gal, Mac Gregor's wife, (if not himself,) | cumstances, and it would be a bitter and a
Mac Vittle, and all the other Glasgow scandalous reflection upon our age, were
folks and Highlanders, ought also to dis- we to allow unalleviated misery to become
play their national peculiarities in style the portion of those whom we only knew
and tone, were it not impossible so to get as sources of pleasure, amusement, and
up dramas, and therefore allowed to assign merriment.
such exception to one or more of the per-
formers competent to the task. It is a
more solid objection to Miss Somerville's
Scotch, that it is not of a legitimate and
genuine twang, but clipped and purified
a Anglaise, as Mr. H. Johnston's was
wont to be in the Man of the World.

The Cockneys, however, were delighted with it, and as there are not such universal critics in the universal world as your true Londoner, their judgment is without appeal, when they pronounce that Miss Somerville's pronunciation is in the pure and perfect manner of John O'Groat's house. Their geography can carry their panegyric no further. The commanding figure of the actress gave good effect to many passages, but, on the whole, we have seen no Meg Merrilies superior to her first cast-Mrs. Egerton.

"Mrs. Cowley's farce of Who's the Dupe? was revived as a middle piece, on Wednesday, and admirably performed. Mr. Fawcett's Gradus, Mr. Farren's Doiley, Mr. Jones's Granger, and Mrs. Gibbs's Charlotte, were severally perfect in comic humour.

VARIETIES.

To the Editor of the Literary Gazette.
SIB,

been transmitted to me by a friend, I for-
This curious piece of criticism having
ward it to you, hoping that it may both
amuse your readers, and help to fill up
your paper.
I am, Sir, yours,

H. G. T.

VERBAL CRITICISM ON A WELL KNOWN
PIECE OF POETRY.
High diddle diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon ;
The little dog laughed,

To see such fine sport,
And the dish run after the spoon.
This fragment, so valuable, and of such
great consequence to the literary world, is
replete with false readings and corruptions;
which faults I hope to correct, by the colla-
tion of many rare and valuable MSS. and
by supplying the true readings, as deter-
mined by Bentley, Porson, and other
learned critics.

NEW EXPEDITION.-The Hecla, at Deptford, and Griper, at Chatham, are ordered to be fitted out to explore the Arctic Regions, in the Spring,-Morn. Post.

In digging at Rome on the 2d ult. near the Column of Phocas, there was found a fragment containing 17 lines of the Consulates to the commencement of the second lar Fasces, the principal part of which rePunic war, and some of the subsequent

years.

A Mr. Hunt made his debût as Captain Macheath, on Thursday. His voice is exceedingly sweet, and his manner pleasing. He may be the double to Pyne or Duruset, and seems to have musical powers not far removed from these popular singers of course he is an agreeable acquisition to the theatre, and will, we doubt not, often find employment in characters the action of which is more suited to his talents in that line, than the ultra-spirited highwayman. ORATORIOS.-We are sorry to say that an accident prevents our remarks on the very charming Oratorio produced last Satur-be the name of some person,, either * 1.blish a printing press in his country, Mount

day, under the direction of Sir George Smart, from appearing in this week's Gazette. It promised most auspiciously for those which are to follow.

On Saturday, a dinner, in aid of Covent Garden Theatrical Fund, was given at the Freemasons' Tavern: The Duke of York, President. Upwards of 15007., an immense subscription, was collected at the tables, and a gratifying statement made of the benevolent application of this meritorious fund. We are not among those who imagine that there is any danger of seeing (in Mr. Fawcett's language)" King Richard III. begging a halfpenny in St. Paul's Church-yard-Othello sweeping a crossing in the Strand-Cardinal Wolsey vending apples at Charing-cross-or Lady Macbeth feebly singing ballads at Waterloo place;" for none who rise to the rank of playing such parts in the Metropolis, are so ill rewarded as to be left destitute. But inferior actors and actresses are in imminent peril of being reduced to want by many cir

Line 1. This abrupt commencement of this highly lyrical and truly poetical piece, has given unspeakable trouble to all the learned of all ages and countries. Some The Rev. Gregone Pierre Garve, a Marowith great ingenuity, although falsely, sup-nite Bishop, bearing the title of Archbishop pose that these words are an exclama- of Constantinople, has lately had an audition of wonder, at the unusual and curious ence of his Majesty, of whom he requested, proceedings which ensue. But Bentley and in the name of his nation, a complete assortPorson both concur in supposing, it must ment of Syrian characters, in order to estalatter reading is preferable. The repetition re-publishing works of religion and piety, Diddle," or 66 Hugh Diddle," and which Lebanon. This press will be employed in of the word diddle, is not, as some suppose, of which the Catholics of these regions a repeated exclamation, but a verb; which, stand in great want. His Majesty received the Prelate with kindness, and conversed with him in Italian.-(French Papers.)

as

the scholiast (Zosimus Ascalonites) justly observes, signifies the motion of the arm in fiddling. Some read twiddle, but in vain. Porson and Blomfield confirm the scholiast.

2. Here is evidently a corruption of the word catgut, as all the critics agree. The scholiast says it was a sort of instrument like our hurdy-gurdy; an evident mistake. Here then we must read-" The catgut of the fiddles.”

3.-The next line is mysterious, and has puzzled all the commentators. Some think the cow, exhilarated by the music, would jump over the moon. The most probable conjecture is, that Hugh Diddle's fiddling took place in a new moon, when the horns of that planet are visible. A highly poetical idea.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1819.

REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.

HUMAN LIFE, a Poem. By Samuel
Rogers. London 1819. Small 4to.

pp. 94.

PRICE 8d.

And once, alas, nor in a distant hour,

seen,

Another voice shall come from yonder tower;
When in dim chambers long black weeds are ‡
And weepings heard where only joy had been;
When by his children borne, and from his door
Slowly departing to return no more,
He rests in holy earth with them that went before.

And such is human life.

meaning, and his language is involved | In every cottage-porch with garlands green,
Stand still to gaze, and, gazing, bless the scene;
in an obscurity which the slightest While, her dark eyes declining, by his side
grammatical alteration would probably Moves in her virgin veil the gentle bride.
elucidate. The rhythm is very musical,
and the rhyme, taken altogether, good.
We do not dislike the occasional change
to
from the regular heroic measure
triplets, nor to the line with a trochaick
close; but in so short a poem (not ex-
ceeding 600 lines) there is an objection-
able recurrence to the same terminations;
and the use of one word, in itself neither
poetical nor called for by the sense of
the passage, we must notice as the prin-
cipal critical blemish of the composition.
We allude to the pronoun there,' which,
though nothing better than an expletive
in three out of the four places in which
it is employed, serves as a rhyme for
about a dozen of times.
impressed into the same service, and the
conclusion in ire, for example, fire, re-
quire, admire, desire, &c. &c. &c. occurs
so often, as to produce an idea of same-
In short, while acknowledging
their correctness, we may complain of And all must follow, fearful as it is!
the want of variety in the rhymes.

Human life—a trite but interesting subxject to human beings; a subject inexhaustible, and which has exhausted every species of intellectual intelligence; a subject upon which nothing new can be said, and much of what is old may be repeated, to the delight of mankind, if IT repeated well. Such is the theme adopted by Mr. Rogers for a poem, the extent of which is a sketch of one view of the great drama that is designated, rather than a grand outline of the many and important aspects it presents to the philosophical mind. In this sketch the pencilling is beautiful, the conception refined, the design pleasing, upon the whole the execution elegant, and the general feeling of an admirable tone. We cannot look upon it without recog-ness. nising an amiable disposition in the artist; a sensibility of the purest order, #. alike removed from the confines of mawkish sentiment and of hard unkindness: a heart touched with the ills of life and the griefs of other men, seems to speak in one or two of the most affecting passages descriptive of the death of beloved objects, and the ideas of the writer are expressed with a simple though polished pathos, which claims and ensures a corresponding emotion.

The impression made upon us by the perusal of Human Life is that of an agreeable melancholy. There are parts which excite deeper sensations; but the general tendency is of this delightful

cast.

As mere readers we should offer no other opinion upon the merits of this production; but as bringing it critically before the public, we are bound to enter a little more into detail. The extracts which we shall add to these brief remarks will prove that the highest degree of admiration is due to many felicitous effusions which it contains, especially to those pourings out of soul which sympathy has attuned to the misfortunes or woes of fellow creatures. Throughout the poem the style is tender, and far above the level of undistinguished verse. The pictures are almost invariably clearly defined, though in one or two instances we are at a loss for the author's precise VOL. III.

6

'Then' is also

But without dwelling further at present on such minute spots, except to point them out as they cross us in our annexed quotations, we proceed to the more gratifying task of laying before our readers those extracts which we have selected as fair specimens of the work.

The introduction is not inferior to any
equal number of continuous lines in the
poem.

The lark has sung his carol in the sky;
The bees have hummed their noon-tide lullaby.
Still in the vale the village-bells ring round,
For now the caudle cup is circling there,*
Still in Llewellyn-hall the jests resound:
Now, glad at heart, the gossips breathe their
prayer,

And, crowding, stop the cradle to admire
A few short years-and then these sounds shall
The babe, the sleeping image of his sire.
The day again, and gladness fill the vale
So soon the child a youth, the youth a man,
Eager to run the race his fathers ran.
The ale, now brewed, in floods of amber shine:
Then the huge ox shall yield the broad sir-loin;
And, basking in the chimney's ample blaze,
Mid many a tale told of his boyish days,
The nurse shall cry, of all her ills beguiled,
"Twas on these knees he sat so oft and smiled."

And soon again shall music swell the breeze;
Soon, issuing forth, shall glitter through the trees
Vestures of nuptial white; and hymns be sung,
And violets scattered round; and old and young,

* One of the examples of the inappropriate use
of this pronoun.

These verses, and the notes we have appended to them, will convey our sentiments on the whole poem. Were it not exquisitely wrought, and laboriously polished throughout, we should not think it worth minute and microscopical criticism: but it is on the finest mirrors that the smallest specks are seen.

The next paragraph which we shall copy is one of more unmixed beauty, and may be esteemed a free paraphrase from Bossuet's Sermon on the Resurrec

tion.

Our pathway leads but to a precipice;

From the first step 'tis known; but-No delay!
On, 'tis decreed. We tremble and obey.
A thousand ills beset us as we go.
-"Still, could I shun the fatal gulf”—Ah, no,
Tis all in vain-the inexorable Law!
Verdure springs up; and fruits and flowers invite,
"Oh I would stop, and linger if I might!".
And groves and fountains-all things that delight.

Nearer and nearer to the brink we draw.

All dark before, all desolate behind!
At length the brink appears-but one step more!
We faint-On, on! we falter—and 'tis o'er!

We fly; no resting for the foot we find;

The author, after some general reflections, now proceeds through the different stages of human life, differing in his classification from the seven ages of Shakspeare. He divides his subject into Childhood, Youth, Manhood, Love, Marriage, Domestic Happiness and Affliction, War, Peace, Civil Dissension, Retirement from active life, and Old Age and its enjoyments. The portraiture of infancy is very pretty; but the transition from Manhood to Love rather abrupt; nor is the latter subject so hapseems to us to be too familiar rather pily treated as most of the others. It than playful. The delineation of domestic bliss is at once more elevated and natural, but we pass it by for the still better painted picture of domestic calamity.

+ An indefinite, and here an improper word. The change of time from the shall in the has a bad effect, preceding line to this are,