258: 
riety they could possibly bestow, by again and again 
dragging them and their worthless authors from that 
obscurity and neglect, into which they had otherwise 
speedily fallen, before the public; The Royal Min- 
stvel, anepic, founded on one of the most sublime 
and interesting portions of Sacred History, has been 
scornfully passed by, as totally unworthy to find a 
place in their luminous pages. The Edinburgh, the 
Quarterly, the Monthly, the British, nay the whole 
circle of Reviews and host of Magazines,—with the 
exception, and that only as far as regards my Jast 
poem, of some few of the minor periodicals,—have 
shut me entirely from their pages; and although 
warmly solicited by many respectable friends from 
various quarters, never condescending [ed] to notice 
any of the productions that have, alas! for me, un- 
timely fallen from my pen.” 
Shocking partiality! And, yet, let us tell 
the neglected author, that, but for the ur- 
gency of this appeal, and one stroke of 
good sense in the passage we have quoted, 
on the mock-morality of those who give 
publicity to profligate publications, by quo- 
tation and canting censure,* we might, very 
probably, in pure kindness, have been just as 
partial as our brethren, and have suffered 
Scenes in Palestine to sink as quietly into 
oblivion as Zhe Royal Alinstrel seems to 
have done: for if “ scriptural. subjects’’ 
can yield us no better poetry than the vo- 
lume before us, no wonder that “ the en- 
lightened world” should ‘‘ be weary’’ of 
them. If we may be pardoned for play- 
ing upon the author’s name, we would 
not give a penny a score for these Pennie 
poems. Let us take a specimen, the very 
first passage in the book. 
«©The sun looks out betwixt the golden clouds 
that curtain his pavilion, on the top of yon proud 
mountain.” 
Would any mortal ear, without assist- 
ance from the printer’s finger-counting 
skill in the division of the lines, discover 
that this was meant for verse? This is 
from Cain. We openthe book hap-hazard 
at another place. Let us see what fortune 
gives us here. O!—’tis “‘ Absalom.” We 
take the first speech again : 
. © My father thinks, good easy man, that I came 
here only to perform an act of pure devotion. But 
it was not for that—” 
* The pretended censors themselves cannot but 
be aware that these condemning quotations—these 
proffered nibblings at the forbidden fruit—these co- 
quettings with the blandishments they affect to re- 
pel, increase the circulation of their own moral pages, 
which are bought with avidity for the flavour they 
furnish of what they tell us we ought not to taste. 
Nor. is the operation less favourable to the works 
condemned. A circumstance, illustrative of this, 
was communicated to us, some time ago, by the 
publisher of a certain literary and political periodical. 
A work of peculiarly immoral tendency had been 
most furiously assailed in the paper alluded to, and 
the censure supported by ample quotations of the 
most objectionable passages. The censorial paper 
had, in consequence, an extended sale; and, a few 
days after, the author of ‘the censured publication 
waited personally on the editor, thanked him for his 
very handsome puff, and left advertisements (well 
paid for of course) for insertion in the future numbers 
ef his journal. : 
Monthly Review of Literature, 
By 
The reader, perhaps, has perceived, from 
this second quotation, that the author is as 
original in his language as he is harmo- 
nious; and we may venture to pronounce, 
that he is quite as brilliant in his imagina- 
tive faculty.. And yet Mr. Pennie thinks, 
that, neglected as he has hitherto been, he 
has “greater reason than Milton to ex- 
claim, I am fallen on evil times!” Tndeed, 
and indeed, Mr. Pennie, you are no Mil- 
ton; nor, in the regions of Parnassus, if 
such an office were requisite, would you be 
permitted to be his torch-bearer.. Be very 
grateful to the reviewing fraternity, and 
hold it as a sufficient reward for your boasted 
virtue of “ never having offended against 
church or state,’ that they have hitherto 
suffered you to remain unnoticed. There 
are millions of “ good easy men,” we trust, 
in this loyal nation, who can plead the 
same negation in their favour: but the 
Miltoniec wreath would not furnish a leaf 
a-piece for all of them. Nor can we afford 
another line for you, though you should 
write as many dramas as Lopez de Vega, and 
a score of sacred epics into the bargain. 
, Sayings and Doings considered ; with On- 
Dits, Family Memoirs, &c. &c. Svo. Pamph. 
—lIf the novelist “wove” no better in his 
“workshop ”’ than the rhymester in /zs, he 
would hardly be worth the paper and print 
employed in lampooning him. Nor are the 
“ On-Dits”’ much better than the satire. 
The ode, or lyric rhapsody, or whatever 
the author may choose to call it, “ To 
Mina,” thus begins : 
“* Mina! for thy heart and arm 
To friendship and to valour dear!— 
Why sleeps Poesy’s wild charm 
Amid her Biscay’s forest drear ; 
Nor strikes the lyre, 
The patriot fire, 
Kindling the wrapt chords along ?” 
Poesy’s wild charm sleeping for a heart 
and arm! and patriot fire kindling along 
wrapt chords! Really, in our estimation, 
sleeping or waking, Poesy seems to have 
little to do with this weaver of rhymes : 
—we should call them, unintelligible pros- 
ings. 
Peak Scenery ; or, the Derbyshire Tourist. 
E. Ruopgs, 8vo. — Who has ever 
visited Derbyshire, and does not dwell upon 
the inspiring recollections of the sublime 
and beautiful scenery of nature! For our- 
selves, they have many a time and oft 
afforded food, both for our waking and our 
sleeping dreams; and we retrace every 
hill and valley, river, rill and dingle, in our 
mind, with renewed delight. What, then, 
must be our pleasure in travelling through 
these scenes, in imagination, with a poet and 
a.painter! both of which Mr. Rhodes in- 
trinsically is—or he could not so distinctly 
pourtray landscapes, that become, in his de- 
scription, present to the eye, while feelings 
of admiration and delight impress them still 
more deeply. Nor is it the reader only 
who has been in Derbyshire who will 
