an insidious eulogy of Hadad upon the beautiful Syrian mythology, and an attempt to make her doubt the goodness of the Being whom she worshipped : “ The garden of ABSALOM's house on Mount Zion, near the palace,

overlooking the city. TAMAR sitting by a fountain.

Tam. How aromatic evening grows! The flowers,
And spicy shrubs, exhale like onycha ;
Spikenard and henna emulate in sweets.
Blest hour! which He, who fashioned it so fair,
So softly glowing, so contemplative,
Hath set, and sanctified to look on man.
And lo! the smoke of evening sacrifice
Ascends from out the tabernacle. Heaven
Accept the expiation, and forgive
This day's offences !-Ha! the wonted strain,
Precursor of his coming !-Whence can this--
It seems to flow from some unearthly hand

Enter HADAD.
Had. Does beauteous Tamar view, in this clear fount,
Herself, or heaven?

Tam, Nay, Hadad, tell me whence
Those sad, mysterious sounds.
Had. What sounds, dear Princess ?

Tam. Surely, thou knowest; and now I almost think
Some spiritual creature waits on thee.

Had. I heard no sounds, but such as evening sends.
Up from the city to these quiet shades;
A blended murmur sweetly harmonizing
With flowing fountains, feathered minstrelsy,
And voices from the hills.

Tam. The sounds I mean,
Floated like mournful music round my head,
From unseen fingers.

Had. When ?
Tam. Now, as thou camest.
Had. "Tis but thy fancy, wrought
To ecstacy; or else thy grandsire's harp
Resounding from his tower at eventide.
I've lingered to enjoy its solemn tones,
Till the broad moon, that rose o'er Olivet,
Stood listening in the zenith; yea, bave deemed
Viols and heavenly voices answered him.

Tam. But these

Had. Were we in Syria, I might say
The Naiad of the fount, or some sweet Nymph,
The goddess of these shades, rejoiced in thee,
And gave theo salutations; but I fear
Judah would call me infidel to Moses.

Tam. How like my fancy! When these strains precede
Thy steps, as oft they do, I love to think
Some gentle being who delights in us

Is hovering near, and warns me of thy coming;
But they are dirge-like.

Had. Youthful fantasy,
Attuned to sadness, makes them seem so, lady.
So evening's charming voices, welcomed ever,
As signs of rest and peace ;-the watchman's call,
The closing gates, the Levite's mellow trump
Announcing the returning moon, the pipe
Of swains, the bleat, the bark, the housing-bell,
Send melancholy to a drooping soul.

Tam. But how delicious are the pensive dreams
That steal upon the fancy at their call !

Had. Delicious to behold the world at rest.
Meek labour wipes his brow, and intermits
The curse, to clasp the younglings of his cot;
Herdsmen, and shepherds, fold their flocks—and hark!
What merry strains they send from Olivet!
The jar of life is still; the city speaks
In gentle murmurs ; voices chime with lutes
Waked in the streets and gardens; loving pairs
Eye the red west in one another's arms;
And nature, breathing dew and fragrance, yields
A glimpse of happiness, which He, who formed

Earth and the stars, had power to make eternal.”—pp. 33–36. There is a very pretty and well imagined scene, in which Hadad endeavours to extract from the youthful Solomon the secret of his having received the royal unction to qualify him for being the successor of David on the throne of Israel, and another of admirable splendor and pathos, in which the Syrian discloses his mysterious knowledge mysteriously obtained, of the nature and occupations of the spiritual beings shut out from heaven, who inhabit the air and the chambers of the earth. In the mean time, Hadad, in order to confirm Absalom in the design of seizing his father's crown, contrives a meeting between him and Balaam-Haddon, a Chaldean soothsayer, in the sepulchre, which David had' built to receive his own remains, and had filled with treasures and spoils of nations.

“ Nothing but gold of Ophir, pearls, and gems
Of priceless value. How they catch the lamp beams,
And sparkle, as I wave it, like the stars
Upon a fitful night of clouds. And lo!

The marble in whose womb he means to sleep.”—P. 81. Balaam-Haddon performs divers incantations ; a phantom appears and announces himself as the Genius of the Throne of Israel, who had built up and maintained the greatness of David. Absalom inquires of him in what manner he might secure his lawful birthright. The spirit answers

“ A hostile planet, near allied to thee,
Threatens eclipse and blood; o'ercome but that,

And length of days, and glory shall be thine.
That powerful star is Solomon's, and rides

Hard by the ascendant.”—p. 85. The principal value of this scene lies in the incident which follows the disappearance of the Genius. Balaam-Haddon is seized with a prophetic ecstacy, in which he darkly predicts the future kingdom of the Messiah. The idea is happily taken from the sublime, but unwilling benediction pronounced by Balaam, the son of Beor, upon the tribes of Israel. As the inspiration passes off, the soothsayer falls into a trance, and the artful Hadad takes this opportunity to persuade Absalom that the prophecy, to which he has just listened, relates to the extent and glory of his own reign. Next, we have the meeting of the conspirators, which is given with great liveliness and spirit. The arrangements for the insurrection are made, and Absalom departs for Hebron, on the pretence of offering a sacrifice, but in reality to take the command of an army of rebels mustered there. In the last scene of the third act, Tamar, from the roof of her father's palace, hears the cry and rush of multitudes, and "eholds the confusion of the city, when Absalom is proclaimed king in Jerusalem, and his father is compelled to seek safety in flight. She leaves the house of her father, and takes refuge in the tabernacle. The search made after her, at midnight, by Hadad and Absalom, gives the author an opportunity of setting before us a striking picture of the licentious and tumultuous riot and violence of a city, that had just changed masters. At last the place of her retreat is discovered; Hadad, attended by several of Absalom's guards, goes to the tabernacle, and while the guards enter to require that she attend her father, Hadad, watched at a distance by Maugrabin, one of his creatures, remains intently looking through the vail, when the following scene ensues :

“ Had. Lo! lo!-the bloody shrine of sacrifice,
The cherub-tissued curtains,- the seven branches,
Revealing through the censer's smothering sume
The dim magnificence !- Each implement
As he prescribed. These must be symbols, types
Of things hereafter.

Maug. (muttering to himself.) Tempt him, if thou wilt
Pry in his secrets till devouring fire
Break out upon thee-Yea, within the snuff
Of that detested incense !-How the wreaths
Begin to curl about him I'll not risk
Annihilation. (Exit.)

Had. Wherefore should I tremble?---
Mortals have gazed unblinded-Moses saw
The lightning of his glory pass.--~But I-

How could I front the terrible array
If yonder vail should part- One flash might end me!
What holds them parleying? This abhorred smoke
Is worse than Stygian--every breath I draw
Is mortal agony.-Leave her I will not
In custody of those arch hypocrites

[Re-enter Guards, with TAMAR.]
Mean'ye to stay eternity ?

First Guard. We stayed not.
Had. Peace!

Second Guard. (aside to his comrade.)
Look how convulsed and pale he is ;

And see, his breast is bloody.”—pp. 148, 149. Absalom is restrained by the advice of Hushai, one of his counsellors, but friendly to the interests of David, from immediately pursuing the latter, by which means he has an opportunity of strengthening his ranks, and preparing for battle. The retreat of David with his followers is represented in a masterly manner, and with a great variety of interesting and affecting circumstances. On the morning, the two armies engage near the wood of Ephraim. Tamar, guarded by an escort of twenty horsemen, is placed by her father in ahe charge of Hadad, to whom he had promised her in marriage. With the exception of one or two passages, which seem a little overwrought, the description of the battle is given with infinite spirit, and the reader is made acquainted with its particulars as they occur by a very ingenious and happy method. Hadad and Tamar take shelter in the tent of an Ishmaelite family, who had come to gather spices in the forest of Ephraim, and the Ishmaelites, as they drop in, one by one, with the bloody spoils of the combat, bring intelligence of its progress. At length the troops of Absalom are routed, and himself slain. Hadad contrives to disengage himself from the horsemen, and with Tamar, under the pretence of providing for her safety, penetrates farther into the solitary forest. In the last scene of the drama, the author seems to have put forth all his strength, and we recollect few passages of dramatic poetry, written since the time of Shakspeare, with which this part of the work will not bear an advantageous comparison. “ A sequestered place in the wood, surrounded with thick dark trees: a

fountain, near a cave: Enter HADAD and TAMAR.
Tam. But why dismount here ?- night approaches, Hadad :-
See, the slant sunbeams gild but the tall tree-tops,
And evening sables all below. The wood
Grows drear and dismal: let's escape from it.

Had. But we must wait the guard. Come, sit with me
Beside this mossy fountain: All is still here :-

List the sweet birds nestling among the boughs;
All else soft silence: tumult comes not here.
Sit by this crystal spring awhile.

Tam. No, no,
I will not sit; we must not linger here.
My father bade us haste; we disobey,
And risk his anger.—Keep thy hands from me.

Had. But whỉther shall we fiv?
Tam. Wbere he commanded.

Had. To vassal Geshui !-Who can there protect us?
Or in Damascus' tributary walls ? -
Hear me, sweet Princess, bright star of my being,
Fly, fly with me beyond this wretched scene
Of civil strife, and never-ending discord,
To realms of quietness, where we may dwell

In lasting peace.”—pp. 187, 188. After vainly exhausting every argument which his ingenuity can supply, to persuade her to fly with him from the confines of Israel, and dwell with him in peace and happiness in a distant country, he addresses her with loftier and more thrilling rea. sons.

“ Nay, hold! for thou must listen. And, if deaf
To love, I can speak that will touch thy ear
To fearful ecstacy.
[TAMAR startled : he proceeds in an agitated manner. ]

--Confide in me,
And turn thy back on this curs'd land for ever,
And I'll convey thee to a Paradise,
Where thou shalt reign the worshipped Queen of realms
To which this Canaan is a darksome span.
Beings shall serve thee brighter than thy dreams:
The Elements shall stoop to thee; the Sea
Disclose her wonders, and receive thy feet
Into herpearly chainbers; radiant clouds
Shall be thy chariot; thou shalt roam the skies:
To satisfy thy noble thirst of knowledge,
Ages, forgotten ages shall cast up
Their hoarded treasures, ere the mighty flood
Covered the mountains, ere this rolling Earth
Stood in her station:- Thou shalt know the Stars,
The Houses of Eternity, their names,
Their courses, destiny ;-all secrets high.

Tam. Talk not so madly, Hadad.

Had. (vehemently.) Speak- answer-
Wilt thou be mine if mistress of them all?

Tam. I know not what I fear when I say, No.
Thou wouldst not wrong me in'this lonely wood,
Confided to thee as a sacred trust-
Alas! and yet thy passion-troubled inien

Appals me.
VOL. I.