They form a picture that appears of Eld— The beauteous mother and the husband bold, And smiling infant like a rose-bud held Upon the parent-stem, but half unrolled Yet blushing brightly in each crimson fold. The household steed, in quiet sympathy, Looks silent on and seems to share their glee. The shaggy dog that wakes the forest old With joyous echoes as he bounds along, Starting the heron from his reedy lair— These, while the morning sunbeams slant along Through that old portal, massy, grim and bare, Stand, grouped together,—emblems fit, I ween, Of many another quiet household scene! E. * * * * * THERE’S NO LAND LIKE SCOTLAND. BALLAD. SUNG BY MR. DEMPSTER. COMPOSED BY EDWARD J. LODER. _Philadelphia_: John F. Nunns, _184 Chesnut Street_. [Illustration: musical score] [Illustration: musical score] There’s no land like Scotland within the wide sea, There’s no land like Scotland, The fearless and free, With her fair glens and mountains, Her fair locks and fountains, Her wild springing heather and modest blue bell, No place in the world do I love half so well, No place in the world do I love half so well, Oh! sleepin’ or wakin’, where e’er I may be, My thoughts aye are turning dear Scotland to thee, Bright gem of the northern wave, Home of the free and brave, While life endures thou canst never depart, Ah! while life endures thou canst never depart, Dear pride of the north from thy throne in my heart. * * * * * REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS. _Ballads and Other Poems. By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Author of “Voices of the Night,” “Hyperion,” &c. Second Edition. John Owen: Cambridge._ In our last number we had some hasty observations on these “Ballads”—observations which we now propose, in some measure, to amplify and explain. It may be remembered that, among other points, we demurred to Mr. Longfellow’s _themes_, or rather to their general character. We found fault with the too obtrusive nature of their _didacticism_. Some years ago we urged a similar objection to one or two of the longer pieces of Bryant; and neither time nor reflection has sufficed to modify, in the slightest particular, our convictions upon this topic.