, and is therefore applied usually to an elegant blank book, in which we request our friends to write something as a memorial of themselves. This explanation may be necessary to some, for understanding the second motto below, and also the sixth. MOTTOES FOR ALBUMS. I. Mind is invisible, but you may find II. Behold my Album unbegun, Which when 'tis finish'd will be none. III. Faint lines, on brittle glass and clear, IV. May all the names recorded here V. Here friends assemble, hand and heart; VI. My Album is a barren tree, Where leaves and only leaves you see: VII. Fairies were kind to country jennies, And in their shoes dropp'd silver pennies; VIII. My Album's open; come and see; What, won't you waste a thought on me? Write but a word, a word or two, And make me love to think on you. In earnestness and fervor (says Professor Wilson), his poem "The Pelican Island" is by few or none ex celled: it is embalmed in sincerity, and therefore shall not fade away, neither shall it moulder. Not that it is a mummy; say, rather, a fair form laid asleep in immortality-its face wearing, day and night, summer and winter, look at it when you will, a saintly, a cëlestial smile. In proof that a great poet, like Montgomery, does not need a great subject to display his powers upon, we give you his EPITAPH ON A GNAT, found crushed on a leaf of a lady's album, and written (with a Though frail as dust it meet the eye, This speck had life, and suffer'd death! You will find another fine specimen of the style of Montgomery, both prosaic and poetic, in the sketch of Burns on a subsequent page. SECTION XIX. LORD BYRON (1788-1824). In many respects one of the most talented of writers, both in prose and verse. Many of his works are altogether unexceptionable, though his private character and not a few of his writings are to be considered infamous. His own feelings were, for the most part, bitter, misanthropic, and violent, and to these he is continually giving expression in his poems. His "Childe Harold," his " Apostrophe to the Ocean," and his "Prisoner of Chillon," have been much admired. Sheridan Knowles sets forth the grand peculiarities of By |