I 



322 News from Parnassus , No. XXI II. 



proposes, that elementary helps, In the 

 study of scicntiOe subjects, may be 

 derived from the periodical and social 

 meetings of its members; and, to which 

 means for advancing in Ivnowledge, the 

 editors of the journal above mentioned 

 seem desirous of adding familiar sys- 

 tematic lectures, addressed to classes 

 of the members of the proposed 

 society. 



Such a society as last hinted at, and 

 several other such, with properly 

 limited views, would, I think, succeed, 

 and do much good, if freely and econo- 

 mically constituted ; and if it were 

 made a fundamental rule of their in- 

 stitution, to publish no Transactions ; 

 in other words, that they would abstain 

 from the mischievous vanity of pre- 

 tending, as a body, to instruct the 

 learned public ; from which latter 

 source, principally, arises the burthen- 

 some expense, and the interested ca- 

 bals and jobs w hich exist, in almost 

 every scientific society, as to their 

 publications : which expenses and 

 cabals, limit the number of their mem- 

 bers, and in a greater degree exclude 

 talent and practical knowledge from 

 amongst their ranks. 



What limited societies might best 

 do, after hearing and profiting, for a 

 stated time, from the perusal of the 

 manuscript labours of their members, 

 or other contributors, would be, to en- 

 courage and recommend the insertion 

 of these manuscripts, in some of the 

 public monthly or quarterly journals; 

 all of which journals, the society would 

 of course provide for tiie room of its 

 meeting. And in cases where maps 

 or illustrative plates, or too great 

 length of detail, unfitted any presented 

 memoir for gratuitous publication, as 

 above, I beg to suggest, that the mem- 

 bers of the society should stand en- 

 gaged,' zealously to bestir themselves 

 individually, in promoting subscrip- 

 tions, for the separate publication by 

 the authors, of such their presented 

 memoirs ; and, in tlie meau lime, the 

 society should watch, and rigorously 

 punish by exposure and exclusion, any 

 members who might be found unjustly 

 to avail himself of, or appropriate as 

 his literary jiroperty, any important 

 labour or discovery, contained in me- 

 moirs thus confidently sidmiitted or 

 presented to the society. I would 

 gladly see the sentiments of your inge- 

 nious correspondents on the above 

 subjects. A. B. L. 



London, March 29, 1823. 



[May I, 



For the Monthlii Maa^atim. 

 NEWS FROM PARNASSUS. 



NO. XXIIl. 



The Aye of Brovze, or Carmen Seculare, 

 ct Annus haucl mirabilis. 

 T is under this title that the indefa- 

 tigable muse of Lord Byron has, 

 .since the publication of our last Num- 

 ber, presented us with a powerful and 

 highly-interesting political satire. His 

 lordship's genius is as eminently proli- 

 fic as it is singularly versatile ; and his 

 effusions furnish an almost uninter- 

 rupted subject-matter for rritieism : 

 for the feelings excited by one of them 

 have hardly time to subside, before 

 another appears, and makes an appeal 

 to oar judgment. Fortunately, too, 

 he seems, with a very few exceptions, 

 to have been exempted from the dan- 

 ger, too frequently incurred by writers 

 w hose productions are remarkable for 

 rapidity of succession, of losing the 

 reputation which their early attempts 

 have procured them ; and we hail the 

 poem before us as an additional evi- 

 tlenec, that no reasonahle apprehen- 

 sions need be entertained for the illus- 

 trious author of C'hilde Harold, "ne 

 pecctt ad cxtremuin ridendus." 



The " Age of Bronze," as the title- 

 page indeed leads us to infer, is a sati- 

 rical notice of the principal characters 

 and events that at present attract 

 attention in the political horizon ; and 

 the author has certainly made the 

 piece, to which he has given this title, 

 the vehicle of some of (he most mas- 

 terly strokes of keen sarcasm that have 

 ever proceeded even from his pen. 

 Little, indeed, can be charged upon 

 him in the way of sins of omission ; 

 for he has most impartially touched 

 upon all as he proceeds, from tlie Holy 

 Alliance and the Duke of Wellington 

 upwards, to Sir William Curtis and 

 his tartans downwards. Tiie motto of 

 the poem, — " Imjtar Congressns Achil- 

 li," — is happily eiiosen to prepare us 

 for the opening of the poem, no incon- 

 siderable portion of which is devoted 

 to a review of the actions, and an 

 analysis of the character, of Napoleon, 

 with retleetions on the mclanelioly and 

 unworthy destiny to which that extra- 

 ordinary man was ultimately reserved. 

 These passages are conceived and 

 executcil in Lord JJyron's very best 

 manner; and we regret that our ex- 

 tracts from them must necessarily be 

 extremely limited. After speaking of 

 Alexander, he proceeds to enquire — 



But when' is lie, the modeni, iiiiglilier f^i-. 

 Who, bora no kins, made monaicUs diavr his car? 



Ves, 



