20 ) Monthly Review of Literature, [^August, 



instant mnrriage by pledging himself to return and take the damsel and all her 

 treasures in two years. The lady, however, could not wait, and within the first 

 year married a gallant captain, who in two years made way for another. " The 

 captain and her worthy father both paid the debt of nature in 1798, in the 

 autumn of which year my little Anna, with High Cliff, (the estate,) and £40,000, 



became Lady M 's, the last and boldest horsewoman in the palatine, the 



gayest of the gay in the vortex of fashionable life, the idol of the veteran hus- 

 band, and the envy of all the six feet ladies of the north." Then follows some- 

 thing intended still more decidedly to identify the lady — we know nothing of 

 the county of Durham, and this part may be sheer invention ; but if not, there is 

 an indelicacy, which nothing can excuse, in the publication. 



To while away the lagging hours, at some garrison town, he volunteered his 

 services to the drill Serjeant. His activity fell under the notice of the com- 

 mander of the district, who gave him some deputy's appointment, and finally 

 recommended him as aide-de-camp to a General Mordaunt, then on the point 

 of embarking for the West Indies. There the general soon died, but the aide- 

 de-camp got some new appointment, and after two years left the country before 

 Sir Ralph Ab^rcrombie returned, on account of ill health. No military details are 

 given — though he could not have been without opportunities of collecting, and 

 the story of that fatal expedition has been but imperfectly told. Returning to 

 England, the stafF-ofScer finds a wife, and the curtain drops upon the scene. 



One little anecdote we will copy to compensate for our own dull story. It is 

 of an Irish officer who got into a scrape, and was cashiered. After a time, 

 desirous of an active life again, he drew up a petition to the Irish House of 

 Commons, praying for employment. After urging his manifold services to the 

 state, (in his own peculiar style of language,) he concluded his petition with the 

 bold assertion, that he had received seven wounds at Bunker's Hill,^re of which 

 were mortal. After the roars of laughter, which the reading of this part of his 

 petition excited, had in some degree subsided, the late Vice Admiral Tom Pack- 

 ington, (uncle to the late Duchess of Wellington,) with the utmost gravity, stood 

 up, and, first withdrawing the quid of tobacco from his starboard cheek, moved, 

 " that the House, taking into its serious consideration the petition of the im- 

 mortal James Darcus, do humbly recommend his case to his majesty's most 

 gracious favour." 



Odds and Ends, by W. H. Merle, Esq. 



Mr. Merle is knowJi to readers of modern poetry, if there be any such persons 

 besides reviewers, as the author of Costan^a, which never fell into our hands, 

 but which we have been assured, with some emphasis, Joanna Baillie spoke of 

 in terms of admiration. The Odds and Ends before us are the merest trifles, 

 chiefly of the gayer caste — not including the frequent punning upon his own 

 name — " as easy as 'tis for blackbird to whistle." Some of the morsels, how- 

 ever, are not v>athout humour, though most of it has passed into the designs in 

 which Cruikshank has had a hand. Leaving the poetry, we notice a short 

 paper, entitled Chartley Castle, and Mary, Queen of Scots' Glass. Chartley 

 Castle, or rather the ruins of it, as every body knows, is in Staffordshire, and 

 belongs to the Ferrers' family. It was for a short time the scene of Mary's 

 imprisonment. A few years ago the moat which surrounded it was drained, 

 and the accumulated mud of ages was thrown upon the neighbouring fields, 

 where, as it dried up, a small drinking glass drew the eyes of Mr. Merle, then 

 on a visit to the late Lord Taraworth. On this glass was written — 



" Je songe tous jours a vous 

 Je suis tout a fait sensible." 



The poet's imagination flew forthwith to Queen Mary ; and, it appears, the 

 writing actually accords with the undoubted specimens of her own haud-writing. 

 Beneath these two lines are two others — 



" Blessed be the hand which wrote it, 

 I with vou mav be thoujrht it." 



