CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 435 



This bell, Peter says, was '* stolen by a Welch thief one night, and he 

 was carrying it oti" between two horses ; and the moment they began to 

 trot, wiggle-waggle went the clapper, and waked all the village." And 

 this is positively the only explanation we receive of the important and 

 hitherto unaccounted-for phenomenon of the bells at Ledbury ringing 

 '•without hands," and which was the circumstance that induced St. 

 Cathernie to take up her abode at Ledbury. To this point, in particular, 

 our author ought unquestionably to have paid the greatest attention, as 

 the prosperity of Ledbury undoubtedly hinged upon it, and we suggest 

 three points for his investigation, the results of which we recommend 

 him to insert in a note in the second edition of his "original drama.** 

 1st, when St. Catherine observes, " I have heard the peal rung by no 

 human hand," how she had ascertained this extraordinary fact— 2ndly. 

 as Mabel observes "self-tolled were the beds," it would seem to imply 

 that these Ledbury bells were not in fact rung by any hand at all, but 

 were instinct with life ; and therefore it seems important to ascertain 

 whether the animation ascribed to the bells yet remains, and in what 

 degree it differs from vegetable or animal life. 3rdly, how came bells of 

 this peculiar manufacture to be only placed in the belfry at Ledbury ? 

 When these important points are fully cleared up, we purpose again to 

 examine this " original, historical, and local drama," and quaff ins])ira- 

 tion from the classic waters of the Leddon ! But mercy ! what a name 

 — '* die waters of Leddon" for an immortal river — we greatly fear it is a 

 first cousin to the Lethe, and in imagination we already see St. Catherine, 

 Mabel, the mare and colt, tracks and all, being ferried over the Styx by 

 old Charon to pass from our sight for ever. ()li for one single draught 

 of the Lethe to forget if it were possible, St. Catherine, her tracks, 

 Mabel, the bells, Ledbury, and this incomparable drama, relating all 

 their acts and deeds. But we fear the spirit of investigation has been 

 so roused, that we shall be left in a similar situation to the Arabian, 

 enchanter, who had raised a spirit which he was unable to lay. So St. 

 Catherine, having been once roused from her repose, will, we fear, track 

 our footsteps for many a long year. 



Graphic Illustrations of the Life and Times of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. 

 Part L Murray, Albemarle-street, 1835. 



These graphic illustrations will make an admirable companion to 

 the new variorum edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson. Each part, 

 it is announced, will contain at least live engravings; and if these 

 engravings should all be of the style and character which distinguish 

 the first number, just published, a fact which the high respectability 

 of the publisher insures, nothing more perfect can be wished for. 

 There are in this part a view of Lichfield, the birth-place of Johnson, 

 drawn by Stanfield, and exquisitely engraved by Finden ; a portrait of 

 Michael Johnson, of Lichfield, the father of the lexicographer, also 

 engraved by Finden, from a drawing in the possession of Mr. Murray ; 

 a portrait of Edward Cave, the founder of the Gentleman's Magazine, 

 drawn by Kyte, 1740, and engraved by Scriven ; a view of St. John's 

 Gate, Clerkenwell, the residence of Cave, with a fac-simile of his 

 hand-writing; a fac-simile of a letter from Gilbert Walraesley to 

 J. Cobon, Esq. F.ll.S. ; and a fac-simile extract of a letter from Dj» 

 Johnson to Edward Cave, in 1738. 



Explanatory notes and interesting anecdotes, copies of letters, and 

 other elucidatory and interesting particulars accompany the plates, 

 which are of two sizes — quarto, for the convenience of collectors, 



July, 1835. — VOL. ii. no. xii. 3 l 



