300 
as much distinguished for the slowness of 
their deliberations as of their locomotion. 
Mortified at this contemptuous treatment, 
he never rests a moment till he discovers 
some mode of proving his capability of more 
usefulness ; and at length, by dint of impor- 
tunity, he is employed in surveying the 
globe—which it was calculated he might ac- 
complish in a couple of months, though two 
years or more would be required by one of 
themselves. In this tour he meets with all 
sorts of varieties—some nations all oaks— 
some all cypresses—some with one ocular 
power, some with two, and others more— 
some, as to their creeds, tolerant, and some 
intolerant—some devotees, others mere mo- 
ralists—in some the young had the privi- 
leges of age, and the old exhibited the fol- 
lies of youth—in some the females ruled, 
and kept the gentlemen in subjection— 
some were all philosophers, and of course 
every thing was in sixes-and-sevens—some 
all reasoners and wiseacres, and the great 
lack of the nation was folly—some saw clearly 
at immense distances, and nothing under 
their noses—&c. Ke. 
Returning, and communicating the results 
of his survey, his merits are still overlooked ; 
but, nothing daunted, and still sighing for 
distinction, he proposes to the nation some 
new law—which not being approved, by the 
custom of the country, on such occasions, 
he is ordered for execution ; but the punish- 
ment is finally commuted for banishment 
by the post-birds. These are migratory birds, 
returning periodically from nobody knows 
where. To one of these, pursuant to sen- 
tence, he is attached, and borne along with 
perfect ease and safety to another planet, 
where new races are presented to his wonder- 
ing eyes—chiefly quadrupeds and birds— 
and eventually he drops on a nation in a 
state of semi-barbarism, which, by his Eu- 
ropean superiorities, he drills into order, 
and, by the introduction of gunpowder, en- 
ables them to overcome their enemies—par- 
ticularly a neighbouring people of tigers. 
Grateful for these benefits, they elect him 
king ; but seared, according to the common 
course of things, with the common vice of 
grasping, he makes war on all sides, and 
adds kingdom to kingdom — elephants — 
monkeys—cats, &c.—thus founding the Fifth 
monarchy—till at last his cruelty and des- 
potism, fostered as usual by success, rouses 
up numerous enemies ; and, in a sudden 
explosion of the public feeling, he flies for 
his life, and taking shelter in a hole, and 
pursuing it to its exit, he unexpectedly dis- 
covers a passage to the upper world, where 
he arrives in safety, stript of his subterranean 
crown. 
No mortal can read the book. The whole 
is a sheer piece of extravagance, where the 
object originally contemplated is fairly lost 
sight of in the extreme absurdity of the con- 
trivance. The source of the failure lies in 
the want of the minutie. Every thing is too 
vague and general. The author has nothing 
Monthly Review of Literature, 
[Serr. 
approaching the wit or the particularity of 
Swift. Instead of aiming at endless variety; 
he should have confined himself, as Swift 
did, to developing two or three—and at least 
satirizing intelligibly. 
The Dialect of Craven, by a Native. 
2 vols. ; 1828.—The deanery of Craven is 
a kind of insulated district in the rocky re- 
gions of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 
extending to the distance of thirty miles 
each way, and embracing twenty-five pa; 
rishes, with about 60,000 inhabitants. The 
pronunciation of the natives is, in some re- 
spects, quite peculiar; and words and 
phrases abound which are thought to be used 
in no other spot on the globe. The mark- 
ing peculiarity of the pronunciation is the 
breadth of it, making monosyllables dis- 
syllables—co-al, fo-al, no-a, so-a, bre-ad, 
le-ad, &c. 3 butits native purity is, it seems, 
fast corrupting. The southern boundaries 
partake of the dialect of Leeds, Bradford, 
and Halifax; and to the eastward, house, 
and mouse, and cow, is hoose, and moose, 
and coo, exactly as in the North and East 
Ridings. Its vernacular beauty is to be 
found solely in the interior of the district 
—perhaps from Skipton to Strother; and 
even there it is evaporating. The author, 
from his own knowledge and experience, 
testifies that many words and expressions, 
which were in constant use thirty or forty 
years ago, are either lost or imperfectly un- 
derstood by the rising generation. 
The language of Craven, says he, with 
becoming pride, is not the contemptible 
slang and patois which the refined inha- 
bitants of the southern parts of the kingdom 
are apt to account it, “ but the language of 
crowned heads, of the court, and of the most 
eminent historians, divines, and poets of 
former ages.’’ He has his own theory as to 
its genealogy, and, upon the whole, the 
soundest we have seen among philologers— 
corresponding best at least with admitted 
historical facts. The language of Craven is 
that of the Saxons—if not altogether in its 
original state, certainly in its highest exist- 
ing purity. The Saxons drove the English 
to the frontiers—to Wales—to the lowlands 
of Scotland ; the English, in like manner, 
drove the Scotch to the hills, and the Saxons 
pursued the English even there. The con- 
querors imposed their laws and language 
(the one is not, however, we dare say, so 
easily accomplished as the other), and the 
language of England and the lowlands of 
Scotland became thus essentially one—the 
effect was only not so complete in Scotland, 
as in the northern counties of England. 
The language of the hills continued distinct 
—call it Gaelic—Irish—British—it was the 
same, both there and in Wales, and in 
Cornwall, and in Ireland. 
In spite of all Dr. Jamieson’s learning 
and authority, the lowland Scotch and the 
English of our northern counties is, in the 
author’s opinion, the same—Saxon. Gawin 
Douglas’s translation of Virgil establishes 
