FOR ROME. BY W. J. LINTON. OR Rome! for Italy!-Our thoughts, our words, Rush forth impetuously. Would they might be Swift-wing'd as angels, with eternal swords, To smite 'God's Unforgiven"! O to see Our new Camillus scourge those slaves of Gaul Home to their infamy. Ye ruins grand Of the Time-reverenced Coliseum! all, And with Saint Peter's and the Vatican Be one wide undistinguishable heap, Ere over Rome the Accursed dare to creep. Freemen of Rome! your ancient heroes man The eternal ramparts. Lo, thy martyr-band, Ruffini! leads us. Build yon batter'd wall With living men! O Roman Victory! For Rome! for Italy! ay, for the World! Of England's shameful traffic) thou dost well To throw thy spirit into danger's van. For Rome! for Rome! O that our swords were there. Thou Land of Brutus and of Raffaelle And of Mazzini! how could we despair Of Thee, the Holy and Invincible? June, 1849. A JULY NOON. worshiper of Beauty, I would sing Of noon's refulgent glory!-'Mid a sea Form undulating lines. Sweet harmony Fills every wood. Deep unto deep doth call, Is all, and is in all! Away, away, With so-called Temple-worship! Let me be This tide of Beauty! Let its every ray Will be a holy Sabbath day! The meek How still and beautiful! No bitter word To sting in after hours; but calm and sweet And scothing, as if angels came to meet And heal earth's broken ones. Removed, the mythic Eden is restored And our lost rights regained. We seem to know Long seasons in the strength thereof. We own The sun hath reached the zenith, shining down On July blossoms.-Silent hangs the bee The thrush and woodlark cease to sing. All own- The spell of highest noon. I too would gaze Perchance, God on some Truth may shed new light, J j K. B. A HEBREW READING. ISAIAH lxvi, 3. "He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol." There is perhaps no passage in the Old Testament in which the sense is so completely obscured, by italicized words not found in the original, as the text just quoted. Indeed, it is quite impossible to extract any meaning out of it, as it stands in our authorized version, either viewed by itself, or in the light of the context. The prophet, after describing, at the commencement of the chapter, in the loftiest strain, the majesty of the Almighty Creator, with the utter inadequacy of all mere external worship, and why it must necessarily be so; and the Divine condescension nevertheless, in the acceptance of the true inward worshiper,-breaks out into a strain of the highest indignation against the practices of those who were in that day attempting to combine the worship of the true God with idolatrous rites and ceremonies. The passage translated literally, would read thus ;"He that killeth the ox, slayeth a man; He that sacrificeth the lamb, strangleth a dog; and having the definite article He that offereth an oblation, [offereth] swine's blood; He that burneth incense, blesseth an idol!" It is worthy of remark that the words prefixed, imply the particular ox or lamb set apart for the sacrifices of the temple, with which what immediately follows, is in perfect and striking harmony. Bishop Lowth remarks on this passage,-"These are instances of wickedness joined with hypocrisy,-of the most flagitious crimes committed by those who at the same time affected great strictness in the performance of all the external services of religion. *** The generality of interpreters, by departing from the literal rendering of the text, have totally lost the true sense of it, and have substituted in its place, what makes no good sense at all; for it is not easy to show, how, in any circumstances, sacrifice and murder, the presenting of a legal offering and idolatrous worship, can possibly be of the same account in the sight of God." A. W. B. TO A SNAIL. here art thou roaming to, wonderful snail, On the emerald hue of thy track. Solemn thy progress, as if thou didst bear And circumspect, feeling thy way with due care, A hermit devoted to prayer and to peas, In cold cell, with no clothes on his back; Lark that in rapture soars singing at morn, Gipsy of Nature! thou wanderest free, I meet thee at morn in the favorite walk, Or careering sublime on a sedge. And I stop to examine thy elegant home, With its passage that winds up and down; Beetle with bronzèd mail, grasshopper green, And the glow-worms shine round thee at night. In days of my childhood I've gathered thy bields, Oft when the summer-blooms, beauteous, are gone, Man of his knowlege and skill all too proud, Might learn to confide in that wisdom sublime, Which launched the vast orbs on the ocean of time- J. W. LITERARY NOTICES. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. National Evils and Practical Remedies; with a plan and engravings of a Model Town. By JAMES SILK BUCKINGHAM. London, P. Jackson. 1849. Such is the title of the last book of a writer whose life has been one long and noble endeavor to diminish the evils of society, and to elevate mankind in the scale of mental and moral improvement. On this ground alone this handsome volume would be entitled to respectful notice; but as proceeding from so popular an author as Mr. Buckingham, and as devoted to so vital a topic as 'the Condition of England Question,' it is certain to secure a perusal from thousands of earnest and ardent minds, whose attention is now being turned to the Social Problems which are discussed at length within its pages. Probably few men could be found better qualified than our author, for the task he has undertaken. There is scarcely a single great social movement of our time, in which he has not, more or less, participated. He was a Free-trader when Free-trade had no friends among the wealthy, and but few among the middle classes. Peace, Temperance, Education, and Freedom, have always found in him an able and consistent champion. And he has shared |