1831.] Monlhhf Review of Liter alure. 20r5 



and then there would be no occasion for going into service at all — every- 

 body would keep holiday, and be their own masters and mistresses. The 

 writer's anticipations, apparently, are pretty much of the same cast ; nothing 

 short of the golden age will satisfy him. 



" England ! too long the sternly bursting cloud 

 Hath wrapt thy brightness in its midnight shroud ; 

 And when some patriot light has strove to jiierc-e 

 The leaden darkness, gathering dense and fierce, 

 Scarce might it twinkle ere Corruption's storm 

 Urged its foul murk, and quenched the glowing form." 



(Mr. Paull has a desperate struggle with his metaphor!) 



" But now rejoice ! the long-wiihed birth is nigh ; 



His herald-streamer burns along the sky. 



That sun shall rise, and glorious put to llight 



The lingering mists and shadows of the night. 



Beam, cloudless day ! where triumphed night and storm — 



That night, Corruption — and that day, IIeform ! 



Gild thy high places, glad thy lowliest spot — 



The throne majestic, and the peasant's cot ; 



And teach a world tiie blessings that can spring 



From patriot councils and a patriot king," &;c. 



Nothing can well be more ludicrous than Mr. Paull's declaration that party 

 feeling has had no influence on his production. He deifies the Whigs, and 

 demonizes the Tories, in utter contempt of the modus in rchus. He may depend 

 upon it, the Reformed House will have quite enough of the aristocratic and 

 exclusive spirit to spoil all his brilliant anticipations. In a few months it will 

 be seen that the Whigs have only closed one door to open another — extinguished 

 one set of nominee boroughs, and created another. 



Some of his versification Mr. Paull packs skilfully enough, and with the tone 

 of his sentiments we can sometimes cordially sympathize. After descanting 

 with some little extravagance, and not in the best taste, upon the blessings of 

 England, he adds : — 



" But spite of all that Heaven has lavish done — 

 Despite of seasons, ripening shower, or sun — • 

 To the poor peasant — to thy poor, alas ! 

 The earth is iron, and the sky is brass." 



This is true enough ; but what will reform — the mere transfer of power from 

 one set to another — do for him ? It is not political, but individual power — 

 the selfish spirit of the age — which does the mischief. Nobody who has any- 

 thing, or can by possibility clutch any thing, lets go his hold. If a reformed 

 parliament could expatriate the economists, and extinguish their books, we. 

 might tread back our steps to a condition of more contentment, and less ambi- 

 tion — as in the time when individuals thought less of themselves, and more of 

 their neighbours — were more willing to live, and let live. 



Jacqueline of Holland, by the Author of " Highways and By- 

 ways," 3 vols. 12mo. — 



Mr. Grattan's familiarity with the country and storA' of the Netherlands 

 secures him, at least, an undisturbed and undivided sovereignty over those 

 regions. Seldom can much be said for the interest of his tales — the wings 

 of his fancy are of necessity dipt by adherence to facts ; but for dilatation 

 and development — for supplying the lacunre of dry history from the sources of 

 his own vigorous conception — few excel him. Jacqueline was the Countess of 

 Holland and Ilainault in her own right — an historical personage of the early 

 part of the fifteenth century. She was married to her cousin, John, Duke of 

 Brabant, whose imbecility threw him successively into the hands of the secu- 

 larized Bishop of Lcige, and her cousin, the Duke of Burgundy. To escape from 

 the tyranny of her husband and Burgundy, she lied to England. There, with 



