ORIGINAL POETRY. THE DESOLATE VILLAGE. A Reverie. SWEET village! on thy pastoral hill As cloud wreathed o'er the Morning's brow, 'Tis not the Day to Scotia dear, Profound as fills the house of prayer, That thought is gone!-the Village still Is this the Day when to the mountains And bathe in sparkling pools and fountains Till far behind their town doth stand, What if these homes be filled with life? All nature sinks opprest,- Like a church-yard when a friend is dying, Sweet Woodburn! like a cloud that name Of uncomplaining lifelessness, On the troops of silent shades that press A Last summer, from the school-house door, pour, Like small waves racing on the shore, And still the green is bright with flowers, On a sudden wafted by, Obedient to the changeful air But where is the tiny hunter-ront On-on-through woful images Death in each drooping flower she sees; -So high upon the slender bough The few sheep wandering by the brook Tossing the long hair from their eyes-→→→ From human let their course is free No lonely angler down the lea Invites the zephyr's breath And the beggar far away doth roam, His penury to death. On that green hedge a scattered row Now weather-stained-once white as snow- O blest are ye! unthinking creatures! On the grave where human forms decay, As o'er the dewy turf of Morn, Sweet spire! that crown'st the house of God! While through a cloud the softened light Ah, me! my bosom inly bleeds In silent blackness it doth tell Hath o'er the village tolled its knell, Oft, wandering by myself at night, For yon sweet Manse now empty stands, * up ITALY. N. 'Tis like a cobweb o'er the breast, That binds the giant while asleep, Or curtain hung upon the east, The day-light from the world to keep! Come, jaw your glasses to the brim! Gar in the air your bonnets flee! "Our gude auld king!" I'll drink to him, As lang as I hae drink to pree. This to the arms that well upbore The Rose and Shamrock blooming stillAn' here's the burly plant of yore, "The Thristle o' the Norlan' hill!" Auld Scotland !-land o' hearts the wale! Hard thou hast fought, and bravely won: Lang may thy lions paw the gale, And turn their dewlaps to the sun! H. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. A Series of Discourses on the Christian Revelation, viewed in Connexion with the Modern Astronomy. By THOMAS CHALMERS, D. D. 8vo. pp. 275. Third edition. Glasgow, Smith & Son; Edinburgh, William Whyte; 1817. ONE of the worst features of the present times is the separation that has taken place between science and religion. During the early part of the history of English literature, we find great talents combined with a sublime piety, and the most enlightened philosophy with a fervent and glowing devotion; and they who explained to us the system of nature, defended the cause, and venerated the authority, of revelation. The piety of Milton, of Boyle, and of Newton, was not less remarkable than the superiority of their other endowments; and it will ever be regarded as a striking circumstance, that those giant minds, who have exalted the glory of English literature above that of all other nations, and whom we are accustomed to consider as an honour to the species itself, were distinguished above all other men for their habitual and solemn veneration of religion. Since the age of these distinguished writers the connexion between science and religion seems gradually to have been becoming less intimate. We are unwilling to arrange ourselves with those gloomy individuals who are found in every age to declaim against the peculiar depravity of their own times; but it is impossible not to see, that the profound reverence for sacred things, which distinguished the illustrious characters of a former age, is not now the characteristic of those by whom science is promoted, and knowledge extended. An enlarged acquaintance with the works of nature is no longer the assured token of that deep-toned and solemn piety, which elevated the character, and purified the manners, of the fathers of our philosophy. Science is now seen without religion, and religion without science; and the consequence is, that the saered system of revelation, however VOL. I. magnificent and beautiful in itself, is in danger of being considered as fitted ed minds, and of failing in some meaonly to be the creed of less enlightento produce those important effects upsure, from this unfortunate opinion, on mankind, for the accomplishment of which it is so pre-eminently adapted. The volume before us is calculated, we think, in no common degree, to counteract this unhappy declension. It is written with an enthusiasm and an eloquence, to which we scarcely know where to find any parallel; and there is, at the same time, so constant a reference to the improved philosophy of modern times, that it possesses an air of philosophical grandeur and truth, which the productions of a more popular and declamatory eloquence can never attain. Were the taste of the author equal to his genius, and his judgment always sufficient to control the fervours of his imagination, the labours of Dr Chalmers could not fail to be infinitely beneficial. But here lies our author's chief deficiency. His genius is of the kind that is marked by its peculiarities as much as by its superiority; and this circumstance, we think, is the more to be regretted, as there is manifestly no necessary connexion between the excellencies and defects by which his works are characterised. The natural relations of the intellectual powers might have been more correctly maintained in his mind, while all his faculties continued to be exerted with the same constancy and vigour,and the same originality and invention might have been combined with greater dignity, and more uniform elegance.-We have therefore but a short process to institute, in order to admit our readers into a knowledge of the character of our author's mind. our intercourse with the world, we often meet with persons in whom what we call genius predominates over every other feature; and who, though not superior to their fellows in taste, judgment, or understanding, are yet infinitely superior to them in the capacity of forming striking combinations of ideas, or in the endowments of an excurK In sive or elevated imagination. This is precisely the case with the author whose works we are considering. Genius in him shines paramount to every other quality of his mind. In every page of the volume, which has suggested these observations, there is something bold, original, and striking; and yet there is every now and then some peculiarity of expression that offends a cultivated taste, or some wildness of sentiment that excites astonishment and wonder rather than sympathy. The author of these discourses is so well known to our readers in this part of the island, that it would be quite superfluous on their account to say any thing of his private history; but for the sake of our readers in the south, we suspect it may be necessary to tell, in a single sentence, who Dr Chalmers is, and how he has attained that uncommon celebrity he now enjoys among us. Till within these few years, Dr Chalmers was scarcely known beyond the circle of his personal friends. He obtained, at an early period, a living in an obscure part of the country; and being naturally of an inquisitive and active disposition, he devoted himself, in the leisure of his professional engagements, to an ardent prosecution of scientific knowledge. Accident, according to report, led him, some few years ago, to examine with more than ordinary attention the foundations of the Christian faith; and as the result of his investigations was a deep impression of the strength of the evidence by which it is supported, he now brought to the illustration and defence of religion a double portion of the enthusiasm he had already devoted to science. Hitherto he had been attached to that party in our church which aspires to the title of moderate or liberal-he now connected himself with those who wish to be thought more strict and apostolic. His reputation as a preacher, as might have been expected from the warmth and fervour of his cloquence, began now rapidly to extend itself; and the whole country was soon filled with the fame of his eloquence and his merits. The reputation he had thus acquired was not diminished but enhanced, by his occasional appearances in the congregations of this metropolis. His speeches last year in the General Assembly of the Scottish Church, and his sermons before the Lord High Commissioner and for the sons of the clergy, made known his merits to most of the eminent men in this part of the kingdom, and will be long remembered in this quarter as the most brilliant display of cloquence and of genius which we have ever had the good fortune to witness. Such is our author's brief and simple story, previous to the publication of the present volume. We must not induce our readers, however, to believe that the public were as yet all agreed in their opinion of Dr Chalmers merits. His former publications had been distinguished rather by a fertility of imagination than by a deliberate and cool judgment. He had been accustomed, it was said, to take up an opinion as it were by accident, and to defend it with enthusiastic ingenuity and energy, though at the same time he was overlooking something so obvious and palpable, that the most simple novice might detect the fallacy of his argument. He had written on the national resources, and had attributed every thing to agriculture, demonstrating our perfect independence of the luxu ries of trade and commerce. He had published a treatise on the Evidences of Christianity, and had denied that the internal evidence was of any importance. Some detached sermons which he had given to the public had been deformed by an austerity at which the polite world revolted; and it was thought that the new work which was announced would be found obnoxious to the same censures. With respect to this work, now that it has been published, we conceive that there can be but one opinion-that it is a piece of splendid and powerful eloquence, injured indeed by many peculiarities of expression, by provin cial idions and colloquial barbarisms, but, at the same time, more free froin the author's peculiar blemishes than any of his former productions, and forming, notwithstanding its many faults, a work likely to excite almost universal admiration. That it would be improved, we think, every one will likewise allow, were there less sameness of sentiment and of expressionwere there fewer words of the author's own invention-were the purity of the English language, in short, as much attended to as its power and energy. If the author would only cultivate his taste as much as his imagination, he |