glad to be confirmed by Jussieu, in my idea of affinity between the thea and the citrus aurantium; which, however, is of a class much more naturally distinct in its fructification from both than the myrtus and thea from each other; being of the polyadelphia. This serves prove, however, that the thea does partake of the natural habit and character of the myrti and of the aurantia; and as I said, perhaps not improperly, that it seems to form an intermediate between

the two.

to

I am obliged to your correspondent Theiphilus, who I doubt not is a better botanist than I pretend to be: but can hardly be a greater lover of plants.

The difference between opposite and alternate leaves, he will allow me to remark (and those of the thea, are not very regularly alternate) will not exclude plants thus distinguished from the same Linnæan genus, though it may constitute a specific difference. In this I think we are not likely to have any controversy. At the same time, this minor difference becomes of more consequence, when other circumstances, and those of more characteristic difference, concur with it. I am obliged, with your other readers who are fond of plants, by his remarks on the superior hardiness of the thea viridis. Mine is the bobea, and continues in good health, with the very pleasing light verdure of its fresh foliage. I have not yet ventured to expose it to the cold winds.

I will not take exceptions to the analogy of the signature; though if it relates to the plant, and not to a religious import, the i can hardly have place, and it would be difficult to find a correct and unambiguous form. Theophilus seems to be right: as Musophilus. But it would be still the same ambiguity. Troston, April 9, 1809.

Your's, &c.

CAPEL LOFFT. P.S. If I have been a little out of my latitude in this instance, Theiphilus has given much proof, and very agreeably, that polite. ness, candour, and agreeable manners, with knowledge and information, are within his. I had rather have such censure than praise, such as it is often given.

The Camellia I find placed in the 16th

class the monadelphia, a distinction which appears as considerable as the difference between the icosandra, and the polyandra. Yet I will not deny a considerable affinity between think it the thea and the camellia; for exists.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,
OR

several years past I have had it in
contemplation to propose the form-
ation of a society, for the abolition of
cruelty to animals, and have mentioned
the subject to several friends, who are
eager to see so necessary and practicable
a measure carried into execution. I shall
not expatiate here upon the various abuses,
to which domesticated animals are sub-
jected; unfortunately they are too notori
ous; but shall only for the present observe,
that in busy commercial towns, the most
obvious (as they daily obtrude on the ob-
servation) are the overloading of cart-hor-
ses, and the consequent violence too often
used, to enforce the performance of un-
reasonable tasks imposed upon these use-
ful and noble animals, by the most har-
dened ruffians. Fortunately, this species
of abuse is cognizable by our laws, and I
am happy to bear testimony from experi-
ence, of the promptitude which the ma
gistrates of this place have shewn, in
fining the carters, upon information; but
at the same time sorry to express my con-
viction, that, for one delinquent thus pu-
nished, fifty, or perhaps a hundred, es-
cape. The immediate object therefore
of the society proposed, would be to cor-
rect those shameful practices, as the most
flagrant and the most easily detected:
but the good must not rest here, every
species of wanton cruelty to animals
should be investigated, and followed by
such punishment as the law allows; and
this brings me to the immediate object
of my present letter, which is, to request
that some of your numerous correspon
deuts, who think the subject worthy of
the serious consideration of rational be-
ings, will favour me, through the medium
of your useful publication, with some in-
formation of the law respecting the
wantonly abusing animals; and refer to
books where the subject is treated of, or
say how far magistrates are empowered
to pass bye-laws on this subject, where
the law of the land fails, to reach the
case. I hope at some future period to
explain the plan more fully; but in the
mean time shall feel particularly obliged
by any hints, tending to its progress; and

have little doubt but some humane and
intelligent correspondent will think the
Liverpool, Your's, &c.
subject not beneath his notice.
January, 1809.

E. SMITH.

MEMOIRS

MEMOIRS AND REMAINS OF EMINENT PERSONS.

ACCOUNT OF THE LATE MRS. HANNAII COWLEY.

N the 11th of last March, died at Tiverton, Devonshire, the place of her nativity, in the 66th year of her age, Mrs. Hannah Cowley, an authoress, who may be justly said to have been celebrated in every walk of the drama, and in every measure of poetry.

This lady was the daughter of the late Mr. Parkhurst, also of Tiverton; a gentleman as universally respected and esteemed, for his learning and probity, as for a peculiar flow of humour, which enlivened his conversation: Mrs. Cowley's genius, may in some respects be considered as hereditary, her grandmother by the father's side having been first cousin to the celebrated poet Gay, by whom she was held in such high estimation, that he passed a considerable portion of his time, at her house in Barnstaple.

In addition to his other qualifications, Mr. Parkhurst had attained a proficiency in classical literature, which gained him the reputation of having been an excellent scholar.

Under such a tutor, was the genius of our authoress inspired and cultivated; and she presented him in return with the first fruits of her Muse, by prefixing his name to the poem of the Maid of Arragon, in a dedication, which evinced at once the fire of youthful genius, and the genuine effusions of filial gratitude.

Mrs. Cowley's first dramatic Coup Essai, was the comedy of the Runaway: this play, produced in March, 1776, was the last new piece brought out by Mr. Garrick, previous to his resigning the management of Drury-lane theatre.

The first act of this play, verbatim, as it now stands, is said to have been produced one morning before dinner; it met the encouragement of her husband, who wished to see it finished: it was accordingly completed in a fortnight, and transmitted to Mr. Garrick, at his then residence, at Hampton-court.

produced to the fair authoress eight hundred guineas.

Her next effort in the drama, in point of composition (though not of representation), was (the tragedy of Albine, which was brought out by Mr. Colman, at his summer theatre in the Haymarket, on the 30th of July, 1779: the farce of "Who's the Dupe," was performed at Drury-lane, in the month of April preceding, and it was received with that applause, which whenever performed, it now never fails to obtain.

This comedy which was so favourably received, that it first introduced the practice, of what in dramatic phraseology, is termed "Running Plays:" was performed a successive number of nights, with distinguished applause, and we may jude what must have been the receipts of the treasury of the theatre, when it

The Belles Stratagem, came out at Covent-garden, in February, 1780, and it was received with such loud and boundless acclamation, that it had the honour of being patronized by the queen, before whom it was performed once every season, for twenty years after its first appearance.

This Play, when published, was by express permission dedicated to her Majesty.

Stimulated by her favourable reception with the public, Mrs. Cowley continued to cultivate her acquaintance with the dramatic Muses, and the Belles Stratagem was successively followed by the comedies of "Which is the Man," "A Bold Stroke for a Husband,” &c.

The limits of this article will not permit us to dwell upon the merits of several beautiful pieces of fugitive poetry; such as her specimens in imitation of Cowley, Monologue on the Death of Chatterton, the verses occasioned by Lady Manners's Ode to Solitude, (which produced an intimacy between the two ladies), her poem, entitled, Edwina, inserted in a late His tory of Cumberland, with some beautiful little poems, which appeared in the newspapers of the day, and which raised newspaper poetry to an eminence it had Dever before attained; we proceed to notice her flights in the higher regions of epic poetry.

Her productions in this line, which have yet been published, are the Maid of Arragon, the Scottish Village, and the Siege of Acre.

The poems, which we have above alluded to abound with beautiful and glowing imagery; but in critical justice it must here be admitted, that amidst the most luxuriant descrip tions, and the most smooth and ele gant numbers, we find inequalities, which prove that our fair authoress had

been

been more intent upon seizing the pictures
of those images, which in the euthusiasm
of genius crowded upon her mind, than
in polishing what she had written.
This objection, indeed, may be applied
to most of her poems, and those passages
which abound in animated, and impres-
sive imagery, throw into stronger contrast
the few lines which appear inharmonious
and prosaic.

It must still, however, be allowed, notwithstanding these objections, that nothing can exceed the charms of the poetry, in many of the passages; thus in the Maid of Arragon, the Old Arragonian King, the Fair Osmida, the Moorish Prince, and the French De Couci, are so many distinct portraits, coloured by the vivid pen of genius; whilst in the tragedy of Albina, the characters of Old Westmoreland and Gondibert, are por trayed in the grandest style, and display an intimate acquaintance with the age of chivalry.

The wonderful facility of this lady's pen, and the rapidity with which (if we may be allowed the term) the flashes of her genius were transferred to her paper, is not less remarkable than the strength and variety of its powers; her productions, indeed, from that sprightliness and ease, by which they are characterized, exhibit those spontaneous coruscations of genius, which all the laboured exertions of art must despair to accomplish.

Ipse volens facilisque sequetur, Si te Fata vocant; aliter non viribus ullis Viacere, nec duro poteris convellere ferro.

In all the walks of the legitimate drama, Mrs. Cowley has left ample specimens, to entitle her to rank with the first dramatic authors of the day. Scorning to attempt ephemeral fame, to administer to the perverted taste of the times, to court the acclamation of the galleries, and implore the aid of the grimacer, the painter, or the machinist, Mrs. Cowley, like the veteran Cumberland, has never deserted those banners of legitimate comedy, under which she first enlisted.

Equally at home in the sublime and pathetic, as in the humorous, she entered at once into the feelings of a hero, or a monarch, with as much success as into those of a slopseller, or a coquette. Doiley, in the farce of, Who's the Dupe, is perhaps unrivalled on the stage; whilst Gradus, Doricourt, Flutter, Hardy, Lord Sparkle, and the Pendragons, are

all distinct, and highly coloured portraits.

We must also here, in justice to departed merit, notice her peculiar excellence in colouring the female character, for proof of this we can safely rest our appeal to her Miss Hardy in the Belles Stratagem, and Olivia in the Bold Stroke for a Husband.

The last hurried effort of this lady's pen, was in unison with the excellence of her heart; it was a little poem in aid of benevolence; an act of charity to one who moved in the humble sphere of sexton of the parish, and whose little property had been swallowed up by the late floods.

This little poem gives a pathetic pic ture of the poor man's efforts, whilst his cottage was overwhelmed; describes his losses; and delicately claims attention towards one, whose pride was in conflict with his poverty; one whose situation claimed that assistance, which he could not bring himself directly to beg.

From her habits, Mrs. Cowley might truly be termed a most disinterested votary of the Muses; her pen was not guided by mercenary views: she wrote merely for the pleasure she felt in writing. The poem of the Siege of Acre, was given to a respectable bookseller, who asked for it: she reserved none of her manuscripts, nor did she wait to correct them: thus her newspaper poetry was written and sent off, frequently within four and twenty hours after the event which had given birth to it.

Her dramatic habits, had given a dramatic hue to all her compositions, and we find her occasionally assuming a fictitious signature, and answering or addressing some love-sick youth, or de spairing maid, where existence to her was merely ideal.

In this lady's conversation, (and the writer of this article has had the pleasure of having been occasionally present) there was nothing of that proud superiority which persons, possibly of more learning, but less genius, sometimes assume to awe and intimidate: easy and affable in her manners; it was ever Mrs. Cowley's endeavour to raise to a level with herself, those whose timidity would have placed below it.

Sometimes, indeed, she would enliven the topic under discussion with some sprightly sallies; but these were bright without being dazzling, the spontaneous effusions of genius, ema

Sides, a comedy, 1803. 18. The Vindictive Man, a comedy, 1806.

Mr. Holcroft also exercised his talent with advantage to his reputation, in the Novels of Anna St. Ives, published 1792, and Hugh Trevor, published 1794. He also produced a third novel, entitled, Brian Perdue, in the year 1807.

The public is further indebted to the pen of Mr. Holcroft, for many translations. 1. The Private Life of Voltaire, 12:no. 2. The Memoirs of Baron Trenck, in 3 vols. 12mo. 3. The Secret History of the Court of Berlin, by the Count de Mirabeau, 2 vols. 8vo. 4. Tales of the Castle, by Madame de Genlis, vols. 12mo. 5. The Posthumous Works of Frederic II. King of Prussia, 13 vols. 8vo. 6. An Abridged Display of the Physiognomy of Lavater, 3 large

vols. 8vo.

The great action of the life of Mr. Holcroft, was undoubtedly his voluntary surrender to the indictment for high treason, preferred against him in the autumn of the year 1794. Few persons can now doubt, that if Mr. Pitt's administration had succeeded, at that time, in bringing to capital punishment the twelve persons, many of them not personally known to each other, who were then wantonly and wickedly included in one indictment, the constitution and liberties of England would have been destroyed; and as few persons will refuse to confess that the voluntary surrender of one of the parties, after the grand jury had decided that they should be tried for their lives, was a great and impressive demonstra tion of conscious innocence, and was the first event, which concurring with many

fortunate circumstances, after the two houses of parliament had voted that there was a conspiracy, and had thus prejudged the accused, saved our country from de struction of the worst sort, on that me~ morable occasion.

Mr. Holcroft spent the principal part. of the years 1799, 1800, and 1801, in Germany and France, and the observations collected by him, in his travels, were afterwards published by him in two volumes, quarto.

He died at his house in Clipstonestreet, Marybone, on the 23d of March. The surviving wife of Mr. Holcroft, is the niece of the celebrated Mercier, author of the Tableau de Paris, and a member of the French legislature.

By this lady Mr. Holcroft has left six young children, the eldest of whom is only nine years of age: these children are unprovided for: but it fortunately happens that their mother, and the unmarried daughter of Mr. Holcroft by a former marriage, a young lady well known for her literary and musical accomplishments, are in many respects singularly well qualified to undertake the management of a school; a task in which, for the support of these six children, they are desirous to engage. A subscription has generously been set on foot for the purpose of supplying them with a sufficient fund to enable them to commence this undertaking, and contributions are received at the bank of Messrs. Marsh and Co. Berners-street, London, where the arrangements for applying the monies to the intended purpose, may be seen, and reference made to the particular friends of the deceased.

Extracts from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters.

[Communications to this Article are always thankfully received.]