POETRY.

ORIGINAL.

FOR THE SELECT REVIEWS.

THE RELIC OF THE BROKEN STRING.

To

SAD relic of that broken string,

Once sounding high to many a varied measure,
When beauty's lips, like seraph's murmuring,
Poured on my raptured ear the song of pleasure,
Mute thou lyest,-thy spirit fled;-

That thrilling energy is dead,
Which once the heart could move;
And, soothing for awhile its care,
Awaken'd all the feelings there
Allied, and link'd to love.
Sister of harmony! no more,
When graceful fingers shall explore
'The mazes of the shell,

To charm, with most persuasive skill,
The soul of music from its cell,

Obedient to the snowy hand,

Shalt thou, beneath its impulse, bland,

In tones impassioned thrill!

Another now thy place supplies,

Triumphant o'er thy spell :-
Another to that touch replies,
And murmurs back melodious sighs,
In soft, responsive swell.

Alas! to still the throbs of pain,

To chase the phantom sorrow's train,

No more from slumber shalt thou rise
Yet not unprized by me,

Sad relic of the broken string!

Tho' silent, shalt thou be.

Thou to memory's harp shalt cling,

That loves of vanish'd days to sing

When joy, and hope, were in their spring,

And rule that wildest harp, and prompt its sweetest strain.

I'll place thee there,-for well I know

How sweet that song, in cadence low,

Upon my charmed ear will flow:

The shades of past delights appear
That time has borne away,
Recording many a former day
To pensive memory dear.-

They rise, they throng to vision'd view;
Like myriads in the solar ray,
Reluctant darkness glancing thro'-
With eyes of light, and cheek of rose,
Love his infant presence shows:
Pleasure, with her garland fair,
Fresh in every balmy flower,
That opens to the balmy air,
Moisten'd in the morning shower:
And enjoyment smiling there,
Heedless of the fleeting hour.

They pass!-but see, from mingling shade,
What radiant groups to view advance,
As the thin curling shadows fade,

And on the nerv'd remembrance glance,
In all the heav'nly hues bedight,
Luxuriant nature gives the year,

When Spring enchants the soul and sight, With sounds, and scenes to rapture dear; And all her odours flings around,

With living freshness o'er the ground.

And thou art nigh, beloved one!
Whose presence is thy lover's sun;

Whose praise no idle lay shall tell;
Within whose gentle breast,

As in a hallow'd shrine, or temple blest,
The pure affections, prized so well,
And placid virtues love to dwell.
Mild is thine eye, thy look is mild,-
As if, from earthly thoughts beguil'd,
On heav'n some sainted sufferer smil❜d.

The minutes, Mary, pass'd with thee,
Were minutes wing'd with ecstacy,
And tinged with precious light:

Snatch'd from the gloomy power, whose tears
Dim with chill drops life's hurrying years,
Remembrance weeps their flight.

There could not from these lips of thine
A single accent roll,

That did not seem a spell divine,

And sink into the soul!

But, hark! across the quivering strings
Her timorous hand she lightly flings,
And every chord awakening tries;
Then muses half,-and half she sighs;
Till, as one melting lay prevails,
In song her rosy breath exhales.
Sweet as the sound of summer gales
That stir the leafy grove remote,
Came to the ear each dulcet note.

Perhaps, to shade awhile her face,
Expression gave her saddest grace:
For still, to feeling true,

All that pale grief, or hopeless passion knew, The gazing list'ner there might trace,

And pity pause to view.

Yet while those honied lips exhaled
The strain, the song, that so prevail'd,
When love was all the theme ;
While sung that faultering voice so well
The lay, of passion-prompted maid,-
Be ne'er such gentle one betrayed.-
Ah! that some star-eyed power would tell,
Descending to the poet's dream,

If, with the bosom's sight-enslaving swell,
The heart avowed what tuneful lips conveyed!"

Blest be sad relic of the broken string,

Blest be the harp of memory for ever!

Ah! from its hallowed chords, when e'er they ring,
Than thine, a dearer strain resound can never,
Tho' love, and pleasure brush, with golden wing,
And wake the enchantress, wild with fond endeavour.
To that wild harp, sad relic, thou shalt cling,

And death's chill touch alone thy hold shall sever!
When for my brows, that rapture ne'er caresses,

Pale grief and care, their gloomy wreath sit twining,
And lone reflection with her pang oppresses,

To touch the latent spark of joy which slumbers,
Call from the strings their melodies refining,

And pour upon my ear that song's entrancing numbers!
G. W. C.

April, 1812.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

RECENT BRITISH PUBLICATIONS.

Historical and Military Classics: being a republication, in monthly numbers, price 2s. 6d. each, of a cheap and uniform Library Edition, of all the Greek, Roman, and ancient European original historians, in a large royal octavo page, and with a new and elegant type; so as to form a complete Corpus Historicum, or body of History, by the writers cotemporary with the facts they relate; reprinted verbatim from the best translations, and at one-fourth, and, in many cases, at one-tenth of their present selling prices.

Instinct Displayed, in a collection of well authenticated facts, exemplifying the extraordinary sagacity of various species of the animal creation. By Priscilla Wakefield.

A Selection from Bishop Horner's Commentary on the Psalms. By Lindley Murray, author of English Grammar, &c.

A Poetical Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. By A. de Humboldt.

RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS.

By Thomas & Whipple, Newburyport,

The Evidences of the Christian Religion, with additional discourses. Colfected from the writings of the right honourable Joseph Addison, Esq.

Also A Dissertation on the use and abuse of Tobacco; addressed to all Ta bacco consumers. By Adam Clarke, L.L.D.

Republished, from the London copy, by John Kingston, Baltimore, and for sale by J. F. Watson, "The Armenian, or Methodist Magazine"-commencing with the year 1811; to be published monthly, in 40 pages of letter press, so as to

form a volume of more than 500 pages a year. This work is so highly prized in England, as to sell 25,000 to 30,000 copies a month. Price of each number 19 cents.

By Moses Thomas, Philadelphia,

Sentimental Anecdotes. By Madame de Montalieu, author of Caroline of Lichfield, &c. Translated from the French, by Mrs. Plunkett, formerly Miss Gunning. One vol. 12mo.-Price one dollar.

By Edward Earle, Philadelphia,

A handsome miniature edition of the "Whole Duty of Woman," by a Lady. Price, in extra boards 37 cts.

By David Hogan, Philadelphia,

Evening Entertainments, or Delineations of the Manners and Customs of various nations. By J. B. Depping.

Also-A new Grammar of the English Language, for schools, entitled, The Union Grammar. By D. Jaudon, Ladies' Preceptor, Union Hall, Philadelphia. Also The New Universal Letter Writer, or Complete Art of Polite Correspondence. Fourth edition.

By J. & A. Y. Humphreys, Philadelphia, Psyche, or the Legend of Love; with other Poems: by the late Mrs. Tighe. Also-Arabian Nights, Vols. 1 and 2.-Vols. 3 and 4 in the press.

PROPOSED AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS.

We are informed, that a translation of a very late and interesting work, on Public Law, is now preparing in Philadelphia for the press, from the original in French; and will probably be published in the course of the ensuing summer. The work is entitled, De la Liberté des Mers, (Of the Liberty of the Seas), and is a scientific treatise on the rights of belligerents and neutrals in a maritime war. It contains an elaborate analysis and refutation of Selden's Mare Clausum, and of Lord Hawkesbury's (afterwards Lord Liverpool's) cele, brated observations on the conduct of Great Britain towards neutrals.

The author is Monsieur de Rayneval, who has filled several important diplo matic places under the late, and present, government of France; and who is said to be brother to Monsieur Gezand, the first Minister Plenipotentiary sent from France to the United States of America, after the signature of the treaty of alliance between the two countries.

The translation, we understand, will be accompanied with notes, by an American publicist; in which those points of national law, most interesting to the American public, will be particularly discussed and explained.

The nature of such a work, when well executed, must recommend it in an especial manner to the notice of our fellow-citizens; and we have reason to believe the present performance will be found in all respects entitled to consideration.

Letters explaining the Abrahamic Covenant, with a view to establish, on that broad and extensive basis, the divine right of infant baptism; and the question relative to the mode of administering this Christian rite. By Jacob J. Janeway, A. M. Junior Rector of the Second Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

By John Kingston, Baltimore,

In one vol. duodecimo, the Miscellaneous Works of the Rev. John Wesley, with a sketch of his life, labours, and death-adorned with a fine likeness. Also-In one vol. duodecimo, Lectures to the Asiatic Churches, by the venerable Thomas Taylor, the oldest Methodist preacher in the world.

Also-In one vol. duodecimo, from the London copy, the very excellent Sermons of Joseph Benson, from his own collected and corrected copy.

By Moses Thomas, Philadelphia,

A handsome miniature edition of the Letters of the late Lord Lyttleton. Also-An elegant edition of the Book of Common Prayer. 18mo. and 12mb. with engravings.

Also Vol. IV. of Binney's Reports.

SELECT

REVIEWS OF LITERATURE,

FOR JUNE, 1812.

FROM THE ECLECTIC REVIEW.

Lachesis Lapponica, or a Tour in Lapland, now first published from the Origi nal Manuscript Journal of the celebrated Linnæus; by James Edward Smith, M. D. F. R. S. &c. President of the Linnean Society. In two Volumes, 8vo. Price 17. 1s. boards. White and Cochrane. 1811.

EVER since the Linnæan collection arrived in this country, this very curious journal, composed during the author's travels in Lapland, and frequently cited in many of his works, had been eagerly expected by British naturalists to make its appearance in an English dress. From various causes, however, such expectations were frustrated, till, as we are informed by Dr. Smith, Mr. Charles Troilus, a young gentleman in the mercantile line, resident in London, undertook the task of translating it.' The manuscript having been written in Swedish, was the only bar to its publication at an earlier period,-since, of all Linnæus's undertakings, this journey seems, for some time, to have been the most talked of. The work was considered as so valuable in Sweden, that some have said if every other part of the collection had gone out of the country, this precious relic of their celebrated naturalist ought at any rate to have been retained. The remark, however,' says Dr. Smith, was not made till long after the manuscript, with all the treasures which accompanied it, had escaped, by land and by sea, the pursuit instituted by the Swedish monarch to recover them, and had reached England in safety."

The reader would be greatly disappointed if he should expect to find a regular and systematic description of the unfrequented region which our author traversed with such enthusiastic delight. 'The composition,' as the editor properly remarks, is entirely