XII.

And when yet many a thousand times
New heavenly hosts appear, and as a robe
Worn out and old are laid aside by Thee ;-
When other heavenly hosts made by Thy hand,
Come forth in ever new vicissitude,

Yet seem for ever during durance made-
Shall I eternal be as Thou, and, robed
In glory, through the eternal Ocean-deep,
Shall celebrate Thine everlasting Praise.

XII.

Und wenn auch einst viel tausendmal
Noch neuer Himmel Heere all'

Vor dir wie ein Gewand vergehen;
Wenn andre, Gott, durch deine Hand
Dann treten in den Wechselstand,
Zu scheinbar ewigem Bestehen,
Dann werd' ich, ewig wie du, Herr,
Durch aller Ewigkeiten Meer

Verklärt dein ewig Lob erhöhen.

SONNETS.

FROM THE LIBERTY BELL, 1846.

I.

JESUS, there is no name so dear as thine
Which Time has blazon'd on his ample scroll;
No wreaths nor garlands ever did entwine
So fair a temple of so vast a soul;
There every angel set his triumph seal,

Wisdom combined with strength and radiant grace
In a sweet copy Heaven to reveal,

And stamp perfection on a mortal face:

Once on the Earth wert thou before men's eyes,
That could not half thy beauteous brightness see,

E'en as the emmet cannot read the skies,

Nor our weak orbs look through immensity;

Once on the Earth wert thou-a living shrine,

Wherein conjoining dwelt-the Good, the Lovely, the Divine.

II.

OH thou great Friend to all the sons of men,
Who once appear'd in humblest guise below,
Sin to rebuke and break the captive's chain,

To call thy brethren forth from want and woe,-
Thee would I sing. Thy Truth is still the Light
Which guides the nations-groping on their way,
Stumbling and falling in disastrous night,

Yet hoping ever for the perfect day;

Yes! thou art still the Life; thou art the Way

The holiest know,-Light, Life, and Way of Heaven! And they who dearest hope and deepest pray,

Toil by the Light, Life, Way, which thou hast given. And by thy Truth aspiring mortals trust

T' uplift their faint and bleeding brothers rescued from the dust.

III.

DEAR Jesus, were thy spirit now on earth'

Where thou hast pray'd and toil'd a world to win,— What vast ideas would sudden rise to birth,

What strong endeavours 'gainst o'er-mastering Sin!
Thy blest beatitudes again thou'dst speak;

But with deep-hearted words that scorch like fire,
Wouldst thou rebuke the oppressors of the weak:
Or, turning thence to Prophets that aspire,
How wouldst thou cheer the men who toil to save
Their brothers smarting 'neath a despot's rod,
To lift the Poor, the Fallen, and the Slave,
And lead them all alive to worship God!

Bigots wouldst thou rebuke-that idle stand,

But send thy Gospel-fraught Apostles conquering through the land.

West Rosebury, Mass. U. S. A,

A SONNET FOR THE TIMES.

(From the Liberty Bell, 1851.)

WAY-FARER, pause! for late there stoop'd and fell
One of Earth's mightiest, loftiest minds ;* and now
Stain'd and dishonour'd lies that ample brow,
Wherein the nations dream'd there slept a spell,
To slay the ancient Fiend, who overthrew
Corinth, Athena, and wide-grasping Rome,
With every state where Freedom found a home,
Digg'd down her altars, and her Prophets slew!
All vainly gazed the Nation on that brow;

;

Vainly they ask'd that kingly mind for aid The new Iscariot Freedom's trust betray'd! Go, passer-by! to men this warning tell :The Mightiest, Loftiest Mind, scorning God's Justice, Fell.

Boston, Nov. 1850.

Daniel Webster:

CHARACTER OF MR PRESCOTT AS AN

HISTORIAN.

1. The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic. By WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT, &c., &c. Boston: 1838. 3 vols. 8vo.

2. History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a Preliminary View of the Ancient Mexican Civilization and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortes. By WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT, &c., &c. New York: 1845. 3 vols. 8vo. 3. History of the Conquest of Peru, with a Preliminary View of the Civilization of the Incas. By WILLIAM H PRESCOTT, &c., &c. New York: 1847. 2 vols. 8vo.

It is now more than eleven years since our accomplished and distinguished countryman, Mr Prescott, appeared before the world as a writer of history. Within that period he has sent forth three independent historical works, which have found a wide circle of readers in the New World and the Old. His works have been translated into all the tongues of Europe, we think, which claim to be languages of literature; they have won for the author a brilliant renown, which few men attain to in their lifetime; few, even, after their death. No American author has received such distinction from abroad. The most eminent learned societies of Europe have honoured themselves by writing his name among their own distinguished historians. He has helped strengthen the common bond of all civilized. nations, by writing books which all nations can read. Yet while he has received this attention and gained this renown, he has not found hitherto a philosophical critic to investigate his works carefully, confess the merits which are there, to point out the defects, if such there be, and coolly announce the value of these writings. Mr Prescott has found eulogists on either continent; he has found, also, VOL. X.--Critical Writings, 2.

6

one critic, who adds to national bigotry the spirit of a cockney in literature; whose stand-point of criticism is the church of Bowbell; a man who degrades the lofty calling of a critic by the puerile vanities of a literary fop. The article we refer to would have disgraced any journal which pretended to common fairness. We often find articles in the minor journals of America, written in a little and narrow spirit, but remember nothing of the kind so little as the paper we speak of in the London Quarterly Review, No. cxxvii., Art. 1. We have waited long for some one free from national prejudice to come, with enlarged views of the duty of an historian, having suitable acquaintance with the philosophy of history, a competent knowledge of the subjects to be treated of, and enough of the spirit of humanity, and carefully examine these works in all the light of modern philosophy. We have waited in vain; and now, conscious of our own defects, knowing that every qualification above hinted may easily be denied us, we address ourselves to the work.

The department of history does not belong to our special study; it is, therefore, as a layman that we shall speak, not aspiring to pronounce the high cathedral judgment of a professor in that craft. The history, literature, and general development of the Spanish nation fall still less. within the special range of the writer of this article. We are students of history only in common with all men who love liberal studies, and pursue history only in the pauses from other toils. However, the remarkable phenomena offered by the Spanish nation in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries long ago attracted our attention and study. Still, it is with reluctance we approach our task; had any of the able men whose business it more properly is, girded himself and applied to the work, we would have held our peace; but in the silence of such we feel constrained to speak.

Before we proceed to examine the works of Mr Prescott, let a word be said of the office and duty of an historianto indicate the stand-point whence his books are to be looked upon. The writer of Annals, or of Chronicles, is to record events in the order in which they occur; he is not an historian, but a narrator; not an architect, but a lumberer, or stonecutter of history. It does not neces