Langsyne!--how doth the word come back
With magic meaning to the heart,
As Memory roams the sunny track,
From which Hope's dreams were loath to part!
No joy like by-past joy appears;
For what is gone we peak and pine.
Were life spun out a thousand years,
It could not match Langsyne!
Langsyne!--the days of childhood warm,
When, tottering by a mother's knee,
Each sight and sound had power to charm,
And hope was high, and thought was free.
Langsyne!--the merry schoolboy days--
How sweetly then life's sun did shine!
Oh! for the glorious pranks and plays,
The raptures of Langsyne!
Langsyne!--yes, In the sound, I hear
The rustling of the summer grove,
And view those angel features near,
Which first awoke the heart to love.
How sweet it is, in pensive mood,
At windless midnight to recline,
And fill the mental solitude
With spectres from Langsyne!
Langsyne!--ah, where are they who shared
With us its pleasures bright and blithe?
Kindly with some hath fortune fared;
And some have bowed beneath the scythe
Of death; while others, scattered far,
O'er foreign lands at fate repine,
Oft wandering forth, 'neath twilight's star,
To muse on dear Langsyne!
Langsyne!--the heart can never be
Again so full of guileless truth--
Langsyne! the eyes no more shall see,
Ah, no! the rainbow hopes of youth.
Langsyne! with thee resides a spell
To raise the spirit, and refine
Farewell!--there can be no farewell
To thee, loved, lost Langsyne!
Of the _prose_ articles, we have already given some specimens--The Hour
Too Many, a fortnight since; and Vicenza, just quoted. The next we
notice is Recollections of Pere la Chaise, for the graphic accuracy of
which we can answer; Eliza Carthago, an African anecdote, by Mrs.
Bowditch; Terence O'Flaherty, a humorous story, by the Modern
Pythagorean of Blackwood; two interesting stories of Modern Greece; a
highly-wrought Persian Tale, by the late Henry Neele; Miss Mitford's
charming Cricketing Sketch; the Maid of the Beryl, by Mrs. Hofland; a
Chapter of Eastern Apologues, by the Ettrick Shepherd; the Goldsmith of
Westcheap, a story of the olden time--rather too long; and a
characteristic Naval Sketch.
As we have already drawn somewhat freely on the present volume, we may
adduce that as the best proof of the high opinion we entertain of its
merits. The editor has only two or three pieces; but the excellent taste
and judgment displayed in the editorship of the "Forget-me-not" entitle
it to a foremost place among the "Annuals for 1829."
* * * * *
The Literary Souvenir,
_Edited by Alaric A. Watts, Esq_.
If the present were the first volume of the Literary Souvenir, the name
of the editor would be a passport to popularity; but as this is the
fifth year of its publication, any recommendation of ours would be
supererogatory.
But the Souvenir for 1829, realizes that delightful union of painting,
engraving, and literature, (at whose beneficial influence we have
glanced in our accompanying number) even more fully than its
predecessors. Ten out of the twelve embellishments are from celebrated
pictures, and the whole are by first-rate engravers. Of their cost we
spoke cursorily in a recent number; so that we shall only particularize
a few of the most striking.
The engravings are of larger size than heretofore, and, for the most
part, more brilliant in design and execution than any previous year.
We can only notice _the Sisters_, (frontispiece) full of graceful and
pleasing effect, by J.H. Robinson, after Stephanoff; _Cleopatra, on the
Cydnus_, a splendid aquatic pageant, by E. Goodall, after Danby; the
_Proposal_, consisting of two of the most striking figures in Leslie's
exquisite painting of May Day in Queen Elizabeth's time; a _Portrait of
Sir Walter Scott_, from Leslie's painting, and considered the best
likeness; this is from the burin of an American artist of high promise.
We must not, however, forget _Ehrenbreitstein, on the Rhine_, by John
Pye, from a drawing by J.M.W. Turner, which is one of the most
delightful prints in the whole series.
In the _poetry_ are Cleopatra, well according with the splendid scene it
is intended to illustrate--and I think of Thee, a tender lament--both by
Mr. T.K. Hervey; Mrs. Hemans has contributed four exquisite pieces:
Night, the Ship at Sea, and the Mariner's Grave, by Mr. John Malcolm,
only make us regret that we have not room for either in our columns;
Mary Queen of Scots, by H.G. Bell, Esq., is one of the most interesting
historical ballads we have lately met with; the Epistle from Abbotsford,
is a piece of pleasantry, which would have formed an excellent pendent
to Sir Walter's Study, in our last; Zadig and Astarte, by Delta, are in
the writer's most plaintive strain; the recollections of our happiest
years, are harmoniously told in "Boyhood;" a ballad entitled "The
Captive of Alhama," dated from Woburn Abbey, and signed R----, is a
soul-stirring production, attributed to Lord John Russel; and the Pixies
of Devon has the masterly impress of the author of Dartmoor. And last in
our enumeration, though first in our liking, are the following by the
editor:--Invocation to the Echo of a Sea Shell; King Pedro's Revenge,
with a well written historiette; the Youngling of the Flock, full of
tenderness and parental affection; and some Stanzas, for our admiration
of which we have not an epithet at hand, so we give the original.