The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 402, Supplementary Number (1829). Various

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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 402, Supplementary Number (1829) - Various

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told me such horrors were never worn now:

      And I—am left all alone!

      But I saw her at night with a rose in her hair,

      And I guess who it came from,—of course I don't care!

      We all know that girls are as false us they're fair;

      Where is she gone, where is she gone?

      I'm sure the lieutenant's a horrible bear;

      And I—am left all alone!

      Whenever we go on the Downs for a ride,

      Where is she gone, where is she gone?

      She looks for another to trot by her side:

      And I—am left all alone!

      And whenever I take her down stairs from a ball,

      She nods to some puppy to put on her shawl:

      I'm a peaceable man, and I don't like a brawl:

      Where is she gone, where is she gone?

      But I would give a trifle to horsewhip them all:

      And I—am left all alone!

      She tells me her mother belongs to the sect,

      Where is she gone, where is she gone?

      Which holds that all waltzing is quite incorrect:

      And I—am left all alone!

      But a fire's in my heart and a fire's in my brain,

      When she waltzes away with Sir Phelim O'Shane;

      I don't think I ever can ask her again:

      Where is she gone, where is she gone?

      And, lord! since the summer she's grown very plain,

      And I—am left all alone!

      She said that she liked me a twelvemonth ago!

      Where is she gone, where is she gone?

      And how should I guess that she'd torture me so!

      And I—am left all alone!

      Some day she'll find out it was not very wise

      To laugh at the breath of a true lover's sighs:

      After all, Fanny Myrtle is not such a prize;

      Where is she gone, where is she gone?

      Louisa Dalrymple has exquisite eyes:

      And I'll be—no longer alone!

      Mr. Praed has an exquisite poem, "Memory;" and we had nearly passed by a song by Mr. T. Moore.

      Alone beneath the moon I roved,

      And thought how oft in hours gone by,

      I heard my Mary say she loved

      To look upon a moonlight sky!

      The day had been one lengthened shower,

      Till moonlight came, with lustre meek,

      To light up every weeping flower,

      Like smiles upon a mourner's cheek.

      I called to mind from Eastern books

      A thought that could not leave me soon:—

      "The moon on many a night-flower looks,

      The night-flower sees no other moon."

      And thus I thought our fortune's run,

      For many a lover sighs to thee;

      While oh! I feel there is but one,

      One Mary in the world for me!

      The illustrations are almost unexceptionably good; the gems in this way being Mrs. Siddons, as Lady Macbeth, by C. Rolls, after Harlowe: the face is perhaps the most intellectual piece of engraving ever seen; the sublime effect in so small a space is truly surprising. A Portrait, by W. Danforth, after Leslie, ranks next; and the beauty and variety of the remainder of the prints are so great as to prevent our individualizing them to the reader. Taken altogether, they form one of the finest Annual Galleries or Collections.

      THE KEEPSAKE

      Without going into a dreamy discussion on the literature of this work, we venture to say it has rather retrograded from, than improved upon the volume of last year. Great and titled names only furnish the gilt: and this fact is now so generally understood, that readers are no longer deceived by them, in the quality of the gingerbread. Mr. Watts is so convinced of this fact, that he has given the cut direct to many titled authors; and, for aught we know, he has produced as good a volume this year as on any former occasion. The proprietor of the Keepsake appears to think otherwise; and his editor has accordingly produced a book of very meagre interest, though of mightier pretensions than his rivals. Months ago we were told by announcement, paragraph and advertisement, of a tragedy, The House of Aspen, by Sir Walter Scott, which now turns out to be as dull an affair as any known in these days of dramatic poverty and theatrical ups and downs. Sir Walter, in an advertisement of great modesty, dated April 1, says, that "being of too small a size of consequence for a separate publication, the piece is sent as a contribution to the Keepsake, where its demerits may be hidden amid the beauties of more valuable articles." The piece has been adapted to a minor stage with some effect, but nothing higher than a melodrama. We have neither room nor inclination to extract a scene, but one of the metrical pieces has tempted us:—

      Sweet shone the sun on the fair Lake of Toro,

      Weak were the whispers that waved the dark wood,

      As a fair maiden bewilder'd in sorrow,

      Sigh'd to the breezes and wept to the flood.

      "Saints from the mansion of bliss lowly bending,

      Virgin, that hear'st the poor suppliant's cry,

      Grant my petition, in anguish ascending.

      My Frederick restore, or let Eleanor die."

      Distant and faint were the sounds of the battle,

      With the breezes they rise, with the breezes they fail,

      Till the shout, and the groan, and the conflict's dread rattle,

      And the chase's wild clamour came loading the gale.

      Breathless she gaz'd through the woodland so dreary,

      Slowly approaching, a warrior was seen;

      Life's ebbing tide mark'd his footstep so weary,

      Cleft was his helmet, and woe was his mien.

      "Save thee, fair maid, for our armies are flying;

      Save thee, fair maid, for thy guardian is low;

      Cold on yon heath thy bold Frederick is lying,

      Fast through the woodland approaches the foe."

      Two of the best stories are The Bride, by Theodore Hook, and the Shooting Star, an Irish tale, by Lord Nugent; and a Dialogue for the year 2310, by the author of Granby, has considerable smartness. The scene is in London, where one of the speakers has just arrived "from out of Scotland; breakfasted this morning at Edinburgh, and have not been in town above a couple of hours. The roads are dreadfully heavy now: conceive my having been seven hours and a half coming from Edinburgh to London." Killing between four and five thousand head of game in one day is shooting ill; and one of the party has a gun which would give twenty-seven discharges in a minute, and mine would give only twenty-five. I really must change my maker. Have you seen the last new invention, the hydro-potassian lock?" Hunting machines, that would fly like balloons over a ten-foot wall—A candidate for the Circumnavigation Club, who has been four times round the world in his own, yacht—A point of bad taste to make a morning call by daylight—Dining at twelve P.M.—A spring-door with

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