129 NOTICES. ART. XV.—Poems. By the LADY FLORA HASTINGS. Edinburgh Blackwood. 1840. THESE poems are edited by Lady Sophia Hastings, who informs us in a preface, that her sister, the lamented author, had more than once meditated the publication of them, to which step she was urged by friends, but that she postponed it, her modesty and timidity naturally interfering. But at last, and we doubt not with the due confidence of genius as well as a sense of the short span of life on earth to be accorded to her, she made up her mind to give to the world the fruits of her meditations, her studies, and above all, of those pure and holy visions and aspirings, which, as recorded in this most interesting volume, fulfil all that the sympathizing world could wish for from the sainted poetess. But death transferred the office to other hands. Lady Flora began to write at a juvenile age, even at the commencement of her teens; and she continued to write, drawing largely from nature and study, proofs of which occur in every part of this beautiful volume. If the reader desires to test her mental accomplishments as well as her native attributes, let him not merely observe that she has translated, and excellently too, from the German of Schiller, from the French and the Italian, but from the Latin; and that she reflects nature in its most beautiful and captivating forms,-crowned as both displays are with a fervent and simple piety. We might enter at length upon the subject of the great and the haughty by rank seeking now-a-days distinction in the walks of literature, and striving to keep pace with the sons and daughters of genius born under humble roofs. But we must confine ourselves, for the present, to the facts and evidences before us; and are glad that in the progression of this volume we have the history of a rare creature, who, had she been spared to the world, would, we have no doubt, taken her place amongst the foremost rank of Eve's daughters. Her juvenile pieces have juvenile faults, such as those of redundancy and attenuation. But the variety of subjects and metre chosen, show a noble ambition; while the prevailing sentiments are always sweet and pious, either in accordance with the outpourings of genuine nature, and a participation in the tones of its language, or of a sense of a higher destiny than the external world palpably proclaims. Take her religious feeling in the "Thank-offering," written when but a girl, as a specimen of this loftier range of purpose of sentiment:: "In every place, in every hour, Whate'er my wayward lot may be ; VOL. I. (1841). NO. I. My trembling accents strive to sing. Thee, when the golden harvests yield Alike in joy and in distress, Lady Flora in very early life attempted Tragedy. She also essayed the Spenserian stanza, as well as heroic verse, in both of which she did very creditable things. A specimen of the latter may be found in "A Vision of the Sun." Her lyrics too are spirited and fitted to be married to music. But take two specimens of her poetic skill and inspiration, and then we must close the volume. The first is to "the rainbow ;"the last were her last verses, written in May 1839. Let the reader think of nature sanctified by religion in both instances. "Soft glowing in uncertain birth "Twixt Nature's smiles and tears, The Bow, O Lord! which thou hast bent, The portal of thy dwelling-place That pure arch seems to be, And, as I bless its mystic light, My spirit turns to Thee. Thus, gleaming o'er a guilty world, And as Thy faithful promise speaks In humble hope we bless the beam The last recorded song. "Break not by heedless word the spell With which that strain hath bound me ; I feel that I could trust-alas! As I may trust no more!" The profits of the volume are to be devoted to the erection of a school or chapel in the parish of Loudoun, to be a memorial of the martyred Lady Flora. ART. XVI.-An Historical and Descriptive Account of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands; with Illustrations of their Natural History. Edinburgh Oliver and Boyd. : A CAREFULLY Condensed and perspicuous account of all that is most worthy of recital concerning the singularly interesting islands and shores indicated by the title of the book. Nor is the author a mere compiler; for instead of clumsily or loosely and incongruously making a patchwork of the publication, it contains the well digested matter of extensive reading, patient research and matured reflection; while his sympathies bestow a warmth and a charm upon the narrative and the speculation judiciously offered which imbues the reader's mind with kindred sentiments. Indeed, cold, barren, and desolate as the regions are which he has to describe, the present as well as the past history of their inhabitants has particular claims upon our attention and admiration; while, as regards Natural History, hardly anywhere else can objects more curious be found on account of the habits imposed upon them by the severity of climate and the exigencies of their situation. The literary eminence and achievements of the Icelanders many centuries ago, and when countries infinitely more favoured, in a multitude of ways, were grossly barbarous and ignorant, have often and must ever be the theme of marvel. But even down to recent times, and at this day there are learned men amongst them, while the people at large may be said to be well educated. Take a sketch of their decent and regulated habits, and how mental occupation is coupled with the necessary efforts to preserve life and to resist the inclemency of the region : "The inhospitable climate influences everything connected with the moral and physical life of the natives. The changes of the seasons alone bring variety to the Icelander, and nowhere is this change more sudden or com plete. Summer and winter, for spring and autumn are unknown, have each their appropriate occupations as diverse as the periods of the year. In winter they generally rise about six or seven in the morning, when the employ-. ments of the day begin, the family and servants equally engaging in the preparation of food and clothing. Some of the men look after the cattle, feeding those which are kept in the house, others spin ropes of wool or horse-hair, or are employed in the smithy, making horse-shoes and other articles, whilst the boys remove the snow from the pastures for the sheep, which are turned out during the day to shift for themselves. The females make ready the several meals, ply the spindle and distaff, knit stockings and mittens, and occasionally, embroider bedcovers and cushions. When evening comes on, the whole family are collected into one room, which is at once bedchamber and parlour, and the lamp being lighted, they take their seats with their work in their hands. Men and women are now similarly engaged in knitting or weaving, or in preparing hides for shoes or fishingdresses. While they are thus occupied, one of their number, selected for the evening, places himself near the lamp, and reads aloud, generally in a singing monotonous voice, some old saga or history. As the reading proceeds, the master of the house or some of the more intelligent of the circle pass remarks on the more striking incidents of the story or try the ingenuity of the children by questions. Printed books being scarce, there are many itinerating historians who gain a livelihood by wandering, like the bards of old, from house to house, and reciting their traditionary lore. For the same reason, the custom of lending books is very prevalent; the exchanges being usually made at church, where, even in the most inclement season, a few always contrive to be present. The most interesting works thus obtained are not unfrequently copied by those into whose hands they fall, most of the Icelanders writing in a correct and beautiful manner. It is much to be regretted, that a people so devoted to learning, and to whose ancestors the history of the north is under so many obligations, should be so ill supplied with the means of attaining useful information." Inhospitable as are the climate of Iceland and terrible the hardships of the people, to the imaginations of more tenderly reared races, yet the natives cherish a wonderful love for their land, and will return to it after long absence to die, as if with assured comfort among its wastes. And how dreadful these wastes often are, even where there had been before, to an Icelander's eye, smiling valleys, will appear from the passage now to be cited :— "Instances frequently occur when the Icelander, returning after years of absence in a foreign land to spend the evening of his life in the home of his childhood, finds its green valleys a desolate wilderness of ice. Often, where the declivities are more abrupt, the snow suddenly loses its equilibrium, and rolls down with immense fury and a loud noise, which heard in the still night resembles distant thunder. The internal fires that still glow in the bosom of many of these jökuls frequently hasten this catastrophe by destroying the slight hold the ice has on the mountain, and, converting the understratum into water, float all down into the valleys. It seems to have been in this way that the Breidamark Jökul, now twenty miles long by fifteen broad and 400 feet high, was formed. It fills a wide plain surrounded by high hills, and which, to the eleventh century, or even later, was a beautiful vale adorned with grass fields, woods, and farms. In the thirteenth, and especially the fourteenth century, all the volcanoes in this quarter of the island were in motion, and the adjoining country was completely desolated by floods of water mingled with ice. Of this plain, first inhabited by Hrol-laug, a nephew of the far-famed Rollo of Normandy, only a narrow strip of sand remains, and even this relic the glacier and the ocean seem about to destroy." The natives of the Faroe Islands, who in many respects are not less worthy of study than the people we have been hearing of, entertain also an enthusiastic fondness for their birth-place. But we must leave it to our readers to seek in the excellent volume before us, the full and engaging accounts there to be found concerning them and the other tribes and lands which the earnest and indefatigable author has here set himself to describe. ART. XVII.-Sonnets. By SIR JOHN HANMER: London: Moxon. SEVERAL of these sonnets are such as might be expected from the author of "Fra Cipolla," not merely for richness of versification but a condensed fulness of thought. Take a specimen : BACCHANTE DOLOROSA. Under a poplar, in what mournful clime Whose shadows change not ever, but the stars Of the abode of Gods of the elder time, Pale sat Agave; weeping for the crime That stained with her own blood the Bromian cars : Bore long unreckoned tears, like frosty rime. E'en as some moonlit marble, seemed she there; That Phidias might have wrought, on the same day Of the Pine forest moves the fitful air, ART. XVIII-Joseph. A Poem. By SIR J. D. PAUL, BART. London: Nisbet. SCRIPTURE Subjects engage the Baronet; but these seldom read half so well as in their original and idiomatic simplicity. ART. XIX.-Literary Leaves; or, Prose and Verse, chiefly written in India. By D. L. RICHARDSON. Second Edition. London: Allen. ONE of the most pleasing collections of original pieces that have appeared for a long time. The author's mind is sound, elegant, and composed; his knowledge precise, his observation accurate, and his feelings rightly directed. His style is like his mind, clear, calm, and full. |