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"Fair the graceful lily blows,

Scenting the soft breeze of morn,
And the beauteous pink and rose
June's Elysian robe adorn.

A Satirical View of London; comprehending a Sketch of the Manners of the Age. By John Corry. 2nd Edit. London. 1803.

THIS is the second edition of a work which we have already noticed with approbation, but the present impression is so much improved, that it seemed to claim this brief notification. At the same time, we are induced to give a short extract, for the profitable perusal of our fair country-women.

"The female habit ought neither to be so light as to give the wearer the appearance of a paper kite, subject to be carried away by every sudden gust; nor so warm as to remind us of the cllmate of Russia or Lapland. Simplicity of dress is, like modesty of manners, the handmaid of grace. Gorgeous ornaments distract the imagination of the observer; and the wearer, like the silk-worm, is hid amid her own magnificence: but a decent garh, adjusted to the elegant contour of the female form, concealing those beauties that would obtrusively force themselves upon our observation, and harmonising with a virtuous mind; this is the dress that we should recommend to the fair sex, and which, combined with a modest demeanour, is more attractive than the cestus of Venus; can render even beauty more amiable, impress the idea of angelic perfection and innocence on the mind of the beholder, and compel us to reverence virtue, thus personified in woman.”

Mr. C. is every where severe, though not more so, perhaps, than the subject deserves, against the advertising quacks of the present day; and after citing a case of empirical homicide, in which the plaintiff, a merchant's clerk, obtained a verdict, with four hundred pounds damages, he proceeds to say:

"If the present legislature will exercise its authority in the total suppression of this most iniquitous traffic, in less than seven years hence, the names of Brodum, Solomon, Perkins, Swainson, Gardner, Senate, Bree, and the whole tribe of medical impostors, will be forgotten, or only mentioned with contempt and execration,"

The Parish Church. A Discourse, occasioned by a Vacancy in the Cure of St. Mary, Aldermanbury, September 19; with Notes and Clericas, on Qui Tam. Respectfully dedicated to the Society for the Suppression of Vice. By John Moir, M. 4. 820. pp 71. 1802.

To the learned and amiable author of this excellent discourse, the public is obliged for many valuable works, which tend eminently to correct the morals, and amend the heart.

"I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness," are the words of the psalmist, which the pious divine hath chosen as the foundation of this elabo rate sermon; and on no occasion have we perused a more friendly. and soothing admonition. The notes are really curious, and the whole Lecture, both from the nature of the subject, and the excelits composition, will be found peculiarly interesting.

The Museum of Wit; or, a Collection of Anecdotes, Bon Mots, Observations, &c. of the most distinguished Characters. To which are added several curious Compositions, selected by A-—C—. 16mo. 1802.

THIS Jest Book hath been produced by infinite labour, and a considerable share of taste. The stories are admirable, and many very excellent bon mots are new to us.

The Vale of Conway. A Novel. By a Lady. 4 Vols. 12mo. 1803.

THIS novel is the production of genius and of fancy; the story is well connected; the incidents are probable, and indeed dramatic. The author seems well read in the book of life, and hath profited by her experience.

We freely and conscientiously recommend "the Vale of Conway," as a work very superior in the scale of novels.

The History of Nourjahad. By Mrs. Sheridan. Author of Sidney Bidulph, &c. To which, for the first Time, is prefixed, a genuine Account of the Author. 12mo. Parry. Dublin. 1802.

THE History of Nourjahad is familiar to every body, but the genuine Account of the fair Author is little known. The works of Mr. Samuel White, of Dublin, so well known for his various literary effusions, and kind and benevolent disposition, supplied the memoir which accompanies this volume, and it is worthy the perusal of the public.

The Cambrian Biography: or Historical Notices of celebrated Men among the ancient Britons. By W. Owen. F. A. S. 12mo. 75. 6d. Williams. Strand 1803.

THIS is an age in which the lives of eminent men are contemplated with considerable interest, and one regrets that, as far as relates to the ancient Britons, there is so much barrenness in this department of literature. Mr. Owen, however, has, with great labour, laid the foundation for an extensive book on the subject. We regret he has not himself chosen to extend his materials. The pure style in which the work before us is written, sufficiently proves the author's ability to perfect his plan.

Moral Education, the one Thing needful. Briefly recommended in four Letters to a Friend. By Thomas Simons. 8vo. 1802.

THIS pamphlet is well entitled to attention; it is written in a correct and pleasing style, and contains some very excellent observa. tions respecting the education of youth. The author thinks that the moral duties are too much neglected, though he does not, as some intemperate writers have done before him, call the classics to account for the degeneracy of the age; but he is of opinion, and we concur with him, that parents are not sufficiently impressed with the importance of religious instruction, and are more anxious to make their children learned and accomplished, than virtuous and pious.

Mr. Simons has quoted passages from our best writers on the subject of education, upon which he comments with great candour and acuteness, and applies the whole to the system pursued in the present day, proposing at the fame time a variety of regulations by which it might be improved.

DRAMATIC.

A Tale of Mystery, a Melo- Drame, as performed at the Theatre-Royal Covent-Garden. By Thomas Holcroft. 8vo. 1802.

which has been pointed out to us

THE plot of this piece was detailed in our number for November last, and we accompanied it by remarks on the merit of the drama, at length; so that we have now little more than to notice the appearance of the melo drame in print. We beg, however, to correct an error in our account of the story, by a correspondent. We have said that "eight years after the disappearance of Francisco, Count Romaldi proposes to marry his son to Selina." Instead of "eight," the word "many" may be substituted. It was eight years after Francisco's escape from the Algerines, into whose power he had been decoyed by his brother, before the birth of Selina.

In an advertisement, Mr. Holcroft acknowledges his obligations to the French Stage.

"I cannot forget the aid I received from the French drama, from which the principal incidents, many of the thoughts, and much of the manner of telling the story, are derived, I exerted myself to select and unite masterly sketches, that were capable of forming an excellent picture; and the attempt has not failed."

There is a handsome dedication of the melo-drame to Clementi.

F-VOL. XV.

THE BRITISH STAGE.

IMITATIO VITAE, SPECULUM CONSUETUDINIS, IMAGO VERITATIS.

Cicero.

The Imitation of LIFE---The Mirror of MANNERS---The Representation of TRUTH.

CURSORY REMARKS ON SHAKSPEARE.

NUMBER IX.

"His beard was grizzl’d?”

Hamlet, A 1. Sc. z.

Dr. Johnson has not noticed the word grizzled in his dictionary; but its meaning we know to be grey. The expression was common about Shakspeare's time; for in a proclamation of King James (1606) for the discovery of Henry Garnett, alias Walley, alias Darcy, alias Farmer, one of the Jesuits concerned in the Gunpowder Conspiracy, there is a description of his person, in which “the haire of his head and beard" are represented to be "griseled."

———as kill a king!”

Act III. Sc. 4.

Steevens says "this exclamation may be considered as some hint that the queen had no hand in the murder of Hamlet's father:" and Mr. Malone agrees with him. But may it not be considered, with equal probability, as the sudden exclamation of detecled guilt? It is true that in the old Hystory of Hamblet, the queen, in the conference with her son, denies that she had any hand in the murder of her husband. Indeed, circumstanced as she was, it would have been strange had she confessed her crime. It is also true, that we have no positive assurance in the play that she was guilty: but that she was acquainted with the fact, and connived at it, I think there can be little doubt.

This "seeming-virtuous queen," having consented to an incestuous intercourse with her husband's brother, "a wretch whose natural gifts were poor to those of her husband"-" a slave that was not a twentieth part the tythe of her precedent lord," it is scarcely possible to free her from a suspicion that she acquiesced in the murder of a man, who, while alive, must have stood in the way of her guilty pleasures.

The whole of the ghost's narrative bears very hard upon the queen and though the spirit enjoins Hamlet not to "let his soul

contrive aught against his mother," to save him from the guilt and horror of parricide; he adds, immediately after,

"Leave her to Heaven,

And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,

To prick and sting her.”

Hamlet himself assuredly thought her guilty. His first exclamation, on the disappearance of the ghost, is against his mother.

"O most pernicious woman!"

In the play, selected with a view to discover the guilt of the usurper, Baptista is represented as an accomplice in the murder of Gonzago, and when the player queen says,

"In second husband let me be accurst,

None wed the second, but who kill'd the first”—

Hamlet observes "that's wormwood," with an evident applica tion to the queen; and soon after he pointedly asks her how she likes the play. The speech which calls forth the iteration of his mother, "as kill a king!" also plainly indicates how much Hamlet suspected her of a participation in the crime.

"A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,

As kill a king, and marry with his brother.”

This is the act, the murder of his father, which "roars so loud, and thunders in the index,” and at which “ Heaven's face doth glow, and the Earth is thought-sick.",

It may therefore be reasonably inferred, from the following speech, that the share she had in the transaction, was among the "black and grained spots," which conscience presented so forcibly to her view. "O Hamlet, speak no more;

Thou turn'st my eyes into my very soul;

And there I see such black and grained spots

As will not leave their tinct."

J. L.

ON THEATRICAL SCHOOLS,

BY MADAME HYPPOLITE CLAIRON.

SINCE my retreat from the theatre, I have continually been hearing of the necessity of having dramatic schools. The public think them practicable, and likely to be advantageous; and considerable sums have been raised for their estabishment. Nothing more clearly

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