LITERARY CRITICISM. History of the Revolutions in Europe, from the Subversion of the Roman Empire in the West, till the Abdication of Bonaparte. From the French of C. W. Koch; by Andrew Crichton. 3 vols. Being the xxxiii, xxxiv, and xxxv vols. of Constable's Miscellany. Edinburgh. 1828 and 1829. THIS is a valuable and interesting work, every page of which teems with important knowledge. It presents a clear and impartial panoramic view of the history of the world for the last fourteen centuries; and in an ably written introduction furnishes a brief sketch of the previous progress of society, from the earliest authentic era. The work was published in 1813, shortly after the author's death, and was speedily acknowledged as entitled to rank high among the literature of the Contibent; it is now for the first time introduced to the English reader. Borysthenes, and the Don; and dividing into two branches, the Ostrogoths spread over Pannonia, whilst the Visigoths twice ravaged Italy, sacked and plundered Rome, and penetrated even into Gaul and Spain. The Franks and the Alemanns came from the banks of the Rhine, the Maine, the Weser, and the Elbe, and joined to swell the torrent that inundated the country of the Cæsars. The Saxons came from beyond the Elbe, and keeping chiefly by the sea-coast, committed ravages there similar to those which other barbarians were busy with in the interior. Lastly, the Huns, the fiercest of all, came from the remote districts of Northern Asia, to which the Greeks or Romans had never penetrated, and having first attacked Byzantium and the Eastern division of the Empire, they then precipitated themselves on the west, under the conduct of the famous Attila. For upwards of two hundred years all was confusion, bloodshed, and darkness. Not a single nation was to be found in Europe whose rights or boundaries were ascertained and established. The old order of things had been swept away at once; and it was not to be expected that so great a mass of discordant elements could Koch divided his work into eight sections or periods, immediately arrange themselves into an harmonious beginning with the year 406, and ending with the year and appropriate disposition. Gradually, however, this 1789; but a ninth period has been added by his friend, began to be the case. Much internal commotion still biographer, and editor, M. Schoell, comprising an ac- existed, but out of the chaotic mass, new and distinct count of the French Revolution, and thus bringing Empires sprang up, like islands rising in the ocean. down the History of Europe to the year 1815. The The Franks established themselves in Gaul; the Aletwo first volumes contain Koch's original work; the manns became masters of Germany; the Huns contented greater part of the third is occupied with Schoell's ad- themselves with Russia; the Visigoths disputed with dition. We shall endeavour to give our readers some the Mahometans from Africa the dominion of Spain; idea of the contents of the whole, by mentioning very and the Saxons crossed over into Britain, and formed generally and briefly the leading subjects which are the political association known by the name of the Heptreated of in the different sections. Our abstract may tarchy. Whatever difference there might be in other serve not only to interest them in the work itself, but respects, there were two features which gave all these to a certain extent may refresh their memory of those nations a general resemblance to each other, and ingreat events, to a more detailed account of which the vo- creased the probability of mutual co-operation towards lumes before us are dedicated. At a season when all the ultimate advancement of civilization. These were classes are admonished to indulge in a salutary retro--the feudal system, and the Christian religion, both of spect of the occurrences of a past year, it will not, per- which were now universally adopted, and materially haps, be uninteresting to the intelligent mind to con- tended to soften the harsher characteristics of the times. trast with its own temporary concerns, the principal oc- The only other event of this period to which it is necurrences of past centuries,-occurrences which influ- cessary to allude, is the new religion which Mahomet enced the destiny of a world. founded in Asia, and the Empire which he extended through Africa into Spain. The first period into which our author divides his View of the Revolutions of Europe, extends from the year 406 to 800. It was in the early part of the fifth century that the mighty fabric of the Roman Empire, which had been long tottering to decay, fell finally and forever into ruin. Their far-extended possessions, which it had cost them ages to acquire, were, in the course of a few lustrums, snatched from them, one after another. and over-run by barbarians, who trampled under foot all the institutions and improvements which Roman greatness had introduced into their most distant colonies. The Vandals came from the banks of the Elbe and the Vistula, and passing through Germany, entered Gaul, plundering and destroying wherever they went. The Goths came from the banks of the Dniester, the The second period, which extends from the year 800 to 962, introduces us to the ascendency of the Empire of the Franks under Charlemagne, and the Carlovingian race of kings. It was not till a much later period that the different independent kingdoms, which rose upon the ashes of Roman greatness, began to consider the careful preservation of a just balance of power as the most essential part of European and international policy. They had been too long accustomed to acknowledge the ascendency of one country, to be surprised at finding themselves again becoming tributary to the superior genius of a great conqueror. Charlemagne, who succeeded his father Pepin in 768, eclipsed every monarch that had preceded him, since the days of Julius Cæsar. France, Spain, Germany, and Italy, submitted to his arms. Nor did he figure only as a warrior, but also as a legislator, and munificent patron of letters. The empire of the Franks thus became paramount in Europe; the monarchies of the north, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, and Russia, had not yet emerged from the confusion and darkness in which they had long lain. The descendants of Charlemagne, however, not possess ing his abilities, which were indeed far beyond the age in which he lived, divided his empire into three distinct portions, nearly akin to the modern Italy, Germany, and France. One cause of the dismemberment, and rapid decay of the power of Charlemagne, will be found in the greater influence which the Normans, or nations of Scandinavian origin, the Huns, in Hungary, Moravia, and Russia, and the British, united into one monarchy, first under Egbert, and afterwards under Alfred, began to possess in the affairs of Europe. As yet, however, all these countries were in their infancy, and contending with those numerous difficulties which continually beset the childhood of nations. The third period, which extends from the year 962 to 1074, embraces an account of the successes and power of Otho the Great, Emperor of Germany, who nearly succeeded in again converting the whole of Christendom into one great State, of which the Pope was the spiritual head, and the Emperor the secular; the latter enjoying the important prerogative of confirming or rescinding the election of the former. In Spain, the Mahometan dynasty of the Ommiades expired in the eleventh century, and the Christians under Sancho the Great, king of Navarre, acquired an ascendency, which, though it fluctuated, they never afterwards entirely lost. In France, under the weak sway of some of the Capetian kings who succeeded the Carlovingians, the feudal system grew to such abuse, that the more powerful barons usurped almost all the rights of royalty. In England, the successors to Alfred, giving themselves up to the dominion of priests and monks, saw their subjects, the Anglo-Saxons, first subdued by the Danes under Sweyn and Canute, and the Danes, in their turn, were conquered by the Normans under William. It was not till the tenth century that the Gospel found its way into the Scandinavian nations; and Canute the Great, who succeeded to the throne of Denmark in 1014, was the first monarch who made Christianity the established religion of that kingdom. In Sweden, about the same time, there prevailed a strange mixture both of doctrine and worship, Jesus Christ being profanely associated with Odin, and the pagan goddess Freya confounded with the Virgin. The Poles are a nation whose name does not occur in history before the middle of the tenth century. They were one of the Sclavonian tribes settled north of the Elbe; and being subdued by the Germans, were obliged to embrace Christianity. The Greek empire had sunk at this era to the lowest degree of corruption, fanaticism, and perfidy. The fourth period comprehends upwards of two centuries, from the year 1074 to 1300. A number of important events, possessing no immaterial influence over the future destinies of Europe, took place within these two centuries. The Cæsars had passed away, the Charlemagnes had gone down into the dust, the Othos existed no longer; but a new and powerful monarchy was about to arise, forming one of the most splendid of all the pageants that ever passed across the stage of history. This was the dominion of the Roman Pontiffs. Hitherto they had, in general, succumbed to the most influential monarch of the times, whether Frank or German; but this was a humiliation that little suited the haughty and ambitious spirit of Pope Gregory VII, "a man," says Koch, "born for great undertakings; as remarkable for his genius, which raised him above his times, as for the austerity of his manners and the boundless reach of his ambition." So far from consent ing to acknowledge the right which the Emperors had exercised of confirming the Popes, he claimed for the Popes the prerogative both of confirming and dethroning the Emperors. In support of this arrogated authority, he was involved in a long war with Henry IV. of Germany; but its conclusion was such as tended rather to strengthen than diminish his pretensions; and, ere long, the kings of Portugal, Arragon, England, Scotland, Sardinia, the two Sicilies, and several others, became vassals and tributaries to the Papal See. "In every respect circumstances were such as to hasten and facilitate the progress of this new pontifical supremacy. It had commenced in a barbarous age, when the whole of the Western World was covered with the darkness of ignorance; and when mankind knew neither the just rights of sovereignty, nor the bounds which reason and equity should have set to the authority of the priesthood. The court of Rome was then the only school where politics were studied, and the Popes the only monarchs that put them in practice. An extravagant superstition, the inseparable companion of ignorance, held all Europe in subjection; the Popes were reve renced with a veneration resembling that which belongs only to the Deity; and the whole world trembled at the utterance of the single word, Excommunication. Kings were not sufficiently powerful to oppose any successful resistance to the encroachments of Rome; their authority was curtailed and counteracted by that of their vassals, who seized with eagerness every occasion which the Popes offered them, to aggrandize their own preroga tives at the expense of the sovereign authority." To these causes of ecclesiastical sovereignty are to be added others,-in particular, the multiplication of religious orders, the institution of religious and military orders, and the expeditions to the East, known by the name of Crusades. The superstitious opinion then prevalent, that the end of the world was at hand, led to many pilgrimages to the Holy Land, where the devotees proposed to abide the second coming of the Lord. So long as the Arabs were masters of Palestine, they protected and countenanced these pilgrimages, from which they derived no small emolument; but when the Seljukian Turks, a ferocious and barbarous people, conquered the country, in the year 1075, every kind of insult and oppression was heaped upon the Christians. which at length gave birth to the resolution to expel the Infidels from the Holy Land. There were, in all, seven Grand Crusades. The first was undertaken in the year 1096, by Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine; the second in 1147, by Conrad III., Emperor of Germany, and Louis VII., King of France; the third in 1189, by the Emperor Frederic I., surnamed Barbarossa, Philip of France, and Richard Coeur-de-Lion of England; the fourth in 1202, by Boniface, Marquis of Montserrat ; the fifth in 1217, by Andrew, King of Hungary; the sixth in 1228, by the Emperor Frederic II.; and the seventh in 1248, by Louis IX., King of France. The only Eastern possessions which the Europeans found themselves masters of, after a succession of wars, which thus lasted for nearly two hundred years, were the towns of Tyre and Ptolemais. But the advantages which the See of Rome drew from the Crusades were immense, and led to its encouraging similar expeditions in the west and north of Europe. Accordingly, we find that, about the same time, holy wars were carried on-1st, against the Mahometans of Spain and Africa; 2d, against the Emperors and Kings who refused obedience to the orders of the Popes; 3d, against heretical or schismatic princes, such as the Greeks and Russians; 4th, against the Slavonians and other Pagan nations on the coasts of the Baltic; and, 5th, against the Waldenses, Albigenses, and Hussites, who were regarded as heretics. The Knights of St John, the Knights of the Temple, and the Teutonic Knights, were numerous bodies, combining religion with military prow ess, which sprang into existence in consequence of the Crusades, and afterwards contributed greatly to the renown of chivalry, which was now about to give so peculiar a colour to European society and manners. ving others under their protection, rescinding and annulling their acts and proceedings, summoning them to their court, and acting as arbiters in their disputes. The history of the Popes is the history of all Europe. They "In general, it may be said," our author remarks, assumed the privilege of legitimating the sons of kings, "that these ultramarine expeditions, prosecuted with in order to qualify them for the succession; they forobstinacy for nearly two hundred years, hastened the bade sovereigns to tax the clergy; they claimed a feudal progress of arts and civilisation in Europe. The Cru- superiority over all, and exercised it over a very great saders, journeying through kingdoms better organized number; they conferred royalty on those who were amthan their own, were necessarily led to form new ideas, bitious of power; they released subjects from their oath and acquire new information with regard to science and of allegiance; dethroned sovereigns at their pleasure; politics. Some vestiges of learning and good taste had and laid kingdoms and empires under interdict, to been preserved in Greece, and even in the extremities avenge their own quarrels. We find them disposing of of Asia, where letters had been encouraged by the pa- the states of excommunicated princes, as well as those tronage of the Caliphs. The city of Constantinople, of heretics and their followers; of islands and kingdoms which had not yet suffered from the ravages of the bar- newly discovered; of the property of infidels or schisbarians, abounded in the finest monuments of art. It matics; and even of Catholics who refused to bow bepresented, to the eyes of the Crusaders, a spectacle of fore the insolent tyranny of the Popes. grandeur and magnificence that could not but excite their admiration, and call forth a strong desire to imitate those models, the sight of which at once pleased and astonished them. To the Italians especially, it must have proved of great advantage. The continued intercourse which they maintained with the East and the city of Constantinople, afforded them the means of becoming familiar with the language and literature of the Greeks, of communicating the same taste to their own countrymen, and in this way advancing the glorious epoch of the revival of letters." The increasing importance of towns, and the rise of free corporations, served also to soften many of the harsher features of feudalism, and to make the people more aware of their own rights. In England, the Commons were admitted into Parliament in the year 1266, during the reign of Henry III., and this example was soon followed by France and Germany. The old Roman laws were revived, as much superior to the jurisprudence then in use, and, under the arrangement of Gratian, the Canon Law was added to them. The studies of jurisprudence and theology, which thus acquired fresh dignity, led to other studies; and the Universities of Paris, Bologna, Padua, Salamanca, Cambridge, Oxford, and others, date their origin early in the thirteenth century. In Italy, there arose a number of republics, and more especially those of Genoa and Venice. The greatness to which both reached materially contributed to the revival of the arts and sciences in that country. During this epoch, the kingdom of the Two Sicilies and of Portugal were also founded,-the Inquisition was established in those countries most subject to Papal do minion, Magna Charta, the basis of the English Constitution, was obtained from King John,-and the Moguls, coming from the north of the Great Wall of China from that district which lies between Eastern Tartary and modern Buckharia-over-ran, under the guidance of the famous Zinghis Khan, all Tartary, Turkistan, China, and Persia; and then, directing their steps towards Europe, penetrated into Russia, and spread over Poland, Silesia, Moravia, Hungary, and the countries bordering on the Adriatic Sea. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, the Mogul Empire, from south to north, extended from the Chinese Sea and the Indies to the extremities of Siberia, and, from east to west, from Japan to Asia Minor, and the frontiers of Poland in Europe. The fifth period commences with the year 1300, and ends with the year 1453, when Constantinople was taken by the Turks. It was during this period that the Papal authority attained its utmost height, and also began to witness its decline and fall. "Nothing is more remarkable,” says Koch, "than the influence of the Papal authority over the temporalities of princes. We find them interfering in all their quarrels, addressing their commands to all, without distinction, enjoining some to lay down their arms, recei "Thus it is obvious that the Court of Rome, at the time of which we speak, enjoyed a conspicuous preponderance in the political system of Europe. But, in the ordinary course of human affairs, this power, vast and formidable as it was, began, from the fourteenth century, gradually to diminish. The mightiest empires have their appointed term; and the highest stage of their clevation is often the first step of their decline. Kings, becoming more and more enlightened as to their true interests, learned to support the rights and the majesty of their crowns, against the encroachments of the Popes. Those who were vassals and tributaries of the Holy See gradually shook off the yoke; even the cler gy, who groaned under the weight of this spiritual despotism, joined the secular princes in repressing these abuses, and restraining within proper bounds a power which was making incessant encroachments on their just prerogatives." Abuse of power invariably leads to its destruction, and this was the case with the Popes. We may form some notion of the insolent arrogance of these priests, by a single extract from a bull of Pope Clement VI., issued against the Emperor Louis of Bavaria, who incurred the censures of the Church for defending the rights of his crown, at the commencement of the fourteenth century :-" May God," says the Pope, in speaking of the Emperor, "smite him with madness and disease; may heaven crush him with its thunderbolts; may the wrath of God, and that of St Peter and St Paul, fall on him in this world and the next; may the whole universe combine against him; may the earth swallow him up alive; may his name perish in the first generation, and his memory disappear from the earth; may all the elements conspire against him; may his children, delivered into the hands of his enemies, be massacred before the eyes of their father!" The blow which at length struck at the root of this overgrown pontifical power came from the Reformers of Germany. It was not, however, till a somewhat later period than that of which we talk, that the Reformation began to spread. As if to prepare the way for this great revolution in the human mind, several scientific discoveries were made, of the last importance to the progress of knowledge. Among the principal of these may be mentioned, the invention of writing-paper, of oil-painting, of printing, of gunpowder, and of the mariner's compass. In the south, Venice and Genoa, and in the north, the cities of the Hanseatic league, began to carry commerce to great perfection. The different countries of Europe, amidst a number of intestine wars and petty revolutions, were gradually assuming their present form; whilst the Turks, an Asiatic race, attacked the feeble shadow of Greek and Roman power still existing in Constantinople, and, under Mahomet II., conquered the last Constantine, and established for themselves a dominion in Europe. The sixth section extends from the year 1453 to 1648, and brings us down to the more civilized and classical periods of European history. The downfall of the Greek Empire contributed greatly to the progress of the Belles Lettres and the Fine Arts in the rest of Europe. The majority of the Grecian literati, to escape the barbarity of the Turks, fled into Italy, where, under the protection of the celebrated Medici family at Florence, and in conjunction with such men as Petrarch, Boccaccio. Aretino, Guarini, and others, they established academies and schools all over the country. It was now, too, that the great Continent of America was discovered; as well as the route to India and the East, round the continent of Africa. It was now, besides, that Pope Leo X, and the Church itself, were made to tremble, under the severe, but just, exposures of Martin Luther, Ulric Zuingle, and John Calvin. The flame spread over all Europe, and for many years religious wars continued to be waged in every corner. Of these, probably the most conspicuous is that known by the name of the Thirty Years' War. The most powerful monarchs in the sixteenth century were Charles V., Francis I., Henry VIII., and Soliman the Great. "This progress in the various departments of human learning gave the name of the Intellectual Age to the epoch of which we now speak. This title it might have justly claimed, had not those pretended philosophers, who sprouted up in the eighteenth century, under pretext of infusing general knowledge among all classes of people, perverted the public mind, by preaching doctrines which became the root of those calamities that for thirty years distracted all Europe. The object of these persons was to annihilate religion, the basis of all morality, and to propagate, among the disciples of Atheism, tenets subversive, not only of political government, and the legitimate power of kings, but of the rights and happiness of the people." In England, Hobbes, Bolingbroke, Shaftesbury, Collins, Tindal, and others, took the lead in this new career; and they were supported in France by Voltaire, D'Alembert, Diderot, Helvetius, Barons Holbach and Montesquieu. In Germany also the secret order of the Illuminati came into existence. The leading political events were, the foundation of the British Empire in India, the sudden aggrandisement of Russia, since the time of Peter the Great, which changed the political system of the north,-the revolutions in the Island of Corsica, which, more or less, affected all Europe,-the brilliant successes of Catherine of Russia, especially over the Turks, and the revolution in North America, which secured the existence of the United States as an independent nation. from its commencement to the downfall of Bonaparte. Of them it is unnecessary to speak, familiarly known a they are to every intelligent reader. The seventh period reaches from the year 1648 to 1713-from the peace of Westphalia to that of Utrecht. At the commencement of this period, France is found exercising a very formidable influence in the affairs of Europe. It was her two great statesmen, Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, who first concentrated the reins of authority in her hands, and what they had begun was perfected by one of the most illustrious of all her monarchs, Louis XIV. In his wars,-and he was frequently at The ninth section, extending from the year 1789 to war with almost the whole of Europe,-Louis was for 1815, details, in a satisfactory and comprehensive mana long while pre-eminently successful, fortunately en-ner, the principal events of the French Revolution, trusting the command of his navies and armies to such men as Marshal Luxembourg, Marshal Catinat, and the Count de Tourville. It was not till early in the eighteenth century that he experienced some severe reverses, his forces being always defeated by the English generals Marlborough and Prince Eugene. For the greater part of the seventeenth century, England was distracted with her own civil wars; and it was not till after the abdication of James II., and the accession of William Prince of Orange, in 1688, that she was able to turn any efficient attention to Continental affairs. Under William and his successor Anne, she rose to great power and glory; and her union with Scotland tended not a little to contribute to her prosperity. It was now also, towards the end of the seventeenth and commencement of the eighteenth century, that the northern states of Sweden and Russia took a more conspicuous part in the affairs of Europe than they had ever done before, under the direction of Charles XII. and Peter the Great. The Turks, on the other hand, once so formidable, were becoming much feebler, and the succession of misfortunes which overtook them, speedily exhausted their resources. "The effeminacy and inca pacity of the Sultans, their contempt for the arts cultivated by the Europeans, and the evils of a government purely military and despotic, by degrees undermined the strength of the empire, and eclipsed its glory as a conquering and presiding power. We find the Janissaries, a lawless and undisciplined militia, usurping over the sovereign and the throne the same rights which the Prætorian guards had arrogated over the ancient Roman Emperors." The eighth period embraces the greater part of the eighteenth century, from the year 1713 to the breaking out of the French Revolution, in 1789. In a political point of view this period did not so much affect the general appearance of Europe as niany which preceded it, although it brought about several important changes in the internal history of its leading states. Literature and science had already been restored to their pristine splendour; and the times of Leo X. in Italy, of Queen Elizabeth in England, and of Louis XIV. in France, are still quoted as the Augustan eras of modern Europe. Did time and space permit, we conceive that a moral lesson, of no mean import, might be drawn from the brief and hurried review we have attempted of the history of Europe. The littleness of all hum in undertakings never becomes more conspicuous than when the actions and actors of many succeeding centuries are thus seen at a glance. When we devote a microscopic attention to any one era, the very time which its study costs us, and the ultimate acquaintance we acquire with all its leading events and personages, invest them with a fictitious importance, to which we at once perceive they are not entitled when we come to consider them as merely filling up the scene in the revolution of centuries. What is Alaric the Goth now, that nations should have trembled at his step? Where is Charlemagne, whom his contemporaries worshipped as a god? Is Otho the Great more thought of than Lothaire the Simple? What is the reward that Gregory VII. or Innocent III. reap for all their labours? Where, even, is the distinction of having been a conqueror and king? Thousands have been so, and thousands yet to come will be so again. There is little variety in every-day life, but there seems to be still less in the great operations of the world. One nation rises and another falls,-one period is turbulent, and another more peaceful, and the history is told! Surely there is something insignificant and contemptible in all the mighty coil continually kept up by petty men, who fret out their little life-their paltry seventy or eighty years as if the earth were the only planet in space, and their own day and generation the very essence of all eternity! We strongly recommend the "Revolutions in Europe' to every student of history, and every philosophical inquirer into the events of the past. Were we to start any objection to the plan upon which it is written, it would be to the somewhat arbitrary choice of the different periods into which it is divided, between which we frequently do not see any very natural break or separation; but this is a matter of minor importance, and amply compensated by the intrinsic merits of the work. It is proper to add, that the translator seems to have executed his task with much care and judgment. Deres of Castalie; Poems, composed on various Subjects Poems. By Mrs G. G. Richardson, Dumfries. Edin- Lament of the Wandering Jew; with other Poems. By Sketches in Scottish Verse, and Songs, from the Dundee wrote laboriously, let it not, therefore, be imagined that he never wrote any stuff. Some people seem to think that every thing which a poet writes must be worth preservation. There was never a more complete mistake. "Air hath its bubbles as the water hath;" and, most assuredly, the dregs of a poet's brain are of all dregs the most wishy washy. Therefore it is that we say unto Mr J. Johns and all other bardlings, that there are two classes of men for whom they write-critics and trunkmakers; and that though the bulk of their book may increase its value in the eyes of the latter, it is not unlikely to diminish it in those of the former. But though from these observations it may be gathered, that we think Mr J. Johns is not altogether what he should be as a poet, we do not intend to dismiss him without some approbation. There is poetry in him, though certainly every little scrap in his portfolio is not a "dew-drop from Castalie,' as he too modestALL these poems have been specially brought underly insinuates. When we say now-a-days that there our editorial attention, and of all these poems we now pro-is poetry in any one, we are not quite sure to what expose giving our unbiassed opinion, uninfluenced either tent the praise goes. Once upon a time the world by the neglect with which they may have been treated might have been divided into two great classes, one of by an indiscriminating world, or by the high estimation which, and by far the greater, had no poetry in them, in which they may be held by private and personal and the other, consisting of a small minority, had. friends. We shall be at all times glad to do every thing Nous avons changé tout cela. Every body has poetry in our power to bring into notice genius, which may in them now,-young and old, rich and poor, high and shrink too easily from a contest with the hard buffetings low; it is no distinction. It is therefore not enough to write of fortune, and we trust we shall never be instrumental verses now; they must be such as stir up the minds of in "snuffing out the soul with an article." But, on the men like a trumpet blast, or lull them into blissful viother hand, let not the " poetæ minorum gentium" sup- sions, like the shepherd's pipe upon the mountains. It is pose that we undertake to fight for them through thick easy to be a poet; but to be a poet is nothing, for so is and thin, and that, where all others condemn, we alone every apprentice in every merchant's counting-house. shall be found to praise. We know the value of praise One must now be a great poet, or he may as lief be better; and we think, also, we have learned to distin- dumb altogether. It is difficult to say which of our guish between the buzz of a bee and a wasp. We value innumerable rhymesters will ultimately become a great the one for the honey that is in him, however little he poet. Mr J. Johns has probably just as good a chance may look like it; but, putting on a thick and appro as any of them; had many of his productions been as priate glove, we squeeze the other between our finger good as that which we are about to quote, we should and thumb, and listen to his shrill envenomed hiss of have said he had a better than most. Passing over a expiring agony. Poets, therefore, who request us to sit good deal of what is not bad, but considerably middling, in judgment upon their lucubrations, must be contented we come with pleasure to the following stanzas, entitled to dree their fate. We now proceed to call Mr J. Johns to the bar. Mr J. Johns has written too much. His volume is closely printed, and choke full. He has adopted, too, a system of classification which, though it may avoid the pain of a too rapid transition from one subject to another, seems to us affected and artificial. We have seven "Books," containing poems, which he describes as "Lyric," "Historical," " Descriptive," ""Didactic and Devotional," " Elegiac," 99 66 Legendary," and "Anomalous." Were we disposed to be ill-natured, we should say, that rather than have chosen this hortus-siccus method, we should have put the whole under the last head of "Anomalous." But, passing over the table of contents, which is often a very indifferent index of what is to come, we venture the remark, that Mr J. Johns thinks fully as much of his own productions as any one else does. Were this not the case, he would have put into the fire nearly two-thirds of what he has put into his book. He appears to have emptied the whole of his portfolio into the printer's hands. Now, this is an error which modesty would shun, which prudence would forbid, and which genius would shudder at. Every body, without one single solitary exception since the world was created, has written the greatest possible stuff at times. In all voluminous authors this stuff is tangible and apparent, though their works, however voluminous, are merely selections from unknown quantities of manuscript that never saw the light. Distinguished talent keeps its head above water, whether nonsense clings to its legs or not; but whatever the reach of a man's abilities may be, the more his judgment induces him to lop off what is superfluous, the better. Gray, perhaps, lopped off too much; but because Gray was a poct, and STARLIGHT. There come no seasons there:-our earthly year Ye smile at ages; for your destiny |
