imperfect. Many attempts must be made, before a barbarous language can be so disciplined into correctness of diction, and melody of sound, as to afford a material which even genius itself can work into any thing truly excellent. And when improvement has proceeded so far that lines and passages are to be found deserving of real admiration, these will long be of rare occurrence, like specks of gold in a matrix of brute earth. Productions of such a period, however interesting they may be to the critical enquirer into the history of national literature, will give more disgust than pleasure to one who reads for amusement only, and who has already formed his taste upon the best models of different ages and countries.

It might be difficult to determine with whom of the English poets commences that degree of masterly execution which is capable of satisfying a cultivated taste; but that Spenser is within this limit, will hardly be questioned by any one who has sufficiently familiarised himself with his writings to disregard the uncouthness of an antiquated diction. His name, too, by long possession, has obtained a permanent rank among the major poets of the nation; so that the student of English verse cannot, even through regard to his reputation, safely remain unacquainted with the works of one who fills such a space in the history of his art. As the undoubted head of a peculiar class of writers, Spenser, too, claims the notice of literary curiosity; for no adequate idea can be formed of the extent to which personification and allegory may be carried, without a perusal of the Faery Queene.' On all these accounts, it is presumed that the admission of Spenser's works into a collection of the principal English poets will appear much less extraordinary, than the former rejection of them.' pi.

We have remarked, that little can be added to the events of his life. The editor justly rejects, as incredible, the story of Sidney's having increased his bounty, on reading each additional stanza of the allegory of Despair, and having ordered the money to be immediately paid, lest he should give away his whole estate. It is well known, however, that Sidney was a liberal patron. The forfeited estates, presented to Spenser, were lost with the changing political circumstances of the times; and Spenser, in prosperity or adversity, is still the sombre poet whom Melancholy marked for her own. In the midst of his good fortune he was banished; in his more evil day destitute; at all times lamenting his inconstant Rosalind. The following remarks are too judicious to be overlooked; and we copy them with less scruple, as this specimen of the editor's abilities cannot be too generally known.

His works breathe a fervent spirit of piety and morality; and it would be difficult to conceive of any thing base or dissolute in conduct, in conjunction with the dignity of sentiment which is uniformly sup. ported in the productions of his muse. A querulous disposition, however, occasionally breaks forth; nor does he seem to have been contented under a fortune more affluent than usually falls to the lot of a poet. He paid considerable court to the great, but without that extravagance of adulation which was not uncommon even among the

eminent persons of that age. He possessed friends as well as patrons, and his death was lamented as a public loss to the literature of his country.

We are now to speak of Spenser in his poetical capacity. Fraught with the stores of ancient learning and of the school-philosophy of his time, and conversant with the poets of Italy, and the tales of popular romance, he came fully prepared for the execution of any plan of poetical invention which his genius, modelled by the taste of the age, might suggest; and he found his native language sufficiently cultivated to serve as a vehicle of poetical conceptions of any class. The revival 'of letters had not as yet produced in Europe the revival of that pure and natural taste which distinguished the best periods of Greece and Rome. A passion for marvellous adventure, carried to the limits of the absurd and burlesque, and a disposition to veil truth under the disguise of allegory, characterised the writers who were the favourites of the day. Spenser did not possess that rare elevation of genius which places a man above the level of the age; but he had the richness of invention, and the warmth of feeling, which present the manner of the age in its happiest form. His first performance, however, did not indicate a marked superiority over the contemporary pocts of his country.

The Shepherd's Calendar is a series of pastorals, formed upon no uniform plan, but in general lowered down to that rustic standard which is supposed appropriate to this species of composition. The gradation of rural scenery according to the changes of the year, which the title of the piece would lead the reader to expect, forms but a small, and by no means a striking, part of the design, which is rather moral than descriptive. The shepherd's character is borrowed chiefly for the purpose of giving grave lectures on the conduct of life; of panegyrising a sovereign, or lamenting a lost friend: it is even made the allegorical vehicle of reflections concerning the state of religion. Spenser, at this period, seems to have joined that party which was most zealous for ecclesiastical reform, and which viewed with the greatest displeasure the corruptions introduced by the worldly pomp and dominion of popery. How adverse such topics are to the simplicity and amenity of genuine pastoral, needs not now be pointed out. It seems generally agreed, that the description of the grand and beautiful objects of nature, with well-selected scenes of rural life, real, but not coarse, constitute the only proper materials of pastoral poetry. To these, Spenser has made small additions; and, therefore, the Shepherd's Calendar, though it obtained the applause of Sidney, and seems immediately to have given its author a rank among the esteemed poets of the time, would probably, in the progression of critical taste, have been consigned to oblivion, had it not been borne up by the fame of the Faery Queene. It is not, however, void of passages marked with the writer's peculiar strength and liveliness of painting. The description of the aged oak, in the moral fable of February, may be pointed out as an instance of this kind; as well as the whole fable of the kid and wolf, under May. The rustic and antiquated language of the greater part of these pieces was, doubtless, intended to correspond with the character annexed to pastoral poetry; but its simplicity is

often carried to rudeness and vulgarity. The alliteration, which is also meant as a character of antiquity, will scarcely please a modern ear.' P.xviii.

Of the plan of the Faery Queene, and its defects, enough has been said: we shall pass on to the more particular remarks.

• Of Spenser's allegorical figures it may be observed, that some are merely the natural representations of a human being under the influ ence of the passion or quality intended to be personified; some are wholly emblematical, expressing their character by means of types and symbols; and in some, both these modes of painting are combined. Examples of the first, or natural mode, may be found in the picture of Fear in the Masque of Cupid (B. iii. c. 12.); in that of Despair already mentioned; and in those of Heavenly Contemplation (B. i. c. 10.), and of Hypocrisy (B. i. c. 1.):-of the second, or emblematical mode, in the figure of Fancy in the Masque of Cupid; and in that of Faith (B,i. c. 10.) ;-of the third, or mixed mode, in Disdain (B. vi, c. 7.); Pride and her counsellors (B. i. c. 4.); Care (B. iv. c. 5.); and Suspicion (B. iii. c. 12). It may readily be conceived, that this variety of delineation will produce occasional inconsistencies; that action and passion will often be confounded; and that the manner in which these fancy-formed beings are employed, will frequently be unsuitable to their nature, These are defects from which complex and continued allegory can never be free. To create a new system of things is too great an effort of the imagination to be long and uniformly supported; and Spenser, as the most copious of allegorists, is perhaps the most exuberant in faults. His forms are often grotesque and disgusting, sometimes impossible; and he not unfrequently makes a breach in the personification, by intermixing the ideas of reality with those of fiction. In a critical commentary it might be proper to point out all these imperfections; but in a preliminary essay it is sufficient to apprise the reader of taste that they exist, and leave the detection of them to his own attentive research. He will find them exemplified not only in Spenser, but in every other writer who has ventured far into the perilous regions of allegory.

Though there is a large fund of original matter in the Faery Queene, there is also much imitation, and even translation, Various passages from the classics, and still more from the Italian poets, are closely copied. The stores of ancient mythology are freely ransacked; nor is Spenser more careful than his Italian masters in avoiding the incongruity of mixing heathen with Christian ideas. To confess the truth, he wrote too much, to write with uniform attention and judg ment. His plan was vast; and to fill it up, required great industry as well as invention. He could not afford to be nice in selection; and, like all other composers of very long poems, he was obliged to be contented with such matter as occurred, rather than with such as he would deliberately have approved. Most readers will think he too much abounds in prolix descriptions of single combats, which he found ready drawn to his hand in Bojardo, Ariosto, and Tasso. In

deed, his device of making all the virtues knights-errant, necessarily renders their contests with the opposite vices, so many battles.

The form of stanza he adopted (to proceed to the subject of versification) favoured redundancy of style; and that, not merely in words, but in ideas. Dryden observes of himself, that a rhyme often helped him to a thought. Spenser's versé, requiring in each stanza four and three similar rhyming terminations, put him upon a perpetual effort to bring in words of a certain sound, however unconnected in their meaning with the current subject. This gave rise to distant associations, which sometimes produced images that really enriched the diction; though more frequently it flattened and debased it by impertinent additions. It likewise often compelled the poet to employ expedients that indicate the cruelty of the yoke to which he had injudiciously subjected himself. Expletives, tautologies, and circumlocutions, occur in almost every stanza, and gross improprieties of speech are but too frequent. Vulgar and obsolete words are often mixed with those of a higher order, and when all these licences fail in producing the requisite tale of rhyme, the writer does not scruple to mis-spell words, and so satisfy the eye at the expence of the ear. Yet the stanza of Spenser, when well executed, has a fulness of melody, and a sonorous majesty, scarcely equalled by any other English measure; and some later poets, who have bestowed due pains upou their versification, have copied it with great success. The concluding Alexandrine, which Spenser added to the eight-line stanza of the Italians, produces a fine effect when it accords with the subject; but in a long piece such a coincidence must frequently be wanting. Every elaborate measure, indeed, has the inconvenience of being ill adapted to the variety of epic composition. It with difficulty admits of quick changes and rapid movements, and is apt to produce languor and prolixity. Its frequent recurrence tires the ear; and its marked closes check the flow of eloquence. It has therefore been with true judgment that the best modern heroic poets have deserted the forms of versification which prevailed at the first revival of letters, and have recurred to the simpler models of Greece and Rome.' P. xxxiv.

The remarks on his smaller works are not equally important; and it may be suspected that we have already copied enough. If, however, what we have said should contribute to raise the character of the editor and his work, we shall be amply satisfied; for such encouragement he truly deserves.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE.

POLITICS.

ART. 14. Remarks on the late War in St. Domingo. With Observations on the relative Situation of Jamaica, and other interesting Subjects. By Colonel Chalmers, late InspectorGeneral of Colonial Troops in St. Domingo. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Rivingtons. 1803.

THE misfortunes in the English and French campaigns in St. Domingo have been generally attributed to the insalubrity of the climate; and the strength of the blacks has, by some, been considered as too formidable to be subdued by forces from Europe. Against both positions the present author contends, and advances strong arguments to support his own cause. The negro forces he regards as very inefficient; while the disagreeable effects of the climate are to be overcome by proper attention to dietetics and discipline. The English campaign to this unfortunate island is scarcely known, but from the enormous expenditure, in men and money, which it occasioned; and, from the short account here given of it, an inquiry into the conduct of those who planned and were entrusted with the expedition seems necessary, to establish properly the causes of its failure.

If this author be right in his conclusions, St. Domingo may become an easy conquest to the British arms; and its inhabitants would be happy under the mild government of this country. Our former ill success was entirely owing to our own misconduct, not to the magnitude of the force with which we had to contend, or a want of attachment on the part of those who solicited the protection of Britain.

ART. 15. An Obstacle to the Ambition of France: or, Thoughts on the Expediency of Improving the political Condition of His Majesty's Irish Roman-Catholic Subjects. By Thomas Newenham, Esq. Svo, 1s. 6d, C, and R. Bald win.

1803.

'It is with great pleasure we peruse such publications as the present from the western part of the United Kingdom, as they show that the Irish in general begin to breathe the spirit of conciliation, and entertain the justest ideas of true policy with respect to our catholic fellow-subjects. The experience of ages has discovered the folly of a different conduct; and, so far from injuring the kingdom, the amelioration of the state of the catholics would not only tend to make us an united and invincible nation, but bring the former, by degrees, to a better mode of faith and worship. The influence of the catholics could send but a few members to parliament; and, if the whole number were of that persuasion, no danger need to be apprehended. They would, by degrees, assimilate themselves with the English catholics; and the higher classes among ourselves are