Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][ocr errors]

It is impossible not to admire the audacious humbuggery of the Shepherd in the foregoing passage. But no matter; let him proceed :

"I must begin by disclosing to you the main fountain from whence all your errors and failings derive their source: it is a false and defective education. It is peculiarly unfortunate for you that at an early period of life the qualities which make you agreeable are quite of a different kind from those which are afterwards necessary to the discharge of your most important duties. The period of the few years between the girl and the woman is the most important one of your whole life: it is that period which frequently gives the character its peculiar tone and bias. And in which way is it spent? O, my dears! I must leave your own guilty consciences to answer that ques

tion.

Among the minute practical hints with which our preacher winds up this striking discourse, we are particularly delighted with the following:

"KEEP THE SABBATH. Do not be seen flying about with gentlemen in gigs and carriages, nor walking and giggling in the fields; for such behaviour is lightsome, and highly disreputable. Attend Divine service once every Sunday at least, even though your minister should be a bore, as too many of them are, repeating the same monotonous sentences from day to day, and from year to year. Still, it is your duty to attend Divine worship, to join in praise and prayer with the community of Christians to whom you belong, and listen, reverently and attentively, to the word preached, as you know not whence a blessing may come, or when it may light.

"But as the attendance on Divine service takes up but a small portion of the day, in directing your studies for the remainder of it I am rather at a loss. I cannot insist on your reading of sermons, not even my own, for I never could do it myself, except Sterne's and Boston's, the two greatest opposites in nature. The BIBLE is by far the most inexhaustible book in the world, even laying aside its Divine origin altogether. For its great antiquity, simplicity of narrative, splendour of poetry, and wise and holy injunc

tions, there is no work once to be compared with it; therefore, by all means, read your Bible, and attend to all the ordinances of Christianity; for it is beautiful and becoming to see a young person attending reverently upon these, and can scarcely fail to make her more acceptable both with God and man. Therefore attend diligently on the ordinances of religion, and read your Bible,—all save the book of Leviticus, which I always make my own children leave out. The study of the Jewish ceremonial law can be of no benefit to any one, but least of all to a young lady. I wish that book had been cancelled from the Holy Scriptures; for there are many of the injunctions so disgusting, that they cannot be read even by men.'

In his sermon "On Good Breeding," the accomplished Shepherd, who must henceforth be considered as the Castiglione as well as Corydon of Yarrow, introduces some remarks on the personal peculiarities of his friends and acquaintance, which cannot fail to be highly interesting and instructive to all concerned. We observe that most of these gems have been already largely circulated in the newspapers, but still we cannot deny to our own pages the advantage of recording a few of such

rare ornaments:

"The pride of rank, or of understanding, may lurk under the grave countenance; and the vanity of displaying excellence may produce severe and contradictory remarks: but such people may be assured, that if they cannot lay aside these defects in their character, they had better mever mingle in the society of their friends, for they will only render themselves more and more disagreeable.

"I am sorry to make the remark, but for the sake of truth must do it, that I have generally found the ministers of the Gospel most at fault in this respect. They are so accustomed to harangue others without any contradiction, that when they come into mixed societies they cannot bear it, and too frequently grow dogmatical. I have the greatest veneration for that class of society, but must caution them against that too general failing. There are two extremes always to be carefully avoided; levity, which is too forward to please; and severity, which imposes unnecessary restraint. I have met with many almost intolerant instances of this in Scotland; and isolated country clergymen are more apt to be affected by this failing than those of a great city. In the latter, the constant friction of society has ground off all the asperities; and yet I know of

some almost unbrookable instances of this character in Edinburgh, and of firstrate gentlemen too.

"I found the society of London quite different; and how it should have happened with me, I know not; for I mixed freely with all sorts of respectable society; but I never met with an overweening character, either among the clergy or laity. Croly is, perhaps, a little too apt to take the lead in conversation; but then he is so exceedingly intelligent, that one is always both pleased and edified. Hood, from whom I expected a continued volley of wit, is a modest, retiring character. Reynolds more brilliant. Hook altogether inimitable, either for fun or drinking. Martin as simple in his manners as a shepherd's boy. Cruikshanks stately and solemn. But I could go over a thousand in the same way, in most of whom I was disappointed, though often most agreeably. Among the nobility and gentry I felt myself most at home, and most at my ease of all. There was no straining for superiority there. Every gentleman and lady came apparently to be pleased, and they were pleased with every thing, whether said or sung. The impression left on my mind by mingling with the first society of London, is that of perfection, and what I would just wish society to be."

"I must always regard the society of London as the pink of what I have seen in the world. I met with most of the literary ladies, and confess that I liked them better than the blue-stockings of Edinburgh. Their general information is not superior to that of their northern sisters, perhaps it may be said that it is less determined; but, then, they never assume so much. The society of London that I mixed with is, as I have said before, just such a model as I would always desire to see. There was no wrangling; none whatever; not even on political creeds. They intermixed all in the most perfect harmony; and if such a thing as the different sides chanced to be mentioned, it was by way of joke. Mr. Holmes was, however, a very arbitrary gentleman among them, but a fellow of infinite good humour."

We have not the advantage of knowing all the persons here characterised, but we are sure Hogg had met with some body of the name of Cruikshank, quite different from our excellent friend of Middleton Terrace, Pentonville, the inimitable GEORGE; who is indeed, when contemplated across the pit of the Opera, a "stately and solemn' looking Don enough: but at the social

board exhibits all the life, fun, and hilarity that one would expect from the exquisite creations of his pencil. There is, we believe, some inferior artist about town of the same, or nearly the same, name; but George Cruikshank, if the shepherd had really met with him, must have made a charming impression on his congenial mind. Who the Reynolds that Hogg talks of can be we are at a loss to guess. The melo-dramatist of that name has, we believe, been for some years rather more dead than Sir Joshua. By Martin, does he mean the painter of Babylon, or the incendiary of York, or Betty? If the “Mr. Holmes” he speaks of be our friend the ex-whipper-in, the Shepherd had encountered him in some extraordinary phasis. A more jolly, goodhumoured, unarbitrary fellow, than Billy Holmes, it has rarely been our fortune to crack a bottle withal. We appeal to Downie of Appin!

We are quite at fault as to the heroines whom the Shepherd introduces with such unwonted delicacy of dashes at page 71.

[ocr errors][merged small]

66

We must now conclude, and it shall be by quoting from Hogg's sixth sermon on reason and instinct" a beautiful passage on the language of birds and beasts -a passage which would have done honour to any White of Selborne, or Jesse of Hampton Court, among them all.

"That animals have each a language of their own to one another, there can be no doubt. I know a good deal of their languages myself. I know by the voice of the raven when he has discovered one of my flock dead-I know also his prelude to the storm and to fine weather. The moorfowls can call one another from hill to hill. I learned to imitate their language so closely, that I could have brought scores of them within the range of my shot of a morning. The blackcock has a call, too, which brings all his motley mates around him, but the females have no call. They are a set of subordinate beings, like the wives of a nabob. They dare not even incubate upon the same hill with their haughty lords. But the partridge, and every mountain-bird, have

a language to each other, and though rather circumscribed, it is perfectly understood, and, as Wordsworth says, "not to me unknown." Even the stupid and silly barn-door hen, when the falcon appears, can, by one single alarm-note, make all her chickens hide in a moment. Every hen tells you when she has laid her egg; and, lest it should not be well enough heard or understood, the cock exerts the whole power of his lungs in divulging the important secret. The black-faced ewe, on the approach of a fox or a dog, utters a whistle through her nostrils which alarms all her comrades, and immediately puts them upon the look-out. Not one of them will take another bite until they discover whence the danger is approaching. If the dog be with a man, sundry of them utter a certain bleat, which I know well but cannot describe, and begin feeding again. If the dog is by himself, they are more afraid of him than any other animal, and you will then hear the whistle repeated through the whole glen.

"But the acuteness of the sheep's ear surpasses all things in nature that I know of. A ewe will distinguish her own lamb's bleat among a thousand all braying at the same time, and making a noise a thousand times louder than the singing of psalms at a Cameronian sacrament in the fields, where thousands are congregated, and that is no joke neither. Besides, the distinguishment of voice is perfectly reciprocal between the ewe and lamb, who, amid the deafening sound, run to meet one another. There are few things have ever amused me more than a sheep-shearing, and then the sport continues the whole day. We put the flock into a fold, set out all the lambs to the hill, and then set out the ewes to them as they are shorn. The moment that a lamb hears its dam's voice, it rushes from the crowd to meet her; but instead of finding the rough, wellclad, comfortable mamma, which it left an hour, or a few hours ago, it meets a poor naked shriveling, a most deplorablelooking creature. It wheels about, and uttering a loud tremulous bleat of perfect despair, flies from the frightful vision. The mother's voice arrests its flight--it returns-flies, and returns again, gene-rally for ten or a dozen times before the reconcilement is fairly made up."

We ought certainly to string together a few of Hogg's deep sayings, so profusely scattered over those of his sermous that have not supplied us with any lengthened quotations; but our limits are exhausted. The one on the text" It is better to marry than burn,' affords, however, several maxims wor

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

MAXIM IX.

"The shopkeepers' wives about the west-end of London are but a loose set too many of them: so are the bluestockings, almost without exception; but, luckily, they are generally made-up, painted, old creatures, not fit for close inspection."-Ibid. p. 382.

MAXIM X.

"I would advise a judge's lady, unless he be a very frail old hody, to travel the circuit along with his lordship; indeed, for that matter, even ministers' wives, if they have any sense, will accompany their husbands when they go in to attend the General Assembly."— Ibid. p. 390.

The above decalogue appears so rich in matter of reflection, that we shall not disturb its impression by any addition.

Vivant Rex et REGINA! Amen.

P.S.-Hogg being, in our opinion, the greatest genius that Scotland has ever produced, we were rather mortified by a report which reached us, a few weeks ago, that he had condescended to undertake a Life of Mr. Robert Burns, and an annotated edition of that person's poetical works; but just as we had finished the above (it will be allowed pains-taking) article on the Shepherd's sermons, the first number of his Burns came to hand, and we have the satisfaction of announcing, that the execution of this specimen quite satisfies us as to two desirable and important points. First, that Hogg has a complete contempt for Burns; and secondly, that Hogg has almost as lofty an opinion of the Ettrick Shepherd as even our own warm partiality could have wished to see him expressing on such an occasion. The cool nonchalance with which the new editor disposes of some of the most (vulgarly) popular of the Ayrshire Radical's ballads is, to ourselves, critically and morally, "quite refreshing;" and we are mistaken if the upshot be not that James Hogg will entirely and for ever upset Robert Burns. We must give one or two examples of what we consider the happiest body of annotation that has as yet adorned any one of these "Life and Works" concerns, now so much in vogue.

8vo.

Of the Cotter's Saturday Night, theu, Hogg succinctly says:

66

Taking all his poems and songs together, this famous COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT Scarcely reaches a mediocrity of the whole. It is a dull, heavy, lifeless poem!!!"-Hogg's Burns, vol. i. p. 128.

The Shepherd's sentence on the Halloween is equally concise and satisfactory:

"I never can help regarding this as rather a trivial poem!!!!!!"—Ibid. vol. i. p. 91.

Mr. Hogg is equally candid in aunouncing the judgment of his own refined taste as to the Scotch Drink of Burns:

"This is one of our bard's early pieces, and does not rank very high. Some of the stanzas are rather rough spun!!!!!!!!!"-Ibid. vol. i. p. 9.

But perhaps the most pregnant indication of our editor's feeling and animus altogether occurs in a note ou the Address to the Deil, where, after shewing that the word cootie, in

"Spairges about the brimstane cootie To scaud poor wretches,"

is " a word made for the rhyme, and has NO MEANING WHATEVER," Hogg adds:

"But I dare only make remarks, not alter. If I had the power, I WOULD ALTER OFTEN!!! !!! !!! !!! !!!"— Ibid. vol. i. p. 53.

What a pity that Mesrrs. Fullarton and Co. of Glasgow had not given Hogg "the power to alter!" In that case we are inclined to think he might really have made something good out of Burns. Under the present unfortunate restrictions, he has only been able to "make remarks," which must indeed eventually damn the reputation of Burns; but which will at least save the name of that overpraised (and hitherto misconstrued) poetaster from being entirely forgotten by the next generation. The prose of Hogg will, at all events, secure for Burns that species of immortality which Mr. Sergeant Bettesworth owes to the rhyme of Swift. Well done, Messrs. Fullarton and Co. of Glasgow!

* Life and Works of Robert Burns. By the Ettrick Shepherd. Vol. I., small Glasgow, 1834. Fullarton.

MEN AND MANNERS.

A SERIES OF SATIRES.

BY PIERCE PUNGENT.

Argument.-Pierce Pungent here, per saltem, reaches at once to Juvenal's fifteenth satire, in which the Roman satirist so powerfully ridiculed the sottish and ferocious bigotry of the nations. With rare, if not with equal power, the English poet pursues the bigotry of these revolutionary times throughout its various changes- Atheism, Infidelity, Republicanism, and Sectarianism of all kinds, both in Church and State. Earl Grey is doomed to becoming (and sure-coming) contempt. The hastening manumission of the Sovereign Will of the realm from Whig despotism and treachery is foretold with confidence. The poet also takes a retrospect of the Church of Rome, viewing it on the better side, philosophically. The Genius of Protestantism is finely personified, and the merits of the Church of England justly asserted. The vial of wrath is finally poured out on the Cant of Liberalism, and the (so called) Spirit of the Age. OLIVER YORKE.

SATIRE V.

WHO knows not, Lord of Dovedale, all the pranks
Played by the slavish freedom-loving Franks?
Divinest Nature worshipt as their god

A naked harlot, rank with emerod

And French corruption, throned in regal state,
The all-receiving and regenerate

Huckstress of demon-favours. Hark! the song

Of freedom bursting from the frantic throng!

France worshipt her while Whiglings worshipt France,
And future rebels sunned them in her glance.
Unhallowed Fox, and our Fox-apeing Grey,
Bowed down in worship: years have past away,
And Fox has paid his debt- but Grey remains,
To spread French poison through our English veins.
Fond, fond old man! the bartered and the sold-
Lover of fame, but lover more of gold,
Whose fame is infamy, whose wealth is dirt,
Rebellion's paramour and Fortune's flirt!
Consigned to everlasting shame the mock,
The scorn and by word of his mangy flock!
The old belwether of the wretched train
Who follow him, as once they followed Paine !
Thinks he that England is subdued by him

--

Our story done - - our page of glory dim?

Can he expunge, whate'er he say or do,

The day of Trafalgar or Waterloo?

"He loves our Church!" Yes, as when Dagon fell

In presence of the ark, and many a yell

For Heaven-inflicted deaths was heard around,
Philistia loved her scourge! Fast-fettered, bound
By hard necessity, compelled to hate

The last sole bulwark of the tottering state,

He loves the Church! Oh! worse than Eli's sons,
The downward course the would-be statist runs!
Like them he stabs his country, and, like them,
Robs her of Faith, the nation's safeguard gem,
Lets in the foe, and points them to the prey ;
They died in harness - he would skulk away!
Go to thy dust, thy marble monument
Thy last of days in Treason's service spent ;
Proclaimed a patriot-as a statesman hailed!
But, by those arts which have at last prevailed,

« PreviousContinue »