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he undertook to pacify Italy; to recall the Sicilian kingdom to its duty; to confederate Spain with Gaul; to compel to terms of peace Philip of France and the English Edward; to deter Adolphus, lately raised to the German throne, from the invasion of Gaul; to unite in the bonds of friendship the christian commonwealth, which, as if the Saracens sufficed not to effect its ruin, seemed intent on its own destruction; to reduce by an armed association, the Greek schismatics to obedience to the Roman church; and again to rescue the Holy Land from the hands of unbelievers.

"Such were the designs of Boniface, in few of which he succeed. ed; but every attempt, as it had happened to Innocent, involved him in difficulties and contests. The princes who opposed their views were rendered only more untractable by menaces and anathemas; schemes of moral or intellectual improvement, which, however wisely projected, can be accomplished only in repose, were entirely frustrated, or experienced a very partial success. Those, who, by a proper application of their influence, might have renovated the state of man, or have retarded his intellectual decline, left him plunged in the abyss of ignorance and superstition. The circumstances which attended their deaths were peculiarly awful; and what has been said of one, may be said of both, that they died, beloved by few, hated by many, and feared by all.” It can no longer be a question, why so little was done by them."

P. 352.

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To this picture we have nothing to add, and if Mr. Berington had always written thus he would be above all praise, and above all criticism.

At the end of this book Mr. Berington discusses the subject of the origin of rhyme, and thus he introduces the argument to the reader.

"Judging from the abilities of the writers whom we have mentioned, we may be permitted to conclude, that some progress had been made in Latin poetry; but the subject presents, at the same time, another aspect, which is rude and uninviting. I allude to the art of rhyming, which was now become, by a strange perversion of taste, the standard of poetical excellence.

"Whether rhymes were introduced into Latin verse by one. Leo, or Leoninus, who lived in the twelfth century, or by some earlier or later writer, cannot be ascertained. But it is certain, that this change took place when the language had ceased to be generally read; and the ear, vitiated by the rugged sounds of the modern dialects, had lost all relish for the harmonious simplicity of its prosody. Metre of some sort, which has been called rhythm, or measured motion, was found necessary, without which no verse could be distinguished; and as this might not always be deemed sufficient to mark the measure of the line, recourse was

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had to rhyme, or the termination of verses by a similar sound The ear was thus flattered by a certain musical desinence; nor could it, a moment, doubt, where every verse closed. I don't pretend to determine whether the rhythm, in the change which the language has undergone, could have been equally well marked by the ancient syllabic quantity. But rhyme appears to have owed its origin to some feeling of its expediency; and it can hardly be doubted, that it was first introduced in the metrical compositions of some modern tongue. It is not probable, that it would have been first attempted in Latin, in which there was no example, and of which the prosody had been so long established." P. 406.

Now with all respect to Mr. Berington, it is not only "probable," but certain," that rhyme was first attempted in Latin." If Mr. Berington could not ascertain "whether rhymes were introduced into Latin verse by Leo or Leoninus, who lived in the twelfth century, or by some earlier or later writer," we are sorry for it. He refers us to a curious note in Warton's Dissert. II. and we refer him to Muratori Antiq. Ital. Dissert. XL. Mr. Berington asserts, "that this change took place when the language had ceased to be generally read, and when the ear vitiated by the rugged sound of the modern dialects had lost all relish. for the harmonious simplicity of its prosody;" and Muratori has proved, that rhyme had been in use amongst the Romans even during the age of Augustus.

This is denied by Mr. Berington, and the reader shall hear, what he says—

"Should it be said that, by the ancient Latin poets, the first in classical rank, rhymes were sometimes introduced-my answer is a that they occurred from accident, or were employed for the sake of alliteration; whereas with these poetasters they were the result `of elaborate design." P. 408.

Well then let us take Mr. Berington on his own ground, and Let those examples of rhymes which we find "in the ancient Latin poetry of the first classical rank," be considered as a matter of "accident." What will he say then to the specimens published by Muratori, of single and double rhymes by writers of the sixth, and even fifth century? Will he consider them to be matter of accident also? They occur in each line of a long composition; therefore the supposition cannot be admitted, and if so, how can we agree with him and believe, "that Leoninus" was the inventor of this rhythm, or at least, "that this change took place when the language had ceased to be generally read?"

But

But here the reader may ask, which was the man, or at least the nation that first made use of rhyme in the modern languages? Mr. Berington thus eludes the question altogether.

"But when rhyme had obtained admission into modern tongues, and it had acquired peculiar celebrity and general approbation in the compositions of the Trouveurs and Troubadours, we readily conceive, how eager a monkish versifier might be, to confer an ornament on the Latin language, which he had learned to admire in his own. His delicacy of perception was not such as to enable him to discriminate whether this embellishment was congenial with the dignity of the Roman idiom. And whatever might be his sensibility on this subject, he knew what was of more immediate importance to him, that the use of rhyme in his compositions would not fail to recommend them to more general notice. And when the rhyming process had begun, what was likely to circumscribe its use or set any boundary to its application? We have rhymes which conclude the verse in the various measures of composition in others, besides this common termination, the middle of each verse is made to rhyme with its end: and in a third sort, no fewer than three rhymes enter each verse, two within the verse itself, and one referring to the succeeding line.

"Qui regis omnia, pelle tot crimina, surge, perimus,
Nos, Deus, aspice, ne sine simplice lumine simus.

P. 407.

Indeed we feel very much obliged to Mr. Berington for the information, the long and the short of which is, rhyme is a strange perversion of taste introduced by Leoninus, or somebody else, adopted by feeling of expediency, admitted by the Troubadours, copied by the monks, and followed by all the nations of Europe.

We know not whether our readers will be satisfied with such a pedigree, for our part we own we are not; and consequently upon the authority of Muratori we shall say, that there were two kinds of verses known to the Romans, the metrical and the rhythmical. The first were made according to the strictest rules of prosody, and were used only by scholars and classical writers; while the second being generally the production of common men, merely preserved such a similarity of sound and quantities as might satisfy the ear, but could not stand the test of severe criticism, for in it they paid no attention to the rules of prosody. To this second species of verse Muratori refers the origin of rhyme, which by the Latins was called similiter cadens; he even pretends that they were not unknown to the Greeks, and quotes the Anthologia as a proof of his assertion.

Having so far established the origin of rhyme, it remains to 'discover which was the nation that first introduced it into modern Europe.

This question would not be so easily settled were we to listen

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to all those who have written in favour of the Jews, of the Arabians, of the Troubadours, and the Sicilians. But to us the fact appears to be simply this: With the Latin language rhyme was transmitted into the jargon half Latin and half barbarous, which originated amongst the French and Italians; and by the means of the same Latin this rhyme became known to the Arabians of Spain, who cultivated literature and Science, when the rest of Europe had sunk into barbarism. The fervid imagination of the Moors fond of novelty, soon be came enamoured of this new species of metre; with their conquest in Sicily, they increased amongst their new subjects this taste for rhyme; and in adopting much of the style and manner of the Saracens, the Troubadours could not fail to adopt also this fashionable rhyme, which was esteemed by their masters, and which must have also pleased their audience. And as the Troubadours and the Sicilians were the first amongst the moderns who wrote verses in their respective languages, so they were also the first who adopted rhyme in their poetry.

Such appears to us to be the solution of the problem; we shall now take our leave of Mr. Berington for the present, and continue our observations on the volume before us in our next Number.

(To be concluded in our next.)

ART. VI. Memoirs of W. Stevens, Esq. Treasurer of Queen Anne's Bounty. Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 187. 68. Rivingtons. 1815.

To record the actions of the great and good, and to consécrate the memory of departed worth, is a task which requires no common hand to fulfil. A tedious detail of the trifling occurrences of domestic life, a dull family genealogy routed with perverse diligence from the musty records of parish registers, à rhetorical display of pompous panegyric, are each too often mistaken by their readers, no less than by their authors, for the ne plus ultra of biography. But not even a junction of the three is by any means sufficient to constitute perfection in the art, or even to answer the end which the writer may propose, whether it be to raise the character of himself or of his subject. Let the talents of the biographer be what they may, let the nicest judgment wait upon the most copious and accurate infor

We are aware that many writers of note pretend that rhyme was known to the Arabians even before the gyra, but whether this be or be not the case, the argument remains the same.

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mation,

mation, and let both be recommended by the graces of style, and the ornament of language, there will yet be a certain deficiency which it is easier perhaps to discover than to account for. This deficiency, we should conceive, is to be supplied only by that feeling of interest in the mind of the writer, which a similarity of study and a fellowship in pursuits, will constantly raise. This will seldom fail to give a charm to biography, which no other power either of talent or of information is enabled to produce. Thus, then, supposing the existence of abilities in other respects equal to the task, the life of a military man will be best written by a military man, that of a poet by a poet, that of a statesman by a statesman. Each of these may cherish partialities peculiar to themselves, but impartiality is not the same distinguishing feature in biography, as it is in history. If the warm feelings both of professional and of private life are not in some measure embodied in the work, it will ever remain both frigid and flat. The biographer must not only enter with spirit into the character of his subject, but with knowledge into the history of his pursuits; his language may thus be sometimes too technical, and his prejudices too prominent, but he will present by these means the more spirited and accurate resemblance of the original, by tracing those lineaments which no common eye could discover, but which, when discovered, give to the portrait both animation and effect. This is the charm which pervades the "Lives of the Poets," which renders them ever interesting, ever instructive; while other pieces of biography by the same great author, though written with equal graces of language, have passed into oblivion. It is this which gives to Isaac Walton a power over the mind and the affections of his reader, which a more elegant, or a more rhetorical biographer might vainly hope to attain.

Could we point out one circumstance more than another, which adds an interest and a charm to the volume before us, it is that similarity of pursuit and identity of purpose, which distinguishes both the biographer and his subject. The biographer, as we understand from a former edition, which was printed only, not published, is James Allan Park, the King's Counsel; a man not more celebrated for his high legal abilities and extensive practice, than for his ardent co-operation in every good and pious work. His well known publication on the Sacrament is a sufficient evidence of his heartfelt, but sound regard for every religious and devotional duty. It is with no small degree of pleasure that we bear our testimony to the public conduct of this excellent layman, as displaying that deep and affectionate regard for the cause of religion, which arises from a mind pure, X. ardent,

VOL. IV. SEPTember, 1815.

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