31 OCTOBER 1835, Page 18

POE MS.

Tire books before us run somewhat in classes, especially in those subjects which have Apollo for a patron. In Medicine there have been five works, in Poetry here are three.

1. THE LAY OF LADY ELLEN. BY HARRY' CHESTER.

2. SONNETS BY EDWARD MOXON.

3. THE POET AMONGST THE PAINTERS.

I. Of this assemblage, Mr. CHESTER'S performance is the longest, and the best. In an age less prolific, he would have taken a high rank among the minor poets ; for his story is inter- estina, his versification smooth, and his materials have not been worn threadbare. With more of playfulness and satire in the lighter parts, with more of strength in the serious, and with greater condensation in both, be would have gained a more per manent position, even in the nineteenth century, than with such drawbacks he can hope to occupy.

The Lay of the Lady Ellen is the story of a beautiful, warm- hearted, and undesigning coquette. She is delighted with ad- miration, as a tribute paid to her charms; and, without con- sidering, or without even knowing the results, she trifles with Lord Albert till his heart is irrecoverably engaged. At this juncture, his friend Lord Ernest, who is serious under the effects of a crossed love, appears at Almack's, and, watching the behaviour of Lady Ellen to his friend, sets her down as a heartless flirt. By one of those anomalies which cannot be accounted for, the grave, lofty, and middle-aged gentleman, produces an impression upon the heart of the young belle. Feeling love herself', she now learns to pity thelove of others; and whilst she becomes kinder but colder to Albert, her whole character gains strength and weight from the development of this new affection. The change, however, is lost upon Lord Ernest; who, it' he considers her be- haviour at all, considers it as additional proof of art, and in an unguarded moment expresses his estimate of her character. This reaches the ears of Ellen ; who, after several incidents, expires of a broken heart. Lord Albert falls into a consumption, and dies at Madeira. Ernest, unconscious of the whole tragedy, lives on resignedly :

With chasten'cl heart and humbled pride He bows before the rod ; Content to be, what'er betide, Within the hands of God.

And still, though seldom seen to smile, He wrestles with his grief; And active cares his hours beguile, Aml work their sure relief.

The Lay is not well adapted for quotation; for, having little force or felicity of expression, its interest depends upon the at- tendant circumstances—the atmosphere, as it were, of the scene. Perhaps this indication of one point of Ellen's character will bear transplanting as well as any— With Albert's heart she sports, I say, As though it were a toy :

But childish toys the thoughtless play Of children may destroy; And broken hearts, alas, in vain The breaker tries to mend again! Yet think not Ellen's heart can reap A joy front others' wo- That when she sees another weep, Her tears forget to flow A living thing she would not harm, A life of bliss to gain : But admiration bath a charm, And al, her heart is vain !

Her virgin breast bath never heaved

With love's most gentle sighs; Nor knows she how a maid bereaved

Droops, fades away, and dies. Site knows not what the tender prove,

Nor what the proud conceal ; She little dreams the force of love, The pains which lovers feel. 2. Mr. Moxoar has so far mastered his subject as to know what it should be, and to act up to his knowledge. His eight-and-twenty Sonnets are composed by the nicest rules of art. They each con- sist of a single thought; and that is of a contemplative kind, and expresses a personal feeling or an individual opinion. Many of them are full of images, all of them possess smoothness of diction, and some of them skill its its management. They have, however, the stiffness and constraint of the sonnet; and are occasionally dashed or distinguished (according to the reader's taste) by a slight infusion of Cockneyism and a quaintness that reminds us of CHARLES LAMB. This sonnet on WORDSWORTH is, 111OUT judgment, the best in the brochure: the praise is discriminating and deserved. Wordsworth, of all men who have graced our age,—

Whether the muse they served, or in the state Stood at the helm, or in cathedral sate, Or judge's chair, or yet adorned the page Heroic deem'd, surpassing those of yore Who shone at Poictiers, Cressy, Agineour ! None have like thee from unknown soureil brought The light of truth, the feeling, and the thought Dwelling in humblest things ; the human heart Thou hast ennobled; and enlarged the spheres Of our perceptions, giving them a part In all that breathes ; nor stone, nor flower appears, Whether in fields or hills retired and holy, For thy all-comprehensive mind too lowly.

3. The Poet amongst the Painter.t is a mange, written by a wag, upon the exhibition of the Birmingham Society of Arts. In his slighter parts he has some of that kind of drollery which cha- racterized PETER PINDAR; his graver passages are not without touches which seem to prove him capable of better things. But there are strange negligences in his versification' much coarse harshness in his censure, unsupported by reasons for it; and he seems alto_lether devoid of' that knowledge of art whose possession alone would allow of his playing the critic to any good purpose.