And four-and-twenty happy boys There were some that ran and some that leapt, Away they sped with gamesome minds, To a level mead they came, and there Like sportive deer they coursed about, But the Usher sat remote from all, 'His hat was off, his vest apart, To catch heaven's blessed breeze; For a burning thought was in his brow, So he lean'd his head on his hands, and read The book between his knees! 'Leaf after leaf he turn'd it o'er, Nor ever glanced aside; For the peace of his soul he read that book Much study had made him very lean, And pale, and leaden-eye'd. At last he shut the ponderous tome; 'Then leaping on his feet upright, And down he sat beside the lad, 3 And talk'd with him of Cain; And how the sprites of injured men And unknown facts of guilty acts 'He told how murderers walk the earth Its everlasting stain! "And well," quoth he, "I know, for truth, Their pangs must be extreme,― Wo, wo, unutterable wo Who spill life's sacred stream! For why? Methought, last night, I wrought. A murder in a dream! 'One that had never done me wrong A feeble man, and old ; I led him to a lonely field, The moon shone clear and cold : Now here, said I, this man shall die, And I will have his gold! 'Two sudden blows with a ragged stick, One hurried gash with a hasty knife,- 'Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone, And yet I fear'd him all the more, There was a manhood in his look, 'And, lo! the universal air Seem'd lit with ghastly flame,- 'Oh God, it made me quake to see Was scorching in my brain! My head was like an ardent coal, My wretched, wretched soul, I knew, A dozen times I groaned; the dead I took the dreary body up, And cast it in a stream,— 'Down went the corse with a hollow plunge, And vanished in the pool: Anon I cleansed my bloody hands And wash'd my forehead cool, And sat among the urchins young That evening in the school! 'Oh heaven, to think of their white souls, And mine so black and grim! I could not share in childish prayer, Nor join in evening hymn: Like a devil of the pit I seem'd, 'Mid holy cherubim ! 'And peace went with them one and all, And each calm pillow spread; But Guilt was my grim chamberlain That lighted me to bed, And drew my midnight curtains round, With fingers bloody red! All night I lay in agony, In anguish dark and deep; My fever'd eyes I dare not close, For Sin had rendered unto her All night I lay in agony, From weary chime to chime, With one besetting horrid hint, 'One stern, tyrannic thought, that made 'Heavily I rose up,-as soon For I was stooping once again Under the horrid thing. 'With breathless speed, like a soul in chase, I took him up and ran, There was no time to dig a grave Before the day began: In a lonesome wood, with heaps of leaves, I hid the murder'd man! And all that day I read in school, But my thought was other where; As soon as the mid-day task was done, And a mighty wind had swept the leaves, Oh God, that horrid, horrid dream Again-again, with a dizzy brain, The human life I take; And my red right hand grows raging hot, ' And still no peace for the restless clay The horrid thing pursues my soul,— The fearful boy looked up, and saw 'That very night, while gentle sleep Two stern-faced men set out from Lynn, And Eugene Aram walked between, ART. IX. SELECT LITERARY INFORMATION. Early in December will be published, price 4s. hot-pressed and neatly bound, embellished with several beautiful engravings by M. U. Sears, and handsomely printed by W. Sears, a new and cheap Annual, entitled Affection's Offering, a Book for all Seasons, but especially designed as a Christmas and New Year's Gift, or Birthday Present, from Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers, Uncles, Aunts, and other Relatives and Friends, to the Juvenile Branches of their respective Families. It will also be a most convenient and appropriate Prize Book for Schools. In the course of December will be published, The Circle of the Seasons for the Year 1829, with a newly digested Preface on the phenomena of the coming Year. Early in January will be published, in 2 vols. 8vo., Morning Exercises for the Closet for every Day throughout the Year. By the Rev. W. Jay, of Bath. Together with the Eleventh Edition of Family Prayers, by the same Author. The Rev. Charles Forster, B.D. Chancellor of Ardfert, and Examining Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Limerick, has in the press, Mahometanism Unveiled: being an attempt to explain, on new, but strictly Scriptural principles, the growth and permanence of the Arch-heresy; founded on an examination of History, both Sacred and Saracenic, and of Prophecy, as delivered in the Old and New Testament. Preparing for publication, The Vestry and Cottage Library of Divinity, Ecclesiastical History, and Biography; in a series of duodecimo volumes, to be published Monthly. The first volume, containing Baxter's Treatise on Conversion, will be ready in January 1829. Edited by T. Russell, A.M. On the 1st of January, 1829, will be published, in a small volume, A Help to the Private and Domestic Reading of the Holy Scriptures: Comprising, Addresses on the Subject as a Duty, and the best manner of performing it,-on the Inspiration of the Sacred Writers,-on the symbolical language of Prophecy,-on the collection of the Sacred Books,-a digest of the Books of the Old Testament, with the method of reading them in chronological order an epitome of the Jewish History, from the time of the Old Testament to the New, of the Life of Christ,-of the Labours of the Apostle Paul; arrangement of the Books of the New Testament, and an analysis of Mr. Mede's scheme of the Apocalypse. By the Rev. J. Leifchild. Mr. William Carpenter is preparing for publication, Popular Lectures on Biblical Criticism and Interpretation. |