God, who instructs the brutes to scent Whose wisdom fixed the scale 1830. · A JEWISH FAMILY (IN A SMALL VALLEY OPPOSITE ST. GOAR, UPON THE RHINE.) GENIUS of Raphael! if thy wings To pencil dear and pen, Thou woulds't forego the neighbouring Rhine, And all his majesty A studious forehead to incline O'er this poor family. The Mother-her thou must have seen, To dwell these rifted rocks between, Of playfulness, and love, and joy, Downcast, or shooting glances far, That blend the nature of the star I see the dark-brown curls, the brow, The grace of parting Infancy Two lovely Sisters, still and sweet Their soul-subduing looks might cheat Such beauty hath the Eternal poured Though of a lineage once abhorred, Mysterious safeguard, that, in spite Doth here preserve a living light, Of Palestine, of glory past, 1828. ON THE POWER OF SOUND. ARGUMENT. 'The Ear addressed, as occupied by a spiritual functionary, in communion with sounds, individual, or combined in studied harmony.-Sources and effects of those sounds (to the close of the 6th Stanza.)-The power of music, whence proceeding, exemplified in the idiot.-Origin of music, and its effect in early ages-how produced (to the middle of the 10th Stanza.) The mind recalled to sounds acting casually and severally.-Wish uttered (11th Stanza) that these could be united into a scheme or system for moral interests and intellectual contemplation. -(Stanza 12th.) The Pythagorean theory of numbers and music, with their supposed power over the motions of the universe-imaginations consonant with such a theory-Wish expressed (in 11th Stanza) realised, in some degree, by the representation of all sounds under the form of thanksgiving to the Creator.-(Last Stanza) the destruction of earth and the planetary system-the survival of audible harmony, and its support in the Divine Nature, as revealed in Holy Writ. 1. THY functions are etherial, As if within thee dwelt a glancing mind, Strict passage, through which sighs are brought, And shrieks, that revel in abuse Of shivering flesh; and warbled air, The chains of frenzy, or entice a smile Into the ambush of despair; Hosannas pealing down the long-drawn aisle, And requiems answered by the pulse that beats Devoutly, in life's last retreats! 2. The headlong streams and fountains Serve Thee, invisible Spirit, with untired powers; Cheering the wakeful tent on Syrian mountains, They lull perchance ten thousand thousand flowers. That roar, the prowling lion's Here I am, |