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is perpetually wearied in arranging and unravelling, what, after all the labour bestowed upon it, is always devoid of ingenuity, and fometimes even inconfiftent with itself.

One of his most forcible arguments is, that the subjects of thefe ancient poems were the most unlikely of all others for a forger to have chofen' (153.) Thefe poems, in general, record the defeats of the Britons. This very circumstance Mr Turner, by a strange perversion of intellect, confiders as a proof that they were written by bards who lived at the time of these defeats whereas, moft of his readers, we imagine, will confider it as a strong prefumptive proof that they were written fix centuries after thefe defeats, and not at the very period in which they happened. Mr Turner is of opinion that a forger would not have chofen the difafters and fubjugation of his countrymen for the fubjects of his poems: But what other fubjects could he confiftently have chofen, if he wished his poems to be attributed to bards in the fixth century, at which period it was well known to the contemporaries of the forger, that the bards, if they fung of battles, must have recorded the difgrace and difafters of the Britons? The manner, in which Arthur is fpoken of in these ancient poems, Mr Turner confiders as another proof, that they could not have been written in the twelfth century. According to Mr Turner's own account, it was in the twelfth century that Arthur's fame acquired a gigantic fhape'; and he seems to confider the history of Geoffrey as having firft given it this magnitude. Hence, in direct oppofition to Mr Turner, we would infer, that a forger, of the leaft skill or knowledge, would not reprefent Arthur, in poems which he wished to be attributed to the fixth century, as that romantic and fabulous character, which he was not fuppofed to have been, till the publication of Geoffrey's history.

Among other traits of genuinenefs' in thefe poems, on which Mr Turner defcants for thirty pages, without ever betraying any mark of ingenuity, there is one which we do not hesitate to confider as a ftrong trait of forgery. Merdhin, according to the Welth traditions, was fubject to fits of infanity during the latter part of his life; and, while he was in that fituation, he is faid to have compofed his Avallenau. He retired into a Caledonian wood, in which, at lucid intervals, he deplored his mifery* We fhall pass over the improbability, that fuch a madman would amufe himself with compofing poems; and the much greater improbability, that if he did compofe poems in this Caledonian wood, and uttered

*Turner's Anglo-Saxons, I. 205.

them

them in the hearing of any perfons, they would think the rav ings of a madman worthy of being committed to memory.-We fhall even fuppofe, that thefe circumstances did take place; or that Merdhin, in his lucid intervals, came out of his retirement, and wrote his poems: Surely even Mr Turner's credulity will not defire more from us.-Let us now consider the 'trait of genuineness. In Merdhin's Avallenau, there is alfo much difplay of natural feelings appropriate to his character. The allufion to his infanity is interesting:

I myself am a wild horrible fcreamer

I am pierced with horrors-I am

Covered by no raiment !' p. 192.

We merely ask, is it in the least confiftent with the known character of madmen, that they fhould, in their lucid intervals, fpeak of their calamity? Does not this very paffage, at least, render it very probable that the poem is a forgery? It is much more likely that a forger should be fo forgetful, or fo ignorant of human nature, as to introduce this paffage, than that Merdhin should differ fo effentially from all others in his situation.

When we first read over the divifions of the internal evidence, we were particularly ftruck with the fixth- That the historical allufions of the Welsh bards are true. After having seen in what manner Mr Turner treated the other divifions, our curiofity was excited to examine this important pofition, which certainly affords opportunity for confiderable ingenuity and refearch. But there is not even the semblance of either. At the fame time, we return our thanks to Mr Turner for his conciseness, and for having given his proof fo nearly in a fyllogiftic form, that, by fimply stating the fubftance of it exctly in that form, we can fave our readers from the trouble of following us through a tedious expofition of its weakness.

Geoffrey is efteemed by the world a "fabler:

But the Welsh bards are very unlike Geoffrey, and sometimes contradict him:

Therefore, the poems of the Welsh bards are genuine and au thentic. (199.)

The entire filence of the Saxon Chronicle refpecting all the battles recorded by the Welsh bards, especially the battle of Cattereth, which is reprefented, in the Gododin, as having been fo extremely fatal to the Britons, that of the three hundred and fixty-three nobles who were engaged, only three furvived it,and the mention, in that Chronicle, of battles, not nearly fo deftructive or disgraceful to the Britons, which were fought in the fame century, prefent a formidable objection to the genuineness of the poems, which Mr Turner has not even noticed,

In p. 250, Mr Turner confiders the chief objections urged against these poems. It is not our intention to examine his replies feparately or minutely. With regard to the first objection, that rime was not known to Europe in the fixth century, and therefore these rimed Welsh poems could not have been compofed at that period,' we never confidered it as decifive, or even very formidable; fince rime may have existed in the Welsh fome centuries before it had been attempted in other languages, especially in the languages of thofe nations which were unconnected with the Welth. Mr Turner, however, has enumerated eleven authors, between the fixth century and the ninth, in whofe writings rime occurs; and has traced it back even to St Austin, in the fourth century. If the objection from the ufe of rime by the Welsh bards be stated in another form, we think it would be much more powerful. There are extant two poems in the Anglo-Saxon; one written by Cadmon, in the feventh century; the other anonymous, compofed in the tenth, on the battle of Brunanburgh; † neither of which exhibits any appearance

We have carefully examined Mr Turner's two effays on the early ufe of the rime in the Archæologia, (vol. XIV. 168-204.), to which he refers, p. 251. They confirm the opinion, that rime originated with the monks; and that it was transferred from their Latin poems into the modern languages. If the Latin borrowed it from the Gothic or Celtic, as Mr Turner fuppofes, how fhall we account for its existence in the Latin poems of Aldheim, A. D. 700, an Anglo-Saxon bishop; whereas, two centuries afterwards, it is not found in the fong, written in the vernacular tongue, on a popular fubject, the Battle of Brunanburgh? It is fo extremely difficult to avoid rime in the Latin language, from the numerous correfponding terminations of its nouns and verbs, that, inftead of considering the few inftances produced by Mr Turner in his fecond effay, as intentional, we are aftonished at the extreme care which the claffical writer muft have taken to prevent the frequent recurrence of rime. But, as the monks were utterly devoid of taste, and exceffively indolent, they would confider the facility of riming, which the Latin language prefented to them, as a beauty and an advantage; and accordingly fubftitute it, inftead of inverfion and metrical feet. The rimes, of which modern languages are fufceptible, are comparatively fo few, that it is very improbable that this mode of compofition originated in them. They are continued in modern languages, not, as Mr Turner maintains, becaufe they are natural to them, but because they produce greater fatisfaction from being lefs eafy and obvious. Laing's Scotland, 1. 525.

There are three copies of Cadmon's poem-in Hickes Thefaur. 1. 197.-Whelock's Anglo-Saxon Bede, p. 597.--and in Wanley's

and our review of the volumes now before us, will furnish at once a proof of our eagerness to find out fomething worthy of notice in this favourite line of exertion, and a new inftance of most unmingled difappointment. Thus much it was necessary to premife, as an apology for making fuch a work the subject of an article.

The letters of Mr William Hunter to his fifter Eliza, exceed, in a confiderable degree, the average dulnefs of this popular fpecies of compofition, even if we include in our estimate the manufcript fpecimens which it has been our lot to perufe. The two or three first epiftles are quite fufficient to correct any hopes of amufement which the reader of the title-page may unwarily have formed. He foon finks into a kind of unvaried reverie, like that produced by the conftant and uniform repetition of any heavy found;-in this he is not even disturbed by any very striking dif cord;-he continues turning over page after page, to the number of near a thousand, without finding a fingle interruption of his repofe. The author is a fafe and fmooth goer; he avoids giving the smallest variety either of pleasure or pain; he maintains this happy medium with inimitable dexterity; and, after the lapfe of a certain time, the reader finds himself happily arrived at the end of his journey, without the recollection even of a jolt, which might remind him of the talk he has performed. Such, at leaft, was the unruffled ftate of mind in which we firft paffed over this work; all our efforts of critical vigilance could only ward off total fleep. In spite of our utmost attention, we could not avoid that minor fort of trance into which Mr Hunter has the fecret of plunging his victims; and we gave way, after fome ineffectual ftruggles, to the uncommon powers of this most skilful magnetifer. Our cu riofity was, however, not unnaturally excited to discover the myfterious charm which he fo evidently was in poffeffion of. We therefore fubmitted once more to his operations; and are now fo far acquainted with the fecret of his art, that we can venture to difclofe it with fome confidence, both for the benefit of future authors and for the warning of our readers.

And, first of all, the practitioner of this new art finds it proper to obtain a due portion of cuftomers. For this end, it is fitting that he fhould entice the paffenger by his fign-poft; and as it is of the very nature of figns to have no fort of refemblance to the thing fignified, fo he depicts, on the outfet, not the fare which the paffenger fhall find within, but that which may tempt him most readily to enter. Thus, as the head of the Grand Turk, and, ftill more, the words neat wines,' are in nowife defcriptive of the liquors which fuch devices are meant to represent, fo is the name of Mr Hunter's article very far diftant from convey

ing any foretafte of its true nature or object. The unwary pasfenger fees written, in great characters, Travels in France during the heat of the Revolution,' &c. with a head of the Grand Seignior; he buys; and ftraightway begins to turn over a few leaves. Left, however, the deception fhould too fuddenly be perceived, and the drug not taken in a fufficient dofe, it is covered over with fuch devices as the following-which excite a little attention by the obfcurity of their meaning, or at least tend to keep up the appearance.

I do not propofe to bind myself down by any fixed rules. My digreffions will probably be numerous; and, as my inclination prompts me, I may yield to the dictates of reafon, or indulge in the fpeculations of conjecture, or be feduced by the allurements of imagination. If this plan be defultory, I have only fketched it out, because I conceive that it will afford you more entertainment than any other; for there is an irrefiftible charm in variety, which carries the feelings lightly along 'and fo forth. I. 3.

By fuch means the reader is enticed, and submits himself to the farther operations of the fpell, which very fpeedily begin to be felt.

The great fecret of Mr Hunter's art confifts in avoiding every thing which may in the smalleft degree disturb the repofe of his reader by exciting emotions of any fort; and this he chiefly accomplishes, by curiously felecting all thofe incidents which are of the most ordinary recurrence, mixing them up with fuch remarks as are equally plain, and interfperfing them with long difcuffions, to prove what is either intuitively true, or intuitively falfe; thus, in both cafes, contriving to render any exertion of intellect as unneceffary in us, as it would be impoffible in him. For thefe ends, he justly confiders that the most familiar actions of a man's life are eating and fleeping at the stated times; and that when a perfon travels, the moft ordinary occupation is that of moving from one place to another; fetting off at a cer tain hour of the morning, and arriving at a particular hour in the evening; and, it may be, paying the expence incurred. Extending fomewhat further his views of human affairs, he finds that provifions are either good, or bad, or indifferent; that the fame general obfervation applies alfo to beds; and that all thefe objects may likewife be diftinguifhed by another principle of claffification derived from attending to their prices. From this view of the fubject, the tranfition is eafy to roads and ferries, including tolls and bridges, with the acceflory matter of horfes and carriages. The fame love of generalizing, leads him to a contemplation of the works of nature; and he furveys, with an accurate and difcriminating eye, the whole ftate of the wea

VOL. IV. NO. 7.

ther,

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