SA.LEN REDEEMED. * TErs dramatic poem is about the best of

Mr. Peel's poetical efforts, in spite of a "vaulting ambition." The subject of Salem Re. deemed is neither more nor less than the restoration of the Jews— after repentance; but whether all the Hebrew dramatis personee are converted to Christianity is doubtful, though some of the Jewish leaders seem tending that way. To say that Mr. Peel has risen to the "height of his great argument," would be to place him on a level with Milton and the Prophets; and from them he is a long way off. The plot is common ; the structure and treat- ment are common too. Zarah of Hebron, the lover, is a leader of the Jewish insurgents, or rather conspirators, for they take the Turks at vantage on a sudden; his betrothed Adah is the daugh- ter of a venerable Jew, who has had his troubles both domestic and religio-political ; the betrothed has her confidant, and the reader may perhaps prefer Hadassah, for her spirit, to the real heroine. In addition to these, "a captain of the Turks," a chorus, and the usual many of a drama, there is Rabbah, a young doctor and a strong Conservative, with a great indisposition to disturb what is quiet ; with Nathan and Levi, "Jews from England on a mission."

Besides a want of largeness, fulness, and elevation in the story, there is a want of action. The only thing really done in the drama, is the insurrection in the third act ; when the Turks are defeated, by the assistance of the supernatural, in the form apparently of an earthquake. All save this is narrative or discourse. The chorus, as is but proper, chants or declaims ; the lovers and their friends talk ; Rabbah, the Conservative or Protectionist, talks ; the men with a mission naturally talk, for talk is their vocation. In fact, till the "Captain of the Turks" begins business by firing at Zarah and hitting Adah's father, it is all talk.

Much of this talk, however, is good, especially where it is general. The dialogue fails where nicety of individual character is expected from the speaker, and the level conversation is somewhat flat. In anything which approaches the reflective or the oratorical Mr. Peel is more at home. This picture of change, of English opinion, and of the source of liberty, may or may not be appropriate to the scene, but it is true, and well expressed.

"Levi. What sign appears

Of the true dawn ? I must allow that mind Runs to and fro ; that Jew and Gentile look Eastward alike; but still the world goes round Day after day, and all things seem the same.

Chor. The world moved on as now before the Flood,

And yet the Deluge came! Men ever doubt Of change in their own time, and love smooth lips ; Though time and conscience be revealing depths "We dare not fathom, and unrolling leaves Of terror and of wonder and of wo !

Prophets and poets to the shallow mind Seem idle visionaries, slow to learn The wisdom of the world.

Levi. In England, sloth

And leisure seem unprofitable weeds :

But if to dream be wiser than to work,

Wise is the poet ; and the frugal bee Labours in vain, no better than a drone

Basking on honey'd bank. The world we live in

Has no such easy pasture. How to build And gather up into a golden hive,

Is all its care ; and they are counted happy

Who winter on their wealth, and balk the spoiler :

Dreams pass away before the sunny flowers. Nath. Hope builds on thought and action ; each needs either :

The branch will blossom only while the root Feeds it ; ripe action is the fruit of thought. Our mission needs deliberation ; how To weigh the means, and understand the wants And wishes of our brethren, whether born Here or drawn hither out of busy life To dwell among the dead. Our task is not Easy, nor lightly to be undertaken.

Levi. A thankless task and hard, to serve a people

That knows not what it wants nor what it claims!

Chor. We want our liberty ! we claim our own ! Levi. And what is liberty ? The gradual growth

Of a stern sky and of a stubborn soil, Still pushing out for room, and reaching high With overshadowing boughs ; as when an oak Wide-branching dwarfs the myrtle and the bay.

Nath. The power that overlays or thrusts aside

The weak is tyrannous : an equal freedom Reigns in the land we come from. England, thou, In joy and quiet, breathest as a field Bedew'd of heaven, and by a patriarch bless'd !

Might we, descended from the son of joy, But share the blessing!" •

Here again is a picture of the prejudiced and respectable Con- servative; general in the idea, but Jewish in the illustrations. Levi speaks.

"Except in Zarah,

Noble alike in lineage and in look, 'We met with only doubt or apathy, Or folly singing of the good old time. Now, freedom is a jewel ill-exchanged For an old song, like that which Rabbah once Sang us to sleep with : you remember, Nathan ?

• Salem Redcenied or the Year of Jubilee. A Lyrical Drama, in three Acts. By Edmund Peel, Author of "The Fair Island," " Judge Not," &v. Published by Rivingten. Nat/s. About a river full of rolling stones

That rested only on the day of rest?

Levi. The same. We listen'd, while Sambation roll'd

Down from the mountains to the central deep, A long monotony of slumberous sound Lost in a water without ebb or flow.

You know the Rabbi? (To the Chorus.) Chor. Only by report, As being versed in legendary lore, Too fond of fables.

Levi. Tales of Behemoth

And the sea-dragon, huge Leviathan, Kept for the bonnet on the day of joy. Again, he told us how a ghastly smoke Steams from the guilty grave six days in seven ; How Turnus Rufus eall'd his father up And ask'd the cause, and heard of judgment working Six days in fire, and resting on the seventh. What hope of Rabbah, and of such as he ?

Nat/s. None ! for they have no future. When I laid

Our plans before him, he was very wroth ; Wonder'd what more the common people wanted ; Said, he detested Turks and Infidels, But hated Jewish innovation more ; And doubted whether duty would allow him To wink at schemes so revolutionary.

Chor. You told Lord Zarah?

Nat/s. Not a word : it seem'd

Such folly.

Levi. What is wisdom ? Gold and purple !

And what is folly ? Discontented rags ! Eabbah is kept in solemn countenance By prosperous persons, whether ruled or ruling, By kings and courtiers, barons, knights, and squires, And lawn'd divinity, and ermined law.

Each gloss of superstition, each old echo,

Moves Rabbah more than human misery.

A grey-hair'd anguish, a primmval people, Had claims upon him !—but he dreads all change.

Chor. Change is high treason to the narrow mind

That fain would put a drag on human progress ! "