Alike presides, that strews the cottage board, Is sown, till all the land, made rich, and warm, And, holding each a willing subject, bind In social union all. O'er other realms Why spreads destruction round? Why, hopeless, mourns Syria her plague-engendering marshes, where, In better days, was sun-burnt Autumn wont Το pour his treasures forth !---Thou art not there, To bid the wild be green, the fen be gay, The sand be fertile, and the man be man!. On some other occasion, it is possible, I may enter into a critical examination of the style, the sentiments, and the tendency of the third canto, which, in morality, is chaste; in good sense striking; and in poetry, with some exceptions, worthy of much praise. The author has dedicated his work to Lord Sheffield, and where could he have found a nobleman more worthy of the offering? The language of the dedication, however, is untinctured with flattery. It is an oblation, as I think, brought to the altar of public spirit by the hand of respect and truth. COWPERIANA. No. I. MR. EDITOR, THE appearance of a third volume of Cowper's Letters, having again attracted the public attention towards the Poet of Christianity-the Monitor of the World-titles bestowed upon our moral bard, with an endearing propriety, by the pen of his affectionate biographer; in order to render the latter of these titles still more appropriate, I propose to enrich your widely-circulated miscellany with a series of interesting extracts from the epistolary writings of the author of the Task, conceiving that some of them may serve as an amulet for the bosom, and others as a phylactery for the mind. Yours, &c, SK "Quick is the succession of human events. The cares of to-day are seldom the cares of to-morrow, and when we lie down at night, we may safely say, to most of our troubles-' ye have done your worst, and we shall meet no more."" "Delicacy makes some men groan under that, which other men never feel, or feel but lightly. A fly that settles upon the tip of the nose, is troublesome; and this is a comparison adequate to the most, that mankind in general are sensible of, upon such tiny occasions. But the flies that pester you, always get between your eyelids, where the annoyance is almost insupportable." "Men of lively imaginations are not often remarkable for solidity of judgment. They have generally strong passions to bias it, · and are led far away from their proper road, in pursuit of pretty phantoms of their own creating." "Excellence is providentially placed beyond the reach of indolence, that success may be the reward of industry, and that idleness may be punished with obscurity and disgrace.” "Did man foresee what is always foreseen, by him who dictates what he supposes to be his own, he would suffer by anticipation, as well as by consequence; and wish, perhaps, as ardently for the happy ignorance, to which he is at present so much indebted, as some have foolishly and inconsiderately done, for a knowledge that would be but another name for misery.” 3 AVOL. XVII, "The sword of slander, like that of war, devours one as well as another; and a blameless character is particularly delicious to its unsparing appetite." "Extreme bashfulness has made many a man uncomfortable for life; and ruined not a few; by forcing them into mean and dishonourable company, where only they could be free and cheerful." "Men of a rough and unsparing address, should take great care that they be always in the right; the justness and propriety of their sentiments and censures, being the only tolerable apology that can be made for such a conduct, especially in a country where civility of behaviour is inculcated even from the cradle." "Every extraordinary occurrence in our lives affords us an opportunity to learn, if we will, something more of our own hearts and tempers, than we were before aware of. It is easy to promise ourselves before hand, that our conduct shall be wise, or moderate, or resolute, on any given occasion: but when that occasion occurs, we do not always find it easy to make good the promise: such a difference there is between theory and practice." "It is a sort of paradox, but it is true: we are never more in danger than when we think ourselves most secure, nor in reality more secure, than when we seem, perhaps, to be most in danger." "The dread of a bold censure is ten times more moving than the most eloquent persuasion: they that cannot feel for others, are the persons of all the world who feel most sensibly for themselves." "Every scene of life has two sides; a dark and a bright one, and the mind that has an equal mixture of melancholy and vivacity, is best of all qualified for the contemplation of either." "No man was ever scolded out of his sins. The heart, corrupt as it is, and because it is, grows angry if it be not treated with some management and good manners, and scolds again. A surly mastiff will bear, perhaps, to be stroked, though he will growl even under that operation, but if you touch him roughly, he will bite. Warmth of temper, indulged to a degree that may be called scolding, defeats the end of preaching." "The wisdom of some men has a droll sort of knavishness in it, much like that of the magpie, who hides what he finds with a deal of contrivance, merely for the pleasure of doing it." "A modest man, however able, has always some reason to distrust himself upon extraordinary occasions. Nothing is so apt to betray us into absurdity, as too great a dread of it; and the appli 1 cation of more strength than enough, is sometimes as fatal as too little." "In all cases where we suffer by an injurious and unreasonable attack, and can justify our conduct by a plain and simple narrative, truth itself seems a satire; because, by implication at least, it con victs our adversaries of the want of charity and candour." "Those events that prove the prelude to our greatest success, are often apparently trivial in themselves, and such as seemed to promise nothing; the diappointment that Horace mentions, is re versed we design a mug, and it proves an hogshead." "Fame begets favor, and one talent, if it be rubbed a little bright by use and practice, will procure a man more friends than a thousand virtues." I [To be continued.]. MR. HORNE TOOKE'S DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY. MR. EDITOR, WISH I could by any means, and I know of none more hopeful than your Mirror, be instrumental in urging Mr. Horne Tooke to the prosecution of his Diversions of Purley*, which, indeed, I had warm expectations of seeing completed the sooner, as the exercise of that gentleman's transcendent talents to, enlighten as well as divert us, had been, in the political sphere, so unaccountably proscribed. I shall not expatiate, here, on the acuteness and ingenuity generally displayed in the work to which I refer; but presuming that Mr. Tooke's temper would better relish rational controversy than implicit adulation, I shall, in compliment to him, attempt a confutation of one of his positions, or rather his mode of maintaining that position. Mr. Tooke says, (page 366) that Dr. Lowth's corrections in the following instances, from Swift and Dryden, are misplaced. "He accused the minister for betraying the Dutch." where, instead of for, Doctor Lowth asserts of should have been written. But no, says Mr. Tooke, for the meaning of these paspassages is Betraying the Dutch } Cause of the accusation. * We have the satisfaction to acquaint our correspondent, and the public, that the second volume of this interesting work is likely very soon to make its appearance. Now, surely, Swift's intention was not to set forth the cause of accusation, but to urge the accusation itself; it was not because the minister betrayed the Dutch, that they were accused; but betraying the Dutch was the specific accusation. Suppose a robber should take my purse, and afterwards treat me with personal violence or insult; my gold I might disregard, but the violence induces me to prosecute the ruffian; in this case, I do not accuse him for taking my purse, but I accuse him of taking my purse; and I do not accuse him of insulting or maiming me, but I accuse him for maiming or insulting me; i. e. because he maimed or insulted me, not because he robbed me, I accuse him. In like manner, Dryden's sense required that of should take the place of for "luxuriancy of verse" being the specific charge, not the motive or cause of accusation. An example in Mr. Tooke's own way. "A governor of India is supposed to have played, in his administration, some foul pranks, which yet, while the Company's affairs went prosperously on, would never have been looked into, if one Edmond had not happened to take offence at his kinsman William's being displaced, in Bengal; but the displacing William being an act of indisputable right, in the governor, it was clear no complaint on that score could formally be preferred; nevertheless it was with Edmond a sufficient cause for accusation, and though he would not venture to impeach the governor for the exercise of a fair and legal prerogative, he recollected certain other transactions, of a criminal complexion, on which he might proceed; such as the arbitrary seizure of the Begum's revenues; the putting to death a native prince, upon an impudent application to him of the English laws of forgery, because he would not learn to bow, after the European fashion, to the said governor, &c. not one of which charges would ever have been produced, if William had been suffered to keep his place: and thus the governor was accused by Edmond, not for rifling the Beguins or hanging Nundocomar, for none nor all of whom the accuser really cared a button, but of rifling the Begums, of hanging Nundocomar: and he was accused by Edmond, not of displacing William, a servant of the government, which would have been ridi» culous, but for displacing William, who was Edmond's kinsman, i. e. because William was displaced, not because the Begums were rifled, or Nundocomar was hanged, the governor was accused." J. H.SEYMOUR. |