"He feels the hot blood in a torrent burst That is something new. Think of a lover transplanting a lock of his hair into his mistresses bosom-of its ab solutely taking root there-and growing! What length do you suppose it was? a foot long? six inches? Did Hamutah expose her bosom sufficiently, to exhibit this tuft of hair, not originally her own, between her breasts? Did she duly put it at night into papers, and duly at morning He sinks, he groans—he seems to pass light comb it out with an ivory small away." Mr Atherstone then launches out into a medical report of the recovery of Arbaces from the imaginary woundand at its conclusion, treats us with a full and particular account of his widowed mother, and his sisterand his sweetheart (by name Hamutah) forming a family-party-far far off at home, and wondering when he will return from Nineveh. But we must give a little bit: "He sees them looking for his glad return; tooth? Did she bathe it in L'Huile des roses, and brush it up with a patent scrubber? What was thought of it by the Median maids in general? And did lovelocks of that kind become fashionable among all virgins whose lovers were at the wars? Mr Atherstone, we pause for a reply. Belesis reappears, and informs Arbaces that he, the Mede, is delegated by Heaven to be the overthrower of the Syrian empire; and after much tedious palaver, they remount the chariot and return to the He sees them when the tale of death is camp. told: He sees them rend their garments,-strew His mother and his sister hear, and smile,And weep, and honour him-and look to Heaven, And bless him,-and lament him,-and rejoice." It is really wonderful how a man who can drivel thus, has hitherto been able to keep himself out of the fire. There is one sentence in this vi-, sion too exquisite to be lost. In the very midst of the narration of the said vision, Mr Atherstone so entirely forgets what he is doing, that he absolutely introduces an anecdote of Arbaces and Hamutah! "A raven lock, On her majestic shoulders that had waved, Five days seem to elapse between the close of the First Book and the opening of the Second. Almost all the Second, which is not so dull as the First, because shorter, is occu pied by farther description of the debaucheries of Sardanapalus, and his marriage-quarrels with his haughty and jealous Queen Atossa. And it concludes with a description of the first day of the grand review. Two million men are put into motionby the moving of the Assyrian flagstaff in the hand of Sardanapalus, who takes his station on a mount conspicuous to all the army. This flagstaff though" tall as a mast”—Mr Atherstone does not venture to go on to say with Milton, " hewn on "of some tall Norwegian hills," or ammiral," though the readers' minds supply the deficiency-this mast was, we are told, for "two strong men, a task;" but it must have been so for twenty. To have had the least chance of being all at once seen by two million of men-it could not have been less than a hundred and fifty feet high-and if Sardanapalus waved the royal standard of Assyria round his head, Samson or O'Doher What think ye of that, Mr Audubon, Mr Charles Buonaparte, Mr Selby, Mr James Wilson, Sir William Jardine, and ye other European and American ornithologists? Mr Atherstone, did you ever see an eagle-a speck in the sky? Never again suffer yourself, oh, dear sir! to believe old women's tales of men on earth shooting eagles with their mouths; because the thing is impossible, even had their mouth-pieces had percussion-locks, and had they been crammed with ammunition to the muzzle. Had a stray sparrow been fluttering in the air, he would certainly have got a fright, and probably a fall-nor would there have been any hope for a tom-tit. But an eagle -poo, poo-he would merely have muted on the roaring multitude, and given Sardanapalus an additional epaulette; while, if a string of wildgeese at the time had been warping their way on the wind, why, they would merely have shot the wedge firmer and sharper into the air, and answered the earth-born shout with an air-born gabble-clangour to clangour. Where were Mr Atherstone's powers of ratiocination, and all his acoustics? Two shouts slew an eagle. What became of all the other denizens of air-especially crows, ravens, and vultures, who, VOL. XXVII. NO. CLXI. sunny eye seeing two millions of men, must What is said about the lion, is to our minds equally picturesque and absurd. He was among the far-off hills. How far, pray? Twenty miles? If so, then, without a silver ear-trumpet, he could not have heard the huzzas. If the far-off hills were so near Nineveh as to allow the lion to hear the huzzas even in his sleep, the epithet far-off, should be alteredand, indeed, the lion himself removed more into the interior: for, we do not believe that lions were permitted to live in dens within ear-shot of Nineveh. Nimrod taught them "never to come there no more”—and Semiramis looked sharp after the suburbs. But, not to insist unduly upon a mere matter of police, is it the nature of lions, lying in their dens among far-off hills, to start up from L their sleep, and breathe hot roarings out in fierce reply to the shouts of armies? All stuff! Then, Mr Atherstone shews off his knowledge of natural history, in telling us, that the said lion, on roaring, " laid his monstrous mouth close to the floor." We believe he does so; but did Mr Atherstone learn the fact from Cuvier, or from Wombwell? It is al ways dangerous to a poor poet to be too picturesque; and in this case, you are made, whether you will or no, to see an old, red, lean, mangy monster, called a lion, in his unhappy den, in a menagerie, bathing his beard in the saw-dust, and from his toothless jaws "breathing hot roarings out," to the terror of servantgirls and children, in fierce reply to a man, in a hairy cap, and full suit of velveteen, stirring him up with a long pole, and denominating him by the sacred name of the great assertor of Scottish independence. The truth is, that Mr Atherstone here falls successively into a couple of clap-traps. We are sorry to say, that his betters have, by their example, led him into that scrape and our readers will remember false passages of the same kind innumerable in Byron, Scott, Wordsworth, Milman, and other good poets. But they do not speak absolute nonsense, like Mr Atherstone, about the eagle, and there always will be felt to be something impressive-though out of place-in their allusions to harts and hinds, and so forth, listening at a distance to sounds with which such animals had nothing to do ;or, if they had, the poet ought not to have bothered us in that manner about the brute creation. If, on the above occasion, the eagle lost his life, and the lion his slumbers, what, pray, became of the Moudiewarps? For goodness sake, let us have no more such blarney-for it is within reach of the veriest idiot. In Book Third, the conspirators are assembled, at midnight, in the tent of Arbaces-Abdolonimus, satrap of Arabia-Belesis-Almelon, chief of the new-come Babylonian host-Rabsaris, an exiled Assyrian, whose daughter, Azubah, Sardanapalus had torn from the arms of the Bridegroom whom he had killed on their wedding-day, and made her his favourite concubine, and" the Rest." It ought to have been a good Book; for what better subject for a man, even of very moderate genius, but with the spirit of an Englishman, than a midnight conjuration of fierce nobles burning to throw off the yoke of an oppressor? But it is mortal dull as any Debating Society-almost as dull as a debate in our Parliament on a Corn Bill. The Arab, of whom it is said "Of impatient mood was he, Fiery and quick,his sinewy form to match, And roe-buck lightness," is the first speaker, but does not know what is the subject of debate. "Our time so short, why stand we silent here? Or wait we for the dawn? Who summons us? And what the business?-Be it told at once, That, or to deeds we may bestir ourselves, If such there be to do, or use the hours, As nature teaches, for refreshing sleep; Seldom, I ween, more lack'd." What a sleepy fellow of a fierce Arab! What will become of him at the close of the fourth and last day of the Grand Review, if one day's march has so knocked him up? simple question, and is on his legs Belesis then gets up to answer this for about sixty lines-quite a sermon, The practical conclusion, however, which he draws from the whole is good-to raise by to-morrow's light the standard of rebellion, and give speech is well received, but that fact the Assyrian power battle. is very lamely recorded This "He ceased; and murmurs of applause were heard!" Belesis is followed by old Almelon, the Babylonian; and Mr Atherstone manifestly intends his speech for a masterpiece- a harangue half-way between the wearisome wisdom of old Nestor, and the courtier-craft of old Polonius, with a dash of dotage peculiar to the superannuated driveller himself, who beats Sir Thomas Lethbridge hollow. "He fix'd his look, and with slow utterance thus." One specimen of aged Babylonian oratory will suffice. "Thy years, Belesis, fewer are than mine, And thy experience less ;-for thee I knew A tottering infant, playmate to my own, Gods, Yet, for these grey hairs, listen to my words, Which shall be few,-for I no speaker am, As well ye know." He won't hear of a rising in the morning, but recommends delay, for a few days, when the coast will be more clear; and "One half this living deluge ebb'd away, Never again to flow." He, too, like Abdolonimus-and his years are his justification-is an advocate for immediate sleep. He concludes, "Then get ye to your quiet bed, and speak No word of your intents." The Priest is then heard in reply —a tedious repetition of his first speech; and on sitting down, the house seems divided "He ceased, and many voices in applause Were heard; in censure many, or cold doubt; That certainty was none." Rabsaris, the Exile, then rises"His long right arm, attentive to invite, Held forth, and thus began!" How picturesque and novel the attitude! So used to stand Pitt, and eke Canning. How interesting to know that Rabsaris was not left-handed! We naturally expected something strong and vehement from an orator declaiming against the murderer of his son-in-law, the ravisher of his daughter, and the banisher of himself -more especially as "His tall, gaunt form, Hoarse, hollow voice, sunk cheek, and burning eye, Drew all men's gaze." But Rabsaris is not even a Ranter. Staring all the while like a Saracen's head, he speaks after the fashion of a philosopher of the Leg-of-Mutton School. He sees that there is a belly and members, but he looks round in vain for a head. "Where, where is a head? We have no head!" is still the burden of his speech; and he enters at great length into arguments to prove, that without a head nobody is any body, and with a head, any body every body; and that withwell have no feet, and will fall to the out a head, the conspiracy might as ground. The "wearifu' woman," was the soul of brevity and originality to this speculative Assyrian;→ yet such was the singular taste in the Tent, that, instead of being coughed down, Rabsaris' proposal to have a head, met with loud applause. The notion was so novel-yet when made, appeared so sensible-that nothing could exceed the chuckle. Reader! heard ye ever the like of the following, even at a county meeting about turnpikes? "For look but at the simplest things that live, And they shall teach you prudent govern ment: The silly sheep will yet a leader choose, For strength and courage nobler than the rest; And him they follow:-the industrious bee Works not but at the bidding of its queen; Nor will the lank cranes take their yearly flight, Save with a leader to direct their course : Saw ever ye a herd but at their head Was one, their king?-through all the world 'tis so; Yea, in the heavens, for round one ruling star The dazzling host obedient ever moves,And the great system lasts, and shall for But, bound together, shall have strength to pull Him follow, and obey, so shall ye thrive: But, in disunion, perish." One would have thought that this would have successfully seconded the motion of Abdolonimus and old Almelon, and set them all asleep; but, like an over-dose of opium, it had the opposite effect, and the tent became as brisk as a bag of fleas. Belesis, who had already spoken twice at great length, got again on his legs, contrary to all usage in all Parliaments, and, far from "rising to reprobate the idea," he takes up the same argument, and thus establishes, on an underminable basis, the absolute and instant necessity of a head. Hear, hear, hear, hear, hear! From its broad base this monstrous tyranny, And rend the fetters that bind down the world: In a wise union doth such power reside. Nor ignorant we of this; nor madly proud, Or jealous to the needful curb to yield: For chains and darkness in a maniac's cell Fitter were he than for a leader's place, Who his own headstrong will would not submit ; Or in the anarchy of many rules Could hope for conquest. One, sole chief must be." The question is now put-“ Tomorrow, or to-morrow week ?" and it is decided by the casting vote of Arbaces" to-morrow." Belesis then reveals the will of Heaven, and the Mede is chosen chief, and champion of the cause of Liberty—all over the world. The Fourth Book is almost as long as the preceding three, and it is, to our mind, the worst of the six. Morning sees the standard of rebellion amid "the Median camp high elevated," and the rebel army is all astir, and in high glee, when Nebaioth, an Assyrian leader, accompanied with a herald, appears among the chiefs, sent by Salamenes, brother of the Queen. He plays his part without a particle of spirit; and there is far too much speechification certainly, after the previous night's haranguing of the same orators. Abdolonimus, incensed by the cool firmness of Nebaioth, who offers him an unconditional submission, says, "And, to astound thee more, Even to his teeth I do defiance send ; Call him a beast, a glutton, and a slave !" Abdolonimus is, we know, a rough customer, and he had lost all temper; sides, it is altogether inconsistent with but this is rather too coarse, and, bethe satirical tone of pretended obeisance to the tyrant, which immediately follows it. Arbaces gives Nebaioth safe-conduct out of the camp, under the protection of young Twins, whose beautiful appearance is tolerably well described and the conference is at an end. Meanwhile Salamenes apprises Sardanapalus in his palace of the insurrection; the monarch springs from his bed, valiantly dons his |