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and beauty. They are separated from their father's house, it is the dark half of their splendid privilege; and yet that removal cannot be said to inflict an unmitigated sacrifice, which, amidst the first glow and pliancy of their juvenile affections, and warm from the happiness of the domestic abode, transports them into the bosom of a larger and a more helpless family; which gives them, for a home, the scene of high and beneficial services; for a social circle, the circle of arduous and philanthropic duties; and, for the delightful converse of 'brother, and sister, and mother,' the prayers of the dependent and the benedictions of the grateful. They are translated into a new world; and perhaps their residence for the greater part of life may exclusively be thrown among races of men with whom they have no community, either of taste, manners, habits, opinions, or religion. But they should remember that it is in such moral wildernesses as these, that the amplest opportunities of active and honourable utility are to be found, which the condition of human life affords; the richest sources of duties to be performed and distinctions to be earned; the sequestered and difficult, but deep springs of real happiness and solid glory. This indeed is a banishment which the truly illustrious of all ages would have preferred before the most towering and the most brilliant march of conquest. -Hâc arte Pollux, hac vagus Hercules. It is the pilgrimage of the benefactors of mankind; the triumphal exile of heroes.

On the supposition that these ideas should generally, or in a great measure, be acted upon,-and surely, we may trust that the supposition is not preposterous,-no spectacle more august or more delightful can be conceived, than that of Great Britain annually pouring forth fresh supplies of her youth as the dispensers of her parental bounty to the people of India. There are parts of our Indian system which may be expected ever to divide opinion. There are passages in the history of British India, over which the moralist may perhaps pause; and there are omens in its present state, which the political philosopher may perhaps find it hard to decipher. The nature and the circumstances of that empire are too singular to be contemplated by an enlightened and a reflective mind, without a measure of seriousness and of perplexity. England, launched on the scene of India, seems to resemble one of her own vessels traversing the mighty sea which washes that continent. The billows are bright, the skies cloudless, and all ocean appears to crouch beneath 'the meteor-flag' with willing submission. But, while a superficial observer feels only the contagion of the general delight and gayety, the reflections of a deeper spirit are grave even to seriousness. The apparent loneliness and insignificance of the proud yessel amidst such a world of waters; the immeasurable expanse around; the unsounded secrets of the abyss below; the quivering VOL. XVII. NO. XXXIII,

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sensibility of the boundless element to influences uncontrollable by man,-its vast power, magnified by imagination to immensity; the very repose and quietness of such mighty and mysterious strength; and, not least, the recollection that, beneath this smiling surface, lie ingulphed the remains of navies which once displayed their banners as gallantly and prosperously as ourselves;-such considerations as these excite a sentiment in a high degree solemn, profound, and affecting. The application of the image is obvious; yet, whatever doubts or differences of opinion the contemplation of Indian affairs may awaken; whatever sadness in the retrospect, or alarm in the anticipation; the view has one spot too bright not to be observed with a feeling of general and of unmingled satisfac tion. Our past and our still increasing efforts for the happiness of the Indian people,-these constitute at once our hope and our triumph. These are our real glory in the present season of our brightness and prosperity; and, should the monsoon break up and the hurricane arise, these will form our strongest and most abiding anchor. To confirm and to multiply these honourable defences; to furnish ourselves with still deeper holds on the affections of our subjects; to surround ourselves with the safeguards of esteem and benevolence ;-let no endeavours be wanting, no exertions of counsel or of action be left untried; for we may rest assured that by labour alone can such an object be effectually accomplished. The attachment of dependent millions is among the choicest blessings of Heaven; but it is not one of those blessings which Heaven is pleased equally to shower down on the just and the unjust. It is the prize of virtuous toil; the reward exclusively appropriated to a persevering course of careful justice, provident generosity, and laborious beneficence. It is not a tribute to be levied, but a recompense to be earned. If we would, according to the expres sion of the poet, 'read our history in a nation's eyes,' we must first be content to write it in their hearts.

ART. VI. The Round Table: a Collection of Essays on Literature, Men and Manners. By William Hazlitt. Two vols. 12mo. Edinburgh and London. 1817.

WHATEVER may

WHATEVER may have been the preponderating feelings with which we closed these volumes, we will not refuse our acknowledgments to Mr. Hazlitt for a few mirthful sensations which he has enabled us to mingle with the rest, by the hint that his Essays were meant to be in the manner of the Spectator and Tatler.' The passage in which this is conveyed happened to be nearly the last to which we turned; and we were about to rise from the Round Table,' heavily oppressed with a

recollection of vulgar descriptions, silly paradoxes, flat truisms, misty sophistry, broken English, ill humour and rancorous abuse, when we were first informed of the modest pretensions of our host. Our thoughts then reverted with an eager impulse to the urbanity of Addison, his unassuming tone, and clear simplicity; to the ease and softness of his style, to the cheerful benevolence of his heart. The playful gayety too, and the tender feelings of his coadjutor, poor Steele, came forcibly to our memory. The effect of the ludicrous contrast thus presented to us, it would be somewhat difficult to describe. We think that it was akin to what we have felt from the admirable nonchalance with which Liston, in the complex character of a weaver and an ass, seems to throw away all doubt of his being the most accomplished lover in the universe, and receives, as if they were merely his due, the caresses of the fairy Queen.

Amongst the objects which Mr. Hazlitt has thought it worth while, for the good of mankind, to take under his special superintendence, the Manners' of the age have the first place. Nor are we surprised that this topic should have forced itself upon his attention: the circle in which he moved seems to be susceptible of great improvement, if an inference may be drawn from the account which he has given of its principal ornament. He informs us that one of his most pleasant and least tiresome acquaintances is a humourist who has three or four quaint witticisms and proverbial phrases which he always repeats over and over.' He He appears also to have experienced some vile treatment from his intimate friends; as he is induced to protest that he cannot help exclaiming against the gross and villanous trick which some people have when they wish to get rid of their company, of letting their fires go down and their candles run to seed.'* That he has sufficient reasons therefore for directing his talents to the amelioration of manners, there can be no doubt :-the next point of importance is to ascertain the particular class of society upon which his habits of life have enabled him to make, the most accurate observations, and to the improvement of which his labours are most likely to contribute. We are happy to have it in our power to state, that the objects of his most sedulous care are of the softer sex. It is not indeed the sex in general; but it is a highly interesting and amiable part of it—that, namely, which passes under the denomination of washerwomen.' He professes more than once, with a laudable though unnecessary caution, that he is not used to fashionable manners ;' and in perfect conformity with these protestations, he is sparing, even to V. i. pp. 12. 125.

* Vol. ii. 157.

abstemiousness, of all remarks upon gentlemen or gentlewomen: but, to make amends, when he gets amongst the tub-tumbling viragoes,' as he playfully calls them, he is quite at home-his familiar acquaintance with all their ways makes him, in his own language, 'over redundant ; and he dedicates one of his longest essays to a minute account of their appearance, their habits, and their conversation. To abridge this detail would, indeed, be to do it a gross injustice; the whole of it well deserves to be read, or, at least, that highly finished part of it, which begins with How 'drat that Betty' and ends with- Him as has a niece and nevvy as they say eats him out of house and land.'-We shall lay before our readers only one of the author's other pictures of social life, relying upon its being fully sufficient to convince them that this follower of the courtly Addison has opportunities, at least, which his illustrious predecessor' never possessed; and that if he would but tell us all he has seen, we should be secure of obtaining many views of manners which have never yet appeared in print.

Think,' says he, of a blooming girl who is condemned to open her mouth and shut her eyes, and see what heaven in the shape of a mischievous young fellow will send her!-up walks the aforesaid heaven or mischievous young fellow, (young Ouranos, Hesiod would have called him,) and instead of a piece of paper, a thimble, or a cinder, claps into her mouth a peg of orange, or a long slice of citron.'-v: ii. p. 125.

Let us pass from the subjects of Mr. Hazlitt's thoughts, to the style in which they are disclosed, and we shall find, in the first place, many convincing instances of the perfect success with which the freedom from affectation and paradox, so characteristic of Addison, is imitated by his disciple.

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Spleen is the soul of patriotism and of public good.'-v. ii. 79.

The definition of a true patriot is a good hater.'-v. ii. 80.

He who speaks two languages has no country.'-v. i. 238.

If the truth were known, the most disagreeable people are the most amiable.'-v. ii. 75.

Mr. Hazlitt, we should guess, is not quite disinterested in his endeavours to establish the truth of this last valuable apophthegm: and indeed there are many others of the same kind, in the enunciation of which he seems, clearly, to have been influenced by the benefit which he is likely to derive from them.

Few persons who have read the Spectator have ever afterwards forgotten the delightful papers on the Paradise Lost, or those on the Pleasures of the Imagination. In this department, as in others, Mr. Hazlitt is not willing to fall short of his illustrious prede cessor; and accordingly we hear much of poetry, and of painting,

and of music, and of gusto.* Of Hogarth, we are told that he is too apt to perk morals and sentiments in your face, and is over redundant in his combinations.' Of Titian, that the limbs of his female figures have a luxurious softness and delicacy which appear conscious of the pleasure of the beholder.'t Of Vandyke, that 'the impression slides off from the eye, and does not, like the tone of Titian's pencil, leave a sting behind it in the mind of the spectator;'-and finally, that the arts of painting and poetry flow from the sacred shrine of our own breasts, and are kindled at the living lamp of Nature.' Addison and Steele never wrote any thing so fine as this!

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There is one merit which this author possesses besides that of successful imitation-he is a very eminent creator of words and phrases. Amongst a vast variety which have newly started into life, we notice ‘firesider,'' kitcheny,'-'to smooth up,'-' to do off,'--and 'to tiptoe down." To this we add a few of the author's new-born phrases, which bear sufficient marks of a kindred origin to entitle them to a place by their side. Such is the assertion that Spenser was dipt in poetic luxury; the description of a minute coil which clicks in the baking coal;' of a numerousness scattering an individual gusto;' and of curls that are ripe with sunshine.' Our readers are, perhaps, by this time, as much acquainted with the style of this author as they have any desire to be; and their curiosity may have been a little excited to know what the man is. It may be told in two words :--he is a sour Jacobin: a fact which he is so good as to disclose in the following pathetic lamentation over the failure of the French Revolution.

The dawn of that day was overcast: that season of hope is past; it is fled with the other dreams of our youth which we cannot recal, but has left behind it traces which are not to be effaced by birth-day and thanksgiving odes, or the chaunting of Te Deums in all the churches of Christendom. To those hopes eternal regrets are due; to those who maliciously and wilfully blasted them, in the fear that they might be accomplished, we feel no less what we owe, hatred and scorn as lasting !'

As we might expect from this confession of feeling, the waters of bitterness flow around this unhappy person unceasingly. There is nothing in the world which he seems to like, unless we except 'washerwomen ;' for whom he does appear to have some regard. He writes an essay in eager vituperation of 'good nature' and good natured people: he abuses all poets, with the single exception of Milton: he, indeed, 'was an honest man; he was Cromwell's secretary:'

* Here is one of the many definitions of this luminous writer, which possesses in an eminent degree the essential quality of being clearer than the word defined. Essay 29. On Gusto, begins thus: "Gusto, in art, is power or passion defining any object!' V, ii, 22.

1 V. ii. 24.

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