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THE

LONDON REVIEW,

AND

LITERARY JOURNAL,

FOR MARCH, 1818.

QUID SIT PULCHRUM, QUID TURPE, QUID UT ILE, QUID NON.

The Dragon Knight: A Poem, in Twelve Cantos. By Sir James Bland Burges. Svo. 1818.

THIS

HIS is truly a tale of chivalry, and the fable is involved in considerable intricacy. The scene is laid in Asiatic Greece, and the story commences in the tenth century. Orosmanes, the youthful monarch of Mysia, enamoured by description of the Princess Chariclea, the heiress of Mæonia, leaves his court by stealth, consigning the state to the care of his mother, aad, under an assumed name and station, is introduced to King Prothenor and his beautiful daughter. The brother of Orosmanes, the gallant Aracynthus, alarmed by his protracted absence, quits Mysia, also incognito, and is consequently engaged in many perilous adventures, one of which conducts him to Caria, where he also meets with a goddess in the Princess Zapheria, and, without discovering his real rank, soon wins her affections. The sister of this lady, another exquisite beauty, is persecuted by an unknown suitor, who, from the device on his shield, is called the Dragon Knight. Aracynthus learning that his mother is surrounded by enemies, determines to return to Mysia, but at that critical moment is involved in an adventure, by the issue of which, though guiltless, he is mistaken for the Dragon Knight, loaded with obloquy, and pursued with execrations. The Princess Zapheria, equally unable to forgive or forget her unfortunate lover, becomes a traveller also. Aracynthus, in the disguise of an old squire, attends and protects her; and in the perform ance of this duty, is unexpectedly reunited to his brother Orosmanes, who Europ. Mag. Vol. LXXIII. Mar. 1818.

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has left the court of Prothenor and Chariclea in despair, but by the persuasions of his friends returns to it with reviving hopes. In the sequel, it appears, that Chariclea, by her rigour, had inflicted more pain on herself than her lover, and that she only acts in conformity to a false vow which she had been compelled to take by her. father, who had been himself deluded by some ominous prediction. father of Zapheria, on the contrary, sanctions her inclination for Aracynthus. At this blissful moment, the lovers are again parted by the machinations of the Dragon Knight; who is, however, at length, baffled, detected, and impri soned: but his life being spared, he escapes from his dungeon, and, with the assistance of a warlike Queen, or Usurper of Bithynia, returns to Mæonia with an army of invaders, fires the capital, and takes Orosmanes prisoner. Aracynthus, in attempting to liberate his brother, is precipitated into the same ruin. Various incidents occur. Zapheria and Chariclea both signalize their tenderness and fidelity, and the conclusion is conformable to poetical justice. It is to be regretted that Sir Bland Burges did not select a subject more worthy of his real and acknowledged talents. With all the disadvantages of a fable complicated with episodes, he contrives to interest and amuse even when he bewilders and perplexes. The execu tion is often as admirable as the plan is defective. The following extracts, in which the shameless Iphimedia is contrasted with the virtuous Za pheria, afford a fair specimen of the author's style and vigorous versification.

I i

"High on her sumptuous throne, in royal state,

By conquest crown'd, with flatt'ring hope elate, Repos'd Bythynia's queen,

Her splendid

board With all that luxury could crave was stor'd; The dulcet flute, the harp's enlivening note, Her ear with harmony enchanting smote, While intermingling voices sweetly sung The charms of Bacchus ever fair and young, Or her who, springing from the frothy main, O'er love and pleasure holds despotic reign. "Above the rest, as foremost in her grace, On her right hand Hyperbius held his place, With ivy chaplet crown'd his scowling brows.

He bad the not unwilling chiefs carouse, And, as the cup with juice nectareous fraught

With air commanding in his grasp he caught,

To the great queen,' he cried, 'be pow'r, be praise!

To her, brave chiefs, the song triumphant raise:

Drain your deep goblets, and your toast proclaim

Her health, prosperity, and deathless fame !'

They heard him, and obey'd: with one accord

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And simultaneous zeal they gave the word, Rais'd their full goblets, and the sparkling draught

To Iphimedia's health and glory quaff'd,”

Hyperbius having treacherously mingled poison in the wine, Iphimedia is discovered under a different aspect.

"Alone remain'd the queen. As some gay rose,

When its fresh buds their op'ning charms disclose,

With dawn's mild fragrance mingles rich perfumes,

Unconscions of the canker which consumes Its source of life, so fill'd with flatt'ring hope

She gave to visionary bliss free scope; High beat her heart as fancy's course she trac'd,

New crowns her head, her hand new scep

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In its own hour, on her devoted head
An ample retribution heav'n will shed,
To that I leave her. Far beyond her pow'r,
Great though it be, my thoughts aspiring
tow'r.

To thee, now wafted to thy kindred skies,
To thee, my Aracynthus! they arise.
Oh! for a while celestia! joys forego,
Let my torn bosom with thine influence
glow,

Call forth each virtuous energy, impart
A more than female courage to my heart,
Sanction the sacrifice I make for thee,
Aid me to hail thy Orosmanes free;
Then, at the hateful altar as I stand,
Brace ev'ry nerve, confirm my erring hand,
Direct this poniard to the deep retreat
Of ebbing life, let my last pulses beat
Faithful to thee: then to those realms above,
Where dwell immortal purity and love,
Let thy approving spirit be my guide,
Alike in life or death thy constant bride!'
"She said. Her eyes in holy rapture
rais'd,

On heav'n, where lay her treasur'd hope, she gaz'd.

On his lov'd image as repos'd her thought, Her speaking features its reflection caught, A more than human grace her form assum'd, A chaste and holy fire her eyes illum'd; She look'd as if, her painful ordeal o'er, She had already reach'd the blissful shore, Where hopes and fears no longer pang the

breast,

But all is transport, certainty, and rest.”

The Batchelor and the Married Man; or, The Equilibrium of the Balance of Comfort: A Novel. 3 vols.

In this agreeable novel, the question so often agitated in society, whether it be wiser for man to exist in the single or the married state, is exhibited in the attractive form of narrative, and resolved in that manner which is, we presume, most satisfactory to all but unamiable readers. Although there is not much novelty in the subject, the author has contrived to introduce considerable variety in the examples and illustrations of the arguments pour et contre. The story, though simple, is well constructed. The characters unfold themselves naturally and with grace; the dialogue is impregnated with a certain dramatic spirit, a quality always precious, and unquestionably most rare in a novel writer.

This work offers a grateful succedaneum to those who have been sated with sentiment or exhausted by romance, and by its simplicity and sprightliness is well calculated to beguile the dullBess of a winter evening, and to

lend a zest to the bright hearth, the bubbling urn, and the social fireside.

Summary Method of Reading, upon the Principles originally discovered by the Sieur Berthaud. Arranged and adapted to the English Language, illustrated by Plates, by Mrs. Williams. 12mo. 1817.

Is examining this meritorious work, we have been compelled to renounce our prejudices to theorists and to systems Nothing can be more judicious than the application of Berthaud's principles, which the author has not only

illustrated but extended; and from the

testimony of many who have been long engaged in the laborious duties of edu cation, we are authorized to recom

be a certain introduction. The charge, however, is greatly exaggerated; but, even allowing its truth to a certain extent, may we not ask whether Shakspeare is not guilty of a similar fault? Yet, who looks on his immortal works with other feelings than those with which all men of true taste view a naked statue? It may seem venturous to bring Massinger's name into such author of the Essay on his Writings, competition; but Dr. Ferrears, the mentions him as inferior, and sometimes nearly equal, to that wonderful poet:" and many tic's opinion, and atone for the grossare the passages which justify the crithe poet, is accountable. ness, for which the age, rather than

66 not often much

However difficult it may be to conmend this little volume, as not only is published in the hope of assisting tend against prejudice, this selection calculated to facilitate the acquisition in its removal, and of bringing the of our language to foreigners, but as offering to the schools of Bell and Lan-hibiting some of the beauties which poet into greater estimation, by excaster whatever is wanting in their methods of instruction, to render them

susceptible of practical and general

utility.

adorn his pages, without offending the eye with the indecency which blemishes them. Great care seems to have been exercised in the choice of the passages, some of which are of

BEAUTIFS OF MASSINGER. Foolscap 8vo. insulated excellence, while the attrac

pp. 304, 85.

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Come, but one verse.

Twelfth Night, Act ii. Scene 4.

WHOEVER reads the plays of Philip Massinger must concur in the surprise expressed by Dr. Ireland, that the geDius which produced them should have obtained, since his own age, so little notice in the world. For the gradual removal of this reproach on our taste we are indebted to Mr. Gifford, who has rescued them for ever" from the teeth of time," and has cleared them from the obscurity with which they were enveloped by their former editors. Still, however, the enjoyment of Massinger's beauties is confined to the literary few:-his name indeed begins to be more popular, and the idea of his excellencies is certainly advancing; but the ribaldry and looseness with which his plays are supposed to be interspersed, operate as a spell of exclusion from many libraries, into which their undoubted merit would otherwise

tion of others depends more upon their connexion with the scene. In order to render the latter more intelligible, an argument, as simple and unadorned To this one of the most interesting as possible, is prefixed to each play. scenes is added; so that the reader may not only relish the beauties of the poet, but become acquainted with the subject and conduct of his dramas, and with the style and manner in which they are composed.

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The editor observes, that he is far from asserting that the present publication contains all that is worth se lecting on the contrary, he freely acknowledges that much that would grace it is omitted. This arises from two causes; the limited size of a work of this nature, and the impossibility of separating many of the most admirable passages from the scenes in which they are contained. But we feel convinced, that the readers of this selec tion will seek farther enjoyment in the perusal of the plays themselves, and we anticipate the time when to be well acquainted with Massinger will be nearly as common as it is now to have an intimate knowledge of his immortal contemporary.

Provincial Letters: Containing an Exposure of the Reasoning and Morals of the Jesuits. By Blaise Pascal. Originally published under the Name of Louis de Montalte. Translated from the French. To which is added, A View of the History of the Jesuits, and the late Bull for the Revival of the Order in Europe. 8vo. pp. 388. "The name of Pascal (that prodigy of parts, as Locke calls him),” says Mr. Dugald Stewart,* is more familiar to modern ears than that of any of the other learned and polished anchorites who have rendered the sanctuary of Port Royal so illustrious. Abstract ing from his great merit in mathematics and in physics, his reputation rests chiefly on the Provincial Letters;' a work from which Voltaire, notwithstanding his strong prejudices against the author, dates the fiscatus of the French language; and of which the same excellent judge has said, Mo

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liere's best comedies do not excel them in wit, nor the compositions of Bossuet in sublimity."" The author was originally induced to compose and pub. Tish them by a very casual circumstance. Accustomed frequently to visit a sister, who had taken the veil in the monastery of Port Royal, he was introduced to the society of some celebrated Jansenists, particularly M. Arnauld, who had recently been engaged in a dispute with the doctors of the Sorbonne. The subjects of difference related chiefly to those points of faith which have continually divided Arminians and Calvinists in the Protestant community: the Jesuits being allied in sentiment to the former, and the Jansenists to the latter. The Jesuits had selected five propositions from a posthumous work of Jansen, or Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres, which his adherents believed to contain the doctrine of the scriptures and the fathers on the litigated articles of faith, and procured their condemnation by the Faculty of Theology at Paris, and by Pope Innocent the Xth. Arnauld published a letter in 1655, in which he declared that the condemned

propositions were not to be found in the book of Jansenius, and then proceeded to controvert the Jesuitical notion of efficacious grace. Being at this time a member of the Sorbonne, violent altercations arose; and as his adversaries were in power, they procured his expul

* Supplement to Encyc. Brit, vol, i. p. 1.

sion from the Faculty of Theology, by a decree in January 1656. The defence which he made was not in itself very satisfactorily written, and some of his friends intimated their wish to M. Pascal, with whom they had become recently acquainted, and of whose talents they had formed a very just idea, that he would write something upon the subject. This occasioned his first letter, which being much admired, was soon succeeded by others, under the fictitious name of Louis de Montalte; the consequence was, the Jesuits became the objects of ridicule and contempt to all Europe.

It is quite needless to accumulate testimonies in favour of the extraordinary merit of this work, otherwise the encomiums of numerous French writers might be introduced; and our elegant Gibbon is said to have possessed so enthusiastic an admiration for the book, that he was accustomed to read it through once every year. Amongst those, however, who are always entitled to marked attention, must be ranked d'Alembert, whose words are as follow: This masterpiece of pleasantry and eloquence diverted and moved the indignation of all Europe at their (the Jesuits) expense. In vain they replied, that the greatest part of the theologists and monks had taught, as well as them, the scandalous doctrine with which they were reproached. Their answers, illwritten and full of gail, were not read, while every body knew the Provincial Letters by heart. This work is so much the more admirable, as Pascal, in com posing it, appears to have theologised two things which seemed not pade for the theology of that time, language, and pleasantry. The (French) language was very far from being formed, as we may judge by the greater part of the works published at that time, and of which it is impossible to endure the reading. In the "Provincial Letters," there is not a single word that is grown obsolete; and that book, though writteu above a hundred years ago, seems as if it had been written but yesterday. A considerable portion of the merit of this performance consists in the ingenious manner in which Pascal has brought together the extravagant maxims of the principal Jesuitical writers, so as to make them appear truly ridiculous. He does not, as Voltaire. (who otherwise bestows upon him great

praise) insinuates, collect his citations from a few individuals, whose sentiments are unwarrantably adduced as a fair specimen of the principles of the whole Society, for he uniformly appeals to the very best of their writers, and particularly to the twenty-four elders, who were so designated on accourt of the entire confidence which the whole body of the Jesuits reposed in their statements. In fact, Pascal adopted no other than the usual and authorised method of obtaining the real opinions of any extensive society. If in their own publications of their most eminent men be not the proper standard of appeal. by what other means can their opinions be obtained? Besides, none of their writings were issued without the sanction of the superiors of their order. One peculiarity of these "Letters" it is impossible to perceive through the medium of a translation. The words selected by the writer are uniformly the purest which the language furnished; and according to the testimony of Voltaire, "not a single word occurs, savouring of that vicissitude to which living languages are so subject. Here then we may fix the epocha when our language may be said to have assumed a settled form." The conversational form in which the subject is treated, precludes that oratorical elegance and Ciceronian flow which delights the ear. A certain sprightliness and humour constitute their chief characteristics, interspersed with passages of grave instruction, which prove that Pascal wrote for a higher purpose than to furnish a comedy, or to gratify a malignant feeling. After all, a severe critic might detect in this work some minor faults of composition, as redundances and repetitions, unless, as is most probable, even he should be too much occupied with its numerous beauties.

THE PAMPHLETEER; containing the Best Pamphlets of the Day, with original Pamphlets, &c. No. XX. September, 1917.

Tais useful undertaking has established itself so firmly in public opinion, that our notice can do little more than repeat the general tribute to acknowledged merit. The preservation, in a cheap and handsome form, of excellent works which are so liable, as single pamphlets are, to be misused and lost, is

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"I look upon Pamphlets," says a writer of the 17th century, as the eldest offspring of paper, and entitled to claim the rights of primogenitorship even of bound volumes, however they may be shorter lived, and the younger brother has so much outgrown the elder. In as much as arguments do now, and more especially did, in the minority of our erudition, not only so much more rarely require a larger compass than pamphlets will comprise, but these being of a more facile, more decent, and simple form, suitable to the character of the more artless ages, they seem to have been preferred by our modest ancestors for the communication of their sentiments, before book-writing became a trade, and lucre and vanity let in deluges of digressory learning to swell up unwieldy folios. Thus I find, not a little to the honor of our subject, no less a person than the renowned Alfred collecting his sage precepts and divine sentences, with his own royal hand, into quaternions of leaves stitched together, which he would enlarge with additional quaternions, as occasion offered; yet seemed he to keep his collection so much within the limits of a pamphlet size, however bound together at last, that he called it by the name of his "Hand-book"because he made it his constant companion, and had it at hand wherever he went.

"It was, however, the grand contro versy between the Church of Rome and the first opposers thereof, which seems to have laid the foundation of this kind of writing, and to have given great credit to it at the same time, as well by the many eminent authors it produced in church and state, as the successful detection and defeat thereby befalling those religious impostures which had so universally enslaved the minds of

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