and if he takes it at all without being cured, then will we say he is past the aid of laudanum and poppy-juice, and must try mercury, of which there is not one particle in these innocent mixtures. In fine, we attribute all our misery to the ease with which poetry (as it is called,) can be written, since the modern fashion of caring neither for rhyme nor metre became prevalent, and spread the scribbling propensity over the "one half world." This mania is charmingly and characteristically alluded to in a never-to-be-published poem written by the Editor, many years before he could have any idea of what he should suffer from the distemper. We quote the passage: Curst be the man, the first who disobeyed The measured rules Of ancient schools, And spurned the useful bonds on genius laid. In saltatory song, With one verse * Short; The next ('tis tedious to rehearse), THE DRAMA. DRURY LANE.-Mr. Elliston has, among his other improvements, redeemed Drury Lane theatre from the gloveless-handed Beauty's reproach in the Rejected Addresses; Oh! Mr. Whitbread, fie upon you, Sir! I think you should have built a colonnade : For he has liberally erected, if not a very elegant, at least a very convenient portico, to the principal entrance of the House in Brydges Street, which the state of the wea ther has already proved to be an essential addition to the public comfort. The interior of the theatre has also undergone some alterations; but neither here nor at Covent Garden have the changes of colour been improvements. The box fronts of the former are now a red, far too deep; and of the latter a cold bluish green, instead of the fine warın hue which prevailed last season, and which could hardly be mended. Drury Lane would have done wisely in adopting what the other discarded. A shocking ugly drop-scene, and the brushing up of the scenery in general, complete, we believe, the preparations for the new campaign to inspect which a numerous company were invited, and assembled last Saturday. Thither, of course, as a magazine editor would, but as a weekly writer dares not without presumption say, some of our august body repaired; and their report of the fete was quite delectable. There were jumbled together on the mimic stage, in the obscene saloon, at the refreshing bars, and round the festive supper tables, managers and actors, literati (heaven help the while!) and artists, editors and other periodical drudges, parliamentary members and vulgar people, * The sound should be an echo to the sense. Pope. magistrates and doubtful characters, lawyers gedy ranter. We shall but farther briefly On Monday the theatre opened with the Road to Ruin, and all the parts in approved hands. On Tuesday, the widow of Mr. Rae had a benefit, which we rejoice to hear produced 2000.; as the habits of that performer were not such as are calculated to leave the means of comfort to a wife or children. ROMEO.-Mr. Cooper.-This gentleman, who is of much provincial celebrity, made his first appearance on the London boards as Romeo, on Wednesday. Adequately to sustain the line of characters in which this debut may be considered an embarkation, very superior qualities of person, countenance, voice, action, and judginent or talent, are requisite. Mr. C. possesses some of these in an eminent, some in a slight degree. His person is handsome; his countenance good, but not fine; his voice unmusical, and deficient in the great charm of pathos; his action unembarrassed and suitable; and his judgment or talent, so far as an opinion may be formed from a part which traditionary custom has made purely theatrical, cultivated, and in general, correct. With regard to the particular character in which he appeared, he was, we think we may say, decidedly successful;-at any rate, he received so much applause as to induce the manager to announce the play for repetition on Thursday, and they seemed to us to be justified in this; for there were parts of his performance certainly very excellent. His garden scene, and leaning against the porch— And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget, Forgetting any other home but this: and his entry into the tomb of the Capulets, were the best touches; but the dying scene was altogether powerful, and the challenge there were several usually striking passages, to Tybalt full of energy. On the other hand, to which he gave no interest. All his scenes in Mantua were badly acted. The jocund presage of joyful news was told with gloomy sadness; but to balance this, the directions to the servant to hire "post horses," were rendered ludicrous in the delivery. The soliloquy on the starved apothecary was poorly recited, and the colloquy with that meagre wight was farcical. Throughout there was more of vehemence than the part warrants; for Romeo is soft and gentle, and not a tra COVENT GARDEN. Zanga was played on Monday to an indifferent house. The public are after all tolerably correct in their taste, and we are not surprized that this tragedy should be no longer among their temptations. It had its day-a day of false criticism and affected feeling-a day when an English tragedy was nothing, unless it was a plagiarism from Voltaire; and English poetry nothing unless it was modelled on Boileau. All this has gone by; Shakspeare is read, and nature is the standard of our poetry. The stage has still to be reformed; but that time too will come; melodrame, and maudlin sentiment, and tedious affectation, will be no more. But in this censure of the play of Zanga, we are far from including the performance on Monday. Macready was the hero, and C. Kemble, Alonzo. No actors could have more surpassed their author. It would be a mere repetition of what we have said so often, and so sincerely, to dilate now on the merits of those excellent performers. Macready's power has hitherto been supposed to lie in his pungency, in the solitary bitterness of a fierce and restricted spirit, in the stern and solemn devotedness of a daring and vexed mind to a purpose of evil. Zunga is a sketch of this rank of character, enfeebled by the feebleness of the author. Macready actually magnified and deepened the proportions and colours of the picture, till he appropriated it to a vigour and magnificence not its own. But he has also a yet almost unopened nine of pathetic power, and he threw in some delicious and almost involuntary touches of melancholy feeling, that gave a mental beauty to his work; like a Rembrandt twilight deepening round the fierce architecture of a Moorish fortress. He was greatly applauded. Kemble's Alonzo was a fine display of an unsuspecting man, torn by those passions which make their natural prey of a generous heart. But here too the character breaks down under the supply the deficiency as he may. Alonzo is imagination; and the actor is forced to thrown into a perpetual raging of the more violent and open mouthed passions, and his actor is compelled to a perpetual uproar. Notwithstanding this great difficulty against nature, Kemble seldom strayed beyond its modesty; he retained his grace even in the whirlwind, and deserved the genuine applause which he received. Still we muss protest against the play. § We observe from the Birmingham Gazette that the theatricals in that town have been of FOREIGN DRAMA. This little opera is founded on the plot of the English farce of How to die for Love: Both pieces are, we believe, translations from the German. Count de Belmont, an old nobleman, lives on his estate, with his niece Angelina, whose hand is solicited in inarriage by two young gentlemen (named Dericourt and Saint-Leon) at once friends and rivals. The uncle being at a loss how to determine in favour of either of the suitors, declares that he who may, by any stratagem, induce his rival to go beyond the park gate, shall be the happy bridegroom. The gentlemen accept the conditions proposed; but before commencing the attack, each secretly gains over to his interests the valet of his rival. Giovanni, Saint-Leon's valet, persuades Dericourt that Angelina has been carried off by pirates, and the lover is on the point of passing the park gate to sail after the galley, when unfortunately Pietro, the other valet, discovers the trick. The latter has also arranged his schemes, and Saint-Leon receives a note announcing the death of the aunt of a young lady to whom he had formerly paid his addresses: this aunt it appears had been his only obstacle in the way of an advantageous union; but SaintLeon is on his guard; he pretends to be duped, declares his intention of departing, and invites his friend to accompany him Dericourt agrees to do so, but each has his plan arranged, and the two valets disguised are sent to personate their masters. His lordship replied, "Your majesty is mistaken; I am the greatest gamester on earth; "for my all is on that horse." Charles James Fox.-After Byron's en during the two first quarters of 1819 and On the 1st instant two butchers of St. Bonnet-le-Chateau, department of the Loire, purchased several cows, one of which died suddenly of an epizootic disease. They circulated a report that the animal had died in consequence of having been gored by the horn of another cow, and the carcase was accordingly cut up and sold. Of three persons who ate of the meat, the first fell ill on the 5th, and was buried on the 10th. The second took to his bed on the 10th, and expired on the 11th. Hopes are, however, entertained of saving the third. The disease naries the white thorn; it makes its appearof which this cow died is called by yeteriance in pimples resembling those of the wine pox. The poison is of so active a nature, that the body becomes putrid almost immediately after death. [From the Percy Anecdotes, noticed in our last.] Country quarters.-A lady advanced in age, and in a declining state of health, went by the advice of the physician, Dr. Hunter, who relates the anecdote) to take lodgings for a suit of rooms, and coming down stairs in a village near the metropolis. She agreed out of repair. "These," said the lady," must observed, that the balustrades were much be mended, before I can think of coming to live here." "Oh no, madam," replied the landlady, "that would answer no purpose, the coffins would break them again immeas the undertaker's men in bringing down diately." Lord Clonmel.-The late Lord Cloumel, a Sunday, 29-Thermometer from 33 to 48.5 Barometer from 29, 71 to 29, 40. Wind S. b. E. 1, and E. S. E. 2-Generally cloudy, and raining the greater part of the day. Barometer from 29, 59 to 29, 80. who never thought of demanding more for After several unsuccessful stratagems, Dericourt purposely insults Saint-Leon, and the latter challenges him; a pair of pistols are produced, but the cunning Pietro takes care to remove the balls. At the first fire Dericourt falls as if mortally wounded; SaintLeon, in a fit of despair, rushes out of the park in quest of assistance, when, to his as-out in 1753, at the Italian Theatre, Paris, a Covering a defeat.-A. M. Gaubier brought tonishment, the deceased comes running piece called Brioche, or the Origin of Pupafter him to invite him to his wedding. pets, which happened not to succeed. The unfortunate author was pertly asked, how he could think of venturing such a thing on the stage? "Oh!" he replied, "the wits of Paris had all, one after another, quite ennuyed me; and I chose this way of assembling them together, and taking my revenge on them in a body.' VARIETIES. : "A Constant Reader" assures us, that the story related in the Literary Gazette of the 7th ult. as applying to the late Sir Peter Parker, is incorrect in that part only as the circumstance did literally happen in the Mediterranean Sea, and is well known,among the naval officers. The parties were the late Admiral Joseph Payton and his son. From a comparative estimate of the suicides committed in Paris and its neighbourhood Bon Mot.-Shortly after his late majesty's recovery in 1789, he happened one day, when riding out on horseback, to meet Lord Fyfe, on seeing whom he exclaimed, "There comes a man who is neither gambler nor rat!” NOVEMBER 1820. Wednesday, 1-Thermometer from 41 to 48. Barometer from 29, 54 to 29, 77. Wind S. E. 1, and S. W. §.-Morning cloudy, with rain, afternoon and evening generally clear. BOOKS PUBLISHED THIS DAY. In 3 vols. 12mo. price 11. Is. boards, Price Is. 6d. ECCENTRICITY, A Novel. By Mrs. MACA LETTER to HENRY BROUGHAM, Esq. A new edition, completed to the Death of the King, in Orme, and Brown, London; and John Cumming, 6 volumes 8vo. price 31. 3s. boards, THE HISTORY of the REIGN of GEORGE THE THIRD. To which is prefixed, a View of the progressive Improvement of England, in Prosperity and Strength, to the Accession of his Majesty. By ROBERT BISSET, LL. D. author of the Life of Burke, &c. &c. 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Collected and Illustrated by James Hogg. 12mo. London and Edinburgh, 1819. One of our many purposes, frequently deferred and never fulfilled, has been to notice this collection of the Jacobite Relics of an era when political Quixottes may have Donald's gane up the hill hard and hungry; Balance them fair, and balance them cleverly Scotland. Perhaps the reason why our design mixed up with science and literature so in- As he were wud, or stang'd wi' an ether, man; was not executed, though we were at no time distinctly sensible of it, was that we could not speak with such entire satisfaction of the work as we wished. Of all the effusions of genius and talent, it is certain that those which party and political feelings give birth to, are the most evanescent. They have their effect and their triumph in the day of their conception; and posterity has generally disclaimed their acquaintance. But still, when they tend to throw a light upon history; when they are identified with great national feelings on interesting national struggles; when they pourtray the manners as well as the passions of the times to which they belong; they are far from being deservedly estranged from the knowledge of the time that succeeds. At all events, we were near enough the era of Mr. Hogg's materials to feel more than antiquarian curiosity about the relics which his title led us to expect. timately that the pure enjoyment of either merrily; Here's to King James and Donald Macgillavry. Come like a tailor, Donald Macgillavry; Up wi' King James and Donald Macgillavry! man: Lord, how Donald is flyting and fretting, man ! With regard to the collection itself, we are equally free to say, that we were disappointed in it. The coarseness of some of its contents may be excusable, because genuine; for no Editor, to use old Lady Duberly's axiom, can make a silk purse of a sow's ear. But the selection does not appear to be judicious; and sure we are, that many of the most beautiful remains of Jacobite versification might have been substituted for much that is inferior in this work. But our main objection is to the quantum of tinkering which we think is evident in these songs. No doubt there are many versions of nearly all of them; and Mr. Hogg may have chosen Delayed so long, however, it is probable those which in his opinion were the most we should have waited till the author's pro- original. We have heard some of them howmised continuation revived the subject before ever far better than in his copies; and are we took it up, had not several circumstances really afraid that he has been mending the induced us to allot to it a brief notice. The majority, to fit them for modern understandfirst and most operative of these, is the ings. What strengthens us in this supposihaving received from a friendly correspon- tion, is his own extraordinary confession, dent the several original Jacobite Songs, in reply to the Edinburgh Review; namely, which we subjoin to this notice. The second that one of the poems which it praises as and third are the review of Mr. Hogg's replete with sly characteristic Scotch huwork in the Edinburgh Review, and his de- mour, is his own composition! Now, it is fence of it and recrimination upon his critic very true this is a good hit quoad the critic who in Blackwood's Magazine. The review is was reviling him and eulogizing what he did causelessly severe; and, considering the not know to be his; but how stands the life of the Ettrick Shepherd, bitter and question between him and the public, which intolerant. It presumes from the pub-received "Donald Macgillavry" (the poem lication, or rather we fancy, it knows from alluded to), like the rest, on his assurance, as personal intercourse, that Mr. Hogg is a a Jacobite Relic! The thing itself is of tory in his politics; and therefore it takes little consequence; but as a barefaced liteup the poor Jacobite Relics, as if they were rary imposture (we employ the word withan embodied host of Cavaliers, and tries to out attaching a moral imputation to its mean-selection.+" demolish them with all the fury of Levellers. ing), it is surely not the most creditable to We are not angry with the Edinburgh Re-a person who is publishing what he pretends view for maintaining its politics on political to have rescued from the moth which is subjects, but we are sorry that any distin-consuming the memorials of a former cenguished critical performance should bend tury. so entirely to the madness of the hour, as to Having been induced by our subject (now be unable to leave politics out of any thing. that we have taken it up) to exceed our usual Whig and Tory are terms rather consecrated bounds for remark, we shall only quote the by use than understood and applicable; and song of Macgillavry from Mr. Hogg's Jacowhy we are to have their predecessor epi- bite Relics; and state that most of the thets made a subject of contention among tunes are noted without the base, which is us, we are at a loss to imagine; especially sufficient to afford a very fair notion of their in a review of a poetical compilation, and at style and beauty, VOL. IV. very Up wi' King James and Donald Macgillavry! We now turn to the communication of our obliging correspondent Kaλd, who says, "Having lately fallen in with a collection of Jacobite songs, some of which I believe are not generally known, I herewith transmit you a few; and should you deem them worth a place in the Literary Gazette, I may perhaps (on findwhole, from which you might make your own ing a suitable mode of conveyance) send you the they nothing more than curious, we should The following are new to us; and were he pleased to give them insertion. But the first and third, though somewhat uncouth in metre, are possessed of eminent poetical sentiment: the second is a whimsical satire ; and the fourth (which owing to a want of precision in our friend, and his giving second signature, we are not sure is not, a * Donald Macgillavry is here put for the Highland Clans generally. + We shall esteem it a marked favour. ED. like Donald Macgillavry a modern production, and rather sent for our original poetry, than as one of the Jacobite specimens) is a very sweet song indeed. THE PRINCE'S WELCOME. 1. Thou stem sprung from a noble line, To shew the world what thou art, Thy people's trust and pride, Who ever, and still to thee true art, Heir of our ancient throne, (Nor think of the present dark destiny, O'er-shadowing all its glory? And are such days ever past and gone? When like thy strong bulwark unshaken Thou remained? Has Honour abjured thy throne? Shall the spirit of Freedom ne'er waken? Soon their blood shall darken the water: The rav'ning birds, greedy for their rich repast, Are screaming and swooping for slaughter. Joy to thee, Scotland, Joy! ere long Thy name as it wont shall betoken; Thou'lt again be the land of peace and song, When thy chains are shiver'd and broken. THE RIVER OF LIFE. When young Hope's flattering dreams When Fancy's golden schemes Our path with flowers is strewingWho hastes not where such beauty gleams? (-Its distance deceiveth us ever!) Who longs not to plunge amidst its streams, And cross Life's shining river? 2. Yet when we reach the brinkWildly its waters are flowing When its sparkling streams we drink, How cold!-though in sunshine glowingThat we shrink back heartless and chill'd, (Nor would we venture ever If so we might-) with tremblings filled, To buffet Life's foaming river! 3. For Hope turns faint and dimSweet Fancy but deceives us ; And as we onwards swim, To struggle with the waves which beat, 4. Has Faith e'er failed in time of need When we perceive Earth to recede ? When Life's tumultuous river K. V. [Should our Correspondent enable us to add to these poems, we flatter ourselves that our readers will not be displeased with the treat.] Notes on Rio Janeiro, and the Southern Parts of Brazil; taken during a Residence of Ten Years in that Country, from 1808 to 1818. By John Luccock. London, 1820. 4to. pp. 639. We have rarely met with a more ponderous and more miscellaneous volume than the present; which we are ready to confess we have not read through, though we are presuming to take a public notice of it. At the same time we must say that it is only want of leisure which has prevented our perusing it entirely; for in all the dips we have made, and they have been many and long, we have been highly entertained with Mr. Luccock's lucubrations. He seems to us to be a plain, sensible, well-informed man ; to have had excellent opportunities for observing the country; to have made good use of them; and, consequently, to have produced a book like the Country, of great magnitude, and with curious matters meeting the reader, as they do the traveller, at every turning. Indeed the mass of information is immense, and the volume exceedingly amusing; though from being ill-arranged, its bulk is rendered more oppressive than if a good system had been adopted. Upon such a view as we | have taken of it, we think we may safely say, that it will be found to contain much valuable intelligence, especially to merchants, seamen, and colonists; many singular facts connected with natural history; a good deal of what is interesting to geography; and a fund of agreeable observation and anecdote. From these we draw, almost by a Sortes Luccockiana, the following miscellanies. "A fish, here called the Bagre, and very common on every part of the coast, we thought the most palatable when taken off a sandy bottom. It is about twelve inches long, formed much like the Dog-fish, has a large head, the bones of which are uncommonly hard; two fins on the side and one on the back, all of them long in proportion to the size of the fish. The anterior ray of the fins is a strong serrated bone, sharply pointed, which it has the power of erecting, and fixing at right angles with the line of the body, so firmly, that, with the utmost force of both hands, I have been unable to change its position. This firmness depends, not on the strength of the muscles employed in its erection, but on the form and hardness of the joint, which is a sort of compound hook, working upon an upright pin, altogether unlike what I have noticed in any other fish. Nature appears to have intended this for a defence, and a more secure one it is difficult to conceive. The Bagre, when caught, utters a loud grunting noise, with other apparent signs of anger. It lives long out of the I observed on the plate of the skull, between water, and is with difficulty killed by blows. the eyes, a small aperture, covered with a thin whitish membrane, and imagined that, through this, it might be killed by touching the brain. We accordingly introduced a filawhich produced an immediate paralysis, and ment, taken from one of the bass cables, the fish died without farther suffering. This aperture may, probably, be a distinguishing |