II.

He lieth still: he doth not move :

He will not see the dawn of day.

He hath no other life above.

He gave me a friend, and a true true-love,
And the New-year will take 'em away.
Old Year, you must not go.

So long as you have been with us,
Such joy as you have seen with us,
Old Year, you shall not go.

III.

He frothed his bumpers to the brim ;
A jollier year we shall not see.

But though his eyes are waxing dim,
And though his foes speak ill of him,
He was a friend to me.

Old Year, you shall not die.
We did so laugh and cry with you,
I've half a mind to die with you,
Old Year, if you must die.

IV.

He was full of joke and jest,

But all his merry quips are o'er.

To see him die, across the waste

His son and heir doth ride post-haste,

But he'll be dead before.

Every one for his own.

The night is starry and cold, my friend,

And the New-year blithe and bold, my friend
Comes up to take his own.

V.

How hard he breathes! over the snow

I heard just now the crowing cock.

The shadows flicker to and fro :

The cricket chirps: the light burns low:

'Tis nearly twelve o'clock.

Shake hands, before you die.

Old Year, we'll dearly rue for you;
What is it we can do for you?—
Speak out before you die.

VI.

His face is growing sharp and thin.
Alack! our friend is gone.

Close up his eyes: tie up his chin:
Step from the corpse, and let him in
That standeth there alone,

And waiteth at the door.

There's a new foot on the floor, my friend,
And a new face at the door, my friend,

A new face at the door."

LONDON:

PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,

Dorset Street, Fleet Street.

"A DAY IN THE WOODS."

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

1. Athenæum. The prose as well as the poetry of this work is well written. They contain much pleasant description of natural objects, with occasional bursts of imagination of a higher order-such as often visit the sons of genius with peculiar vividness.

;

2. Atlas.―This book is full of the faults of an imagination running wild but there is such a flush of original enthusiasm through the whole, and such an eager pleasure in the enjoyment of the beautiful, that we can afford to compound for those defects: it exhibits in every page proofs of deep feeling, and a reverence for Nature.

3. Bell's New Weekly Messenger.-The author of this volume is a clever man; his fancy is productive and fertile, abounding with flowery ornament. His prose is full of imagery and metaphor, something between Macpherson and Miss Mitford.

4. Courier. The author seems to have been born a poet. His verse is the very personification of tenderness and feeling. There is so genuine a spirit, and such taste, harmony, and originality about his poetry, as to stamp him a man whose conceptions emanate from the genuine sources of poetic inspiration. His prose, too, is at once nervous and original, and claims the reader's attention from its simplicity and tenderness.

5. Court Journal. This work is of a cast that will bear criticism,—true and strong in feeling, and as refined in expression as it is homely in senti

ment.

6. Dispatch. The author of this volume is a man of unquestionable genius; the book is well and eloquently written, full of truth and glowing with enthusiasm, and in his verse there is a tenderness exquisitely affecting.

7. Edinburgh Observer-Fertile as the past season has been in the production of many an elegant volume of light_reading, we have not seen any one possessing more merit than this work. It is a beautiful volume.

8. Fox's Repository.-Our author's associations with the woods are of the true poetic and religious cast. A story which contains many touches of fine and delicate feeling runs throughout the work. It must be read, not in extract, but continuously, to receive its due measure of appreciation. From its varied and pleasing contents we should recommend it as a present to young people, whose hearts no less than minds would be improved and enlightened by the perusal.

9. Globe. This is a singular production, bearing on every page the stamp of originality and genius. It is filled with deep pathos and picturesque description, and every page is crowded with thoughts and images gathered from the rich storehouse of Nature. It teems with beautiful descriptions of old woods, flowery valleys, green leaves, and murmuring waters. It is rarely we have fallen in with so pleasant a volume.

10. Kentish Observer. The inspiration of genius is stamped upon every page of this volume, and a deep and impassioned tone of poetical feeling pervades the whole work.

66

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON A DAY IN THE WOODS."

11. Literary Gazette.-The original feeling, beautiful imagery, and poetic merits of this work, will be most grateful to all who love the delightful and imaginative.

12. Morning Post.—Exquisitely tender, full of deep feeling, and imbued with a rich vein of that philosophy of thought and raciness of expression peculiar to our old poets. He has sent forth some poems that would have done credit to the greatest veterans in literature.

13. Morning Advertiser. The author is gifted not only with a truly poetic fancy, but with great powers of description: the love of Nature burns within him with a force which know no limits.

14. Monthly Review.-Among all the poets, we know none who could be preferred to this unpretending author. His excursions into the fields of poetic enterprise seem to have been of the most successful description. He certainly culls with judgment and clothes with beauty the fruits of his genius; his acquaintance with Nature is perfect and complete. His poems picture to our minds the vigorous energy of action which is so exclusively the gift of an original genius.

15. New Monthly Magazine.—Mr. Miller's poetry contains an intrinsic excellence which need not fear a competition with the most successful writers of the day. Upon such writings as these any critical remarks are quite unnecessary. What we have extracted will, we imagine, be quite sufficient to establish the author in the good opinion of all who have a heart to feel or a mind to appreciate the power of genius.

16. News. Full to overflowing of the richest poetic feeling, and given with all the spontaneous freshness that renders the effusions of unhacknied genius more attractive than the most laboured and even most finished compositions of experienced cleverness.

17. Old Monthly Magazine. This work displays a mind of much native elegance, with no inconsiderable portion of genius. It is redolent of a love of Nature and Nature's works. It is full of tender thoughts and beautiful imagery. It is a wonderful volume.

18. Public Ledger.-The beauty of this work is not greater than its boldand the combination of the two places the author in a very high rank amongst the geniuses of the age.

ness,

19. Satirist. The style is pure, and there is about it an elevation of thought and a nobleness of sentiment which stamp the author as no common man. There is an enthusiasm which delights, and a delicacy of feeling which all must admire.

20. The Times. He is essentially poetical. He sees every object with the eye of a poet, and expresses his conceptions in language poetical. His prose is also good, both as to clearness of expression and correctness of style. He is a much better writer than many modern authors who doubtless consider themselves his betters.

21. Tait's Magazine.—Many of the light sketches are both fanciful and elegant, and show that the author is at home in the woods, and in one region of the heaven of invention. Some of the sketches of rustic life and English scenery reminded us pleasantly of the rustic sketches of the Howitts and Miss Mitford.

For further opinions, see Frasert's Chronicle, Observer, True Sun, Sun, Spectator, Bell's Messenger, Nottingham Mercury, Taunton Courier, Naval and Military Gazette, Merthyr Guardian, Metropolitan, Lady's Magazine, Sunday Times, Manchester Guardian, Manchester and Salford Advertiser, Woolmer's Gazette, Gloucestershire Chronicle, Sporting Magazine, Birmingham Advertiser, Farley's Bristol Journal, Kent Herald, &c.