heart discoverable in his character, ought, in some measure, to atone for the gross violations of decorum of which Swift's pen was undeniably guilty. But, in fact, his executors and editors should be made answerable for his impurities, rather than the patriotic Dean himself. He had, in common with numberless men of teeming fancies, and overflowing minds, a habit of committing to paper every vagary which the occurrence of the moment suggested. And had those into whose hands his writings fell, possessed a proper sense of what was due to the public, and to the reputation of their illustrious friend, they would have burned his scribblings, instead of surrendering them to the mercies of rapacious booksellers, and a scandal-loving world.

MINUTIE LITERARIÆ.

ANDREW MARVELL.

In "Records of my Life," by the late John Taylor, in 2 vols. 8vo., published in 1832; and in the second volume, pages 212, 213, is this passage: "Commodore Thompson was the author of many admired compositions in verse and prose; and he published a correct and valuable edition of the works of Andrew Marvell, proving that the well-known ballad of Margaret's Ghost was written by that sturdy and disinterested patriot, and not by Mallet, who usurped the reputation; as also that admirable hymn beginning with

'The glorious firmament on high,'

which Addison has introduced into the Spectator, without claiming the merit of writing it, but nevertheless leaving the world to consider it as his composition."

I have before me, while I write this, an edition of the works of Marvell, in two small volumes, published by Mr. Cooke, London, 1726, and can find no such ballad or verses in my copy. Marvell died in 1678.

MR. BRADDON.

By the kindness of a friend, I am in possession of a rather curious volume, which some of my readers may never have seen or heard of: "Braddon's Charge against Bishop Burnet, for attempting, in his History of his Own Times,' to make the present and future Ages believe that Arthur, Earl of Essex, in 1683, murdered himself," &c.

My copy, which is in good condition, is a thin octavo volume, dated London, 1725, and belonged to the late learned, able, and accomplished Sir James Mackintosh.

The frontispiece is a folding print, representing the interior of the chamber in the Tower, in which Lord Essex was confined. In the centre are three men in the dress of the times, employed in strangling a fourth in the foreground is the dead body of the Earl, as laid out to be inspected by the jury; and in a remote corner, his Lordship lying on his

:

face, and as seen by those who entered the apartment when an outcry first announced his death. On the floor is represented a knife, (not a razor,) as the real instrument of his destruction.

Braddon's work is full of party zeal, and has evidently been composed for party purposes, and to cast odium on the English adherents to the Church of Rome; and the style of the writer is perplexed and heavy. Yet, after all, he nearly proves the fact, that Lord Essex was murdered by hired assassins, and makes it almost probable that the Duke of York, afterwards King James II. was, at least, privy to the bloody deed.

Inside the cover of my copy of Braddon's book, is a label impressed with the name and arms of Mackintosh: the crest is a cat, salient; the motto"Touch not the cat but a glove:"

The word but implying without; an old-fashioned usage connected with some observations which I have made elsewhere on the subject of Addison's Translation (if he be the author) of the 19th Psalm, and which in substance I shall briefly repeat here. From the verses as printed in the Spectator, it is obvious that the writer did not execute his task from the original; but merely versified the lines which appear in our prayer-book version of the Psalms; and not understanding the sense of the word but in the Psalm before him, has utterly mistaken that of the sacred poet.

The translation of the misconceived passage in the book of Common Prayer, stands thus:

"There is neither speech nor language, but their voices are heard among them:"'—

where the meaning clearly is, that there is no country or region on earth but what has heard their proclamation of the Divine power.

Instead of which, the versifier, not aware of the signification of the word but, has given us

"What though in solemn silence, all

Move round this dark, terrestrial ball;

What though no real voice, nor sound," &c.

a fatal error, only to be explained, as already said, by concluding that Addison neglected to turn to the Greek or Latin, in composing the lines; but, enamoured of what he conceived a happy thought, pursued it, and consequently went wrong. His misconception is the more surprising, when it is considered that he might have found, at the end of Barker's Bible, called, by collectors, the Breeches Bible, a new edition, printed in 1589, the 19th Psalm, in English rhyme, and the verse in question thus rendered: :

"There is no language, tongue, or speach

Where their sound is not heard;

In all the earth and coastes thereof

Their knowledge is confer'd:"

which, if not poetical, is at least rational.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH DRAMATIC

POETS.

BY GERARD LANGBAINE.*

This well-known work is esteemed, and not without reason, for the great extent of information which it displays on the subject taken in hand by worthy Mr. Langbaine, who says, in a preface to this edition, "My former catalogue of plays has found so kind a reception from the generality of unbyassed judges, that I thought myself obliged by gratitude, as well as promise, to revise it, though it were only to purge it of those erratas contracted in the former edition."

The candid reader may lawfully marvel at Langbaine's notion of correctness, and at what could have been the state of his work in its original form, when he is told that this amended edition rejoices in divers aberrations, over and above those which are acknowledged in a whole page of errata! Among these latter the benevolent student is besought to read, for "oracle," Paradise;" and for "before," after."

66

Page 17, Mrs. Behn is called Astræa: her name was Aphra. Page 352, "Philip Massinger was born at Salisbury, in the reign of King Charles I. He was sent by his father to the University of Oxford, at eighteen years of age, viz. in 1602. He wrote a play in

* Oxford, 1691.