536 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[MAY, 



ford may require explanation. Briefly then, 

 as we gather from the poem we ourselves 

 cannot be supposed to know any tiling ol the 

 matter a Mr. Crockford has long been 

 proprietor of a fashionable gaming-house, 

 lirst in Bolton-row, and next in St. J.imes's- 

 street. After the removal of his establish- 

 ment to St. James's, the flourishing state of 

 the concern prompted him to enlarge its 

 dimensions by adding to it an adjoining tene- 

 ment; and finally determining that the con- 

 junction of even these two houses would give 

 but very insufficient accommodation lor his 

 numerous and splendid visitors, he resolved 

 upon the bold measure of purchasing Ihe 

 next two houses, of levelling all four to the 

 ground, and of building up in their stead one 

 new and magnificent edifice, such as might 

 fulfil his own beau-ideal of a gaming-house, 

 fit for the noble and gentle of the land. This 

 palace, now in such rapid progress towards 

 completion, has arisen from its foundations 

 with a celerity so unfrequent among builders 

 of flesh and blood, that strange stories ap- 

 pear to have got abroad, shaped and de- 

 rived, we suppose, from the proprietor's 

 vocation. Hear the tale : 



But while, mushroom-like, it grows 



Folks get frightened, and suppose 



That, for ends so full of evil, 



Crockford's dealing with the devil ; 



And, from greediness of pelf, 



To that fiend has sold himself, 



Who will, at no distant day, 



Claim, and carry him away! 

 They down-face you, that his master 



Scarcely for himself built faster, 



When he of metallic bcum 



Fashioned Pandemonium, 



Than his slave, they can't tell how, 



Build?, as if by magic, now ; 



So that any one may spy 



Satan's finger in the pie. 

 Thus, they add, as if they'd seen 'em 



Sign the deed, it runs between 'em ; 



That of masonry or brick-work 



(Being anxious to make quick work) 



Crockford covenants to lay 



Certain cubits every day j 



Stipulating so, they guess, 



Just to save appearances, 



While the devil, maturely weighing 



What the house is meant for playing, 



And that then and there, the guests 



Must perform his high behests, 



And promote his interests, 



Duly promises to lay 



(Reckoning on the aforesaid play) 



Every night in order due 



For each Crockford-cubit, two. 



Both performing thus in turn 



To complete the whole concern, 



As agreed, if not so soon 



As the end of May, in June. 



The writer's resources of phraseology, 

 rhyme, and illustration are very extensive 

 he is no stranger, by the way, to the public 

 his Letters to Julia are well and accept- 

 ably known and these most felicitous re- 



sources for effect, are combined with a libe- 

 rality of sentiment, and at tbe same time a 

 serious and lofty tone of moral reprobation, 

 lightly and delicately conveyed, that claim 

 and receive our unfeigned respect. His 

 irony, so far as it is directed against the 

 daemon of gaming generally, must fall soft 

 enough upon the multitude of its worship- 

 pers, while, upon the high-priest the insti- 

 tutor of fresh facilities the contriver of 

 new blandishments the man who thus osten- 

 tatiously spreads before the public gaze both 

 the gains derived from pandering to this pas- 

 sion, and the seductions by which he lures 

 his victims, and accomplishes his winning 

 purposes it may perhaps descend somewhat 

 uncomfortably and mal-apropos. As to this 

 point, however, our calculation will pro- 

 bably be baffled, for, considering tbe strange 

 perversions which vice, and this passion of 

 gaming especially, confessedly effects in the 

 breasts of its votaries, we must not venture 

 with any confidence to conclude, that the 

 circumstance of public notice being thus for- 

 cibly drawn to this seat and centre of pro- 

 fligacy, by the proud and defying aspect it 

 assumes, may not augment the irresistibili- 

 ties of the place, instead of diminishing them, 

 among that wide class especially who sin for 

 notoriety's sake ; and thus the owner's pur- 

 pose be doubly answered. 



The Zenana ; or, a Nuwab's Leisure 

 Hours ; by the Author of Pandurang Hari ; 

 or Memoirs of a Hindoo ; 1827. The Dee- 

 wan, or Prime Minister, of the Nuwab of 

 Surat, is disgraced for malversations in office, 

 and some months pass away before he can 

 seize upon any opportunity for recovering his 

 credit. At last he hears of the arrival of an 

 Arab vessel, with a slave on board of the 

 most ravishing beauty, and by her means he 

 hOj es to conciliate his offended master. By 

 a little alacrity, he out-manoeuvres the cot- 

 wal, or minister of police, who has the same 

 object in view, and who had been the cause 

 of the premier's disgrace ; he gets possession 

 of the lady presents her to the \uwab, and 

 is immediately reinstated. The cotwal is 

 very much annoyed by this defeat, and 

 watches, like a cat, for his revenge. In the 

 meanwhile the lady plays the capricious, and, 

 though in the ardour of excitement the Nu- 

 wab even offers marriage, she will listen to 

 nothing till an answer is obtained to some 

 questions she proposes to put to the astrolo- 

 gers. The only astrologers of the town are 

 an old Hindoo of somn celebrity, and the 

 court astrologer, a Mahometan a mere 

 pretender. The premier and the cotwal are 

 commanded to assemble the astrologers, and 

 a struggle ensues each wishing to gain the 

 Nuwab's favour by securing a favourable 

 answer. The old Hindoo is gained over by 

 the premier, and the Mahometan by the eot- 

 wal. Contradictory answers are given ; and, 

 as the lady's real object was delay, she avails 

 herself of the pretence, and puts the Nuwab 

 oil' for a twelvemonth. In the rage of dis- 



