ORIGINAL POETRY.

A FANCY-PIECE.

I FOUND thee, where the woods were wild, And weeds and thorns had round thee grown; No hunter's foot, no wandering child,

Had met thee, thou wert all so lone.

Above the cypress and the yew

Had wreathed around their funeral shade,
And the still wind, that faintly blew,
A sound, like that of sorrow, made.
And ever, as it o'er thee swept,
Low-breathing melodies were heard,
As if a mourner sobbed and wept,
Or nightly sang the widowed bird.

And now, as fitfully the blast
Shook the tossed branches overhead,
A voice like that of terror passed,
And like a midnight vision fled.

And then again a mingled tone

Of all sweet echoes met my ear,

Sweet as, when storms are overblown,

The warm South wind comes stealing near;

Sweet as the closing breath of Even,
When wet with dews her pinions fall,

And, like a messenger of heaven,
Night comes, and whispers peace to all.

I took thee from thy sylvan haunt,
And, brought thee to the cultured plain,
And saw thee flourish, like a plant
Nursed by the dews and kindly rain.

And there was music round thee still,
And it was sweet-O! sweeter far ;
Like voices echoed from the hill,
When Love has lit his trembling star :

Or like the fluttering airs in May,
Stealing among the musky flowers,
And bearing mingled sweets away
From pansied beds and orange bowers:

A sound, that with the fretting stream,
And feeding flocks, and murmuring bees,
Blent, like the closing of a dream,
In undistinguished harmonies.

And ever, as the mounting sun
Shone broader in the summer heaven,
Voices and symphonies would run
In hurried chords around thee driven:

And then the melody was high,
Like organs pealing through a choir,
Or thunders mingling in the sky,
Or like the distant roar of fire:

A solemn, tempered tone, that gave
A shuddering, not unmixed with joy;
As when the proud, unshrinking boy
Fears, and yet breasts the bursting wave.

And ever, as the loftier swell
Sank from its airy throne, there came
Soft utterings of peace, that fell
Silently breathing one loved name.

Still loftier grew the master song,
And sweeter stole the under tone,
When suddenly there rolled along
Rude storms, and every breath had flown.

Silent and cold, I saw thee lay
Thy honours and thy hopes aside,
And slowly, faintly sink away,
Slow, as the long-retiring tide.

The breath of Spring to thee was balm,
And Summer gave thee light and love;
Thy leaves were green, when air was calm,
And Heaven dropped blessings from above:

But when the hills are bleak and bare,
Thou canst not stand the open plain;
But rather thou wouldst wither, where
I found thee, in thy woods, again.

P.

SONG.

WHERE, from the eye of day,

The dark and silent river

Pursues through tangled woods a way
O'er which the tall trees quiver;

The silver mist, that breaks
From out that woodland cover,
Betrays the hidden path it takes
And hangs the current over!

So oft the thoughts that burst
From hidden springs of feeling,
Like silent streams, unseen at first,
From our cold hearts are stealing:

But soon the clouds that veil
The eye of Love, when glowing,
Betray the long unwhispered tale
Of thoughts in darkness flowing!

H. W. L.

STANZAS.

AND canst thou not accord that heart in unison with thine,
Whose language thou alone has heard-thou only canst divine;
And wilt thou not revoke thy cold and merciless decree,
Nor leave one solitary thought, to plead my wrongs to thee.

I found thee, yet a modest flower-an infant of the spring,
Unheeded, in the rosy crowd of Beauty blossoming,-

And little didst thou think, how dear thy spirit round me shone,
To light my heart with many a hope, my tongue could never own.

The smile which hung upon thy lips, in transport with their tone,-
The music of thy thoughts, which breathed a magic, theirs alone,—
The look, which spake a soul so pure, so innocent and gay,
Have passed, like other golden hopes of happiness, away!

My life has been a dream of light, of loveliness and love,
While serpents coiled beneath my couch, and roses bloomed above;
And yet a wicked whisper comes, like madness, to my brain,
And bids me dream, as I have dreamt-and never wake again!
R. D.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

Town Officer, or, Laws of Massachusetts relative to the duties of Municipal Officers; together with a Digest of the Judicial Decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court upon those subjects. By ISAAC GOODWIN, Counsellor at Law. Worcester. 1825. 12mo. pp. 336.

SOME months have elapsed since we first proposed to devote a place among our shorter criticisms to the volume whose title is transcribed above. We had loaned our copy to a friend in Court street, and at the late fire it shared the fate of many better books. We do not mean by this, that this book is bad; on the contrary, we think it comparatively good,-but not so good as it might be. "Freeman's Town Officer" has been in the hands of the public more than twenty, almost thirty years; and deficient as it is in its materials and its method, still it has been too long and too generally useful not to deserve an honourable mention from us in this place, or from any one who undertakes to speak of works of this kind, or of the very peculiar character of the corporations and municipal governments which they are primarily intended to serve.

In 1811, there appeared a new Town Officer, by Rodolphus Dickinson, Esq., compiler of "Beauties of the Bible," and of "Dickinson's Justice," both useful and respectable publications. In his Town Officer, Mr Dickinson improved upon Freeman, by adopting an alphabetical arrangement of titles, and by subdividing these more distinctly into chapters. If there were a new edition of this work, embracing the changes which have occurred in the laws and decisions relating to the government and affairs of towns, together with some further practical forms, it would still be a valuable book. During the last year two new 66 'Town Officers" have been published; one by John Bacon, Esq., since deceased, and the one whose title stands at the head of this article. Mr Goodwin has adopted the plan of Mr Dickinson, or rather, we may say, the plan of every author of digests and abridgments, from Brooke to Bigelow; and he has done his work more thoroughly than any of his predecessors. We should like, however, to see this book somewhat reduced in size, not by leaving out any thing, for we would sooner add than omit; but by shortening many things. We do not see the necessity or propriety of preserving the precise phraseology of the statutes. It would be cheaper, plainer, and more convenient to set down only the legal effect, or settled meaning; and not the precise tenor of them. An example will best illustrate our meaning.

The following is the substance of section 9, chapter 50, of the act of 1785: "For the choice and appointment of assessors, and

for assigning their power and authority." Mr Goodwin, as usual, has printed it nearly verbatim from the statute book; we say nearly, because he does leave out about half a dozen words, just enough to admit in theory, the principle which he generally rejects in practice. We think that this portion of the law, in the form into which we have hastily thrown it, is clearer; and we know that it is much shorter, than in that given by Mr Goodwin.

Duty of Assessors before making an Assessment.

Assessors, before making an assessment, shall give seasonable warning to the inhabitants, either at their meetings, or by posting up notifications in public places, or in some other way, to bring in lists of their polls, and of their personal and real estates, (except such as are exempted by law from taxation) which they were possessed of, at such times as the general court shall direct.

Persons who shall fail to bring in such list, shall not be permitted to apply to the Court of Sessions for an abatement of their taxes, unless they show that it was not in their power to bring in said list.

If the assessors suspect falsehood in the list, they may require an oath that it is true.

The list thus sworn to, shall be a rule for the assessors, unless they discover errors in it, and then they shall assess the articles kept back.

We do not say that it is desirable to apply this process of compression to every law, and part of a law; for example, the laws against idleness, drunkenness, gaming, lasciviousness, and other immoralities; and those providing for the education of youth, and enjoining upon presidents, professors, and tutors of colleges, preceptors, and teachers of academies, and all other instructers, to inculcate upon children and youth "the principles of piety, justice, and a sacred regard to truth; love to their country, humanity, and universal benevolence; sobriety, industry, frugality, chastity, moderation, and temperance, and those other virtues which are the ornament of human society, and the basis upon which the republican constitution is structured [erected]." These and other statutes on similar subjects cannot be improved by any abridgment or change of phraseology. They speak with a simplicity and an energy in favour of virtue, and education, and order, which are to be found in the laws of no other nation of ancient or modern times. They are precious memorials of the wisdom, virtue, piety, and patriotism of our puritan ancestors, which it would be both unwise and ungrateful not to cherish. Such laws are very properly transferred entire into the work before us; but others, by far the greater number relating merely to times, forms, and other things, which