MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



We beg distinctly to express our conviction, and we think a great majority of the 

 reading world will agree with us, that if a man has poetry to write, he had far 

 better consign it to respectable and decent versification, than commit it to the 

 keeping of loose and irregular doggrel. That he has poetry in him, we see that 

 he has yet written poetry we are not quite prepared to admit. We should also 

 caution him against the too frequent and violent contrasts which he delights 

 to bring before the eye of the reader. There appears something very like 

 trickery in this, which, once seen through, fails entirely of the effect intended. 



We must also say a word or two on the spirit in which this little poem 

 appears to be written. No man will go further than ourselves in the denuncia- 

 tion of a pernicious system of mis-government, whereby the poor have been 

 ground down to the dust, and trampled upon by the wealthier and more 

 fortunate. But, in order to remedy this grievance, the system must be attacked, 

 and not individuals ; except, indeed, when they are held up as examples of the 

 system to be denounced. But to hold the rich up to obloquy because they are 

 rich, and to represent them as the natural enemies of the poor, is, in effect, doing 

 the very thing so violently complained of. It is encouraging the same feelings 

 in the poor that have already been ascribed to the rich. 



We could point out, if we had space, several instances of this spirit in the 

 present poem ; and not a few passages in which truth, in its philosophical sense, 

 has been sacrificed to effect. We could wish, indeed, that poems of this nature 

 were set about with a more serious reflection upon the end proposed by the 

 composition of them. What is the good sought to be obtained ? A remedy for 

 the grievances of the poor by a faithful delineation of them. Very well. How 

 is this end accomplished? By setting their grievances in such a light, as must 

 inevitably tend to inflame the angry and bitter feelings of those in whose power 

 the poor are placed. These remarks, we admit, apply with more justice to the 

 poems of a man of undoubted genius the author of the " Corn Law Rhymes ;" 

 but are in a small degree applicable also to the present poem. Let the Village 

 Curate, for the time to come, bear these strictures in mind, which are meant in a 

 friendly spirit, and cease, (to use Mr. Coleridge's language) " to write always to 

 the poor and never for them.'* 



THE ADVENTURES OF BARNEY MAHONEY. BY T. CROFTON CROKER. 

 LONDON : FISHER, SON, AND JACKSON. 1832. 



THIS volume narrates the adventures of an Irish lad, brought from the bogs 

 to serve as a foot-boy in London. There is a breadth of humour in the descrip- 

 tion of characters whom Barney is in the habit of seeing at his several places, 

 which is pleasant enough. We, however, think there is far too little of Barney's 

 drollery, and too much of others who are by no means droll ; indeed, there is 

 an infinite variety of all the species of character to be found in this metropolis. 

 But Barney himself and " the Yorkshire country cousin," will afford a rich 

 treat to the reader. 



LIVES OF BALBOA AND PIZARRO. FROM THE SPANISH OF QUINTANA. BY 

 MRS. HODSON. EDINBURGH : BLACKWOOD. LONDON : J. CADELL. 1832. 

 EVERY one conversant with Spanish literature is, no doubt, familiar with 

 the works of Quintana; remarkable, as they are, for the elegance and purity 

 of their style. Mrs. Hodson has presented us with a translation of the lives of 

 these celebrated men Balboa and Pizarro. We have much pleasure in stating 

 that Mrs. Hodson has executed her task with great elegance and fidelity. 



THE TOILETTE OF HEALTH, BEAUTY, AND FASHION. LONDON : WITTENOOM 

 AND CREVUR. 1832. 



UPON receiving this little work into our hands, we determined upon becoming 

 forthwith, the most fascinating of men, but we speedily found that a rigid 

 compliance with the injunctions laid down would be impracticable. We 

 discovered that, in order to preserve bur hair in all its natural beauty, we must 



