476 66 STRONG TO FULFIL, IN SPIRIT AND IN VOICE,—(TRENCH) RICHARD CHENE VIX TRENCH. Thou fadest as a flower, O Man! Of food for musing here is store. O Man! thou fallest as a leaf: Pace thoughtfully Earth's leaf-strewn floor; Welcome the sadness of the time, And lay to heart this natural lore. [From "Poems, Collected and Arranged Anew," ed. 1865.] "O RIGHTEOUS DOOM, THAT THEY WHO MAKE PLEASURE THEIR ONLY END,-(TRENCH) 66 WRITTEN DURING THE RUSSIAN WAR. Whom her own hands had armed. O strong of heart! And such is theirs, who in our England now, For those dread posts, too slow, too swift, that haste [From "Poems, Collected and Arranged Anew," ed. 1865.] THAT HARDEST OF ALL PRECEPTS-TO REJOICE."-TRENCH. ORDERING THE WHOLE life for ITS SAKE, MISS THAT WHERETO THEY TEND."-TRENCH. "NOW IS THE TIME IN SOME MEEK SOLITUDE TO HOLD COMMUNION WITH THOSE INNOCENT THOUGHTS-(PROFESSOR WILSON) "HOW BEAUTIFUL THE PASTIME OF THE SPRING!"-WILSON. THE SHIPWRECK. Professor Wilson. ["A WRITER of the most ardent and enthusiastic genius, whose eloquence is as the rush of mighty waters." It is in these terms that Mr. Hallam describes Professor Wilson-the illustrious "Christopher North" of Blackwood's Magazine-and no impartial critic will deny their truth. As essayist, lecturer, novelist, and poet, the Professor held a high rank among his contemporaries; and though, from the fugitive character of most of his productions, and their local and personal allusions, as well as from a certain exuberance which is displeasing to a refined taste, his fame will be less with posterity, yet some of his higher work will assuredly live. The fire and profuse energy,—the dash and impetuous flow,—of his prose style are, however, wholly wanting in his poetry, which, indeed, is remarkable for an almost excessive sweetness, and, as Jeffrey observes, by reason of this sweetness acquires a certain monotony and languor apt, after awhile, to pall upon the reader. He is felicitous in his landscape-painting, and strikes with success a tone of tender sentiment; dealing always with the gentler sympathies of our nature-never rising to the heights of thought, nor penetrating into the depths of passion. John Wilson was the son of a Paisley manufacturer, and born on the 18th of May 1785. At the age of thirteen he was sent to the University of Glasgow, and afterwards-in 1804-removed to Magdalene College, Oxford, where he carried off the Newdegate gold medal for the best English poem. Later in life he entered the Scottish bar, but derived his principal distinction from his numerous and varied contributions, under the nom de plume of Christopher North, to Blackwood's Magazine. These extended over a long series of years, and by their vivacity, fire, prodigal strength, richness of humour, lavish fancy, and impetuous eloquence, attracted an everincreasing circle of admiring readers. In 1820 Wilson was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh ;-a post he held until his death, which took place on the 3rd of April 1854.] THE SHIPWRECK. IST! a low and moaning sound A GENTLE PLEASURE TO SOME GENTLE HEART. -WILSON. 477 THAT BLESSED OUR EARLIER DAYS; TO LIST THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE MURMURING FROM HER INMOST SHRINE."-WILSON) 478 "TO ME MOST AWFUL IS THY HOUR OF REST,-(WILSON) PROFESSOR WILSON. And like a god who brings the day, Soon as his light has warmed the seas, O'er wrathful surge, through blackening storm, 'Mid the deep darkness white as snow. "SOULS OF HOLIEST BIRTH DWELL BUT A MOMENT WITH THE SONS OF EARTH:-(PROFESSOR JOHN WILSON) TO THIS DIM SPHERE BY GOD'S INDULGENCE GIVEN, THEIR FRIENDS ARE ANGELS, AND THEIR HOME IS HEAVEN."-WILSON. ["Fast the miserable ship becomes a lifeless wreck."] But gently now the small waves glide Are hurried o'er the deck; UPON ITS HOLY REST: HOW BRIGHT A GREEN SLEEPS ROUND THE DWELLING OF TWO LOVING HEARTS! 66 MY SOUL, BEHOLD THE BEAUTY OF THE HOME!-(WILSON) And fast the miserable ship Becomes a lifeless wreck. Her keel hath struck on a hidden rock, And down come her masts with a reeling shock Her sails are draggled in the brine And her pendant that kissed the fair moonshine Her beauteous sides, whose rainbow hues And flung a warm and sunny flush Oh! many a dream was in the ship And sights of home with sighs disturbed The hum of the spreading sycamore As she looked on the father of her child THE VERY HEAVENS LOOK DOWN WITH GRACIOUS SMILES THE AIR LIES HUSHED ABOVE THE PEACEFUL ROOF, AS IF IT FELT THE SANCTITY WITHIN!"-WILSON. DWELLS IN THE MIDST OF US, APPEARING OFT IN VISIBLE GLORY, WHILE OUR FILIAL SOULS,-(PROFESSOR WILSON) 480 "YEA, LIKE A FATHER SMILING ON A BAND PROFESSOR WILSON. He wakes at the vessel's sudden roll, Astounded the reeling deck he paces, Wailings around and overhead, Now is the Ocean's bosom bare, But the new-risen sun, and the sunny sky. dull Bedims the waves so beautiful; While a low and melancholy moan * Lake Windermere, or Winandermere. OF HAPPY CHILDREN, THE ALMIGHTY ONE MADE PURE BENEATH THE WATCHING OF HIS EYE, WALK STATELY IN THE CONSCIOUS PRAISE OF HEAVEN!"-WILSON. |