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ON A RAINY-DAY.

Fair Nature in tears,
More lovely appears,
As seeming to borrow

Fresh charms from her sorrow;
Behold her lamenting,

Thus bitterly venting,
For ev'ry mishap,
For every flaw,

For every gap,

That saddens her law.'

THE FLOWERET IN JUNE.

As the flow'ret in June

So is man in his prime;
Ah! that perishes soon!
E'en so short is his time.
See his blossom of youth!
Fall away in the Sun;
Ripe to reason and truth

See he drops, and life's done!'

Again, in a sort of dythyrambus, or rhapsody of verses ex cessively long and excessively short, we encounter the following noisy

words:

The vestibule reverb'd his wrath
So thunder tells the lightning's scath;
Words could ill restrain his ire,
Rage involves the soul in fire.
To calm his anger,

Call not reason;
The trumpet's clangor

More in season;

Music alone can quell his rage,

Music the fatal storm assuage.

CHORUS.

· To calm his anger

Call not reason;
The trumpet's clangor

More in season;

Music alone can quell his rage,

Music the fatal storm assuage."

Sin Down, Down, Down, Derry Down!

Art. 23. Sir Hornbook; or Childe Launcelot's Expedition; a Grammatico-Allegorical Ballad. Pocket 4to. Is. 6d.

and Hailes.

1814.

Sharpe

This little poem is not sufficiently plain to be substituted for the first pages of an English Grammar, but it is written with spirit, and it will both exercise and reward the ingenuity of its young readers.

Art

Art. 24. No Popery! George Gordon's Ghost; Catholic Emancipation; the Papists' Petition; the Prince Regent's Reply; the Middle Course; and other Poems. By Harry Hornet, Esq. 4to. 58. Eaton.

The gentleman who here assumes the name of Harry Hornet would have us suppose that his poetry carries a sting in its tail; and the advocates for bigotry and intolerance may probably feel the sharpness of his goad, though no poison be injected into the wound. He inlists his muse on the side of Catholic emancipation, and in alexandrine stanzas pleads for liberal policy: but his verse is deficient in several respects, and will not be fully tolerated even by the warmest lovers of toleration. The very first line is sadly lame:

In George Third fifty-second, what prescience e'er reckon'd?"" Indeed, this line is not English, and some of its brethren are in the same predicament.

• The Papists' Petition' contains the following stanzas:

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O! grant us "Catholic Emancipation ;"

Let Freedom's charter" be to all unfurl'd!

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Shall form, whose union may defy the world!”

Nor zealots heed, who seek, to dash our hope,
Thy facile mind of danger to convince !
Tho' as our church's head-

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we own the Pope,
Our Liege, and Country's head, we hail our Prince!

Yes! for that Prince, and country, Truth declares,
Our lives, our fortunes we with zeal expose;
Nor is our Loyalty less staunch than their's,
Who falsely libel all our sect, as foes!'

The Prince Regent is made to reply to the Catholic petition in a very rough and uncourtly style. In the petition itself, the Prince is reminded that

"All England's greatest Kings were Catholics!"
Such have our Edwards and our Henrys been;
Till the eighth Harry, in his lustful freaks,
"Divorc'd religion, to divorce his queen !"

to which he thus answers:

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True Eighth Harry, his old teazing spouse to divorce,
Nor be tied in his amours to "good things" of one sort,
Did divorce" his old faith ;" and I'd do that, or worse,
To be rid of " my cousin, my subject, and consort!"

And, as to the title, the Pope once conferr'd;

Why, what folly to think, "change of faith has repeal'd it.'
Tis mine by succession; and who ever heard
"Of a title renounc'd-'cause a scoundrel entail'd it ?"

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Among the miscellaneous poems, is the Curate's Petition to the Chancellor; and it is urged with such earnestness that we should not be surprised to hear that H. H. was himself a poor curate; yet we should be sorry to have our conjecture verified, for surely so unceremonious an application to the giver of livings is not likely to gain a living. The curate threatens his Lordship that he will turn cobler, unless he be comfortably beneficed :

Hear, generous Lawyer! hear my prayer!
Nor let my Freedom make you stare,
In hailing you, "Jack Scott!"
Tho' now upon the woolsack plac'd,
With wealth, with power, with title grac'd;
Once nearer was our lot!

Say, by what name, the halpless bard
May best attract your kind regard,
Plain Jack, Sir John, or Eldon;
To give, from your vast power of giving,
A hungry priest some "little living ;"

And make the world say, "Well done!"

In vain, without a patron's aid,

I've pray'd and preach'd, and preach'd and pray'd;
Applauded, but ill fed!

Such vain eclat let others share ;
Alas! I cannot feed on air;

I ask not praise, but bread!'

For me, unless hard Fate's obduracy,
Relenting, grant me some "rich curacy,"
No more my gown I'll use;
The cure of human souls resigning;
Prebends for cobler's stall declining,
I'll mend the soles of shoes!

Yet scarcely "nine dark lustres" past,
"Twere hard to see me at my "last,"
An awful warning giving!

Such dire reverse, good Lord! forbid it;
Aid me; and let me say, "You did it ;"
On whòm depends my "living!"

Mr. Hornet has point, but it is not duly polished. Elegant versification is not his forte.

NOVEL.

Art. 25. The Towers of Ravenswold, or Days of Ironside, a Romance. By William Henry Hitchener, of the Surrey Theatre, Author of "St. Leonard's Forest," &c. 12mo. 2 Vols. 10s. Boards. Chapple. 1814.

Really, this novel is almost beneath criticism; its story, or, as the writer calls it, the intricate compound of this narration,' consists of improbabilities and anachronisms which would only excite a smile,

if, after having recounted them, he had not the imprudence to challenge his reader's admiration for the miracles which Omnipotence could bring about; rewarding the helpless animal, man, according to his works.' He must indeed be helpless who can admire this performance.

EDUCATION.

Art. 26. The Elements of Arithmetic, being a full, clear, and comprehensive Introduction to the Science of Numbers. For the Use of Schools and Private Tuition. In five Parts, each published separately. By E. Ward, Teacher of Writing,. Part I. 10d. Part II. Geography, and Mathematics.

12mo.

18. 3d. Wilkie and Robinson. 1813.
Mr. Ward's publication is judiciously divided into separate parts;
each being of small size and price. The first and second carry the
student as far as Compound Division, and explain the first four Rules
of Arithmetic with clearness and accuracy. They contain many use-
ful tables, and good practical questions: but the Addition and
Subtraction Table, (Part I.) which is recommended to be learned
by heart, appears to us to be quite unnecessary, and calculated
only to puzzle the learner.

Art. 27. The Spanish Guitar; a Tale, for the Use of Young
Persons. By Elizabeth Isabella Spence, Author of "Caledonian
Excursion," "The Curate and his Daughter," &c.
35. Boards. Chapple. 1814.

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12mo.

We have often reported the claims and the faults of this fair writer. The present story has an useful tendency, and its simplicity may render it acceptable to very young readers. On the score of language, however, we have again to exhort Miss Spence. a contemptuous figure' is put for For instances: in page 55, contemptible: in page 71. Emily ought not to have been described being silent, and so abstract that her mother spoke to her once or twice before she replied:' (once, we should think, was necessary :) and p. 75., Your conduct and benevolence is' must be noticed as false grammar.

as

Art. 28. Difficult Pronunciation, with Explanations of the Words, by which an approved Pronunciation of the most difficult English Words in common Use may be easily attained. Also the Pronunciation and Significations of Latin and French Phrases which frequently occur in English Reading. Second Edition, with Ad6d. Kent. 1813. ditions. 12mo.

This little work has the advantage of being cheaper and more portable than "The Pronouncing Dictionary," and it will certainly be useful to those who cannot obtain oral instruction for the pronunciation of various English words. We would, however, counsel such readers as are unacquainted with the French language to abstain from uttering its expletives, in preference to relying on the directions here given for their sound. What assistance can be gained from such an explanation as the following; argent comptant, de awr-zshong kong-tong? or from that of valet de chambre, võla

10

de shawm? It were better at once to say vally de sham, with Squire Blunderhead.

HISTORY.

Art. 29. Who wrote Cavendish's Life of Wolsey? 4to. pp. 56. 18s. Boards. Rees. 1814. (Only 110 copies printed.) In this tract, we are presented with a critical investigation which, although unpretending, discovers a masterly hand. So well is the author's task accomplished, that we are neither willing nor required to criticize the critic; on the contrary, we have ourselves been taking lessons from our able and accomplished brother. Become pupils, then, we lay aside our wonted functions, and shall confine ourselves to the formation of such an abstract and such selections from these attractive pages as shall apprize our readers of their curious and well stated

contents.

Sir William Cavendish, the fortunate founder of the two noble houses of Devonshire and Newcastle, has been long supposed to be the author of the work which is the subject of the present inquiry: but his possession of that title has not been undisputed. It is denied by the present inquirer; and he ascribes the biography to George Cavendish of Glemsford in the county of Suffolk, an elder brother of Sir William, and who spent a great many years in Cardinal Wolsey's service. In support of this proposition, the author adduces both external and internal evidence. Lord Herbert, in his life of Henry the Eighth, where the first mention of the disputed work occurs, assigns it to George Cavendish: but the author of the life of Sir William Cavendish, in the Biographia Britannica, (who, most probably, was Dr. Campbell,) and Collins, in his Peerage, assert that this must have been a mistake of Lord Herbert, and that the real author was Sir William Cavendish: but they allege not a single proof in favour of either supposition. This renders the point in dispute a question of authority between two modern writers, and one who lived at the time at which the transaction happened.

The arguments drawn from internal evidence are that the author the life of Wolsey in question was hostile to the Reformation, and must have been a Catholic, which description exactly applies to Mr. George Cavendish; while Sir William Cavendish was a zealous Protestant, and actually held the situation of one of the auditors of the Court of Augmentation. The writer of the disputed Life had evidently not been favoured by fortune; for it contains the following remark, which could not well have been made by Sir William Cavendish : "Here," says he, "may all men note the chaunces of fortune that followethe some whome she intendeth to promote, and to some her favor is cleane contrary, though they travaille never so much, with all the painfull diligence that they can devise or imagine: whereof for my part I have tasted of the experience."

It is then shewn that this biography of Wolsey was written about the middle of the reign of Queen Mary, the very time in which Sir William Cavendish is known to have been living in great luxury at his mansion of North Aubrey, near Lincoln.

The author of the Life having related that the King had submitted to be cited by the two legates, and to appear in person before them

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