of the same class, that bloom only in a smoky atmosphere, which adorn every page of the preface, indicate the horticulture of Cockenzie, and the hand that reared them, by a pungency not to be mistaken; and that there is scarcely a line, and not an entire stanza, in The Vision of Judgment, that does not bespeak its author a proficient in the school of the Master-spirit who spoke by the mouth of Ahab's prophets. The other pieces," poems, essays, tales, translations, and amenities," may be from the hand of any body who has not a literary reputation to lose. It is but justice to these "Five nothings on five plates of delf," to say, that either they are not besmeared (as the preface threatened that they would be) with the filthy slime of Liberalism, or my faculties are too obtuse to perceive it; and that if there is little or nothing in them to please, there is little or nothing to offend. Which of them are by the author of Cain, which by the tea-inspired prince of Cockney bards,-which by the ladies of the party, or whether any unfledged and hitherto nameless candidates for literary eminence have assisted in furnishing out this intellectual pic-nic, we are not told, and nobody will ever ask. One piece is given as Shelley's, in order, no doubt, to justify the epithets of noblest of human beings, and accomplished scholar and friend, bestowed on him in the preface. It is doing injustice to the odoriferous herb, to suppose any thing so vapid as the best of them, to be genuine inspirations of a comfortable dish of tea. If any of them are from the pen of the Cockney, his beverage has been stronger of the water than of the leaf on the evenings that gave them birth; the canister has been low, the kettle has not boiled, the water has been smoked, and the nymph or goddess, who presides over the pot, has been in one of those unpropitious moods, usually called the struins. succeed. The most essential qualifications in a turn for what is called humour, are, a quick perception of the ludicrous, and a nice and just sense of what are proper objects for ridicule. A very improper choice of a subject affords a surer proof of want of talent in this way, than the completest failure in the execution. The man must have a depraved taste, and a dull head, as well as an unfeeling heart, who could discover any thing to laugh at, or to make a jest of, in the death of any human being, especially a man of eminence, (whether eminently good or eminently bad,) by his own hand. The death of any man in any way, is a most unfit subject for mirth; and it is only the death of public enemies, slain in open fight, that can ever be just or becoming subjects for rejoicing. Should any of the composers of The Liberal cut their own throats, or should they cut the throats of each other, the tale would be heard with feelings of unmingled horror by those who might not think their deaths a loss to society. A man could not be found among us "legitimate pretenders," who would either laugh or rejoice at it. Perhaps, a man who but a short time since, and not wholly without reason, was looked upon as a superior genius, reduced to such a state of intellects as to be capable of composing or aiding in the composition of such a publication as The Liberal, is a more melancholy spectacle, and furnishes a inore instructive warning against misusing the gifts of Heaven, than his being overtaken by death, the lot of all, in its most appalling form, or overwhelmed with any calamity to which every man is liable. If the professors of the Liberal schools persist in their endeavours to deprave the minds of their followers, and root out the better feelings of our nature from their hearts, it will be impossible much longer to distinguish between Liberalism and Jacobinism. They already begin to approximate. It matters little what name a party choose to be known by, or what name is bestowed upon them by others. As a NAME, it just signifies the party who are known by that name; and in so far as it conveys an idea of any thing good or bad, it changes its meaning as the party changes its character and conduct. The Achilles of Bristol is a name that no more suggests the dread of Troy to the ship-owner, the merchant, the underwriter, or any body, than the Simon Taylor of London, the James Watt of Leith, or the Cut-luggit Sow of Kirka'dy. The Achilles is a peaceable trader, a carrier of rum and sugar; and the most fervid admirer of the valiant and irascible Greek (if my readers can imagine a classical underwriter) will be as ready as any other man at Lloyds' to declare that the timbers of the Achilles are unsound, and to insure the Hector of Cork at a lower premium. When wE, whose wits are mellowed in the clumsy air of Cockenzie, hear the name of Achilles, we more readily think of an unseemly and shameless man of brass standing up before the threshold of 'Mother West-end,' than of the hero of Greece, or the good ship of Bristol. When we, whom the clowns call Cockneys, speak of Greeks, we think not Of deathless deeds atchieved on Trojan plains,' but of Inglorious toils endured at Brixton Mill.' Let me ask a question of the Liberals themselves. When you call the steady supporters of established rights. The Legitimates,' does the idea of rigid observers and stern enforcers of the laws present itself to your minds? or do you think it a reproach to a state that the government is established and continues to be supported by law, and not by violence? When you speak of a party in the state by the name of the Saints,' do you think of men of holy lives and pure and heavenly minds, with hearts estranged from the world, its pomps and vanities, its honours, pleasures, and pursuits? No,' you will say, 'in both these cases we mean to reproach the parties with making pretences to which they do not act up.' But the parties in question never arrogated to themselves the names you give them; and if at any time they seem to accept them, it is evidently because they will not be at the trouble to dispute about a word. They make no pretensions to which they do not endeavour to act up. If you think the last named party such pretenders as to deserve to have this designation fixed upon them as a reproach, in giving them the name of Saints, you in effect call them hypocrites. Is this Liberal? Is there any thing in the conduct of the gentlemen who are thus stigmatised to warrant VOL. XIII. such a reproach? Were this understood and considered by the Liberals and other party zealots, we should not see them contending with such earnestness, as if their reputation depended upon it, for the right to appropriate to themselves a favourite party nickname, or to fix another, which they suppose to be in less repute, on their adversaries. The writers of these epigrams seem to have been aware that there was something shockingly indecent in thus insulting the ashes of the mighty dead, and endeavour to mitigate the detestation it is calculated to excite, by telling us, in the preface, that a daily newspaper said, that Mr Percy Shelley, a writer of infidel poetry, was drowned.' And where was the offence here? or, supposing the conductor of a newspaper to have committed an impropriety, what kind of justification is this for men of liberality and letters to set up, for repeating the offence and improving upon it? Improper and shameful things have been done by kings, and sycophants, and dandies who have ideas in their heads, and certain modern barons, and modern bishops too. Does it follow that a Liberal is therefore justifiable in doing the same things? But here there is not the excuse of example, not even the example of a newspaper to plead in justification or extenuation. It is part of the proper business of a newspaper to announce such facts as Mr Shelley's untimely end. In this simple announcement of the fact, I perceive nothing like an attempt to be facetious; no expression of mirth or exultation on the occasion. It surely will not be said that the notification of such an event ought to have been accompanied with expressions of regret, from men who were known to hold Mr Shelley's writings in abhorrence, and knew the man only by his writings. It was an event that afforded ample occasion for serious reflections, but they were of a nature that would have rather looked like insulting than doing honour to the memory of the dead; and it may have been for this reason, that the notice was unaccompanied by any remark whatever. Perhaps the offence consisted in calling Mr Shelley a writer of infidel poetry. Mr Shelley, in his life-time, would not have refused the appella Q tion, or considered it a reproach. It supposed to be Lord Byron, Mr Leigh was his pride to be known for a wri. Hunt, (what an association of names!) ter of infidel poetry. It was only as the late Mr Shelley, and some ladies. a writer of infidel poetry that the Whosoever they may be, I assure world knew of him at all. If there is them that I mean it not in contempt, a misnomer here, it is in calling his but as a compliment, implying a bewritings, Poetry. Whether poetry or lief that they are capable of better not, infidel they were, if they were any things, when I say that they are surthing. Had any thing so devoid of passed on every point on which they meaning, and of merit of every kind, as strive to shine, by the most worth some of the publications of Mr Shelley, less miscreants, and the meanest of been written in support of any other mankind : by Mr Hone, Mr Henry cause but that of vice and irreligion, Hunt, Mr Wooler, Mr Waddington, it would never have found a reader or Mr Carlile, Mrs Carlile, Mrs a publisher. Indeed, even the en- Miss &c. &c. &c. I earnestly, lightened begin to perceive, in spite of and in perfect sincerity of heart, retheir endeavours to conceal it from commend it to them to apply their themselves, that in proportion as a powers, before it be too late, (I hope man is destitute of talents for any it is not too late already,) to some thing laudable or useful, he will ex- undertaking in which it is creditable cel, when he betakes himself to the to be engaged ; in which it is a high trade of blaspheming his Maker, and honour to excel, and no disgrace to Teviling every thing that is usually bear a humble part; in which they accounted honourable and excellent will have the prayers and wishes of all among men. Even the merit of be- good men for their success ; and in ing infidel poetry, is understood to which they can have none but the exhave been insufficient to put off an cellent for competitors or imitators. edition of Mr Shelley's principal work. R. S. The composers of the Liberal are London, 24th December, 1822. Hor Populi. At the commencement of a new vo- of this invaluable treasure-his forlume, and another year, it may be ex- tune is made ;--and if a lady, no other pected that we should say something attraction is necessary to secure a rich by way of procemium, prolegomenon, or and respectable husband. It is regupreface. But our natural and invincible larly translated into the seven lanmodesty prevents us, as it has always guages of the Peninsula by the Misdone, from talking much, either of sionaries; and the Bramins are now ourselves or of our work. We have beginning to evince a scarcely connothing to wish in the form of praise, cealed curiosity to look into its pages." and nothing to fear in the shape of Our last letter from the Emperor censure, from any of the four quarters Alexander, accompanied by the order of the world, all the civilized inha- of the Grand Cross, and a handsome bitants of which, we have the honour box with his picture, solicited our apto number among our constant readers. pearance at Verona, and offered, if we To gratify our numerous friends and would remove to Russia, to settle upon admirers, however, rather than from us an estate, equal in size to our own any feeling of vanity in our own per- Highlands, in any part of his empire son, we shall copy from a few of the that we chose. We have been invited periodical works of the day, some of to assume the sceptre, as a limited the passages in which THE MAGAZINE Monarch, of the revolted provinces of is mentioned ; and as we shall make Spain in South America, as the only the selection at random, this must be means of a permanent settlement of our apology to friends who may think the distractions of that fine country ; themselves neglected by not finding and a dispatch from Washington, their names at present consigned to sealed with the arms of the Union, fame in our immortal pages. hints that we have but to set our foot The “Recommendatory Verses” and on the American shore to be elected poetical compliments, in various lan- President. The general feeling in the guages, that have been transmitted to Chambers of Paris is, that failing the us, averaging, when put together, about succession of the present family, no three folio volumes per annum, have one would have a fairer chance of last year amounted to double that being nominated as the most Christian number, or six volumes; of which we King of the French people ; and by may be induced, some day or other, the last packet from the Mediterrato print a couple of 8vo volumes of the nean, we find that we have been named more Elegant Extracts; and the flat- Protector of the Liberties of Greece. tering letters that every day arrive by But we are not ambitious, and feel the mails and packets from every quar- more satisfied with doing our duty to ter of the globe, we find, by our post- our own country and our own King, office account, have this year exceeded than we could be by any change that the former, by a sum of not less than would remove us from our dearly belotwo hundred pounds. An empty lod- ved British Public. ging, hired by Mr Blackwood, has been Besides the written testimonies to filled with these documents, so inte- the utility of our labours, the public resting to the future historian ; but marks of gratitude which we daily exwe believe that measures are in con- perience, in requests to sit for pictures, templation for appropriating a portion busts, and so on, demand our warmest of the National Monument to the pre- thanks. Mr Scoular has just finished servation of these valuable papers. a full-length model of our person, to A demi-official letter from India, be executed in marble, for the Empementions, “ That the greatest benefit ror of China ; and our esteemed friend, which our eastern empire derives from Sir Henry Raeburn, has painted us so the opening of the trade, is the more often in his own inimitable style, that regular transinission of Blackwood's it is not now requisite for us to sitMagazine, which is always looked for he dashes us off from mere recollecwith impatience, and devoured with tion, and a long knowledge of our face rapture. Happy is he who has the and form. The last picture of us in good fortune first to receive a packet our court dress, when we waited upon our excellent Sovereign at Holyrood- be traced in the numerous sign-boards; House, with Mr Jeffrey in the back and we have to thank the honest pubground, has, like all the procluctions lican who put up the very terrible reof John Watson's pencil, been much presentation of our phiz which apadmired. pears at the bottom of the stair where We feel equally grateful for the at- the Scotsman is sold. Many people, it tentions of less able artists, who at- is said, who have come with the bad tempt to delineate our features for the intention of purchasing that paper, more humble purpose of decorating have been so terrified at our stern look, sign-boards; and though we cannot though only on canvass, that they have admire the likeness, or praise the exe- carried their money elsewhere, and cution, yet, as an expression of na- saved their credit by purchasing at the tional feeling, the circumstance speaks other newspaper offices in the neighvolumes. When we passed through bourhood. Stirling lately, it gave us some sur- The delicate manner in which we prise to see the Saracen's-Head of our were nominated as one of the stewards worthy friend Mr Dow metamorpho- for the next Northern Meeting, and the sed into the grave features of Chris- change in the name from Northern to topher North, with but little attention North, demands a separate paragraph, to our particular costume. The tur- and our best thanks to the noble Marban is indeed removed; but in place quis who proposed it, and to the Earl of our water-proof hat, an immense of Fife, who made such an excellent Highland bonnet is placed on our and appropriate speech on the occasion. head, and we still wield the identical We have, in fact, been so much cascymitar which was in the hand of our ressed by all parties since the King's Mussulman predecessor. Scarcely an Visit to Edinburgh, that we scarcely inn of any note in Glasgow is now to dare trust ourselves on the streets, out' be seen without our picture as an at- of the protection of our carriage We tractive sign ; and in those at Paisley, took no less than an hour to get our effigy is generally crowned by a along the North-Bridge the other day, Kilmarnock cowl or night-cap. All and had at last to take refuge in No. over the west country, the same in- 17, Prince's-Street, though we meant signia point out where entertain- to walk farther, to avoid being embrament for men and horses may be pro- ced to death. We were leaning on the cured in the most comfortable manner, shoulder of our clever little friend, Mr and at the cheapest rate. In England, Jeffrey, and accompanied by Professor we have extended our face even to Leslie; and the Sillys who did not Manchester ; and we believe we could know that we were the dearest friends travel from the Land's-End to John- possible, seemed quite surprised at the o'- Groat's-House, and lodge every circumstance. We had not the use of night in North’s Inn. Cross-Keys, our right hand for nearly a week after ; and Black and Brown Bulls have given for the Whigs squeezed unmercifully way to the attractive features of our at finding us in such company, and benevolent countenance ; and even the the ladies (dear creatures) pressed upmartial faces of Wellington, Blucher, on us so closely, that our habiliments and Abercromby, have been altered so smelt of ottar of roses for a fortnight. as to resemble our features, though the But we detain our readers from learnprominent nose of the first, the mus- ing the sentiments of the great litetachios of the second, and the gilded rary republic, of which it has pleased epaulets of the third, enable a connois- them to name us Perpetual Dictator; seur in painting to discover the origin and so we begin, as the clerks we have nal representation. appointed to class the articles have so In Edinburgh, where our face is chosen it, with our dearest friend, in better known, a kind of likeness may the a SUPPLEMENT TO THE LAST NUMBER OF THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. “ Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. LXVIII.-It is really refreshing in these days of cant and absurdity, to meet with something worth reading: The King's Visit was calculated to reconcile the moderate of all parties, and it has had that effect to a marvellous degree. The best informed and liberala |