MUSIC.
" Songi of the Ship." The Poetry written, and the Airs lected, chiefly,from the Naval Melodies of Great Britain, by Mrs. C. B. WasoN.. "Songs of the Ship.'! Of what ship ? of what rate or burden, and how manned or rigged ? A dapper quarto with gilt edges and sides, purple covers,..and• spruce decorations, would seem better fitted for a lady's toilet than the mess-room of a seventy-four ; and rather worthy to be touched with French kid gloves, and perfumed with otto of roses, than profaned by the unwashed fingers of a man-of-war's crew. For what ship or ship's crew can this dandy volume he designed ? We have heard of a Richmond Yacht Club : fresh-water heroes, who handle their main-sheets in gloves,. wear superfine uniforms, spruce beaver hats, and shirts of finest texture—who turn pale at the sound of a north-wester, and would sicken even at a squall on-the Thames at Twickenham : for such a fraternity of naval heroes this pretty book is just adapted, and its contents may appropriately enliven their mess at the Star and Garter. We cannot help admiring the kind and patriptic feeling which has led the benevolent author of these songs " to reyive some beautiful melodies of the Sea and the Ship, which, for want of a modern versification (like other gems of the deep), have too long lain hidden beneath the weeds of oblivion and neglect." Among the authors on whom Mrs. WILSON has exercised her powers of modernizing and reviving, is a certain JOHN Gay, author of an antiquated ballad entitled " Black-eyed Susan." Susan, being a cognomen somewhat " base, common, and popular," she has exchanged for the politer and prettier one of Emma. One specimen of the improved ballad will suffice. Believe not the whispers, both false and unkind, That tell thee the sailor a mistress will find In each port where lie anchors :— no bosom so true As the heart that beats under a jacket of bluer"
The fair author professes to have been "scrupulously careful not to weaken, by a too highly polished phraseology, those manly and generou sentiments which are so peculiarly the characteristic of the British sailort Perhaps she thinks the following stanza adapted to cherish the " manly sentiments" of which she speaks : we should like to have the boatswain of a man of war try his hand at a stave-
.. Glittering in the moonbeam's brightness,
See yon sail a speck appears,
Stealing on in shadowy whiteness, Like the memory of past years."
Or this- " Slow and soft the fairy numbers Fall upon the listening ear, Calm and sweet as infant slumbers, Ere life's sterner hours appear."
'We presume that it has been Mrs. WILSON'S sins, as little as possible. to resemble our former naval songsters, Dinow and GEORGE ALEXANDER STEVENS ; and she has completely succeeded. No songs like " Poor Jack," " Tom Bowling," "True Courage," " Jack at Greenwich," or " The Storm," will be found in this volume.
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