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contents are swallowed by us when our bodies and our minds are in a state of listlessness and inaction; a bold calumny is precious, for it lends a stimulus to their flagging, and a point to their dulness. Men give them selves up gradually to their incessant and irritating influence, because they cannot always resist; and in every vice, as well as in this of credulity, il n'y a que le premier pas qui coute. It is time that men should perceive their danger-that they should open their inert eyes on the depth of that giddy precipice to which their unwary feet have been conducted-that they should acknowledge one fault, and argue from its certain existence to the possible existence of many-that they should at last make a stand, and permit the unwearied waves, which would fret away all their land-marks, to come no farther. If there be one gentleman among our readers, whose conscience tells him that he has for a moment read, without indignation and disgust, any of the late mean and carping calumnies against the good name of Queen Charlotte, let him reflect with seriousness, and we pretty sure it will be with sorrow. Let him learn henceforth to distrust more readily the motives of other minds, and the weakness of his own to examine into the true nature of other calumnies to which he may have been longer accustomed-to shake from him prejudices which may have been more successfully instilled-to return to thoughts and feelings which, in regard to other objects, may have been more deliberately perverted and abused. Let him learn two lessons, to suspect and to analyze and we doubt not he will soon acknowledge, with us, the possibility of drawing good out of evil.

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We can suppose it very possible, that persons who stand acquitted to themselves of any participation in the faults of which we have spoken, may say, that we have been making a great deal too much of the matter, and deny, perhaps, that there exists any danger, or any evil, such as we have described and lamented. Far, very far, be it from us to quarrel with that blessed spirit of charity, which "thinketh no evil." But where guilt does exist, it is a better and a wiser thing to forgive freely than to acquit rashly. Unless we be very widely mistaken, the outrages of which we have been speaking are no isolated offences, has

tily committed, and deserving to be hastily forgotten. Unless we have looked through a false medium upon the whole political and social surface of our country, these outrages are part of one deliberate system of evil, which it is alike impossible to contemplate too seriously, or to condemn too severely. They are part of a system devised, and, alas! too well organized, by wicked men, for wicked purposes, a system, which, however inconsiderable may be its instruments, taken separately-however contemptible its planners and its propagators, both in their morals and in their intellects,is yet formidable, from the extent to which it operates, the unceasing nature of its operation, and the progress which we fear it has already made in not a few of the objects to which its polluted energies have been directed. This system has indeed enlisted in its service as motley and polygeneous an array, as ever found the elements of its ruin in disunion of voices, purposes, and views. But that which is incapable of creation, may have power enough for destruction; and we should beware of too much despising our adversaries, merely because we feel ourselves entitled to despise them. We envy not their tranquillity, however comfortable it may be, who contemplate, without a fixed and serious alarm, the action of that Jacobin press, which has for its main object to effect the degradation of the feeling and the character of our people, and which omits no opportunity of forwarding this ignoble purpose, by attacking the reverence of the people, for any one of those venerable institutions which serve to keep alive the connexion between them and their fathers, and so to cherish the spirit wherein England has ever found the true source of her happiness and her greatness. Of these sacred institutions, most assuredly the Monarchy is one. Its importance, were there no other means of estimating it, might be gathered from the indefatigable bitterness with which its outworks are assaulted by those who hate it only, or chiefly, on account of its connexion with other less external and tangible objects of our reverence.

The late abuse of the Queen was only one transient ebullition of that spleen which is vented with a more determined and pertinacious audacity against her son. It would almost seem as if the known affection of the

child had been sufficient to kindle, in these wretched bosoms, a new hatred of the parent. The filial duty of the Regent, brought by the circumstances of his affliction, more conspicuously before the public eye, might tend, they were afraid, to endear him to his people; and they strove to counteract the effects of his tenderness, by degrading its object. It is thus that these men proceed in their warfare. The falseness of premises, the absurdities of conclusions, can easily be exposed; therefore in these they deal not. They do not assault by reason, argument, or principle; for, in regard to these, they feel, and have always felt, their weakness, or rather their nothingness. Their stronghold lies in the abundance of evil passions; these they cherish, exacerbate, and multiply; and through these they make their approaches to heads little fitted either by nature or by education for scrutinizing facts, or weighing abstract arguments in the balance. Their scheme, their easy scheme, is to assault principles, by abusing persons. Sneers and nicknames, and all the hackneyed tools of vulgar insolence these are the weapons wherein the armoury of this literary mob is rich. It is a startling thing to reflect for a moment to what extent, in some instances, these base weapons of a cowardly warfare have already served their turn, how unremittingly the shafts have been discharged, and how deeply the venom has been sucked into the circulation of opinion!

The same abuse, which, in the early part of his reign, was levelled abundantly against the King himself, but from which it has now been long the policy of his worst enemies to abstain, has been revived and redoubled against the Regent and for why? The question will not easily be answered by the greater part of those who are accustomed to hear, if not to echo, the disloyal outcry. It is the maxim of our constitution, that the Sovereign can do no wrong; the Regent has responsible Ministers; the old fable of secret influence has not been resuscitated upon what pretence, then,(for we need not ask from what motives)-proceeds the incessant persecution of the Prince's character in these corrupt prints? With his private character they have little acquaintance, and not much concern,they abuse it, however, perpetually, and yet even against it they have no

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charge to bring forward, upon whose merits they would be willing to rest the justification of their general abusiveness. In his public character of Regent, we know of only one act which was openly and entirely his own. By this one act, it is our firm belief, he merited the eternal gratitude of his country and of Europe; and yet from this noble act, dates the beginning of the most systematic and rancorous calumniation that was ever levelled by plebeian, arrogance against the supreme magistrate of a mighty nation. The abuse of the Regent, as contrasted with the King, begun from the very moment when the son identified his political being with that of his father, by adopting the principles and the servants of his government.But what avails it to point out the logical blunders of men who despise all reasoning? or why pursue the filthy windings of a bloated and luxuriant malice, which, the more deeply it is wounded, will only multiply the more the organs of its infernal hiss, With complicated monsters, head and tail, Scorpion and asp, and Amphisbæna dire, Cerastes horned, Hydrus, and Elops drear, And Dipsas?

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It is indeed a task without honour, as without pleasure; and yet, could any thing be effected that might tend to confine the crawlings of the reptile to its native coverts, could any check be given to that sluggish apathy with which a vast proportion of the people have accustomed themselves to contemplate the most audacious of its inroads,-there would be no need of pleasure in the execution, or honour in the completion of the work, to make a lover of his country embrace it freely. It is the privilege of the earthcreeping adversaries of our honour, that, to combat them, we must descend. Assault them with the high chivalry of feeling and principle, and their scaly length glides, without one agony, into the fens and brakes, where for it alone, path or shelter may be found.-Speak to these babblers as Englishmen, and they understand you not.

They have no knowledge or communion in that nature which binds Englishmen together. They have no reverence for that which we worshipno love for that which we love. They are strangers to the spirit of the land from which they spring-enemies of its old freedom-parricides of its old honour; and yet from day to day the crouching spirit of their treason is per

mitted to repeat its hiss, till alas! honest ears become familiar with the dissonance, and hearts formed for honesty begin to be touched and blackened with the sprinklings of the poison. The combination of plebeian meanness, and plebeian falsehood, should be encountered, as heretofore it hath been, by a counter-combination. The good, the honest, the truly patriotic, need only to perceive their danger in order to be secure of their victory. The delights of derision may flatter and deceive, for a moment, the weakness of the best natures; but at last the vitals of principle begin to be affected, and the alarm is given. It is then that the original stamina are aroused from their inaction, and that the vigour of early feeling tosses forth the contagion, which, had it approached more cautiously, might have planted its roots more profoundly. It is then that men ask themselves whither their thoughts are tending; and that wise and virtuous men blush, as well they may, to perceive how they have been permitting the strongholds of their character to be slowly and basely undermined by the skulking diligence of the foolish and the wicked.

The spleen and wrath of a disappointed party-against whom we shall say nothing, except that we rejoice in their disappointment-has led, we are apprehensive, not a few members of this party, upon not a few occasions, to have recourse to measures, and to league themselves with men, whose nature should render them equally odious to every party that aspires to the name of British. Did the Jacobin crew derive no casual encouragements from their betters, the utmost of their vile efforts would be deserving of nothing but sheer contempt. Upon this last occasion we have remarked, with any feelings rather than those of triumph, the self-degrading and wilful inadvertence of some, whom, hostile though they be to us, we willingly acknowledge, to be in the main, generous opponents, and of whose characters therefore, whatever may be our opinion of their cause, we would always desire to think, not with tolerance merely, but with respect. It is with no hypocritical lamentation that we turn from the meanness with which modern tactics are too frequently disgraced, to better times, in which neither difference of faith, nor difference of success, availed to corrupt, in the hearts of either ar

ray, those great principles of honourable warfare, which both alike were proud to carry with them into an honourable field. The day has been, when, to insult the person of a sovereign, and the deathbed of lady, would have been alike disclaimed, alike execrated, alike loathed, by all the parties to which English politics give legitimate birth.

There is no affectation in our sorrow over the " Gran' bonta de' Cavalier' antichi," and yet there is no despair mingled with our sincere affliction. The errors of which we complain will, we are well persuaded, be no more than transitory errors. The pedigree of right thought is not soon to be radically corrupted. It is a high surely, but is very far from being an unwise confidence, wherewith the best and the greatest intellects of England still look to the future tenor of their country's being. It is with a sober and a prospective trust that our poets and philosophers still lend magnificent words to the prevailing sentiment of their people.

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In veneration and the People's love,
Whereon he sits! whose deep foundations lie
Whose steps are equity, whose seat is law.
Hail to the state of England! and conjoin
With this a salutation as devout,
Made to the spiritual fabric of her church;
Founded in truth; by blood of martyrdom
Cemented; by the hands of wisdom reared
In beauty of holiness, with ordered pomp
Decent and unreproved. The voice that
The majesty of both, shall pray for both;
greets
That, mutually protected and sustained,
They may endure, as long as sea surrounds
This favoured land,or sunshine warms her soil.
And, O, yeswelling hills and spacious plains!
Besprent from shore to shore with steeple

towers,

And spires whose "silent finger points to

heaven;"

Of ancient Minster, lifted above the clouds
Nor wanting, at wide intervals, the bulk
Of the dense air, which town or city breeds
To intercept the sun's glad beams-may ne'er
That true succession fail of English hearts,
That can perceive not less than heretofore
Our ancestors did feelingly perceive,
What in those holy structures ye possess
Of ornamental interest, and the charm
Of pious sentiment diffused afar,
And human charity, and social love.
Thus never shall the indignities of time
Nor shall the elements be free to hurt
Approach their reverend graces unopposed;
Their fair proportions, nor the blinder rage
Of bigot zeal madly to overturn!

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

The Rev. Mr Dibdin has returned from a bibliographical tour of seven months upon the Continent, in which it has been his chief object to examine the libraries, and to inquire into the state of literature in France, Normandy, and Germany. During this tour the public libraries, and the principal private collections, have been particularly examined; and as Mr D. took an artist with him, expressly for the purpose of making picturesque views, and drawings from illuminated MSS., he has been careful to bring home such specimens of the skill of his companion as may be likely to gratify the present prevailing taste of his countrymen.-Among the objects of Art, the cathedrals of Rouen, Bayeux, Caen, and Coutance, in Normandy, and those of Strasbourg and Vienna in France and Germany, have been particularly selected; while many of the illuminated treasures in the Royal Library at Paris, and in the public libraries of Munich, Vienna, and Nuremberg, have been examined and copied with a fidelity which has not been hitherto surpassed. The great monastic establishments of Krempsmünster, St Florian, Mölk, and Goettivich, in Austria, have been particularly visited-and the book-treasures of the dilapidated monasteries in Bavaria minutely noticed in the immense collections at Munich. The greater part of this ground has been untrodden by English travellers; and perhaps the whole has been neglected with the view of accumulating bibliographical information the professed object of Mr Dibdin's undertaking, and the fruits of which will one day be submitted to the public.

M. de Rocquefort's long-expected edition of the Works of Mary of France is about to appear at Paris. His text will be taken. from the MSS. preserved in the Royal Library; but as these are imperfect, the deficiencies will be supplied from the MS. in the Harleian Collection. Few of our readers at least can be strangers to the pleasing translations of the lays of Mary by the late Mr Ellis, prefixed to his Specimens of Ancient English Metrical Romances.

Le

Grand d'Aussy has also paraphrased some of her tales in his Fabliaux, a work which, by diffusing a superficial notion of the poetry of the Trouveurs, and thus satisfying the multitude, has done infinite mischief to the good cause of romantic literature. It must be recollected, that the lays constitute a portion only of the works of Mary. She

From these illuminated MSS. a series of very interesting old French portraits have been selected.

VOL. IV.

also versified a collection of Æsopian apologues; and although the confabulations of a cock and a bull may seem to possess less interest than the fairy adventures of Graelent and Lanval, yet, from the singular elegance of her style, they may be numbered amongst the most valuable relics of the middle ages, In her verse we trace the simplicity and archness of La Fontaine; and it is more than probable that La Fontaine himself had studied her antique rhyme. Fully conversant with the "vieux Gaulois," as the modern Frenchmen, half in seriousness and half in mockery, call the dialect spoken by their ancestors, La Fontaine was prepared to feel and understand the beauties of this forgotten songstress of the elder day. Besides the fables, this edition will also include Mary's poem on the Purgatory of Saint Patrick. We have never had an opportunity of reading this poem, but the prose legend has many fine touches of fancy, which are susceptible of poetical embellish

ment.

M. de Rocquefort states in his prospectus, that he intends to add a dissertation on the ancient manners and customs of the French and English nations, together with certain recherches on her life and works. As to the latter points, we do not, however, expect that any very material addition can be made to the able essay of the Abbé de la Rue, published in the transactions of the Society of Antiquaries. We have reason to suppose that the undertaking of M. de Rocquefort has been promoted by the friendship and exertions of the Abbé; and we hope that he may receive sufficient support from the public to enable him to proceed in these labours. His Glossary of the Romance Language is a creditable proof of his acquirements. All the romantic epics of the Trouveurs ought to see the light. The investigation of romance in the prose romances is exceedingly unsatisfactory: yet whilst these ponderous volumes are purchased almost for their weight in gold by our eager collectors, the sources from whence they are drawn are completely neglected. Hitherto the French have talked much about their Trouveurs and Minstrels, whilst they have done little towards the effectual encouragement of the study of their ancient literature. This reproach, however, falls quite as hea vily upon our own dear fellow-countrymen. We cannot mention the name of poor Weber without pain. His collection of metrical romances, greatly as his plans were contracted by necessity, is a treasury of invalu able materials towards the history of fiction, and manners, and language; and yet we must blush for the "reading public," (to whom, by the bye, all real antiquarians 2Z

ought to owe almost as great a grudge as Mr Coleridge does,) when we recollect the reception which awaited it.

At Madrid has recently appeared the first volume of a series, to consist of about ten volumes, of the history of the Spanish war against Napoleon Bonaparte. The succeeding volumes are promised at regular periods of publication. This history has been written by the royal order. To preserve that impartiality so rare in all national histories, the present one is not composed by a single writer, but by several, who unite their common labours, while the whole body discuss the most difficult points, ascertain the truth of the facts, and have been furnished with every possible means to promote their researches. Each volume will have an appendix, noting the documents which they have consulted, and the historical proofs and illustrations, with charts and plans, explanatory of the military operations. If the spirit of this work be such as appears by the first volume, it will form an unique history, not written by one historian, but by several. At all events, this history must be consulted as an official document of the Spanish nation.

At Paris a large collection of French poetry, arranged by classes, is announced as ready for the press; to be entitled, Nouvelle Encyclopedie Poetique. The editors labour to persuade us that many a poet has only written one or two striking poems. The ancient king who had only one eye, though otherwise handsome enough, the artist painted in profile; and on the same principle they propose to exhibit their poets by their most advantageous side. We hope they will be careful not to give us any monocular poet, whose single eye the critics may condemn to have taken out.

Aware

that in former compilations of this nature, the editors have been swayed by the influence of circumstances, by the opinion of a flatterer, or the solicitation of a friend, they promise to exert a severity in their choice which is very commendable. It is to consist of eighteen volumes, of which the classes are as follows: Poemes didactiques; poemes descriptifs; poemes erotiques, mythologiques, et philosophiques; poemes heroicomiques, badins, et burlesques; heroides et elegies; idylles et eclogues; epitres morales; epitres familiares; odes; stances, cantates, chants royaux, cantiques, &c.; satires; fables; contes; romances, chansons erotiques, anecdotiques, &c.; chansons anacreontiques, rondes, vaudevilles; chansons poissardes, grivoises et burlesques; epigrammes, madrigaux, impromptus, inscriptions; fragmens, portraits et pensées en maximes; ballades, sonnets, rondeaux, triolets, villanelles, lais, virelais, tansons, renouveaux ou reverdis, monerimes. We have given their arrangement, as we consider this classification may be useful. Mr Campbell's selections from our own poetry will form an interesting accompaniment,

and we may then compare the distinct genius of the national poetry of each. There is one playful class in which the French will be found to excel, and many in which we maintain our superiority. Such collections provoke comparison, and keep alive the inquiries of taste, and often tend to its enlargement. While chemists are disputing whether some bodies are simple or compound, critics have their chlorine and their muriates.

Brazil.-Journal von Brazilien, &c. The Brazil Journal, No. I. 8vo. Weimar.This publication, descriptive of a country which has hitherto been concealed with great jealousy from Europeans, has commenced, and will, no doubt, be satisfactorily sup ported. M. d'Eschwege, lieutenant-colonel and director-general of the gold mines of Brazil, has undertaken this journal, not less interesting to the department of geography and natural history in general, and to this country in particular, than adapted to correct various errors propagated by late travellers. The first Number, accompanied by a plan and other plates, contains merely the general introduction to the history; the second will comprise an account of Brazil, its productions, population, &c. in the form of memoirs, notices, &c. The whole is the result of observations made during several scientific journeys, by the diligent and learned author.

We understand that M. Simonde de Sismondi, is at present engaged in writing a History of France, from the beginning of the French Monarchy down to the Revolution; it will consist of about 20 volumes.

[The announces of the following new books, &c. &c. have been received from a private correspondent in Germany.-EDITOR.]

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Etymologicum Græcæ Linguæ Gudi. anum, et alia Grammaticorum scripta e codicibus manuscriptis, nunc primum editum. Accedunt notæ ad Etymologicon magnum ineditæ E. H. Barkeri, Imm. Bekheri, Lud. Kulenkampii, Amad. Peyroni aliorumque. Quos digessit et una cum suis edidit Fr. G. Sturzius, cum indice locupletissimo. Lipsia, 1818. 4to. pages. The Etymologicon Gudianum contains about 590 pages. Then follows Specimen Lexici, a Photio, Patriarcha Constantinopolitano conscripti, with a letter by T. Gale to Marquard Gude, on this speci men. Next are extracts of a MS. at Leipsic, Ervμodoyia rõ Aλpany of Apion, Homeric Glossæ, Orion's Lexicon, &c. and from a Codex Darmstad. Bombyc. of the 14th and 16th century. Lastly, Grammatica Descripta, opera Birnbaumii ex cod. Schellersheimii.

History of the Religion of Christ; by Fred. Leopold, Count of Stollberg. Hamburgh, 1818. Vol. XIV. This volume contains the very interesting but short period from the partition of Theodosius (395)

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