The Philosophy of Cotemporartf Criticitm. [Maj-ch J, 



134 



To fhee my guardian dog I'd give, 

 Could I without tliat guardian live : 



But still I'll take tliy pledge of love. 

 My shepherd's crook I'll give to thee; — 

 O no! my father gave it me— 

 And treasures by a parent giveu, 

 From a feud child should ne'er be riven- 



O no ! my father gave it me. 

 But thou shah have you lambkin fair — 

 Nay ! 'tis my mother's fondest cure ; 

 For every day she joys to co jnt 

 Each suowy lambkiu on the mount I— 



I'll give thee then no lambkin fair. 

 But stay, my shepherd ! will thou be 

 For ever faithful— fond to me ? 

 A sweeter gift I'll then impart. 

 And ihou shall have — a maiden's heart, 



If thou wilt give thy heart to me. 

 • • • • • 



Virtue, though loveliest of nil lovely things, 

 From modesty apart no more is fair; 

 And when ht-r graceful veil aside she fliugs, 

 (Like ether opened tjth' intrusive air) 

 Loses her sweetest charms and stands a 

 cypher there. 



For the Monthlii Mn'^nzine. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF (X)TEM- 



PORARV CRITICISM.— No. XII. 



Etiinburgh RenieiL\ No. 68. 



THIS is in V"'-''''' ^ ^'''T "''* num- 

 ber. Tlien^ is no want of iadustry 

 iu some of the articles, but it is of a 

 species that iudiciites researcli and 

 labour more than intelligence. _We 

 are sorry for it, because its rival, 

 the Quarterly, has been evidently ac- 

 quiring an accession of talent, and 

 we like the general principles upon 

 which it has be;>n conducted, nmcli 

 better than those of tiie other. With- 

 out being less bitter, it basbei:'n f;ir less 

 personal; and though less learned, it 

 has been, in our opinion, commonly 

 much more reasonable. 



It apisears to us, that the Edinburgh 

 mind connected with it is pretty nearly 

 exhausted, and we suspect that the 

 ^^ory first article, on the comedies of 

 Aristophanes, is not the prodisct of " the 

 intellectual city," but a well got up 

 paper from one of the English univer- 

 sities. It is an erudite performance, 

 blearing many traces of patient inves- 

 tigation. 



If the first article was English, the 

 second relative to Ireland, we have no 

 doubt is Irish. It abounds in the old, 

 stale, flat and unprofitable invectives 

 against the system of rule by which that 

 pbr tiou of the empire has been so long 

 misgoverned — that vampire systeui 

 ■wliich has so long drained its vital 



energies. But whatever may be the 

 faults of that execrable system, how 

 many of the afflictions of the Irish 

 people would be lightened, were the 

 gentlemen of tliat neglected country to 

 take more pride in seeing an afiluent 

 tenantry on their estates, than such 

 loads of luxuries on their tables, and 

 were as anxious to see their lands cul- 

 tivated, their hedges trim, and their 

 people well fed, well clothed, and well 

 lodged, as they are to cut capers at 

 town-balls, and figure in Bath and 

 London wi;h their spendthrift trumpery 

 in which they so ostentatiously delight. 

 They are a rattling frank-hearted race, 

 with loud langlis and veiiement pas- 

 sions, but although they have patriot- 

 ism constantly iu their luotiihs, t!i(;y 

 have yet shown hut little of it iu their 

 hearts, iu the only way in which it can 

 be sliown in Ireland, namely, by indi- 

 vidually promot'.ng the enmforls of 

 their j)eo])le. The tiue emancipation 

 of Ireland would be to restrain the pri- 

 vileges of the gentry: — and when we 

 see so many of (liem driving al)out town 

 as if they were flying from the just 

 reproaches of their neglected country- 

 men, we turn with disgust from their 

 inaukish and senseless howls about 

 catholic eniancii)ation. Let us not, 

 however, be misunderstood : with re- 

 spect to thatfjuestion. our minds are as 

 decidedly made up. on (he riirht which 

 they have to be free in their religions 

 opinions, as it is with regard to iheir 

 general folly as laudhirds, :ind the want 

 of just patriotism among them. 



The third article relates to Ce.jitain 

 Kater's exper.ments on the length of 

 the pendulum. It is a veiy sensible 

 and tolerably plain account of an inge- 

 nious and well conducfed series of 

 scientirie obseiwations. One inference 

 of the critic struck us, however, as 

 curious — " Thence," says the reviewer, 

 " we should be hd to suppose, that the 

 earth, instead of being flattened at the 

 poles, is more elevated there than at 

 the equator, ccatrary to the received 

 notions of its figure." 



The fourth paper takes under its 

 protection, a volume of verses by a 

 Quaker, They seem to have no great 

 merit, being wishy-washy sort of me- 

 tres, and to have obtained a place in 

 the Edinburgh Review, only because 

 they ^vere indited by one of the harm- 

 less Society of Friends. 



Thefiftli concerns the transactions 

 of the Horticultural Society of London; 



and 



