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1821.]

The Royal Humane Society.

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In the Title-page of the Society's Annual Report, the annexed emblematical and appropriate vignette is introduced:

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This was the Medal adopted by the early Institutors, as emblematic of their intended objects. It was designed by Dr. Watkinson, of Fenchurchstreet, one of the earliest Members of the Society. The date and inscription, denoting the original formation of the Society, precisely correspond with our statements in the preceding extract; so that the Society must have been established at the period when the Volume referred to was in progress through the press; and perhaps the supporters of this publication might have been the humble instruments of encouraging its establishment, and promoting its ul

timate success.

On Wednesday, the 28th of March, the FORTY SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY of the Society was celebrated by a Dumerous and highly-respectable assemblage of Noblemen and Gentlemen, at the City of London Tavern. Upwards of 400 individuals were present. The Duke of Northumberland, as President, for the first time assumed the chair. The cloth having been drawn, the usual toasts succeeded, and the health of the King was drunk amidst enthusiastic applause." Prosperity to the Humane Society" was next proposed, which met with a warm and cordial cooperation from the gentlemen present. At this period of the evening, the individuals, both male and fe male, who had derived benefit-we Would rather have said, who owed life to this excellent Institution, were. introduced into the room. Amongst the procession were united, the fond

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mother, the tender father, and the auxious friend; all of whom expressed, in their countenances, the feelings of gratitude which they so justly owed to this benevolent Charity. After the procession had retired

BENJAMIN HAWES, Esq. one of the worthy Treasurers, rose to draw the attention of the Company to the immediate object which they had met to celebrate. He observed that he was proud to see the Society on this occasion so ably, and so nobly supported. This Institution, which in his own day had been first established,

had met with almost insurmountable difbeen proposed, and it was rejected by phificulties in its onset. The theory had losophy and ignorance. Not satisfied, however, with this opposition, the promoters of the Society were determined to reduce their theory to a practical experimentan experiment not tending actually to raise the dead to life, but to snatch the almost lifeless from an early grave. To surmount this difficulty, he knew no slight obstacle intervened. The Lord Mayor for then applied to: he heard the deputation the time being (Frederick Bull, Esq.) was

he himself was incredulous, although which waited on him with much attention: willing to believe. It was proved that those who were considered as dead by men of talent and wisdom, were by activity and perseverance rendered useful members of the community. Such a society as this was not lost sight of by the Illustrious Monarch who then sat on the Throne, and who always kept anxiously in view the benefit of his subjects. He

consulted with some of the Vice-Presidents clearly made known to him, and so satison the subject; the experiments were fied was his Majesty of their beneficial results, that he immediately granted a piece of ground, and erected a house in Hyde

Park

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The Royal Humane Society.

Park for the use of the Society, a place where no mismanagement could arise, or any difficulty or obstacle be created. That house now existed, and he entreated every individual, whether Member or not of the Society, to visit it.-This was an age of humanity, in which they saw the Monarch, and the Peerage surrounding the Throne, uniting with all ranks in one common feeling of benevolence and philanthropy. (Hear!)-The public liberality had nobly fostered this Institution since its commencement, and a continuation of that liberality had been bestowed with unceas ing generosity. The abstract and praiseworthy feeling of benevolence and humanity were called into action by other Societies; but this had the main and important object-the preservation of mankind. (Hear, hear!) It was not of a local nature, but spread its influence throughout the world: it threw out the life-boat to the drowning passenger, and brought him in security to a port of safety. There was scarcely a vessel which left this country, that did not take with it the me

thods of treatment adopted by the Hu

mane Society.

Loud applause followed at the conclusion of this speech, which, from our confiued limits, has been only very briefly noticed.

Sir C. PRICE rose to propose the health of the Noble Chairman amidst general plaudits. He observed, that England's Peerage did not want men who would stand forward in the cause of benevolence, and honour every institution; but he be. lieved that Peerage boasted of no name more grateful to the English ear than the name of Percy. (Loud applause from every part of the room.) The page of History was abundantly adorned with the martial acts achieved by that valiant house. It was indeed a proud day for the Institution to be honoured by the presence and patronage of the Noble Duke in the Chair.

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The Illustrious CHAIRMAN, in returning thanks, observed, that he had much difficulty in conveying to the Company the high sense of gratification which he felt at the manner in which his health had been received. He had been actuated by those motives, which, he conceived, reigned in the breast of every English and British subject. The same benevolence, and the same good will, he hoped, would actuate every Member of the Society. With regard to the Institution itself, he assured the Company that he had always taken the greatest pride in promoting it, because he thought one, above all others, which from its nature and objects, particularly deserved support. On its general me. rits it would be unnecessary for him to take up their time, after what had been already said; its beneficial effects were universal, and extended over every part of the Kingdom. He should always feel himself bound to lend it every possible benefit in his power, either by his presence or otherwise.

Dr. MARTIN, the Registrar, then reported the state of the Society and

the situation of the funds. He stated that the cases which have come under the notice of the Society during the past year amount to 150, of which number 131 were successful, and 19 unsuccessful. The number of successful cases added to that of former years, amounts to 5020, and the num ber of claimants rewarded, also added to the total of former years, amounts to 20,320. The gentlemen who received honorary medals for saving lives were, Capt. Marryat, R.N. Capt. Earl, Mr. J. Mann, Mr. J. Gray, Mr. J. Stirling, Mr. C. J. Leisne, Mr. W. W. Cox, and Mr. W. A. Parker.

We feel pleasure in adding, that the Subscriptions of the evening were considerable.

DISPLAY OF NATIVE GENIUS.
No. II.

T has been observed of Thomson,

out the imputation of bestowing unmerited praise, that, while from the constant opportunities, which his man

I that in his admirable descriptions ner tar lite ororded him, in common

-where he appears equally original and obvious, that, whilst he selected those appearances alone most charac. teristic in the things which he describes, he imparts the air of novelty to objects, which, when pointed out by the exquisite colouring of his pen cil, appear sufficiently known and familiar.

It may be said of CLARE*, and with*See before, p. 32,

with all other peasants, of observing Nature under all her forms, and with all her accompaniments, he was capacitated to delineate her minutest beauties,-these opportunities were not neglected, and he has happily illustrated her more trivial pheno

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1821.]

Display of Native Genius.-Clare.

and fertilizing pencil, had appeared devoid of any thing which could impart dignity or grace to a literary description. His invocations and descriptive tales usually bear the genuine stamp of a heart kindled to action and sentiment by the pure emotions of her own dictates, unschooled by the polish of art, but giving utterance to those ideas which Nature, with all her sublime and interesting garniture, is capable of inspiring.

Warm with the grateful acknowledgments of the swain looking around on all about him with generous enthusiasm, responsive to the call of piety, and minutely descriptive, from the habitual views which his occupation enabled him to take at once of all the phenomena which characterize the revolution of the seasons, and the incidents which diversify the life and employments of a rustic,these compositions must always obtain that dominion over the heart and sensibilities, which Poetry of far higher classical pretensions often fails in exciting. They may be said to call forth that feeling of mental delight, generated we know not why, but that they seem to have a secret affinity with certain sympathies and affections which dwell within us.

Clare, as his Editor has observed, had numerous difficulties to struggle with, unknown to almost all others, whose minds have opened to the power and perceptions of Genius.

Nursed in the lap of poverty of the most chilling description, he was long unable to acquire even the commonest rudiments of education,-until, by excessive parsimony, coupled with unwearied assiduity, he attained some knowledge of reading and writing, and, hence, was proportionately facilitated in giving utterance to the pictures which "imagination bodied forth."-Hence arises his occasional unpleasing collocations of words, which indeed he, doubtless, it may be presumed, found most intelligibly expressive of his ideas, but, from the scanty limits of his vocabulary, he was unable, in his phraseology,, to make those selections of copiousness which would have imparted a more modulated flow of harmony to his periods.

The minor deficiencies of this kind, however, do not materially deteri

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orate the Poetry of Clare,-they even add to its general effect, as the heart, while it feels the power of vigour, and artless beauties stealing over its susceptibilities, so far from regretting the absence of a more elaborate diction, is tempted to rank that writer in a higher class who can accomplish the ends of Poetry without using all those weapons which skilful practitioners often employ with success.

Among the many specimens of beauty, of imagery, and pathos, and tenderness of sentiment, which Clare has given us in the small volume which has called forth the present animadversions, several may be quoted as pre-eminently indicative of ardour of feeling and elevation of thinking, certainly vastly above the general standard of his own rank and occupation.

In description and vigour of imagination, "Summer Evening," "Summer Morning," an "Address to Plenty in Winter," "Harvest Morning," "Evening," "Noon," may be adduced as Poems which, for the felicity and propriety of the images employed, possess claims upon the reader of taste and sensibility which will not be neglected, while it may be said with equal justice, that

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Helpstone," an "Address to a Lark singing in Winter," " Elegy to the Ruins of Pickworth, Rutlandshire," and "The Dawnings of Genius," may, for the fine tone of their sentiment, the dignity, and, withal, the warmth, tenderness, and simplicity of their style, vie with the admired productions of many, who have long ranked deservedly high in the annals of Poetical fame.

In the "Ruins of Pickworth," the measured and solemn flow of numbers happily illustrate the melancholy tinge of sentiment and of feeling which seems to animate the author, and swells his soul to something like sublimity. Although to the reader, impressed with classic veneration for names hallowed by the high suffrage of criticism, it may appear bold to mention him in connection with Gray, justice will not refuse to acknowledge that there is, in the general flow of sentiment and style which pervades this Elegy, much that forcibly reminds us of the sublime and impassioned moral painting which characterizes the "Church-yard."

The

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Display of Native Genius.-Clare.

The following may be taken as a specimen :

"While vain extravagance, for one alone, Claims half the land his grandeur to maintain,

What thousands, not a rood to call their own,

Like me, but labour for support, in vain. Here we see luxury surfeit with excess, There want bewailing, beg from door to door, [cess, Still meeting sorrow where it meets sucBy length'ning life that liv'd in vain before."

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Many pictures of genuine beauty strike the reader in the "Sonnets," of which it must be said generally, that they proclaim a high degree of delicacy of thinking in their author, and exhibit much warmth of colouring, expressed with simplicity and purity of language. It may not be thought exaggerated commendation, to say, that they sometimes unite diguity with force of feeling and of passion, and discriminative thought with quick sensibility. Of these, "The Setting Sun," "The Moon," "The Gipsey's Evening Blaze," "To Hope," "Evening," ""To the Glow Worm," "To Religion," and "Expectation," may be esteemed the best. Indeed those on the subjects of" Hope" and to "Expectation," when read under a full impression of the circumstances of the author's life and occupations, must certainly be pronounced extraordinary effusions, and argue powers of thought and combination of a standard with those who have been long admired for their genius, exhibited under far more auspicious circumstances, rather than the artless and plaintive strains of a peasant.

For instance, what can be finer, of its kind, than the following: "Ah, smiling Cherub cheating Hope, adieu !

No more I'll listen to your pleasing

themes,

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[April,

Yes, mere delusions all, therefore adieu. No more this aching heart shall you beguile,

No more yon fleeting theme will I pursue, That mock'd my sorrows when they seem'd to smile,

And flatter'd tales that never will be true; Tales only told to aggravate distress, And make me at my fate the more repine,

By whisp'ring joys I never shall possess, And painting scenes that never can be mine."

The Ode "To Religion" has very powerful claims to notice, from the fine view of sentiment and of piety which characterizes it, and the wellimagined arrangement of its style; — and the conception may be esteemed singularly happy. But we must pass on to some consideration of the remaining character whom we have selected as the subject of the present critical remarks.

Of the genius of KIRKE WHITE, it may seem, at the present period, when his writings have been long before the world, that not much of novelty is easy to be advanced, as its real standard and rank has probably, long ere this, been decided upon in the breasts of his literary readers.

His Poetry, however, offers a rich and exuberant field of critical lucubration. Of a higher rank and order, in the range of his thought and the extent of his invention, than that of Clare, the genius of Kirke, White may be said to have embraced a wider field of observation, of sentimeut, and of moral reflection, than that of the latter.-His extended observation (extended for his years,) and knowledge of men and things, was keener, and the sources from which he studied life, under its varied modifications, were far more enlarged; consequently his speculations assume a stronger cast and tone,he surveys man with a more profound aspect and severe feeling of mora lity, from his acquaintance with the past records of his frailty.

Of all the writers whose native and untutored genius have risen triumphantly above the restraints which a life of sordid occupations imposes, to deserved literary eminence, Kirke unjustly been the subject of very flatWhite presents a name which has not tering encomiums.-Of mean parentage,-mean, for the circle in which nature had destined him to move,~ he early, whilst employed in the me

nial

1821.

Display of Native Genius.-Kirke White.

nial duties of his station, felt the tide of Genius rising strong within him, and distending his breast with the generous emotions which, among inen, form the only distinction that nature knows.

Although he soon attracted the notice of gentlemen whose munificence and generous patronage enabled him, both at school and college, to gain access to the immunities of learning, and although he consequently enjoyed, in this respect, privileges considerably above some others, who have excited a similar display of ta lent in early youth, be, before he was scarcely conscious of his own superiority, gave signs of imagination and sentiment at once vigorous and fertile. For an individual who had scarcely completed his 21st year, his literary attainments, amidst the multiplicity of other avocations, were truly extraordinary.

The ardour of acquiring knowledge of a multifarious kind, connected with arts and with science, was as conspicuous as the native lustre and brightness of his genius. His genius alone, however, unaccompanied by his indefatigable perseverance, would have rescued his name from oblivion, and enrolled it in the list of literary wor thies. Possessing a fine and impas sioned mind, alive to the tender sus ceptibilities of our natures,-that could be wrought upon by the ills which afflict life, he was at the same time capable of severe thought, and a high range of lofty and sublime disquisilions. Rising with the generous ardour of inspiration to the melody of numeral composition, the flow of his numbers, and the sweetness of his modulation, seems only the genuine language which nature spontaneously suggests for the utterance of his sentiments, not the language of painful study, that has been subject to elaborate correction. His Poems, in general, indicate a fervour of feeling, and a tone of thinking, a talent for imagery, and at the same time for grave and deliberate discussion, which decidedly place their author upon a rank with some of our most admired Poets, especially when it be considered that, had not the stroke of death cut short his mortal career, his powers would have expanded to a more correct standard of thinking, and a more powerful display of in

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tellectual vision, than can be said to be indicated among his posthumous lucubrations.

His is not the cold unaninrated eloquence of the florid declaimer, incumbered with a weight of learning; his speculations rather abound with pathos and tenderness, generally tinged with a certain soft melancholy, (the natural consequence of his peculiar case, operating upon a piously dis posed mind,) accompanied withal, with a richness and play of fancy which pleases the taste, while it

reaches the heart.

To these high endowments of nature, heightened by industry, Kirke White eminently superadded others of a still more estimable nature; that is, he was characterized by the purest moral and religious principles,-his writings delineate a heart grateful for the blessings, and devoted to the praise of his Maker, and imbued, alike, with sentiments of benevolence towards all mankind,-qualities which are, by no means, the constant attendants upon a bright association of the intellectual endowments.

The

The quotations which follow may be said, in some degree, to illustrate the truth of these remarks. reader, whilst perusing the "Remains" of this deeply-to-be-lamented youth, will find himself in a pleasing wilderness of Poetry, abounding with beautiful images, with noble and tender sentiments;-but if he more critically analyze the complexion of his Genius from his writings, he will find that it partook alike of the tender and pathetic in description,-of the light and sportive play of fancy,of a talent which delighted to lose itself in high and abstract speculations,

and of the ardent enthusiasm of the Poet of deep feeling and glowing imagination.

His high pretensions in the former of these characters, may, among numerous others, be illustrated by the following beautiful passage from his poem entitled "Time."

"Behold the world

Rests, and her tir'd inhabitants have paus’d

From trouble and turmoil.-The widow [lie

now

Has ceas'd to weep, and her twin orphans
Lock'd in each arm, partakers of her rest;
The man of sorrows has forgot his woes;
The outcast that his head is shelterless,
His griefs unshar'd.-The mother tends

no more

Her

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