網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

whether Congress have the right very clearly invested in them, as long as their acts are governed by a sound discretion. That for example in the present case the long list of petitioners is a proof that auctions are pernicious, and that a system which so many deprecate must be an evil. We have already admitted that auctions under certain circumstances are an evil, but we are not prepared to admit that the number of petitioners is a proof of the evil. There is no doubt that almost every house owner in the city of New-York might be prevailed upon to petition Congress to impose a tax of ten per cent. upon all farther building in cities where the houses exceeded a certain number. They could represent, plausibly enough, that the farther increase of houses is a serious evil; that houses do not now pay an adequate rent for the capital expended; that there are already more than are occupied, &c. &c. A much greater list of grievances might be enumerated against printing; and some Jack Cades may arise and procure thousands of petitioners for a tax of ten, twenty, or fifty per cent. to be laid on the sale of books and newspapers. If the number of yards of signatures is to influence the deliberations of Congress, it is no sketch of fancy that supposes the possibility of these things. Much has been urged too on the ground that on these points Congress will exercise a sound discretion. If we suppose that the members of Congress are men of the greatest and most disinterested virtue and integrity, we suppose quite as much as is true. Of the whole number of representatives we may safely say that the greater part are indifferent as to the fate of the auction bill; and this is as good an example as any. Men who are ignorant of a subject, or indifferent about it, will undoubtedly be influenced by those who are not ignorant and indifferent; and these are precisely the persons most interested, and consequently least likely to exercise a soundness of discretion. Witness the late discussions on the Tariff. Can we reasonably expect them to exercise a virtue which we seem to despise, by voluntarily yielding the solitary check we now possess over them?

It may be farther objected to us, that Congress may constitutionally lay a tax in order to pay the debts, &c., of the United States, and that, if it should operate as prohibitory, it is an accidental result of the law for which they are not responsible. But we insist that the law is to be judged by its effects; and if these are in any way unconstitutional, the law must be so likewise. The late decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Gibbons v. Ogden, on the question of Steamboats, is a case precisely in point. Besides the Vol. II. No. VIII.

18

soever.

same construction would justify almost any prohibition whatOnce sanction this principle-give to Congress the right of prohibition, and the freedom of the people subsists only by the frail and precarious tenure of a legislator's wisdom, or a statesman's caprice.

CANZONE.

I.

And must it then be so, dear native land!
That thou-of all the nations thou alone-
Unjust Athena's malison must feel?
And is it true, Hyperion! has thy hand
A curse upon thy western temples thrown,
That suppliant myriads should unheeded kneel?
Oh! why shouldst thou reveal,

God of the far-sped dart, and golden lyre!
Unequal Pythius, thy mysterious fire

To him who sees thee in the orient sky;

And with averted eye,

And scornful lip, to us, who dwell beneath

Thy evening arch remote, to us deny,

(Sire of the silver bow, and sounding sheath!)

The steed, the hoof-struck fount, the hill, the laurel wreath!

II.

My own, my native land! it cannot be

That thou, so beautiful, the abiding scorn

Must feel of Helicon's injurious Nine!

For thou art fair, dear clime, and thou art free!

And never bent the admiring eyes of Morn

On woods and waters lovelier than thine.

Nor can a worthier shrine

On Latian plains be reared, or Delphi's hills,

Than here mid thousand music-breathing rills
Sweeter than Aganippe, or the tide

That flows on Cirrha's side,

Famed Castaly, or Arethusa's fount

Or that bright wave (ah! why to us denied?)

Which, at the wing'd steed's touch (so bards recount)

Burst the green sward, and flowed sweet murmuring down the mount!

III.

Why is it thus, that thou hast never poured
Here as in other worlds, on Fancy's view
Scenes of the olden or the future time?
Why is it thus? Art thou not here adored

With hearts as loyal, and with lips as true

And knees as low as in thy chosen clime?

Wilt thou the brows of crime,

Where better seemed the brand of good men's scorn,

With the high honours of the bays adorn;

And not a scattered leaf of laurel shed

Upon the bending head

Of him who worships thee with purer heart,
And touches thy steep path with chaster tread,
Than they to whom alone thou dost impart
Sweet lessons of thy lore and heaven-descended art?

IV.

And ye, bright queens of song! symphonious Nine!
Ye virgin-daughters of Olympian Jove,
Sweet quiristers to Paan's golden strings!
To ye we rear with pious hands, a shrine

In many a verdant vale and shadowy grove,

OF THE

NEW YORK

By winding streams, cool grot and crystal springs;
Where arching laurel flings

Mysterious shade and grateful airs around;
Where footstep scarce is seen, nor ruder sound
Than Procne's song, or voice of warbling bird
To ye unknown, is heard-

Swift-twittering wren, or garrulous jay, or thrush

TY

Scarce heeding when the wind-swung boughs are stirred-
Or plash of pebbly brook, with bubbling gush

Forcing melodious way, through tangled briar and bush.

V.

Then leave Europa's shores, celestial maids!
And hither speed, across the Mighty Sea,
As ye were wont, your ever-western flight.
For thus, 'tis said, ye left your native shades,
What time the voice of hateful Tyranny
Startled your anxious ears on Arne's height.
When first, with pale affright,

The Macedon ye saw with bloodstained brand
And haughty stride, stalk victor through the land,
Your sweet abodes ye left with many a sigh,
And sought a new home nigh

Slow Mincius, and on young Ausonia's plain,
Taught her free sous immortal melody-
Till at the clanking of the Roman's chain,
Ye urged your angry flight to Albion's far domain.

VI.

Come, eldest of the Nine, with laurel crown-
Bright queen of story! with the dazzling scroll
And trump and shrill-toned pipe, and plectre, come !

And teach us to rehearse the high renown

Of him who bade reluctant War to roll

The peal of Vengeance on the doubling drum;
Changing the grateful hum

Of peaceful cities to dread Battle's roar,

Till foiled and quelled the Despot shunned the shore,

Leaving his sceptre in the Hero's hand;

Then with near presence stand,

And build the story how the Chief surveyed

With careless eye the Empire of the land,

Broke, unseduced, the Tyrant's yielded blade,

And Conquest's glittering prize on Freedom's altar laid.

LIBRARY

VII.

And thou! sweet queen of soothing words, descend
Calliope! from Heaven, with ivy wreath
Thy careless golden locks entwined among.
To us some share of thy loved influence lend,
And bid the bard's dream rest our lids beneath,
Prompting to lofty rhyme the obedient tongue!
For else may not be sung

In numbers meet another Hero's praise-
He who disdained to live luxurious days,

But at fast-fainting Freedom's desperate cry,
Raised his indignant eye,

And from his angry brow the myrtle tore,

And crossed the sea, and sought a stranger-sky,

And bathed his champion-blade in Thraldom's gore,

Then crowned with deathless Fame, left freed Hesperia's shore:

Go forth my friendless song! all reckless, go
Forth on the waves of time, and if perchance
Thy pages meet the glance

Of him, the sole one here around whose lyre
Floats the near flood of unembodied fire;
Tell him his country, from Monadnoc's snow
To the far Gulf where southern ardors glow,
Calls on him to awake the slumbering string
Of his high harp, that we no more may be
A scorn among the nations, and that he
May boldly soar upon the upward wing,
And back to Earth again, empyreal riches bring.

O. P. Q.

The Book of the Church. By Robert Southey, Esq. L. L. D. 2 vols. 8vo. London. John Murray. 1824.

Those of our readers who have already heard of this publication, without being able to obtain a sight of its contents, have doubtless been puzzled, in no inconsiderable degree, to determine, from the title of the work, its precise subject and design. Mr. Southey's object, in these very interesting volumes, is one which we should suppose would procure him the thanks of a very large portion of the British public, and of those on this side the Atlantic who are well disposed to the diffusion of religious information. It is to trace the history of the Romish Church in Britain, from the first introduction of Christianity into that country-the gradual progress of religious light-the reformation-and the happy establishment of the Church of England, on the ruins of defeated Catholicism. The narrative is continued down to the period of the revolution

in 1688; and the express purpose of the author is to put into the hands of the younger portion of the British community, a compendious narrative of their established religion. To the young of our own country, however, we conceive the design to present no less either of interest or of instruction. Whatever be the distinctions prevailing among us of religious opinion, all protestants must view with equal concern the record of a church which took so distinguished a part in the deliverance of the world from the bondage of mental and spiritual despotism; which defended the truth with the learning, and sealed it with the martyrdom of her sons. It is on this account that we could wish to see a new edition of this able historical sketch issue from one of the presses of our own country.

That there is, among the younger class of the community, a lamentable deficiency of knowledge as to the world's religious history, is a complaint which we have often heard made by those whose professional intercourse gave them facilities of information. And the remark has probably been confirmed by the experience of many of our readers. Advert, in the course of conversation, to any one of those great events which stand conspicuous upon the ecclesiastical records-and what is the extent of acquaintance with these subject most generally manifested? We allude in particular, in these remarks, to the female part of society; and that too, among the ranks of the well educated and accomplished. Of that religion to which they owe all their happiness in this world, and their hopes of happiness in another, they are as little informed as to the rise, the progress, and the remarkable periods, as if the great drama had been acted upon some other planet, in which mankind had neither part nor interest. Now we do think that something is to be said in palliation of such a state of things. For those who wish to obtain a competent acquaintance with the annals of the church of Christ, in an easy and interesting form, there are few works in circulation. There has been no medium preserved between the dry, chronological outline, intended for the library of the professional student, and the unsatisfactory substitute of abridgment. What has been all along wanted, is a collection of histories of detached portions of the christian church, arranged in a familiar style, diversified with anecdotes of private character, and made to combine the purpose of entertainment with that of solid instruction. And such precisely is the work which Mr. Southey has presented to the public. In our opinion, if there be one among the various talents with which this distinguished writer is gifted, which entitles him more than

« 上一頁繼續 »