The show'r is past--the heath-bell, at our feet,
Looks up, as with a smile, though the cold dew
Hangs yet within its cup, like Pity's tear
Upon the eye-lids of a village-child!
This is succeeded by a poetic panorama of views from the Severn to
Bristol, introducing a solitary ship at sea--and the "solitary sand:"--
No sound was heard,
Save of the sea-gull warping on the wind,
Or of the surge that broke along the shore,
Sad as the seas.
A picture of Bristol is succeeded by some scenes of great picturesque
beauty--as Wrington, the birth-place of the immortal Locke; Blagdon, the
rural rectory of
Langhorne, a pastor and a poet too;
and Barley-Wood, the seat of Mrs. Hannah More. Mr. Bowles also tells us
that the music of "Auld Robin Gray" was composed by Mr. Leaver, rector
of Wrington; and then adds a complimentary ballad to Miss Stephens on
the above air--
Sung by a maiden of the South, whose look--
(Although her song be sweet)--whose look, whose life,
Is sweeter than her song.
The last Part (IV.) contains some exquisite Sonnets, and the poem
concludes with a "Vision of the Deluge," and the ascent of the Dove of
the ark--in which are many sublime touches of the mastery of poetry.
There are nearly forty pages of Notes, for whose "lightness" and
garrulity Mr. Bowles apologizes.
Altogether, we have been much gratified with the present work. It
contains poetry after our own heart--the poetry of nature and of
truth--abounding with tasteful and fervid imagery, but never drawing too
freely on the stores of fancy for embellishment. We could detach many
passages that have charmed and fascinated us in out reading; but one
must suffice for an epigrammatic exit:--
_--Hope's still light beyond the storms of Time._
* * * * *