•1'823,] News from Parnassus, No. XXll. 



nefit of the Iiisolvciit Debtors' Act, 

 and, ultimately, he gets relieved from 

 all his debts ; and the poor plaintiff is 

 not only legally defrauded (for so it 

 is,) of liis just demand, but must sub- 

 mit to bear the burden of a heavy 

 Jawyer's bill. JJut, even supposing 

 •that all these eonsequences do not 

 happen, still the delay alone is an into- 

 lerable grievanee, and the law unequi- 

 table wliieh countenances it. 



It is not to be wondered at, that, 

 from these and similar odious mal- 

 practices, so much contem])t and 

 hatred is heaped upon the laws in 

 general of this kingdom, and so little 

 respect shewn to those persons upon 

 whom it devolves to administer and 

 enforce them. It is owing to the tur- 

 pitude of most of our statutes regu- 

 lating legal practice, and the conni- 

 vance of the law at the gross artifice 

 and chicanery which block up and 

 taint the avenues to justice, and stamp 

 upon the face of almost all legal pro- 

 ceedings the indelible and disgusting 

 marks of dishonest procrastination 

 And forensic knavery, that courts are 

 looked upon M'ith detestation and 

 horror; and judges are distrusted and 

 despised, and hated, by the majority of 

 the people. 



Really, Mr. Editor, it would be one 

 important step towards that reform 

 which is now so universally desired, 

 il" the present special jury practice 

 were abolished; and I cannot at this 

 moment conceive any other remedial 

 plan, that would be at once so prac- 

 ticable and so advantageous, as the 

 repeal of the statute by which special 

 juries were brought into general use, 

 and, consequently, the revival of the 

 ancient and wholesome custom of 

 allowing special juries only upon mo- 

 tion and afHdavit. It is impossible 

 not to perceive that, upon the adoption 

 of surh a measure, a great decrease 

 ^f litigation would ensue. Our lists 

 i>i causes would not then assume that 

 frightful length which they now do ;* 

 packed juries would never be heard 

 of; dcBpieable guinea-men would not 

 }>e seen lurking about the courts, in 

 search of their ill-begotten profit ; in 

 ^liort, such a conquest over one of the 



35 



• The paper of London causes to he 

 tried at the Conrt of King's Jieiich only, 

 at the sittings after last Michaelmas Term, 

 contiiins upwards of 300 eaiisfs ; 140 of 

 \vhich are remanent:* from the sittings 

 alter Trinity Tcrui. 



greatest corruptions of legal piartice, 

 would prove «n incalculable benefit 

 to the nation ; and therefore, Mr. 

 Editor, I earnestly hope that you will 

 ivot relax those able exertions which 

 you have so often manifested, in ex- 

 posing the defects of the law of 

 special juries; aiid, consequently, 

 shewing tlie necessity of its revision 

 and amendment, — an event which may 

 be greatly facilitated by your perse- 

 vering and laudal)le endeavours to- 

 wards its accomplishment.* 



Cliftan-street ; C. A. 



Jan. 11, 1823. 



For t/te Monthhj Magazine. 

 NEWS FROM PARNASSUS. 



NO. XXII. 



The Luree of the A iigeh, a Poem ; hy 

 Thomas Moore. — Heaven and Earth, 

 a Mystery. 



IT is by a singular coincidence that 

 we arc enabled to take a vii^w, in 

 the same paper, of twoi)oemsfonii(ted 

 on the same subject, by poetsof almost 

 equal celebrity, but of talents of a 

 very different order. It was only very 

 recently that Mr. jMooie discovered 

 that Lord Byron, who is, if not the 

 avowed, at least the undoubted author 

 of " Heaven and Earth," had adopted 

 the same topic, and had composed a 

 mystery or lyrical drama on that pas- 

 sage of Genesis, which states that 

 " the sons of God saw the daughters 

 of men, that they were fair, and they 

 took tl!«m wives of all whicli they 

 chose." Perhaps it would be difficult 

 to select a sirbject more favourable to 

 the display of the peculiar talents of 

 both these eminent poets ; and we 

 have derived no little amusement 

 from tiie contrast of their labours, and 

 the highly characteristic manner in 

 which each has executed his design. 

 An opiuiou on their comparative me- 

 rits will, we think, be easily and deci- 

 dedly formed. Nothing which Lord 

 Byron has yet written surpasses in 

 sublimity, in force, and in pathos, this 

 mystery of " Heaven and Earth," 

 which, when completed, (for the first 

 part only is, as yet, published, and 

 that, in a way wliicli wc <lo not alto- 

 gether like, in the second number of 

 "the Liberal,") will stand amongst 

 the very first of his productions. That, 



* We shall gladly give place to all judi- 

 cious observations on the sidijcci, and to 

 facts and observations of abuses undcf 

 the system.— EuiT-oU. 



