MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURA. 227 



be Madame de Staelians with an air what is to become of us ? An aspiring 

 coxcomb, now-a-days, emulous of fame, and proud 



" Of the nice conduct of a clouded cane," 



comes simpering and picking his way into print, with his three volumes of 

 exclusive anecdote, private scandal, or public notoriety ; and furnishes a key to 

 the weekly review. Young ladies rush into type incontinently, and the critic 

 aggravates his voice to the ecstatic key-note of disinterested praise. Instead of 

 the wit of Fielding, or the humour of Smollett, we are presented with the inanity 

 of Lister, and the aristocratical vulgarity of Hook ; and in the seat of Miss 

 Edgeworth, behold but we forbear to say whom. For breathing, flesh and 

 blood, let us have inanimate neckcloth and whiskers ; and for sentiment and 

 soul, give us absurd muslin manufactures and watery Werterites. 



The age of novelists is past. Who is to succeed Scott ? Who is to rival Miss 

 Edgeworth ? No one. There are none to take their place. There is not a grain 

 of wit among the whole tribe of novel writers of the present day ; there is not a 

 spark of humour in any one of their " works ;" there is not a page of human 

 nature in all that they have ever written. They are, with scarcely an exception, 

 a miserable set, and that's the truth of it. 



A GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. BY RICHARD HILEY. LONDON : 

 SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL. 1832. 



ANOTHER Grammar of the English Language ! Upon glancing at the title 

 page of the present book, we were disposed to look upon it as an impertinent 

 intrusion upon our patience pestered, as we have been, from time to time, with 

 Grammars of the English Language, each vying with the other in amazing 

 inutility, or mischievous incompetency. Upon further examination, however, 

 we found that Mr. Hiley was qualified for the task he had undertaken. We, 

 however, say this preparatory to the expression of our wish, that he would set 

 about presenting us in earnest with an English Grammar. Mr. Hiley may, 

 perhaps, tell us, that the English are not yet prepared to receive such an intro- 

 duction to the knowledge of their own tongue, as shall at once be a philosophical 

 analysis, and a popular exemplification of the principles of the language ; but 

 we are disposed to differ from him. Towards this end, we would especially 

 recommend to him the perusal (if he can obtain a copy, which we fear he will 

 experience some difficulty in doing) of " an Introduction to English Grammar," 

 by the Reverend Mark Anthony Meilan, published nearly forty years ago ; and 

 the study of Grimm and Rask would be indispensable to the production of such 

 a work as we should much desire to see, and the English public would be grateful 

 to receive. 



The present work, however, is not contemptible of its class. We are par- 

 ticularly pleased with our author's admirable illustration of Rule 12th, " The 

 subjunctive mood" which he has handled in a masterly manner. But we 

 protest against the hacknied illustrations of Dr. Blair, who has been too long 

 suffered to flourish in our elementary works, to the exclusion of his betters. 

 Upon the whole, we consider Mr. Hiley's Grammar, at least, as efficient and 

 serviceable as any in use at the present time in our schools ; and we recommend 

 it accordingly. 



THE VILLAGE POOR-HOUSE. BY A COUNTRY CURATE. LONDON : 



SMITH, ELDER, AND Co. 1832. 



IN these dreary prose days of literature, we may well feel grateful when we 

 meet with a small volume of poetry like the " Village Poor-House." The 

 author, we suspect to be a young man, and we do not, therefore, think the worse 

 of him, when we discover a few capricious irregularities and negligencies, such 

 as he, no doubt, flatters himself will be laid to the score of the waywardness of 

 genius. But we plain matter-of-fact-men are apt to imagine, that genius is not 

 such a heaven-descended maid as some people imagine, or, at all events, that she 

 requires the foreign aid of ornament, and the extrinsic graces of art, to set her 

 off to advantage. The Village Curate will readily understand what we mean. 



Q2 



