54 REVIEW.-Mr. Pain on Benefit Societies. may be so in another; and that the good example of these poor men may have an influence in similar establishments, and even have the good fortune to interest some person of abilities to direct his attention to these mismanaged but excellent institutions." P. iii. The advocates for Banks for Sav. ings are numerous, and many excellent treatises to that effect have appeared in print; but the welfare of Friendly Societies has been an object to few not immediately connected with them. Besides, they are frequently established under the guidance of persons, well-meaning, but not calculated to direct the economy of parishes or towns; for want, therefore, of some superior inspection, abuses creep into these beneficent in stitutions, of which its members are either not aware, or unable to amend. We consider great praise as due to Mr. Pain, for thus stepping forward, and endeavouring to remedy those abuses without altering the institution, and (as frequently occurs) nullifying the original system. Few of our Readers, we believe, are acquainted with the system of Benefit Societies; they know that such establishments exist, and the late mania for addressing has brought some of them into notice: they know, from the instance alluded to, that they have been made the vehicle for disloyalty, and such transactions are apt to convey ideas very different from the actual truth. The state of morals in the London populace is such, as to require these excellent institutions, and much good bas arisen from them; but they may be perverted in a manner, of which people in the country have no idea. After stating the objections to the Poor Laws, our Author proceeds to the question, why so little encouragement is given to Benefit Societies? "Neither Charity nor Religion could have been present at the formation of your articles, which seem to have been framed in the bar of a public-house, for the benefit of the keeper of it, and the enjoyment of a few members in the neighbourhood. Threepence a month from every member to be spent-in affording the means of an idle and sottish indulgence to a few members who live near where the meeting is held. These monthly meetings are the source of every thing irregular and disorderly. They have given disgust to the real friends of the poor, and [Jan. to the willing supporters of every measure that can tend to their welfare or improvement. Abandon then, without hesitation, a rule that has so pernicious a tendency. Apply the three shillings a year to the purchase of some necessary article for your families, or let them be added to increase the general fund.” Pp. 12, 13. The most loose calculation will shew how large a sum has for several years been wasted in this manner; as well as in the allowing of a guinea to such as attend the funeral of a member: he deprecates not only this unnecessary expence, but the custom itself, which he considers as answering no good purpose. In this point alone, we beg leave to differ from him, for we consider the reverence thus paid to the memory of the deceased, as one of the strongest links of the Society, although we think the allowance or remuneration as unnecessary and wasteful. In the preface, he thus states the good consequences of bis advice: "The monthly meetings in the Society, to which I allude, have been abolished; resolution has passed to discontinue the attendance of members at funerals; aud every disposition has been shown, to confine within moderate limits, the expenses lations, the union of poor men deserves of the annual meeting. With such reguevery encouragement." P. iii. We take leave of Mr. Pain and his labours, with the gratification that naturally arises from perusing any excellent plan for the bettering of the lower orders; he can scarcely be said to have addressed himself to the world, as this Sermon was drawn up for a small circle, and is uninteresting to such as do not enter into his wishes but as he has planned the comfort of the poor, his reward must be such as is not in the power of criticism to confer. 9. Vision the First; Hades, or the Regions, inhabited by the departed Spirits of the Blessed. 12mo, pp. 110. Rivingtons. THE Address of Christ to the Penitent Thief," this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise," has been considered as irreconcileable with any other doctrine than that of an Intermediate State. Setting aside the Popish Purgatory, as a Heathen hypothesis, adopted from ideas of lucrative quackery, Broughton first led the way two centuries ago, by stating that Hell, in our translation of the Creed, 1821.] REVIEW.-Hades.-Feltham's Resolves. Creed, meant the Grave; whereas Hades, is not the grave, or terrestrial receptacle, on one hand, or the Gehenna of Scripture, the final place of Torment on the other, but a region distinct from both. The Saxon My. thology and Language supplied no proper word for the Asiatick Paradise, or Grecian Hades; and the Heaven of Odin, was suited to the ideas of his followers,-luxurious viands, and hard-drinking. Of animated, perfectionated Being, abstracted from sensual, feeding, or decaying matter, they had no idea; nor could they have a conception of pleasures of the ear and the eye, and a delighted imagination personified and self-existing, though they felt that Musick, Vision, and Fancy, were pleasurable things. Of course, Hell was the sole word in use, conveying one simple idea that of the final place of suffering. The Work before us is learned and able, and comprises all that can be known of the intermediate state; and, if Hope gives us no more than the flower in bud, Faith may, in its holy anticipation, present it to the mind's eye in its full growth. To the discussion in p. 86, concerning the Soul, we object, as scholastical and metaphysical. It proceeds upon a manifest psychological error, the confusion of animation, conferred upon matter, with inert matter, the musical sound with the catgut string, a superinduced quality with the subject, which does not contain it. IN the days of Owen Feltham (17th cent.) it was not unusual for Casuists, real or pretended, to advertise in the Newspapers their ability to resolve Cases of Conscience; and thus, without feeling any qualms on account of the obvious variety of such annunciations, to invite Clients to take their opinions, like those of Counsel learn ed in the Law. From the necessity of such a knowledge in Confessors under the Romish religion, and the numerous subdivisions and splitting of hairs in the Sermons of our early 55 Protestant Divines, it is plain, that Chaplains and men of knowledge, who were domesticated with our Nobility and Gentry, were expected to possess the science alluded to; and it is probable, that to the study of this science we owe this book, and to the public taste of the day its passing through so many editions. The manner of treating moral subjects, in these æras, is not philosophical, nor the style classical. To the moderns, there is a quaintness of expression, which often renders the matter not intelligible without study, and very often there is exhibited only an obscure comprehension of the idea stated. This is a common failing, where the ideas are not simply drawn from nature, but from a mind peculiarly tinctured with certain studies and these were Polemicks, the Fathers, School Divinity, Cicero, and, more rarely, some other classicks. In clearness of head, and soundness of judgment, and conclusive reasoning, and masterly deduction, Hooker stands supreme. Milton, though of far more powerful genius, and more brilliant associations, does not, in his Prose-works, interest, or even instruct; and from the simplicity and plainness, which often appears in the Epistolary composition and Minor Poetry of this æra, it is evident, that an elaborate and artificial construction was especially consulted, in works like those now before us. What was the colloquial style of any æra, may be best inferred from the private letters of the age; and the toil and art, betrayed in books of the kind under discussion, would not have found readers, unless they had been considered books of study; of which the contents were not purposely formed for intuitive acquisition, but for "reading, learning and inwardly digesting;" and making "good Casuists." This is the reason, in our opinion, why in Jeremy Taylor, and other divines of this æra, we see such ingenious compounds of subtlety, acumen, felicitous illustration, and metaphorical confusion. Such Authors may be denominated Lawyers in Theology and Moral Philosophy. They have a technical bearing and manner in addressing their readers, as if they were a Jury, who required not simple elucidation 56 REVIEW.-Owen Feltham's Resolves. elucidation of the subject, or satisfactory impression, but professional information. We have made these remarks, from knowing that old Authors are best explained by the writings of their contemporaries, and that Casuistry was a favourite study of the age. The book before us is a Cabinet in the fashion of the day; full of gorgeous ornaments of mother of pearl and shells; and is curiously carved, braced, and hinged. Of the singularity and richness of the work, we shall now give some specimens. [Jan. tained it, nor crowd it, though he should add more ?" P. 248. From these premises, be then draws, upon the principles of comparative anatomy, the following very ingenious inference: "If putrefactive man can, undiscerned and unburthened, bear so much about him; if so little a point as the least tertia of the brain, the cerebellum, can hold in itself the notions of such an immeasurable extent of things, we may rationally allow omniscience to the great Creator of this and all things else. For, doubtless, we know what we do remember; and, indeed, what we remember not, we do not know." P. 250. "Of Contentment. Those who preach contentment to all, do but teach some how to dwell in misery; unless you will But the principal characteristick of grant Content desire, and chide her but Feltham's writing, is the singular for murmuring. Let not man so sleep in poetical ingenuity which he uses to Content as to neglect the means of mak-illustrate his ideas. The imagination ing himself more happy and blessed; nor yet, when the contrary of what he looked for comes, let him murmur at that Providence which disposed it to cross his expectation. I like the man who is never content with what he does enjoy; but by a calm and fair course, has a mind still rising to a higher happiness. But I like not him who is so dissatisfied as to repine at any thing that does befal him. Let him take the present patiently, joyfully, thankfully; but let him still be soberly in quest of better-and, indeed, it is impossible to find a life so happy here, as that we shall not find something we would add to it, something we would take away from it." P. 199. Now we seriously believe, that no man can be contented with the present, who has not hopes of better for the future; and that the stationary satisfaction, which we commonly preach up under the name of contentment, is an absurd impossibility. The following passage is both curious and excellent: "Of Memory. Of all that belongs to Man, you cannot find a greater wonder than memory. What a treasury of all things! what a record, what a journal of all! As if provident Nature, because she would have man cireumspect, had provided him an account-book to carry always with him; yet it neither burthens nor takes up room. To myself it is insensible. I feel no weight it presses with. To others, it is invisible; for when I carry all with me, they can see nothing that I have. Is it not a miracle, that a man, from a grain of sand to the full and glorious sun, should lay up the world in his brain; and may, at his pleasure, bring out what part he lists, yet never empty the place that con of Lord Byron has been justly elevated to admiration; and modern writers, in general, are very short of stock and variety in this kind of goods. Not so Feltham. His simifitude and allusions are inexhaustible; rally as a-propos and felicitous, as very rarely common-place, and genethey ingeniously dovetail with the other matter. Take the following specimen, out of numbers. He is speaking of an envious man. "As a desert-beast, the day's brightness drives him to the dulness of a melancholy cave, while darkness only presents him with the prey that pleases him. a negro born of white parents; it is a sordid sadness, begot at another man's joy." P. 339. As As Cocknies may not know, that Cattle resort to the shade when oppressed by heat and flies, it is necessary to make this observation, or they would lose the beauty of the figure, in which an envious man is finely assimilated to a beast, feeding in a forest, who cannot bear the glory of the day, through being harassed with insects. We shall conclude our remarks with the following excellent ideas upon Libelling. "Certainly it is an ungenerous thing to publish that to all, which we dare not own to any. It is a serpent, that bites a man by the heel, and then glides into a hole. A libel is filius populi; having no certain father, it ought not to inherit be lief." P. 327. 1821.] REVIEW.-Elton's Poems.-Spence's Poems. 11. The Brothers; a Monody, and other Poems. By Charles A. Elton. Foolscap 8to, pp. 118. Baldwin, Cradock, &c. WE are of opinion that Rhyme, understanding by the term a jingle of similar sounds at the end of lines, is so far from being an essential to real Poetry, that it is quite the contrary, injarious; i. e. powdering a fine head of hair. There are two evils attached inevitably to Rhyme. It compels, generally, a close of sense with the line, and an expletory and feeble phrase. ology. How it can, in any sense, be consistent with the Epick, must only be the feeling of those, who think that it would not be bad taste for Hercules to appear in the costume of a Dancing Master! that a Hero is not to march, but to spring upon the toe. Now, in the true style of blank verse, there is a fine poetical inflexion of language, accompanied with a masculine character of features, which not only exhibits the idea with superior effect, but shows, that Rhyme would destroy the charm. The misfortune is, that few people read Poetry with any feeling of impropriety, if they pause at the end of the line; whereas, if they were to read the verses as blank-verse ought to be read, by placing the pauses only where the stops and sense required, they would soon see, that the jingle adds nothing to the effect; on the contrary, may be injurious, and that metre is requisite. We must, however be considered, as confining these remarks to our English Decasyllabicks, in chiming couplets, a measure, not only in the best making a minuet of a march, but a bastard sort of production in se, a puerile trick played with the gamut, to substitute an echo for harmony. Our Odes and lighter pieces are Dever written in this measure; and could not, it is plain, without palpable injury. We bave made these remarks, because we have been much pleased with the following blank verse. Mr. Elton is depicting a Lover's dream : "reality itself Scarcely equals that dear moment, when he grasps [soft The hand so long withheld, that trembles Within his trembling pressure; when his eyes GENT. MAG. January, 1821. 57 Drink in the lucid languishment of look, Avowing all unutterable things, yet, Unwelcome Sun! for never shall he know First felt and heard in credulous ectasy; The tumult of amazement." P. 59. We apprehend, that no rhymes could improve these lines. Mr. Elton's Translations of Hesiod, and Specimens of the Classic Poets, have heen deemed worthy notice in the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews: and the paraphrase of the 19th Psalm in p. 84, is very good. 12. Poems and a Meditation. By S. Spence. (Widow of the late George Spence, sen.) Author of a Musical Catechism, a Fragment on Prophecy, &c. Baldwin, &c. PP. 19. "SOME suppose that the desirable change alluded to in Isaiah ii. 2, 4, is to be produced by political revolutions, or the increasing wisdom of the human race. Others are of opinion, that the universal spread of the Gospel will be the means of subduing unruly passions, and leading men in every part of the globe, to pursue the paths of peace, holiness, and virtue. "The Millenarian takes a still more ex tensive view of this glorious event; to him the effect appears great, but not greater than the cause which produces it; since he believes, that Christ shall visibly descend, and with elect Saints, reign a thousand years on the earth; under whose government, War, Injustice, Cruelty, Oppression, and all kinds of wickedness shall be driven from among men, or completely subdued. "The perusal of Lectures on this grand subject, occasioned the lines on the Millennium to be written, and during the years that they have been consigned to oblivion, the dawn of the predicted Event seems to have shed a benign twilight on the distant horizon. That its meridian splendor may make the most rapid progress, is the sincere wish of the Writer, SARAH SPENCE." This is, indeed, a grand and an aweful subject to be touched by no light or unskilful band. It has called forth 58 REVIEW.--Tour of Africa,-Sharpshooter's Stratagem, &c. [Jan. forth the powers of some of our most eminent Scholars and Divines. To Mrs. Spence we willingly give the praise of pious feeling, and good intentions. 13. The Tour of Africa, containing a concise Account of all the Countries in that Quarter of the Globe, hitherto visited by Europeans; with the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants. Selected from the best Authors, and arranged by Catherine Hutton. Baldwin, 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 458, 531. IN a well-digested plan, Miss Hutton offers to the publick a Tour in Africa, very ingeniously selected from the Works of Travellers of note, who have visited those parts. So that in two octavo volumes, the Reader may glean the substance of many elaborate publications, by Authors whose names are given in proof of the veracity of remarks here introduced. In order to encrease the interest of such remarks, the whole is given as the relation of an enterprising Tourist; which fiction we can readily pardon for the amusement derived from the Work. The First volume contains an account of Egypt, Fezzan, Dar Fur, Abyssinia, and Sennaar. The First volume met with so favourable a reception as to encourage Miss Hutton to proceed with a Second, containing an account of a part of Abyssinia, Mozambique, South Africa, Benguela, Angola, Congo, Cacongo, Loanga, Benin, Dahomy, Ashantee, The Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and Foota Jallon, prefaced by the following observations: "In pursuance of my plan, I now offer to the Public a continuation of The Tour of Africa; and I here repeat my former affirmation, that, though the Traveller be imaginary, all he relates is strictly true, as far as the most accredited Authors can be relied on." A third volume, we rejoice to hear, is in some forwardness, which will complete the Tour. Volunteer corps of Gentlemen Sharpshooters; who will doubtless be pleased (as we were) with its sprightly wit and loyalty. The Characters are, "Old Boroughmend, a disappointed Deacon, turned Radical Reformer-Henry Thomson, a Merchant's Clerk, betrothed to Eliza; and member of the Corps of Glasgow Gentlemen Sharpshooters-Tom Funlove, Jack Pullicate, Sam Sample, and David Doublentry, brother Clerks, and Sharpshooters-Eliza, Boroughmend's Daughter -Grizzy Girnanglour, Boroughmend's Duenna-Katty Carryclaver, Eliza's Maid. -Scene, Glasgow.-Time, Twelve hours." 15. John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. An Historic Play, in Five Acts. 8vo. pp. 65. Longman and Co. TO those who are conversant in the events of the last years of the reign of Queen Anne, this "Historic Drama" will bring back many recollections of facts which actually occurred and to the attentive observer of our own times, the parallel of the Heroes of Blenheim and Waterloo will not be uninteresting. The characters are all of eminence, "The Queen-Duchess of Marlborough -Mrs. Masham.-Marlborough-Shrewsbury-Harley-St. John-Atterbury." A few lines from Marlborough on his landing at Greenwich will shew the language: "Safe am I landed on my native soil, If England's safe for me; For thee, my country, have I toil'd and fought, [try! Advancing still thy glory.-Gracious counHaply not ungrateful. The monster peril, glory has subdu'd, Glory! the sister-born of safety, The bright Bellona of the god of war! Two hideous monsters has she then subdued, [growth.Envy and Faction-of still crescent Sweet is this scene, how welcome to my eyes! Here peace should dwell, estranged from camps and courts. (looks around him.) O favour'd isle! if well thou estimat'st heav'n's grace: [cious influence, Nor less under heav'n, and heav'n's auspiThe tenant of thy soil, high fam'd for Others by arms have much achiev'd, enterprize; Advancing still thy welfare, state pre-emi nent. Thyself, alas! war-vaunted Marlborough, Agitated man, that bear'st a war within thyself, Fear'd but still fearing not a foreign force, But |