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    " Thjt Essay on Romances is a pro * fessed imitation of the style of Dr . Johnson ; and was allowed by that celebrated rhetorician himself , to be the best that was ever attempted , because it reflected the colour of his thoughts , no less than the turn of his expressions . " —Mem . pp . Ixv . lxvi .

    We are happy to announce from Miss Aikin that " Mrs . Barbauld composed at different periods a considerable number of miscellaneous pieces for the instruction and amusement of

    which we did not know to be hers , though we suspected it , viz . " The Pilgrim" ( which is now entitled , * ' A Pastoral Hymn / ' ) Mon . Repos . 11 . 261 , and " The Death of the Righteous , " ( which is now entitled , The Death of the Virtuous , " ) Mon . Repos . IX . 243 . Our early readers must remember the beautiful and affecting Memoir of Mr . Barbauld , which his widow communicated to our Illrd volume , p . 706 , &c . Part of this Miss Aikin has with evident propriety transplanted into the Memoir ( xlv . —xlix . ) ; and on this melancholy subject there are now published for the first time , ( Vol . I . pp . 224—226 , ) the following verses , which no one can read without deep emotion . They exhibit the fervour of poetry , without its fiction . The first , fourth and last stanzas are the

    effusions of unmingled " bitter grief . " " Dirge : JVrxtlen November , 1808 . Pure Spirit 1 () where art thou now ? O whisper to my soul ! O let some soothing thought of thee , This bitter grief controul !

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    young" persons , especially females , which will uppear in a separate form about the close of the present year /* Mem . p . ixxii . The first of these volumes contains Mrs . Barbauld's poetical , and the second her prose works . The poetry comprises all that had been published in the volume of her poems , together with many smaller pieces , some of which have been printed , a few anonymously , but which were never before collected . Amongst these latter we perceive the several poems communicated by Mrs . Barbauld to this magazine , which are pointed out at the end of the obituary notice , p . 186 of this volume ; and also two others ,

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    Tls ' not for thee the tears I shed , Thy sufferings now are o'er ; The sea is calm , the tempest past , On that eternal shore . No more the storms that wrecked thy peace Shall tear that gentle breast ; Nor Summer ' s rage , nor Winter ' s cold Thy poor , poor frame molest . Thy peace is sealed , thy rest is sure ,

    My sorrows are to come ; Awhile I weep and linger here , Then follow to the tomb . And is tli £ awful veil withdrawn , That shrouds from mortal eyes , In deep impenetrable gloom , The secrets of the skies ?

    O in some dream of visioned bliss , Some trance of rapture , show Where on the bosom of thy God , Thou resfst from human woe ! Thence may thy pure devotion ' s flame On me , on me descend ; To me thy strong aspiring hopes , Thy faith , thy fervours lend .

    Let these my lonely path illume , And teach my weakened mind To welcome all that ' s left of good , To all that ' s lost resigned . Farewell ! with honour , peace and love , Be thy dear memory blest ! Thou hast no tears for me to shed , When I too am at rest . '

    One of the earliest written pieces in this collection is the verses " On the Deserted Village , " [ Vol . T . p . 60 , ] and these possess much of the sweetness which makes that poem so great a favourite with unsophisticated

    readers . We are told ( Mem . p . lxi . ) " that Goldsmith , whose envy is well known , bore involuntary testimony to the merit of these lines , by exhibiting ^ sentiment but mortification on hearing them read with applause in a London

    circle . " We give them entire : lc On the Deserted Village . In vain fair Auburn weeps her desert plains , She moves our envy who so well complains ; In vain has proud oppression bid Iim low , So sweet a garland on her faded brow . Now , Auburn , now absolve i in partial nj ^ N Which if u made thee wretched , ru ^

    thee great : So , unobserved , some humble p lant m ay bloom , t Till crushed , it fills the air with svveu perfume ;

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    488 Review . — Mrs * DarbauUVs Work s *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1825, page 488, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2539/page/34/