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(such as histories of Jenny and Tommy,of dolls and tops) though very useful as lessons, had not enough of the marvellous to arrest the attention to the degree necessary for amusement. These considerations led me to tell my little girl the following stories, which I found to amuse her in a very high degree, without having any of the disadvantages which result from relations merely fictitious. My principal object was not to instruct but to amuse, and I therefore did not attempt any thing like a course of history; but as I have, in general, adhered to historical fact, and departed from it only (when history was doubtful or silent) in favour of some popular prejudices, whatever lasting impression may be made on the young mind, will be, on the whole, consistent with truth, and conducive to its further and more substantial improvement."

As a specimen of the happy manner in which our author unites the utmost elegance of language, with that simplicity which adapts itself to the tenderest years, we select his story of Wat Tyler:

WAT TYLER.

Richard II. born 1366.-Died 1399.Reigned 22 years. "There are often great riots in England, which are sometimes very dangerous, for when mobs assemble, nobody knows what such a great crowd of foolish ignorant people may do but one time, about four hundred years ago, there happened the most dangerous riots that ever were known, for all the country people armed themselves with clubs, and staves, and scythes, and pitchforks, and they rose in such great numbers that they drove away all the king's soldiers, and got possession of the city of

London.

"The chief leaders of this mob were not gentlemen nor soldiers, but common peasants and tradesmen, who were called after the names of their trades, Wat Tyler, Hob Carter, and Tom Miller; and as these fellows could neither read nor write, and were poor ignorant wretches, they took a great hatred to all gentlemen, and every body who could read and write, and they put some of them to death; and the whole city was kept for several days in the greatest confusion and danger, and all quict honest people

were afraid for their lives.

"The king at this time was called Richard, not Cœur De Lion,-but another king Richard, who was called Richard the Second. He was the grandson of Edward the Third; but he was neither so wise nor so fortunate as his grandfather, who was a great king. Richard was very young, not more than seventeen years old, and it is not surprising that he hardly knew how to stop the proceedings of this riotous mob; for his soldiers were driven away, many of his ministers were put to death, and the rest of them were forced to fly.

"At last the king thought it best to go and meet the mob, and hear what they had to say. So he went with the lord mayor, and a few other lords and gentlemen, to a place called Smithfield, where the mob were encamped as if they had been an army. When Wat Tyler, who was their chief leader, saw the young king coming, he advanced to meet him, and then they began to talk and dispute together; but at length Wat Tyler was so insolent to the king, that his conduct was not to be borne; and although it was in sight of his own army, the lord mayor of London had the courage to strike him down with his mace, and then the other gentlemen put Wat Tyler immediately to death.

"The rioters seeing Wat Tyler, their leader, fall, prepared to revenge themselves on the king and his party; and the whole, even the king himself, would undoubtedly have been murdered on the spot, but that by his own courage; for when he saw the Richard, young as he was, saved them all mob so furious, instead of seeming frightened, he rode up to them alone, and said to them, in a good-humoured manner, • What is the matter, my good people? Are you angry that you have lost your leader? I am your king, and I will be your leader myself."

"The mob was astonished and overawed by the king's courage, and they immediately obeyed him, and followed him out into the fields; for the king was glad to get them out of the city where they were committing all manner of mischief.

"When he had them in the fields, he had such a strong guard of his own soldiers that he was no longer afraid of the rioters. So he commanded them all to disband, and go quietly to their own houses; which accordingly they immediately did, and not a life was lost after the death of Wat Tyler, who very well deserved his fate for his rebellion against the king, and for all the mischief and murders that his rebellion had occasioned."

We rather think this story may be read with advantage at present by children of a larger growth-as we certainly did not expect that Wat Tyler would have been held up as a patriot even to a have not room for further extracts, Spafields mob. We regret that we "The Murder in the Tower," in particular, is very affectingly told. But the specimen we have already quoted will render it quite superfluous for us to say one word more in praise of this excellent little work, which we have no doubt will soon form a part of every juvenile library; and we can assure the distinguished author, from our own experience, that these storieshave been as "successful in other families as they have been in his own."

PERIODICAL WORKS.

THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. No 54, 1. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto the Third, and The Prisoner of Chillon, and other Poems. By LORD BYRON. -In this article the Reviewers do not confine themselves altogether to these two publications, but the Corsair being the last work of Lord Byron of which they had given a particular account, they introduce their examination of the present works by notices of Lara, The Siege of Corinth, and other intermediate pieces. This Third Canto of Childe Harold, the Reviewers are persuaded, will not be pronounced inferior to either of the former; and they think that it will probably be ranked above them by those who have been most delighted with the whole. Of The Prisoner of Chillon they speak in the language of praise; but the rest of the poems are said to be less amiable, and most of them, the Reviewers fear, have a personal and not very charitable application.

2. A Letter to the Roman Catholic Priests of Ireland, on the expediency of reviving the Canomical mode of electing Bishops by Dean and Chapter, &c. By C. O.-There is no further notice of the book or its author. It is a dissertation on the Catholic question, in which the Reviewer endeavours to show that no securities whatever should be required from the Catholics as the condition of their emancipation.

3. Defence of Usury: showing the impolicy of the present legal restraints on the terms of pecuniary bargains, in Letters to a Friend. To which is added, a letter to Adam Smith, Esq. L. L. D. on the discouragements opposed by the above restraints to the progress of inventive industry. The third edition: to which is also added, second edition, a Protest against Law Taxes. By JEREMY BENTHAM, Esq. of Lincoln's Inn.-In this article the Reviewer begins with examining the reasons that have been urged in defence of the usury laws, and finds that they produce none of the good which they pretend to have in view; and then proceeds to point out the mischiefs which they create in all directions. These VOL. I.

laws are considered to be also insufficient, and inconsistent with their avowed purposes, as they allow of transactions substantially usurious. The penalties imposed upon all who assist suitors in courts of justice, with the means of enforcing their rights, stipulating for a certain premium, which the law of England denominates maintenance and champerty, are reprobated as the growth of a barbarous age; and a very strong case is extracted from Mr Bentham's treatise to show the ruinous consequences of this law to needy suitors. The repeal of the usury laws, however, is held to be imprudent, at this particular crisis, as "all persons now owing money would inevitably have their creditors coming upon them for payment." It is to be wished the Reviewer had taken into consideration the effects which this repeal might produce upon the terms of loans to government, and upon the price of the public funds.-The Protest against Law Taxes is highly extolled. The privilege of sueing in forma pauperis is shown to be of little value. Stamps on law proceedings are censured; and the vulgar argument, that such taxes operate as a check to litigation, is said to be "triumphantly refuted" by Mr Bentham.

4. Wesentliche Betrachtungen oder Geschichte des Krieges Zwischen den Osmanen und Russen in den Jahren 1768 bis 1774, von RESMI ACHMED EFENDI, aus dem Türkischen übersetzt und durch Anmerkungen erlärdert von HEINRICH FRIEDRICH VON DIEZ.This book is a history of the war between Russia and the Ottoman Porte, in the years 1768-1774, originally written in Turkish by Resmi Achmed Efendi, and translated into German by M. Von Diez. The Reviewer has contrived, by the playfulness and pleasantry of his style, to render this short article very amusing. The work itself, he says, is dull enough in all conscience, but it is a literary curiosity.

5. National Difficulties practically explained, and Remedies proposed as certain, speedy, and effectual, for the relief of all our present embarrassments. The questions proposed for discus

L

sion in this article are, 1st, In what manner were the people of this country, who are now idle, formerly employed? The substance of the answer is, that foreign trade was "the source from which employment flowed to all classes of her industrious inhabitants."-2d, By what means were they deprived of this employment? The answer is, that this commerce was suddenly pent up, partly by a train of ill concerted measures at home, and partly by the policy of the enemy abroad, within the narrow bounds of the British territory. "We sought to ruin the enemy's trade, and we have succeeded in ruining our own." -And, 3d, Whether there is any probability that it (employment) ever will be regained? This is the most important question. "We have no proof," the Reviewer says, "that the consumption of our manufactures, either in Europe or in America, has fallen off." Our error has been in overstocking these markets; but the goods will be consumed, and trade revive. The most important of the other causes of the distress which prevails are, the decline of agriculture, and the increase of taxation.

6. The Works of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and of Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder. Edited by GEORGE FREDERICK NOTT, D. D. F.S. A. late Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. For one of these quartos, that which contains the works of the Earl of Surrey, the Reviewers are inclined to make every allowance, and to muster up every thing favourable; but Sir Thomas Wyatt "was in no true sense of the word a poet;" and as their object is to consider poets and poetry, they take leave of him at once. This article contains a summary of the Life of the Earl of Surrey, and a critique on his poetry. "We see not the slightest ground," say the Reviewers, "for depriving Chaucer, in any one respect, of his title of Father of English Poetry," and " we are heartily ready to allow that Surrey well deserves that of the eldest son, however he was surpassed by the brothers that immediately followed him."

7. Narrative of a Journey in Egypt, and the Country beyond the Cataracts. By THOMAS LEGH, Esq. M.P.-The Reviewers speak well of this work.After accompanying Mr Legh on his journey, and extracting a very interesting part of the narrative, they con

clude with some account of the Wahabees of Arabia, chiefly taken from the Travels of Ali Bey.

8. The Statesman's Manual; or the Bible the best Guide to Political skill and foresight; a Lay Sermon, addressed to the higher classes of Society; with an Appendix. By S. T. COLERIDGE, Esq.-This article abounds in ridicule and metaphor as well as in argument. If any one delights in seeing a poor author cut up, he must be amply gratified by this indignant and scornful performance.

9. Letters from St Helena. By WILLIAM WARDEN, Surgeon on board the Northumberland.—The Reviewers point out some mistakes in Mr Warden's historical recollections, but observe, "that there is an air of plainness and sincerity in his account of what he saw and heard, that recommends it strongly to the confidence of his readers." Only a small portion of the article is devoted to Mr Warden's book. The greater part is occupied "with a short and general view of the public and political life of Napoleon, with such facts and anecdotes interspersed, as have been furnished to us, on good authority, from persons familiarly connected with him at different periods of his fortune, or obtained from some of our countrymen, who saw and conversed with him during his residence in the Isle of Elba." This delectable compilation would have done honour to M. Bertrand himself. It is

distinguished throughout by an exaggerated representation of what is praise-worthy in the character and conduct of Napoleon, and, what is infinitely worse, by a palpable anxiety to apologize for his greatest enormities.

10. Della Patria di Cristoforo Colombo. Dissertazione pubblicata nelle Memorie dell' Accademia Imperiale delle Scienze di Torino. Restampata con Quinte, Documenti, Lettere diverse, &c. and Regionamento nel Quale si conforma l'Opinion Generale intorno alla Patria di Cristoforo Colombo,-Presentato all' Accademia delle Scienze, Lettere, e Arti di Genova, Nell' Adunanza del di 16. Decembre 1812, dagli Accademici Serra, Carrega e Piag gio.-The object of the first of these works is to prove that Columbus was a Piedmontese, and of the latter, that, as has been generally held, he was a Genoese. The Reviewers are of this last opinion. To this discussion is

subjoined a most interesting letter, written by Columbus upon his return from the first voyage in which he discovered the New World, and despatched from Lisbon, where he landed, to one of the Spanish king's council. It has been almost entirely overlooked by historians.

11. Statements respecting the East India College, with an Appeal to facts, in refutation of the charges lately brought against it in the Court of Proprietors. By the REV. T. R. MALTHUS, &c. Mr Malthus and the Reviewers, alter et idem perhaps, agree in thinking that some sort of instruction is really desirable for the future Judges and Magistrates of India, and this indeed is a point tolerably well proved, though not till after a good deal of time and labour has been employed about it. But whether the College at Hertford be the very best institution for the purpose is not quite so clear. The arguments in defence of it are of too general a nature, and the "disturbances" on which the objection to it rests, too slightly noticed, to enable the public to come to any decided opinion, without having access to information of a more definite and tangible character.

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. No 31. 1. Narrative of a Journey in Egypt and the Country beyond the Cataracts. By THOMAS LEGH, Esq. M. P.-"On the present occasion," say the Reviewers," we have nothing to find fault with but the omissions." Mr Legh may rejoice that he has escaped so well from the ordeal of these opposite Courts of Criticism.

2. Counsellor PHILLIPS's Poems and Speeches. Mr Phillips's sins against good taste are not a little aggravated in the eyes of these Reviewers by his political opinions.

3. A Treatise on the Records of the Creation, and on the Moral Attributes of the Creator, with particular reference to the Jewish History, and to the consistency of the principle of population with the Wisdom and Goodness of the Deity. By JOHN BIRD SUMNER, M. A.-Mr Burnett, a gentleman of Aberdeenshire, bequeathed a sum to be set apart till it should accumulate to £1600, which was then to be given to the authors of the two best Essays on the subject of Mr Sumner's book, to the first in merit, £1200, and to the

second, £400. The second prize was assigned to Mr Sumner, of whose Treatise the Reviewers present a pretty full, and apparently an impartial, examination in this interesting article. Their observations on the principle of population lead to conclusions very different from those of Mr Malthus, and are, we hope, better supported by history and experience.

4. A Voyage round the World, from 1806 to 1812; in which Japan, Kamschatka, the Aleutian Islands, and the Sandwich Islands, were visited, &c. By ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL.-Campbell is a poor young sailor, who had lost both feet, and was found by Mr Smith, the Editor of the volume, in one of the steam boats that ply on the Clyde, playing on the violin for the amusement of the passengers. "The hope that an account of his voyage might be of service to an unfortunate and deserving man, and not unacceptable to those who take pleasure in contemplating the progress of mankind in the arts of civilization, gave rise to the present publication." The book itself contains much that is curious, and adds not a little to our still very imperfect knowledge of the remote regions visited by the author.

5. Shakespeare's Himself again! &c. By ANDREW BECKET.-An article full of irony and banter, apparently a well deserved chastisement of this unfortunate commentator.

6. Tracts on Saving Banks.-There is a great deal of information about those banks collected in this article, but the Reviewer is too zealous and too sanguine to perceive the inconveniencies which must be felt from adopting the plans of Mr Duncan ; and, while he bestows well-merited praise on the benevolent exertions of this gentleman, we think that he hardly does justice to some of the other fellow labourers.

7. Cowper's Poems and Life. The third volume of the poems, edited by John Johnson, LL.D., the first work embraced by this Review, is considered as decidedly inferior to its predecessors. The other two treatises are memoirs, said to be written by Cowper himself, and never before published. From what we see of them here, the only subject of regret is, that they should ever have been published at all. The article contains a general character of Cowper's poetry and letters.

8. A Sketch of the British Fur Trade in North America, with Observations relative to the North-west Company of Montreal. By the EARL of SELKIRK and Voyage de la Mer Atlantique a' l'Ocean Pacifique par le Nord-ouest dans la Mer Glaciale; par le Capitaine Laurent Ferrer Maldonado l'an 1588. Nouvellement traduit, &c. Lord Selkirk, some years ago, attempted to divert the tide of emigration from the Highlands of Scotland to the Unit ed States, and turn it to Prince Edward's Island, within the territories of Great Britain. More lately, his views of colonization seem to have become more extensive; and having purchased about a third part of the stock of the Hudson's Bay Company, he obtained from their governors a grant of a wide extent of country, held, or supposed to be held, under their charter, of which he proceeded to take possession. The settlers on this tract have been molested, it appears, by the servants of the North-west Company, between which and the Hudson's Bay Company there had long subsisted a deadly feud; and some very extraordinary proceedings are understood to have taken place on both sides. According to Lord Selkirk, the fur trade is not in the best hands, nor carried on in a very honourable manner. The North-west Company is pointedly accused, indeed, of great violence and injustice, for which, as the law at present stands, it is extremely difficult, or altogether impossible, to call its servants to account. Of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Reviewers do not think so well as Lord Selkirk does. The rest of this article, and that which is of a far deeper interest, relates to the North-west passage. The relation of Maldonado's voyage is held to be a clumsy and audacious forgery. The Reviewers firmly believe, however, that a navigable passage from the Atlantic to the pacifie, round the northern coast of America, does exist, and may be of no difficult execution. In support of this opinion, they proceed to examine the various unsuccessful attempts that have been made at different periods. No human being, they say, has yet approached the coast of America on the eastern side, from 664° to 72°, and here it is thought the passage may be found. 9. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto III.; and the Prisoner of Chillon, and other Poems. By LORD BYRON. -If the heart of Lord Byron be not

dead to every emotion of pleasure and gratitude, this article must stir up these feelings in no common degree. The Reviewer displays throughout, not only the powers of a poet and of a critic of the highest order, but the delicacy and solicitude of a friend, without, however, shutting his eyes to the ec centricities and misjudged exhibitions of this lugubrious and indignant misanthrope. There are one or two digressions in it somewhat curious, for they may be thought to identify the Reviewer,-upon much the same grounds as Childe Harold has been supposed to speak the sentiments of Lord Byron. In the first, he disputes the proposition, that rapidity of composition and publication endangers the fame of an author of great talents. A little after it is stated, as an axiom, that " every author should, like Lord Byron, form to himself, and commu nicate to the reader, a precise, defined, and distinct view of the landscape, sentiment, or action, which he intends to describe to the reader." Lord Byron's political opinions, of course, meet with no favour; but his sins of omission, as well as commission, though pointed out in forcible language, do not call forth those expressions of contumely and bitterness, which so often disgrace the subalterns in political hostilities. There is something very serious, or, so different are peoples' tastes, perhaps amusing, at the conclusion of this article. It is impossible not to see in it the goodness of the writer's heart, though we make no doubt that others may pretend to discover also a slight infusion of amiable simplicity. For our own parts, we cannot help suspecting that there is a reasonable portion of affectation in some of Lord Byron's dolorous verses; and that to treat him like a spoilt child will not have much efficacy in removing the complaint. If any one should hereafter think it necessary, in order to establish his superiority of talent, to begin with distinguishing himself in the circles of vice and folly, despising the restraints to which ordinary mortals have agreed to submit, he may be led to doubt of the certainty of this mode of proving his claim, when he is assured, that the moral and religious regimen, here prescribed to Lord Byvon, has been very faithfully observed, both in the private and public life of Several of the most distinguished writers of the present age.

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