(SELECTED.)
GOD.

TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN OF DERZHAVING,

BY MR. BOWRING,

Who informs us that this Poem has been translated into Japanese, by order of the Emperor, and is hung up, embroidered with gold, in the Temple of Jeddo.It has also been translated into the Chinese and Tartar languages, written on a piece of rich silk, and suspended in the imperial palace at Pekin.

O, THOU ETERNAL ONE! whose presence bright

All space doth occupy, all motion guide;
Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight;
Thou only God! There is no God beside!
Being above all beings! Mighty One

Whom none can comprehend and none explore :
Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone:
Embracing all,-supporting,-ruling o'er,—
Being whom we call God-and know no more.

In its sublime research, philosophy
May measure out the ocean-deep-may count
The sands or the sun's rays-but, God! for thee
There is no weight nor measure:-none can mount
Up to Thy mysteries; Reason's brightest spark,
Though kindled by Thy light, in vain would try
To trace Thy counsels, infinite and dark:
And thought is lost ere thought can soar so high,
Even like past moments in eternity.

Thou, from primeval nothingness, didst call
First chaos, then existence; Lord! on Thee
Eternity had its foundation :—all

Sprung from Thee :-of light, joy, harmony,
Sole origin-all life, all beauty Thine.

Thy word created all, and doth create;

Thy splendour fills all space with rays divine;

Thou art and wert, and shalt be! Glorious! Great !
Light-giving, life-sustaining Potentate!

Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround;
Upheld by Thee, by Thee inspired with breath!
Thou the beginning with the end hast bound,
And beautifully mingled life with death!

As sparks mount upwards from the fiery blaze,
So suns are born, so worlds spring forth from Thee;
And as the spangles in the sunny rays

Shine round the silver snow, the pageantry

Of heaven's bright army glitters in Thy praise.*

*The force of this simile can hardly be imagined by those who have never witnessed the sun shining, with unclouded splendour, in a cold of twenty or thirty degrees Reaumur. A thousand and ten thousand sparkling stars of ice, brighter than the brightest diamond, play on the surface of the frozen snow, and the slightest breeze sets myriads of icy atoms in motion, whose glancing light, and beautiful rainbow lines,

dazzle and

weary the eye.

VOL. 4-No. 3-Q.

A million torches, lighted by Thy hand,
Wander unwearied through the blue abyss:
They own Thy power, accomplish Thy command;
All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss.

What shall we call them? Piles of crystal light-
A glorious company of golden streams-
Lamps of celestial ether burning bright—

Sun's lighting systems with their joyous beams!
But Thou to these art as the noon to night.

Yes! as a drop of water in the sea,

All this magnificence in Thee is lost :

What are ten thousand worlds compared to Thee?
And what am I then? Heaven's unnumber'd host,
Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed
In all the glory of sublimest thought,

Is but an atom in the balance weighed
Against Thy greatness, is a cypher brought
Against Infinity! What am I then? Nought!

Nought! But the effluence of Thy light divine,
Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom too;
Yes! in my spirit doth Thy spirit shine,
As shines the sunbeam in a drop of dew.
Nought! but I live, and on Hope's pinions fly
Eager towards Thy presence; for in Thee
I live, and breathe, and dwell; aspiring high,
Even to the throne of Thy divinity.

I am, O God! and surely THOU must be!

Thou art directing, guiding all, Thou art!
Direct my understanding then to Thee;
Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart:
Though but an atom 'midst immensity,
Still I am something, fashioned by Thy hand!
I hold a middle rank 'twixt heaven and earth,

On the last verge of mortal being stand,

Close to the realms where angels have their birth,
Just on the bound'ries of the spirit-land!

The chain of being is complete in me;
In me is matter's last gradation lost,
And the next step is spirit-Deity!

I can command the lightning, and am

A monarch, and a slave; a worm, a god!

Whence came I here, and how? So marvellously
Constructed and conceived? Unknown! This clod
Lives surely through some higher energy;
For from itself alone it could not be !

Creator, yes! Thy wisdom and Thy word
Created me! Thou source of life and good!
Thou spirit of my spirit, and my Lord!
Thy light, Thy love, in their bright plenitude
Filled me with an immortal soul, to spring
Over the abyss of death, and bade it wear
The garments of eternal day, and wing
Its heavenly flight beyond this little sphere,
Even to its source-to Thee-its Author there.

O thoughts ineffable! O visions bless'd
Though worthless our conceptions all of Thee,

Yet shall Thy shadowed image fill our breast,
And wafts its homage to thy Deity.

God thus alone my lowly thoughts can soar;
Thus seek thy presence-Being wise and good!
'Midst Thy vast works admire, obey, adore;
And when the tongue is eloquent no more,
The soul shall speak in tears of gratitude.

THE SUNDERLAND SAILOR.

(From the World of Fashion.)

During a short sojourn in the town of Sunderland, I took up my abode in the house of one of those captains who constantly trade from thence to London with coals. These coasting voyages are performed several times in the course of a year, and it was the frequent boast of my worthy landlord, that, during five and thirty years, he had never once missed accompanying his vessel.

George Phillips was a hale, hearty man of sixty, whose weather-beaten countenance seemed to evince a long acquaintance with the toils and perils of the ocean. In each furrow of his hard features you might fancy a tale of dangers, but the lively light of his grey eye, and the good-humoured expression of his countenance, shewed his spirit unbroken by hardships, and his temper unsoured by difficulties, while the breadth and sinew of his frame argued his bodily powers augmented, rather than decreased, by his boisterous life. He was a man whose nautical experience and skill were greatly lauded by all who were capable of judging on the subject, and, in all affairs relating to pilotage or coast navigation, his opinions were received with as much deference as was the oracle at Delphos in olden time. This universal deference to his judgment had imparted a decision, and indeed obstinacy to his character, which was displayed in others matters equally as much as in technical detail, and when he had once formed a resolution, no argument or persuasion could induce him to swerve from it. As it unfortunately happened, however, that even in the most common concerns of life, (in fact in every thing that did not relate to nautical affairs, and the routine of his business) our hoary son of Neptune was as ignorant as a mere child, and this dogged pertinacity was frequently the means of leading him into error, and of exciting a laugh at his expense. Still Phillips was a most estimable character. His conduct to his wife, whom he had espoused for pure love in early life, was a pattern of conjugal affection and fidelity, and two hardy sons she had presented him with, bore witness to the uniform kindness they had received at the hands of their respected sire, from that happy period of childhood when, with anxious expectation, they had looked forward to his return from London as the brightest moment of their existence, and had

"Climbed his knees the envied kiss to share,"

to the present time, when, in the full vigour of youth and strength, they, in their turn, became the support of their beloved parent, and, as he declined in the vale of years, exerted themselves to alleviate the toil of his profession, and render his hours of leisure and domestic relaxation, yet more happy by their filial attentions.

Such was my worthy host, and, despite of his invincible ignorance, I cannot but think that, blessed as he was by an amiable wife, and dutiful and affectionate sons, he was a happy man: nay, his very ignorance itself helped to fill up the measure of his felicity, for he had no practical, and but little theoretical, knowledge of the wickedness of the world, and had escaped uncontaminated by its vices. But alas! for the mutability of human enjoyment!

I was one afternoon sitting in my little apartment, revelling in a favourite author, when my attention was arrested by a loud laugh which proceeded from the parlour of old Phillips. As I felt somewhat fatigued by reading, I thought I would beguile an hour in the society of the worthy folks below, so, taking a cigar out of my case, I marched down to ask for a light, (for thou knowest, most polite reader, that I was obliged to have some little excuse to avoid compromising my dignity!)

I found Mrs. Phillips and her sons enjoying a hearty and uproarious laugh, apparently at the expense of the old gentleman, who was sitting in his huge wooden arm chair, smoking his pipe with an air of the most imperturable gravity, and ever and anon laying heavy exactions on a goblet of grog which was placed before him.

66

,

'Heyday," said I, on entering, “ you all seem amused.”

'Why, yes, Sir,” replied the eldest of the sons, “Feyther be joking."
'Joking," repeated I, egad I don't he looks much like it either."

66

"Oh! that be his way, sir: he sets us all a laughing, but the deil a bit will he move a muscle."

"Well," said I, "I should like to hear this excellent joke, and, perhaps, I may enjoy it too."

66

Lauk, sir," interrupted the mother, " only to think on it!-Why here's my auld man who has been five-and-thirty years a captain, and never yet missed going with the collier, has all at once taken a freak into his pate that he won't go this turn. God knows I should be glad enow if he'd stay at hame althegither now in his auld age; but then for him to say that he'll miss ganging ance, when for sae many years he'd as soon hae chapped off a finger as stay awa out o' th' brig when she gangs, why lauk it seems impossible like."

"Why really, I think, after five-and-thirty years' hard service, he has acquired a right to make a holiday now and then, or he never will," observed I.

"It is not that I'm inclined to be idle," said old Phillips, puffing out a huge volume of clear blue smoke.

"You are ill, perhaps."

"Never was better in my life, sir, thank God."

"The weather," continued I, advancing to the casement, " am a judge, favourable; and the wind is fair."

appears, as far as I

"I should never wish to put my craft out in a finer breeze, or calmer weather," replied the old seaman, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, and calmly refilling it.

"All this," observed one of the sons, "makes us more sure that feyther's a joking."

"I tell you, boy, I'm serious," responded the old man. "Though, for many a lang year, and a rough ane, I hae never missed, or wished to miss, a twin, yet somehow or another, I feel determined not to go this time. I canna account for it, and I canna give a reason why, but go I won't, so that ends the matter."

"And I'm sure," said his wife, "I'm heartily glad on't, and only wish ye'd never gang mair, as ye say our George can do almost as well."

'Aye, aye," replied Phillips, "but George ha'nt weathered sae many storms as his auld father, and perhaps never may."

The poor old man little thought on the prophetic spirit contained in his few last words.

It was now finally settled, that as the cargo was shipped, and all things ready, George should for this time assume the command of the "Bonny Bess," while his brother John served in his usual capacity of mate.

The weather was beautiful, and a brisk evening gale imparted a delicious coolness to the atmosphere, after the burning rays of a July sun. The two young men were in the highest spirits, as, shaking their parents heartily by the hand, they let themselves down the moor point, and sprang into the boat waiting to convey them to the brig which was lying at anchor in the offing.

'There they go," exclaimed the old man," and, though I say it, two as gallant lads as any in the county of Durham; aye, or in the town of Sunderland either.'

The sails were set, the anchor weighed, and the vessel bore swiftly onward under the influence of the breeze, whilst Phillips and myself stood silently watching her pro

gress till she became a speck on the horizon. We then returned home, and I shut myself up in my apartment, where I read for a time, and then retired early to rest.

I had slept soundly for some hours, when I was awakened by a hoarse sullen roar, for which I could not at first assign a cause; but when, presently afterwards, the whole apartment was illuminated for the space of several seconds, with such brilliancy that I could discern the minutest article, I was convinced that it was a violent thunder-storm. The electric light was succeeded by the most pitchy darkness, and a profound silence which was soon broken by one of the most tremendous peals I can remember ever to have heard. The wind, which had during the evening been calm and steady, now blew with terrific violence in unequal gusts, and as far as I could remark, from the diametrically opposite quarter to that which I had observed some hours before. The Bonny Bess and her crew now struck upon my thoughts.

· Heaven preserve them," ejaculated I, hastily arising.

The awful and quick succeeding flashes afforded me amply sufficient light to attire myself, and I descended into the little parlour, where I found Mrs. Phillips partly dressed, pacing about the room, in an agony of grief and fear. I offered such words of consolation as suggested themselves in the hurry of the moment, and then inquired after her husband.

"He is gone down to the beach," replied she, breaking out into hysterical sobsgone to seek for our boys; but they are lost, lost for ever. The sea has swallowed up both my boys,—my only children. Oh! that I should live to see this day.”

"The storm is indeed tremendous," said I, considerably affected by the agony of mind she displayed, "but put your trust in Providence-at once in the Omnipotence and mercy of God, and hope for the best."

"Oh! they are driven back upon the bar and are lost for ever," exclaimed she, clasping her hands wildly together; "my husband too, has gone down to the beach. He will do some rash thing, and I shall be widowed and childless in the same unhappy hour."

"Be patient for a while, my good dame," said I, "I will immediately go down to the shore, and keep a watchful eye upon your husband."

She caught at my proposal with eagerness, and as two female friends came in to assist her, I hastened down to the sea-side, where a scene burst upon my sight which defies the power of language to supply words of power sufficient to express its gloomy horror.

Imagine the effect produced by hundreds of persons moving quickly about the margin of the ocean, waving lighted torches in their hands, which threw a flickering and imperfect light through a portion of the Egyptian darkness, which prevailed in the intervals between the electric glare, and faintly showed the enraged sea boiling and roaring with its utmost fury. Then came the blood-streaked lightning, casting its red glare upon the whole surface of the ocean, and realizing in our minds the fabled Phlegethon the fiery billows rose mountains high, and seemed to mingle with the huge and threatening masses of clouds which overhung it, like some vast dæmon stretching forth his wings, and glutting over his fallen prey. Some distance out I could plainly perceive a vessel at intervals, when the waves, subsiding for a moment, would, as if in mockery, give us a full view of the wreck they were fast devouring.

I now observed a crowd of persons pressing to a particular part of the beach, and, on hastening to the spot, I found they were endeavouring to launch the life-boat for the assistance of the sufferers of the wreck, which I was told by a young fisherman, was fast jammed in between the rocks, and could not be expected to hold together many minutes. I was proceeding to ask some further questions of the man, when my attention was arrested by the harsh tones of a voice which sounded high, even amid the thunder of the elements.

"Shame on ye all ! Are ye turned cowards, that ye can see yer fellow creatures swallowed up in a raging sea like this, and not venture to their help!-Are these the canny lads o' Sunderland?"

I passed through the throng, and beheld old Phillips. He was stripped of all