f these perils. If any of our remarks have been over
harsh, we most gladly qualify them by saying, that, in our humble
opinion, Miss Barrett's poetical merits infinitely outweigh her defects.
Her genius is profound, unsullied, and without a flaw. The imperfections
of her manner are mere superficial blot which a little labour might
remove. Were the blemishes of her style tenfold more numerous than they
are, we should still revere this poetess as one of the noblest of her
sex; for her works have impressed us with the conviction, that powers
such as she possesses are not merely the gifts or accomplishments of a
highly intellectual woman; but that they are closely intertwined with
all that is purest and loveliest in goodness and in truth.

It is plain that Miss Barrett would always write well if she wrote
simply from her own heart, and without thinking of the compositions of
any other author--at least let her think of them only in so far as she
is sure that they embody great thoughts in pure and appropriate
language, and in forms of construction which will endure the most rigid
scrutiny of common sense and unperverted taste. If she will but wash her
hands completely of AEschylus and Milton, and all other poets, either
great, or whom she takes for such, and come before the public in the
graces of her own feminine sensibilities, and in the strength of her own
profound perceptions, her sway over human hearts will be more
irresistible than ever, and she will have nothing to fear from a
comparison with the most gifted and illustrious of her sex.

FOOTNOTES:

[31] London. Moxon. 1844.

[32] "_With accents undefiled_;" this is surely a very strange and
unaccountable interpolation. How was it possible, or conceivable, that
any accents could be _defiled_, which conveyed the holiest and most
pathetic injunction that ever came from the lips of a dying mother?

UP STREAM; OR, STEAM-BOAT REMINISCENCES.

I had come to New Orleans to be married, and the knot once tied, there
was little inducement for my wife, myself, or any of our party, to
remain in that city. Indeed, had we been disposed to linger, an account
that was given us of the most unwelcome of all visitors, the yellow
fever, having knocked at the doors of several houses in the Marigny
suburb, would have been sufficient to drive us away. For my part, I was
anxious to find myself in my now comfortable home, and to show my new
acquisition--namely, my wife--to my frien