1824.] Literary and Cr 



senlutions are too gross eitlier to delude 

 or delight. The Edda, of tlie Vandals, is 

 no safer in his hands than the Biblion of 

 the Hebrews, or the Tcslamenlum of tlie 

 Christians. Ecclesiastical liisiory, it 

 would seem, is by no means the most eli- 

 gible province fur the exercise of poetical 

 talents; at least, not for the talents of a 

 poet laureate. No — the sacred basis ot 

 religious verity lejects the meretricious 

 superstructures of fancy, and scorns to 

 become the supporter of fallacious eleva- 

 tions. Even the fairest flowers of imagi- 

 nation are unacceptable with the Spirit of 

 Truth ; need we then say, that fiction with- 

 out beauty is to truth as odious as unanalo- 

 gous? Yet, undoubtedly, this uninviting 

 quality forms one of the prominent features 

 of Mr. Southey's publication ; a publica- 

 tion, the general style of which announces 

 little of tasteful feeling, while its subject 

 matter evinces still less respect for fair 

 and honest delineation; a publication that 

 bespeaks the total absence of ambition for 

 the character of originality or ingenuity, 

 and that betrays an unbounded hankering 

 after the profits of ephemeral and'market- 

 able literature. It may be that Mr. 

 •Soutliey, while writing for one advantage, 

 may have had a side-view to another; to 

 that of serving his reputation as a reli- 

 gionist: and the world is not altogether so 

 wise, but that, with some readers, he may 

 have succeeded. He may, perhaps, even 

 hope to be deemed a pillar of the church, 

 and to please the bishops; but, besides 

 that their lordships understand these 

 things, the church lacks no such aid. 



Memoirs of Cujitain Rock, the celebrated 

 Irish Chieftain ; written by Himself. 

 These memoirs of the gallant captain, 

 whose birth, parentage, sentiments, ex- 

 ploits, &c. they profess to record, are 

 written with the laudable View of cjiposing 

 the treatment uniformly experienced by 

 the Irish nation at the hands of her ancient 

 friend and protectress, the Euglish govern- 

 ment. Mr. Thomas Moore, as the accre- 

 dited author of this work, enjoys, in our 

 opinion, no trivial honour. The por- 

 traiture it presents of the long-contituied 

 and unabated sutFerings of the sister king- 

 dom, is too faithful not to strike the mo^t 

 careless observer, and too- terrific not to 

 fill with horror the least susceptible mind. 

 The barbarous policy acted upon by the 

 couueellors of Elizabeth, has, we lament to 

 «ay, been apparently adoi)ted by the 

 nimistry of most of her successors. A 

 wilt'id inattention to, or rather obstruction 

 of, the moral and political illumination of 

 Ireland, lest her improved knowledge and 

 virtue should become the foundations of 

 Iter future wealth, consequence, and 

 power, has loo constantly marked tlio 

 conduct of the Hrilisli court towards its 

 unfortunate protege; and, what she was 

 ceututics ago in the great aud essential 



itical Proemiunti 



347 



national points of civility and informaiion, 

 she may almost be said to be at preseiil. 

 Irish discontent has been regulaily ex- 

 cited by Irish distress, and Irish insurrec- 

 tion been as regularly encouraged by Eng- 

 lish tardiness in its suppression, and the ame- 

 lioration of the woeful condition of things 

 out of which that discontent arose. The 

 complaints of our Hibernian fellow-eilizens 

 have been echoed by every I'eeiiug Eug- 

 lishman, and no British writer has alluded 

 to their misery and degradation without 

 dropping a tear of pity on his own just, 

 though gloomy, picture of tlieir fate. The 

 tythes, the middle men, the union, every 

 })rinciple and every measure of the Eng- 

 lish government, have been in peifect 

 accordance with the design to keep down 

 the moral strength of a warm-hearted, 

 brave, and simple, people; a thousand 

 stumbling-blocks have been thrown in the 

 path of their advancement to intelligence, 

 civilization, and rational comfort; and, the 

 natural fruits of their ignorance and bar- 

 barism have been, repeated rebellions and 

 innumerable murders. In the Memoirs of 

 Captain Rock, we hear the groans of Irish 

 peasants crushed to the earth by parsons 

 and landlords, and see Irish insurrection- 

 ists bleeding to death under the lash of 

 English revenge. His occasional sparks of 

 wit and strokes of humour may provoke a 

 transient smile ; but the general tenor of 

 the captain's tale is too afflicting, and too 

 true, not to weigh heaviiy on the heart of 

 the reflecting reader, and impress it with 

 the profoundest sense of the wrongs of an 

 unmercifully injured people. 



Leaves from a Journal of Sketches of Ram- 

 hies in North Britain and Ireland, by 

 Andrew Bigelow, of Medford, Massa- 

 chusetts, are for the most part a reprint 

 of papers sent by the author to America, 

 and extensively circulated by means of the 

 periodical journals of the United States. 

 They are the production of a very rcsjiect- 

 able man, of good sense and shrewd ob- 

 servation, who, mixed in good society, 

 employed advantageously the opportuni- 

 ties afibrded him. Every where, there- 

 fore, these pages abound in judicious 

 remarks and useful knowledge, but are in 

 no place remarkably striking. The feel- 

 ing with which the author visits the scenes 

 of antiquity, or pictinesqiie beauty, of 

 places rendered illustrious by the pen of 

 Sir Walter Scott, are the same with which 

 our countrymen visit the clas^ic ground of 

 Rome and Greece. These writings indi- 

 cate the powerful hold which Great Bri- 

 tain, by her literature, still retains over the 

 hearts of the people of the United States; 

 and, we heaitily coincide with tlie author 

 in our wishes, that all who speak the Eng- 

 lish tongue may be as onu funiily, and 

 have no other rivalry, but that of muinal 

 good will. The author draws several 

 coDiparisons between the people of Scot- 



laod 



