sal of which, in this place, is therefore recommended to the reader.' It has appeared again, recently, in a valuable and seasonable Collection of Tracts, called the Churchman's Remembrancer.' Now Mr. W. knows that the puritan divines who attended that conference, and had quite as much right to be believed as Dr. Barlow, declared that account to be an utterly unfair report; and that their historians relate many instances of the insolence and violence of the prelates and the monarch, in that meeting for the hearing and determining things pretended to be amiss in the church.' (See Neal's Hist. Vol. I. p. 410.) It is therefore not obvious, in what sense the re-appearance of such a partial, and consequently, in effect, fallacious tract, can be called seasonable.' The only mode in which the republication of such things as that tract, and this Life of Whitgift, could be rendered seasonable in the sense of being useful, would be, to accompany them with a severe comment to mark the various ways in which prejudice and bigotry can misrepresent without committing themselves in palpable and bulky falshoods, and to illustrate some of the pernicious effects which have been the result of such partial alienation of understanding, or total contempt of principle, in the statements of party historians on whatever side. Such a comment on the Life of Whitgift might very properly be extended from the spirit and trustworthiness of the biographer, to the merits of the subject; and it would never be otherwise than seasonable' for a clergyman to evince the present liberality of his order, by disclaiming, in its name and his own, all principles allied to those by which the prelate in question was actuated. For, without going further than the facts alledged by Burleigh, Walsingham, and the rest of that memorable council, it may fairly be asserted, that. Whitgift acted on the principle, that religion and morality, the appointments of the Almighty, are things exceedingly subordinate to the ecclesiastical establishment, a local appointment of man. It appears from this testimony, which no man will have the folly to call in question, that the archbishop could easily tolerate his clergy in being ignorant, careless, and profligate, provided they punctiliously observed all the prescribed ceremonies; while he could applaud himself for directing the vengeance of the Star Chamber against the most learned, pious, and zealous preachers, that conscientiously declined some part of the ceremonial conformity. He chose rather that the people should not be instructed in religion at all, than be taught it by even the most excellent ministers, who could not acknowledge a particular gesture, or robe, or form of words, as an essential

part of it. The censure of such a character, and the execration of such principles, are no matter of party; for it is not permitted to any party, pretending at all to religion, to approve them. But the condemnation comes with a peculiarly good grace from the clergy; and it might be expected they would lose no fair opportunity to express it. It is difficult to comprehend why a liberal clergyman should have introduced into his compilation such an article as this life, but for the sake of giving himself such an opportunity, unless he acted under some superior authority, which prescribed to him the exact length and breadth of his task. In order, therefore, to preserve civility to the present editor, we must suppose him to be subjected to some much more illiberal supervision, than we believe it is usual for the trade to appoint over authors and editors. And as to the compilation itself, we consider it as much disgraced by the admission of this article-As a slight sample of Sir G. Paule and his most reverend patron, we may cite an illustration of their apostolic notions of the best means of giving dignity and effect to the Christian religion,

Every third year he went into Kent (unless great occasions hindered him) where he was so honourably attended upon by his own train (consisting of two hundred persons) and with the gentlemen of the country, that he did sometimes ride into the city of Canterbury, and into other towns, with eight hundred or a thousand horse. And surely the entertainment which he gave them, and they him, was so great, that, as I am verily persuaded, no shire in England did, or could, give greater, or with more cheerful minds, unto each other. The fatherly care which he had of his clergy, (whom he never charged with visitation, but once in twenty years) his affability amongst the gentlemen, and courteous usage of his tenants, gained him so great a love, that he might very far prevail with them; yea, they never denied him any request that he made unto them. :0

At his first journey into Kent, he rode into Dover, being attended with a hundred of his own servants, at least, in livery, whereof there were forty gentlemen in chains of gold. The train of clergy and gentlemen in the country and their followers, was about five hundred horse. At his entrance into the town, there happily landed an intelligencer from Rome, of good parts, and account, who wondered to see an archbishop, or clergyman in England, so reverenced and attended. But seeing him upon the next sabbath-day in the cathedral church of Canterbury, attended upon by his gentlemen and servants (as is aforesaid), also by the dean, prebendaries, and preachers in their surplices, and scarlet hoods, and heard the solemn music, with the voices, and organs, and cornets, and sackbuts, he was overtaken with admiration, and told an English gentleman of very good quality, (who then accompanied him) that they were led in greatness at Rome by our own nation, who made the people there believe, that there was not in England either archbishop, or bishop, or cathedral, or any church, or ecclesiastical government; but that all was pulled down to the ground, and that the people heard

their ministers in the woods and fields, among trees, and brute beasts: but, for his own part, he protested, that, (unless it were in the Pope's chapel) he never saw a more solemn sight, or heard a more heavenly sound.' "Well," said the English gentleman, "I am "I am glad of this your so lucky and first sight; ere long you will be of another mind, and, I hope, work miracles and return to Rome, in making those that are led in blindness, to see and understand the truth." Vol. IV,

p. 387. Now, considering in what manner the prelate valued himself and the institution of which he held the first dignity, on all this personal and ecclesiastical pomp, we would hope, for the sake of his complacency, that he might not have happened to have read Cavendish's most entertaining Life of Wolsey, then existing in MS. at Lambeth, and now for the first time correctly printed in this work; for, in reading that record, he would have been almost strangled with envy at the description of a far superior magnificence, displayed, a little more than half a century before him, by a dignitary of the church of Rome.

Having discharged the indispensable duty, in place of the editor, (who has not felt the jurisdiction of his office extending so far,) of reprobating the part of the compilation which is so flagrant with the brimstone of intolerance and persecution, it is with great pleasure we find ourselves at liberty to say, that on the whole the work is a very valuable service rendered both to the religious and the literary public. The parts compiled from Fox are judiciously extracted and disposed; and as that huge work is for the most part reposing in undisturbed dust, and will never be consulted by so much as one in a thousand of our reading countrymen, we are glad that a considerable number of them will now be enabled to peruse, in Fox's own language, some of the most striking pieces of history contained within the whole records of the world. They may contemplate, in a narrative full of antique simplicity and animation, the actions and speeches of such men as Wickliffe, Latimer, Ridley,. and a number more of the same order; characters of a strange and gigantic race that seems now extinct, and which holds, in the history of religion, a rank exactly parallel to that held by Plutarch's heroes in the history of war. Cavendish's very curious memoir, in its true original form, will be highly acceptable to the public. We are not less pleased with the original life of Sir Thomas More, and are sincerely grateful to Mr. W. for his laborious care to give it in a correct and complete state. It is now more ample and more animated, than any of the memoirs of him with which the public are familiar. The lives here given of Jewel, Gilpin, Hammond, Sir M. Hale, &c. are some of them but very little, and some

of them not at all, within the acquaintance of the generality of readers; and we have many times observed with wonder, how few persons comparatively know any thing of the memorable character and history of Nicholas Ferrar, notwithstanding the memoirs, which are here in substance reprinted, were published so lately as the year 1790. It cannot be read, without a very unusual mixture of admiring and indignant feeling: we can remember no other instance of being so much provoked with so pre-eminently excellent a man. He was in the fullest sense of the word a prodigy of early talents, acquirements, and piety; travelled almost before he had attained the age of manhood over the greater part of Europe, commanding involuntarily the admiration and affection of the most learned men in the most learned universities and academies, passing through many adventures and perils with a heroism of too elevated a kind to be called romantic, the heroism of piety, and maintaining every where an immaculate character; on returning home (in the earlier part of the 17th century,) he was almost compelled into important public employments, made a brilliant entrance in the House of Commons, waging ardent and successful war on the public delinquents that in those times, so unlike the present, infested that house; and after he had done this, and when there was plenty more such work for him to do, he quitted public life, at little more than the age of thirty, in obedience to a religious fancy he had long entertained, and formed of his family and relations a sort of little halfpopish convent in which he passed the remainder of his life.

Mr. Wordsworth's Notes, throughout the work, are of considerable value, and display very great research. We had intended to extract some of them, but find all our allowable room is already occupied.

Art. X. Poems on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, by. James Montgomery, James Grahame, and E. Benger.

(Concluded from p. 306.)

EVERY reader of this volume will observe a very striking contrast to Mr. Montgomery's poem, reviewed in our last number, in that of Mr. Grahame, on which we are now to offer a few criticisms. They are poets not merely of different, but of opposite characters. Excepting a coincidence of moral sentiment, scarcely one quality of either can be specified, the reverse of which will not be discovered in his associate. The heroic measure, and the blank verse, in which they have written, are not so distinct, as the respective peculiarities of their poetry. If the former of

fends, it is by excess; if the latter, by defect. If the one is too studious of antithesis, the other is often deficient in point. Mr. M.'s versification is full, and ardent; Mr. Grahame's, commonly tame and meagre. Scarcely one paragraph can be found in the first poem, in which the harmony is not conducted, through successive stages and modulations, to a perfect and delightful cadence. In the second, the ear is almost uniformly disappointed: the progress of the strain is too often interrupted, and the conclusion impotent. The contrast would probably have been less obvious, in many respects, if the poets had mutually adopted each other's measure. There is a remarkable difference, also, in the complexion of the sentiment. Mr. Montgomery delights in metaphors, transforms realities into fictions, and treats fictions as realities; he holds converse with a world of visions, and delineates nature from the enchanted mirror of imagination. Mr. Grahame is contented with just and sparingly ornamented descriptions of real sce nery, or narrations of actual events. In the former, every thing is animated and energetic; the forms are bold, the light vivid, the colouring rich, the action vehement. In the latter, we have a clear, quiet, and cool exactness. As we pass from one to the other, we are immediately sensible of the change of climate; it is an instantaneous transition-the whole width of the temperate zone, if not from the equator to the pole. We must drop this comparison, however; and content ourselves with remarking, that the faults of both writers, thus mutually relieved and heightened, appear greater and more striking from their vicinity.

Mr. Grahame's performance is divided into four parts. Without attempting any formal analysis, we shall furnish a few characteristic specimens. That many of these will be at once honourable to himself and gratifying to our readers, will be immediately presumed, by such as are acquainted with those productions of his genius which have already come under our review. One of the most beautiful passages in the whole poem occurs nearly at the beginning, in reference to the magnetic needle.

Mysterious pilot! whose wide ken discerns
Unerringly, through star-enshrouding storms,

The polar lamp; whose restless, tremulous hand-
Whether the labouring ship couch 'tween the waves,
Or reeling quiver on the foaming ridge,—

Still points aright, and guides her o'er the deep.' p. 60.

There is a well-conceived description of a battle between two negro tribes, at the instigation of the slave dealers.