"One murder makes a villain, Great God of hosts! nor let thy creatures fall ing the illiberal use that others may | language, thus depicts its character make of the concession) that I would and prays for its extinction, prefer placing in the hands of the YOUNG, Wordsworth's "Ecclesiastical Sketches," just published--a work by the way which almost redeems his character-to giving them "Beppo, Don Juan, and Cain." But I as certainly would infinitely prefer to the best of Wordsworth's poems, the fine description of "Childe Harold," the fire and sublimity of the “Giaour,” the beauty and tenderness of the "Corsair," the religious tone and feeling of the Hebrew Melodies, &c. &c. While, as Aristarchi Amicus says, I might present to "the nursery, as rivals of Goody Two Shoes," some of Wordsworth's rhymes to amuse children just learning to read, I would give, to Adolescents, Lord Byron's Poems, and strongly recommend them as the study of their riper years. For the same reason that I curtailed "Sweet is the breath of vernal show'r, To CHRISTIANUS, though he has kept aloof from the controversy, I feel indebted for his excellent exposure of Wordsworth's profaneness, (col. 993,) and agree with him, Lord Byron, and Bishop Porteus, in condemning WAR. While Wordsworth eulogizes war, and talks about angels rejoicing at it, Lord Byron condemns its practisers as the "tools of ambition;" and the late pious Bishop of London, in still stronger The best piece I have seen of Wordsworth's, is bis Sonnet on the late King: whether, however, it be deserving of his pension as "the hireling of the state," I leave to the consideration of your tax-paying readers. The Edinburgh Review thus commences its account of Wordsworth's Excursion: "This will never do." + The third canto of Childe Harold is generally deemed inferior; though I should hope there is but one writer who would pass upon it the severe censure, that it is "written in the spirit of Wordsworth's Excursion:" the fourth canto, however, amply redeems Lord Byron's fame, by containing some of the finest poetry in any language. SCRUTATOR's letter has been generally admired. That gentleman has pointed out some things which "Aristarchus deemed deserving only silent contempt." One thing, however, he has not mentioned; and therefore I will now advert to it: it is G. M.'s comparing Wordsworth to Milton!!! "Oh for a laugh loud as the surge That lashes Lapland's sounding shore." But perhaps G. M. meant to demonstrate that from MILTON to Wordsworth-" from the SUBLIME to the ridiculous--is but a step." PHILO-ARISTARCHUS has made some shrewd and sensible observations on 66 as the idle wind which I respect not." Philo, however, had done nothing amiss; but in the estimation of Wordsworth's friends, (at least such as Epsilon and Mark Etheridge,) to defend truth, and to expose their "mean and illiberal" abuse, is a heinous offence. Short E. too, gives Philo "Julius Cæsar's sage advice:" he had much better have PRACTISED it, and then he would not have split upon that very 66 scopulum," "of which he warns Philo. Epsilon, forsooth, to censure such able writers as Scrutator and Philo-Aristarchus! "Just as the blockhead rubs his thoughtless skull, And thanks his stars he was not born a fool." "These Jack Cades of sense" may slander Philo-Aristarchus, but the wise and the good will admire his discrimination. If Philo has with me preserved the ". mens sibi conscia recti," he may, as I do, contemn calumny. BYRONIS POEMATUM ADMIRATOR, has rendered an essential service to the cause of Byron, by the beautiful productions of his Lordship, which he transmitted. If Admirator thought G. M. would "make the world too hot to hold" him, what would he think of Epsilon? Short E. will certainly put him into his "alembics,retorts,or crucibles;" but Admirator needs not fear the result. Truth, like gold, will shine with redoubled lustre after every attempt at analysis, decomposition, or sublimation." 66 If never been excelled, if equalled, in "Round her she made an atmosphere of life, Too pure e'en for the purest human ties; Don Juan, Canto iii. v. 74. the Classic's, so the poem may be the Perhaps, as its motto has long been Critic's, crux. Faliero," I have not yet read; but, if His single tragedy, entitled "Marino I may take a celebrated reviewer's opinion, it must be very excellent; for it is declared to be "though unfit for theatrical representation, yet worthy of being bound up with Addison's Cato, and Johnson's Irene."-The new volume of tragedies I have read, and frankly confess, that I cannot say with a periodical, "the first is a good tragedy, the second is better, and the third the best of all;" nor can I admit with another monthly publication, that "the accusation of impiety made against the 'Mystery of Cain,' is sheer TO ARISTARCHI AMICUS, I beg to present my friendly acknowledgments. Notwithstanding the modesty of his motto, his lettter is one which Junius himself might be proud to own. your readers will compare the manly arguments and eloquent diction of Amicus' masterly letter, with the ignorant flippancy of Mark Etheridge's, and the bewildered rant of Epsilon's, they will perceive that Lord Byron's nonsense, and deserves no other readvocate is as much superior to Words-ply." The characters of Lucifer and worth's, as his Lordship's cause is. Cain are too correct; they are dreadBefore I conclude, perhaps I may be "Cain," however, is noallowed, Mr. Editor, to make a re-thing so bad as the ancient mysteries, fully true. mark on the cause of Lord Byron being in which God the Father was represo much maligned. The principle one sented by an old man with “ is generally allowed to be his publish- haires;" God the Son by a young man graie ing "English Bards and Scotch Re- with "comelie lockes," and God the viewers." "That satirical work, like Holy Ghost by a dove or pigeon flying Pope's Dunciad, created a host of above the stage. For impiety and blasphemy, Lord Byron "cannot (as G. M. says) even touch the hem of the garments of these older dramatists;" yet with respect to Cain," as a whole, I would, like an eminent legal officer of doubting celebrity, give no opinion upon the subject.* characters he pourtrays, ought in fairwho judge of Lord Byron from the ness to view the favourable, as well as the unfavourable, side of the question; and, to be consistent, they must deem his Lordship a man of prayer, from his admirable admonition to the prayerless; and a man of genuine enemies. The writers condemned were highly exasperated, as well as sorely chagrined, at the exposure of their imbecility; and as many of them could not dignify their own character, they laboured to blast his Lordship's; just as the heroes of the Dunciad libelled Pope. English Bards," however, with all its beauties, must be admitted to be the work of a very young man ; and it is well known that as Lord Byron's maturer judgment does not deem all the characters delineated to be fac-similes, he has endeavoured to suppress it, and does not suffer it to be published with his other works." Don Juan" is replete with great faults and great beauties. Its licentiousness all must condemn; while the "song," and several stanzas, are transcendently exquisite: the following, for instance, I believe has Those * See the Times" report of the trial, Marray v. Benbow, in which the Lord Chancellor reiterates his " doubts;" and repeatedly declares he "gives no opinion upon the subject;" while he does not think" Cain" deserving an extrajudicial procedure. piety from the address-of Abel to the "Sole Lord of light! Of good, and glory, and eternity." By the way, it is a curious circumstance that David Lyndsay and Lord Byron should have produced two tragedies on the same subject nearly at the same time, containing some of the same ideas and sentiments; yet after reading David Lyndsay's modest advertisement, I cannot, like the sapient Mark Etheridge, call David a plagiarist, though his tragedies were published a little after Lord Byron's: and now I have mentioned plagiarism again, I will not withhold from Mark Etheridge the following sentence of his Lordship's. While I have been occupied in defending Pope's character, THE LOWER ORDERS OF GRUBSTREET appear to have been assailing mine: this is as it should be, both in them and me." I beg to assure your readers, Sir, that I have no motive, direct or indirect, in the writing of these letters, but the vindication of a calumniated nobleman, and an ardent desire to promote belles-lettres by the reading of poems, which, next to the Greek and Roman "breathless verse," will foster rising genius, improve literary taste, and almost prove a substitute for Horace's curiosu felicitas. While Wordsworth has substituted puerility for simplicity, affectation for nature, and " changed Apollo's harp for a whistle," to Lord Byron may be applied the exquisite lines of Callimachus, “'Αι δὲ τεαὶ ζω εσιν ἀήδονες ἦσιν ὁ ωάντων Αρπακτηρ ̓Αΐδης εκ ἐπὶ χεῖρα βαλεῖ. obviate any cavil that may be made against the work being anonymous, it is sufficient to observe, that the "Edinburgh Review," after a very favourable character of the book, "confidently anticipates the period, when the applause of the country shall induce the writer to take off his mask." As the author could not imitate Lord Byron's transcendent genius, and as his parody of his Lordship's style is generally deemed inferior to most of the other imitations, one stanza, as a parody of Childe Harold, will be sufficient; the verse is addressed to the dissipated frequenters of playhouses. "Your debts mount high-ye plunge in deeper the The imitation of Wordsworth is universally admitted to be correct. The Edinburgh deems it "a favourable specimen" another periodical terms it "flattering;" a third, "a complete initials were quite unnecessary, for a fac-simile;" and a fourth says, child can tell whose is the image and ." On this account I cite superscription." the whole poem, that your readers may have a "favourable" idea of Wordsworth. "The Baby's Debut, by W. W. Motto. Thy lisping prattle, and thy mincing gait, All thy false mimic fooleries I hate, For thou art Folly's counterfeit, and she, For the benefit of my opponents, I Who is right foolish, bath the better plea; subjoin a translation. Nature's true idiot I prefer to thee. Yet thy sweet warbling strains Still live immortal, nor on them shall death His hand e'er lay, though ravager of all." By way of amusement to your readers, after this long controversy, and as a suitable termination to it-the farce after the tragedy-I shall give PARODIES on the style of Lord Byron and Mr. Wordsworth, by the author of "Rejected Addresses." To those who are not acquainted with the work, I beg to observe, that it originated in an advertisement by the Committee of Drury Lane Theatre for the best address; when the author of "Rejected Addresses" wrote imitations of the style of our different living poets. To CUMBERLAND. [Spoken in the character of Nancy Lake, a girl of eight years of age, who is drawn upon the stage in a child's chaise, by Samuel Hughes, her uncle's porter.] My brother Jack was nine in May, Jack's in the pouts, and this it is, Quite cross, a bit of string I beg, And bang, with might and main, This made him cry with rage and spite: Aunt Hannah heard the window break, Well, after many a sad reproach, And trotted down the street. I saw them go one horse was blind, Their shoes were on their feet, The chaise in which poor brother Bill Stood in the lumber room: My Uncle's porter, Samuel Hughes, (I always talk to Sam,) And leaves me where I am. My Father's walls are made of brick, As these; and, goodness me! As these that now I see. What a large floor! 'tis like a town! Won't hide it, I'll be bound: At first I caught hold of the wing umbob, the prompter man, "You've only got to curtsy, whisp- And then you're sure to take : But while I'm speaking, where's Papa? ar P.S. If any apology be necessary for the length of this letter, it must be made by stating the fact, that I was unwilling to pass over the least" gument, or ghost of an argument," adduced by my opponents. As you, Mr. Editor, have announced, ex offi cio, that this subject "will shortly be dismissed altogether," I suppose that I shall not again be permitted to insert a letter upon the controversy. I therefore seize the present occasion to repeat, that I am very much pleased with the manly arguments, the amiable spirit, and the gentlemanlike urbanity, which pervade and characterize LAMBDA'S sensible letter. shall be happy to discuss the subject with him further, in a private letter; or, if he live in or near the metropolis,) vivâ voce, and I have, therefore, left my address with you, Mr. Editor. If neither party should convince the other, I am certain, from his good sense, that we should at least " agree to differ." Enfin, I thank your respectable correspondents for the hand some I manner in which they have spoken of my letters, and your readers in general for the attention with which they have honoured me; and I now wish "To all and each a fair good night, paper, as he has not been able to find domestics with such qualifications; and having suffered much inconvenience from his letters, notes, and papers, being inspected by his servants; afterwards becoming the conversation of the servants'-hall, and, in course, the whole village. None need apply that has ever been at a writingschool." INLAND NAVIGATION-MR. BRINDLEY (With a Portrait of Mr. Brindley.) most exorbitant rates for carriage by land.* The Sankey navigation, in the neighbourhood of Warrington, was the first approach to a regular artificial canal, and was considered, at the time, an undertaking of no common importance. The completion of the Duke of Bridgwater's, shortly afterwards, was the signal for extending them to every part of the kingdom. These bountiful streams now intersect it in every direction; no less than twentytwo cross the grand ridge of Great Britain, and connect uninterruptedly the eastern and western seas. Their Ir would be paying but a sorry combeneficial effects upon agriculture, pliment to the understanding of our commerce, and the arts, may be readers, were we to enter upon an briefly enumerated. Communications elaborate argument in defence of IN- were opened with every part of the LAND NAVIGATION. The ignorance or country. The cheapness of materials prejudice which formerly obstructed led to an increased expenditure upon its adoption, no longer exists; and national works, magnificent public our only surprise is, that in England, buildings, monuments, and private always a rich, cultivated, and enter- residences. Produce, which by land prising country, this leading object was conveyed at a premium of 40s. of political economy should so long per ton, was now received with cerhave been almost disregarded. In tainty and dispatch at 6s. or 7s. From the luxuriant plains of Egypt-in the immediate channels of intercourse dependencies of Imperial Rome-- with the richest districts of the counamongst that most singular people, try, grinding monopolies were readily the Chinese-and in the far-spread annihilated. All natural commodities, provinces of Hindostan-artificial ca- foreign luxuries, and articles of donals have been the great channels of mestic manufacture, were diffused wealth, commerce, and civilization. equally throughout it. Agriculture In France, by the completion of the received an invigorating impulse, from canal of Languedoc, so honourable to the facility with which the produce of its constructor, Mons. Riquet, the the soil could be transported to a prointerior was supplied with articles of fitable market, and every species of foreign or domestic production, at a manure and implement received in third less than they could possibly be return, Commercial establishments obtained in England; whilst the num-rapidly multiplied. From the cheapber and extent of these conveniences ness of fuel and raw materials, the in Holland, not only remedy the natu- cotton and woollen manufactures of ral imperfections of the country, but Lancashire and Yorkshire, and the compensate, by the celerity which metallic trades of Birmingham, Walthey impart to travelling, for the sal, and Wolverhampton, attained an unavoidable heaviness of Dutch organization. *Salt, at this period, was carried on horseLarge consignments of Burton ale for the Gerback to various parts of the inland counties. man market, were annually taken by land to Hull for shipment; and quantities of cheese, the product of the Cheshire dairy, were transported through the same channel, to the metropolis, at a great expense. In Great Britain, nevertheless, till the middle of the last century, speculation had been confined to the improvement of a few natural streams; which yet, at a never-ending expense, diminished none of the inconveniences + Mr. John Eyes has the honourable distincincidental to river navigation. These tion of originating this first speculation; but it were, the losses and delays occasioned is to be noted, throughout the whole of the enby floods in winter, droughts in sum-suing observations, that this, being merely an mer, and dishonest watermen the improvement of a natural stream, by a branch year through; and the merchant, in rogate a tittle from the fame which is claimed canal with falls and locks upon it, cannot deconsequence, rather than encounter for Brindley, as the successful constructor of repeated vexations, submitted to the the first artificial canal. |