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FROM THE GERMAN.

Light from blue eyes, and song from lips
That lent their sweets to sound,

And notes from fairy finger tips,

Had time's light footfalls drowned;
And hours that brought but bliss, I thought,
And came to soothe the heart,

Led in their train their antidote,
Since we but met to part!

Yet, e'er that parting, Heaven's high dome
O'erarched us, clear and bright;
And lovelier shone the path to home,
Beneath the lamp of night,

Of blue-eyed laughing Wilhelmine,
And gentle-natured bland Christine.

"This is a night," exclaimed the one,
"To woo the Muse of Song;
"These hours, when garish day is done,
"To Poesy belong!"

"And that pale light," the other said,
"Is Love's own gentle torch;
"Of lover's looks its flame is made,

"To light them to Heaven's porch. "Go, then, if e'er you touched the lyre, "See inspiration there,

"Or never dare again aspire

"The laurel wreath to wear!"
-Thus spake to me in smiles, Christine;
Thus strove to rouse me, Wilhelmine!

In vain-in vain,-the lyre unstrung
Will never sound again;

In vain-in vain,-the heart that's wrung
Will echo only pain;

And he, to whom 'twas bliss to look

On heaven's star-written page,

A sullen sorrow slow must brook,

That withers youth to age,

Or seek, 'mid throngs and empty noise,
Some echo to out-tone

The trickling drops of conscience' voice,
That turn his heart to stone,
For ah! for him lives no Christine,
Or glowing-bosomed Wilhelmine!

NOTICE

OF AN

IMPORTANT AUTO-BIOGRAPHICAL WORK. THIS age is not less remarkable for the number of its authors than for the desire they exhibit, like the writer of the work we are about to notice, of letting the public become well acquainted with the circumstances attendant upon their first laying aside the pinafore, and other important eras in their existence. Freddy Reynolds, Tom Dibdin, and "James Henry Lambier, late Captain in the French Imperial Mameluke Horse Guards, and now travelling this Kingdom under the denomination of the American Giant," have equally distinguished themselves in this important department of letters. To the work of the latter elevated character-which has unaccountably escaped the notice, probably from the loftiness of the subject, of our elder and bulkier brethren of the broad sheet and the folded-we mean to direct the attention of our readers. It is, however, a happy peculiarity of our tribe, not merely to have a propensity to treasuring up excellence, but also to seek it out from the corners in which it may have accidentally been buried, and to garner it up in fitting receptacles where its superiority can be obviously seen.

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This modest auto-biographical work, then, is, in contradistinction from its subject, styled, "A Short and Correct Account of the Life," &c. and this very humility of pretension forcibly impresses the reader with a sense of the candour of its author, and prepares him to receive with unhesitating confidence the otherwise startling statements which he afterwards comes to in the course of perusing the book. Secure in seven feet, Mr. Lambier scorns the low ambition of eking out, by all sorts of silly gossip about every body and any body, a ponderous volume or two, merely with an eye to the cheap celebrity of being the author of "a big book," just as if there were in modern times a counterpart to that nobleman commemorated by Menage, who invited literary men to his table, and gave them precedence there by the bulk of their productions the author of a folio sitting at the right hand of the host. True merit is distinguished not less by a consciousness of its existence, than by a wish that that should not be ostentatiously exhibited to others. James Henry Lambier would of his own accord have placed himself at the foot of the table of this graduating patron

of letters, as is proved by his compressing all that can be said of his own vast bulk into this small tome. It was different with Count Borolowski. This tiny tenant of a pye-crust-for, like Geoffry Hudson, he might have been comfortably housed in a pasty-could not, forsooth, rest, until he had given to the world a volume as bulky as himself at least far more heavy, and immeasurably duller. But the self-denial of merit ever brings its own reward. No one has ever been found hardy enough to make affidavit that he read through the memoir of the man three feet three. We have perused every syllable of the life of Lambier-hung o'er its too brief pages with fixed interest and wrapt delight-and we hasten to enable our readers to participate in the pleasure, and to become masters of its interesting contents, which, brief as they are, we must, however, necessarily abridge.

It is thus the hero introduces himself-not merely, as we are assured, to the readers of his memoirs, but to the gazers on his portly person-the aristocratic purchaser of the one, and the plebeian payer of a penny for gazing on the other, being, in the spirit of true politeness, equally addressed:"Ladies and Gentlemen,-Allow me the honour to inform you, that I am the offspring of an ancient Scottish family; my forefathers, of the name of M'Dougal, were originally inhabitants of the Highlands, in Argyleshire, until the troublesome times in 1745, when they became exiles of Scotland, and emigrated to America; when they took the name of Lambirth, to inherit a large property in the West India Islands, left to my grandfather, by the will of a distant relative;"-and why, thinkest thou, reader? oh! because he who destroyed and elevated dynasties, condescended to alter surnames,-" Napoleon having named me Lambier, in my commission as a Captain in the Mameluke Horse Guards." Lambier's parents were not remarkable for stature; but in another respect they certainly distinguished themselves from the mass of the world's population, by adding twenty-one to its number, for such was the extent of their offspring, the most of whom were about " seven feet high, and thirty stones in weight;" at least so says their brother. He was himself a twin; and the 29th of June, 1783, ushered the bulky pair, of which he was the half, into the world. We find him, in 1802, all at once ingratiating himself into the good graces of no less a personage than the sister of Napoleon Bonaparte, and if the memoir abruptly arrives at this interesting part, it no less abruptly leaves it at

a tangent. There is an air of courtly mystery about this portion of the confessions of this great man, which either indicates the possession, on his part, of the most consummate tact in authorship, or the most admirable finesse and skill as a courtier and a man of intrigue. Suffice it, that this favourite of princesses-more fortunate than a Trenck or a Bergami—through the kind offices of Madame Le Clerc, procured a commission in the Mameluke Guards, but with the enviable privilege accompanying the honour, that he might "continue at school," although then “ ́ twenty-five years of age, seven feet high, and thirty stone weight,"-nor need to fight in Egypt with Roustam, or any of his bearded comrades. He still, however, nourishes the Mameluke moustache, as we are assured by a young lady who confessed that he had fairly eclipsed, in her estimation, even the splendid whiskers of a C- or a K- We fear, however, that although Mr. Lambier "studied physic four years in the college of San duc Argu de lu Vigo, in Madrid, the capital of Spain," that he has not seized the true Castilian accent and orthography, for, although he declares that he fought at the battles of Talavera de la Reyner, Highlandra, and the "heights of Ciudad Rodrigo," &c. we are not quite sure that he and the Duke of Wellington agree on these points. Perhaps it is owing to this discrepancy in spelling, that even after the battle of Waterloo, where "he lay some hours on the field, but by the aid of a noble British officer, a brother freemason, was enabled to join his regiment, which, without loss of time, proceeded on to Paris, and afterwards escorted the unfortunate Napoleon to Rochford, where he embarked on board his Britannic Majesty's ship, Bellerophon, commanded by Captain Maitland," that he refused to serve as a Captain under Louis XVIII. even allowing for his chivalrous explanation of "having taken the oath of allegiance to Napoleon, his heirs and successors, never to serve under any other monarch that might reign over the French empire."

We next find him a planter in America; but, says he, " in an unguarded moment I lost by cards, £6000, and in order to liquidate this debt, (a debt of honour, as it is called,) was, by the advice of the friends of my deceased parents, obliged to make over the produce of my property for the term of seven years." Until the lapse of this period of penance, he resolved to visit Great Britain, "having," he goes on, "previously got my friends to procure for me letters

of

-1

of introduction to noblemen, to intercede with his Royal Highness the Duke of York, for a commission in the British Horse Guards." Arrived in London, on the 1st of August, 1819, he put up at the Salopian Coffee-house in the Strand, where he remained some days, when he was taken to the Horse Guards, and personally introduced to his Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief, who gave him to understand, that in consequence of his being an American by birth, and an officer of rank in the French service in time of war, together with the difficulties of the times, and the number of British officers who were on half-pay and the peace establishment, his Royal Highness could not, in justice to his own feelings, (nothing else, he solemnly assures us!) recommend him to his Majesty for a commission!!! The result was—not that he blew out his brains, or pined in moping melancholy and a shabby surtout-no, more heroic and philosophical: "I therefore," says he, with admirable coolness, immediately went to Brighton and commenced exhibiting myself!!! and the first two gentlemen who honoured me with a visit were his R- 1 Hss the DY- , accompanied by Colonel G-d-n. His RH -ss was pleased to express his surprise on seeing me in the line-of an exhibition, and, on my giving him a full explanation of the cause and nature of my distressed situation, his R-1 H -ss was most graciously pleased to extend his benevolence by presenting me with a handsome present, and retired from the caravan !!" But the interest thickens as we proceed, for a few evenings afterwards, Colonel G-d-n entered a second time, and took him with him in his carriage, at 12 o'clock at night, to the Pavilion at Brighton, for the purpose, as he understood, of visiting a Colonel of the Guards, when he was introduced to a corpulent gentleman, who received him in a most princely style. After an audience of two hours and a half, "during which time," says he, "I was entertained most plentifully with the best port and claret; but then considered that any longer stay would be an intrusion, and requested leave to retire, at the same time requesting to be informed from whom I had the honour of receiving such a princely entertainment, when the corpulent gentleman held forth his hand, as I supposed to shake hands with me, and at the same time gave me to understand, that, on retiring to the carriage, my request should be complied with. I shook him by the hand, and returned thanks, when I was surprised to find a purse of

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