thing of course, nor was it unreasonable to expect that, in the absence of the means of vindication, a little personal abuse might be substituted for argument. But what has ensued was hardly to be expected, namely, that because Mr Brougham happens to be in opposition, the Report of the Committee, of which he was the chairman, should be treated by the supporters of Ministers, as if it were a question of party polítics; and every nerve be strained to overthrow the evidence on which it rests. With the exception of a few passages in the Let ter, drawn from him by the fate of the Bill which he introduced in pursuance of that Report, there does not appear a trace of political hostility throughout all the proceedings in which he took so deep a concern. It would require very strong evidence to induce an impartial person to believe that Government could wish to protect the abuses of charitable funds; but if such should happen to be the case, it deserves to be remarked, that they would not want able and zealous defenders. The last number of the Quarterly Review affords a melancholy evidence of this. The writer of an article in that Journal, on the Education Committee, has filled eighty of its pages with all manner of insinuation and abuse, even the late House of Commons itself not escaping with impunity, and has forgot nothing that could serve his purpose of holding up the Committee, and particularly its chairman, to the censure of the pubke, except only to point out any material error in Mr Brougham's Letter, or the Minutes of Evidence on which his statements are founded. So much industry and perverted ingenuity,So many strong prejudices,-so great a display of irritated and even vindictive feeling,-in short, such a disregard of principle, will not easily be found, even in the Quarterly Review, within a space of twice the extent of this ample dissertation. Only about a fourth part of it bears upon the instances of abuses noticed in Mr Brougham's Letter; the rest is chief ly occupied with the national church, national schools, that is, schools exclusively for the children of Church of England parents;-the illustrious seminaries of education in England, Northern Critics, and other standing topics of applause or vituperation; with a plentiful seasoning, as usual, of inuendos and personalities. The only point of the slightest importance on which the Committee seem to be assailable is, that they went somewhat farther in their investigation than their original purpose may be thought to have required. But of how little value is a question of this kind, when placed beside the important facts which were by this means disclosed, and the unspeakable benefits which their discovery ought to produce? If the Committee exceeded their powers, let them bear the blame; but surely this will neither be admitted as an excuse for the misapplication of funds which every conscientious man will hold sacred, nor be urged as a reason for declining further investigation. It is a melancholy thing to see men of talents animated with a spirit that wants only the arm of power to deal out persecution to all who differ from themselves, either in religion or politics;-men who attack or defend measures, not because they are good or bad, but because they originate with one or other of our great political parties;-men whose estimate, even of such works as do not touch upon public affairs, is deeply tinged' with the spirit of party. No rank, nor sect, nor profession, nor private virtues, nor public services, not even the weaker sex, must be allowed to escape. But what great delinquent have they ever helped to drag to light, what abuses have they ever joined the public voice in condemning,-what measures of liberal policy have they ever recommended; or rather, in which of the conquests which justice or humanity has achieved of late, from the abolition of the slave trade down to the inspection of our gaols, can the Quarterly Reviewers claim any share? Let Spanish America bear witness to their hatred of tyranny; the continent of Europe will supply materials for deciding as to their love of constitutional liberty; and if it should ever be made a question, whether their religious principles be as liberal as their political, the Catholics of Ireland will join with the Dissenters of England in declaring, that the weight of a feather thrown into either scale would make the other kick the beam. L. March 1, 1819. CURSORY REMARKS ON POETS AND POETRY. ; The pausing mind, awake, THE LEAFLESS TREE. for the paraphrases of his Parish Register. Since we have entered on the subject of poetry, we shall make a few cursory observations on what has been sometimes denominated the poetical constitution, and sometimes the temperament of genius. In the first place, we set out by declaring ourselves utterly hostile to the doctrines inculcated by Johnson and Helvetius, that there is no such thing as superiIT is curious that scarcely two au- ority of judgment, or imagination, in thors agree in their definitions of persons endowed with a mind naturalPoetry, while no two men of taste will y vigorous; and that such, consemistake it, when it is actually served quently, would be equally successful, up to them. However, though the in any of the various departments of question has been a hundred times human knowledge, in art or science, agitated, and canvassed, and settled, to which they allotted an equal share or supposed to be settled, it is one in of attention. On the other hand, truth of speculation and curiosity a- however, we have as little wish to be lone-a matter of moonshine. It classed among the dupes to the fascicannot influence, in the smallest de- nating speciousness of German craniogree, our comprehension of its excel- logy; nor do we believe, with Locke, lence, or increase our susceptibility to that the infant mind may be likened the beauties of composition. The poet to a sheet of white paper. The latter himself, though he possesses the fa- doctrine has been sufficiently confutculty, and delights others by his ex- ed already, and the former is not ercise of it, is as ignorant wherein it worth confuting: it carries its mark consists, as that man is destitute of on the forehead. Moreover, we have musical ear, who cannot distinguish no intention to enter into any philcbetween the tones of a bagpipe, and sophical consideration of the subject; those of a Cremona violin. As a proof because philosophy coincides with of this, Burns, and Chatterton, and facts, when it is true; but must be Kirke White, lisped in numbers; and false, when it runs counter to them; Pope wrote some fine verses, and fan- and one contrary example will overcied himself the greatest poet that turn a thousand gilded theories and ever lived, before he ever thought of specious hypotheses. We shall conframing an art of criticism, or of tent ourselves for the present with trying excellence by a regulated stand- making a few interrogatories, instead ard. The great mass of readers, or, in of laying down corollaries. How does other words," the reading public," it happen, that one child, in particuhave no other end or aim but amuse- lar circumstances, will show a prediment; so that will ever be the more lection for certain amusements, and popular poetry, which excites the be constantly occupied with certain greater number of pleasurable sensa- trains of thought, while others, extions, directly, or by association. actly or nearly in the same situation, Were success to be attained, and lau- and of the same natural temperament, rels distributed, in the direct ratio of show dispositions directly opposite, the poet's conformance or digressions and tendencies of mind wholly dissifrom the rules laid down, and the milar? Would a young person, who principles inculcated by Aristotle, showed a strong disposition for abHorace, Vida, Boileau, Pope, and struse study and deep calculation, be Roscommon, it would be somewhat an equal adept, by time and attention, puzzling to account for the manner in in the delineation of natural objects, which Southey gained fame from or in pourtraying the changes of soThalaba, or Scott from the Lay of the ciety in taking a portrait of "the Last Minstrel, or Byron from the times, their form and pressure," and Siege of Corinth, or Moore from Lal-"catching the manners living as they lah Rookh; while Gifford was, in the rise?" Would Crabbe be equally same age, collecting admirers for the successful in descriptions of FairyMaeviad and Baeviad; and Crabbe land; or would Hogg ever rival him in the severe truth of actual observation? With all his predilection for metaphysics, has Coleridge been as happy in abstruse speculation as in poetry; or, will his discovery of the difference between fancy and imagination procure him as much admiration as the ballad of the "Ancient Mariner," or the "Introduction to the tale of the Dark Ladye?" All these questions, we think, we could take upon us to answer, without much hazard of deviating far from the truth. Though we deny that the various faculties that combine to constitute mind are all equally strong by nature, or could be rendered so by art and industry, we think it is quite obvious, that they may be individually strengthened and improved by frequent and free exercise. It would be as impossible for any man, however great his powers, however much his attention, however vivid his enthusiasm, and however splendid his imagination, to become a great poet at once, from mere admiration of the most exquisite models, without long and laborious training, as it would be for a connoisseur of paintings, who had never handled a pencil, or wasted a thought on the combination of colours for the production of light and shade, to rival Angelo, or Rubens, or Raphael. Nothing, in short, appears to us more evident, however critics may sneer, and philosophers may frown,-than the old adage, "Poeta nascitur." But though this be our opinion, we by no means wish to inculcate the pernicious doctrine, that a poet has no need of exerting his powers and enlarging the storehouse of his thoughts; or that he will attain eminence and be crowned with success, if he sits down, with folded arins, in apathy and indolence. Some there are who would never become poets, though they were to spend the days of the years of Methusalah in repeated efforts; and yet no man ever became a great poet without indefatigable industry, and unwearied exercise of his powers. Unless the soil be of itself fertile, and unless seed be thrown into it, it is vain for the husbandman to depend on the produce of harvest; and even when both these requisites are conjoined, the grain may be choked by the weeds, or blasted by the mildew. The gradual advance to perfection must be owing to the natural expan sion of the faculties, as the mind approximates maturity, conjoined with the auxiliary aids of study and actual observation. Let the reader contrast Lord Byron's juvenile verses on a Tear, in the earliest of his publications, with the lyrical pieces woven into Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and he will be astonished at the metamorphosis a few years is capable of producing in a mind naturally gifted, and will be struck with surprise at the rapidity of the intellectual march of genius, and will perceive the evident developement of the "capacious powers that lie folded up in man." We are doubtful whether it be altogether decorous to make mention of a volume which the author himself seems to wish to be forgotten; but there is one piece in it so exquisitely beautiful, that we earnestly hope it may be retouched, and adopted into the collection of the legitimate works of the noble author. We cannot resist the opportunity of making an extract from it, which we think breathes all the melancholy and tender pathos of his more matured effusions. Yet all this giddy waste of years, This tiresome round of palling pleasures; These varied loves, these matron fears, These thoughtless strains to passion's measures; If thou wert mine, all had been huh'd, This cheek now pale with early riot, With passion's hectic ne'er had flush'd, But bloom'd in calm domestic quiet. Yes, once the rural scene was sweet; For nature seem'd to smile before thee; And once my heart abhor'd deceit ; For then it beat but to adore thee; But now I seek for other joys, To think would drive my soul to mad ness; In thoughtless throngs, and empty noise, In spite of every vain endeavour; To know that thou art lost for ever. This progressive improvement is discernible and distinct, even in those whom we have been pleased to denominate illiterate. Compare the earliest of Burns's productions, as given by Dr Currie, with the efforts of his ripened genius. Contrast it with "the Winter Night," where the poet, extended on his lonely couch, listens to the lashing of the rain, and the conflict of the elements, and heaves a sigh of compassion for the wretched outcasts, who have not a roof to shelter them" from seasons such as these!" Contrast it with "the Vision," where the bard sits by his hearth to muse on wasted time, and then turns to dream over the glories of his future destiny; or contrast it with the "Elegy on Mary," where the blessedness of the past is opposed to the misery of the present, and the lonely twilight of the soul, with the splendour of its meridian sunshine. Contrast that with these, and the mind will be scrupulous in believing that they are the efforts of the pen, or the effusions of the same spirit. There is also a time, when the faculties seem to have reached the zenith of their glory, and the ultimatum of their expansion, where the mind exults in its own vigour, and the spirit has attained its " pride of place." The judgment becomes stationary in the splendour of its maturity, and the upward flight of imagination cannot be further extended, unless there were a possibility of turning the thoughts into another channel. None of the later works of Scott can be considered as superior to Marmion, or the Lady of the Lake; nor has Campbell ever excelled the earliest of his efforts;-an effort which makes us proud to rank ourselves among his countrymen; and which is not more remarkable for the splendour of genius it displays, than for the purity of the principles which it incul cates. If we wish to be aware how much weight the influence of an original genius has in impressing the age in which he lives, we need only observe, how many inferior spirits chuckle at his success, and underrate his efforts, yet ape his manners, and imitate his sentiments, with the hope of being partakers in the glory he has acquired. They are astonished at the obtuseness of the public to their own excellencies, and never remember, that a field submitted to the sickle for a second time, in one season, will afford but a scanty supply for the granary. These cannot proceed along unless they find a path levelled for them; genius makes one for itself, and despises to tread in the steps of its predecessors. With the hero who produced them, these innovations die away in their turns, to give place to others; but like changes rung on the same bells, or fluctuations of the intensity of the hues in the rainbow, these are only aberrations of taste, for the satisfaction of the emotion of novelty; and not dependent on an alteration of the principle itself: A century ago, and Pope lorded it, with his followers, over the literary world. All was then drawing-room finery, and toilette description, and epigrammatic smartness. The air of the country was too strong and fresh to be respired by their weak lungs; and it was quite enough to survey nature from the bow-windows of a city residence. Parnell has, indeed, some fine night pieces, nor is Gay awanting in some exquisite touches of nature. None of them were hardy enough, however, to drink of "the pure well of English undefiled;" or to copy manliness, freshness, and profundity, from the glorious Herculean models of the age of Elizabeth. After a chequered "era of good and evil," Goldsmith took the lyre into his hand, and brought out tones truer to nature; and struck on a chord, that found, and finds an answer in every bosom. cannot think very highly of the poetry of Johnson. His versification is, no doubt, chaste, elegant, and correct, yet, "soul is wanting there;" and, if we find little to censure, we find less to admire: It has few faults, and still fewer beauties. We feel less in the open air with the azure sky for our covering, than in a hot-house, with a glazed roof above us. We do not respire the pure air of Helicon. The blossoms are pretty enough, but they' want the robust healthiness of unassisted nature. His lyrical pieces are peculiarly of this stamp, and have an assumed kind of pert, artificial, stiff, anacreontic merriment about them, which is far from having the effect intended, and is liker dying jests than ebullient mirth; and savours more of the doleful cantata of Morris, when under the influence of bodily and mental perturbation, than of Cymon, in the tale of Iphigenia, who We "Whistled as he went, for want of thought." Cowper was the conductor of the great revolution which has taken place in the poetical department of British literature; though Thomson disseminated many of the principles which led to the change. In "the Seasons," and in" The Castle of Indolence," there are many symptoms of a return to the dominion of nature: But, it seems rather like the longings of an exile for the natale solum-the land of his nativity, than as an actual re-establishment in it. Cowper is the exile returned, he walks out in his own fields, and feeds his tame hares, and reads the newspapers, with the hissing urn on the table, and the lares and penates on each side of the chimney-piece. D. M. 2. If ony inevitable necessity draw him away a whole day, or the great pairt of it, he shall not fail to have some other in his absence to teach the scholars, and keep them in order. 3. If it shall happen that the master have necessary business to with hold him longer nor the space of one day, he shall acquaint the session therewith, or at least the minister if the haste of the business cannot admit delay till the session meet, that he may obtene liberty thereto. 4. Let the childer in the months of October, November, December, Januar, Februar, meet in the morning at the sun-rising, and be dismissed at the sun-setting at nicht, except some younger anes, or those who are farthest distant from the school, of whom some consideration most be had. All the lave of the year let the hour of gathering in the morning be seven o'clock, and the hour of skailing six; and such as learn Latin sould always prevent the rest a pretty space. 5. Let the scholars gae to breakfast at nine hours, and convene again at ten, to denner likewise at twelve, and return at one afternune, so near as may be, for whilk purpose their maun be a sand-glass to measure the hours. 6. Let the master pray gravely and religiously every morning before the scholars at their first meeting, and so at even before he dismiss them. 7. Let a task be prescrived every morning to ilka scholar in the Lord's Prayer, Belief, Commands, Graces, or Chatechism, according to their age and progress, whilk let them say every morning before they enter to their ordinar lesson. 8. It most be carefully attended to, that the scholars be present at the sermons on the Lord's day, that they sit round about the master silent, hearkening modestly and reverently, and have in readiness what they have observed to say on Maunonday morning, at whilk time, as also on ilka Saturday before they goe heme, the master sould spend ane half hour at least opening up to them the grounds of religion. 9. They wha learn Latin most have a prufe of that whilk they have learned before to say every morning, whilk being accurately examined, let their lessons in author and grammar, if they be that far advanced, be taucht, and what difficulty occurs in them, let it be pointed out to them; let the pairts of their lesson whereof they are to be examined be tauld them, whether belonging to etymology, or syntax in the author, and whatever is to them obscure in the grammar. 10. Let them expone their lesson, and confer of the parts thereof among themselves till nine hours,-when they enter at ten hours, let the master hear them expone their author and grammar, so much of the author as he may overtake, let it be examined at the same time, and what he misses then let him overtake at ane in the afternoon, that when they are to give an account of their lesson, there be nae mare to examine but the grammer. Let them get a theme to turn |