306 Rev. Mr. Scraggs on Literary Criticism. will not acknowledge, the real merits of an author. But a just and candid critic will deliberately examine the whole contents of the publication he reviews, and readily point out excellencies as well as its defects. With respect to the proper manner of reviewing books in order to do justice to authors and the public, their_contents should be considered, 1st, In an impartial and explicit manner. Only truth and justice should guide a periodical critic, and not the least partiality ought to be shown to a writer on account of his rank, his riches, or former productions, nor yet for his honorary title. No work ought to be condemned by wholesale; and literary censors when they disapprove of any part of a publication, should explicitly assign their reasons for so doing. Many have thought that every important article ought to bave the reviewer's name affixed. I have considered this subject for many years, and notwithstanding all the outcry of disappointed authors against anonymous critics, I think it is best to be so; because, if the name appeared, then authors, whose works were censured or not praised, might have a grudge against the reviewer, and perhaps would injure or put him to trouble. On the other hand, a needy or covetous critic might be tempted to praise the works of a rich author in hopes of some reward. In short, I am apprehensive that if the review of no important publications appeared without the critic's name, we night after a time have no review at all. -2. In a concise and satisfactory way. Whatever may be pleaded for the present long and circumlocutory manner of reviewing books, I humbly conceive it is a bad one, as it respects the readers. They ought to be speedily brought acquainted with what the new publication contains in as few words as may be proper, according to the size of the work. But instead of this, very frequently the introduction to a very important publication is as long as the whole review of it ought to be, and often has many irrelevant remarks in it. The table of contents ought always to be copied, but is often omitted, and the book sometimes reviewed in such a desultory way, that even a very judicious reader is quite at a los to formn any correct idea of it. Besid s this, such a tedious way of reviewing takes up so much room, that very few standard publications can pass under review in a month; and some are near two years after publication be [May 1, fore they are reviewed.-Lastly, In a lively and entertaining manner. Оп grave subjects, no doubt the review of them should be grave, but others ought not to be dull. When interspersed with short appropriate anecdotes or striking quotations, they are rendered inore pleasing; and strokes of humour are sometimes very agreeable when they are not personal and malicious. As to the standard of literary criticism, it is certain that no one author in any language, ancient or modern, can be said to be an infallible criterion. But Dr. Knox expresses himself very well on this part of the subject in the following words: "What then, it will be asked, is criticism to be left for ever vague and indeterminate, and is there no standard?" I answer, that the feelings of the majority of men of taste, coinciding for a number of years in giv ing approbation to the best of authors, constitute a standard sufficiently certain and uniform. And indeed it is totally impossible to fix upon any writer, however celebrated, as a general standard; not only because that writer has his faults, but because he cannot equally excel in every species of composition. But those literary works which have pleased the greater part of literary persons for a number of years, will most likely please others after them; and as to differences of opinion, they are only the irregularities which attend every thing sublunary, and do not invalidate the justness of the general decision. Let us now point out some of the chief uses of literary criticism to the republic of letters, and to scholars in particular:1. It deters some bad writers from publishing. Every learned person is not necessarily qualified to become an author, much less are those who have only a smattering of learning. He who prepares for the press, besides a competent knowledge of the subject on which he writes, should understand the rules of composition, have a taste for good language, and be accustomed to compose. Now as nothing is more likely to deter unqualified persons from writing than a fear of being exposed by the critics, therefore periodical criticisin is highly useful; indeed this is become quite necessary since the liberty of the press has been so extensive in Great Britain, be cause these literary journals are now almost the only public means of curbing the abuse of it.-2. It admonishes accredited authors to continue to write well. It is to be lamented that some authors of 1816.] Sentiments of the Royal Society on Animal Torture. note, who have formerly used good language, have afterwards become rather careless; if, therefore, such inattention were not to be reproved by reviewers, we should soon degenerate. Some indeed affect to despise verbal criticism; but as words represent ideas of the most important things, every judicious person must know that a proper choice and arrangement of them is of great consequence. All authors should also consider that a correct, flowing, and elegant style, is much more likely to be useful in communicating knowledge than that which is defective. It is true, indeed, that reviewers are sometimes splenetic and fastidious in their remarks on the diction of a writer, yet all but conceited authors may make a good use of their strictures. Liberal criticisms are therefore useful to humble writers, which occasioned a living author thus to write in his preface: "Every good-tempered critic is my friend; and as I wish to be improved, I rather invite than deprecate criticism."-3. It saves readers time, trouble, and expense. Very few readers can fully judge for themselves, and if capable, modern standard books are $0 dear, that readers wish to consult a literary journal before they make a purchase. Title-pages have become of late years so deceiving that nothing decisive is to be concluded from them; it is, therefore, truly desirable to be able to consult a review. But perhaps some will say that reviewers are connected with certain publishing booksellers, and therefore praise such books as they publish whether good or bad. However this may be, it is certain that their productions may be made use of in some measure to guide in the choice of books. Lastly, riticisms spread the fame of authors, and diffuse knowledge. If it were not for periodical literary journals the works of authors could not be very extensively known, and literature would be confined to a few comparatively speaking. But now, besides their review of elaborate treatises in various arts and sciences every month, even their incidental remarks and hints are very beneficial to intelligent readers. We have now more English reviews than ever we had; the number of readers have greatly increased; and consequently mental knowledge is much more diffused. I shall conclude with the following quotation from an able writer, which contains some additional remarks on the subject:-" A carping or fastidious critic in reviewing a publicationi is chiefly delighted in point 307 ing out blemishes; whereas one who is Buckingham. MR. EDITOR, IT will be pleasing to your readers to hear of an instance of good effect arising from the freedom of public remarks. In your Magazine for February last an account is given of Professor CARLISLE'S lectures at the Royal Academy, wherein he reprobates the unwarrantable cruelties practised upon animals by some modern anatomists, and which are ostentatiously promulgated by a great literary society. The majority of the Royal Society have been for a long time disgusted with unprofitable and revolting narratives of animal torture, but the managers of that body affected to defy public opinion, and remained callous to the expression of better feelings. At the meeting of the 21st February, and in the presence of the Austrian archdukes, the ballot for the election of one of those favourite torturers came on, when, to the utter dismay of the managers and his promoters, this otherwise-unexceptionable candidate was black-balled, and that by the most extraordinarily numerous majority which has of late years attended the meetings of the Royal Society. F. R. $. MR. EDITOR, IN the sixth number of your Magazine Mr. MITCHELL has given a few particu lars of the late Mr. J. H. Wynne. Per 308 Anecdotes of the late Mr. J. H. Wynne. haps you will not deem your pages unprofitably employed, if you add a few more anecdotes of a gentleman who, amidst all is eccentricities, (and they were abundant,) never appears to have swerved from the high path of morality and the most honourable pursuits; though his career was far from being attended by those blessings which sweeten it, and set us above the allurements of want, or the commission of deds unfortunately occasioned sometimes by the unkindness of the world, and the contumely of the unfeeling,the shafts of which saiote Mr. Wynne with all their virulence, and doomed him to struggle oftentimes with poverty and misfortune. I glean these anecdotes of his life from an account of some length, published nearly twelve years ago in a paper whose circulation is in a great measure confined to Wales, and therefore not read by many out of the principality. I conclude that the facts may be relied on as authentic. As they appeared (somewhat more diffuse) a considerable time back, and, as far as I can learn or recollect, the truth of them has never been questioned, I trust, Sir, you will devote a page of your miscellany to them, not doubting that they will be welcome to many of your readers. Mr. JAMES HUDDLESTONE WYNNE was of a very respectable family in South Wales, and related to the Wynnes of Wynnstay, in North Wales. His father from misfortune having reduced his circumstances, wisely resolved on a profession for young James, and that of a compositor was determined on, at which he worked with that great and worthy man Benjamin Franklin; but he became disgusted with his profession, and obtained a lieutenancy in a regiment about to set out for India. The irascibility of Mr. Wynne's temper was such, that it for ever kept him in hot water: he had not proceeded far on his voyage before he quarrelled with his brother officers, who would not mess with him, and actually left him behind when the ship arrived at the Cape; from whence he returned to England, and meeting with a young lady of property, entered into the state of matrimony. It was about this time that Mr. Wynne thought of commencing author, and his first application in that way was to Mr. Geo. Kearsley, bookseller, Fleet street, whose liberality .enabled him to support his family. He had two other employers: oue in Paternosterrow, the other in May-fair. For the first he was doomed periodically to write re [May 1, buscs and enigmas; for the other, petty fables, childrens' lessons in verse, or to devise new-fangled modes of playing the game of goose. As these two pillars of literature lived at so great distance apart, our poor poet, who had suffered a total derangement of the muscles of his right leg, was almost reduced to a skeleton by his attendance on them. When he had written a dozen lines for a child's play-card, or half a page of a monthly inagazine, our poet was obliged to go with his stock of commodity from Bloomsbury, where he occupied an attic, first to May-fair, and then to Paternosterrow; and the remuneration he received for the effusions of his brain was frequently insufficient to procure him the means of existence. Mr. Wynne would often complain in the most severe terms of the want of generosity in his employers. The literary productions of Mr. Wynne are numerous; and, some written for his amusement, full of merit, strongly evincing flights of true genius. His History of Ireland the critics of his day belaboured with Herculean clubs-but critics are often more ill-natured than candid; his Miseries of Authorship does his feclings much credit-alas! he was able to give a faithful picture of those "miseries;" and his poem of the Protitute (the only publication of his mentioned by your correspondent Mr. MITCHELL) is full of moral and tender sentiments, the offspring of a good heart. Many others of his pieces have much to recommend them, and would not disgrace men of greater celebrity. Mr. Wynne's eccentricities were numerous, and some of them so tinctured with pride as make their possessor appear truly ridiculous. The noblest minds are ever hardiest in distress; but Mr.W. was insolent in rags, turbulent when in want of a meal, and would insult his best friend for doing him an act of kindness unsolicited; of which the following anecdote is an instance. Mr. Wynne's figure was below the middle stature; his face thin and pale; his head scantily covered with black hair, collected in a tail about the thickness of a tobacco-pipe; his emaciated right leg was sustained by an unpolished iron:he wore his gloves without fingers, and his clothes in tatters. In such a trim he one day entered the shop of Mr. Kearsley, the bookseller, who possessed a heart susceptible of every good, and a hand ever ready to relieve distress. Mr. K.'s shop was the lounge for gentlemen of literary attachment, who stopped to inquire the 1816.] Anecdotes of the late Mr. J. H. Wynne. occurrences of the day; and several persons of fashion were present when Wynne entered, and began to talk in a way that shewed want of good-breeding, His shabby appearance, together with his unbridled loquacity, threw Mr. Kearsley into a fever until he got rid of him; after which, moved at the indelicacy of his appearance, Mr. K., from the purest motives, took a suit of his clothes, almost new, and, with other appendages, bundled them together in a handkerchief, and, with a polite note, sent them after Mr. W. to his lodgings. As this was done without the knowledge of a third person, aud in so polite a way, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that Mr. Wynne received the gift with thankfulness, at least with good manners; but the result proved otherwise. He stormed like a madman, and in a rage returned the bundle, though he was covered with rags like a pauper; writing by the porter, that "the pity he had experienced was brutality; the officiousness to serve him insolence; and if ever Mr. K. did the like again till he was requested, he would chastise him in another way." This would have been a wren pouncing upon an eagle; for Mr. Kearsley was a tall stout man-a Colossus to Wynne. Notwithstanding the preceding, Mr. Wynne was not without his attachment to dress and fashion. A short time previous to his publishing his History of Ireland, he expressed a desire to dedicate it to the Duke of Northumberland, who was just returned from being lord-lieutenant of that country. For this purpose he waited on Dr. Percy, and met with a very polite reception. The duke was made acquainted with his wishes, and Dr. Percy went as the messenger of good tidings to the author. But there was more to be done than a formal introduction; the poor writer intimated this to the good doctor; who in the most delicate terms begged his acceptance of an almost new suit of black, which, with a very little alteration, might be made to fit. This, the doctor urged, would be best, as there was not time to provide a new suit and other things necessary for his debut, as the duke had appointed Monday in the next week to give the historian an audience. Mr. Wynne approved of the plan in all respects, and in the mean time had prepared himself with a set speech and a manuscript of the dedication. But, to digress a little, it must be understood that Dr. Percy was considerably in stature above Mr. W. and his coat sufficiently large to wrap 300 round the latter and conceal him.-The morning came for the author's public entry at Northumberland-house; but alas! one grand mistake had been made: in the hurry of business no application had been made to the tailor for the necessary alteration of his clothes; however, great minds are not cast down with ordinary occurrences; Mr. Wynne dressed himself in Dr. Percy's friendly suit, together with a borrowed sword, and a hat under his arm of great antiquity; then taking leave of his trembling wife, he set out for the great house. True to the moment, he arrived-Dr. Percy attended-and the duke was ready to receive our poet, whose figure at this time presented the appearance of a suit of sables hung on a bedge-stake, or one of those bodiless forms we see swinging on a dyer's pole. On his introduction, Mr. Wynne began his formal address; and the noble duke was so tickled at the singularity of the poet's appearance, that, in spite of his gravity, he burst the bonds of good manners; and at length, agitated by an endeavour to restrain risibility, he leaped from his chair, forced a purse of thirty guineas into Mr. Wynne's hand, and hurrying out of the room, told the poet he was welcome to make what use he pleased of his name and patronage. In the year 1780, Mr.Wynne addressed an ode to her Majesty on her birth-day, which was well received; it began thus: "Heard ye the welcome sound of joy? Heard ye the swelling notes of praise? Mr. Wynne now began to extend his fame, and several periodical booksellers with great eagerness solicited his literary assistance. The Rev. Dr. Madan bad just written and published a very singular book in vindication of polygamy, called Thelypthoru. It was composed purposely to extenuate the con duct of a rich merchant in the Borough, a friend of Dr. Madan's, who had mar ried two wives, and (what must appear extraordinary) lived in tolerable har mony with both under the same roof. This book Mr. Wynne borrowed, and returned it again with the following epigram written on one of the leaves in red ink: "If John marries Mary, and Mary alone, what scratches! But if John weds a score-O what claws and [matches." can't be a match, but a bundle of It A hundred more instances might be 810 Explanation of a Passage in Shakspeare. produced of Mr. Wynne's ready wit and humour, but, as they still live in the memory of his friends, we shall conclude with observing, that his only faults were, negligence with respect to exterior appearance, and obstinacy in refusing to accept obligations, tendered, from the purest motives, by many who were desirous of serving him in distress. His whole garb at times was not worth a crown. His morals were noble; and those who bad the advantage of his friendship, received him with a smile of respect, and always left him with regret. At length nature began to decay, his limbs and intellects forsook him; but the affection of his children threw a veil over his infirmities. Upon the great stage of life he acted well his part; and here we drop the curtain. In the account from which the above is selected, no notice whatever is taken of his unfinished poem called Hengist, an extract from which appeared in your fifth number. A TRAVELLER. Swansea, Jan. 1816. MR. EDITOR, YOUR well-conducted journal being open to whatever is interesting in literature, I flatter myself you will permit the following explanation of a passage in Shakspeare to be laid before your readers. 16 In an account of the festivities, sports, and occupations at Kenilworth Castle, during the visit of Queen Elizabeth in 1575, published in "A letter from a freend officer attendant in the court, unto his freend a citizen and merchant of London*;” among other items is the following: attached to two posts were "sett two coumly square wyre cages," filled with live bitterns, curluz, shoovelarg, hearsheawz, godwitz, and such like deinty byrds of the prezents of Sulvanus, the god of the foul." Now this word hearsheawz elucidates a passage which has been much commented on. Hamlet bantering with his associates (Act II. sc. 2), says, "When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a hernshaw,"-heronsbaw, or as here spelt hearsheaw; but which has been very absurdly printed, and as absurdly pronounced by many players hand-saw. This observation is so obvious to me, that I have thought it worth communicating, and shall be very glad if it meets the approbation of greater critics than I pretend to be. Port Glasgow. PENTELICON. MR. EDITOR, [May 1, THE astonishing revolutions in, the political affairs of Europe within so.comparatively short a period as the last 25 years, exceed any, of the mighty events recorded in history. It is a subject replete with the greatest interest, and will afford ample matter for the pens of fu ture historians and philosophers, which will be read with the deepest attention many ages after the present and succeeding generations have disappeared. Let us only contemplate what was so justly termed the "reign of terror," during some part of the Revolution, when all laws, both human and divine, were set at defiance; when the destruction of human life was literally for a considerable time the order of the day; when even Atheism was publicly promulgated! In what words can we convey our ideas of the dreadful state of degradation and depravity to which a part of the French nation must have been reduced! and yet how strange, how unaccountable must the character of these people appear, when, after all the dreadful scenes of blood and misery which it had exhibited, and that in the name of liberty, they could in a few years consign themselves to the power of such a despot as Buonaparte, under whom they lost even the very semblance of what they so eagerly sought! It is remarkable that the French, who in their manners have been considered the politest nation in Europe, should have conducted themselves with such extreme brutality, as never can be obliterated from the recollection of mankind, while vice continues to be viewed with abhorrence. I firmly believe that the works of Voltaire, d'Alembert and others, greatly contributed towards a laxity of morals, which in some measure paved the way for that general demoralization that subsequently made them so conspicuous among all other nations. That the bad tendency of these writings was the cause to a certain degree of the horrors attending the Revolution, I think no impartial person can deny. We have here a proof even to demonstration of the utter impossibility of any civilized nation existing without the powerful aid of religion, as when once that is abolished (as was the case in France during a certain period of the Revolution), morality will of course depart with it, which ought to be the grand basis upon which all human laws should repose. In this paper, I wish particularly to direct the attention of your numerous See Bishop Hurd's "Moral and Poli- readers to the writings of certain jourtical Dialogues," page 125. nalists of the present day, who appear |