have enjoyed with infinite pleasure, in the drawing-room of this highly accomplished Lady, the mingled delights of genius, sentiment, beauty, and grace. Indebted to her for many luminous demonstrations of those elegant minutia which so much contribute to the felicity and adornment of polished life, we recollect the oncefascinating Authoress with the same feelings as we should behold a juvenile portrait of our chief companion at school. We know that she is versed in the Hebrew, Greek, Persic, Arahic, Latin, and modern languages, understands music theoretically and practically, draws elegantly; and yet. that her taste for the bas bleu was ever accompanied with the easy Parisian manner, which renders science there matter of general conversation, subordinate to the necessity of pleasing. Of course, there was nothing dogmatical, disputatious, or masculine. The genius of this Lady we know to be profound; and we need only quote the following passage: "The bare conviction, that we cannot, in a strict metaphysical sense, by our will exist an instant, is such an unanswerable internal evidence of the folly and impiety of the act of Suicide, that scarcely any 'other' argument is necessary; but it may, perhaps, be said we may will ourselves not to exist. This assertion is atheistical and absurd; even Cato, who feared death less than the sacrifice of his principles, was convinced of its fallacy, and seemed to apprehend an hereafter more than any temporal evil, which could be threatened... .The argu ments in favour of Suicide (however plausible they may, both in antient and modern times, have been) are founded merely on the Passions; they may influence us, when under their dominion; but the suggestions of reason in our cooler moments will not give them validity; because, in the case of Suicide, it is evident that the office of the passions becomes not only impious but absurd, since their regulator, reason, is wholly destroyed, and that they tend even to their own destruction." P. 290, 291. We have lately had before us a masterly Essay on Suicide, in which this fine argument does not appear. That Suicide does not come under the sixth Commandment, and that it is not particularly considered in a legal direct prohibitory form in any part of Scripture, is universally allowed. It is, however, justly inferred, that it is a sinful act; because resignation to the will of God, under all events, is an undeniable duty. This inference, however true, does not come so closely to the point as the passage quoted, which seems to fix the inference upon a mathematical or logical pedestal, of indestructible materials. This Work is written upon the plan of Montesquieu, a plan too garrulous for English readers. The title too, 66 Essay on Government," leads to opinions concerning the subject-matters treated in it, which, in our limited acceptation of the word “Government," may, and we believe has, injured the fair claims of the accomplished Authoress. There is a prattling manner in Montesquieu, Montaigne, and other French writers, which somewhat resembles teaching Philosophy to dance, although non est Philosophorum saltare is a wise and established maxim. A ball, consisting only of graudmothers and elderly gentlemen, would be a ridicu lous thing in se, in spite of any human contrivances to the contrary; nor would the matter be mended, if one dance was to consist only of Dandy Apollos and mincing Nymphs; and another of old Dons and Chaperons summoned from the cardtable to take their turn in evolving the saltatory toil. We would, thereof this Work, the omission of many fore, recommend, in a future edition subjects not sufficiently dignified for the public opinion, a compression of others of rather too common-place a character, and a close logical attention to abstruse and latent points, because we know that in these the highly-informed mind of this Lady is capable of excelling. 13. Mr. Charles Lamb's Works, concluded from p. 51. MR. LAMB'S next Essay is entitled, "Specimen from the Writings of Fuller, the Church Historian;" whom he characterizes, and justly, thus: "The writings of Fuller are usually designated by the title of quaint, and with sufficient reason; for such was his natural bias to conceits, that I doubt not upon most occasions it would have been going out of his way to have expressed himself out of them. But his wit is not always a lumen siccum, a dry faculty faculty of surprizing; on the contrary, his conceits are oftentimes deeply steep. ed in human feeling and passion. Above all, his way of telling a story, for its eager liveliness, and the perpetual running commentary of the narrator happily blended with the narration, is perhaps unequaled." The next subject, and it appears to be a very favourite one with Mr. L. of which he treats, is the genius and character of Hogarth.-The too common light in which Hogarth is considered is that of a mere mimic, a painter of low life and buffoonery, whose only object is to make us laugh. Mr. Lamb aims to show he was a moral painter, a philosopher, a Shakspeare on canvas. "To deny (says Mr. L.) that there are, throughout the prints which I have mentioned, circumstances introduced of a laughable tendency, would be to run counter to the common notions of mankind; but to suppose that in their ruling character they appeal chiefly to the risible faculty, and not first and foremost to the very heart of a man, its best and most serious feelings, would be to mistake no less grossly their aim and purpose. A set of severer Satires (for they are not so much Comedies, which they have been likened to, as they are strong and masculine Satires) less mingled with any thing of mere fun were never written upon paper, or graven upon copper. They resemble Juvenal, or the satiric touches in Timon of Athens. "I was pleased with the reply of a gentleman, who, being asked which book he esteemed most in his library, answered Shakspeare;' being asked which he esteemed next best, replied—' Hogarth.' His graphic representations are indeed books: they have the teeming, fruitful, suggestive meaning of words. Other pictures we look at his prints we read. "In pursuance of this parallel, I have sometimes entertained myself with comparing the Timon of Athens of Shakspeare (which I have just mentioned), and Hogarth's Rake's Progress' together. The story, the moral, in both is nearly the same. The wild course of riot and extravagance, ending in the one with driving the Prodigal from the society of men into the solitude of the deserts, and in the other with conducting the Rake through his several stages of dissipation into the still more complete desolations of the mad-house, in the play, and in the picture, are described with almost equal force and nature. The levee of the Rake, which forms the subject of the second plate in the series, is almost a transcript of Timon's levee in the opening scene of that play. We find a dedicating poet, and other similar characters, in both." ་ This Essay is accompanied with some just remarks on a passage in the writings of the late Mr. Barry, which, though he was an ingenious man, and a great painter, relates to his prevailing foible of considering the subjects more immediately adapted for painting, in reference too much to what is called, often improperly ' enough, classical taste; as though what is termed low life, often as improperly, does not make a part of the real picture of human life, as well as what is more fashionable, great, and glorious; and as though it could not be so represented by the hand of a master, as to produce the effects, either striking or pleasing, or good and profitable, that we have a right to look for in painting. Some of Mr. Lamb's Essays are whimsical enough, and made us laugh. Of this number is that on "Burial Societies," and the "Character of an Undertaker," on the "Inconveniences resulting from being Hanged;” “On the Melancholy of Tailors;" but our limits do not allow us to go further into these matters. We have read all these works of Charles Lamb with pleasure ourselves, though not all with equal pleasure. With respect to his "Remarks on Shakspeare," though we do not consider them in the light of a discovery, yet they are made with much taste and good sense; and those on our other dramatic writers are, it is evident, made after a thorough acquaintance with his subject. But it is equally true of all great dramatic works, that is, of all which represent human manners and passions on a large scale, as well as of Shakspeare, that they are better understood by being read, than they can be by seeing them acted-by sensible persons at least, who, as they can only judge after reflection, so are they not to be taken by surprize, nor fascinated by trick and show; or, it is only so far more applicable to Shakspeare than to others, as he might see deeper into Nature than other dramatic writers; and as Mr. Lamb does not mean to maintain that plays should not be acted, but only that they they may lose, and be made another thing, by being acted; so we beg leave to add, that to certain persons, and in certain cases, a good Actor, by a proper tone of voice, by the right use of accent, of pauses, by his natural movements in advancing or retiring, in short, in the lawful use of what properly belongs to his office, may often illustrate, and be a sort of running comment to a play: but we are not speaking of the part of a mere Spouter. It has been said of the late Mrs, Cibber, that she could be scarcely called an actress. She expressed a few passions in their natural tone; but these were her own constitutional passions; and these she as happily expressed, as they were happily delineated by the Poet. Garrick, on the other hand, is said to have been a mere actor, a man of great talents of their kind, a great actor, but all art. What Mr. Lamb says of the great Roscius of his day would have been thought, perhaps, by his admirers, severe; but, by every thing we have been able to learn, it is strictly just. When Garrick entered on the management of the Theatre (though we are not alluding now to the sad, disagreeable things which might be said of him in his character of Manager), he set off with, "Tis yours this night to bid the reign commence Of rescued Nature, and reviving sense ; of show, For useful mirth and salutary wóe; ment. only a particular view of them, with-' out entering on general criticism : as he does not go into discrimination of virtues and faults, which is the province of Criticism (we perhaps have our eye somewhat on what Voltaire says in his Letter to Lord Bolingbroke, in an Essay on Tragedy), it is not our business to pursue the subject farther, nor to inquire how far Dr. Fuller, with all his excellences, was defective as an Historian, or excessive as a Wit. These, and other matters, it is not our present business to enter on. We shall therefore only add, that, as we have read Mr. Lamb's Works with considerable pleasure ourselves, so we think them calculated, considered either morally or critically,to give pleasure and instruction to other readers. Errata in our last.-For political, read poetical; for paternal, read fraternal. 14. Narrative of a Journey into Persia in the suite of the Imperial Russian Embassy, in the year 1817. By Moritz Von Kotzebue, Captain on the Staff of the Russian Army, &c. &c. Translated from the German. 8vo. Illustrated by Plates. Longman and Co. THIS interesting Volume is the only account which has hitherto appeared in England respecting the embassy of General Jermoloff to the court of Persia. It has a twofold claim to attention, arising from the nature of its subject, and the peculiar circumstances of its author. In all the states of Europe, and especially in Great Britain, the political relations of Russia with her Asiatic Prologue spoken by Mr. Garrick on Yet (as it is well expressed by a most ingenious writer of those times, who knew Garrick well, together with the tricks of newspaper puffs, and all the machinery of the theatrical world)-"Yet," says he, "what your success has been in the contest is too well known to need a detail; you conquered, as all heroes have done, by great and useful talents; but, like almost all heroes, you are sinking into the vices of the vanquished.' -Letter to David Garrick, Esq. It will be observed, that Mr. Lamb, in his remarks on the writers more particularly referred to above, takes with respect to Russia, it should appear that the epoch is not yet arrived when the inhabitants of that vast empire can possess themselves of the advantages of a representative government and a free press. It is only by Imperial sufferance, we may presume, that a work, referring even in a remote degree to any measures instituted by the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, can be published by a subject of the Czar. Viewed in this light, the Narrative of Capt. Kotzebue is a curious novelty. He was born and educated in Russia; yet has not scrupled to give to the world a minute detail of the progress of the mission to which be was attached, as well as of its reception at the court of Persia. It is true that on affairs of state he prac lises a reserve which is perfectly diplomatic; but at the same time he makes, perhaps unconsciously, some important disclosures, and his very silence on certain subjects is significantly eloquent. Topographical illustrations of the country, interspersed with anecdotes characteristic of its inhabitants, occupy the principal portion of the work, and it is only incidentally that subjects of a political matter are touched upon. Many of these digressions, however, have a deeper interest than the narrative itself; they are important, not only from the information which they convey, but from the inferences which they sug gest; and they afford abundant matter for speculation on the present and future state of Persia. The follow ing passage, for instance, relating to a personage who may be denominated the elective heir-apparent to the throne, claims the most serious attention, particularly when we consider the quarter from whence it proceeds, and the sanction under which it is promulgated. "I should take this opportunity of stating, that the introduction of regular discipline into the Persian army, and the formation of its artillery, within these few years, are entirely due to AbbasMirza; and it must be allowed that he has, for so short a period, with the assistance indeed of able English officers, achieved a great deal. Only those who are thoroughly acquainted with the pertinacious obstinacy of the Persians, and their dread of every innovation, can form any conception of the obstacles which the Prince had to surmount in accomplishing his views. Nothing less than the appearance of so enlightened a Prince, I may say, such a phenomenon amidst the Persian people, could have produced such a reform in the army. His principal attention has been directed to the organization of the infantry and cavalry; and in this he has also afforded a proof of his acuteness, as the Persian horse is already sufficiently good, although it cannot be compared with regular cavalry. But the Persian cavalry is an object of national pride, and on that ground alone the Prince could not interfere with its actual condition. He is powerfully supported in the attainment of his views by the King, who has appointed him heir to his throne, on account of his judgment and the mildness of his character; but still more, because his mother was of the family of Kadjor, from which the Shah himself has issued. The eldest brother, who governs several of the Southern provinces of the kingdom, is not much pleased with this selection. He is a coarse and cruel man, who delights in witnessing the barbarous punishments of putting out eyes, tearing out hearts, &c. He has succeeded in undermining his brother's reputation among the principal families of Persia, whose sons all run into his service; and he has artfully led them to consider the introduction of a regular system of discipline but a culpable innovation, inasmuch into the army, not only as a ridiculous, as it entails an intercourse with Europeans, which is not strictly compatible with the religion of the Persians. He tells them that his brother's measures are injurious to the national honour, that his foreign predilections may perhaps induce him to adopt the customs, the dress, and even the religion of Europe; and by such idle tales as these, this man courts the favour of many Persians, who find an indolent life in his service more consonant to their inclina. tions, than it would be to go through the daily military exercises, and submit to the discipline of Abbas-Mirza." From this and other passages of a similar kind, it is manifest that the work, though not avowedly political, contains statements highly deserving the attention of those who view with anxious vigilance the intercourse of Russia with Persia in reference to the future fate of our Indian possessions. As a book of Travels, also, it contains a variety of amusing information, and claims to be considered as the most recent account of the coun try try to which it relates. It includes many court-anecdotes equally novel and singular. We select one relating to a mode of raising supplies for the Royal Treasury, which few would suppose to be among the ways and means of his Persian Majesty. "The last days of our stay at Sultanie were spent in reciprocal visits among the ministers, who all assured the Ambassador that the King, as well as they themselves, had been so much captivated by his Excellency, that they were truly grieved to part from him. The Prime Minister is even said to have found a tear to guarantee the expression of his sorrow, notwithstanding that, according to report, the expensive honour of maintaining the Russian Embassy, during the whole of its stay at Sultanie, had been committed by the King to his charge. But he is said to be the most opulent of the ministers. "When the King observes any of his subjects becoming too rich, in opposition to his Royal will and pleasure, he has recourse to a very amiable expedient, in order to reduce the offender to poverty and beggary. It consists in sending him daily a dish from his kitchen; an honour, in return for which the High Treasurer would not be satisfied with a less fee than one thousand ducats. Should this proceeding be continued several weeks, it is natural that it must entail poverty upon the wealthiest individual. But if the King be decidedly bent upon the absolute ruin of the person, he fixes on a day on which he dines with him; an honourable distinction, which reduces absolutely to beggary the person on whom it is bestowed." 15. Scenes in Asia, for the Amusement and Instruction of little tarry at-home Travellers. By the Rev. Isaac Taylor, Author of "Scenes in Europe." 12mo. pp. 219. Harris and Son. In the First Part of our last year's Volume, p. 334, Mr. Taylor's "Scenes in Europe" were duly noticed. To that Work are now added LXXXIV "Scenes in Asia," neatly engraved, and well described, as a suitable accompaniment. We select some short extracts: "Travelling on an Elephant.-If the elephant were ferocious in proportion to its bulk and amazing strength, it would devastate any country: but though they naturally live in herds, wild in the woods, yet when they are caught and properly trained, they are very docile and useful. "When first caught, a man who is to be his keeper comes to relieve and feed this makes the grateful creature him; very fond of him, and he learns to obeyhim in the gentlest manner. When used for travelling, the keeper seats himself on his neck, and by means of an iron rod, or even of a word, directs his motions. Sometimes a large tent is placed on his back, fastened with a broad band, which goes round his body: in this travellers sit. other times it is used to carry burdens. It can support three or four thousand pounds weight. It can easily travel fifty or sixty miles a day, though so unwieldy ; and more, if urged, upon occasions. At "It is the long tusks of the elephant which are our ivory which are therefore of great value, and for which they are frequently hunted." "The River Jordan.-This river rises in the mountain of Lebanon, and runs on the Eastern part of Judea, through the Lake of Tiberias, or Sea of Galilee, till it issues and is lost in the Dead Sea. Its course is about a hundred miles; it is small in winter, and when the summer melts the mountain snows it rises and overflows its banks. This river is famous in Scripture history. Its waters stood up in a heap, leaving the channel dry for the children of Israel to pass over into Canaan, under the conduct of Joshua. In after ages it was the scene of John the Baptist's' preaching, and often of our Lord's abode. The wild Arabs infest the shores so much in modern times, that travelling thither is very dangerous. Those pilgrims who vi sit Jerusalem year by year, sometimes 2000 together, are escorted to the Jordan; where many bathe, who thereby obtain at least something to talk of when they return home." Similar Scenes in Africa and America, we are told, are in preparation. 16. True Stories, from Antient History: chronologically arranged. From the Creation of the World to the Death of Charlemagne. By the Author of " Always Happy," &c. In 3 vols. 12mo. pp. 187; 224; 224. Harris and Son. THIS Work, as the Author modestly observes," is written rather to raise curiosity, than to satisfy it; a mere initiatory trifle for very young readers." "Many years ago I made a memo. randum to write a Sketch of Progressive History for my children, as soon as they were of an age to relish such reading. "That period is arrived, and I have cheerfully commenced the undertaking; it does not prove so easy as I anticipated. Antient History is entangled with fable, and Modern History is too abounding in events to admit so clear and simple a narrative as I had projected; some incidents are too doubtful; some indelicate; some |
