THE POEMS OF THE ORIENT.* HESE poems have the true flavor of the East, that subtle aroma which has evaded so many would-be Oriental poets. Unlike his predecessors, Mr. Taylor writes from personal knowledge. Not what he has heard or read of, but what he has seen with his own eyes, and felt with his own perceptions, forms the subject of his verse. Wisely concluding that Byron had exhausted the stormy phases of Eastern life, and that Moore had made the most of its rosy dreams, he starts at once with the desert. Instead of melo-dramatic pirates, and operatic dancing girls, we have the roving Bedouin and his flying barb. Wastes of yellow sand, over which broods the eternal sky, golden with morning, or dim and solemn with stars; stately palms, rustling in winds of spice by the edges of desert wells, or around the white tomb of some moslem saint; groups of camels, laden with bales from the gaudy loums of Bagdad; Nedjid stallions, tethered by snowy tents, or bearing their masters from the foe, shod with fire; such are some of the objects with which Mr. Taylor peoples his glowing pages. They are as familiar to him as the features of an American landscape to us: hereafter they will belong to the world. To read the majority of these poems is to see and know the East, so vivid are their pictures, and so marked the life they describe. They are more in keeping with the cast of Mr. Taylor's genius than anything he has yet written; and while we admire them as art creations, we must allow them a deeper value as the most perfect expressions of his heart and brain. He seems to have been feeling his way in former volumes: in this he has found the clew he sought, and we have the benefit of it by threading with him the enchanted gardens of Oriental thought. "Go," says he, in his "L'Envoi," "Go, therefore, Songs !-which in the East were born And drew your nurture-from your sire's Haply to wander through the West forlorn, "And if the temper of our colder sky "THE ARAB TO THE PALM. "Next to thee, O fair gazelle, O Beddowee girl, beloved so well; "Next to the fearless Nedjidee, Whose fleetness shall bear me again to thee; "Next to ye both I love the palm, With his leaves of beauty, his fruit of balm; "Next to ye both I love the tree Whose fluttering shadow wraps us three With love, and silence, and mystery! "Our tribe is many, our poets vie With any under the Arab sky; Yet none can sing of the palm but I. "The marble minarets that begem Cairo's citadel-diadem Are not so light as his slender stem. "He lifts his leaves in the sunbeam's glance As the Almehs lift their arms in dance"A slumberous motion, a passionate sign, That works in the cells of the blood-like wine. "Full of passion and sorrow is he, Dreaming where the beloved may be. "And when the warm south-winds arise, He breathes his longing in fervid sighs 'Quickening odors, kisses of balm, That drop in the lap of his chosen palm, "The sun may flame and the sands may stir, But the breath of his passion reaches her. "O tree of love, by that love of thine, Teach me how I shall soften mine! "Give me the secret of the sun, Whereby the wooed is ever won! "If I were a king, O stately tree, A likeness, glorious as might be, In the court of my palace I'd build for thee! "With a shaft of silver, burnish'd bright, And leaves of beryl and malachite; "With spikes of golden bloom a-blaze, And fruits of topaz and chrysoprase : "And there the poets, in thy praise, Should night and morning frame new lays— "New measures sung to tunes divine; But none, O palm, should equal mine!" Equally fine, although widely different, is "The Wisdom of Ali." It smacks of the mingled sageness and simplicity of the old patriarchal times : "THE WISDOM OF ALL "The Prophet once, sitting in calm debate, Said: 'I am Wisdom's fortress; but the gate Thereof is Ali.' Wherefore, some who heard, With unbelieving jealousy were stirr'd; Poems of the Orient, by Bayard Taylor. And, that they might on him confusion bring, Boston: Ticknor & Fields. Ten of the boldest join'd to prove the thing. Let us in turn to Ali go,' they said, 'And ask if Wisdom should be sought instead Of earthly riches; then, if he reply To each of us, in thought, accordantly, And yet to none, in speech or phrase, the same, His shall the honor be, and ours the shame." "Now, when the first his bold demand did make, These were the words which Ali straightway spake : "Wisdom is the inheritance of those Whom Allah favors; riches, of his foes.' "Unto the second he said: "Thyself must be Guard to thy wealth; but Wisdom guardeth thee.' "Unto the third: By Wisdom wealth is won; But riches purchased Wisdom yet for none.' "Unto the fourth: Thy goods the thief may take; But into Wisdom's house he cannot break.' "Unto the fifth: Thy goods decrease the more Thou giv'st; but use enlarges Wisdom's store.' "Unto the sixth: 'Wealth tempts to evil ways; But the desire of Wisdom is God's praise.' "Unto the seventh: 'Divide thy wealth, each part Becomes a pittance. Give with open heart Thy wisdom, and each separate gift shall be All that thou hast, yet not impoverish thee.' "Unto the eighth: 'Wealth cannot keep itself; But Wisdom is the steward even of pelf.' "Unto the ninth: The camels slowly bring Thy goods; but Wisdom has the swallow's wing.' "And lastly, when the tenth did question make, These were the ready words which Ali spake :— 'Wealth is a darkness which the soul should fear; But Wisdom is the lamp that makes it clear.' The mouth of Ali is the golden door "When his friends to Ali bore These words, he smiled and said: And should they ask The same until my dying day, the task Would space permit, we should like to copy a spirited "Bedouin Song," and a magnificent description of a garden from "The Temptation of Hassan Ben Khaled." We can only mention and commend them, together with "The Poet in the East," "Amram's Wooing," "The Birth of the Horse," "A Desert Hymn to the Sun," and a couple of glorious Scripture pieces," Tyre" and "Jerusalem." Some of the miscellaneous poems (there are thirteen in all) are exceedingly beautiful, especially "The Mystery," and "The Phantom." With the latter our extracts must end. Altogether, we consider Mr. Taylor's volume the best volume of verse that has been published during the past year, either at home or abroad. It would take a dozen Gerald Masseys to write its poorest poem. The style is clear and direct, even when most florid, and the various measures are models of sonorous rhythm. The volume is got up in the best style of Ticknor & Fields, and is dedicated to our contributor, Mr. R. H. Stoddard. And now for the touching poem with which we close : "THE PHANTOM. "Again I sit within the mansion, In the old, familiar seat; "But the sweet-brier's arms have wrestled upward In the summers that are past, "They strive to shut the sunshine wholly From out the haunted room; To fill the house, that once was joyful, The songs she loved to hear; Her timid words of maiden welcome, I think she has but newly left me, "She stays without, perchance, a moment, To dress her dark-brown hair; I hear the rustle of her garments- "O, fluttering heart! control thy tumult, Beyond the open door, And, gliding through the quiet sunshine, "Ah! 't is the whispering pine that calls me, "But my heart grows sick with weary waiting, The National Magazine. JANUARY, 1855. EDITORIAL NOTES AND GLEANINGS. "WE close in the present number the semi-annual volume of our Magazine. It is usual at this period to reiterate appeals to the patronizing remembrance of subscribers and the public generally; we have taken the whim not to weary either them or ourselves in doing so. We have come to you, most respected public, during the past year, in our neatest attire, with a true and a warm heart, and a voice emphatic for the truth. We shall do so hereafter. If you like our visits, welcome us with your patronage; if you do not, bow us out of the door. And may God bless you! Amen." Such was the paragraph with which we intended to conclude our last number, but which by a mistake was wrongly signed, altered in a sentence or so, and misplaced among our advertisements. It indicates our true sentiments respecting the usual style of appeals to subscribers at the end and the beginning of periodical volumes. It does not, however, forbid us to make our most grateful and cordial Newyear's bow, and, with the "compliments of the season," to exchange a few words with our readers respecting the future. A series of portraits of Artists, Authors, Divines, Inventors, &c. Of these we propose to give usually one portrait in each number. A series of "Poetic Pictures," or specimens of the "Poets illustrated by the Artists,"-one in each number. A series of illustrations of the best scenes in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." A series of illustrated Biblical papers, giving the results of the latest critical and geographical researches respecting interesting Biblical questions-such as the discoveries of the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah, by De Saulcy-Layard's exhumations at Nineveh-the fate of the Lost Tribes of Israel, &c. An abundant variety of pictorial illustrations of scenery, art, science, &c. Increased labor will be bestowed on the whole work; and it will, as heretofore, be made to subserve the cause of sound morals and pure religion. We shall, as heretofore, endeavor to provide one article in each number specially adapted to our clerical readers, (of whom we are happy to say we have many,) and one also, at least, particularly suited to the reading of the family circle. With these fine intentions, then, we tip our editorial hat, good friends, and wish you all a This periodical was established for a general happy new year; we ought, however, before we purpose. It was designed to be not merely a have bowed ourselves out, to mention one other magazine of religious knowledge, but a reli- and a very important improvement, with which gious magazine of general knowledge. A sen- we hope you will be favored before a very great timent which we quoted some time ago from while, and that is a better editor-that, certhe good and great Dr. Arnold, states what we tainly, would be a consideration fit to be put consider our right character. "I never," says into our peroration. Having been called to he, "wanted religious articles half so much as another public responsibility for which we feel articles on common subjects, written in a de- no ordinary interest, and which will require a cidedly Christian spirit." There is a deep phi-period of laborious preparation, we hope before losophy in the remark, such as was wont to characterize the large-minded writings of the man. Just such reading are we endeavoring to provide in these pages, giving it, at the same time, all the attractions which popular adaptation and pictorial embellishments afford. Such we believe to have been a want of our home periodical literature, and such the design of the originators of this work. And now, good readers, though we wish not to blow a trumpet before us respecting our doings for the ensuing year, we may say that we shall try hard to behave as well as we have done, "only a little better." We have a grand programme in our head, but prefer to keep it there till we see how it will probably come out; for we are not sure that, like Minerva from the head of Jove, it will come forth full armed. We may intimate, however, that the series of matters promised some six months ago, and not yet through with, will be completed and much enlarged, including— The illustrated "Trip from St. Petersburgh to Constantinople," taking in the scenes of the Eastern war-the scenes but not the events-for the latter are reported to our readers in the daily papers long before we could record them, and then the traveler from whom we give these sketches passed over the ground before the war. Illustrations of Bunyan's Life and Times, giving the most complete series of pictures respecting Bunyan ever yet published, including a great variety of localities, relics, &c. the year ends to afford you this advantage. When we were appointed to our present post, it was for the purpose of sustaining two distinct offices-not a very good policy we admit, but we could not help that. Our present editorial function was the secondary one; it was provided as an appendix to the other, and, probably, would not have been provided at all but in that way. Our other duties, comprehending an extensive scheme of cheap religious literature, have taken up the chief of our time, and been (we confess it) the favorite objects of our devotion, for we have considered them to promise results profound, permanent, and of almost inestimable importance. While endeavoring punctually to make our monthly salutation at the homes of our readers, we have also been at work "might and main," in our poor way, with these other duties, making speeches, traveling thousands of miles, begging thousands of dollars, editing books and tracts, writing newspaper articles, and brow-beating, right and left, the whole brood of obstacles and follies that usually rise up against a great and good cause in its outset. Hard work this, certainly, for a diminutive valetudinarian, not weighing a hundred and twenty pounds, yet delightful work, notwithstanding, and marvelously invigorating; we should have grown fat enough on it to be a bishop, had we been continued in it; but the multiplication of its business required its reorganization as a separate function. Deeming "in our fond conceit," that as we had possessed both we could now have the choice of either, we actually threw down the pen editorial, by a written resignation, and were about to mount and ride through the land our favorite hobby, when our "reverend seignors" incontinently thrust us back again into the editorial sanctum, and as it is a rule with us to "obey orders," even if it costs our head, we are here to write "down" this magazine "by authority," or write it up by your patronage, generous readers. We have the comfort of knowing, however, that our other and favorite enterprise was assigned to hands fully competent for it, and that it has been so far developed and demonstrated as to make its future success a matter of responsibility only with those in whose behalf it was attempted. A mal apropos change was this, however, for us; we who for years had been accustomededucated we were about to say-to the sublime work of pommeling public questions-of thumping away through the newspapers on the perverse back of the "great public," or "stumping it" for some good cause through the land, were now to do what? Spend the most of our time in fumbling among masses of imported periodicals for articles; poring over long-winded "communications," nine-tenths of which, after wearisome reading, were to go "under the table;" wrangling and haggling with draughtsmen and engravers-and with work enough at this to absorb one's whole time. This for us, a little thin-skinned, restless mortal, with the nerves of a musquito! We do not like it; that is the upshot of the whole matter, without further tediousness, and apart from all badinage. Making selections of "articles" and pictures, and reading five hundred pages for five that are accepted, is the chief work of this "editorial position." There is one very amiable gentleman (amiable to us personally, we mean, Mr. Reader) for whom we can select nobody can excel us for him in this line; but he is peculiar in his tastes, and we have always confessed that we could do this very critical work for nobody else besides him. It requires too much genius for us. And yet do not imagine this a strain of devout humility-far otherwise; we are blessed with an exhaustless self-complacency; we sometimes look into the glass of self-examination with silent wonder and grave admiration at the marvelous manner in which our defects round themselves down into the smallest pimples beneath our gaze, and our merits and advantages round themselves out into plump and palpable features. It would not, therefore, be remarkable for us to conceive that we have had "pretty considerable success in this reluctant work notwithstanding its incongeniality. The newspaper critics say so at least, and they, of course, are never doubted. Though not a denominational periodical, yet from peculiar circumstances we have been limited almost to a denominational sphere for our success; viewed in this denominational light, (and it is the only just view of the case,) our edition has been so far as we are now aware larger, perhaps, than that of any monthly or quarterly, or even newspaper, within an equal period, ever started by the denomination. Our access to the general public beyond these limits has de pended thus far upon very gradual means; still the non-sectarian character of the work is win ning its way, and we are able to say with a grateful satisfaction, that from the organs of religious bodies (outside of our own denominational circle) without an exception, so far as our exchanges show, we receive the most uniform and hearty indorsements. But we are spinning out indefinitely this article that we intended to be but a paragraph or two. Again we make our bow, and this time bow ourselves out. It is high time. Don't fail to read the story of The Drunkard's Bible. It is powerfully written. We conclude in this number the series of essays on The Opium Trade in the East. They are from one of the best authorities on the sub ject. Those of our readers who have followed them up will have a full and clear view of the question-a question involving deplorably the British character and the fate of China. The London Athenæum gives some minute and very striking statistics respecting the Liverpool Free Library, which show an unexpected interest among the poorer classes of England for good literature. It says "It is a noticeable fact that the larger proportion of solid reading is among the really working classes, the lighter literature more among young men in offices and shops." Yankee genius is notoriously inventive and utilitarian, but it is also world-famous for its fun-broad, grotesque wit on a large scale, similar to all other Yankee things. It will not rest till it gets out of steam not only power, but humor, oratory, and even music. The latter suggestion has really "been taken into consideration." A Western editor proposes it. He says:-"We suggest to the ingenious manufacturer of steam-engines, the construction of a magnificent instrument of music, composed of steam-whistles, to be played with keys, the same as an organ. What, for instance, could be more grand and pleasant' than the music of the locomotive three or four miles off, coming on steaming you 'Hail, Columbia;' We come with songs to greet you;' 'Come, rest in this bosom, my own stricken deer,' &c., &c. What ingenious mechanic will be the first to put this good hint into practice? When patented, we speak for half the proceeds as a compensation for this suggestion." A Mr. Hoyt, of Indiana, has anticipated the hint, and actually describes, in the Scientific American, his "Steam Harmonicon." In concluding his description, he says: "It is my candid opinion that the Western boys will yet hear Old Dan Tucker,' 'Auld Lang Syne,' &c., played on the Western waters, by steam, at a distance of ten miles." What grand times are coming for you, musical amateurs ! times, when all the navigable rivers and highways of the nation shall resound with marches; when waltzes shall whirl ten miles around among the mountains and valleys, and "Yankee Doodle" be whistled from town to town, on Independence Day. All this may seem to be mere joke; jocose as it seems, it may be a reality in two or three years. PRESERVATION OF THE OLD WORLD.-Pompeii and Herculaneum continue to yield their testimonies of ancient life; Mariette has discovered, and is exploring Memphis; English and French explorations have brought to light, at Nineveh, the grandeur and much of the history and social life of Assyria. Meanwhile Babylon, "the great Babylon" itself, unvails itself to the gaze of our century. The French government, two or three years ago, sent three gentlemen to make scientific and artistic researches in Media, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia. One of them, M. Jules Oppert, has returned to Paris, and it appears from his report that he and his colleagues thought it advisable to begin by confining themselves to the exploration of ancient Babylon. This task was one of immense difficulty, and it was enhanced by the excessive heat of the sun, by privations of all kinds, and by the incessant hostility of the Arabs. After a while M. Oppert's two colleagues fell ill, so that all the labors of the expedition devolved on him. He first of all made excavations of the ruins of the famous suspended gardens of Babylon, which are now known by the name of the Hall of Amran-ibn-Ali; and he obtained in them a number of curious architectural and other objects, which are destined to be placed in the Louvre at Paris. He next, in obedience to the special orders of his government, took measures for ascertaining the precise extent of Babylon, a matter which the reader is aware has always been open to controversy. He has succeeded in making a series of minute surveys, and in drawing up detailed plans of the immense city. His opinion is, that even the largest calculations as to its vast extent are not exaggerated; and he puts down that extent at the astounding figure of 500 square kilometres, French measure, (the square kilometre is 1196 square yards.) This is very nearly eighteen times the size of Paris. But of course he does not say that this enormous area was occupied, or anything like it; it comprised, within the walls, huge tracts of cultivated lands, and gardens for supplying the population with food in the event of a siege. M. Oppert has discovered the Babylonian and Assyrian measures, and by means of them has ascertained exactly what part of the city was inhabited, and what part was in fields and gardens. On the limits of the town, properly so called, stands at present the flourishing town of Hillah. This town, situated on the banks of the Euphrates, is built with bricks from the ruins, and many of the household utensils and personal ornaments of its inhabitants are taken from them also. Beyond this town is the vast fortress, strengthened by Nebuchadnezzar, and in the midst of it is the royal palace-itself almost as large as a town. M. Oppert says that he was also able to distinguish the ruins of the famous Tower of Babelthey are most imposing, and stand on a site formerly called Borsippa, or the Tower of Languages. The royal town, situated on the two banks of the Euphrates, covers a space of nearly seven square kilometres, and contains most interesting ruins. Among them are those of the royal palace, the fortress, and the suspended gardens. In the collection of curiosities which M. Oppert has brought away with him is a It dates from the time of one of the vase. The following notes have been recently taken from the records of the old church in Andover, Massachusetts : "January 17, 1712. Voted (under protest) yt those persons who have pews sit with their wives." "Nov. 10th, 1718. Granted to Richard Barker foure shillings, for his extraordinary trouble in swiping our Meeting House ye past year." "March 17th, 1766. Voted, that all the English women in the parish, who marry or associate with negro or mulatto men, be seated in the Mecting House with the negro women." "In 1799 it was voted, amid much opposition, to procure a bass viol." In former times it was customary for the Indians to attack a village on a Sunday, when they thought the men would be in church, and unprepared to receive them. The savages having been successful on several occasions, it became a necessary precaution for all the males to go armed, and have sittings near the door of a pew, to be enabled on the first alarm to leave the place where they were congregated, and repel the attack of their enemies. The custom of the male members of the family occupying the first sittings in a pew, is supposed to have originated in this manner. 66 So have But "ROBINSON CRUSOE" WHO WROTE IT?D'Israeli, in his ever-charming "Curiosities of Literature," expresses boldly the opinion that no one had, or perhaps could have converted the history of Selkirk into the wonderful story we possess but De Foe himself." we all been accustomed to believe, from those careless, happy days of boyhood, when we pored intently over the entrancing pages of "Robinson Crusoe," and wished that we also could have a desert island, a summer bower, and a winter-cave retreat, as well as he. there is, alas! some slight ground at least for believing that De Foe did not write that immortal tale, or, at all events, the better portion of it, viz., the first part or volume of the work. In Sir H. Ellis's "Letters of Eminent Literary Men," (Camden Soc. Pub. 1843, vol. xxiii,) p. 420, Letter cxxxiv, is from "Daniel De Foe to the Earl of Halifax, engaging himself to his lordship as a political writer." In a note by the editor a curious anecdote is given, quoted from "a volume of Memoranda in the handwriting of Thomas Warton, poet-laureate, preserved in the British Museum," in relation to the actual authorship of the "Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe." The extract is as follows: "Mem. July 10, 1774. In the year 1759, I was told by the Rev. Mr. Holloway, rector of Middleton, Stoney, in Oxfordshire, then about seventy years old, and in the early part of his life chaplain to Lord Sunderland, that he had often heard Lord Sunderland say that Lord Oxford, while prisoner in the Tower of London, wrote the first volume of the History of Robinson Crusoe, merely as an amusement under confinement; and gave it to Daniel De Foe, who frequently visited Lord Oxford in the Tower, and was one of his pamphlet writers; that De Foe, by Lord Oxford's perinission, printed it as his own, and, encouraged by its extraordinary suc |