eradicating those ridiculous Fears, which the ignorant, the weak, and the superstitious, are but too apt to encourage, for want of properly examining into the Causes of such absurd Impositions. By Joseph Taylor. 12mo. pp. 223. 58. Boards. Lackington and Co. 1814 Ghosts, goblins, and hobgoblins have had their day: but now faith in preternatural beings is so generally undermined, that the very existence of the Devil himself is called in question. Yet some fragments of superstitions credulity still remain; and the stories of the nursery make a more permanent impression on common minds than philosophers are apt to suppose. Mr. Taylor's book is intitled to a favourable reception; his motive is good; and the plan which he has adopted is probably better fitted to answer the intended purpose than any other that he could have selected. The circumstances which gave rise to this little entertaining work are thus explained in the Introduction: In the early part of my life, having read many books in favour of ghosts and spectral appearances, the recollection remained so strong in my mind, that, for years after, the dread of phantoms bore irresistible sway. This dread continued till about my twenty-third year, when the following simple affair fully convinced me, how neces sary it was thoroughly to investigate every thing that tended to supernatural agency, lest idle fear should gain a total ascendancy over my mind. One About this period, I had apartments in a large old-fashioned country mansion. From my bed-chamber was a secret door leading to a private staircase, which communicated with some of the lower rooms. This door was fastened both within and without; consequently all fear of intrusion from that quarter was entirely removed. However, at times, I could not help ruminating on the mal-practices that might have been committed by evil-disposed persons, through this communication; and "busy meddling fancy" was fertile in conjuring up imaginary horrors. Every thing, however, was quiet, and agreeable to my wishes for some months after my arrival. moonlight night, in the month of June, I retired to my bed, full of thought, and slept soundly till about one o'clock, when I awoke, and discovered, by the help of the moon which shone full in my room, a tall figure in white, with arms extended, at the foot of my bed. Fear and astonishment overpowered me for a few seconds; I gazed on it with terror, and was afraid to move. At length I had courage to take a second peep at this disturber of my rest, and still continued much alarmed, and irresolute how to act. I hesitated whether to speak to the figure, or alarm the family. The first idea I considered as a dangerous act of heroism, the latter, as a risk of being laughed at, should the subject of my story not prove supernatural. Therefore, after taking a third view of the phantom, I mustered up all my resolution, jumped out of bed, and boldly went up to the figure, grasped it round and round, and found it incorporeal. I then looked at it again, and felt it again; when, reader, judge of my astonishment this ghostly spectre proved to be nothing more than a large new flannel dressing-gown which had been sent me home in the course of the the day, and which had been hung on some pegs against the wainscot at the foot of my bed. One arm accidentally crossed two or three of the adjoining pegs, and the other was nearly parallel by coming in contact with some article of furniture which stood near. Now the mystery was developed-this dreadful hobgoblin, which a few minutes before I began to think was an aerial being, or sprite, and must have gained admission either through the key-hole, or under the door, turned out to be my own garment. I smiled at my groundless fears, was pleased with my resolution, returned light-hearted to my bed, and moralized nearly the whole of the night on the simplicity of a great part of mankind in being so credulous as to believe every idle tale, or conceive every noise to be a spectre, without first duly examining into causes. This very trifling accident was of great service to me as I travelled enward through life. Similar circumstances transpired. Screams, and shades, I encountered; which always, upon due investigation, ended in "trifles light as air." Nor did the good end here. My story circulated, and put other young men upon the alert, to guard against like impositions. They likewise imparted to me their ghostly encounters, and those I thought deserving of record I always committed to writing; and, as many of them are well authenticated facts, and both instructive and amusing, they form a part of the volume now presented to the public. The other stories are selected from history, and respectable publications; forming in the whole, I hope, an antidote against a too credulous belief in every village tale, or old gossip's story.' Though Mr. Taylor is a determined enemy of the ghost-mongers; he begs to have it understood that he does not call in question the power of the Deity to work miracles, nor set his face against all apparitional record; he only aims at laughing ridiculous credulity and fear out of the world. An Essay on Ghosts, in which the admirable remarks of Addison are inserted, forms a suitable preface to this collection of stories; which are well chosen, and offer a fund of amusement that is cheap at the price of five shillings. By putting such a book as this into the hands of children, parents will more effectually guard their minds against weak credulity than by grave philosophic admonition. Art. 30. Small Literary Patchwork: or a Collection of Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose and Verse, written on various Occasions, chiefly on moral and interesting Subjects. By Anne Clarke, a Lover of her Country. Second Edition. 12mo. 7s. 6d. Boards. Nichols, Son, and Bentley. While Mrs. Clarke asserts her claim to public notice as an author, she would avail herself of all the indulgence due to the ladies, by prescribing to us this rule: "Laugh where you must; be candid where you can ;” • But let a Woman's page find patronage from Man.' This Lover of her Country is also a lover of that which makes the mare to go, and seems to have had golden visions while she was constructing her Literary Patchwork. She talks of earning or turning a penny, penny, and of being remunerated for the wear and tear of her wit: but it never has occurred to her that with authors, as with other traders, two ways of turning a penny are experienced, viz. the turning a penny into the pocket, and the turning a penny out of the pocket. We fear that Mrs. Clarke's mode will be the latter. In no other way can we serve her than by avoiding to give our opinion of her compositions, and by desiring her to accept of our best compliments instead of a review of her verse: for we would not hurt the feelings of a lady who styles herself (see p.77. note) a poor insulted, unprotected plebeian. The biographical sketch which Mrs. Clarke gives of her father manifests much amiable affection, and may on the whole be a tolerably correct portrait: but it possesses not sufficient interest for publication; and when to her parent's ghost, whom she conjures up for the purpose of objecting to the vanity of this exposure, she replies, with the apothecary in Romeo and Juliet, "My poverty but not my will consents," we tremble for her, lest the motive for publication should meet with disappointment. Art. 31. The Christian Soldier. Preached to the Regiment of Renfrew Militia at Bridge-street-Chapel, in Bristol, 24th October. 1813. By Samuel Lowel. 8vo. IS. Williams and Son. A short advertisement states that the regiment of Renfrew militia, being almost to a man natives of Scotland and members of the Kirk, and preferring the mode of worship in Bridge-street-chapel as nearly resembling that of their own church, requested and obtained permission to attend there on Sundays as their fixed place of worship; and it is pleasing to add that Mr. Lowel bears honourable testimony to them as devout soldiers.' The sentiments and language of this address are adapted to a military audience; and, as the natives of Scotland, by means of their parochial schools, have their minds early imbued with religious principles, they are capable of deriving benefit from the exhortations of the Christian minister; who, it is therefore reasonable to hope, in this instance, did not preach in vain. Art. 32. A Funeral Sermon on the Downfall of Buonaparte's Dynasty: a Discourse preached on Thursday, July 7th, 1814, the Day appointed for the General Thanksgiving. 8vo. Underwood. The merry mourner, to whom we are indebted for this funeral diseourse on the political death of Bonaparte, does not obey the old maxim, de mortuis, &c. but, on the other hand, endeavours to hold up the fallen tyrant to the execration of mankind. How does he rejoice that Europe drinks no more the cup of oppression, and that the time is at last come when the successful murderer was "to be weighed in the balance and to be found wanting!" Resembling other pulpit-orators, he depicts the character of Bonaparte in colours of the deepest tints; concluding with reflections calculated to harmonize with our national exultation, and to inspire national gratitude to the GREAT DISPOSER. Art. Art. 33. Peace the real Interest of every Human Being: an Address, delivered at Brighton, July 7. 1814, being the Day appointed for Thanksgiving on Account of the Re-establishment of Peace, &c. By John Evans, A.M. 8vo. Sherwood Is. 6d. and Co. Mr. Evans, who loses no opportunity for printing a single sermon, has availed himself of the Thanksgiving-day, even though he was at a watering-place, and has taken, moreover, a Greek motto from Luke ii. 14., and a quotation from Dr. Watts's Songs for Children*. Of the latter, we shall say no more than that it is beneath the dignity of the pulpit but we must observe on the former, viz. the motto, (E EIPHNH,) that, though short, it is not quite appropriate; since peace is not yet restored either to our land or to the earth. It is mere justice, however, to observe on behalf of this preacher that he is throughout animated by the best feelings, and delivers sentiments worthy of the patriot, the philanthropist, and the Christian.. His soul is harrowed up by recollections of the evils of war; he, therefore, hails in anima ing strains the blessings of peace, as favourable to human happiness and moral glory; and he anticipates the approach of "Reason to its manhood," when, under the benignant influence of Christianity, the pacific will take place of the military spirit. It is consoling to catch at such hopes: but alas! neither antient history nor modern experience justifies sanguine expectations of this kind. A wicked wight, arguing in support of Hobbes's doctrine that the state of nature was a state of war, chose also to quote the passage from Watts's songs to children which Mr. Evans has inserted in his sermon: but, to mark his opinion of the poetry, and to turn it, bad as it was, to his own account, he eked out the couplet with an addendum of the same quality, thus: Let dogs delight to bark and bite, For God has made them so ;" And God made man to snarl and fight go. CORRESPONDENCE. We owe our best thanks to B. P. and shall endeavour always to merit similar confidence. J. D. is received, and shall be considered: but he must be aware that he comes before us under suspicious circumstances as to the interest which he takes in the tract in question. R. X. is requested to allow us to adopt his negative alternative. The Appendix to Vol. Ixxiv. of the M. R. was published with the last Number, and contained FOREIGN LITERATURE, with the General Title, Table of Contents, and Index for the Volume. THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For NOVEMBER, 1814. ART. I. Ancient Drama. - Old English Plays; being a Selection from the early Dramatic Writers. Volumes I. and II. 8vo. Martin. 1814. THE HE preface to the second edition of Dodsley's Collection of old Plays (1780) concludes with these words: . "To those who may be dissatisfied with the manner in which this work is conducted, the editor can only say, that the undertaking appeared to him much easier before he engaged in it, than he found afterwards in its progress through the press. He might safely rely on the candour of those who have experienced the trouble and difficulty attending such performances as the present; and to those who have not, could wish to address himself in the words of one who had, says the gentleman who quotes him, long laboured in the province of editorial drudgery; and who thus appeals to the judgment and benevolence of the reader: "If thou wert ever an editor of such books, thou wilt have some compassion on my failings, being sensible of the toil of such sort of creatures; and, if thou art not yet an editor, I beg truce of thee till thou art one before thou censurest my endeavours." On such principles, we might perhaps be accused of having, on a late occasion, dealt rather hardly with the editor of one of our early dramatic poets, whom we certainly imagined ourselves compelled to censure as wholly and in every respect unfit for the office which he had undertaken *: but the lapse of five-andthirty years, of research and industry unparalleled, has raised the qualifications while it has smoothed the labours of such an editor; and, without exacting so much critical taste or minuteness as to discourage from undertakings of this nature those who are really competent, it appears to us to be one of the duties of our office to remind those whom we find engaged in them, from time to time, of what is reasonably to be expected and required at their hands. It is almost superfluous to state to our readers that the collec tions of Dodsley and Hawkins are very far from having supplied the vacuum in our old English literature, which arises from the extreme scarcity of all the early printed editions of plays acted before the Restoration. Mr. Garrick's library, (now in the See Weber's edit. of Ford, M. R. for March and April, 1812. VOL. LXXV. Q British |