that he ever advanced on the principles of poetry," with reference to the writings of Pope.-The question, as to his treatment of Pope's personal character, in which the writer of the Review of Spence's Anecdotes, in our Magazine, is alone concerned, is another, and a very distinct one. Not being in full possession of the facts here, we, of course, ought not to express an opinion on this question: but we do feel it a pleasure and a duty to state, that we have reason to bear testimony to the general urbanity of Mr. Bowles's disposition, and to the esteem in which he is held, for kindness and honour, by friends of the very highest reputation for talent, independence, and truth.-We think it but fair to quote from the pamphlet which has been forwarded to us, the following passage, selected by Mr. Bowles from his conclusion of his "Life of Pope," to prove that he wrote of that poet in no spirit of ill-will : "If these and other parts of his character appear less amiable, let the reader keep constantly in mind the physical and moral causes which operated on a mind like his. Let him remember his life, one long disease;' the natural passions which he must have felt in common with all the world, disappointed and thrown back on his heart, only to gather there with more force, and more ineffectual wishes; his confined education; his being used from the cradle to listen only to the voice of partial indulgence; of tenderness, almost maternal, in all who contemplated his (physical) weakness, and his incipient talents. When he has duly weighed these, and attended to every alleviating circum.. stance, that his knowledge of the world, or his charity may suggest, then let him not hastily condemn what truth has compelled me to state; but let him rather, without presuming on his own virtues, lament the imperfections of our common nature, and leave the judgment to Him, who knoweth whereof we are made, who remembereth we are but dust!! Whatever might have been his defects, he could not be said to have many bad qualities who never lost a friend; and whom Arbuthnot, Gay, Bathurst, Lyttleton, Fortescue, and Murray esteemed and loved through life."-Conclusion of the Life of Pope, vol. i. We sympathise with, and highly respect, the feeling that dictated the lines transmitted by R. W. They are touched with truth, and genuine sensibility-and this constitutes beauty, in such a case, to our eyes. But there are several words, and turns of language, in them, which would be censured by general readers,—and that induce us to avoid submitting them to a criticism, which, when they were composed, was doubtless the furthest thing in the world from the author's thoughts. We have received a very masterly paper on Göthe, and his Faustus, the whole of which, though it is very long, will appear in our next number. Our readers will recollect that a set of engravings, illustrating this remarkable poem, were well described in the second number of our Magazine. We are happy to find that the taste of the writer of that article has been very generally sympathised with, and that the prints in question, brought into notice by his observations, have since had a large sale. They have even been lately copied by an English artist, who seems to have executed his task very creditably to himself. But the originals have a spirit which has not been transfused into the copies, and we are therefore glad to hear that a fresh supply from the Continent has been received. We expect soon to be called upon to lay before our readers some critical remarks on the present German school of paintingor at least on the practice of the German painters at Rome, who possess the characteristics of their style in common with the artists, their countrymen, that remain at home. In the course of these remarks, an attempt will probably be made, to define in what consists the peculiar charm of the figures and expressions which this nation now so much delights in,-and of which such beautiful examples are given in the work of Retsch.-Of the literary composition to which that work is a companion, a more detailed account than that which was involved in the descriptions of the plates, will, we are sure, be acceptable; for the Faustus of Göthe (generally considered his best production) is still but very imperfectly known here (though it is now spoken of with much interest), even in respect of its plan, and the peculiarities of its execution. Translation it has been said to defy; though, we must confess, if Mr. Coleridge could spare the time from those labours of a more important nature in which he is so visibly and profitably engaged, we should like much to see an attempt made by the author of Christabel, and the translator of Carlos. A bad or impotent translation, however, would be a great nuisance to England, and a crying injustice to Germany, from which we hope still to remain free, though we have heard certain hints that make us tremble. The strong influence of this work on the sensibilities of Germans, we have had occasion to see striking proof of; and it may hereafter furnish the subject of an article, that will not, we venture to predict, be thought one of our worst. The Author of "Common Sense," a poem, which, by its dulness, exhausts common patience, charges Wordsworth, among other deficiencies, with being but " poor in fancy." We have heard many faults attributed to the great poet in question; but this is the first time, to our knowledge, that the author of Tintern Abbey, Laodemia, Ruth, and the Excursion, has been taunted with a want, either of fancy or imagination. His volume, last published, is now before us (The River Duddon, &c.): but, having so lately expressed ourselves at full length on the merits of this author, we shall not include it amongst our Critical Notices. We have nothing further to remark, characteristic of the poet's genius, or of its latest fruit: it is sufficient to state, that it is a brilliant emanation from the loftiest and most effulgent mind of the age. Those who, like ourselves, startle at some of this writer's familiar compositions,—not because they are familiar, both in subject and language, but because the principles of selection and harmony, essential to poetry, do not seem to have been duly observed in them,—will find nothing to alarm them in this volume-unless we ought to except the sportive imitation of the Tetrachordon Sonnet. Its contents are in the stately style of beauty throughout: and, on the other hand, this reserve in the choice and manner of the poet, has, perhaps, hindered him from penetrating quite so far into the sanctuary of the muse, as it has been his privilege to do in some one or two of his earlier pieces that might be named. We are tempted to give one extract from the volume now before us, just to put to shame the silly author of Common Sense; for really it is high time that the pop-guns of these mischievous urchins in literature, wherewith they pester their betters, should be wrested out of their hands, and broken over their empty heads. The dignity of the office of an editor of a Magazine, we are not ourselves inclined to estimate so highly as we hope our readers do: 6 nay, we have sometimes been inclined to class Magazine-reading with the predominating evils of the times,-such as the National Debt, Liver Complaints, our Criminal Code, and the Ladies' Projecting Bonnets:—but if our vocation gives us advantages, which a higher one would not confer, for whipping in-doors the troublesome fry that hang on the heels of noble natures in their passage to fame, we may surely feel our consciences at ease; and as to our ambition-why we must just be contented to let it subside to the faithful discharge of a street-beadle's duty. The perusal of the following fine verses conjures up a presence, as it were, of towering beauty, confronting the mind, as the Parthenon of the Acropolis confronts the eye, with its simple grandeur, unbroken symmetry, and quiet splendour. DION. (See Plutarch.) Fair is the Swan, whose majesty, prevailing He leaves behind a moon-illumined wake: An arch thrown back between luxuriant wings Vanish inverted hill, and shadowy wood, And pendant rocks, where'er, in gliding state, From heaven, upon her chosen favourite! So pure, so bright, so fitted to embrace, Nor less the homage that was seen to wait The Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline is a most useful Institution, and we are sorry that its Resolutions are rather too long to be conveniently inserted in our miscellany. We shall, however, be happy to pay some particular attention to the objects of this society in our next Number. Christian of Denmark probably in our next Number. We are happy to be able to inform inquirers, that our "LIVING AUTHORS are not extinct: No. 3 of the Series will appear next month. THE name of Madame Krudener, who has been called the Mistress of the Holy Alliance, seems to have totally died away from our ears. Whether she is now concealed in the recesses of a harem, or the dungeons of a state prison, the Emperor Alexander, as the head, and prime mover of that exemplary Union, can best tell. Either species of retirement may be inferred from the character and habits of her lover, the august fraternity in question; but the date of Madame Krudener's birth, which, from documents now before us, appears to have taken place in 1766, we are sorry to say, inclines probability to the side of the least pleasant supposition. The last authentic accounts which Europe has received of this celebrated lady, stated her arrival at Konigsberg, under Prussian surveil lance, accompanied by her faithful follower, and admirer, a young and active" Genevan Divine, of the name of Empeytas. This took place nearly two years ago. Since then,-whether she has been altogether absorbed in the raptures of Quietism,—(a state of religious elevation in which, as a Catholic writer remarks, the worshipper often falls fast asleep)-or whether she has been submitted to the wholesome regimen of solitary confinement, as the natural consequence of her intimacies, legitimate and illegitimate,—not a word has es◄ VOL. II. 66 caped, either of or from this extraordinary enthusiast, whose frailties and reveries, connecting themselves with the winding-up of the French Revolution, constitute her, perhaps, the most extraordinary phenomenon of this class that has yet appeared. That Madame Krudener should have had vogue in the world before the days of Voltaire, would not have been very surprising. That she should have held an empire over the minds of a particular sect, or of individual adherents, even in ours, could have produced no astonishment,-for have we not seen believers in Joanna Southcote? and are there not now amongst us persons who would go on a pilgrimage to the island of Saint Helena ? Under the influence of pre-disposing feelings, man, “ the paragon of animals," will yield to any imposition, however coarse, and swallow any absurdity, however clumsy. The imagination, smitten with the venerable aspect of the crown-surmounted triad-King, Lords, and Commons-and disgusted with the gross impositions and falsehoods with which the trap of Reform is baited, to catch the hungry and the halt,— may even persuade itself that the present Administration is fairly disposed towards the rightful claims of the human mind, and duly enlightened as to the urgent necessities, and imminent dangers, of the present cli C macterical period! "Such tricks hath strong imagination:" and, on the other hand, As all impediments in fancy's course, some, who have been disappointed of their "airy hopes" cherished in the days when it seemed to their de lighted imaginations, that Time would run back, and fetch the age of gold have had their minds, from that moment, peopled with chimeras, and their optic nerves so deranged as to render them unable to distinguish any thing for the future in its true shape and character. They "see Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt," and vice versa 66 cry stand to a true man."-Such think Wellington a mere blunderer, and Marshal Ney a man of honour; -Louis the 18th a tyrant, Cobbett a Patriot, and Alderman Wood a pattern of modest sincerity! Thousands will swear to the innocence of the Queen, simply because it is pleasant to them to hiss her husband: and hundreds will maintain her guilt, on no better ground than that the King seems to have found out that there is female society more agreeable to him than that of his wife. With all these varieties of faith and practice before our observation, we certainly, as has already been said, should not have ventured to express any astonishment if Madame Krudener had merely made a crowd of common converts to her system of religious mysticism,-for her manners, as it would appear from her history, are fascinating, her talents considerable, and her doctrines of a prepossessing cast. Her language carries with it evidence of good company and extensive information: her birth is respectable, and the pleasures and gaieties of French society before the revolution, with which she was intimate, have left tints of tenderness and vivacity on her disposition, that interestingly enliven the sombre hue of her devotional declarations. In all these respects, she has the advantage of Joanna Southcote, our late English prophetess, who was fat, vulgar, and illiterate; and therefore not nearly so well-calculated to make converts. Madame Krudener's power of producing an impression on the hearts of people by her person and manners, seems to have been, of itself, sufficient to create an enthusiastic feeling in her favour, independently altogether of her tenets. Even the heavy Swiss, who are almost as difficult to be moved as their mountains, flounder in heroics, and run astray in metaphor, whenever they speak of her. On her arrival in the Canton of Solothurn, the Editor of the "Swiss Guide," thus broke forth, at the top of his voice ; Madame Krudener now forms our reigning constellation, and she eclipses all the fixed stars and planets of our terrestrial world. Her appearance amongst us is delightful, if it were only for affording to us, in the midst of our narrow and constrained existence, a specimen, an image, for once, of noble, elegant, and liberal, life. We owe her gratitude for having introduced, amongst our miserable common-places, the superior tone of a high and well-informed mind. She does not live in town, but in drawn to her residence, not only all its inits immediate vicinity; and already has she habitants, but also those of all the surrounding places. She is followed like Saint John in the Desart: but it is no wonder that · she is so, for she feeds, at once, the minds, hearts, and stomachs of all who come. She practises all the works of Christian charity, and human mercy; and is a real refuge to the sinner. Her abode, therefore, is crowded with people-Disciples, spies, beggars, and authors! A lady, thus richly accomplished, and liberally conducting herself, was not, as the Editor says, likely to preach to thin congregations, or to deaf ears ;-but that a female should, on the strength of some eloquently expressed dreams of a religious cast, involving pretensions to inspired pro phecy, yet never inconsistent with the utmost purity of sentiment,-arrest the attention of monarchs in the hour: of victory, and sway their councils af terwards, is surely a remarkable fact happening, as it did, in the year 1814 of the Christian era. The truth, however, we believe to be, that the successes of the allied arms, in that. year, had rendered several of the crowned heads of Europe têtes exal tées, in the proper acceptation of the French phrase. They were in a triumphal fever, a delirium of joy,—and human nature in its happiness, as well as in its misery, is prone to connect itself immediately with heaven. The sensibilities of some of the sovereigns had previously been keenly excited by deep misfortune; and when the tide of good fortune at last set in their favour, it streamed so rapidly, |