And yet, if nonsense must be-old or young, 'Tis ten times sweeter than a female tongue! "But they are curious'"-Let them have "Twere well, methinks, were men as curious their due too Then ignorance would vanish, for we find Teach them that better-that important part, "Yet so it is--to this, from ancient days, Woman hath been a theme for scorn and praise-- Once 'twas a doubt, if she possess'd a soul- On the versification it will be unnecessary, from the specimens we have given, to make any observations. The Poem contains several fine descriptions of scenery, and happy delineations of character, illustrated by many appropriate allusions, and accompanied by various incidents that are both interesting and pathetic. In the concluding pages, the author has introduced several minor pieces; but they have no connection with the principal subject of his verse. They are not destitute of merit, but they are too diminutive to demand a particular examination. The ladies have found in Mr. Swan an able advocate, and a bold defender of their intellectual, but long neglected, and much injured character; and we hope his work will meet with that favourable reception which its merits its import more rigorously observed, we are inclined to think, that it would less frequently appear, especially in the discussion of subjects to which it is scarcely applicable. When a reader finds this word placed before him, he very naturally expects a degree of evidence to follow, which will amount to indubitable certainty. But should his expectations be unfortunately defeated, the disappointment cannot but operate to the disadvantage of the author, who will discover to his cost, that he has injured the cause which he intended to promote, by awakening hopes that he has been unable to gratify. If writers, who introduce this word, intend nothing more than to express the highest degree of certainty, of which the subject, under all circumstances, is susceptible, its use might be tolerated; but even in this case its latitude should be clearly defined, to prevent the consequences of which both authors and the public have but too much reason to complain. Whatever opinion Mr. Newman may entertain of his demonstration, we are very apprehensive that his opponents will not think him fortunate in the former sense; and we have no doubt that his friends would rejoice to find, that he had been a little more successful in the latter. It is not our intention to insinuate that this little volume is destitute of merit. The author has introduced numerous passages of scripture to prove the Divinity of Christ, which we conceive to be both applicable and conclusive; but, unfortunately, he has cited others which his antagonists will by no means allow, and drawn inferences from them to which they will think he has no right. In his preface, Mr. Newman has indeed said, that criticisms, as much as possible, have been avoided, under the impression that the description of readers who will generally peruse this volume, would not be interested in them, and because this department has been already filled by men in point of the author feels he is not worthy to uncritical research, whose shoe-latchets loose. Those who wish to know what has been, and can be said on this subject, are with pleasure and confidence recommended, among others, to Wardlaw's elaborate " Discourses on the Socinian Controversy." To those who have not had either an inclination or an opportunity of enter- | watched with unremitting vigilance, and every action investigated with the severest scrutiny, the individual, whom Providence has placed at the head of a mighty empire, must always be upon his guard. On this account it is only in his retired moments, or in those seasons of relaxation, when he lays aside the weighty affairs of state, that his real character can be said to appear. Nor is it always that even this can command implicit confidence. Accustomed in public life to act with digni tering into an examination of the various arguments advanced on this momentous subject, by the contending parties, this book will bring much embodied information, and set many a doubting mind at rest. But small as it is, we think it might have been rendered still less, without sustaining any disadvantage, unless the author had been disposed to render it more argumentative, by establishing propositions, from which favourable inferences would flow as an inevitable conse-fied caution, the mind naturally turns quence. into the same channel, till reiterated acts, which were at first artificial, settle into a habit, which gives a new feature to what nature originally bestowed. that through the whole course of his long and arduous reign, he never permitted the monarch to swallow up the man. Of the author, or of his particular creed, we know nothing, except through the medium of this publication; but it is to be regretted, that in a work of this nature he should suffer But whatever may have been the fate his party sentiments to creep out, of other potentates, it must be recordwherever his sentences afforded a loop-ed, to the honour of his late Majesty, hole. Speaking of the mediatorial kingdom of Christ, the author describes it as "consisting of all those, who, being loved of the Father, were given into his hands to preserve, redeem, and save, till time shall be no longer. Then shall come the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom, and presented his people faultless," &c. p. 93. And in the same paragraph he adds, "when as Mediator he shall deliver up the kingdom of his people complete," &c. The right of private opinion is every man's prerogative; but we should conceive that more suitable places might have been found to express local views, attachments, and feelings, than in a treatise which professes to exhibit the Divinity of Christ Demonstrated. REVIEW.-Georgiana, or Anecdotes of George III. with a selection of Poetical Effusions and other Eulogiums on his character, and on that of H. R. H. the Duke of Kent. By Ingram Cobbin, M. A.18mo. pp. 178. price 2s. 6d. Whitmore, Paternoster-row, London, 1820. On all suitable occasions he was free, affable, and condescending; and among the numerous anecdotes and narratives with which this little volume abounds, there is not one that does not tend to display some amiable feature in that character which both friends and foes have united to connect with his memory. A short preface to this work is preceded by a shorter dedication to Dr. Collyer. This preface is followed with personal and characteristic anecdotes, which run through 84 pages. These the author has contrived so to classify, that they appear illustrative of his manners and habits, wit, politics, patronage of literature and the arts, benevolence, liberality in religion, and personal piety, concluding with the well-known interview between him and Dr. Johnson. The next 66 pages contain poetical effusions, some of which possess a considerable degree of merit. Some few of these relate to the Duke of Kent, but the greater part originated in the death of his late Majesty. The remaining part of the volume exhibits delineations of cha THIS is a very interesting little book, which is admirably calculated to blend instruction with amusement. It intro-racter of his late Majesty, and of his duces us into the presence of our late Royal Highness, by J. W. Cunningrevered Sovereign, whom we are per- ham, M. A.; J. Hughes, M. A.; Dr. Colmitted to behold detached from the lyer; and the Rev. James Rudge, D. D fetters of exalted station and the tram-whose well-known names render any mels of royalty, and to contemplate in observations on their masterly sketches the exalted character of a Man. Con- wholly superfluous. We shall conscious of having every movement clude this brief review with what we conceive to be the best recommendation we can give, that of presenting to the reader a few specimens. "The King was one day passing in his carriage, through a place near one of the royal palaces, when the rabble was gathered together to interrupt the worship of the dissenters. His Majesty stopped to know the cause of the hubbub; and being answered it was only an affair between the townspeople and the methodists, he replied, loud enough to be heard by many, "The methodists are a quiet, good kind of people, and will disturb nobody; and if I can learn, that any persons in my employ disturb them, they shall be immediate ly dismissed.' The King's most gracious speech was speedily recapitulated through the whole town, and persecution has not dared to lift its head there since that period." "At the time that the preaching of John Wesley was making so much noise in the country, a certain courtly bishop was animadverting on the circumstance to his Majesty, and concluded a doleful exposition of the dangerous consequences to the mother church, by asking what was to be done? The King smartly replied, Make a bishop of him, my Lord, and then I'll warrant you he will preach seldom enough.'" 6 "Mr. Gray resided in the palace "Some years ago, a bill was brought from the time of his Majesty's accesinto the House of Commons, by Mr. sion, to the period of his death, which Michael Angelo Taylor, which would happened in 1801. He was an ingehave materially abridged the rights of nious mechanic; and, under the imdissenters; and it actually had gone mediate eye of the King, many althrough two readings without opposi- terations were from time to time eftion, when it was stopped in its pro- fected in different apartments of the gress, by the liberal interference of the royal residence. A principal in atKing himself: his Majesty sent for Mr. tendance upon the person of his MaWyndham, who was then in adminis- jesty, said to Mr. Gray on a Sunday, tration, and said to him, 'You may I wish you to have a bedstead repass that bill through both houses as moved from such a room,' naming it, fast as you please, but I will never sign to such a room. My Lord,' said it,' adding these emphatic words, Gray, I never do any thing of that There shall be no persecution in my kind on a Sunday; I would do it for reign.' The bill was withdrawn, and no one except his Majesty commandno more was heard of it! This is a well-ed it; and in saying that, my Lord, I confirmed fact." run no risk, for I am persuaded the “An under gardener, with whom the King will not order it to be done.' King was accustomed familiarly to The refusal gave offence, and was folconverse, was missed one day by his lowed by a report of the transaction Majesty, who inquired of the head to the King: the King said to his Lordgardener where he was. 'Please your ship, (as he afterwards informed Gray) Majesty,' said the gardener, he is so 'Gray is a man that fears God, and very troublesome with his religion, and sooner than require him to make such is always talking about it,' Is he dis- alterations on a Sunday, I would sleep honest?' said the King,- does he neg-without a bedstead.'" lect his work?'-'No, your Majesty, he is very honest, I have nothing to say against him for that.' Then send for REVIEW.-A Subject's Tribute in Mehim again,' said the Monarch; 'why mory of George the Third. By Jas. should he be turned off? Call me DeEveret. Longman and Co. London. fender of the Faith! DEFENDER OF pp. 56. 1820. THE FAITH! and turn away a man for THIS is professedly a poetical produchis religion? The King had learnt tion. The muse, however, hovers only from this good man, that the place of over 27 pages, the remaining parts being worship where he attended was sup- filled with notes; and even during this ported by voluntary contributions, and excursion, she pauses several times was in the habit of giving him a gui- | gain breath, and recruit her exhausted strength, before she again renews her nea for the quarterly collection." flight, "to gain the distant goal." This Tribute to the Memory of his late Majesty is divided into four parts. The first treats of his public spirit; the second, of his private virtues; the third adverts to personal, domestic, and national affliction; and the fourth carries our views to his exit, and to a future state. The measure which the author has adopted, varies in each of the parts. The lines are smooth and harmonious, flowing with apparent ease, without discovering either carelessness or affectation in the composition. The thoughts also that are embodied, partake of the dignified mediocrity of the language, never descending to puerility, and but rarely mounting into those exalted regions, which mark the bolder flights of the poet's muse. Instead of entering into profound speculations, and attempting to trace the visible phenomena of life to those secret springs of action which lie buried in deep recesses, his aim has been, "to catch the manners living" as they rose into existence, and to follow them to those distant consequences and issues, over which the conduct and example of Princes rarely fail to extend a commanding influence. From each of these parts we will give two verses as specimens of the varied measure-of the author's poetical talents-and of his success in versification. Public Spirit. Who was king when Britain rose, When was felt the chast'ning rod,- Personal, Domestic, and National Affliction. The sun eclips'd, no more we feel his rays; Throughout the air a sickly horror spreads; No. 16.-VOL. II. heads. The feather'd songsters cease to trill their lays; How sweet are the slumbers, the visions how His body is still, save the pulses that play, swell'd-- tears,-- When ripe for the sickle, when bending with years. The notes which are appended to this "Tribute," are not only explanatory of the various local incidents to which the lines allude, but they contain many anecdotes, which are well calculated to instruct as well as to amuse. The author has collected them from various sources, and their aggregate tendency is to place the character of our late Monarch in a light which wanted not the pageantry of a throne to give it either embellishment or dignity. Few monarchs were more deserving of a tribute from his subjects than King George, and few appear to have been rendered with greater sincerity, than this paid by Mr. Everet. REVIEW.-A Sermon preached in Waltham-street Chapel, in Kingston-uponHull, Feb. 16, 1820, intended as a sacred Memorial of his late most excellent Majesty King George III. By Samuel Woolmer, Minister of the Gospel, Hull. Blanshard, London. pp. 32. 1820. WHATEVER injuries the tribe of authors may, during the progress of time, have sustained from the cruelty of the Reviewers, they seem on the present occasion to have seized a favourable opportunity of retaliating their wrongs, with no common degree of vengeance. 66 To accomplish this dreadful purpose, the prose men and verse men" seem to have formed a combination, resolving to bury the obnoxious race, in their various contributions of sermons, orations, panegyrics, tributes of respect, memoirs, biographical sketches, and lives, with all the weed 2 H The name of John Wesley holds a distingushed rank among the celebrat and all the flowers, which, on this memorable occasion,have vegetated round the foot of Parnassus. And that Re-ed individuals of the last century; and viewer who should be destined to mark perhaps, it will be difficult to find aman, their varied degrees of merit end de- with whose real or reported character, fect, with new combinations of expres- all ranks of society in this country are sion, would be in danger of confine- more familiarly acquainted. His life, ment to his garret for life. however, having already been published in various forms, and his excellencies and infirmities exhibited in many prominent aspects of light and shade, both by friends and foes, we were not aware that another delineation of his character, was either necessary in itself, or required by the public. But when the biography of this extraordinary man was proclaimed to the world, as coming from the celebrated pen of Mr. Southey, we fully expected some momentous documents to be placed before us, which had been drawn from such secret recesses, as few besides himself had been permitted to explore. At length, when this long promised, and anxiously expected work, in two large octavo volumes, made its appearance, our mortification, at hearing him say, The text selected by Mr. Woolmer seems to be peculiarly appropriate; "He died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour." (1 Chron. xxix. 28.) The points, on which the author chiefly applies his observations to our late King are, the consistency of his conduct, the affability of his manners, and the glory of his reign. He then proceeds to state, that his death affords the most gratifying reflections, calculated to leave a lasting impression; that his character is worthy to be recorded in the most celebrated pages of history; and that we learn from it lessons of gratitude,-of regret,—and of self-examination. From a pamphlet so small, we can scarcely afford room for any specimen. We can, however, assure our readers, that in this discourse the character of our late venerable Sovereign is placed in an amiable light. We concur with him in opinion, that " the excellencies of George the Third cannot be forgotten." And that as a summer sun, though fallen beneath the horizon, leaves a tinge of glory behind, and decorates the western cloud with a golden fringe; so the Royal Sun, just now set, has left a lustre that shall not be dimmed by time or age."-pp. 21. 66 66 I have had no private sources of information in composing the present work," served to counterbalance those sanguine expectations with which we had been previously deluded. The balance being thus restored, we enter upon an examination of this work, viewing it as a compilation from those numerous papers and articles which have been long before the world; interspersed with such remarks, as, through the influence of prejudice, the dictates of benevolence, the decisions of justice, the visions of fancy, REVIEW.-The Life of Wesley; and the ments, or the result of philosophical the operation of theological sentiRise and Progress of Methodism. disquisition, may happen to predomiBy Robert Southey, Esq. Poet Lau-nate in the mind of the compiler: or reate, Member of the Royal Spanish perhaps, Mr. S. may have been willing Academy, of the Royal Spanish Aca- to accommodate himself to the wishes demy of History, and of the Royal of those, who have not been altogether Institute of the Netherlands, &c. In pleased with the biographical sketches 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 512-622. Longman, of Mr. Wesley, that have thus far been Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, Lon-placed before the public. don. 1820. THE name of Mr. Southey is so intimately connected with justly merited, and deservedly awarded honours, that whenever it appears before the public, it is sure to awaken much attention, if not to command respect. The work before us has been long announced; and we have waited its appearance with something more than common solicitude. It appears from the title-page, that this work is printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; and, as tradesmen, we cannot but congratulate them on the sagacity which they have displayed, in selecting so popu lar a character as John Wesley, for their subject, and engaging in the em ployment the celebrated author of Madoc, of the Curse of Kehama, and of Roderick the last of the Goths, |