tion of man, in seeking to unlock new treasures in the storehouses of creation, for the laudable purpose of enriching humanity by their contents, the Poet points out another course to be followed with advantage and pleasure by the less ambitious portion of mankind; namely, to read the book of nature, to indulge in healthful contemplation, to wander occasionally by the stream, the grove, and the hill-side: to listen to the chant of the bird, to behold and analyze the beauty of the leafy forest, to rejoice in the sunshine, but to tremble in the storm; the heart will be improved by its suggestions.

In the preceding pages we have endeavoured to illustrate the predominant features in the works of five principal American Poets. It is to be hoped that the reader is now pretty well acquainted with the distinguishing traits of the Poets of America, and that he is conscious of the fact, that they possess far more than the requisite celebrity, for the foundation of a National Poetry, and are likely to hold in the eyes of posterity, the places in their own country, which Chaucer, and his earlier followers Occupy in England.

The most considerable portion of their works may be appropriately denominated storehouses of intellectual materials, varied, and of that fecund nature which seems particularly suited to the reproduction of ideas. The authors themselves, in a great measure, typify distinct poetic attributes. Longfellow may inspire a future Spenser; Poe, a second Dante; Whittier, another Burns, and the deep knowledge of human nature which Lowell possesses, may create another Shakespere to immortalize an American Avon. It is consoling to reflect that these are no utopian suppositions, and, that the existing order of things permit their future realization: are not the stupendous miracles of nature which their country contains, evidences, sufficiently convincing, of the incentives to transcendant genius which she supplies? Do not her broad Canadian lakes, those inland seas, her forests that sepulchre the earth for miles, her "palaces of nature," the "earth overgazing mountains," her mighty rivers, and her endless prairies, speak more than the tongues of a nation, of the undying lays which are to chronicle their majestic beauty?

In addition to the conclusions which are to be derived from the potent influence of such advocacy, we have also to consider the human achievements which must necessarily take place, upon whose multiplied, and complicated grandeur, it would be

impossible to speculate, and whose fame will naturally constitute the theme for the exercise of intellectual power equally as remarkable. Poetry in America will inevitably exhibit phases, distinct from any it has hitherto manifested throughout the world: the peculiar spirit of enterprise which characterizes its people, the unprecedented rapidity with which they have risen from a state of infancy, to one of towering greatness, their unconquerable activity of mind, and their unceasing aspiration for higher excellence, must obviously affect the character of their literature, as much as of their laws. If the muse first exercised her influence among the Jewish race; it is probable she shall end her mission on the other side of the Atlantic; to profess this belief is merely to coincide in the long established, and well grounded conviction with reference to the termination of earthly power, and the race of man. How then will the spirit of Poetry appear, previous to her translation to the skies ? What mellow hues will be selected to adorn that celestial robe, attired in which, she will unfold to earth's latest progeney, the hoarded treasures of time, the wisdom of buried centuries she has gathered ? Will she not, like one of the Angels in the Apocalypse, "Her face as the sun, and her feet as pillars of fire," be "clothed with a cloud, and have a rainbow on her head?" her divine origin will then assert itself, and the glory of her triumph on the earth will convey her to her melodious home in paradise. Ere this mighty consummation, much remains to be effected, towards the improvement of the human race, which poetry in conjunction with genuine philosophy can accomplish by continuing as they have begun, the Poets of America will follow the surest course to the anticipated goal, with the spirit of truth, and the love of freedom for their guides, they will easily overcome the im. potent though untiring efforts, which the enemies of man are constantly making to uproot the foundations of moral principle; strengthened as they proceed, they will gradually segregate themselves from their European brethren, by creating and consolidating peculiarity of attributes, and originalty of style, while they nourish and shadow forth in even more robust proportions, those excellencies for which the former have acquired so much incomparable celebrity; obliterating all traces of that slightly upsetting philosophy which seems to be based on the astonishing perfection of the "Ego," they will replace it by a steady national feeling, which, though it less "o'er

steps the modesty of nature," will be equally, if not more determinedly firm, vivid, and strongly interwoven with the feelings of the heart. Moreover, as we have hitherto affirmed, and, as we now reiterate, not actuated by the spirit of prophecy, but by the influence begotten of a rational reflection, the principle which now guides them, if continued, will enable them to perfect the study of man, and give to America, and the world, not alone what civilization gave to Europe, but what she has never as yet given in any sphere, universal philanthropy, which shall rest on stable foundations, and defy the machinations of the wicked.

ART. V.-OUR SOLDIERS AT HOME AND IN THE FIELD.

1. Report of the Committee of the House of Commons appointed to Enquire into the Condition of the Army before Sebastopol, and into the Conduct of the various Departments of the Government whose duty it has been to minister to the wants of the Army. March, 1855.

2. Hansard's Debates, 1855. Debates on the War, Passim. 3. The Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Army. Third Edition, 1844.

4. Addenda to the same up to March, 1854. Parker, Furnival and Parker. Whitehall: London.

But four short years ago and who so palmy and so proud as England! She had attained, as it seemed, the highest pinnacle of prosperity and strength. Throughout her vast empire there was peace, and while her rule was met with due and profound submission by the millions upon millions over whom it extends in both hemispheres of the globe, foreign countries seemed to be held in deep, admiring respect, if not in awe. Everything appeared to promise a calm and long enjoyment of the fruits of her wonderful industry, enterprize and skill, and of the at length fully pacified and consolidated acquirements of her wars and expeditions in times long gone by.

In the myriad glitterings and fairy splendours of the Crystal Palace the meridian sun of England's glory seemed reflected, and the self-gratulatory excitement of the time denied all opportunity to the wholesome thought, that perishable as was the material of the Palace, transitory as itself it was, to the full as insecure and precarious might be found the palmy greatness of which that fair-shewing and vast-reaching edifice was in truth no inapt type.

The Crystal Palace has passed away, and the green sward of Hyde Park has resumed dominion over its site, and effaced even to the latest traces of the lofty, and mighty and resplendent erection. Even in like manner has passed away that brilliant shew of palminess and pride, which had as dazzling an effect upon the moral eye as the other upon the physical. True, there has arisen a successor to that other; a structure even more wondrous than before, but far away from the old, and differing in plan, and position and accessories. The omen will scarcely be accepted, for it would go to foretell one more of the great periodical changes among nations-an ending of the greatness and the glory of one empire, and the growing up and predominance of another.

Happily the parallel has not been carried out; and although the well being of our native Ireland has unfortunately not been proved to be a necessary consequence or concomitant of the power and prosperity of England, still we not the less ardently and earnestly hope, that beyond the undeniable circumstance of certain rather sharp but salutary mortifications to overblown pride, and disappointments of exaggerated notions and absurdly inflated expectations, the change will not proceed, at least in our age, whatever there may be in the decrees of Providence for the remote future.

It would be well, however, to take a lesson in time and lay it deep to heart. British power is not that overwhelming, allsubduing thing the British people were not a little inclined to imagine it. British wealth is very great indeed, and has done what seemed wonders, but it cannot, no matter how freely, how recklessly it may be used and expended, accomplish the miracles that were at least tacitly expected. Great Britain, in short, is not, and must not hope to be exempted from the common lot of nations as well as of individuals in this world of change and trial, and must expect, and however unpleasant the experience, must accept and undergo reverses and crosses

when the time appointed for them by Divine Providence happens to arrive. Instead of moaning or grumbling over her experience of this inevitable circumstance of mortal condition, it is for her to look forward with eyes at length fully opened to realities, and with her mind at length sobered down to a truer and juster estimate of the difficulties before and around her, and of the powers and capabilities of other nations. And severe as have been, not the mere disappointments of an exorbitant self-estimation, but the real and practical sacrifices and losses which the struggle in the Crimea has entailed upon her; there can, after all, be little doubt of her ultimate success if she be but true to herself, and not even for a moment yield to the depressing influences of this war's history in its first brief but most bloody page.

One lesson, and an obvious one, has already been taken. The mistake has been at length recognized and declared, of having allowed the military establishments of the Empire to be so reduced during the long and piping times of peace. The expenditure consequent on the maintenance of, let us say, an armed force even so large as to be double that which Great Britain has kept on foot during the last ten years, would yet have fallen short in the aggregate of what she has had to pay since the commencement of the war, for new and hasty levies, untried, undisciplined, and unseasoned, and for hasty enlargements of her transport system, her commissariat system, and all the other means and appliances and requisites of war on a great scale. And it has been wisely determined that no such blunder shall be made again, and that, be the war long, or be the war short, the military force of the country shall never again be permitted to fall so low as it was found to be on the outbreak of the present hostilities.

Besides this great blunder of principle, there were many blunders of detail, some large, some less so, but all of importance and heavy moment, which are likely to be, or at this present time are actually in progress of being corrected. The Parliamentary "Blue Book" to which we invite attention, the first among the texts set forth in the short preliminary index to the contents of this paper, affords ample means and opportunity of estimating the necessity, and in the various cases, almost the degree of required correction.

The "Blue Book" in question, the "Report of the Army before Sebastopol" Committee, as it has been succinctly