scription of the inverted Horse-Hoe.

Harding. 1820.

12mo. pp. 40.

25.

Art. 24. A Treatise on the Management of Hedges and HedgeRow Timber. By Francis Blaikie. 12mo. pp. 52. 2s. Har

ding.

Mr. Blaikie has, we believe, for several years had the management and superintendance of one of the very best cultivated farms in the kingdom: a description which will not be disputed by any among the five or six hundred persons, many of whom annually come from the remotest parts of the island to take a lesson of agriculture at the Holkham sheep-shearing. Mr. Coke has himself great knowlege on all agricultural subjects; and he delights in seeing his own farm, and the farms of all his tenantry, in the highest state of cultivation and fecundity. Nothing is too minute to escape his attention; and nothing is deemed insignificant which in the slightest degree may contribute to general improvement, or neatness even of appearance. Addison says of Virgil, that he throws about his dung with a graceful air; and, descending from poetry to plain fact, we may say of Mr. Coke that he makes even his muck-heaps like a gentleman. He has been particularly fortunate in the selection of such a farmingsteward as Mr. Blaikie, who is an acute observer, and equally intelligent and communicative. Mr. Coke appreciates his value, and loses no opportunity of proclaiming it. "It has been objected against me," said he at his sheep-shearing in July last, when there were present, besides the Duke of Sussex and many of the nobility of England, several foreign princes and persons of the highest distinction on the continent; "it has been objected to me that my tenants live too much like gentlemen, driving their curricles perhaps, and drinking their port every day. I am proud to have such a tenantry, and heartily wish that, instead of drinking their port, they could afford to drink their claret and champaigne every day." Such is the spirit, such is the liberality, and such are the feelings of Mr. Coke.

A

It will not be expected that we should enter into the minutiæ of the little tracts before us: but, after having read them with attention, we can safely recommend them to the perusal of any person who is interested in the subjects on which they treat. chapter on the selection, planting, and management of hedgerow timber is particularly valuable: for it is a subject which receives very insufficient attention, although of national as well as individual importance. Certain of the forest-trees are not only ruinous to fences, but extremely injurious likewise to the corn, which sickens in their vicinity. Ash, beech, fir, and the broad-leaved elm, are of this number; while the oak, the narrow-leaved elm, and the black Italian poplar, are comparatively harmless. A vast quantity of timber, in the highest degree ornamental and valuable, may thus be reared without occupying any useful space of ground: but much depends on the proper management of the young plants, so that they may not be stunted in their early growth. The older trees also require attention: care must be taken that no low and unseemly

15

unseemly branches deprive the stem of its nourishment; and that the trees do not stand so close as to interfere with the clear spread of each other's tops, and throw an injurious shade over the soil: -but we must refer to Mr. Blaikie, who will be found a very judicious guide.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 25. Georgiana: or, Anecdotes of George the Third. With a Selection of Poetical Effusions, and other Eulogiums on his Character, and on that of H. R. H. the Duke of Kent. By Ingram Cobbin, M. A. 12mo. 2s. 6d. sewed. Whittemore.

1820.

The domestic virtues and personal respectability of our late Sovereign were well known, and acknowleged even by those who did not feel in unison with him on public measures; and it is much to be regretted that the indiscreet attachment of some individuals should have caused various representations of him, typographic and pictorial, when under the afflicting dispensation of Providence by which he was so remarkably visited, that excite only painful and depressing feelings. In the compilation before us, Mr. Cobbin has generally been careful in this respect: but we should have preferred the omission of the prefixed portrait, and of a few anecdotes that we could specify.

Under the several heads of Manners and Habits, Wit, Politics, Literature and the Arts, Benevolence, Liberality in Religion, Piety, &c. Mr. Cobbin has collected a number of passages from various writers, during the King's life and since his decease, which are highly creditable to his Majesty's memory, and which seem in general to be well authenticated. We shall extract a few.

The good temper of the late King, and the juvenile waggery of the present, appear in the following statement:

The king had a great dislike to Wilkes. So ungrateful was the sound of Wilkes and No.45., (the famous number of the North Briton,) that in 1772, the Prince of Wales, now George IV. then a mere boy, having been chid for some boyish fault, and wishing to take his boyish revenge, is related to have done so by stealing to the King's apartment, and shouting at the door, "Wilkes and No. 45. for ever!" and speedily running away. It is hardly necessary to add, that the King laughed at the trick with his accustomed good humour.'

The first division of anecdotes is closed by this general, and not very favourable, delineation of the King's personal appearance: • George III. was of a good height, about five feet ten and a half inches, and of a robust person. In his youth, he was considered handsome, being of a fair and blooming complexion, but his face and his eyes were too prominent. His hair was light flaxen, his eyes were grey, his eye-brows white, his lips thick, his teeth white and regular, and mouth large and wide. Latterly his face was red, and often of a deep copper-colour. His countenance, when grave, had an air of deep melancholy; but, when

cheerful,

cheerful, it indicated a degree of frivolity approaching to weakness.'

His Majesty is said to have been fond of an occasional play of words, and, among other instances, we find the ensuing :

As the volunteer corps of the metropolis and its neighbourhood were once passing in review before the King on Wimbledon Common, the officer who carried the colours of the Croydon corps was so taken up with gazing on his Majesty, that he forgot to pay the usual compliment of lowering the colours. Some time after, his Majesty happened to be passing through a town in Kent, where a corps of volunteers were on permanent duty; and the captain's guard having turned out, in honour of his Majesty, "What corps?-what corps ?" asked his Majesty. The officer answered, "The Croydon volunteers, may it please your Majesty." "Ah! ah!" replied his Majesty, smiling, "I remember them well at Wimbledon. You came off with flying

colours that day."'

The extensive charity of the King is thus asserted, but the authority for the statement is not mentioned:

The King's munificence was noble as it was discriminating : during his illness, in 1789, a committee was appointed to examine the privy purse, when, out of an income of 60,000l. it was found that his Majesty never gave less than 14,000l. a-year in charity! His kind feelings are also thus pleasingly illustrated:

• After the outlawry of Daniel Isaac Eaton, the bookseller, he ventured to return incognito to this country; but, not daring to trust to the mercy of the Attorney General or the cabinet, he resolved to apply to Majesty itself. Eaton was nearly of the same age with the King. His father had held some inferior situation in the Prince of Wales's household, and Daniel had been, in some degree, a temporary playmate of the young heir presumptive. On this chance he ventured to rely; and accordingly took an opportunity of placing himself in the Court Yard, at Windsor, when his Majesty was going to mount his horse on a hunting party. The King, whose recollection of individuals was most extraordinary, instantly recognized his quondam playfellow; but, without being aware that he was the prosecuted outlaw, until, in answer to his inquiries, Eaton informed him of his situation, and of the risk he then ran; when the benevolent Monarch at once quieted his fears, exclaiming, "Never fear, never fear, I will talk to Pitt!" and in a few days the outlawry was reversed.'

It is matter of general notoriety that his late Majesty was firmly attached to the principles, and exemplarily observant of the ceremonials, of the established Church: but Mr. Cobbin gives a number of anecdotes, which prove that the King was very indulgent to the principles of those about him, or whom he otherwise knew, if they were not in accordance with orthodoxy; and which practically illustrate the declaration that he often made, "there shall be no persecution in my reign." We are a little doubtful, however, of the accuracy of some of the statements; and we observe that they are made studiously favourable to evangelical sectarianism. A jocular anecdote of the royal liberality is thus given:

17

The

The King one day conversing with one of his tradesmen, whom he knew to be a Presbyterian, asked him, "Does your parson ever pray for me?" "In good truth he does, your Majesty," (replied the Scotchman,)" and from his very heart too." "I dare say he does; I dare say he does;" rejoined the King, "for you know he is not paid for it."

From the poetical effusions, we are inclined to borrow one, which appeared first in Baldwin's London Magazine, as being among the most impressive:

THE CONTRAST;

Written under Windsor Terrace, Feb. 17. 1820.

I saw him last on this terrace proud,

Walking in health and gladness;

Begirt with his court, and in all the crowd

Not a single look of sadness.

Bright was the sun, and the leaves were green,
Blithely the birds were singing;

The cymbal replied to the tambourinę,

And the bells were merrily ringing.

I have stood with the crowd beside his bier,
When not a word was spoken;

But every eye was dim with a tear,

And the silence by sobs was broken.

I have heard the earth on his coffin pour,
To the muffled drum's deep rolling ;
While the minute-gun, with its solemn roar,
Drown'd the death bell's tolling.

The time since he walked in his glory thus,
To the grave till I saw him carried,
Was an age of the mightiest change to us,
But to him a night unvaried.

• We have fought the fight:-from his lofty throne,
The foe of our land we have tumbled;

And it gladden'd each eye, save his alone,
For whom that foe we humbled.

'A daughter beloved

a queen

And a son's sole child have perish'd;

And sad was each heart, save the only one
By which they were fondest cherish'd.

For his eyes were seal'd, and his mind was dark,
And he sat in his age's lateness,

Like a vision thron'd, as a solemn mark,
Of the frailty of human greatness.

His silver beard o'er a bosom spread,
Unvex'd by life's commotion,

Like a yearly-lengthening snow-drift, shed
On the calm of a frozen ocean.

• Still

Still o'er him oblivion's waters lay;

Though the stream of time kept flowing;
When they spoke of our King, 'twas but to say,
That the old man's strength was going.

At intervals thus the waves disgorge,
By weakness rent asunder,

A piece of the wreck of the Royal George,
For the people's pity and wonder.

'He is gone at length-he is laid in dust,
Death's hand his slumbers breaking;
For the coffin'd sleep of the good and just
Is a sure and blissful waking.

'His people's heart is his funeral urn;

And should sculptur'd stone be deny'd him,
There will his name be found, when in turn,
We lay our heads beside him.'

The allusion to the wreck of the Royal George is too much in the nature of punning. To the character of the late Duke of Kent, also, strong testimony is borne, both in prose and verse,

CORRESPONDENCE.

'To the MONTHLY REVIEWERS.

'The Reviewer of Craufurd's Sketches on India (Vol. xci. p. 395.) asks three questions about the immolation of widows.

"1. Is no pecuniary interest concerned in keeping up this form of suicide?"

'Ans. None. The widow is intitled only to food and raiment, and a few anas per month for funereal rites for her husband.

2. Does the widow, according to Hindu jurisprudence, inherit an inconvenient share ?"

Answered by the first.

"3. Cannot convents be introduced, in which, by renouncing the world and its inheritances, she might be allowed to live?"

Ans. The sacrifice, though meritorious, is not compulsory. Jaganaudum and all the best doctors of Hindu law state that, if a widow abstains from the world, performing the rites of her deceased lord, and in every respect does the duties of a widow, she is completely absolved from the duty of burning herself at the pile of her husband. But this applies only to Braminy women.

ASIATICUS.'

In our number for May last, p. 66,, these words occur : Congreve was indebted to Marivaux for that incessant activity of style," This expression was erroneous, Marivaux having flourished later than Congreve. Read, therefore; Congreve delighted in an incessant activiy of style, &c. &c.

&c.

We are obliged to our Correspondent Juvenis, who has pointed out this anachronism.

Mr. W. must excuse us for not taking notice of his paper about Dandyisms. It is not in a tangible shape for us; nor intelligible. The APPENDIX to this Vol. of the Review will be published at the end of September, with the Number for October.

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