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emotion, and takes no merit from the refinements of a metaphysical wit, or the giddy wanderings of an untamed imagination, but is content with the glory of stimulating, rather than of oppressing, the sluggishness of ordinary conceptions.

It would be cold and contemptible not to hope well of one who has expressed his love of nature so touchingingly as Mr K. has done in the following sonnets:

"O solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
Of murky buildings; climb with me the
steep,-

Nature's observatory,-whence the dell
Its flow'ry slopes, its rivers crystal swell,
May seem a span; let me thy vigils
keep

Mongst boughs pavillion'd, where the deer's swift leap

Startles the wild bee from the foxglove bell. But though I'll gladly trace these scenes with thee,

Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,

Whose words are images of thoughts refin'd,

Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must

be

Almost the highest bliss of human kind, When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flce."

"To one who has been long in city pent, 'Tis very sweet to look into the fair And open face of heav'n,-to breathe a prayer

Full in the smile of the blue firmament. Who is more happy, when, with heart's content,

Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair
Of wavy grass, and reads a debonair
And gentle tale of love and languishment?
Returning home at evening, with an ear
Catching the notes of Philomel,— -an eye
Watching the sailing cloudlets bright ca-

reer,

He mourns that day so soon has glided by;

E'en like the passage of an angel's tear That falls through the clear ether silently."

Another sonnet, addressed to Mr Haydon the painter, appears to us very felicitous. The thought, indeed, of the first eight lines is altogether admirable; and the whole has a veritable air of Milton about it which has not been given, in the same extent, to any other poet except Wordsworth. "High-mindedness, a jealousy for good, A loving-kindness for the great man's fame,

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Envy and malice to their native sty? Unnumber'd souls breathe out a still applause Proud to behold him in his country's eye!"

We are sorry that we can quote no more of these sweet verses which have in them so deep a tone of moral energy, and such a zest of the pathos of genius. We are loth to part with this poet of promise, and are vexed that critical justice requires us to mention some passages of considerable affectation, and marks of offensive haste, which he has permitted to go forth into his volume. Leafy luxury," jaunty streams, lawny slope,' the moonbeamy air," a sun-beamy tale;" these, if not namby-pamby, are, at least, the "holiday and lady terms" of those poor affected creatures who write verses "in spite of nature and their stars.

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These are two of the most unpoetical of Mr K.'s lines,-but they are not single. We cannot part, however, on bad terms with the author of such a glorious and Virgilian conception as this: "The moon lifting her silver rim Above a cloud, and with a gradual swim Coming into the blue with all her light." A striking natural vicissitude has hardly been expressed better by Virgil himself,-though the severe simpleness of his age, and the compact structure of its language, do so much for him in every instance:

"Ipse Pater, mediâ nimborum in nocte, coruscâ

Fulmina molitur dextra.”

Six Mois à Londres en 1816. Par l'auteur de Quinze Jours à London. Paris, 8vo.

AN irrevocable fate seems to ordain that there shall never be cordial or perfect peace between the two nations who dwell on the opposite sides of the British Channel. The closing of the great contest, and the cessation of the din of arms, has been only the signal for the commencement of a petite guerre, carried on with the pen, indeed, instead of the sword, but not with the less determination and animosity. General Pillet opened the campaign, but began by taking too advanced a position, in which even his most zealous countrymen were unable to support him. His work, in fact, is a gross and monstrous libel, in which a very small portion of truth is combined with a series of the most bare faced calumnies. It is reported to have been suppressed by authority; but a French gentleman assured us that it never had; but that the French people, after the first edition, unanimously refused to purchase it. However, M. Pillet did not long pass without the retort uncourteous. Mr Scott's Visit to Paris is considered, by all true Frenchmen, as a libel scarcely second to that of M. Pillet; and the wide circulation which it obtained in England, made that which at first was only an individual offence, become a national one. However, reprisals were not long wanting. The present writer entered the field, and, having first thrown forward a light division under the title of Quinze Jours à Londres, soon after brought up his main body, under the more imposing title of Six Mois à Londres. He attacks, in an equally decided, but much more prudent and cautious, manner. This, on the whole, is the work of a man of some tolerable share of wit and observation, who writes in a light and gay style, and without ever quitting the bias in favour of his own country, cannot be charged with any very direct or palpable misrepresentation of what he sees in ours. We regret that our limits allow us to follow him only in a very few of the most prominent particulars to which

he alludes.

One of the main objects of ridicule is found in the large dinners and crowded routes of the English;-entertainments, in which the sole distinction

consists in the number of persons collected together into one place. This is a never-failing ground of sarcasm to our neighbours, and one on which it does not seem very possible to say any thing in our own defence. It seems very singular, considering the relative character of the French and English nations, that this should be a point in which the former should triumph. The English are surely the more quiet, orderly, and domestic, of the two; why then, in their amusements, do they seek nothing but crowd, bustle, and confusion? The cause we apprehend to lie in this very feature of their character, which ought at first sight to exclude it. The Englishman seeks his enjoyment at home, in domestic society, business, and reflection. When he gives a dinner or a route, he has in view neither his own amusement, nor that of the company whom he invites. The sole object is to display his wealth, and maintain his place in society; both these purposes are best served by making the assemblage as large as possible; and if pleasure is not found, it is because it was never sought. While, however, we trace the custom to this respectable cause, we are by no means inclined to deny its intrinsic barbarism; nor do we doubt, that a French coterie, or petit souper, must be infinitely more agreeable; or that the latter nation are more deeply initiated in all the mysteries of the savoir vivre. We do not so entirely agree as to the condition of the fair sex in this our island, which the anonymous author deeply deplores. The following is his view of the life which they lead:

entrance into the world and her marriage "The time which passes between her is the happiest interval in the life of an Englishwoman. She is then the object of some attentions; she enjoys a certain liberty, and on her devolves the important office of preparing tea. Is she married? adieu to all compliment and attention. She passes the morning in solitude; her thoughtful husband has his head full of too many ideas to allow that of his fair companion to present itself. Is she of high rank? The sitting of Parliament occupies him when in London, and the pleasures of hunting) at his country seat. Is he in the middle rank? The case is still worse. Speculations, affairs of trade, absorb him wholly, and do not leave him time even to recollect that he is married.

"But at last the hour of dinner calls him

home; he has invited a few friends; his wife, enjoying the prerogatives of mistress of the house, does the honours of the table. Her presence doubtless will bring joy and gaiety. Not at all; an English repast is a piece in two acts, of which the first is serious, and the second often vulgar. Dinner being announced, in many houses the gentlemen do not even offer the ladies their hand; this is said to be in order to prevent little jealousies. However, the company are at table, and at this moment of forgotten affairs, of happy ease, they are about to occupy themselves with the ladies, and to lavish on them those amiable attentions, that flattering address, which, in France, appear to be the first pleasure of a feast. No. They think first, and very seriously, of the principal object which brought them together. Then a young man will talk of his horses, another of his dogs; a gentleman counts the foxes which he has killed in the course of the year; a merchant tells you the price of cotton in the Levant; then come political speculations, all subjects very interesting

to the ladies.

"But the cloth is removed; the dessert is set upon the table; the ladies drink a glass or two, and then go off. They must retire solitary into the drawing-room, while the men, with their elbows resting on the table, are employed for one, two, or more hours, in making copious libations to Bacchus.

"At last the two companies unite; the men are come to take tea and coffee. What a charming company! Some, overpowered by the fumes of wine, withdraw to the corner of a sopha, and sink into a deep slumber. Others, on whom the same cause has produced a contrary effect, talk on in the most insupportable and insigni

ficant manner.

"At least it may be supposed that, in the mercantile class, so numerous in London,

women will find business a sure resource

against ennui. It is a mistake. They have no concern with business. They remain in the interior of the house, while the men take charge almost exclusively of the warehouse and shop. The merchant who puts up to shew the most precious commodities, does not reckon upon the charms of his wife, to induce the passenger to enter. Only the shops of the haberdasher and confectioner are served by women.'

We admit that there is some truth in this picture, particularly so far as relates to the history of an English dinner. We must however say, that several passages, particularly the one marked in italics, indicate a state of moral feeling with regard to the sex, in which an Englishman would find some difficulty in participating. In general, there is this clear distinction

between the two nations, that the species of gallantry, which we commonly call admiration, is exclusively directed in England to unmarried ladies, in France to married. We do not mean to make any of those inferences which Englishmen in France are perhaps apt to make too readily; we will suppose that nothing passes except the egards aimables-attentions delicates-propos flatteurs, mentioned by our author. But we confess that we decidedly adhere to the British married woman shall look for every law of decorum, which ordains, that a sentiment connected with love to her husband only, and that all other men shall be viewed by her only as common friends or as acquaintance. It appears to us even more natural, and also more amusing, to address the attentions aimables, and the propos flatteurs, to a fine young girl of twenty or twenty-five, than to a venerable maclimacteric. tron bordering perhaps on her grand advanced in life may really, we think, A married lady at all find sufficient enjoyment in rational conversation and the care of her family, without the necessity of being always on the watch for admiration; and, if the shopkeeper's wife performs faithfully all her other duties, he may fairly dispense with that of attracting customers by a display of her charms.

The author, to shew his impartiality, devotes a chapter to English beneficence, of which he recounts many splendid examples. At the close, however, he withdraws nearly the whole merit, by hinting, that it proceeds almost solely from ostentation. This, we think, is dealing rather unfairly with us. Doubtless there is a mixture of ostentation here as in every thing good that is done by the mass of mankind. But it is the prevailing sentiment of beneficence which turns in this direction the efforts of the vain where it is not an individual, it is still to acquire distinction, so that even a national, virtue.

The author has sundry remarks on the arts, the theatres, tea-drinking, &c.; but the necessity of leaving their due proportion to the other departments of our Miscellany, induces us here to pause. Although this work is not without merit, there seems still wanting to both nations a writer who shall give to each of them a faithful and impartial description of the other.

ANALYTICAL NOTICES.

FOREIGN JOURNALS.

On the Indian Work called the Tables of Bedpai. By M. SILVESTRE DE SACY. (Journal de Savans.)

THIS work, called in the original Calila and Dimna, is now published by M. de Sacy, in the Arabic version, which, however, is itself only a translation. The same learned writer has prefixed some introductory observations on the origin of this celebrated collection of Apologues. In this introduction M. de Sacy refutes the opinion of those who believe the Arabic to be the original. On the contrary, he conceives it clearly proved, that they were translated, in the reign of Chosroes the Great, into the Pehlvi, or ancient Persian language, by a Persian physician named Barzouyeh, and that they were thence only translated into Arabic by Abdallah-ben Alınokaffa. At the conquest of Persia by the Arabs, all the literary monuments of the ancient Pehlvi language were destroyed, and the learned men who afterwards arose in a more enlightened period contented themselves with translations of those which were most remarkable. This opinion is strengthened by the conformity which exists between the Calila and Dimna and the Hipotadesa, printed in India some years ago, and of which there are two English translations, one by Mr Wilkins, and the other by Sir William Jones. The resemblance is not such as to indicate that the one was a translation of the other, but rather that both were drawn from some common source. The same may probably be said of the Pantchatantra, the Anvari Sohaili, the Homayounnameh, &c. The original stock from which these various branches have been derived, is probably the most ancient of books, except the Bible, and the one which has been translated into the greatest number of languages,

On Sir Humphrey Davy's Safety Lamp.
By M. BIOT. (Ibid.)

M. BIOT in the present article gives a succinct account of this admirable invention, now well known in this

country, and accompanies it with the following observations :

"As long as the human mind remained a stranger to the benefits of experimental philosophy, that is to say, from the remotest times down to the age of Galileo, it was naturally be lieved that chance alone could make useful discoveries; and, by a necessary consequence, the observation of natural phenomena was regarded as a purely speculative branch of inquiry; but, since theoretical considerations have given place to the careful and exact study of the properties of matter,-since the art was known of creating new phenomena, with the view of investigating the concealed qualities which we wish to know, an art of which Galileo and Newton first gave such memorable examples,—the sciences have acquired genuine wealth. Science, ably interrogated, has answered with precision; her answers have been benefits; even the vulgar have comprehended her power; they have learned to esteem those great men whose speculations had secretly prepared so many useful consequences.

The processes by which Sir H. Davy has found the means of protecting the life of miners against the attacks of their most terrible enemy, present a new and memorable example of the advantages of that plan by which, from the most abstract principles of science, practical applications are drawn of the highest importance, but which, from the complicated nature of the elements on which they depend, chance could never have discovered.

The lamp of Sir H. Davy, for the lighting of mines, is more wonderful than the enchanted lamp of Aladdin. Here the gas itself is made to give warning of the danger which it threatens. This formidable enemy is not only conquered by science,— it is forced to serve; it becomes a sure guide, a submissive slave. Already in lives of a great number of miners. So England, this lamp has preserved the useful an invention we hope will soon be adopted in France, in the numerous coal-mines which are worked in that country.

On the Charitable Establishments of Paris. By M. RAYNOUARD. (Ibid.)

PARIS contains ten hospitals for the sick, (hopitaux,) nine charitable houses, (hospices,) and twenty-two houses destined for beneficent purposes, (bureaux de bienfaisance.)

The Hotel Dieu, the most ancient hospital in Paris, and perhaps in Eurepe, has existed since the seventh century. It was long the only hospital which received the sick of both sexes, and every age,-foundlings, pregnant women, and even maniacs. Till very lately, these were crowded together in ill arranged halls, two, four, and even six in the same bed. Since the commencement of the present century, these inconveniences have been remedied; new halls have been constructed, better divided, and better aired; and the consequence has been a considerable diminution of the mortality. Generally speaking, there die in the hospitals 1 in 74, and in the hospices 1 in 64. The patients re

theque Britannique, after continuing through three parts his analysis of the second edition of Mr Jameson's work, finally observes: "Mr Jameson has neglected nothing which could render his work interesting, instructive, and useful to the student of minerals. It is, beyond all doubt, the most complete repertory which we yet possess of all the facts which constitute the science of oryctology."

Political Cards.

M. C. F. OSIANDER at Tubingen has published a "Card-Almanack," or plan for a pack of cards, in which the principal events and characters of the time were represented. The design of the "faced cards" will give a general idea of this jeu d'esprit.

Spades.

King-Wellington.
Queen-England looking proudly o-
ver the waves, like the
God of the Sea.

main, on an average, a month and ten Knave A Scotch Highlander armed. days in the hospital.

The Lying-in Hospital received in 1814, women to the number of 2700, of whom 2400 acknowledged themselves not to be married.

The Foundling Hospital, from 1804 to 1814, received 23,458 boys, and 22,463 girls; in all, 45,921; of this number 4130 were supposed to be legitimate.

The average annual expence of the hospitals is about 2,300,000 francs, (L.110,000.) The number of patients received is about 35,500. The Hospices receive only about 5900, but they receive them to remain for life.

In regard to aids given at home, the number of poor persons thus relieved amounted, in 1804, to nearly 87,000; in 1813, to 103,000; and this last may be considered as nearly the medium term of the ten years.

On Mr Jameson's System of Mineralogy, (Bibliotheque Britannique.) MR PICTET, editor of the Biblio

VOL. A

Clubs.

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