the days; till at last, like a female predecessor of hers, she arrives at visions of time, even in more minute portions; as for instance, "Within my solitary bower The Parson's Daughter. By Theodore Hook. 3 vols. THE writers of fiction are now so numerous, and stories of domestic or fashionable life so much in request, that it is not very easy to distinguish the production of one author from another, by any striking peculiarities of character. Miss Ferriar, and Mrs. Gore, and Mrs. Sullivan, and Mrs. Sheridan among the ladies; and Mr. Hooke, Mr. Lister, and Mr. Bulmer, among the male authors, all possess considerable merit; but as their subjects also lead them to traverse the same ground, it would not be easy, in opening any of their productions at random, to designate the author by any characteristic features of composition. Perhaps, we should say, that Mr. Theodore Hook excels rather in his bold and graphic sketches of charac ter; and that he is surpassed by Mrs. Gore and Mrs. Sullivan in the slighter and happier touches of grace and elegance, which fill up and complete the picture. With the excellencies which we cheerfully allow these authors, all have considerable defects. Miss Fer riar is apt to run into caricature, and a habit of over-colouring; Mr. Lister's narrative is often too slow and tedious in its movements; Mr. Bulmer loses sight of nature (as in Eugene Aram, especially) and paints entirely from a fancy-model; Mrs. Gore indulges too much in detailing the affected maniere and niaseries of the worst high-life conversation; in Mrs. Sheridan's hands the pathetic is too often allowed to pass beyond the bounds in which its powers are most advantageously recognized; while Lord Mulgrave (as in his Contrast) delights in a story that, if not quite improbable, is extremely unusual, while the outline of his narrative is feebly sketched, and the plot imperfectly developed. But as we are not fond of dwelling on defects, and as we are very grateful to all these authors and authoresses, male and female, brown and fair, for many hours of amusement and instruction; seeing that our old friend Sir Walter has taken a journey into Faëry Land, and that Miss Austen is no longer upon earth; why, in troth, we are happy to see their places so well supplied. We confess that we like novels of genteel life better than any other; better than chivalry and better than blackguardism. Therefore our greatest favorites (always excepting the Vicar of Wakefield, which is the beau ideal of a tale of fiction) are those which came from Miss Jane Austen's pen. Oh! the delight that we experienced when, for the first time, and that not long since, we obtained Emma, and Mansfield Park, and Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion! Oh! the greater delight of devouring them, thinking of them, dreaming of them, talking of them, making them our own! We have not mentioned Northanger Abbey, because that is the only novel of Miss Austen's that we do not altogether approve; not that it has not its merits, and its merits peculiar to her, but there is a tone of persifiage, of quizzing on one side, and of a childish and weak romantic turn on the other, that we do not think natural nor entertaining; and, what is seldom the case with Miss Austen, there is one character surely much overdrawn: but then the easy, lively, natural dialogue how inimitable it is; how clear and elegant a reflection of truth and reality. She is pretty, I think, Anne Elliot; very pretty, when one comes to look at her. It is not the fashion to say so; but I confess I admire her more than her sister.' 'Oh! so do I.' And so do I. No comparison, but the wild after Miss Elliot. men are all Anne is too delicate for them.' And so this charming authoress will go on volume after volume, lapping our willing souls into forgetfulness of every thing but her delightful village creations. Such creatures as Jane Austen should be immortał upon earth. She will never reappear in any metamorphosis. We might as well expect a second Addison or Goldsmith-the die is broken, and the mintage at an end. The characters of Mr. Hook's "Parson's Daughter," are Mr. Harbottle, a purse-proud, passionate, obstinate, vain, vulgar, wealthy fool, who is the pest and the patron (patrons are always pests) of the village where he resides, and whom we should have cut long ago. Mrs. Harbottle, his wife, a meek, sensible, virtuous, excellent person, who by misfortune is married to a brute. Then there is a Lady Sheringham, the representative of pride and poverty, and whose object is to make five hundred a year do the work of twelve; a vain, silly, worldly woman, who settles in this wasp's nest, Mr. Harbottle's village aforesaid, There is Mr. Lovell the village rector, an amiable worthy man, and his only daughter Miss Lovell, a charming girl, and good as she is handsome. There is a Mr. Charles Harvey, who is the companion of Mr. Harbottle, but who unfortunately acquires (he does not know how) a sort of compassionate affection towards Harbottle's wife; but this is very conscientiously and virtuously struggled against by both parties, though it leads to most disastrous issues. Then there is Captain Sheringham, a fine open-hearted person, the son of the Dowager; who gets a peerage, and becomes Lord Weybridge, and who is deeply in love with Emma Lovell. Lastly, there is a lady's maid of the name of Devon, and a designing villain of a butler, called Hollis. Such are the characters, and out of their several affections, passions, and designs, a story of some interest is woven by the author. We do not like anticipating narratives, therefore we shall content ourselves with saying, that Mr. Harbottle soon by his vulgar airs affronts Lady Frances, who cordially detests him; that Captain Sheringham is deeply in love with the Rector's, daughter, who also is alive to his merits; that Mr. Harbottle, duped by the designing Hollis, suspects his wife, and vows deadly and malignant hatred against Charles Harvey; and that Sheringham, now an Earl, and his own master, proeeeds to make an offer to Miss Lovell; and so ends vo. lume the first. The next volume soon leads us into most moving accidents, and scenes of guilt and misery. Charles Harvey is found dead in a gravel pit, and Mrs. Harbottle leaves her husband's house in the deepest agony of distress, and flies to the parsonage for shelter and solace; a great crime is committed, but nobody but the friends of Mr. Theodore Hook know any thing about the matter, and the secret is uncommonly well kept by the old rector. In the meantime Lady Frances cooks up an intriguing scheme with the old duchess of Malvern, to transfer her son's affections from Emma Lovell to her daughter Lady Katherine Hargrave. Emma is gone into Devonshire with her friend Mrs. Harbottle. Harbottle, after a few months of a reckless system of brutal debauchery, dies, and confesses that he is the murderer of Harvey; not indeed by staining his hand with blood, but so directing him home in the darkness of the night, that he was sure to fall into the deep pit that lay in his path; he confessed that he went home flushed with drunken triumph at his success, gloried of it to his wife, and consequently that she left his house. Lord Weybridge is in a sad dilemma between his two beauties; he can't make up his mind, and at length trifles so long with Emma Lovell's feelings, and certainly behaves so outrageously indecorous, in continuing his avowed flirtation with Lady Katherine, that he receives a dismissal from the rector. Entangled in his mother's web of airy, costly, golden schemes, and yielding to a very blamable facility of temper, he now turns round once more to Lady Katherine, receives her and the duchess into his house, and openly avows his love. Preparations for the nuptials are making, and all is love and ennui, and ennui and love; when lo! both are broken by the arrival of a Mr. Snell, who comes to say that Lord Weybridge must relinquish his title and estates, for that the true heir has been unexpectedly found. This being verified, of course the duchess and her fair daughter order their carriage and quit; and this scene is excellently described. Francis Sheringham resolves to go to sea, and work his way to fortune and independence. Mrs. Harbottle dies of grief, and leaves all her fortune to Emma Lovell. Sheringham receives an invitation from her father, Mr. Lovell, flies to the house, and is accepted by Emma. Lord Weybridge opportunely dies, and our hero is reinstated in his pristine honours. So ends the history of the "Parson's Daughter." There is a Mr. Macgopus, whose character we think rather a failure, being too violently and hardly coloured. Narrative of Facts. By Robert Baxter. 8vo. pp. 155. Two Discourses on the Trial of Spirits. By Rev. H. Blunt. Svo. pp. 70. WHEN a short time ago we touched upon a folly of Continental growth, which needed only to be exposed to become powerless, we certainly did not contemplate being so soon called upon to notice a native malady, wilder, if possible, in its symptons, far more dangerous and extended in its consequences, and involving individuals of exalted characters, both as men and Christians, among the fosterers of its dire apostacy. Rapid, however, as the strides of the disease have been, we had hoped its virulence was wearing out, that its power was on the decline, and that the whole matter was falling fast into that oblivion which must sooner or later compre hend it. It appears, however, from the circumstances under which Mr. Blunt's Discourses were preached, that in this supposition we were premature. We allude to the appearance of the "Tongues" at Park Chapel, Chelsea. Mr. B. proposes three tests whereby to try the spirits; By the written Word of God; By the experience of the church of God; By their own professions. He proves upon the first that the texts cited by these persons in their defence make, when fairly considered, strongly against them, and that the greater number, even of those converted by the immediate imposition of the Apostles, possessed no powers, physically speaking, miraculous. Secondly, he shews that even in the early ages of the Church this heresy was a vulgar one, and quotes powerful passages against its credibility from the most respectable of the Fathers of the church. He shews also, upon the third head, that their inspiration, if inspiration it were, would be at variance, upon very important points, with the inspiration of the Apostles and Prophets of past ages, and with the Scriptures which they have left us for our instruction. With these Discourses our readers will, no doubt, be pleased; they are as terse as is consistent with perspicuity, and plain and straightforward as their author; we ourselves cannot but ap plaud the mild and Christian spirit with which the inquiry is conducted, and we earnestly recommend its perusal to all who, in this schismatic age, are disposed, wisely or unwisely, to enter upon polemics. Before we conclude, we shall examine, as shortly as possible, into the substance of Mr. Baxter's book. Mr. Baxter was a zealous disciple of the Irving school, spoke in the power" as it is called, and had the gift of tongues. After some time, however, he separated himself from them; concluded the whole to be a delusion; and, like an honest man, conceived it his duty to make the whole matter public. He supposes, however, that the power which possessed him was really supernatural, Satan having had an express and extended influence granted on this particular case. Upon this point we are at issue with him. Most of the supernatural interferences related by Mr. Baxter are of a moral or mental nature, such as speaking in "the power,' or in unknown tongues. These and the like claims can alone rest upon the asseverations of the individual; they do not, by themselves, admit of proof; and therefore unless supported, as they always are in Holy writ, by physical miracles, must fall to the ground. The Mahomedans pretend to many such miracles by their Prophet; nor are the St. Simonians a whit behindhand. Thus, Mr. Baxter speaks not unfrequently throughout his book of being compelled by "the power;" of its falling upon him as a supernatural utterance (p. 4); of the secret of his heart being made manifest (p. 6); of inward upliftings; and of being carried out beyond himself in prayer (p. 12); and similar effects, all which, of course, are not proofs of a nature to convince others. Of any thing pretending to be an approach to a physical miracle, there is no instance given. Indeed, the only occurrences to which a se cond individual could have had the means of bearing witness, one way or other, are two. In the first, it was revealed to Mr. Baxter, then about to visit his brother, that he should come out into his garden to meet him, and accordingly the brother did actually come to his garden gate to meet the coach: this, surely, was not very extraordinary. In the other case, Mr. B. spoke in tongues, of which he recognised Latin and French, both of which he appears to have understood previously; and Italian, which his wife recognised; and a fourth language, which she declared to be Spanish. Mr. B. forgets to state whether he had ever studied these latter languages, and he confesses that his wife neither remembered nor was On Pluralities, a third Letter addressed to the Bishop of Llandaff-We have not seen the prior letters of this gentleman; but we do not approve his scheme of abolishing Pluralities, by giving them to the curates. The fact is, if Government will adopt some plan by which livings can be made of fair competent value, there will be no difficulty in doing away with pluralities. Who would not sooner have one living of 4001. a-year, than two of 2001. each? But as the Church has been robbed and beggared by one spoliation, so is she less able to endure another. All taxations of great livings, and Cathedral stalls, is ill disguised robbery and unjust.* The Church has not that in itself sufficient to restore the small vicarages and perpetual curacies to any thing like a competent value; and if they are to remain as they are, and to be held as single livings, why then Tom the tinker, and Pounce the collar-maker, and Ralph the tanner, will hold forth in the pulpits, and "beat their ecclesiastical drums," where solid learning, and good sense, and unaffected piety, and gentlemanlike manners and conduct were before seen. The first question is, is the present ecclesiastical system to be continued in the National Church? If it is, then buy the Tithes and property held by, the laity, and distribute it to the wants of the Church; at that moment pluralities and non-residence will at once expire. Suggestions for a candid Revisal of the Book of Common Prayer. By the Rev. * See the Bishop of Exeter's Charge to his Clergy, in which this point is well urged. able to translate what he spoke in them. But all this is arrant trifling; there is one reason, and it is the only reason worth reciting, why these delusions could not be miracles by Satan. Here are men, many of them to our certain knowledge, living in the daily, almost hourly practice of reading the Scriptures and of prayer. Satan has, we all know, power to tempt them, as he has power to tempt all men, under various and unexpected forms; but can we for a moment suppose, that he has power to poison the spring of all their hopes, and to contaminate the fountain which gushes forth from the "Rock of Ages," and to which we are taught to look for life, health, and immortality? Luke Booker, LL.D. Vicar of Dudley.This calm, temperate, and judicious pamphlet treats of a subject of the highest importance, and of great delicacy, much to our satisfaction. Our beautiful, noble, incomparable Liturgy, has only a few small blemishes to wipe away, to render it as perfect as a human composition can be. Dr. Booker has pointed some of these out; and a few others might be suggested. We highly approve of the Lessons being occasionally varied; we need not say, with care and scrupulous attention. We think some repetitions should be avoided; and that the Morning Service is too long. One disadvantage of which, we will mention; that people hav ing been in church from eleven till half past one, think they have done their duty in having given up so much of the day to religious offices; whereas, if it were shorter, the same people would be more willing to attend a second, or perhaps even a third time at church; and really receive more benefit than by so extended a service at one time. We think if there were short services in our churches every day, the time would come, in better days, that the people would say public prayers daily, and invoke, in a communion of prayer, a public blessing on the labour of their hands. We sincerely hope that this modest, pious, and sensible little book of Dr. Booker's, will not be disregarded in quarters where approbation may be of practical benefit. of genius existing in our language, and it is executed by one whose knowledge of German, whose learning, talent, and taste, have eminently fitted him to perform his task of difficulty with success. He has also had, to facilitate his labour, the communications of some eminent German scholars, both abroad and at home; so that the English reader may now for the first time entertain the hope that he can look through a glass-door at the German Curiosity - chamber within; though he may not be permitted to enter. Lord Leveson Gower's translation is very defective, so as to call down on the noble translator the censures of the sage of Weimar. There are three French traductions, but that language is totally incapable of reflecting the peculiarities of the German; and every Frenchman must cross the Rhine before he can pretend to read Goëthe. Observations on Impediments of Speech, &c. By RICHARD CULL.-This treatise is scientific and satisfactory. Impediments of speech may be classed under the two heads of malformed organs, and functional derangement of perfect organs. In impediments of the voice the defect is in the larynx; and when it is a loss of power over its continence, it will be found to arise from a spasmodic closing of the glottis. Dr. Arnott, to whom the public is indebted for so many skilful, ingenious, and humane inventions to alleviate human sufferings has turned his attention also to the disease of which this work treats, with his usual acumen and singular success. The cures that have been performed by empirics, though performed by chance, have had their use of showing that the disease is within the control of scientific and persevering physiologists. FINE ARTS. PAINTED WINDOW IN KENILWORTH CHURCH. A most splendid window has recently been erected in Kenilworth Church, by the munificence of the Ven. Archdeacon Butler of Shrewsbury. It consists of a series of the undermentioned armorial bearings of noble possessors of Kenilworth Castle, emblazoned on elegant shields, respectively surmounted by the crest or coronet appertaining thereto; the names of the individuals commemorated being placed beneath on a highly-ornamented panel. The arms depicted are: 1. Galfridus de Clintona.-Chequey Or and Azure, a chief Ermine. 2. Simon de Montford.-Gules, a lion rampant, double-queued, Argent. 3. Eadmundus Comes de Lancaster. — Gules, three lions passant gardant Or, on a label of three points Azure, nine fleurs de-lis of the Second. 4. Joannes Dux Lancastriæ.— Arms of Edward III. a label of three points Er mine. 5. Dudley Comes de Leicester.—Or, a lion rampant, double-queued, Vert. 6. Henricus Princeps Walliæ. - The arms of England, a label of three points Argent. 7. Carey Comes de Monmouth.-Argent, on a bend Sable three roses of the First, seeded and barbed Proper. 8. Hyde Comes de Clarendon.- Azure, a chevron between three lozenges Or. 9. Villiers Comes de Clarendon.— Argent, on a cross Gules five escallop shells Or. The upper compartments of the window are filled with the armorial bearings of Alicia Ducissa Dudley, Or, on a lozenge, surmounted by a ducal coronet, a lion rampant, double queued, Vert; impaling, Gules, a cross engrailed Or, in the dexter quarter a lozenge Argent; and the two badges of the house of Leicester-a cinquefoil pierced Ermine; 2d, on a wreath, Or and Vert, a bear Argent, gorged with a plain collar, with a chain affixed thereto and passing over his back, Or, supporting with his fore-feet a ragged staff erect, Argent. At the foot of the window is the inscription |
