July 17. In the 31st No. of the Edinburgh Review, Erskine must be delighted with the high praise bestowed upon his Speeches. They justly remark of his eloquence, that it never made him swerve one hair's breadth from the minute details most befitting his purpose, and the alternate admissions and disavowals best adapted to put his case in the safest position; a distinguishing excellence of forensic oratory. That extemporaneous reasoning and declamation, known by the name of debating, they observe, seems to be utterly unknown to the ancients. The Reply to the Oxford critic, Dr. Copleston, is a most masterly piece. They begin temperately, and argue closely and forcibly, till they have gained the decided ascendency, and won the confidence of the reader; and then pour in such reiterated volleys of triumphant sarcasm as utterly to wither and consume their victim.* July 19. The Edinburgh Reviewers, under the words Affairs of India,' remark, that to say of any institution that it is old, or new, is saying nothing it may be the worse for being old, or the better for being new. All speculation and experience, they remark, is merely an attempt, from a view of the order of past events, to anticipate future ones; only, when the retrospect and anticipation is comprehensive and large, it is denominated theory and speculation-when small, experience or practice. There are but two ways, they consider, in which one country can derive benefit from another-in the means of defence, and the augmentation of its wealth. Their grand scheme for the salvation of India is a bold one-to constitute one of our Royal Family Emperor of Hindostan, with hereditary succession !

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LATE WILLIAM LINLEY, ESQ.t

Τον μωσαις φιλον ανδρα.

HE was the last surviving son of Thomas Linley of Bath, the composer of the songs in the Duenna, father of the beautiful Mrs. Sheridan, whose portrait poor old Sheridan preserved amidst all his distresses; till utterly broken down by embarrassments, in his latter days of sorrow, he was obliged to part with it. This portrait, representing the beautiful Miss Linley in the character of St. Cecilia, was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and is now in the collection of exquisite paintings

at the Marquis of Lansdowne's seat, Bowood Park, Wiltshire.‡

As to poor Linley, the sweetest and kindest temper, high and honourable principles, talents rare and cultivated, and a genius for poetry and music, distinguished this last remaining inheritor of a name now extinct, but so long connected with poetry and song.

By the patronage of Mr. Fox, through the interest of his brother-inlaw Sheridan, Linley was sent out to India, in the honourable situation of

*The Oxford Critic, however, came harmless and unconsumed out of the furnace of the Reviewers' wrath; and wounded his opponents with arrows furnished from their own. Mr. Green does not seem aware, that this Article in the Review was the joint production of three critics.

Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquosæ

Addiderat, rutilæ tres flammæ, atque alitis austri !-ED.

† Mr. Linley died at his chambers at Furnival's inn on the 16th of May. His body was deposited in the family vault at St. Paul's Covent Garden. He has left Sir J. Lubbock and Henry Chilton, esq. executors; and has bequeathed his property to his niece Miss Tickell, only daughter of his sister Mrs. Tickell. He had three sisters, one married to Sheridan, the second to Mr. Tickell, son of the friend of Addison, and the youngest to Mr. Ward. All died at an early age.

In the window of New College chapel at Oxford, designed by Sir Joshua Reynolds, the figure of Charity is supposed to be a portrait of Mrs. Linley. EDIT.

the most part in musical society, where There they alike in trembling hope repose,

ON THE DEATH OF WILLIAM LINLEY, ESQ.

Poor Linley! I shall miss thee sadly now

Thou art not in the world; for few remain
Who lov'd, like thee, the high and holy strain,
Of harmony's immortal Master:

Didst honour him, and none I know, who live,
Could e'en a shadow-a faint image-give
With chord and voice, of those rich harmonies,
Which, mingled in one mighty volume, rise
Glorious, from earth to heav'n, so to express
Choral acclaim to Heaven's Almightiness,
As thou! Therefore, amid the world's deep roar-
When the sweet visions of young Hope are fled,
And many friends dispers'd, and many dead—
I grieve that I shall hear that voice no more.

Mr. Linley was perhaps the only person living who had the peculiar talent of taking up in the several voices, with most animated feeling, two tenors, treble, and base, the leading parts representing some of the most splendid passages of Handel's choruses, so that the auditor might almost consider himself present at a full performance.

THE NEW RECORD COMMISSION.

No. I.

The Close Rolls of King John.*

ALTHOUGH not altogether unaccustomed to the perusal of Records, not even without some partiality for their quaint phraseology, their curious minuteness, and the occasional glimpses they present of venerable names and interesting events; although even aware, from the frequent extracts from the Close Rolls which have found their way into the works of our antiquaries for centuries past, that of all records, they perhaps contained the most varied and singular information, we must confess that we turned to this volume with feelings of considerable disinclination. Its ponderous size,-the unsightly contractions with which every line of it abounds,— its barbarous latinity, and the totally unimportant character of the first three or four entries which caught our eye, impressed us with a fear that this, the first work published by the new Record Commissioners, partook too much of the character of many of its predecessors, and that the labour of its perusal would be but scantily repaid by the information it would communicate. How different were the feelings with which we rose from the study of its first 291 pages—those occupied by the reign of King John! It then seemed to us as if some power had called up the principal men who, six centuries ago, played their parts in the world's drama, and had made them again cross the stage before us. With more than the minuteness of a romance, and at the same time with the most unquestionable certainty, there had been delineated in our sight a series of pictures in which were vividly pourtrayed the actions, feelings, and passions which engaged and troubled England at a period of no ordinary importance. We had not merely in our mind's eye' seen the monarch who lies quietly entombed with St. Wulstan ;† we had been with him at his table, and in his camp; we had sat with him at his Christmas and Easter feasts; we had been made familiar with his mighty preparations for the recovery of his transmarine possessions, and had found that they were all rendered useless by his cowardice and indolence; we had heard his defiance of the thunders of the Church, and had afterwards beheld him humbly kneeling to obtain absolution; we had witnessed the placing of his faithless hand upon the Great Charter of our liberties, and had then followed him from the Isle of Wight to the borders of Scotland, beholding on every side the desolation which he worked upon the estates of those patriotic men by whom that Charter had been wrested from him; we had fled with him before the power of a foreign invader, whom his tyranny had invited to our shores; and, finally, we had accompanied him to his death-bed, where his servants, by whom this minute register had been kept, imitated the treachery of their master, and deserted him at his utmost need.' Nor was it only these, the great events of history, that had been presented to us. Much of the daily and domestic life of various classes of society; many of their occupations and practices; much information as to the manner in which the strong hand of authority interfered with the business of every man, and exerted its baneful influence

* Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londinensi asservati. Accurante Thoma Duffus Hardy, e Soc. Int. Templ. S.A.S. Vol. I. ab anno 1204 ad annum 1224. fol. Lond. 1834.

+ When dying, John was asked by the Abbot of Croxton, who attended his deathbed with an honourable fidelity, where he would like to be interred. To God and Saint Wulstan,' exclaimed the expiring monarch, I commend my body and soul.' (Mat. Paris, p. 199.) In obedience to this direction, his body was interred in Worcester Cathedral, where it was found upon opening his coffin, 1797. See Gent. Mag. for that year.

GENT. MAG. VOL. III.

4 E

over relationships which ought to be independent alike of wealth and power-all this, and much, very much more, was impressed upon our minds, with a vividness which we feel it impossible to describe, and a power which we are conscious we cannot communicate to our readers. All we can do is to endeavour to give such a general description of the work as will convey a faint idea of its invaluable contents, and will urge those who are interested in historical researches, to lose no time in making it their study, and committing its curious learning to the tables of their memories.'

In our second article upon the Record Commission (Gent. Mag. New Series, Vol. I. p. 502) we described the Close Rolls to consist of Enrolments of Letters Close, written in the King's name to individuals upon every occasion on which the Sovereign in feudal times came into personal contact with the subject; that is, upon every occasion whatever." The multifariousness of the matters alluded to in the Close Rolls may be therefore easily imagined. These letters were 'close', or 'closed up,' and sealed on the outside with the Great Seal. In the same article we also referred to the abortive attempt made under the Old Commission to publish a Calendar of the Close Rolls. Upon the failure of that attempt these Rolls were entirely lost sight of by the Commissioners, and nothing further was done with respect to them until Mr. Hardy, one of the Record Keepers in the Tower, submitted to the present Secretary, Mr. Cooper, a plan for the publication, not of a Calendar, but of the entire Rolls, under their joint editorship. Mr. Cooper considered, very properly, that his situation as Secretary ought to preclude him from taking any share in the editorship of works published by the Board; but he entered very cordially into Mr. Hardy's scheme, and procured the sanction of the Commissioners to an immediate publication of the Rolls under the sole editorship of Mr. Hardy. The present volume constitutes the first fruits of Mr. Hardy's labours; and one more creditable to the Editor, or the Commissioners, can scarcely be conceived. It is true that it is an inconvenient and bulky folio, in which respect it ranges with the publications of the old Commissioners; but in every other particular it is singularly unlike them. A laudable attention to economy, and a most striking endeavour after extreme accuracy, distinguish it from the preceding publications; and, when coupled with the paramount importance and historical value of the work itself, beget a pleasing confidence both in the Editor and the Commissioners.

Mr. Hardy's Introduction consists of an unpretending discourse upon the original of enrolments in general, and especially that of the Rolls in question; an explanation of the general nature of the publication, with a useful list of the abbreviations used in it; and some translated extracts from the Rolls themselves, explanatory of their general character, and the manner in which they tend to illustrate various historical and legal subjects. This Introduction would alone have furnished matter worthy of consideration in a separate article, but coming to us in connexion with the work to which it is prefixed, we cannot now delay our readers upon the threshold. The Introduction has been privately published for distribution amongst the Editor's friends.

The reign of John presents three most important subjects for consideration.

* We agree with Mr. Hardy in most of his observations as to noticing the cancellations which occur in the original rolls, but cannot think him right in printing at length entries cancelled, because they have been inserted either before or afterwards upon the same Roll, nor those cancelled because they have been enrolled on the patent or Fine Rolls. We trust we shall soon see both those series of Rolls in the course of publication; but in the mean time the insertion of portions of them in other books of the Commissioners has a tendency to create confusion, and adds to the expense both of printing and indexing. The space occupied by these cancelled entries is occasionally very considerable.-See pp. 222, 223, and 224 of this volume.