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the law; afterwards he became addicted to drinking wine. During nearly forty years that he was King of Khorasan, not a a day passed in which he did not drink after mid-day prayers; but he never drank wine in the morning. His sons, the whole of the soldiery, and the town's-people, followed his example in this respect, and seemed to vie with each other in debauchery and lasciviousness. He was a brave and valiant man. He often engaged sword in hand in fight, nay, frequently distinguished his prowess hand to hand several times in the course of the same fight. No person of the race of Taimur Beg ever equalled Sultan Hussain Mirza in the use of the scymitar. He had a turn for poetry, and composed a Diwân. He wrote in the Turki. His poetical name was Hussaini. Many of his verses are far from being bad, but the whole of the Mirza's Diwân is in the same measure. Although a prince of dignity, both as to years and extent of territory, he was as fond as a child of keeping butting rams, and of amusing himself with flying pigeons and cock-fighting." One of the most striking passages in the work is the royal author's account of the magnificence of the court and city of Herat, when he visited it in 1506; and especially his imposing catalogue of the illustrious authors, artists, and men of genius, by whom it was then

adorned.

"The age of Sultan Hussain Mirza was certainly a wonderful age; and Khorasan, particularly the city of Heri, abounded with eminent men of unrivalled acquirements, each of whom made it his aim and ambition to carry to the highest perfection the art to which he devoted himself. Among these was the Moulana Abdal Rahman Jami, to whom there was no person of that period who could be compared, whether in respect to profane or sacred science. His poems are well known. The merits of the Mûlla are of too exalted a nature to admit of being described by me; but I have been anxious to bring the mention of his name, and an allusion to his excellences, into these humble pages, for a good omen and a blessing!"

He then proceeds to enumerate the names of between thirty and forty distinguished persons; ranking first the sages and theologians, to the number of eight or nine; next the

poets, about fifteen; then two or three painters; and five or six performers and composers

"As we were guests at Mozefer Mirza s bouse, Mozeffer Mirza placed me above himself, and having filled up a glass of welcome, the cupbearers in waiting began to supply all who were of the party with pure wine, which they quaffed as if it had been the water of life. The party waxed warm, and the spirit mounted up to their heads. They took a fancy to make me drink too, and bring me into the same circle with themselves. Although, all that time, I had never been guilty of drinking wine, and from never having fallen into the practice was ignorant of the sensations it produced, yet I had a strong lurking inclination to wander in this desert, and my heart was much disposed to pass the stream. In my boyhood I had no wish for it, and did not know its pleasures or pains. When my father at any time asked me to drink wine, I excused myself, and abstained. After my father's death, by the guardian care of Khwajeh Kazi, I remained pure and undefiled. I abstained even from forbidden foods; how then was I likely to indulge in wine? Afterwards when, from the force of youthful imagination and constitutional impulse, I got a desire for wine, I had nobody about my person to invite me to gratify my wishes; nay, there was not one who even suspected my secret longing for it. Though I had the appetite, therefore, it was difficult for me, unsolicited as I was, to indulge such unlawful desires. It now came into my head, that as they urged me so much, and as, besides, I had come into a refined city like Heri, in which every means of heightening pleasure and gaiety was possessed in perfection; in which all the incentives and apparatus of enjoyment were combined with an invitation to indulgence, if I did not seize the present moment, I never could expect such another. I therefore resolved to drink wine! But it struck me, that as Badîa-ez-zeman Mirza was the eldest brother, and as I had declined receiving it from his hand, and in his house, he might now take offence. I therefore mentioned this difficulty which had occurred to me. My excuse was ap proved of, and I was not pressed any more, at this party, to drink. It was settled, however, that the next time we met at Badîa-ez-zemán Mirza's, I should drink when pressed by the two Mirzas."

By some providential accident, however, the conscientious prince escaped from this meditated lapse; and it was not till some years after, that he gave way to the long

cherished and resisted propensity. At what particular occasion he first fell into the snare,

of music; of one of these he gives the fol-Par lowing instructive anecdote

"Another was Hussian Udi (the lutanist), who, played with great taste on the lute, and composed elegantly. He could play, using only one string of his lute at a time. He had the fuult of giving himself many airs when desired to play. On one occasion Sheibâni Khan desired him to play. After giving much trouble he played very ill, and besides, did not bring his own instrument, but one that was good for nothing. Sheibâni Khan, on learning how

matters stood, directed that, at that very party, he should receive a certain number of blows on the neck. This was one good deed that Sheibâni Khan did in his day; and indeed the affectation of such people deserves even more severe animadversion."

In the seductions of this luxurious court, Baber's orthodox abhorrence to wine was first assailed with temptation:--and there is something very naïve, we think, in his account of his reasonings and feelings on the occasion.

* No moral poet ever had a higher reputation than Jami. His poems are written with great beauty of language and versification, in a captivating strain of religious and philosophic mysticism. He is not merely admired for his sublimity as a poet, but venerated as a saint."

unfortunately is not recorded as there is a blank of several years in the Memoirs previous to 1519. In that year, however, we find him a confirmed toper; and nothing, indeed, can be more ludicrous than the accuracy and apparent truth with which he continues to chronicle all his subsequent and very frequent excesses. The Eastern votary of intoxication has a pleasant way of varying his enjoyments, which was never taken in the West. When the fluid elements of drunken ness begin to pall on him, he betakes him to what is learnedly called a maajan, being a sort of electuary or confection, made up with pleasant spices, and rendered potent by a large admixture of opium, bang, and other narcotic ingredients; producing a solid intoxi cation of a very delightful and desirable de scription. One of the first drinking matches that is described makes honourable mention of this variety :

"The maajun-takers and spirit-drinkers, as they have different tastes, are very apt to take offence with each other. I said. Don't spoil the cordiality of the party; whoever wishes to drink spirits, let him drink spirits; and let him that prefers maajûn, enke maajun; and let not the one party give any hulle or provoking language to the other. Some sat down to spirits, some to maajûn. The party went on for some time tolerably well. Baba Jân Kabûzi had not been in the boat; we had sent for him when we reached the royal tents. He chose to drink spirits. Terdi Muhammed Kipchak, too, was sent for, and joined the spirit-drinkers. As the spirit drinkers and maajûn-takers never can agree in one party, the spirit-bibing party began to indulge in foolish and idle conversation, and to make provok ing remarks on maajûn and maajûn-takers. Bâba Jan, too, getting drunk, talked very absurdly. The tipplers, filling up glass after glass for Terdi Muhammed, made him drink them off, so that in a very short time he was mad drunk. Whatever exertions I could make to preserve peace, were all Inavailing; there was much uproar and wrangling. from wine; and as I now want somewhat less

place till bed-time prayers. Mûll Mahmud Khalifeh having arrived, we invited him to join us. Abdalla, who had got very drunk, made an observation which affected Khalîfeh. Without recollecting that Mülla Mahmud was present, he repeated the verse, (Persian.) Examine whom you will, you will find him suffering from the same wound.

The party became quite burdensome and unplea

sant, and soon broke up."

The second day after, we find the royal cacchanal still more grievously overtaken :

"We continued drinking spirits in the boat till bed-time prayers, when, being completely drunk, we mounted, and taking torches in our hands came at full gallop back to the camp from the river-side, falling sometimes on one side of the horse, and sometimes on the other. I was miserably drunk,

and next morning, when they told me of our having

galloped into the camp with lighted torches in our hands. I had not the slightest recollection of the circumstance. After coming home, I vomited plentifully."

Even in the middle of a harassing and des. ultory campaign, there is no intermission of this excessive jollity, though it sometimes puts the parties into jeopardy,-for example:

"We continued at this place drinking till the sun was on the decline, when we set out. Those who had been of the party were completely drunk. Syed Kasim was so drunk, that two of his servants were obliged to put him on horseback, and brought him to the camp with great difficulty. Dost Muhammed Bakir was so far gone, that Amîn Muhammed Terkhan, Masti Chehreh, and those who were along with him, were unable, with all their exertions, to get him on horseback. They poured a great quantity of water over him, but all to no purpose. At this moment a body of Afghans appeared in sight. Amîn Muhammed Terkhan, being very drunk, gravely gave it as his opinion, that rather than leave him, in the condition in which he was, to fall into the hands of the enemy, it was better at once to cut off his head, and carry it away. Making another exertion, however, with much difficulty, they contrived to throw him upon horse. which they led along, and so brought him off."

On some occasions they contrive to be drunk four times in twenty-four hours. The gallant prince contents himself with a strong maojun one day; but

Mûlly Mahmud, who did not drink, reproved Abdalla for repeating this verse with levity.* Abdalla, recovering his judgment, was in terrible perturbation, and conversed in a wonderfully smooth and sweet strain all the rest of the evening."

In a year or two after this, when he seems to be in a course of unusual indulgence, we meet with the following edifying remark: "As I intend, when forty years old, to abstain than one year of being forty, I drink wine most copiously!" When forty comes, however, we hear nothing of this sage resolution -but have a regular record of the wine and maajun parties as before, up to the year 1527. In that year, however, he is seized with rather a sudden fit of penitence, and has the resolution to begin a course of rigorous reform. There is something rather picturesque in his very solemn and remarkable account of this great revolution in his habits:

"On Monday the 23d of the first Jemadi, I Lad mounted to survey my posts, and, in the course of my ride, was seriously struck with the reflection that I had always resolved, one time or another, to make an effectual repentance, and that some traces of a hankering after the renunciation of forbidden works had ever remained in my heart. Having sent for the gold and silver goblets and cups, with all the other utensils used for drinking parties, I directed them to be broken, and renounced the use of wine-purifying my mind! The fragments of the goblets, and other utensils of gold and silver, I directed to be divided among Derwishes and the poor. The first person who followed me in my repentance was Asas, who also accompanied me in my resolution of ceasing to cut the beard, and of allowing it to grow. That night and the following, numbers of Amîrs and courtiers, soldiers and persons not in the service, to the number of nearly three hundred men, made vows of reformation. The wine which we had with us we poured on the ground! I ordered that the wine brought by Baba Dost should have salt thrown into it, that it might be make into vinegar. On the spot where the wine had been poured out, I directed a waîn to be sunk and built of stone, and close by the wâîn an almshouse to be erected."

He then issued a magnificent Firman, announcing his reformation, and recommending its example to all his subjects. But he still persists, we find, in the use of a mild maajun. We are sorry to be obliged to add, that though he had the firmness to persevere to the last in his abstinence from wine, ne, the sacrifice seems to have cost him very dear; and he continued to the very end of his life to hanker after his broken wine-cups, and to look back with fond regret to the delights he had ab

**Next morning we had a drinking party in the same tent. We continued drinking till night. On the following morning we again had an early cup. and, getting intoxicated, went to sleep. About noon-day prayers, we left Istâlîf, and I took a manjun on the road. It was about afternoon prayers betore I reached Behzadi. The crops were extremely good. While I was riding round the har vest-fields, such of my companions as were fond of wine began to contrive another drinking-bout. Although I had taken a maajûn, yet, as the crops were uncommonly fine! we sat down under some trees that had yielded a plentiful load of fruit, and began to drink. We kept up the party in the same | Scripture."

*"This verse, I presume, is from a religious poem, and has a mystical meaning. The profane application of it is the ground of offence."

"This vow was sometimes made by persons who set out on a war against the Infidels. They did not trim the beard till they returned victorious. Some vows of a similar nature may be found in lutely pathetic, as well as amiable, in the amiable following candid avowal in a letter written the very year before his death to one of his old drinking companions:

jurea for ever. There is something abso-tribution levied on her private fortune. The

"In a letter which I wrote to Abdalla, I mentioned that I had much difficulty in reconciling my. self to the desert of penitence; but that I had resolution enough to persevere,

(Turki verse,)

I am distressed since I renounced wine;
I am confounded and unfit for business,-
Regret leads me to penitence,
Penitence leads me to regret.

Indeed, last year, my desire and longing for wine and social parties were beyond measure excessive. It even came to such a length that I have found myself shedding tears from vexation and disappointment. In the present year, praise be to God, these troubles are over, and I ascribe them chiefly to the occupation afforded to my mind by a poetical translation, on which I have employed myself. Let me advise you too, to adopt a life of abstinence. Social parties and wine are pleasant, in company with our jolly friends and old boon companions. But with whom can you enjoy the social cup? With whom can you indulge in the pleasures of wine? If you have only Shîr Ahmed, and Haîder Kulli, for the companions of your gay hours and jovial goblet, you can surely find no great difficulty in consenting to the sacrifice. I conclude with every good wish."

We have mentioned already that Baber appears to have been of a frank and generous character-and there are, throughout the Memoirs, various traits of clemency and tenderness of heart, scarcely to have been expected in an Eastern monarch and professional warrior. He weeps ten whole days for the loss of a friend who fell over a precipice after one of their drinking parties; and spares the lives,

and even restores the domains of various chieftains, who had betrayed his confidence, and afterwards fallen into his power. Yet there are traces of Asiatic ferocity, and of a hard-hearted wastefulness of life, which remind us that we are beyond the pale of European gallantry and Christian compassion. In his wars in Afghan and India, the prisoners are commonly butchered in cold blood after the action-and pretty uniformly a triumphal pyramid is erected of their skulls. These horrible executions, too,

are performed with

following brief anecdote speaks spo volumes as to the difference of European and Asiatic manners and tempers :

"Another of his wives was Katak Begum, who was the foster-sister of this same Terkhan Begum. Sultan Ahmed Mirza married her for love. He was

prodigiously attached to her, and she governed him with absolute sway. She drank wine. During her life, the Sultan durst not venture to frequent any other of his ladies. At last, however, he put her to death, and delivered himself from this reproach."

In several of the passages we have cited, there are indications of this ambitious warrior's ardent love for fine flowers, beautiful gardens, and bright waters. But the work abounds with traits of this amiable and, with reference to some of these anecdotes, apparently ill-sorted propensity. In one place he says

"In the warm season they are covered with the chekîn-taleh grass in a very beautiful manner, and the Aimaks and Tûrks resort to them. In the

skirts of these mountains the ground is richly diversified by various kinds of tulips. I once directed them to be counted, and they brought in thirty-two or thirty-three different sorts of tulips. There is one species which has a scent in some degree like

the rose, and which I termed laleh-gul-bûi (the roвеscented tulip). This species is found only in the Desht-e-Sheikh (the Sheikh's plain), in a small spot

of ground, and nowhere else. In the skirts of the same hills below Perwan, is produced the laleh-sedberg (or hundred-leaved tulip), which is likewise found only in one narrow spot of ground, as we emerge from the straits of Ghurbend."

And a little after

"Few quarters possess a district that can rival Istâlîf. A large river runs through it, and on either side of it are gardens, green, gay, and beautiful. Its

water is so cold, that there is no need of icing it; and it is particularly pure. In this district is a garden, called Bagh-e-Kilan (or the Great Garden), which Ulugh Beg Mirza seized upon. I paid the price of the garden to the proprietors, and received from them a grant of it. On the outside of the garden are large and beautiful spreading plane trees, under the shade of which there are agreeable spots finely sheltered. A perennial stream, large enough to turn a mill, runs through the garden; and on its banks are planted planes and other trees. Formerly this stream flowed in a winding and

crooked course, but I ordered its course to be al. tered according to a regular plan, which added greatly to the beauty of the place. Lower down than these villages, and about a koss or a koss and a half above the level plain, on the lower skirts of (Kwajeh' three friends), around which there are

hills, is fountain, named Khwajch-sch-yárân

much solemnity before the royal pavilion; and on one occasion, it is incidentally recorded, that such was the number of prisoners brought forward for this infamous butchery, that the sovereign's tent had three times to be removed to a different station-the ground before it being so drenched with blood and encumbered with quivering carcasses! On one occasion, and on one only, an attempt was made to poison him-the mother of one there are groves of oak, there is not an oak to be

of the sovereigns whom he had dethroned having bribed his cooks and tasters to mix death in his repast. Upon the detection of the plot, the taster was cut to pieces, the cook flayed alive, and the scullions trampled to death by elephants. Such, however, was the respect paid to rank, or the indulgence to maternal resentment, that the prime mover of the whole conspiracy, the queen dowager, is merely put under restraint, and has a con

three species of trees; above the fountain are many beautiful plane-trees, which yield a pleasant shade. On the two sides of the fountain, on small emi. nences at the bottom of the hills, there are a num. ber of oak trees; except on these two spots, where

met with on the hills to the west of Kabul. In front

of this fountain, towards the plain, there are many spots covered with the flowery Arghwan tree, and besides these Arghwan plots, there are none else in the whole country."

We shall add but one other notice of this

"The name Arghwân is generally applied to the anemone; but in Afghanistan it is given to a beautiful flowering shrub, which grows nearly to the size of a tree."

285

elegant taste-though on the occasion there | but of the native simplicity and amiableness mentioned, the flowers were aided by a less of this Eastern highlander.

delicate sort of excitement.

"This day I ate a maajûn. While under its inAuence, I visited some beautiful gardens. In dif. ferent beds, the ground was covered with purple and yellow Arghwan flowers. On one hand were beds of yellow flowers in bloom; on the other hand, red flowers were in blossom. In many places they prung up in the same bed, mingled together as if they had been flung and scattered abroad. I took my seat on a rising ground near the camp, to enjoy the view of all the flower-pots. On the six sides of this eminence they were formed as into regular beds. On one side were yellow flowers; on another the purple, laid out in triangular beds. On two other sides, there were fewer flowers; but, as far as the eye could reach, there were flower-gardens of a simi'ar kind. In the neighbourhood of Pershawer, during the spring, the flower-plots are exquisitely beautiful."

We have, now enabled our readers, we think, to judge pretty fairly of the nature of this very curious volume; and shall only them with few passages from two

letters written by the valiant author in the last year of his life. The first is addressed to his favourite son and successor Hùmâiûn, whom he had settled in the government of Samarcand, and who was at this time a sovereign of approved valour and prudence. There is a very diverting mixture of sound political counsel and minute criticism on writing and composition, in this paternal effusion. We can give but a small part of it.

"In many of your letters you complain of separation from your friends. It is wrong for a prince "There is certainly no greater bondage than that in which a king is placed; but it ill becomes him to complain of inevitable separation.

to indulge in such a complaint.

"In compliance with my wishes, you have in. deed written me letters, but you certainly never read them over; for had you attempted to read them, you must have found it absolutely impossible, and would then undoubtedly have put them by. I contrived indeed to decipher and comprehend the meaning of your last letter, but with much difficulty. It is excessively confused and crabbed. Who ever saw a Moamma (a riddle or a charade) in prose? Your spelling is not bad, yet not quite correct. You have written iltafat with a toe (in stead of a te), and kuling with a be (instead of kof). Your letter may indeed be read; but in consequence of the far-fetched words you have employed, the meaning is by no means very intelligible. You certainly do not excel in letter-writing, and fail chiefly because you have too great a desire to show your acquirements. For the future, you should write unaffectedly, with clearness, using plain words, which would cost less trouble both to the writer and reader."

The other letter is to one of his old companions in arms; and considering that it is written by an ardent and ambitious conqueror, from the capital of his new empire of Hinlustan, it seems to us a very striking proof, tot only of the nothingness of high fortune,

boundless, and great beyond expression. "My solicitude to visit my western dominions is affairs of Hindustan have at length, however, been reduced into a certain degree of order; and I trust The when, through the grace of the Most High, every in Almighty God that the time is near at hand, thing will be completely settled in this country. As soon as matters are brought into that state, I shall, God willing, set out for your quarter, with out losing a moment's time. How is it possible that the delights of those lands should ever be erased from the heart? Above all, how is it possible for one like me, who have made a vow of abstinence from wine, and of purity of life, to forget the delicious melons and grapes of that pleasant region? They very recently brought me a single musk-melon. While cutting it up, 1 felt myself affected with a strong feeling of loneliness, and a sense of my exile from my native country; and I could not help shedding tears while I was eating it!"

liking for "the Tiger"-and the romantic, On the whole, we cannot help having a given though somewhat apocryphal account that is our partiality. It is recorded by Abulfazi, of his death, has no tendency to diminish and other native historians, that in the year after these Memoirs cease, Hûmâiûn, the beloved son of Baber, was brought to Agra in a state of the most miserable health:

"When all hopes from medicine were over, ahu peror of the melancholy situation of his son, Abul while several men of skill were talking to the emBaka, a personage highly venerated for his knowreceive the most valuable thing possessed by one ledge and piety, remarked to Baber, that in such a case the Almighty had sometimes vouchsafed to friend, as an offering in exchange for the life of another. Baber, exclaiming that, of all things, his life was dearest to Hûmâiun, as Humaiûn's was to

him, and that, next to the life of Humâiun, his own

was what he most valued, devoted his life to Hea-
ven as a sacrifice for his son's! The noblemen
and, in
around him entreated him to retract the rash vow,
mond taken at Agra, and reckoned the most valu-
to give the dia.
able on earth: that the ancient sages had said,
that it was the dearest of our worldly possessions
alone that was to be offered to Heaven. But he
in his resolution, declaring that no stone,

place of his first offering,

persisted
his life. He three times walked round the dying
of whatever value, could be put in competition with
prince, a solemnity similar to that used in sacrifices
and heave-offerings, and, retiring, prayed earnestly
to God. After some time he was heard to exclaim,
'I have borne it away! I have borne it away!"

The Mussulman historians assure us, that Humaiûn
proportion as he recovered, the health and strength
of Baber visibly decayed. Baber communicated
almost immediately began to recover, and that, in
his dying instructions to Khwajeh Khalîteh, Kamber
then at court commending Humaiûn to their pro-
Ali Beg, Terdi Beg, and Hindu Beg, who were
tection. With that unvarying affection for his
of his life, he strongly besought Humaiûn to be
family which he showed in all the circumstances
kind and forgiving to his brothers. Humaiûn pro-
kept his promise."
mised-and, what in such circumstances is rare,

POETRY.

:

(March, 1819.)

Specimens of the British Poets; with Biographical and Critical Notices, and an Assay on Englise Poetry. By THOMAS CAMPBELL. 7 vols. 8vo. London: 1819.

We would rather see Mr. Campbell as a poet, than as a commentator on poetry:-because we would rather have a solid addition to the sum of our treasures, than the finest or most judicious account of their actual amount. But we are very glad to see him in any way: -and think the work which he has now given us very excellent and delightful. Still, however, we think there is some little room for complaint; and, feeling that we have not got all we were led to expect, are unreasonable enough to think that the learned author still owes us an arrear: which we hope he will handsomely pay up in the next edition.

When a great post and a man of distinguished talents announces a large selection of English poetry, "with biographical and critical notices," we naturally expect such notices of all, or almost all the authors, of whose works he thinks it worth while to

like

same time

If he were like most authors, or even most critics, we could easily have pardoned this; for we very seldom find any work too short. It is the singular goodness of his criticisms that makes us regret their fewness; for nothing, we think, can be more fair, judicious and discriminating, and at the more fine, delicate and original, than the It is very rare to find greater part of the discussions with which he has here presented us. so much sensibility to the beauties of poetry, united with so much toleration for its faults; and so exact a perception of the merits of every particular style, interfering so little with a just estimate of all. Poets, to be sure, are on the whole, we think, very indulgent judges of poetry; and that not so much, we verily believe, from any partiality to their own vocation, or desire to exalt their fraternity, as from their being more constantly alive to

favour us with specimens. The biography those impulses which it is the business of sometimes may be unattainable-and it may poetry to excite, and more quick to catch and If it be true, as still more frequently be uninteresting-but to follow out those associations on which its

the criticism must always be valuable; and,
indeed, is obviously that which must be
looked to as constituting the chief value of
any such publication. There is no author so
obscure, if at all entitled to a place in this
register, of whom it would not be desirable to
know the opinion of such a man as Mr. Camp-
bell-and none so mature and settled in fame,
upon whose beauties and defects, and poetical
character in general, the public would not

efficacy chiefly depends.
we have formerly endeavoured to show, with
reference to this very author, that poetry pro-
duces all its greater effects, and works its
more memorable enchantments, not so much
by the images it directly presents, as by those
which it suggests to the fancy; and melts or
inflames us less by the fires which it applies
from without, than by those which it kindles
within, and of which the fuel is in our own

have much to learn from such an authority. bosoms, -it will be readily understood how Now, there are many authors, and some of these effects should be most powerful in the no mean note, of whom he has not conde-sensitive breast of a poet; and how a spark, scended to say one word, either in the Essay, which would have been instantly quenched or in the notices prefixed to the citations. Of in the duller atmosphere of an ordinary brain, Jonathan Swift, for example, all that is here may create a blaze in his combustible imagi recorded is "Born 1667-died 1744;" and nation, to warm and enlighten the world.

Otway is despatched in the same summary
manner-"Born 1651-died 1685." Mar-
lowe is commemorated in a single page, and
Butler in half of one. All this is rather ca-
pricious:-But this is not all. Sometimes the
notices are entirely biographical, and some-
times entirely critical. We humbly conceive
they ought always to have been of both des-
criptions. At all events, we ought in every
case to have had some criticism, since this
could always have been had, and could
carcely have failed to be valuable. Mr. C.,
we think, has been a little lazy.

The greater poets, accordingly, have almost always been the warmest admirers, and the most iberal patrons of poetry. The smaller only-your Laureates and Ballad-mongersare envious and irritable-jealous even of the dead, and less desirous of the praise of others than avaricious of their own.

to be

But though a poet is thus likely to be a gentler critic of poetry than another, and, by having a finer sense of its beauties, better qualified for the most pleasing and im portant part of his office, there is another requisite in which we should be afraid he

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