24. Mr. Leycester said a very good thing in his speech on Wednesday; that the clamour about the corn laws was excited by master manufacturers, whose aim was to become noblemen and gentlemen, by turning us, the real nobility and gentry, into paupers. I cried, hear! hear! very loudly, as did Lord Lowther and Lethbridge. Good news!-heard the would be in town immediately after Christmas. I long to see Theodosia. Received a copy of Stanhope's letter on the corn laws from the author. Mem. Must get John to read it.

The poetic gems which enrich this number of the Inspector are selected from Southey. As I have been very liberal in my selections, I have left myself no room for a few observations, which I had some inclination to indulge in, on the nature and tendency of that great poet's productions. It will not require any critical sagacity, or a very fine perception of poetic beauty, to discover from the following extracts, that he excels in splendid and accurate descriptions of external nature, in touching delineation of domestic happiness, and in the freedom and harmony of his versification.

A FINE DAY IN AUTUMN.

"There was not, on that day, a speck to stain
"The azure heaven; the blessed sun, alone,

"In unapproachable divinity,

"Careered, rejoicing in his fields of light.

"How beautiful beneath the bright blue sky

"The billows heave! one glowing green expanse,
"Save where along the bending line of shore
"Such hue is thrown, as when the peacock's neck
"Assumes its proudest tint of amethyst,
"Embathed in emerald glory. All the flocks
"Of ocean are abroad: like floating foam,
"The sea-gulls rise and fall upon the waves;
"With long protruded necks the cormorants
"Wing their far flight aloft, and round and round
"The plovers wheel, and give their notes of joy.
"It was a day that sent into the heart

"A summer feeling: even the insect swarms
"From their dark nooks and coverts issued forth,
"To sport through one day of existence more.
"The solitary primrose on the bank

"Seemed now as though it had no cause to mourn

"Its bleak autumnal birth; the rocks and shores,
"The forest and the everlasting hills,

"Smiled in that joyful sunshine,....they partook
"The universal blessing."

DESCRIPTION OF A CATHEDRAL.

"The place

"Was holy;---the dead air, which underneath
"Those arches never felt the healthy sun,
"Nor the free motion of the elements,
"Chilly and damp, infused associate awe:
"The sacred odours of the incense still
"Floated; the daylight and the taper flames
"Commingled, dimming each, and each bedimmed;
"And as the slow procession paced along,
"Still to their hymn, as if in symphony,

"The regular footfall sounded, swelling now:
"Their voices in one chorus, loud and deep,

"Rung o'er the echoing aisle; and when it ceased,
"The silence of that huge and sacred pile
"Came on the heart."

THE EMBARKATION OF THE EMIGRANTS.

"Now forth they go,

"And at the portal of the church unfurl

"Prince Madoc's banner; at that sight a shout

"Burst from his followers, and the hills and rocks

"Thrice echoed their acclaim.

"There lie the ships,

"Their sails all loose, their streamers rolling out
"With ruinous flow and swell, like water-snakes,
"Curling alof; the waves are gay with boats,

"Pinnace, and barge, and coracle,...the sea
"Swarms like the shore with life. Oh what a sight
"Of beauty for the spirit unconcerned,
"If heart there be which unconcerned could view
"A sight like this!....how yet more beautiful
"For him whose soul can feel and understand
"The solemn import! Yonder they embark;
"Youth, beauty, valour, virtue, reverend age;
"Some led by love of noble enterprise,
"Others, who, desperate of their country's weal,
"Fly from the impending yoke; all warm alike
"With confidence and high heroic hope,
"And all in one fraternal bond conjoined
"By reverence to their Chief!"

A VIVID PICTURE.

"Who hath watched

"The midnight lightnings of the summer storm,

"That, with their aweful blaze irradiate heaven,

"Then leave a blacker night? so quick, so fierce,

"Flashed Madoc's sword, which, like the serpent's tongue,

"Seemed double, in its rapid whirl of light!"

THE SAVAGE WARRIOR'S DESCRIPTION OF HIS COUNTRY'S ARMIES.

"Can ye count the stars of heaven?

"The waves which ruffle o'er the lake? the leaves

"Aloft on yonder bench, with arms outspread,
"My boy stood shouting there his father's name,
"Waving his hat around his happy head;

66

1 "And there, a younger group, his sisters came:
Smiling they stood with looks of sweet surprise,
"While tears of joy were seen in elder eyes.

"Soon each and all came crowding round to share
"The cordial greeting, the beloved right;
"What welcomings of hand and lips were there!
"And when those overflowings of delight
"Subsided to a sense of quiet bliss,
"Life hath no purer, deeper happiness.
"The young companion of our weary way
"Found here, the end desired of all her ills,
"She who in sickness pining many a day,
"Hungred and thirsted for her native hills,

"

Forgetful now of sufferings past and pain, Rejoiced to see her own dear home again! "Recovered now the home-sick mountaineer "Sate by the playmate of her infancy,

"Her twin-like comrade,.... rendered doubly dear "From that long absence: full of life was she,

"With voluble discourse and eager mien,

"Telling of all the wonders she had seen.
"Here silently between her parents stood
66 My dark-eyed Bertha, timid as a dove;
"And gently oft from time to time she wooed
"Pressure of hand, or word, or look of love,
"With impulse shy of bashful tenderness,
"Soliciting again the wished caress.

"The younger twain in wonder lost were they,
"My gentle Kate, and my sweet Isabel :
"Long of our promised coming, day by day
"It had been their delight to hear and tell;

"And now when that long-promised hour was come,
"Surprise and wakening memory held them dumb.

"Soon they grew blithe as they were wont to be;
"Their old endearments each began to seek ;
"And Isabel drew near to climb my knee,
"And pat with fondling hand her father's cheek;

"With voice, and touch, and look reviving thus
"The feelings which had slept in long disuse.

"But there stood one whose heart could entertain
"And comprehend the fullness of the joy;
"The father, teacher, playmate, was again
"Come to his only, and his studious boy:

"And he beheld again that mother's eye,

"Which with such ceaseless care had watched his infancy..

"Bring forth the treasures now,....a proud display,....
"For rich as eastern merchants we return!

"Behold the black Beguine, the Sister grey,

"And Friars whose heads with sober motion turn,
"The Ark well filled with all its numerous hives,

"Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japhet, and their wives

"It was a group which Richter, had he viewed,
"Might have deemed worthy of his perfect skill;
"The keen impatience of the younger brood,
"Their eager eyes, and fingers never still;
"The hope, the wonder, and the restless joy
"Of those glad girls, and that vociferous boy!

"The aged friend serene with quiet smile,
"Who in their pleasure finds her own delight;
"The mother's heart-felt happiness the while;
"The aunts, rejoicing in the joyful sight;

"And he who in his gaiety of heart,

"With glib and noisy tongue performed the showman's part.

Proem to the Poet's Pilgrimage to Waterloo.

LOVE.

"They sin who tell us love can die.'

"With life all other passions fly,

"All others are but vanity.
"In Heaven ambition cannot dwell,
"Nor avarice in the vaults of hell;

"Earthly these passions of the earth,

"They perish where they have their birth;
"But love is indestructible.

"Its holy flame for ever burneth,

"From heaven it came, to heaven returneth;
"Is oft on earth a troubled guest,

"At times deceived, at times oppressed,
"It here is tried and purified,
"Then hath in heaven its perfect rest:
"It soweth here with toil and care,
"But the harvest time of love is there.

"Oh! when a mother meets on bigh

"The babe she lost in infancy,

"Hath she not then for pains and fears,

"The day of woe, the watchful night, "For all her sorrows, all her fears,

"An over-payment of delight?"

The Curse of Kehama.

In the next number of the Inspector I shall cull a few flowers from the pages of Bowles, a poet whose beautiful compositions, in some degree, kindled the early inspiration of Coleridge, and gained from him, in after years, in the maturity of his genius, a warm and honorable acknowledgement. D. L. R.

Through the forest roars the blast,

And the heavy clouds roll fast;

Gazing on the flood below,

Sits a maiden bent with woe;

And sad is the voice of the waves in their might,
And sadly she moans to the cold ear of night,
And weeps as she thinks on the past.

"All within my heart is dead!-
"All the world's delights are fled,
"And its empty space can give
"Nought to wake a wish to live.
"O Ruler of heav'n! thy spirit recal,
"For of earthly bliss I have tasted all,---
"Alas! I have liv'd and lov'd."

From her eyelids fall like rain

Tears of passion,---but, in vain,--

All the drops by sorrow shed,

Will not wake the silent dead.

But, O what can sooth like tears the heart,
That has seen the raptures of love depart,---
O who would forbid to weep ?---

Let those silent tears be shed

Tho' they will not wake the dead,---
Tho' unbroken be their sleep

To the voice of those who weep,--

For all that can sooth the lonely heart,

When the pleasures of love for ever depart,

Are of love the despairing tears.

LETTER FROM SISYPHUS TO MACADAM.

Thou wisest and best of men, compounder of pebbles, and fracturer of stones, thou who turnest the rock into powder for the benefit of the king's highway, and the powder into gold for the benefit of thy own pockets, listen awhile to the complaint of the unhappy Sisyphus, who, unlike thee, is poor and pennyless! for, according to the old proverb, which I suppose was suggested by my hapless fate, "a rolling stone gathers no moss.' It is now above three thousand years since that misbegotten knave, Theseus, put an end to my career in Ætolia, where I made money, as thou dost, on the road; but instead of employing a House of Commons to find my way into the pockets of my patients, I used the more summary process of a good stout bludgeon.