72 



Monilily Review of Literature, 



[Jan. 



Christ:" that entitled " Joy in heaven on 

 the repentance of a sinner," is equally 

 good. Much thought is displayed in the 

 part which treats of " the causes of hu- 

 man misery." 



Jn part the second, the sermons on the 

 Beatitudes stiiiid high in the middle style 

 of composition, heing easy to be under- 

 stood, and expressed in well collocated and 

 pure language. This latter remark will ap- 

 ply to every jjart of these volumes, ex- 

 cepting tlie poetry, which we think not in 

 good taste. We will quote one passage on 

 " Mercy," as an example of the nature oi 

 the " Applications," as well as of the 

 writer's style, and general tone of feeling. 



" And now, my Brethren, let me observe: if the 

 Gospel lays us uiitler so many and strong obligations 

 to mercy, where shall the unfeeling, unkind, and 

 cruel appear ? If compassion, mercy, forgiveness 

 of injuries, a kind and beneficent conduct towards 

 all, be necessary to a well-grounded hope of God's 

 favour, what must become of those who are insensi- 

 ble of the calamities of others, unmoved by their 

 cries, and inexorable to their entreaties ? Wliat must 

 become of the spiteful and malicious, of the inju- 

 rious opjiressor, who sees the anguish of his brother's 

 soul when he beseeches him, but wiU not hear? 

 What must be the end of the bloody persecutor ? — 

 Let us, then, as the " elect," of God, as his " pecu- 

 liar people," put on " bowels of mercy." 



Odes and Addresses 1o Great People. — 

 This is evidently the effusion of a man 

 ~ overflowing with whimmcry, punnery, and 

 waggery, and who, not knowing what to do 

 witii it, has made a spicket of liis pen, and 

 let it run out into a duodecimo volume. 



The civilized man differs from the savage 

 in the inmibei and variety of liis amuse- 

 ments, and in the regular distribution of 

 his time. In this civilized country, after 

 the sportsman lias bagged his braces, or 

 killed his fox, or perchance if he has cut 

 liis finger at his lathe, or made his hand 

 shake by deej) potations of claret, so as 

 to make his stroke at billiards uncertain, 

 he must have something to do, and we 

 think that he cannot do better than excite 

 merriment and good humour in his heart, 

 instead of the dire effects of ennui, by 

 reading such light and humorous produc- 

 tions as constitute the class to which these 

 Odes and Addresses belong — we mean Re- 

 jected Addresses, Horace in London, Bep- 

 po, &c. &c. We could not class this 

 little volume with the former, or the latter, 

 of the above-mentioned books, although it 

 is full of -H'it, and observation, and know- 

 ledge of things about to\vri and of things 

 in general. Yet we are not sure that we 

 have not laughed more while reading it, 

 than we did over the adniii-able parodies of 

 the Smiths, or the imp-like drollei-y of 

 Beppo. We must not say that it leaves 

 the lasting impression of the former, or con- 

 veys to us a conviction of the power possess- 

 ed by the writer of the latter. This wanton 

 truant against all legitimate measure is ca- 

 llable of greater things, and we hope soon 

 to be made to smile at his effusions. 



The following on Mr. Elliston is, among 

 the best portions in tlie volinne. 

 Oh ! Great Lessee ! Great Manager ! Great Man ! 

 Oh, Lord High Elliston ! Immortal Pan 

 Of all the pipes that play in Drury Lane ! 

 Macready's master ! Westminster's high Dane t 

 (As Galway Martin, in the House's walls, 

 Hamlet and Doctor Ireland justly calls 1) 

 Friend to the sweet and ever-smiling Spring ! 

 Magician of the lamp and prompter's ring ! 

 Drury's Aladdin ! Whipper-in of Actors ! 

 Kicker of rebel-preface-malefactors ! 

 Glass-blowers' corrector ! King of the cheque- 

 taker ! 

 At once Great Leamington and Winston-maker ! 

 Dramatic bolter of plain Bunns and Cakes ! 

 In silken huse the most reformed of Rakes ! 

 Oil, Lord High Elliston ! lend mean ear ! 

 (Poole is away, and Williams shall keep clear) 

 While I, in little slips of prose, not verse. 

 Thy splendid course, as pattern-work, rehearse I 



The Ode to the Great Unknown is 

 wiitten with much the same spirit as the 

 author of the Sketch Book appears to have 

 felt, when in a state of febrile excitement 

 to ascertain who the " stout gentleman 

 could be." 



" Thou Great Unknown ! 

 I do not mean Eternity, nor Death, 



That vast incog ! 

 For I suppose thou hast a living breath, 

 Howbeit we know not from whose lungs-'tis blown, 



Thou nran of fog ! 

 Parent of many children— child of none ! 



Nobody's son ! 

 Nobody's daughter— but a parent still ! 

 Still but an ostrich parent of a batch 

 Of o({>han eggs, — left to the world to hatch. 



Superlative Nil ! 

 A vox and nothing more, — ^yet not Vauxhall ; 

 A head in papers, yet without a curl ! 



Not the Invisible Girl ! 

 No hand — but a hand-writing on a wall— 



A poinilar nonenity. 

 Still called the same, —without identity ; 



A lark, heard out of sight, — 

 A nothing shin'd upon,— invisibly bright, 



' Dark with excess of light !' 

 Constable's literary John-a-nokes— 

 Tin: real Scottish wizard— and not witch. 



Nobody — in a niche ; 



Every one's hoax ! 



May be Sir Walter Scott— 

 Perhaps not ! 

 Why dost thou so conceal and puzzle curious folks ? 

 Thou, — whom the second-sighted never saw. 

 The Master Fiction of fictitious history ! 



Chief Nong tong paw ! 

 No mister in the world— and yet all mystery ! 

 The " tricksy spirit" of a Scotch Cock Lane — 

 A novel Junius puzzling the world's brain — 

 A man of Magic— yet no talisman ! 

 A man of clair obscure — not he o' the moon ! 



A star — at noon. 

 A non descriptus in a caravan, 

 A private — of no corps— a northern light 

 In a dark lantern,— Bogie in a crape— 



A figure— but no shape ; 



A vizor— and no knight ; 

 The real abstract hero of the age ; 

 The staple Stranger of the stage ; 

 A Some One made in every man's presumption, 

 Frankenstein's monster— but instinct with gimip- 

 tion : 



