A thousand shadows at her beck. First this
She sends on earth; than that of deeper dye
Steals soft behind; and then a deeper still,
In circle following circle, gathers round,
To close the face of things."

The other has been taken up by the young and gifted author of "Festus," and made to adorn that rich thesaurus of poetic thought. The conceit of Horace was lively and natural; that of Bailey brilliant, dazzling, and vivid.

While some poets describe the night as the season of darkness and shades, others take different views of it, and portray perhaps the glories of sunset. There is poetry in both. Thus Milton describes

"The gray-hooded even

Like a sad votarist in palmer's weeds;"

and Longfellow, when he says that

"The cowl'd and dusky-sandall'd eve

In mourning weeds from out the western gate
Departs with silent pace,"

either most boldly copied from Milton, or discovers quite a remarkable coincidence of idea with him. It is not strange, nay it is quite natural, that the scenery of nature should excite in gifted minds the same feelings, and suggest the same language with which to clothe and express them. It is more charitable, certainly, and pleasanter to consder this as such a coincidence.

Young took as dark a view of the night as one conveniently could in three short lines.

"Night, sable goddess, from her ebon throne

In rayless majesty now stretches forth

Her leaden sceptre o'er the slumbering world."

Who would think of crowding a greater number of sombre epithets into so short a compass? "Night," "sable goddess," "ebon throne,"

* We cannot but recommend to every one who loves true, bold poetry, to possess himself of a little miniature " Beauties of Festus," lately published by Mussey & Co., Boston. The extracts are indeed "Beauties."

"rayless majesty," "leaden sceptre," and "slumbering world!" If any words can convey an appropriate idea of darkness and the night, these surely must. Yet they are so happily chosen and skilfully arranged that they neither appear labored, nor convey an idea of gloom. On the whole, it is about as forcible a representation of the night as we recollect to have met with. Coleridge by styling night the "sorceress of the ebon throne," exposed himself to the charge of plagiarizing from Young, But, as in the case of Longfellow, we are disposed to be charitable. Indeed, for what possible reason could such men plagiarize? They have enough ideas of their own, as we shall presently show, and need borrow of no one.

Dante has quite a striking figure on this subject. It is not remarkable for its beauty, but there is a homely naivete about it, more rare and not less agreeable, often, than beauty. Thus he closes the fourth canto of his Purgatory:

"And the night

Now covers with her foot Morocco's shore."*

Shakspeare would quite puzzle the Optician with his boldness of metaphor in the following couplet :

"Light thickens, and the crow

Makes wing to the rooky wood."

The last part is eminently suggestive and beautiful; but as to the first two words, at the hazard of exposing our ignorance, we confess we can make neither poetry nor science out of them.

There is a bold impetuosity in these lines of Coleridge, which cannot fail to arrest the attention of even the most careless reader. You are startled by the hurrying thought, and shudder at the sudden nightfall. One almost unconsciously quickens his pace lest evening come swift upon him.

"The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out;

At one stride comes the dark."

We have called Longfellow gifted, and promised to prove it. We think it will appear, from the two following citations from his poems.

"A melancholy smile

*Cary's Translation.

Mantles the lips of day, and twilight pale
Moves like a spectre in the dusky sky."

"The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night
As a feather is wafted downward

From an eagle in his flight."

There is nothing very striking in the first, though it will bear study, and close scrutiny only reveals its delicate truthfulness and taste. But the latter is superb. Its peculiar meter is well adapted to its peculiar and beautiful thought. What an idea that the eagle-Night flies slowly over us and drops down the darkness as a feather from its sable wing!

It is sometimes pleasant to see how great minds can combine true poetic thought with strict scientific truth. Thus Milton gracefully converts Science into Poetry.

"Now had night measured with her shadowy cone
Half way up hill this vast sublunar vault."

The other view of the Evening to which we alluded above, is that where the gorgeous scenery of sunset is depicted. This of course gives scope for a lighter kind of imagery-more brilliant often, but not necessarily more truly poetic. The metaphor in the following cases will be readily appreciated.

"Along the western shores
Gray-dappled eve the dying twilight pours."

CAMOENS,

"While now the bright-haired sun

Sets in yon western tent."

COLLINS.

Evening now unbinds the fetters

Fashioned by the glowing light."

WORDSWORTH.

"The pale purple even

Melts round thy flight."

SHELLEY'S "SKY LARK."

"The tropic sky

Touched all its molten seas with sunset's alchymy."

MRS. HEMANS.

"The tender twilight with a crimson cheek

Leans on the breast of eve."

MC LELLAN.

"Now night has let her curtain down

And pinned it with a star."

"MAD POET OF NEW YORK."

Tom Moore, whose modesty, real or affected, led him to adopt for the motto of his Lalla Rookh, this from Horace,

The influence of the Night on the thoughts and feeling, does not properly belong to our subject; but we cannot forbear a citation or two from Mrs. Hemans. To her it is the season

"When heavy flowers are closing,

And thoughts grow deep, and winds and stars are born;

and in another piece she taunts a reveller with these probing words—

"Thou fearest the solemn night,

With her piercing stars and her deep wind's might!

There's a tone in her voice which thou fain would'st shun,

For it asks what the secret soul hath done!"

We have now said enough. An essay already too long should be briefly closed. But there is a parting word to those who have traced with us this path of the poetic mind. If a spark of true imaginative feeling has been kindled, let it not go out. If a higher appreciation of the Beautiful has been developed, it is a gem-treasure it. If any mind, excited by these pages, shall create a new thought in the world, the writer is satisfied.

THANE.

MODERN TENDENCIES TO DEMOCRACY. √12ly.

What are human rights? There is no difficulty in finding every variety of answers to this question. Every one has an opinion upon the subject different from that of his neighbor who has been educated to different habits of life. All admit that there are human rights, but the world has been full of controversy as to what they are. If we place ourselves at any period of history, where we can find an agreement of opinion on almost every other subject, we shall be sure to find a difference on this. The pirate will tell you that 'tis his right to roam the sea in quest of booty :—the warrior that 'tis his to carry on his trade of blood: the slave will lift his chains and say that he has a right to freedom, while the slave-holder tells you that 'tis his right to keep his fellow men in bondage, and that he will maintain these rights though all the world rise to condemn him. Men seen to have an inherent sense that they have received some privileges which they are to enjoy and which no power on earth can contravene. You may crush a man to the dust or bind him in the most abject slavery, and still you cannot drive away this feeling from his heart. It is inwrought with his very nature, and just as naturally as is the gush of any feeling of his soul does it rise up in rebellion against the power which would destroy it.

Doubtless in this feeling was the first origin of human government.* As men mingled together, at first without order and without law, the selfishness of one would interpret his rights in a manner which would not fail to interfere with the interests of another. To prevent the confusion and ceaseless strife which must necessarily follow such a condition of things, there must have been a sort of compact or agreement by which individuals ceded their rights to society, and by which society, or some one to whom the power of society was delegated, took up those rights and agreed to protect and preserve them. Whatever form government might have at first assumed, we doubt not it had its origin in some such way as this;-and whatever form it has since assumed, or is now taking upon itself, here may be found

"Government is a contrivance of human wisdom for the protection of human rights." BURke.