Jacopo Foscari.

Mayest thou
Live long to be a mother to those children,
Thy foud fidelity for a time deprives
Of such support. But for myself alone,
May all the winds of heaven howl down the
Gulf,

And tear the vessel, till the mariners,
Appall'd, turn their despairing eyes on me,
As the Phenicians did on Jonah, then

Cast me out from amongst them, as an offering
To
appease the waves. The billow which de-
stroys me

Will be more merciful than man, and bear me,
Dead, but still bear me to a native grave,
From fisher's hands upon the desolate strand,
Which, of its thousand wrecks, hath ne'er re-
ceived

One lacerated like the heart which then
Will be-But wherefore breaks it not? why
live I?

With respect to the general and comparative merit of the three tragedies, Cain is much the best, Sardanapalus. next in merit, and the Two Foscari very inferior to any thing we have seen of his Lordship's. There is in Cam some original disquisition, and much genuine poetry in Sardanapalus, is a good plot, several fine speeches, and one and only one) well-supported character, viz. Myrrha;-but, with the exception of what we have quoted, there is not a page worth a second perusal in the Foscari. It would be easy to point out several gross comparisons and allusions, as well as feebly or incorrectly constructed sentences. For instance

To oppose them, but

Метто.

In Venice" But's" a traitor. But ine no buts," unless you would o'er pass The Bridge which few repass. p. 259. Loredano.

My dabbling in vile drugs. p. 273.

Without

Cain. And yon immense Serpent, which rears his dripping mane and vasty

Head ten times higher than the haughtiest cedar Forth from the absss. p. 395.

We did not originally intend to make so copious a series of extracts; but the high and deserved reputation of their noble author will, we are persuaded, be a sufficient apology. Had we room, we should make a few critical remarks upon his Lordship's dramatic productions; but, as it is, our readers must accept the analysis we have offered, as the utmost our limits will allow us to give.

BIBLICAL LITERATURE.

The Eighth Century.

EARLY in this century the Scriptures were translated into Arabic, by John Archbishop of Seville, and disseminated among the Saracens. Within the three succeeding ages other translations were made; the Syriac and Coptic, about the middle of this period, ceasing to be living languages.

The venerable Bede in the eighth century rendered the Gospel of St. John into Anglo-Saxon. This distinguished man wrote on all the branches of knowledge then cultivated in Europe, and died in 735. His little oratory or study at Weremouth, near the monastery, and his rude oaken chair, remained till the 16th century, and are mentioned by Leland. A copy of some St. Paul's Epistles in his hand-writing is said to be preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. About the same æra lived Willibrod, a celebrated Christian teacher, born in Northumberland, whose apostolic labours in Friesland acquired him great reputation: and Winfrid, afterwards called Boniface, born at Kirton,

Devonshire. The latter also preached the gospel zealously and successfully in the eastern parts of Germany, in 746 founded the great abbey of Fuld or Fulden, and was slain with some followers by Banditti about ten years after Athird eminent Missionary in this age of Missions was Willehad, called the Apostle of Saxony, but a Northumbrian and a learned as well as pious man. A still

more famous contemporary was Alcuin, called also Flaccus Albinus, another Englishman, educated, if not born, at York, and the literary friend of Charlemagne. He was so rich in possessions as to have 20,000 vassals, none of whom could marry without his consent, all of whom were obliged to labour three days in the week for their lord, and over most of whom he had the power of life and death. Such were the rewards of learning and piety in those times. His great work was a revision of the Latin Bible; but his writings were so numerous that the Edition of them published by Frobenius, in 1777, occupied four quarto volumes.

Notwithstanding these and other lights of intellect, the Western World sunk more and more into darkness, and ignorance instead of science gained ground. An Archbishop of Rheims, Gislemar, was unable to understand the literal meaning of a portion of the Gospel which he read.

In Germany, a certain priest was so totally unacquainted with the Latin, the common language of the church offices, that he baptised in the name Patri, Filia, et Spiritus Sancta; and a question arising as to the legitimacy of the baptism, it was judged proper to refer it to Pope Zachary for his decision. This was the same pope who imprisoned Virgilius, for asserting the existence of the Antipodes; though Buttler, in his Lives af the Saints, vol. iii. p. 173, endeavours to prove that the error of Virgilius was that of maintaining that there were other men under the earth, another sun and moon, and another world; or, in other words, another race of men who did not decend from Adam, and were not redeemed by Christ; and that this being contrary to the Scriptures, he was justly censurable. But whether he taught the spherical form of the earth, or the plurality of worlds, his condemnation is sufficient to prove the lov state of scientific acquirements, by even the highest dignitaries of the church.

The military spirit of the age also infected the clergy, and hawking priests, were at least as prominent then, as hunting parsons are now. The service of the altar was not unfrequently performed in mail; and the lives of holy men and women were universally as unholy as can be imagined. The state of learning may be conjectured from the poetical Catalogue of Books in the celebrated library of Egbert, Archbishop of York, which, as Mr. Sharon Turner says, is "the oldest Catalogue perhaps existing in all the regions of literature, certainly the oldest existing in England." This curious document, which is in Latin, has been imitated; it opens thus

Here, duly placed on consecrated ground,
The studied works of many an age are found.
The ancient Fathers' reverend remains;
The Roman Laws, which freed a world from
chains;

Whate'er of love passed from immortal Greece
To Latian lands, and gained a rich increase;
All that blest Israel drank in showers from

heaven;

Or Afric sheds, soft as the dew of even:
Jerom, the father 'mong a thousand sons:
And Hilary, whose sense profusely runs.

The list proceeds, and mentions Hilary, Ambrose, Augustin, Athanasius, Orosius, Gregory, Pope Leo, Basil, Fulgentius, Cassiodorus, Chrysostom, Abhelmus, Beda, Victorinus, Boetius, Pompey (the Historian,) Pliny, Aristotle, Cicero, Sedulius, Juvencus, Alcuin, Clemens, Prosper, Paulinus, Arator, Fortunatus, Lactantius, Virgil, Statius, Lucan, Donatus, Focas, Priscian, Probus, Servius, Euticius, Pompey (the Grammarian,) and Commenian, besides many others not named. It is justly remarked by Mr. Townley, that—

"Celebrated as this library was, it appears to have contained only fourteen fathers and ecclesiastical works, ten ancient classics, including two or three modern Latin writers, six grammarians and scholiasts, and six modern Latin poets; yet this was the library of which Alcuin speaks in a letter to Charlemagne: "O that I had the use of those admirable books, on all parts of learning, which I enjoyed in my native country; collected by the industry of my beloved master Egbert. May it please your imperial majesty, in your great wisdom, to permit me to send some of our youth to transcribe the most valuable books in that library, and thereby transplant the flowers of Britain inte France."

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR.

In what does the faculty which distinguishes man from all other animated beings consist? Some say man is a two-legged monkey who has lost his tail; some, that he is an animal whose instincts (though the great Doctor Hurlothrumbo could not exactly define this word) or are either more numerous or more perfect than those of other animals; some think him a scientific, and others a pious animal; exclusively some think he is the only animal that wears a hat; and others the only one that smokes a segar. All these may, by some, be thought clear enough; but in my opinion there are many objections, and plausible ones too, which may be made to each of them. These, however I shall wave for the present and proceed to give one which is free from every difficulty; and as truth is sufficient by its own native lustre (as our philosophers often tell us) to dispel the mists of ignorance, I shall not trouble the world with a refutation of those theories whose absurdity must be apparent to all, but without farther delay propose my infalible criterion:-man is the only animal that publishes advertisements.

Every animal except man communicates his knowledge to his species, and, for any thing I know to the contrary, to other species also, by dumb show or by some kind of noise, either scratching, grunting, whistling, roaring, or whiuing or in other words by talking to them: but, man, the master piece of éreation, can tell his fellow man what he is about to do, or wishes others to do, and tell him too in the most convenient way imaginable.

It is often said that one of the properties of genius is to make every thing subservient to our own purpose; as in case of wanting a pair of snuffers to take the top off the candle, if we can afford to burn one, with the tongs, and in lieu of these, with the fingers: others tell us that the distinguishing feature of this exclusively human something, is, to dignify trifles, as to find music in a swine's voice, or to write an elegant piece of poetry on "turning up a mountain daisy." Now since, every one will allow that genius is wholly confined to human beings, and as the com

mon sense of inankind (which is seldom much in the wrong) gives to every man "his own genius," so we may say that the genius of every man shows itself peculiarly in the case of advertisements. This advertising faculty is not only a characteristic of a whole species, but by its own diversities will serve as indications of several subordinate classes, of which I shall in some one of your future numbers publish a table. In the present essay I shall confine myself to a few remarks more popular in their form if less definite in their import.

When a man advertes he has some purpose to answer--some trifle or other to dignify and if the poet derives his honours from a striking use of metaphors, similes, hyperboles atid other "figures of speech" (perhaps by the by, our grammarians would do better to call them by the title of "figurative language") I say, if the poet derives his honours from these, so does the advertiser derive his profit from them also, Indeed, a good writer of puffs, like an elegant novelist, is more nearly allied to the genuine poet, and the successful auctioneer to the parliamentary suppor ter of the "things that be," than most people seem willing to believe. There is no contrivance by which a strong effect can be produced either in the House of Commons, at a corporation dinner, at a 66 meeting of the people," in a christian pulpit, or a common bagnio, but is used with success at one time or other by the render of goods by public auction; and there is no extravagant, improbable, tender, pathetic, horrible, or any other kind of appeal which the poet adopts, but is occasionally used to advantage by the advertiser.

The poet is allowed the use of every material assistance and of every art and science from which to select his terms, his metaphors, &c. an advertising tai. lor has learned to "cut out upon the true geomitrical principle; combined with the most exquisite taste" and the barber can twist and twine and snip the hair so as "to perfect what nature left unfinished in the formation of the head, and give to the countenance the most beautiful pictorial effect": in fact, there is scarcely a single branch of human science which is not brought to afford some ornament to the person, some elegance to the attitude, some grace to the figure; or produce some

theatrical effect in our sitting rooms, convert our nursery gardens into the finest landscapes, or save our pockets by an anti-attrition mixture to preserve the axletrees of our wheelbarrows and Tilburies. The botanist gathers flowers and the chemist distils a lotion from them; the mineralogist finds a lump of earth, and the officious decorater grinds it to powder, and gives it us, to whiten our teeth or to colour our walls. The distiller sells his British Brandy at 16s. per gallon, and Doctor Solomon by the addition of a few grains of some drug which he gathers between West Derby and Liverpool, (sloes, or buckthorn berries for any thing I know), converts it into the "Balm of Gilead" for the cure of every disorder the human constitution is subjected to. Yet who is not aware that benefactors of our race do more by the powers of their advertisements than by those of their specifics? Who needs to be informed that were it not for the rhetorical powers of the writers of the puffs, that the numerous virtues of medicines, dentrifices, lotions, and paints, as well as the superior skill of dancing masters, upholsterers, house painters, barbers, and tailors, would have been unsuspected and consequently unneeded?

When we see such benefits accruing from a well-timed use of ingenious advertisements, can we wonder that every man is anxious to have his own "drawn up in the best style"? We cannot. I have known men who would give almost any sum to a man of fine parts, for a puff of some article of sale, or of some kind of handicraft. Indeed, Lord Byron is charged with "receiving £500 for writing advertisements for Day and Martin's Blacking," and his Lordship very seriously considers it the "highest compliment to his literary powers," that he can command so much.

MILES,

Yet, it must not be understood that all this splendid imagery and hyperbolical description, is mannfactured in the printing-office. Many persons are so confident of their own powers in this way, that they will adhere to their own phraseology and punctuation with as much tenacity as we may suppose Lindley Murray or Dr. Campbell to do: and some there are who pride themselves more on their skill in this way than in any other quality whatever; just as some young sprigs value themselves upon their interest with the fair sex, rather than upon any quality, either mind or feeling.

Our attention has been hitherto confined to advertisements, in praise of certain operations and certain articles; and we have intimated that the style of these advertisements is indicative of the abilities of the writer, as much as a poem is indicative of the poetic talents of its author. We shall, however, consider a few others which are of no definite character.

Most persons in praising their own articles aim at a censure of every thing else of the kind, either directly or by implication. This increases the contrast and improves the effect. One of the most singular of this kind that has fallen under my notice, was a "sign" in the metropolis, which may be properly called a "6 diamond cut diamond." A Mr. Wedgwood had invented a filtering machine, and on his sign had these words "Wedgwood, Inventor of the Patent Filtrator." A person of the name of Miles, who had also invented a machine for the same purpose, and lived in the adjoining house, on the dextral side, painted on his sign, which adjoined to Wedgwood's, and was of the same dimensions, colour, &c. and in all respects similar, so that the two signs seemed to be but one, this inscription

WEDGWOOD,

Inventor of the Patent

Inventor of the Patent

Filtering Machine.

Filtrator.

I recollect a Reverend gentleman who published a sermon which he had before preached in the parish church, wherein he made many severe animadversions upon the nature and tendency of theatrieal amusements. In the course of the angry discussion which ensued, the manager of the theatre in the same town, made a public declaration or advertisement in the newspapers to this effect: -viz. that if he (the manager) could prove that a single individual had absented himself from the theatre on account of the sermon, he would commence action against his reverend antagonist for the recovery of damages sustained in his profession; and it was thought by many that the clergyman was afraid of pushing the question further, as he left it to rest there.

an

Amongst the curious coincidences which appear in advertisements we have not often seen a more ludicrous one than that in an American paper, in which a "Justice of the Peace" informs the public, that he had removed to another part of Philadelphia, where he "administered the duties of his august office," and "carried on the business of tayloring as usual, in all its branches."

Perhaps the following advertisement, copied from the late Doctor Whitaker's "Leodis and Elmete" will be considered not the less curious in these flashy times, for its modesty-a quality not now to be found in such productions. 10th Novemb' 1656.

A Particular of the Castle & Mannor of Harwood conteyneinge the Mannor of Gawthorpe and divers Lands Tenements and Hereditaments hereafter mentioned in the County of Yorke belonging unto the Right honourable Earle of Stafford:

The Castle decayed:

The Seigniory noble, of a great extent, though formerly greater before the out parts thereof was cutt of.

The Castle of Harwood decayed, yet the Stones thereof being much Ashler and the Timber that is left fit for building an honsom new house &c. may save a deale of charges in the stone work, or els (if allowed to tennants of Harwood towne for repayers and buildings) would bee very usefull & necessary & serviceable for that purpose, considering it is a Market Towne therefore the Castle may be adjudged to bee well worth 30£. There is belonging to the same a very large Barne.

There is a Charter for a Market to bee held every Munday in this Towne of Harwood, which Charter was procured by my late Lord Strafford about 23 years ago with 2 head Faires besides a fortnight faier in summer tyme, with if well managed & some money employed in a Stock to that purpose might bring in tyme the Market to a good height, and the houses repayred & built with the Castle Stone which the Tenants would do at their own charge, might much advantage the same, there being a large Toll booth or Court house & butchers shambles already built with 6 shoppes under the Toll booth for that purpose and therefore to be considered to ad vance the sale.

There is a Manor of a great extent with Court Leet & Court Baron Waives & Estrayes & fellon goods &c. belonging the same, also large Comons, the whole Lop. stored with all kind of wild fowle, the River of Wharfe there affording great store of fishe, as Salmon, Trout, Chevins, Oumers and Eyles.