Beauty shall beckon to thee from the sky, Farewell, NAPOLEON! a long farewell, A stranger's tongue, alas! must hymn thy worth; No craven Gaul dares wake his harp to tell, Or sound in song the spot that gave thee birth. No more thy name, that, with its magic spell, Aroused the slumbering nations of the earth, Echoes around thy land; 'tis past—at length France sinks beneath the sway of CHARLES the Tenth. JEALOUSY. He who has seen the red-fork'd lightnings flash Bursting in peals, terrifically loud; He who has mark'd the madden'd ocean dash He who has seen the wild tornado sweep (Its path destruction, and its progress death) The silent bosom of the smiling deep With the black besom of its boisterc us breath, Waking to strife the slumbering waves, that leap In battling surges from their beds beneath, Yawning and swelling from their liquid caves, Like buried giants from their restless graves:He who has gazed on sights and scenes like these, Hath look'd on nature in her maddest mood; But nature's warfare passes by degrees, The thunder's voice is hush'd, however rude, The dying winds unclasp the raging seas, The scowling sky throws back her cloud-capt The infant lightnings to their cradles creep, The furious tempests of the jealous soul. EARLY LOVE. THE fond caress of beauty, O, that glow! The first warm glow that mantles round the heart Ah! where's the youth whose stoic heart ne'er knew As passion rises o'er and o'er again? Self-kindling, quenchless as the eternal flame To call my buried feelings from their shrouds, That rise, like spectres of the past, in crowds; Which, like the hour that's gone, return no more; Billows that swell, to burst upon the shorePlaythings of passion, manhood's gilded toys, (Deceitful as the shell that seems to roar, But proves the mimic mockery of the surge:) They sink in sorrow's sea, and ne'er emerge. ALL IS VANITY. I've compass'd every pleasure, Caught every joy before its bead could pass; I've loved without restriction, without measureI've sipp'd enjoyment from each sparkling glassI've known what 'tis, too, to "repent at leisure" I've sat at meeting, and I've served at mass:--And having roved through half the world's insanities, Cry, with the Preacher--Vanity of vanities! What constitutes man's chief enjoyment here? What forms his greatest antidote to sorrow? Is 't wealth? Wealth can at last but gild his bier, Or buy the pall that poverty must borrow. Is't love? Alas, love's cradled in a tear; It smiles to-day, and weeps again to-morrow; Mere child of passion, that beguiles in youth, And flies from age, as falsehood flies from truth. Is 't glory? Pause beneath St. Helen's willow, Whose weeping branches wave above the spot; Its last, low pillow, there to rest, and rot. Is 't honour? Go, ask him whose ashes sleep JOHN G. C. BRAINARD. [Born, 1796. Died, 1828.] DURING the present century many persons in this country, whose early productions gave promise of brilliant achievements in maturity, have died young. It has been said that the history of American genius might be written in a series of obituaries of youthful authors. Were DRAKE, SANDS, GRIFFIN, ROCKWELL, WILCOX, PINKNEY, CLARKE, the DAVIDSONS, and BRAINARD now alive, there would be no scarcity of American writers, nor would any of them have passed the ordinary meridian of existence. What they have left us must be regarded as the first-fruits of minds whose full powers were to the last undeveloped, and which were never tasked to their full capacity. JOHN GARDNER CALKINS BRAINARD was a son of the Honourable J. G. BRAINARD, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. He was born at New London, in that State, on the twenty-first day of October, 1796. After finishing his preparatory studies, which were pursued under the direction of an elder brother, he entered Yale College, in 1811, being then in the fifteenth year of his age. At this immature period, before the mind is fully awake to the nature and importance of moral and intellectual discipline, severe application to study is unusual. BRAINARD's books were neglected for communion with his own thoughts and "thick-coming fancies," or for the society of his fellows. His college career was marked by nothing peculiar: he was distinguished for the fine powers he evinced whenever he chose to exert them, for the uniform modesty of his deportment, the kindness which characterized his intercourse with those about him, and a remarkable degree of sensitiveness, which caused him to shrink from every harsh collision, and to court retirement. On leaving college, in 1815, he commenced the study of law, in his native place, and on his admission to the bar, he removed to the city of Middletown, intending to practise there his profession. His success was less than he anticipated; perhaps because of his too great modesty-an unfortunate quality in lawyers—or, it may be, in consequence of his indolence and convivial propensities. One of his biographers remarks that his friends were always welcome, save when they came as clients. Wearied with the vexations and dry formalities of his profession, he relinquished it in the winter of 1822, to undertake the editorship of the Connecticut Mirror, a weekly political and literary gazette, published in Hartford. But here he found as little to please him as in the business he had deserted. He was too indolent to prepare every week articles of a serious, argumentative character, and gave in their place, graceful or humorous paragraphs, and the occasional pieces of verse on which rests his reputation as a poet. These, at the time, were republished in many periodicals, and much praised. In the departments of poetry and criticism, the Mirror acquired a high reputation; but in others, while under his direction, it hardly rose to mediocrity.* His first volume of poetry,† containing his contributions to the Mirror, and some other pieces, was published early in 1825. It was favourably received by the public, and its success induced his friends to urge him to undertake the composition of a larger and more important work than he had yet attempted. His constitutional lassitude and aversion to high and continued effort deterred him from beginning the task, until 1827, when his health began to wane, and it was no longer in his power. He then relinquished the editorship of the Mirror, and sought for restoring quiet, and the gentle ministrations of affection, the home of his childhood. His illness soon assumed the character of consumption, and he saw that he had but a brief time to live. A few weeks were passed on the eastern shore of Long Island, in the hope of deriving benefit from a change of air; but nothing could arrest the progress of the fatal malady; and he returned to New London, to prepare for the *The editor of the last edition of his works, of which I have received a copy since the above was written, and while this volume is passing through the press, speaks as follows of his editorial career :--" We are assured by competent testimony, that laboured and able political articles were withheld from publication, owing to causes over which he had little control. It is not, perhaps, necessary to detail the facts, but they certainly go far to exculpate him from the charge of levity, or weakness, in conducting the editorial department of his paper. Prudential considerations were suffered to have sway, at the expense of his reputation for political tact and foresight. The only substitutes for the articles referred to, were such brief and tame pieces as he could prepare, after the best and almost only hours for composition had passed by. This circumstance, together with the consciousness that the paper was ill sustained in respect to its patronage, was sufficiently discouraging to a person whose sensibilities were as acute as those of BRAINARD. It accounts, also, for the frequent turns of mental depression which marked his latter years,-heightened, indeed, by that frequent and mortifying concomitant of genius,-slender pecuniary means." The volume was introduced by the following characteristic address to the reader :-"The author of the following pieces has been induced to publish them in a book, from considerations which cannot be interesting to the public. Many of these little poems have been printed in the Connecticut Mirror; and others are just fit to keep them company. No apologies are made, and no criti cisms deprecated. The commonplace story of the impor tunities of friends, though it had its share in the publication, is not insisted upon; but the vanity of the author, if others choose to call it such, is a natural motive, and the hope of making a little something by it,' is an honest acknowledgment, if it is a poor excuse." The motto of the title-page was as quaint: "Some said, 'John, print it ;' others said 'Not so ;' Some said 'It might do good;' others said, “No.'” Bunyan's Apology. Foun lamps were burning o'er two mighty graves- And holy light glanced from Helena's naves, On this occasion, says the Reverend Mr. M'EWEN, as he was too feeble to go to the church and remain through the customary services, he arrived at and entered the sanctuary when these were nearly or quite through. Every one present (literally, almost) knew him,-the occasion of his coming was understood,-and when he appeared, pale, feeble, emaciated, and trembling in consequence of his extreme debility, the sensation it produced was at once apparent throughout the whole assembly. There seemed to be an instinctive homage paid to the grace of God in him; or, perhaps, the fact shows how readily a refined Christian community sympathizes with genius and virtue destined to an early tomb. + The following intelligence from Constantinople was of the eleventh October, 1824: "A severe earthquake is said to have taken place at Jerusalem, which has destroyed great part of that city, shaken down the Mosque of Omar, and reduced the Holy Sepulchre to ruins from top to bottom.' GODFREY and BALDWIN were the first Christian kings at Jerusalem. The Empress HELENA, mother of CONSTANTINE the Great, built the church of the sepulchre on Mount Calvary. The walls are of stone and the roof of cedar. The four lamps which lit it, are very costly. It is kept in repair by the offerings of pilgrims who resort to it. The mosque was originally a Jewish temple. The Emperor JULIAN undertook to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem at a very great expense, to disprove the prophecy of our Saviour, as it was understood by the Jews; but the work and the workmen were destroyed by an earthquake. The pools of Bethesda and Gihon-the tomb of the Virgin MARY, and of King JEHOSAPHAT-the pillar of ABSALOM-the tomb of ZACHARIAH-and the campo santo, or holy field, which is supposed to have been purchased with the price of JUDAS's treason, are, or were lately, the most interesting parts of Jerusalem. conversation and amiable character won for him many ardent friends. He was peculiarly sensitive; and Mr. WHITTIER,* in a sketch of his life, re marks that in his gayest moments a coldly-spoken word, or casual inattention, would check at once the free flow of his thoughts, cause the jest to de on his lips, and "the melancholy which had been lifted from his heart, to fall again with increased heaviness." BRAINARD lacked the mental discipline and strong self-command which alone confer true power. He never could have produced a great work. His poems were nearly all written daring the six years in which he edited the Mirror, ar they bear marks of haste and carelessness, though some of them are very beautiful. He failed only in his humorous pieces; in all the rest his language is appropriate and pure, his diction free and harmo nious, and his sentiments natural and sincere. His serious poems are characterized by deep feeling and delicate fancy; and if we had no re cords of his history, they would show us that he was a man of great gentleness, simplicity, and purity. While through the panell'd roof the cedar flings come." A mosque was garnish'd with its crescent moons, And a clear voice call'd Mussulmans to prayer. There were the splendours of Judea's thronesThere were the trophies which its conquerors wear All but the truth, the holy truth, was there:-For there, with lip profane, the crier stood, And him from the tall minaret you might hear, Singing to all whose steps had thither trod, That verse misunderstood, «There is no God but Gop." Hark! did the pilgrim tremble as he kneel'd? And did the turban'd Turk his sins confess? That mighty Power that knows to curse or bless, Their heart, in city or in wilderness, Proud JULIAN; when (against the prophecy JOHN G. WHITTIER was one of BRAINARD'S inti mate friends, and, soon after his death, he wrote an interesting account of his life, which was prefixed to an edition of his poems, printed in 1832. And from the boiling seas such wrath did flow, Another earthquake comes. Dome, roof, and wall Thou whom we all should worship, praise, and thank, Where was thy mercy in that awful hour, heaven did lower? Say, Pilate's palaces-proud Herod's towers- Where were the shudderings Calvary might Did sainted Mount Moriah send a flood, [make? To wash away the spot where once a God had stood? Lost Salem of the Jews-great sepulchre Of all profane and of all holy thingsWhere Jew, and Turk, and Gentile yet concur To make thee what thou art! thy history brings Thoughts mix'd of joy and wo. The whole earth rings With the sad truth which He has prophesied, Who would have shelter'd with his holy wings Thee and thy children. You his power defied: You scourged him while he lived, and mock'd him as he died! FROM that lone lake, the sweetest of the chain Their blasts have rock'd thy cradle, and in storm The young oak greets thee at the water's edge, Dark as the frost-nipp'd leaves that strew'd the ground, The Indian hunter here his shelter found; Thou didst not shake, thou didst not shrink when, late, The mountain-top shut down its ponderous gate, Nor dost thou say, when winter's coldest breath heath One mighty sigh relieves thy icy breast, way, Thy noble shores! where the tall steeple shines, At mid-day, higher than thy mountain pines; Where the white school-house with its daily drill Of sunburn'd children, smiles upon the hill; Where the neat village grows upon the eye, Deck'd forth in nature's sweet simplicityWhere hard-won competence, the farmer's wealth, Gains merit, honour, and gives labour health; Where GOLDSMITH's self might send his exiled band To fird a new "Sweet Auburn" in our land. What Art can execute, or Taste devise, Decks thy fair course and gladdens in thine eyes As broader sweep the bendings of thy stream, Where the The clock strikes ten- [dream, When the fresh morning wakes him from his Stream of my sleeping fathers! when the sound Whose lip of eloquence and heart of zeal Bold river! better suited are thy waves Thou hadst a poet once,--and he could tell, Yet for his brow thy ivy leaf shall spread, ON THE DEATH OF MR. WOODWARD, "The spider's most attenuated thread ANOTHER! 'tis a sad word to the heart, That one by one has lost its hold on life, From all it loved or valued, forced to part In detail. Feeling dies not by the knife That cuts at once and kills-its tortured strife Is with distill'd affliction, drop by drop Oozing its bitterness. Our world is rife With grief and sorrow! all that we would prop, Or would be propp'd with, falls--when shall the ruin stop? The sea has one,* and Palestine has one, And Scotland has the last. The snooded maid Shall gaze in wonder on the stranger's stone, And wipe the dust off with her tartan plaidAnd from the lonely tomb where thou art laid, Turn to some other monument--nor know Whose grave she passes, or whose name she read: Whose loved and honour'd relics lie below; Whose is immortal joy, and whose is mortal wo. There is a world of bliss hereafter-else Why are the bad above, the good beneath The green grass of the grave? The mower fells Flowers and briers alike. But man shall breathe (When he his desolating blade shall sheathe And rest him from his work) in a pure sky, Above the smoke of burning worlds;-and Death On scorched pinions with the dead shall lie, When time, with all his years and centuries has pass'd by. * Professor FISHER, lost in the " Albion," and Rev. LEVI PARSONS, missionary to Palestine, who died at Alexandria. |