. 
Phe coursé of this disdstréus war, he 
to the rank_of general. Meee a 
our years after parental authority had 
tlissolved my engavements to Colonel 
'T——, we again accidentally met in 
London, ‘Imagine my feelings. when he 
declared his unceasing affection, and told 
me thac he had returned to England, 
with ‘the hope that an acquisition to his 
fertune would induce my father to con- 
sent to our union! Conceive the shame 
of which I became susceptible, on finding 
myself so much surpassed in constancy ! 
‘Never had Colonel T—— said, either 
with his lip“or pen, that he could. not 
ecome indifferent tome. Not one of 
his letters had ever breathed a tenth part 
of the ents ral to me of 
which your's is so Full. 
Yer ah! how hamiliating was my con- 
Seiousness! I could not, on the instant, 
explain my sentiments; but 1 wrote to 
him the next confessing the change 
la my heart cting himself; but I 
forget whether pride did, or did not, 
withhold the circumstance which had 
produced it, and the acknowledgment 
that I had been, in my turn forsaken. 
\ Here is a'world of egotism—into which 
the retrospections of your letter bas be- 
trayed me. So intimately relating to 
him you love; perhaps it may not prove 
Wearying. © re 
REVIEW. 
~ You say I e'doubtless seen all the 
Feviews that tion my Langollen Vale 
publication. No, indeed, by no means 
all; nor even any by voluntary inquiry. 
IT never hunt’ out reviews of my own 
writings, nor -of my favourite composi- 
tions from other pens. For mine, I de- 
Sire not to ‘trouble myself about what is 
just as likely to be an abuse as praise, 
even if I'wrote as well as Gray. Just 
aiid well-discriminating criticism on poe+ 
‘try, is even more rare than original and 
beautiful poetic writing. Fad} 
“T know how muth the decision of res 
viewers affects the sale of a composition ; 
‘but since authors, who are above’ at- 
‘tempting to bribe, or in any degree in- 
fluence them, cannot help themselves, 
there is no good in ruminating, or ever 
Once looking at the injustice or stupidity 
‘of spiteful or incompetent critics. J 
have, therefore, constantly desired my 
ends not to obtrude any sueli upon 
my attention. wr, ; 
‘If my poems are of that common order 
which have, as Falstaff says, a natural 
tlacrity in’ sinking, the praise of hirefing 
Bnd nameless critics would not keep 
* Montusy Mag, No. 216. 
% 4 re LAL ee 
Letters of Arnina Seward: 
653 
them above the gulf of oblivion. If, on 
the contrary, they possess the’ buoyant 
property of true poetry, their fame will 
be established in after years, when no 
one will ask, What said the reviewers ? 
CALEB. WILLIAMS. 
Have you read Caleb Williams? That 
singular production, a novel without 
love, or intrigue, on the part of the three 
principal male characters, and without 
ruined castles, and haunted galleries x 
yet, where expectation is excited to 
breathless ardour, and‘where the terrible 
Graces extend their petrifying wands. | 
The style of this extraordinary work i¢ 
manly; compressed, animated, and ima 
pressive, in a degree which vies with that 
of the best writers of this period, im 
which prose-excellence has attained its 
ne-plussulira. L am sorry to observe 
that the tendency of this work is not 
good. We findtitan indirect libel upom 
the laws and coytstitution of Great Brie 
tain. 
LEONORA. “a 
And have you read any of the transs 
lations of a short German poem, calledy 
William and Leonora? I hear there 
are several, but that the ene which was 
shewn to me is the best, and it is printed 
entire in’ the Monthly Magazine for 
March last. It is the wildest and oddest ~ 
of all terrible things, and has made con 
siderable noise amongst our fely poetic 
readers. The short, abrupt measure of 
the translation before mentioned, suits 
thé rapidity of a midnight journey of a 
thousand miles. The German poet hag 
given a great accession of sublimity, in 
spite of the vulgarness of cant phrases, 
used for the purpose of pieturesque 
sound. The palesteed, on which the lover 
mounts with’ his mistress; the flyin 
backward, to right and left of woddsy 
rocks, mountains, plains, and towns, by 
the sneed of the travel, and overhead the 
scudding back of the moon and stars; 
the creeping train of the swarthy fune- 
ral, chanting the death-psalm, like toads 
crogking from the dark and lovely moors; 
the transformation of the knight to a 
bony and eycless skeleton; the vanishing 
of the death-horse, breathing charnel- 
fires, then thinning to smoke, and palingy 
and bleaching away tonothing; are grand 
uddivions to the terrific graces of the 
ancient song 
. BUXTON. , . 
The enchanting Mv, Erskine honoured 
me with frequent attentions in the balls 
rooms, and with frequent visits at my 
lodgings, where he often mgt the excel. 
42 lent 
