Clippings from Manuscript. By J. H. Powell, Author of "Phases
of Thought and Feeling," &c. (Pitman.)—This is one of those works the publication of which affords, it is to be hoped, more pleasure to the anther than it is at all likely to do to the reader. It consists of selec- tions from Mr. Powell's portfolio, which appears to be pretty well stocked both with prose and verse. We will give the reader a sample of Mr. Powell's quality in both branches of composition. In the way of prose, we may take Mr. Powell's explanation of the present habit of growing the beard. "Every full-grown boy," says our philosopher, " blessed with knowledge, is inspired with the sacred greatness of the men-orbs, and in proportion as he estimates his heroes he finds his own individuality diminish. But mark ! He hears that the cultivation of a moustache will at least make him look somebody—others will look small beside him. Do not trouble further. The razor will rust, and the bare- faced boy look Pythagorean, or great." Now, let us listen to Mr. Powell, the poet.
" When Love by Lust is fettered, caved, When Honour sighs to fiendish guile, And Passion, like a king enslaved, Groans for the past, a sad exile, Bound by the strong green withes of Fate,
Doth sue the heedless world without—
Is it a sin to baffle Hate, And snuff Life's waning taper out ?"
Mr. Powell assures us that he never writes without having something definite to write about. It will be a pleasing exercise for the ingenuity of the reader to try and discover the precise object of the passages which we have quoted.
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