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Snatched 'mid thy tuneful life, to sing above!
Earth's guilty echoes dared not answer thee;
(Echoes so oft devote to Passion's voice,
Tuneful indeed, but lawless, and profane. -)'

Art. 36. Poems in the English and Scottish Dialects. By William Ingram. Crown 8vo. pp. 126. Printed at Aberdeen. 1812. These attempts of a rustic bard are uniformly moral: but, in consequence of a circumscribed education, the author mistakes the most trite and common-place-sentiments for new ideas; presenting to his readers the lamentations and reflections of Hermits, Wanderers, and Sages, while, in the simplicity of an uncultivated taste, he strings together a set of cogitations on his own early baldness,' which border on the ludicrous. His poems in the Scotish dialect, however, possess sufficient spirit and pleasantry to remind us sometimes of his great model and countryman, Burns.

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Art. 37. Retrospection, a Poem in Familiar Verse, by Richard Cumberland. 4to. 10s. 6d. Boards. Nicol and Son. 1811. We envy not the men who can read the poem of Retrospection' with any other feelings than those of sympathy and sorrow. We remember nothing on the present occasion, creditable as many of his other works are, but the author of the West Indian, of the Translalations from the Greek Fragments, and of the whole of the Observer. He is gone; and whom has he left behind him of equal interest in the Scholar's appreciation, as a general friend to literature, and as a succesful writer in many kinds of composition? For our own part, we think that the following passage has an irresistible charm: - Yes, who can hear the valued contemporary and associate of Johnson, of Burke, of Goldsmith, Garrick, Soame Jenyns, &c. &c. who can hear such a man as Cumberland uttering the following lines without attention and respect?

Yes, ye departed worthies! I have mourn'd
For all, and some have followed to the grave.
When Garrick was surrender'd to the dust
I stood by Johnson, and beheld the tears

Roll down his reverend cheeks; and Oh! beware,
All ye who knew him not, how ye decide
Upon a heart with charity replete

And human kindness, tho' with brow austere
And stern rebuke sometimes he would reprove
The vanities and vices of mankind,' &c. &c,

Doubtless, we could find much to condemn in Retrospection,' if we set ourselves severely to the work of criticism; but one of the last (perhaps the last of the old school of English Classics, if we consider his better performances,) of our long-known favourites is gone, and we can wish him nothing

"But all good titles on his tomb imprest,

And a green covering, and an easy rest.”

CLASSICS

CLASSIC S.

Art. 38. P. Virgilii Maronis Bucolica. Crown 8vo. 139. Boards, plain, or 18s. coloured. Mackinlay. 1810. This well-printed volume contains the text of Virgil's Eclogues; with notes, explanatory, and occasionally critical. It offers also a literal prose-translation of the text, and concludes with twenty-four engravings of plants mentioned in the Eclogues. These are prettily executed; and indeed we can recommend the whole volume to the juvenile scholar; or to that numerous class of readers who, in their advanced age, are desirous of retrieving the "little Latin and less Greek" of their youth. To the lovers of those simple pleasures, also, which the union of classical pursuits with gardening and botany never fails to impart, the book will be an acceptable present; and as a more portable companion for their country walk than Martin's Bucolics, it may perhaps obtain at times the distinguished favour of superseding that interesting edition. The real scholar, however, will certainly not derive much benefit either from this version or its illustrations :-nay, he will, in spite of himself, be provoked to an undignified smile when he reads such "a-doing-into-English" of " Prima Syracosio," &c. as the following:

Our muse Thalia first stooped to the Sicilian strain, nor blushed to inhabit the woods. When I sung of Kings and wars, Apollo plucked my ear, and admonished me. Tityrus, it behoves a shepherd to feed his fat sheep, and sing an humbler lay.' page 81. Art. 39. Cicero de Senectute et de Amicitia, from the Text of Ernesti, with all his Notes and Citations from his Index Latinitatis Ciceronianæ; with the Explanations of various Passages from Gesner's Latin Thesaurus, and from Books of more recent Date, as well as from Grævius and all the Commentators cited by him; with Quotations from Palairet's Latin Ellipses; and much original Matter' both critical and explanatory; Facciolati's Notes, and a New Collation is (are) added: And an Appendix, in which will be found Remarks on the Origin of the Latin Conjunctions and Prepositions; also some curious Matter on the affinity of different Languages, Oriental and Northern, to the Latin; including two on the Origin and the Extinction of the Latin Tongue, communicated to the Author by the Rev. R. Patrick, Vicar of Sculcoates, Huli. By E.H. Barker, of Trinity College, Cambridge. 12mo. Longman and Co. 1811.

Such a Table of Contents in a title-page will amply inform our readers as to the nature of the multifarious duodecimo here offered to the youthful scholar. It certainly may be used with advantage by boys in the middle classes of our public schools: but, we confess, we think that the former part of it, consisting of extracts from the commentaries of approved critics, and from dictionaries of established reputa tion, is far more valuable than the subjoined appendix by the Vicar of Sculcoates. Not that this gentleman, in his Two Essays on the Origin and Extinction of the Latin Language, has omitted to ransack the writings of previous philologers, or has presented us with scanty informa tion on his peculiar and interesting subjects: but he has digested his

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materials in a careless and imperfect manner. He commences his first Essay in so very loose a style, that he would excite a suspicion, in any person who was deterred by such an opening from perusing the whole Essay, of his want of sufficient acquaintance with the matters which he is discussing. As he proceeds, the candid reader will be induced to attribute to carelessness, rather than to ignorance, such a sentence as the following: From Plautus, Phædrus, and Terence to the remote age of Tacitus and of Lactantius in the year 306,' &c. &c. Assuredly this is one of the most extraordinary chronological classifications (or synchronisms) that we ever witnessed; and we are not better pleased with such a mode of quoting Horace as this: Bu, as Horace observes, Verborum non, aternus honos et gratia vivax, mortalia facta peribunt.' We know not what copy of the "Ars Poetica" the vicar of Sculcoates uses: but if he trusted to memory, memory should have prompted

"Mortalia facta peribunt,

"Nedum sermonum stet honos, et gratia vivax."

Mr. Barker's original matter in this school-book reflects considerable credit on him as an industrious and observant scholar. We could point out sundry exceptions to this remark: but we shall be satisfied with generally admonishing Mr. B. to cut out all irrelevant matter from his little volume, should it arrive, as we hope it will, at a second edition; and especially to be careful in correcting errors of the press, which in the first treatise (De Senectute) we have observed to be too prevalent. We again recommend the work to the attention of the instructors of youth.

POLITICS.

Art. 40. A Letter to Wm. Roscoe, Esq., occasioned by his Letter to Henry Brougham, Esq., M. P., on the Subject of Parliamentary Reform. By John Merritt. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Longman and Co. 1812.

Sentiments as diametrically opposite to each other as the two poles are held by different persons, respecting the present constitution and operation of the House of Commons. Some maintain that it is radically vicious in its formation, that it is corrupted in the exercise of its powers, and that the greatest evils of the country have arisen from its not being a fair representation of the people. Under this persuasion, they stand forwards the strenuous asserters of the necessity of a Parliamentary Reform. Others, however, meet them with views and arguments of a directly contrary nature; contending that, though we may have departed from the letter and spirit of the original theory of the constitution, in the structure and management of the Modern House of Commons, and though we may declaim against its corruption, it is found in practice to be exactly what it ought to be; and that the reform in the representation, contemplated by some persons as a blessing "most devoutly to be wished," would be productive of the most serious mischief, if not a total subversion of the existing government. Mr. Merritt belongs to the latter class. He is the warm panegyrist of the existing system, and deprecates a recurrence to theory and speculation, when experience has marked out a sure line

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of conduct. We are reminded by him that in politics especially this paradox may be regarded as established truth, that "what is speculatively true may be practically false;" and if he does not adopt the cant-abuse against philosophy, he seems to intimate that philosophy or pure reasoning tends rather to mislead than to benefit us in practical politics, which can never be brought to square with the notions of moral and dispassionate men.

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Mr. M.'s doctrine is that matters, on the whole, are such as they ought to be; that the present mode of sending members to the Lower House returns to it that proportion of wealth, rank, office, and talent' which ought to prevail in that assembly; that what is termed corruption is a management absolutely necessary to give the Monarchy its preponderance in the representative body; that there is a kind of charm or talismanic operation by which the Monarchy, Aris. tocracy, and Democracy are made to move in harmonious combina tion ; and that we ought to be very cautious of disturbing a machine which has been found by practice to go extremely well, notwithstanding the heterogeneous elements of which it is composed. It is asserted that an independent House of Commons, in its present plenitude of power, is not compatible with the integrity of the British Constitution; and it is contended that the House of Commons, by assuming the power of the purse, has, in fact, nearly swallowed up the other branches of the Constitution, and obliged the Monarchy and the Aristocracy to join this "tiers état :" so that the House of Commons is the arena on which the contests and struggles of the three estates are in future to be exhibited.' Hence a new language. becomes necessary, and we are told that the King, Lords, and Commons now unite in choosing the representatives of the people.' (is not this assertion made in the Tipperary style?) They join in the deliberations of the House of Commons when assembled in Parlia ment; and the votes of that House, which commonly fix the destinies of the nation, express the consent of King, Lords, and Commons.' According to Mr. M., the whole of the Legislature is concentrated in the Lower House; and he thinks that, at no period since the conquest, have the Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy, of which the British consititution is compounded, so well preserved their due equipoise as during the present reign.'

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Yet, strange to say, while Mr. M. is an ardent advocate for our political system, as at present in practice, while he thinks that the influence and management displayed in the House of Commons are essential to the balance of power, and necessary for the preservation of the Monarchy, - he concedes to Mr. Roscoe that some sort of reform is necessary; and he allows that, on certain occasions, (he instances the vote on the Walcheren expedition,) a degree of courtinfluence seems to manifest itself in the Commons' House, which, if it should continue to increase, would threaten, at no distant period, to annihilate the chief uses of the Lower House as a deliberative body,' With this concession, we should suppose that Mr. Roscoe will be satisfied; and he stands in no need of any hints from us respecting the use that he may make of it. After all Mr. M.'s admissions, it may fairly be questioned whether the uses of the Lower House, as a deliberative

deliberative body, have not been already greatly impaired, we will not say annihilated; because the argument does not require us to suppose an extreme case. This gentleman may state the matter in sober seriousness: but can he seriously talk of the representatives of the people being chosen by the King and the Nobles? The Monarchy and the Aristocracy constitute two distinct estates of the legislature; and if they also preponderate by their influence in the third estate, where is the supposed balance which is effected by the representation of the people? Mr. M.'s views may be fashionable, but they appear to us to contain a sort of libel on the constitution. If it be a truth well known to practical men, that the House of Commons must be managed, (vulgarly termed corrupted,) before Government can proceed with strength and security; and if all public measures are decided, previously to their being brought before it, of what advantage is it as a deliberative assembly; and would it not be wise, as a mem ber is said once to have proposed, to vote first and debate afterward? All subordinate inquiries respecting the modes of election are lost in the grand question, how far ought the House of Commons to act as a counter-balance against the other two estates? If its independence can only be nominal, and ought only to be nominal, we destroy every idea of its being a popular representation; it then becomes merely an engine of the Crown, and the people pay dearly for a phantom. Might we not go farther, and say that, in this case, the House would resemble Macbeth's witches, "speaking the word of promise to the ear and breaking it to our hopes?" Such an account of our practical constitution is very objectionable in a moral point of view, since it tends to destroy every principle of honour and integrity in our public men. It tells the members of the House of Commons, that they must never consult their own consciences, nor the good of the people. On the supposition, for we must here argue only hypothetically, that the Monarchy and the Aristocracy have a decided ascendency in the Lower House, can it be said that the representatives of the people hold the public purse? Will a retrospect of its history, from the commencement of the American war, justify the notion that, as guardians of this public purse, it has honourably discharged its functions? Mr. M. acknowleges that, for some years past, the number of placemen in the Lower House is become evidently too great;' and he thinks that a motion to that effect would in time acquire a powerful support.' What would the ministry, after having obtained a convenient influence by the aid of placemen, and found this influence essential to the system, vote for a thinning of the ranks of this obsequious legion; or would the placemen themselves consent to their own exclusion? A long time must elapse before our politicians will act so impoliticly!

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Conspicuous as is the ingenuity with which Mr. M. has argued his side of the question, he has not in our judgment disproved the necessity of some reform in the mode of returning members; nor can we admit that such a reform would produce no improvement in the representative body itself.' If the House was differently constituted, the quantum of influence exerted in it would necessarily be different. We shall not, however, pursue the subject in this place. It is pleasing to perceive that both the parties are now disposed to discuss the

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