CHRISTIAN DISCIBLE adras took es he FIOUS de elve THEOLOGICAL REVIEW. rhe with OWA MARCH AND APRIL, 1823. [No. 2. of Vol. V. that and Dim Subscription for the year, $2, to be paid on the delivery of the Third bah. Number. ben ch in New Series] Hery ere ned ter, her, Selections from the poetry of Cra- other Poems. By James G Percival 129 the shaw 81 RT VI -- ixth Report of the Ameath With what Evidence onght we to be rican Bible Society presented 92 May 9th, 1822, with an appendix, eard Reinhard's Serinon 100 containing extracts of corresponOn the practical tendency of Trini- dence, &c. &c. 146 tarianism 112 Retreat for the Intemperate 121 INTELLIGENCE. 150 jan Evangelical Blissionary Society 126nnual Report of the New York 154 us Corrections of Mrs. Barbauld's Thought American Bible Society 156 ife, on Death 127|| Religious Nolions of the Indian Na 127 tions on the Missouri-Froin eir Epitaph on Mr. Thacher 128 Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains 157 се Evangelieal Missionary Society- New Publications---Obituary poder, H.--Prometheus, Part II. with Notico 160 his An Evening Hymn ch THE CHRISTIAN DISCIPLE. NEW SERIES-No. 86. March and April, 1823. SELECTIONS FROM THE POETRY OF CRASHAW. I seems to me that, in their selections from the ancient English poets, neither Ellis nor Campbell have done justice to Crashaw, Campbell was fully capable of estimating his merits; and says, ; that there are many touches of beauty and solemnity' in his verses. He has not taken the trouble, however, of separating these from the mass of grosser matter; and I cannot help thinking that he had not read Crashaw with much attention ; for solemnity' is not altogether the right word to be used in his praise. The estimate, which was formed of him by his contem. poraries, may be inferred from the poem of Cowley on his death, which commences with the splendid apostrophe : Poet and saint! to thee alone are given The two most sacred names of earth and heaven. He has been imitated by Pope ; and some traces of his expressions are to be found even in the poetry of Milton. The date of his birth is uncertain. He took his bachelor's degree in 1634; and the same year published a volume of Latin poems, mostly devotional. In one of these, is contained the well known line, which has sometimes been ascribed to Dryden and others, on the miracle of turning water into wine : Nympha pudica Deum vidit et erubuit. The modest water saw its God and blushed. He took orders; and was distinguished as a preacher for bis energy of expression and strength of feeling. Having for some New Series-ool. V. 11 time lived a life of enthusiastic piety, and of even austere and ascetic morality, he at last became a Roman Catholic. He died in Italy, as a canon of Loretto, about the year 1650. Cowley alludes to his conversion in the following lines : Pardon, my mother Church, if I consent Be wrong; his life I'm sure was in the right. Much of the poetry of Crashaw abounds in the faults of his age. It is full of extravagances, forced thoughts, and harshness of expression ; showing, however, not so much a want of talents in the writer, as of a just and discriminating taste in the great body of readers. His religious poems written after his conversion to the Catholic Church, are overrun with that revolting imagery, which results from transferring to God the accidents and sufferings of the human nature of Christ; and with those shocking conceits, that a perverted ingenuity may draw from this source. But with all these faults, Crashaw has no common beauties. The charm of his finer poems consists partly in the fresh and bright colours of their language, and in the happy turns of 'expression which now and then occur, and still more in the "purity and holiness of feeling which they discover, sometimes calm and deep, and sometimes exalted to enthusiasm. I will give some specimens. DESCRIPTION OF A RELIGIOUS HOUSE AND CONDITION OF LIFE. Out of Barclay. : Those coarse and negligent, as the natural locks Home to the original source of life and intellectual day. Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep: Every one will recollect this line in a later poem, which has none of the purity of that from which it is taken. There are some pleasing passages in his verses on the death of Mr. Herrys. Him while fresh and fragrant time * * I've seen indeed the hopeful bud |
