3 A BIRTH-DAY MEDITATION. ANOTHER year! alas, how swift, Like shadows thrown by clouds that drift Is turn'd within life's volume brief, There are some moments when I feel As if it should not yet be so; As if the years that from me steal Had not a right alike to go, And lose themselves in Time's dark sea, Unbuoy'd up by aught from me; Aught that the future yet might claim To rescue from their wreck a name. But it was love that taught me rhyme, Of words a useless sluggard prove, And often bitter thoughts arise Of what I've lost in loving thee, "Why, what a peasant slave am I," To bow my mind and bend my knee Who takes no thought of mine or me. Thus do my jarring thoughts revolve To dash thine angel image thence; And then for hours and hours I muse And now again from their gay track I call, as I despondent sit, Once more these truant fancies back, Which round my brain so idly flit; And even thus my moments fly, My life itself is wiled away; ALINDA, it shall not be so; Both love and lays forswear I here, As I've forsworn thee long ago. That name, which thou wouldst never share, Proudly shall Fame emblazon where On pumps and corners posters stick it, The highest on the JACKSON ticket. WHAT IS SOLITUDE? NOT in the shadowy wood, Not in the crag-hung glen, Not where the echoes brood In caves untrod by men; Where loitering surges break, Where man hath never stood, Not there is solitude! Birds are in woodland bowers, Breathe ocean's frothing lips, The flower toward it dips; Pluming the mountain's crest, Life tosses in its pines; Coursing the desert's breast, Life in the steed's mane shines. Leave-if thou wouldst be lonely Leave Nature for the crowd; Scek there for one-one onlyWith kindred mind endow'd! There-as with Nature erst Closely thou wouldst commune→→ The deep soul-music, nursed In either heart, attune! Heart-wearied, thou wilt own. Vainly that phantom woo'd, That thou at last hast known What is true solitude! JAMES NACK. [Born, about 1807.] THERE are few more interesting characters in our literary annals than JAMES NACK. He is a native of New York, and when between nine and ten years of age, by a fall, while descending a flight of stairs with a little playmate in his arms, received such injury in his head as deprived him irrecoverably of the sense of hearing, and, gradually, in consequence, of the faculty of speech. He was placed in the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, where he acquired knowledge in all departments with singular exactness and rapidity. He was subsequently for many years an assistant in the office of the Clerk of the City and County, and in 1838 was married. In 1827 Mr. NACK published "The Legend of the Rocks, and other Poems;" in 1839, "Earl RIS. | Rupert, and other Tales and Poems," with an interesting memoir of his life, by General Wi MORE; and in 1852 a third volume of "Poems," with an introduction by his friend General Mos What is most remarkable in these works is their excellent versification. In other respects they deserve a great deal of praise; but that a person deaf and dumb from so early a period of child hood should possess such a mastery of the harmo nies of language is marvellous. The various pro ductions of Mr. NACK illustrate a genial temper, and a refined and richly cultivated taste. The range and completeness of his accomplishments as a linguist is illustrated in spirited and elegant translations from Dutch, German, French, and other literatures. MIGNONNE. 66 SHE calls me father!" though my ear To our well-remember'd wild-wood, MARY'S BEE. AS MARY with her lip of roses The rosy lip a rose indeed, Then flies, and leaves a sting behind." WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS. [Born, 1836.] THE author of "Guy Rivers," "Southern Passages and Pictures," etc., was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in the spring of 1806. His mother died during his infancy, and his father soon after emigrated to one of the western territories, leaving him under the guardianship of a grandmother, who superintended his early education. When not more than nine or ten years old, he began to write verses; at fifteen he was a contributor to the poetical department of the gazettes printed near his home; and at eighteen he published his first volume, entitled "Lyrical and other Poems," which was followed in the next two years by "Early Lays," and "The Vision of Cortez and fother Pieces," and in 1830, by «The Tricolor, or E Three Days of Blood in Paris." In each of these four volumes there were poetical ideas, and occasionally well-finished verses; but they are worthy of little regard, except as indications of the early tendency of the author's mind. When twenty-one years old, Mr. SIMMS was admitted to the bar, and began to practise his profession in his native district; but feeling a deep interest in the political questions which then agitated the country, he soon abandoned the courts, and purchased a daily gazette at Charleston, which he edited for several years, with industry, integrity, and ability. It was, however, unsuccessful, and he lost by it all his property, as well as the prospective earnings of several years. His ardour was not lessened by this failure, and, confident of success, he determined to retrieve his fortune by authorship. He had been married at an early age; his wife, as well as his father, was now dead; and no domestic ties binding him to Charleston, he in the spring of 1832 visited for the first time the northern states. After travelling over the most interesting portions of the country, he paused at the rural village of Hingham, in Massachusetts, and there prepared for the press his principal poetical work, "Atalantis, a Story of the Sea," which was published at New York in the following winter. This is an imaginative story, in the dramatic form; its plot is exceedingly simple, but effectively managed, and it contains much beautiful imagery, and fine description. While a vessel glides over a summer sea, LEON, one of the principal characters, and his sister ISABEL, hear a benevolent spirit of the air warning them of the designs of a sea-god to lure them into peril. Lea. Didst hear the strain it utter'd, ISABEL? The Charleston City Gazette, conducted by Mr. SIMMS, was, I believe, the first journal in South Carolina that took ground against the principle of nullification. Thy own unpractised eye may well discern Isa. Wherefore, then, Should come this voice of warning 1 Leon. From the deep: It hath its demons as the earth and air, That sets their springs in motion. This is one, Leon. I do, I do! And, at the time, I do remember me, I made much mirth of the extravagant tale, Isa. I never more shall mock at marvellous things, Leon. Nor will I: To any tale of mighty wonderment The long procession o'er fantastic realms WILLIAM G. SIMMS. Of cloud and moonbeam, through the enamour'd night, In various changes, and without fatigue. A fickle race, who tell their time by flowers, Isa. A sweet dream: And yet, since this same tale we laugh'd at once, Of human conjuration mix'd with this. Isa. It is not so, Or does my sense deceive? A perch beyond our barque. Look there: the wave Leon. A marvellous shape, that with the billow curls, In gambols of the deep, and yet is not Its wonted burden; for beneath the waves I mark a gracious form, though nothing clear The ship is wrecked, and ATALANTIS, a fairy, wandering along the beach with an attendant, NEA, discovers the inanimate form of LEON clinging to a spar. But what is here, Nea. One of the creatures of that goodly barque- That, from their distant homes, went forth in her, Aal. There is life in him And his heart swells beneath my hand, with pulse So lovely and compelling, ranks below The creatures of our kingdom. He is one, That, 'mongst them all, might well defy compare- Nea. He looks as well, In outward seeming, as our own, methinks- Such lips should give forth music-such a sweet Of never-blighted gardens. Leon. [starts.] Cling to me Am I not with thee now, my ISADEL? [Kisses him. [Swoons again. Atal. O, gentle sounds-how sweetly did they fall In broken murmurs, like a melody, Mr. SIMMS now commenced that career of i tellectual activity of which the results are as volu minous and as various, perhaps, as can be exhibited by any author of his age. His first romance was "Martin Faber, the Story of a Criminal," published in New York in 1833. The most important of his subsequent productions in this department, as clas sified in the edition lately issued by Mr. REDFIELD, are, the revolutionary series, "The Partisan," "Mel lichampe," "Katherine Walton," "The Scout," "Woodcraft," "The Foragers," and “Eutaw;" border tales, "Guy Rivers," "Richard Hurdis," "Bor der Beagles,"Charlemont," "Beauchampe," and "Confession;" historical, "The Yemassee," "Vas concellos," "The Lily and the Totem," "Pelayo," and "Count Julian." Besides his more extended romantic fictions, he has produced a great number of shorter stories, some of which may be ranked as the best exhibitions of his powers. He has also given to the public a "History of South Carolina," a " Life of Captain JOHN SMITH, the Founder of Virginia," a Life of NATHANIEL GREENE," a "Life of FRANCIS MARION," a "Life of the Cheva lier BAYARD," "Views and Reviews of American History, Literature, and Art," and other perform ances in biography, description, and speculation. In poetry, since the appearance of "Atalantis," he has published "Southern Passages and Pic tures," 1839; «Donna Florida, in Five Cantos," 1843; "Grouped Thoughts and Scattered Fancies, a collection of Sonnets," 1845; "Areytos, or Songs of the South," 1846; "Lays of the Palmetto, a Tribute to the South Carolina Regiment, in the War with Mexico," 1846; "The Cacique of Accube, and other Poems," 1848; «Norman Maurice," 1850; and a collection of his principal poetical works, under the title of "Poems, Descriptive, Legendary, and Contemplative," in two volumes, 1854. A more particular account of the novels of Dr. SIMMS, (he has received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Alabama,) is given in "The Prose Writers of America." His poems, like his other productions, are noticeable for warmth of feeling and coloring, and vivid and just displays of the temper and sentiments of the southern people, the characteristics of southern life, and the rivers, forests, savannas, and all else that is peculiar in southern nature. He has sung the physical and moral aspects and the traditions of the south, with the appreciation of a poet, and the feeling of a son. His verse is free and musical, his language copious and well-selected, and his fancy fertile and site. The best of his dramatic pieces is "Norman Maurice," a play of singular originality in design and execution, which strikes me as the best cou position of its kind on an American subject. appo He resides at " Woodlands," a pleasant planta tion in the vicinity of Charleston. THE THE SLAIN EAGLE. eye that mark'd thy flight with deadly aim, Shall see no more thy red-eyed glances stream For their far summits round, with strong and terrible gleam. Lone and majestic monarch of the cloud! No more I see thee on the tall cliff's brow, Shrieking the while in consciousness of might, Thy thought was not of danger then-thy pride How didst thou then, in very mirth, spread far The flight of other wings of humbler name; Morning above the hills, and from the ocean, With such calm effort as 't was thine to wear- fields of air. Watching, he saw thy rising wing. In vain, His dazzling glories seek, his power defy, And thence he drew a hope, a hope to soar, He triumphs-and he perishes like thee! Breaks down the gloomy barrier, and is free! He mocks, as thou, the sun!-but scaly blinds amaze. And thou, brave bird! thy wing hath pierced the The storm had not a battlement for thee; A proud exemplar hath been lost the proud, 'Tis he should mourn thy fate, for he hath lost are. |