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be owing, not to human folly, but to perverse circumstances, originating in mysterious interventions of Providence. Then all characters are innocent, and all excite commiseration. The other hint regards euphony"Young damsels! oh, pluck the ripe flower as ye rove,

Oh! snatch the frail flower ere it fade. p.14. It is an exertion to read these lines.

53. Evelyn's Memoirs, &c. Colburn.

(Continued from p. 234.)

IT would not be possible for us to give a regular analysis of a work, which consists of materials cutirely miscellaneous. Of very interesting particulars, concerning manners and customs, and the private life of the age, the whole work consists; and this character proves its pretensions, per se, for such works are very rare. We have political details in abund ance where we see actors, not men. Of what high gratification, of what literary turtle-eating, would be a diariat life of John Duke of Marlborough, kept by a domestick, nothing adding or diminishing, but impartially narratory.

We can only give a few extracts of curiosity on well-known subjects, or of important bearing on high topicks.

The frequency of Dutch paintings is thus explained:

"We arrived late at Roterdam, where was their annual marte or faire, so furnished with pictures (especially landscapes and drolleries, as they call those clownish representations) that I was amazed. Some I bought and sent to England. The reason of this store of pictures and their cheapness proceedes from their want of land to employ their stock, [Mr. Evelyn should have said capital, but the term, in its modern acceptation, was probably not then in use]; so that it is an ordinary thing to find a com'on farmer lay out 2 or 3000l. in this com'odity. Their houses are full of them, and they vend them at their faires to very great gaines."

p. 13.

The inference from this passage is, that the abundance of such paintings proves the excess of the population, which could not find more profitable employ; and the gains show, that they were sold by the artists very cheap. But excellence in the arts, and frequent occurrence of their objects, exhibits a considerable portion of private misery and want, much of the same character, as that of clever

bears and dancing dogs, lashed and starved into merit of a singular kind. A lace-merchant may make money, but a lace-maker is poor; it is a fabrick of singular ingenuity and ele gance; yet, from the waste of time and labour, fit only, in the view of the philanthropist, for machines, which do not eat or drink. A few good authors and painters are sufficient for the wants of society in its highest state; and more improvement would ensue from the sale of casts of the Apollo and the Laocoon, than of the coloured trash, hawked by the Jews. It injures taste, and, by consequence, hurts the sale of superior works, and nips the improvement of the workman in the end.

Another passage will enable us to enlarge upon what we conceive to be a common mistake.

Mr. Evelyn (pp. 37, 38.) mentions one Mr. John Wall, an Irishman, and excellent disputant. He baffled all the Doctors of the Sorbonne. Mr. E. enlarges elsewhere with much pleasure upon extraordinary instances of precocious intellect.

Now we are of opinion, that the story of the admirable Crichton (so far as the use of that epithet goes) is an absurd hyperbole. Under the Aristotelian physicks, and scholas tic divinity, what could be more easy than the creation of insoluble quibbles. The pretended explana tions of phenomena and doctrines, from mere arbitrary data, must, per se, suggest the materials of their own overthrow. For instance; the thesis, "Whether a goat capering in a vacuum could kick up a dust," was agitated before the invention of the airpump, and supported or denied, simply as the disputants themselves thought fit to affirm. Of course, incontrovertible objections were easily. raised. It is a just opinion, that to exhibit the powers of the human mind in the highest perfection, they must be confined to one object, upon the principle of the division of labour. This incapability of the_utmost possible success in more than one pursuit, is made by the Abbé Du Bos the distinction of pre-emineut genius, which, he says, must neces sarily have its powers contracted, and be thus distinguished from that versatility, which denotes the more humble characteristick of simple talent. No reasonable man will presume to

say,

say, that the genius of Sir Isaac Newton was inferior to that of Crichton, yet is it probable that Sir Isaac would have been superior to Milton, if he had written poetry, as well as his mathematical disquisitions? Crichton however excelled as a linguist and a proficient in the fashionable mechanical exercises of the day. So does many an accomplished gentleman; many a non-reading officer or traveller. They shine at the dinnertable and in the drawing-room. The fact is, that no accurate test can be formed of the powers of any man, but from his writings; any other method is little better than determining the speed of a race horse by looking at him in the stable.

As to precocity of intellect, we do not think that the willow, because it is the tree of quickest growth, produces timber equal to the oak; or that rapidity of mastication implies strong digestive powers in the stomach. The facility of combining and dissociating ideas in high perfection, the quality which marks superior intellectual power, is very different from a simple sponge-like quickness of absorption and retention; and the capacity of a vessel is no test of its strength. Swift, Thomson, and many others, were men whose powers were very slowly developed; and one of Mr. Evelyn's extraordinary instances of precocious understanding, Wotton, the author of "Reflections on Antient and Modern Learning," is now known only by name. In short, we are decidedly of opinion, that original composition in the native language of the puerile student is the best artificial method of maturing ability. The boys from the public schools are allowed to excel in Latin Verses, but often in nothing else; and we know youths of sixteen and upwards, who, by early habituation only to themes in English, far exceed them in intellectual powers.

The following passage is worthy the serious consideration of many in the present age. We know, that men of strong sense, liberal education, high knowledge of the world, and correct character, do denominate the advocates and professors of certain modes of popular preaching “Fools;" meaning, no doubt, that they are men of weak judgment. For our own parts, we are of opinion that the

vulgar have no judgment (property so called) beyond the track of their respective avocations, and that Religion is of little or no vital power, where it is not preceded by Education: at best, it is only training a learned pig, or arithmetical poney, into a resemblance of human distinctions. We do not like instruction by passion and feeling, so much as by conviction and reason, because we believe the former to produce only prejudice, and a dislike of the trouble of study and ratiocination; and to end in making great talkers and furious bigots.

"On Sunday afternoon (says Mr. Evelyn) I frequently stay'd at home to catechise and instruct my familie, those exercises universally ceasing in the parish Churches, so as people had no principles, and grew very ignorant of even the common points of Christianity, all devotion being now placed in hearing sermons and discourses of speculative and notional things." p. 287.

(To be concluded in our next.)

54. Address from the Committee of the Society for superseding the Necessity of Climbing Boys, with the Report of the Committee of the House of Lords, on the Chimney-sweepers' Regulation Bill, &c. &c. 8vo. 1815. pp. 32. Baldwin, Cradock, & Co. Published for the Benefit of the Society.

IT is an old remark, that habituation to scenes of cruelty deadens the impression. We are often compelled to shudder at the misery of Algerine captivity and African slavery, but little reflect that we have scenes at home equally shocking.

The Committee of the House of Lords has selected the following passage from the publication of Mr. Porter, once himself a climbing-boy, by which it will be seen, that the misery of this class of infants is not exaggerated.

"I believe that one half of the apprentices in town are better fed than taught; and that the other half are miserable beyond conception; the master, being only a lodger, has one room for himself, his wife and children; his soot and the apprentices have another, commonly a cellar, sometimes without a fire-place, but mostly without a fire in the coldest weather. The mistress is commonly a barrow-woman, and sells fruit and vegetables about the streets to help towards a living; in which case she has but little time to attend to her domestic concerns: the boy is of course neglected,

neglected, and left a prey to filth, which frequently breeds an incurable disease. If we could view this poor apprentice as he really is, let us view him in a winter's morning, exposed to the surly blast or

falling snow, trudging the streets half

naked, his sores bleeding, his limbs contracted with cold, his inhumah master driving him beyond his strength, while the piteous tears of hunger and misery trickle down his cheek, which indeed is the only means he has to vent his grief: follow him home, and there will be found misery unmasked: we shall see this poor boy in a cellar, used as a soot warehouse on one side, and his lodging-room on the other. I would have said his bed-room, but he has seldom any other bed than his sack, or any other covering than his soot-cloth." It appears too that they are subject to a peculiar disease, called the Sooty Wart, or, Chimney-sweeper's Cancer. p. 25.

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As the machine bere recommended

supersedes the practice, there can be no apology for enduring such horrid brutality. It is a national disgrace, for it is a wanton and unnecessary sanction of murder. Let us recollect that the subjects are infants, and that the callous feelings of avarice and indolence alone support the nefarious custom. At one remark, p. 17, note*, we are rather surprized:

"Though climbing chimneys may not be an antient discovery, it is not so modernthat we can trace its original; but from its nature it was probably the desperate expedient of a criminal, or the last resource of some poor negro to prolong a miserable life."

Beckman's Inventions is not a rare book: but as it shows that the employment of climbing-boys began with the modern construction of chimneys, we shall give the account:

"While chimneys, says the learned -Professor, were built in so simple a manner, and of such width as they are in old houses, they were cleaned by a wisp of straw, or a little brush, well fastened to a rope; but when they became narrower, or several flues were united, boys became necessary. The first chimney-sweepers in Germany came from Savoy, Piedmont, and the adjacent country. The Lotharingians also undertook it. The first Germans who condescended to clean chimneys were mimers. Those of Paris are still Savoyards,"

vol. II. 105, 106.

} In short, we cordially recommend parishes to follow the laudable example of those of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and St. George the Martyr-i.e. purchase a machine, which is only GENT. MAG. October, 1819.

27. 158. keep it in the work-house," and train some paupers to work it, for general use when required.

One use, and the only one we know, following, which is a fact:-A in support of climbing boys, is the lady had taken lodgings at Bath, which proving inconvenient, she gave notice to quit. The landlord insisted upon her occupation, or payment for another quarter. She applied to an attorney for redress. He told her, that it was not worth her while to subject herself to a lawsuit the upon occasion; but that, if they insisted upon further occupation of their apartments, she would send them a chimney-sweeper for a tenant; and he bid her add, that he would justify her right so to do. The experiment succeeded, and she heard no more of

the matter.

Bill, and hope that it is but tempoWe are sorry for the failure of the rary. To us the objectionists seem the rule: for, if instances occur where to act upon the exception, instead of the machine is not efficient, why not legislate a proper construction of chimnies to render it so?

55. An Eulogium on Sir Samuel Romilly, pronounced at the Royal Athenæum of Paris, on the 26th of December 1818, by M. Benjamin Constant. Edited by Sir T. C. Morgan. 8vo. pp. 78. Colburn." In a Prefatory Introduction the Translator says,

"Having been present at the delivery of the following eulogium, and participating in the enthusiastic approbation it excited in a very numerous audience, in-' cluding many of the most remarkable political and literary personages of the French capital, I conceived that I should render an acceptable service to the publick by committing a translation of it to the English press. The strong impression which Sir Samuel Romilly has made upon the British nation, by his virtues, his talents, and the noble independence of his political life, will long attach an interest to whatever is connected with his name or associated with his memory; and the well-known abilities of M. Benjamin Constant cannot fail of adding to the public curiosity, concerning this most unprecedented testimony of repect for British worth, from a foreign naimmediate interests, nor dazzled by the tion, when it neither appealed to their splendour or the immensity of its influ ence. For those who are not acquainted with

Paris

Paris, it may be necessary to add, that the Athenæum is a philosophic institution supported by individual subscription, upon a plan resembling that of the Royal and the London Institutions, &c. in England, and totally unconnected with any political party. T. C. M."

56. A Plume for Sir Samuel Romily; or,

on my mind that success would now be mine: in which conviction circumstances afterwards proved I was not to be disap-. pointed. On the 27th of April and the 15th of June 1816, this benevolent man pleaded the cause of the widow and the fatherless, in a way that reflected equal honour on himself, and the cause he had so warmly and disinterestedly espoused.—' God crowned his efforts with the success

The Offering of the Fatherless: an Elegy. they deserved; and after an absence of By Miss Stockdale. 8vo. pp. 20. 57. A Shroud for Sir Samuel Romilly: An Elegy. By Miss Stockdale. 8vo. pp. 34.

PERHAPS the best account of these two Poems will be the fair Author's relation of "a simple fact," much to the honour both of Sir Samuel's head and his heart.

"For two years after the death of my well-known, and lamented Father, my widowed Mother and myself sustained a degree of unremitting persecution and oppression, from men who should have been our protectors, that would have disgraced the annals of a nation of savages.-Turned out of doors, bowed down by grief and care, with wasted spirits and almost ruined health, I struggled under adversity; watching over the wreck of a much-loved mother, till increasing persecution, from my relentless foes, seemed to leave me little but despair.-Every avenue appeared closed against escape; every exertion only rendered me more and more hopeless; when, in a happy moment, some guardian angel put it into my heart, to apply for advice to that friend of the human race, Mr. William Wilberforce.I did so; and after hearing what I had to 'Go to Sir say, he thus addressed me: Samuel Romilly: stop not short of seeing him yourself, tell your own tale; cast yourself on his humanity, he is a father, and will feel for you.'-The advice I asked, I followed. Trembling with weakness, agitation, and fear, I approached Sir Samuel; but for some short space of time, was so overpowered by my own afflicting sensations, that began to doubt the capability of making myself intelligible to him. The kind interest however with which he listened to me, afforded me so much encouragement, that in a few minutes I sufficiently recovered to complete the relation of my tale of woe :-but language would fail me were I to attempt to paint the astonishment and delight which filled my soul, when having ceased to speak, he thus replied: Send your Solicitor to me; tell him I will not see him professionally, but as your friend.'Such was the blessed result of an application to two entire strangers. I returned to my unhappy mother with looks that at once gladdened her heart. I returned a new creature, with the fullest conviction

eleven months a very few days saw us restored to our house, under the protection of an order of the Court of Chancery."

The "Plume" is a repetition, in verse, of the same story.

"The Elegy' was composed during the short interval, between the death of my illustrious and ever to be lamented Friend, and the time fixed for his funeral.”

"How short is the period, scarcely three months, between celebrating the triumph of this great man in the meridian of his glory, and dropping tears of undescribable anguish over his premature grave!"

58. A detailed Statement of the Case of His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, 8vo. pp. 104. Williams.

THIS publication, which details the Case of a Member of the Royal Family, who has so long distinguished himself by his countenance and support of the various benevolent and charitable establishments of his Country, will be perused with deep interest and regret. His Royal Highness, having determined to part with his favourite villa* at Castle Hill + near Great Ealing, in order the sooner to liquidate his pecuniary embarrassments, and resume his permanent residence in his native country; bis friends, who are fully informed that, "had his just claims been attended to, he would not owe one shilling in the world," have judged it necessary, in justice to his character, to bring for ward this statement, that the publick may judge for themselves, “whether His Royal Highness's conduct merits animadversion for extravagance, or commendation for the fortitude and patience with which he has struggled, during a long series of years, against a succession of misfortunes, disappointments, and privations, such as

*This elegant villa is admirably well described in our vol. LXXXIX. i. p. 139.

The property at Castle Hill has been valued by Mr. Denew at 53,000%.; and he declares that the erection of a similar establishment would now cost 100,000%

are

are not frequently to be met with in common life, and scarcely ever in the exalted station in which Providence has placed him."

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In order to put our Readers in the possession of the principal facts of the Case, we shall extract the substance of a Memorial addressed by his Royal Highness to the Prince Regent in January 1815, through Lord Liverpool, upon bis general claim for relief; at the same time referring to the work itself for another Memorial (pp. 87-92), presented through Lord Sidmouth, upon the particular one of the heavy losses which he sustained as Governor of Gibraltar, from the new regulations adopted with regard to fees upon the license of wine-houses, and upon all wine drunk in the garrison. To enter more minutely into the statement, even in an abridged form, would lead us into too great length.

"I. That your Memorialist has been for a long time past labouring under severe pecuniary difficulties, which have at this time accumulated to a very large and distressing amount, from causes which are in a great measure known to your Royal Highness not to have been occasioned by a life of extravagance, but to have been produced from a variety of disappointments, a succession of losses, and unfavourable occurrences, scarcely to have been guarded against by human prudence.

"That your Memorialist, although unwilling to intrude on your Royal Highness's time with a detail of all the events which have led to his present embarrassed situation, yet deems it necessary to submit a few of the principal causes; and will be ready to afford any further information that may be required upon the most minute inquiry into the merits of his case being instituted.

"That your Memorialist, from the year 1785 to 1790, had scarcely what can be termed any allowance from his Majesty for personal expenses; and consequently during that period incurred a considerable debt, which, with interest from that time until 1806, when it was paid off, bore very hard upon him.

"That in 1790, when first sent to Gibraltar, he had no allowance for outfit, nor any provision for his establishment, except the small sum from his Majesty's .privy purse of 5000l. a year, for his expenses; which he continued to receive until 1799, when it ceased, and he got the Parliamentary allowance of 12,000l. a year.

"That your Memoralist has incurred a debt of 36,4501. for principal and interest on successive losses sustained in baggage

and necessaries whilst on the passage to America, and in the West Indies, as was proved per original certificate from his agents, Messrs. Greenwood, Cox, and Co. and from Francis Freeling, Esq. the seCretary to the Post Office, formerly deli

vered to the Treasury.

"That your Memorialist, having been brought up in early life with the Duke of Clarence, and in every way treated alike by his Majesty, expected that at the age of twenty-four years he should have obtained the same allowance of 12,000l. a year from Parliament, which the Duke of Clarence at that age had received; that that allowance would have enabled him to have paid off all his debts incurred up to that period, and prevented the unpleasant situation in which he is now placed

by not having received that Parliamentary

allowance until 1799, when he was thirty

two years of age.

"That your Memorialist, being on the foreign service of his country from 1790 to 1798, was prevented from urging his claim in person to the Parliamentary allowance, until his return to England at the lastmentioned period, after he had completed his thirty-first year.

"That your Memorialist has, in justice to his creditors, endeavoured to pay off those debts, by devoting half his income since 1807 to trustees for that purpose; but owing to the increased rate of every necessary of life, he is unable to continue that sacrifice for the discharge of his debts, and at the same time to support himself in any degree as his rank requires, although the strictest economy is observed in every department of his household.

"Your Memorialist therefore appeals to your Royal Highness's justice and liberality for relief from his difficulties, by being placed on an equal footing with the Duke of Clarence; first, in point of income from the age of twenty-four years (which was repeatedly promised by Mr. Pitt), and secondly, in point of that assistance which the Duke of Clarence has at different times received from the Treasury, to enable him to extricate himself from his pecuniary difficulties, to the amount of 34,000l. sterling, whilst your Memorialist never received more than 50007. for the same object.

"That your Memorialist, after the most minute revision of every circumstance connected with his present situation, and the causes which have led to it, has the satisfaction to think that his conduct will bear the strictest scrutiny, and that his having pecuniary incumbrances will appear to have arisen wholly from the unforeseen losses he sustained whilst abroad on the service of his country, and from his having been deprived of that Parliamentary allowance and those other benefits which

the

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