MERTON HALL, NORFOLK, N.E. To the Right Honte Baron Walsingham. this Plate is humbly inscribed by M.D. Duffield. THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE: AND HISTORICAL CHRONICLE. FROM JULY TO DECEMBER, 1825. 138. VOLUME XCV. (BEING THE EIGHTEENTH OF A NEW SERIES.) PRINTED BY JOHN NICHOLS AND SON, 25, PARLIAMENT-STREET; WHERE LETTERS ARE PARTICULARLY REQUESTED TO BE SENT, POST-PAID ; AND SOLD BY JOHN HARRIS, AT THE CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, LUDGATE STREET; To SYLVANUS URBAN, GENT. ON COMPLETING HIS XCyth VOLUME. HAIL, veteran Sage! whose years have reach'd the span Still may fresh laurels crown thy deathless name, Through London's streets when sounds of mourning past When the black cart in dire array was led, And the hoarse bellman summon'd forth the dead, And see where follows, in procession slow, The glories of their Sovereign's sway rehearse. And Memphian piles, unfaithful to their trust, PREFACE. THIS is our Ninety-fifth Annual Address. In the short period of four years the Gentleman's Magazine will enter the second centenary of its existence. Amidst all the changes which have transpired in the literary world, during this extended period, the venerable Sylvanus has pursued the same even tenor of his way. Whilst rivalry of the most powerful character has constantly appeared in the literary arena, and contemporary Publications innumerable have been driven from the field, Sylvanus Urban has stood immoveable as towering Atlas, when warring elements play around his head, and foaming oceans break their billows at his feet. The Literature of England was perhaps never more varied, or more extensively diffused, than during the past year. It was once considered necessary for a person to be a Student before he became an Author; but now all such preliminary steps are considered superfluous, if we are to judge from the melange of professions with which Authorship is crowded. Every individual who can scribble a paragraph, assumes the character of an Author, Compiler, or Editor: this probably accounts for the ephemeral inundation of cheap periodical or twopenny works of the early part of the current year; and perhaps for the countless volumes of useless trash with which we have been deluged.-From the Army, we have two gallant Colonels directing editorial assaults on each other, in the columns of their own weekly journals. From the Navy, we have a Purser standing forth as the high-priest of modern Hellenistic learning, and a Lieutenant emblazoning the columns of every newspaper, as the oracle of Booksellers in biographical and genealogical lore,-tenet__insanabile multos scribendi cacoëthes. In the new Literary Institutions, every individual who imagines himself capable of giving an opinion on any department of literature, assumes the important office of a Lecturer. Thus one offers to enlighten the world on Heraldry— another on Topography-and a third, assuming the title of Doctor, to teach Latin by lecturing! risum teneatis? But what is still more extraordinary, if we are to rely on the statements of the Hamiltonian Professors, the learned languages are taught, as it were, by a steam-engine power, without the necessity of the ' teacher understanding them himself! The political horizon of Europe, fortunately, was never more auspicious than at the present time; but on the Continent, however, there appears a constant fermentation in every department of literature-a perpetual struggle with Governments and the pressand in many instances native talent is paralyzed. Two grand parties possess the field-one supporting the old monarchical principles of the Monkish ages, and the other advocating liberal ideas and the march of the human intellect. Under the latter, which is the popular banner, we find America, England, the Netherlands, and the great mass of Germany. France (says the Courier Francais) must be added to this party, the administration of which floats between the two: for one it made war on Spain, and for the other recognised the independence of Hayti; it has given the law of indemnity to the ancient Nobility, and the law of sacrilege to the Clergy, allowing the representative forms to subsist, as indispensable to the satisfaction of the middle classes. The Holy Alliance has under its banners, Russia, Austria, and the Prussian Government, the high Catholic party in Spain, and the counterrevolutionary faction in France. With respect to the political relations of the New States of Central and South America, several of them have already establish their constitutions on a solid basis, and are rapidly advana prosperity. Adverting to our Domestic Policy, the greatest part of the last year has passed in the calm enjoyment of that prosperity which has resulted from the judicious measures of his Majesty's present Ministers. The finances have progressively ameliorated, and taxes to a large amount have been repealed. Bills have been passed for removing various restrictions on Commerce, and otherwise relaxing our Prohibitory Laws. By the Colonial Intercourse Bill, our Colonies have been rendered, like an English county, an integral part of the empire-a measure of the first importance. The consolidation and amendment of the Jury Laws has also been effected, and the grand modifications of Weights and Measures will be of permanent advantage.-Great attention has been paid to Ireland, and not without beneficial results. The currency of England and that country has been assimilated.-The disturbances excited in the Sister Island, at the opening of the year, by the factious measures of the Catholic Association, have been repressed, and their recurrence effectually prevented, principally by means of a Bill interdicting all Associations calculated to produce irritation. Some angry polemical discussions, arising out of these and other events, have also subsided.-Just as this year of brightness was drawing to a close, a dark shadow suddenly threw itself across our political horizon, and we had the mortification to witness the sun of our commercial prosperity undergo an awful, but merely a momentary eclipse. There is even ground for indulging a hope, that in consequence of the precautions to which the late singular panic in the Money-market has given rise, and the impressive lesson it has afforded to the mercantile part of the community, our trade will henceforth be established on a firmer basis than ever. Dec. 31, 1825. LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS.-Wood Engravings marked thus *. Paintings in Westminster Abbey...303. 305 .........585 |