Monthly Review of Literature, 



[JAN. 



merit for its research, intelligence, and judg- 

 ment. Though not himself a minister pre- 

 cisely, he is obviously devoted to clerical 

 pursuits, and only, for reasons of course sa- 

 tisfactory to himself, avoids taking upon 

 himself the responsibilities of a " cure" of 

 souls. The rules of dissenting societies, at 

 least the one with which he is apparently 

 connected at Frome, do not exclude imoffi- 

 cial persons from occasional ministrations, 

 and accordingly he, it seems, has preached 

 many funeral orations. The two now pub- 

 lished were delivered by him on the deaths 

 of two ministers, one of them, quite a youth, 

 hut pious and able, who had but recently 

 occupied the pulpit at Frome, and the other 

 a Baptist missionary in India, who was well 

 known at Frome. The object of the dis- 

 courses appears to be to repel any hasty 

 conclusions adverse to the propagation of 

 the gospel, and the protection of it on the 

 part of its author, from the apparently pre- 

 mature deaths of its ablest and most indefa- 

 tigable preachers and promoters. The tone 

 is argumentative and earnest mild and per- 

 suasive and no doubt very acceptable to 

 those who knew the parties. The allusions 

 to the position and exertions of the mis- 

 sionary and his intelligent wife, are very in- 

 teresting and impressive. 



Holiday Dreams, or Light Reading in 

 Prose and Verse, by Isabel Hill ; 1829 

 The author of this little volume is undoubt- 

 edly a person of considerable cleverness, with 

 .some humour, and, what is more essential 

 for her own comfort, with good humour. 

 Her temperament, besides, is too sanguine 

 to be readily blighted by a little neglect, or 

 discomfited by a rebuff* or two. In perse- 

 verance she is irrepressible ; and, in the ab- 

 sence of patrons, resolves to write till she 

 finds them. She is already the author of a 

 tragedy, a tale, a poem, and two etc. etc., 

 together with some scores of occasional 

 pieces, published in periodicals which 

 pieces, for the most part, received by the 

 said periodicals, either superciliously or un- 

 gratefully, she now to shame the fools 

 collects and prints. Some, it seems, ap- 

 peared in the New Monthly, the Weekly 

 Review, the Literary Museum, and Pocket 

 Magazine, but all without producing pay 

 a mischance, however, which she insinu- 

 ates is perhaps attributable to the want of 

 integrity in her go-between ; but as he is, 

 apparently, nobody but Sir Francis Freeling, 

 the editors will know how to interpret. 

 Others were written for a Worthing paper, 

 the proprietor of which wishing to give a 

 literary cast to his adventure, secured the 

 lady's services, but finally ran away, and 

 forgot to discharge his bills. Others 

 were despatched to Annuals, of which some 

 were lost, some few admitted to the honours 

 of insertion ; and one, in the Gem, actually 

 remunerated by one of its crimson and gold 

 copies. Others, again, were handed about 

 among admiring friends, till, to her sur- 



prise, she met with nome so nearly resem- 

 bling them, that she chose to disclaim them ; 

 and the single instance of polite attention 

 and editorial payment, was the original pro- 

 prietor of the Athenaeum, who not only libe- 

 rally paid her from his purse, but gallantly 

 paid her a visit in person, for which she is 

 duly grateful. 



To be sure the good young lady has been 

 scurvily used, but she has her revenge she 

 tells all and we look for her thanks in giv- 

 ing them a publicity they would hardly 

 otherwise find. If she will still write 

 and write she will, and can she must ma- 

 nufacture tales they are in constant de- 

 mand. Her poetry, in the serious way, 

 wants strength and melody ; and in the hu- 

 morous, the most fatal of wants, ease and 

 point ; while her prose essays ramble too 

 much, and are a little too much recherche 

 in the pursuit of quips and puns. She shall 

 speak for herself. 



THE TROCHILOS AND TflK 

 CROCODILE. 



Blame not my zeal, altho' ye call 



Its object " cruel, false, and vain ;" 

 Some sympathy awaits us all, 

 , E'en Nero's death gave one heart pain. 

 Nay, I am not so mere a ninny 



But I can prop mine own cause thus, 

 Can cite the Stagyrite, and Pliny, 



Or bid you hear Herodotus !f 

 They prove that Heaven plants instincts pnr 



And merciful, for some wise end ; 

 One bird Nile's monster can endure. 



The Crocodile hath still a friend. 

 The little Plover yet doth dare 



E'en in his throat to assert her right, 

 Spite of his teeth, which kindly spare 



The servant, they'd scarce find one bite. 

 She enters, to destroy his foes, 



To pearly peril joyous flies, 

 How strange, that creatures great as those 



Should e'er be saved by atomies I 

 " Seeking the bubble reputation 



E'en in the" Crocodile's " mouth," to! 

 How can he keep from mastication ? 



Perhaps he don't like Poultry tho'. 

 Did some one of his favourite prey 



Venture, tho' ne'er so kindly bold, it 

 Might find it hard to get away 



Once in his jaw d'ye think he'd hold\i t 

 His watering mouth would pour persuasions 



To treat it with a little bite. 

 Then, having tears for all occasions, 



He could weep back his appetite ; 

 Sigh o'er the life he had destroyed, 



Then lick his lips, and wipe his eyes, 

 Rememb'ring what he had enjoy'd, 



And ready for another prize! 



* For this information I am indebted to Lord 

 Byron. 



f These hard names I found in the Bath and 

 Cheltenham Gazette. I have not the honour of 

 any further acquaintance with the gentlemen I 

 quote ; but knowing nothing of Natural History 

 I take their words. Tney assert that the Tro- 

 chilos, a kind of Plover, acts as tooth-pick to the 

 Crocodile, devouring the troublesome insects, 

 who, when his mouth looks a-jar, fancy that they 

 shall tind sweets within it. 



