Not by the couch of lingering pain, And stern indeed must be that breast, Which could dwell upon each sad device, Upon a tablet, as by chance Its look was on you--searching-fixed, In like confusion-was there laid That claimed a prompt, accordant sigh; There was, besides, a taper's wick Sunk in its stand-the expiring spark One moment more, and all were dark! A tall, capacious beaker stood, Of Pleasure in each reckless mood: On its huge handle Death was seen, With arm upraised, and weapon buoyed; There was a volume lying open. "Observations on the Portraits, Personal Relics, and other Memorials of Illustrious Characters, with the view to the Establishment of a National Museum, or Temple of British Fame," supplied us with an interesting specimen in our former notice. "Poetry and Poets, a paper designed to show the claim of Literary Genius to Encouragement and Reward from the State," is filled with arguments and sentiments, eloquently urged, highly honourable to the writer,evincing a deep sympathy with men of letters, and estimating their services according to a proper standard of humanity and reward. But the prose piece from which we shall take our samples on this occasion, is headed "The Antiquary," and is really a "Characteristic Sketch." In this paper there is such a display of affectionate brotherhood, such a fecundity of quaint and half sportive portraiture, such a variety of expression, imagery, and illustration, as renders it most apparent that Dr. Bigsby himself is deeply imbued with the spirit he characterises, and largely acquainted with the treasures and archives of antiquarian research. He begins by saying that he beholds in the antiquary a wider chain of sympathies than in the ordinary "spirits of earth," and proceeds at the following rate :— His is the true cosmopolitan spirit of Freemasonry. He is "a denizen of all nations—a contemporary of all ages.' He wanders through every region of the earth, taking up his abode in the palace of the prince, or the cottage of the peasant, at his pleasure. How often, through its enchanted spell, has he trodden the midnight darkness of the wilderness, and made the melancholy cities of the dead his abiding-place. The pyramids have cast their sombrous shadows on the Egyptian moonlight, to darken his meditative wanderings; while Palmyra has upreared her marble colonnades in serene beauty, to enchant the visionary musings of that solitary wayfarer. His mind is a sort of spiritual magic-lantern, that casts its bright spectrum on the blank and common-place realities of life, and peoples it with the gay and gorgeous creations of chivalry and romance. He is a moral exorcist, conjuring up unto the imagination "the forms of the mighty of old." his imperative bidding the veteran warrior of a hundred fields shakes off the heavy sleep of his ensanguined grave; the rust of his long-buried mail is at once abraded, and again the snowy plume dances with aerial lightness above his radiant crest. Up rises the stately war-steed at the blast of the charmed trumpet-his embroidered housings gleaming with the forgotten heraldries of his once potent master. Snorting with impatience at the shrill summons, he rolls his straining eye-balls in quest of the foe; his dishevelled mane streams wildly on the passing breeze. Pawing the echoing pavement with a proud disdain, he flings the white foam in fury from the richlyembossed bit that -"awhile restrains him from The glorious speed of the impending charge." At -Desertion and decay are his idols-the tomb of departed greatness his shrine. He is is a lover of the wrecks of war and of tempest-the heart's lord of a thousand desolate castles! Their gigantic and roofless halls, echoing the assaults of the night storm, are his chosen retreat He hears the rattling of shields in each eddying blast, and the song of the bards is in ness. his dreaming ear. He is happy, and depends not on others for his happiHe dwells, like the enchanter of old, in a wide and diversified region of his own subtle creation, and looks down from the heights of his aerial abode, upon the transitory occurrences of human life, with the speculative and self-abstracted interest of an inhabitant of a different sphere. He indulges a sovereign contempt for the little mercenary spirits of the world, and exercises the same high-minded abandonment of the frivolous amusements and occupations of the many. He is the true possessor of the Philosopher's Stone, inasmuch as his exalted fancy will oftentimes invest a piece of decayed wood, or rusty metal, with the worth of much fine gold; while a flint from Mount Ararat, or a clod from the Valley of Elah, bears in his eyes a price far above rubies. His garments denote no love of purple and fine linen, and for the " good and lawful" coin of the realm he has a truly philosophic contempt 66 Those gilded counters are not things he loves ;" but a didrachm or tetradrachm of Syracuse or Thasus, or even an old spurrowel from Crecy, Poictiers, or Agincourt, awake in his mind a thousand glorious visions of delight. Page after page the Doctor gallops on at the same sure-footed rate, for he knows his ground, and every savoury thing within the wide reach of the domain over which he travels. "Rust and must are the readiest passports to the antiquary's affection, and he loves verdigris with the passion of a city alderman for green fat." But further His house is an hospital for decayed furniture-a sort of Noah's Ark for the refuse of the creation. It abounds with a thousand whimsical incommodities, upon whose origin, or intended use, it would be idle to speculate. Stones from Carthage, and bricks from Babel, fragments of votive urns from Pompeii, and of household-implements from Herculaneum, are blended in heterogeneous confusion with "olde disjoynted globes And crooked mathematicke instruments Enow to fill a brazier's shop, which with His stilles of glass for chimick purposes" are the probable mementoes of some erudite disciple of Cornelius Agrippa, -nay, may they not have appertained into Bishop Wilkins himself? The sacrilegious pillage of British barrows or cairns is profusely mingled with "veritable" relics of the Church of Rome: Paganism and Popery seem alike disregarded—the claims of empire forgotten; and the cracked gear of many a stalwart descendant of Hengist resteth in peace among the shattered helms and hauberks of the Norman chivalry. It reminds us, truly, of a hard-foughten fray in the Barons' Wars: "Those warlike ensignes, waving in the fielde, Which lately seemed to brave the embattled foe, Their loftie tops to the base dust doe bow; Here sits a helmet, and there lyes a shield: Seized on by Conquest, as a glorious prey." The wide annals of European history are but as a drop in the ocean of his limitless research. His spirit has been familiarly present at every varied scene of enjoyment or misery since the happy wanderings of our first parents in the radiant solitudes of Eden. He has feasted with Apicius, and fought with Alexander; melted pearls with Cleopatra, and lunched on raw herbs with Cincinnatus. He has gazed on the triumphal chariot of Julius Cæsar, and reflected his form in the glowing shield of Achilles. Nay, his wily and well-instructed fancy has even enlisted him into that terror-striking band that leapt from the bowels of the Trojan Horse at the dead of night, and carried brand and glave to the bed-side of the hapless sleeper! The confusion of tongues at Babel is, in his shrewd recollection, an event of yesterday. In sooth, his mind may be compared to the form or semblance of a stupendous giant, whose head is seen to pierce through the loftiest clouds, and whose shadow overspreads the whole land; even so does his vast and penetrating spirit extend itself over the obscure revelations of the past, and invade also the solemn sanctuaries of the future. We must refrain from citing more, whether in the shape of prose or poetry. Enough has been shown, we think, to make good our opinion of the merits of the volume. That Dr. Bigsby's soul and heart have in them, by original gift, a rich minstrelsy, cannot be denied. That real and persevering devotion have strengthened and greatly polished that which was in-born, we in no manner doubt. He has, too, made all the branches which go to the accomplishment of a man of letters subservient to his purpose; but never, unless for the bettering of human nature, by sublimating, refining, and melting in turn. His style is ornate, and charged with images, but not to finical feebleness or gaudy floridity. In short, the man and the manner become each other well. We set out with certain observations relative to the state and prospects of poetry amongst us; and it would gratify us highly could we foresee what influence an extensive circulation of Dr. Bigsby's tone and utterances would have in working out the regeneration in taste for sterling compositions, which is so much to be longed for. We think there are some indications of a movement at the present time, from the literal to the imaginative, that may terminate happily. The opening of galleries, museums, &c., for the benefit and enjoyment of the people at large, is a pleasing symptom; and not less so the greediness with which multitudes rush to such collections of the fine arts and other objects which address themselves strongly to the better principles of our nature. The talk about holidays and holidayrecreations, denotes something in a like direction. Speculation is abroad; although, after leaving the earth, it frequently gets be wildered in the clouds, or is a confused dream rather than a clear inspiration. But the feverish recklessness that characterises society in many of its phases, showing that the divinity within us is not to be kept bound by any mechanical power, nor crushed by any material load, nor permanently blinded by coarse screens, may result in a reformation and a new development in that fane in which it is the poet's privilege and province to act as high-priest; and then peradventure the sons of song may string new harps and call forth notes that were never listened to before; putting to utter shame the drivillers who have for an age been but filching from long-departed masters, and hammering to miserable attenuation their fine gold. In conclusion, we cannot but think that Dr. Bigsby's poetry is not merely of a healthy and unborrowed nature, and as genuine and sincere as it is musically impressive; but that it is calculated to awaken and purify to such a degree, that his name will live in honour when the era arrives that gives birth by its pressure to new fire, irradiating the earth, and bringing down by the invocation of mighty genius, the light that dwells in the skies. NOTICES. ART. XV.-Elements of Universal History on a New and Systematic Plan. By H. WHITE, B.A. THESE elements extend from the earliest times to the treaty of Vienna. There is added a Summary of the leading events since that period. One wonders how any distinctness and adequacy can be found in a single volume, the subjects of which are so comprehensive as that of the one before us. But simplicity of plan, careful classification, digested generalization, concise style, and the various resources which ability and skill can bring to the execution of the largest and apparently most impracticable undertaking have all been united in the present instance, to the production of the best work of the kind that we have yet seen. Mr. White has manifestly been confident that he not only understood what were the demands of his vast subject, but conscious that he could dispose of its parts in as satisfactory a manner as is possible. His views are broad, and his opinions are commanding. When he enters into commentary there is ease, and his narrative is neat yet flowing. His arrangement is that of making epochs the heads of history, under which are ranged in order the occurrences of the ages they include. This, we think, is the best plan that can be adopted for assisting the memory and enabling the mind to form an estimate of the matters in the respective divisions. He has also made use of typographical distinctions to advantage. The work will not supersede large and detached histories; but it will, as |