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Till grew his aspect spectral, and his eye
Flash'd fitfully, e'en as a paly ghost
Flitting athwart a place of sepulchres,
Or underneath a once triumphal arch
A ruin now lov'd by the shades of eld."

Here, again, we are at fault. An eye like a paly ghost flitting across a place of sepulchres, or underneath a once triumphal arch, that is loved by the shades of eld, may be something inexpressibly fine, and evidence of a Miltonic mind, and eminently suited to a splendid epic: but to us, and we make the confession in all humility, it is pure gibberish.

Mr. Heraud's imagination delights in beards. Noah's was a capital beard, as the reader has seen: but Samiasa's is quite as good in its way. "Profuse, his locks, like a wild horse's mane, Free of the winds, compact of massy curls, Shaded his ears with ringlets dusk as night And with his beard fantastic circles blent Like a vine flourishing in a wilderness (!!) Hanging its tendrils loose on a thorny brake, And briary underwood: so bearded he."

We hardly know which to prefer: Noah's beard, like a grove of trees, or. Samiasa's, like a vine in a wilderness. As to Noah's, if it really resembled a grove of trees, a troop of horsemen might have taken shelter under it from a shower of rain; while Samiasa's might have served for a crow to build its nest in; or that" timeous bird" with its laughing grief and weeping joy.

Beards like these, must not be supposed to belong to ordinary faces; and Mr. Heraud takes care to provide a corresponding set of features. The reader has already been indulged with some of our poet's physiognomical touches in delineating the countenance of Samaiasa. Here is another of them :

"Where his large forehead lour'd, his ample locks
Disparted and upcoiled, like serpents, back
From eyebrows huge that, like two promontories,
Horrid with crag, suspense, the flashing orbs
Encaved."

There are so many striking analogies between rocks and eyebrows, crags and foreheads, and caves and eyes, that we are not surprised they should suggest themselves to poetical minds such as Mr. Heraud's. The whole human form, in like manner, may be most aptly brought into comparison with woods and forests, glens and glades, mountains and vallies, rivers, plains, and morasses, by the same humorous fancy that can discern castles, ships, and regiments of soldiers, in a sea-coal fire on a winter's evening, In contrasting the daughters of Seth and Cain, Mr. Heraud says of the latter, that

"Air burned about her, and fierce passion raged

At her least eye-glance."

Does this mean that her least eye-glance lighted up fierce passion? If so, it can only also mean that the lady had a most provoking pair of eyes; but we do not think this is what Mr. Heraud intended to convey; and yet there is no other interpretation that will exactly make sense. But this is what Mr. Heraud does not particularly trouble himself about.

Seth's daughter is thus described:

"Like a thought devout,

Daughter of Ardis! wert thou in thy bower
Of delicacy shrined."

Really, if Mr. Heraud had said she was like a rainbow in his breeches pocket, he would have given us a simile quite as intelligible as a devout thought, or a lady shrined in a bower of delicacy. We entreat the

reader to set to work, and try what he can make of a woman who puts him in mind of a devout thought; and then, if he have any talent at

drawing, he may sketch upon paper a bower of delicacy.

This may be called hyper-criticism. We deny it. Mere words, which convey no distinct images to the mind, are just sheer nonsense; and it is to shew the nonsense of Mr. Heraud's "splendid epic," that we put his words to a test which they might safely bear if they contained a meaning; but not otherwise; for "no-meaning puzzles more than wit."

We will now set before the reader another of Mr. Heraud's similes, in which Milton the second boldly enters the list, with Milton the first, for it is a simile of Satan.

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"Gloomed o'er his brow the infernal diadem,

Like a black crag projected o'er a cliff,
White as the surge, the barrier of the main;
And, like a blasted orb once overbright,
His eye, a ruin, burned; and on his cheek,
Immortal Beauty hideously shone ;

A wreck as of a noble Ship long tost,

Stanced, where it rived, amid the calmed sea,
Sublime though desolate, and beautiful
Though loveless; for her sails the winds about

Woo idly, and play round her keel the waves,
Recoiling as in wonder evermore."

Here is a choice of metaphors-black crags; white cliffs; blasted orbs; an eye burning like a ruin; and a loveless ship" stanced "(?)—to distinguish it from ships that can feel the tender passion. Milton the first, speaks of the bought smiles of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendeared;" but who ever heard of a loveless ship? And then, the syllogistical conclusion, following the inferential" for." As thus: the ship is sublime though desolate, and beautiful though loveless, for (i. e. because)" her sails the winds about woo idly, and play round her keel the waves"! Mr. Heraud would not have considered he was writing poetry had he said the winds wooed her sails idly, and the waves played round her keel: but, "her sails the winds about woo idly, and play round her keel the waves," becomes poetry at once, by the mere force of inversion. Let us put a very homely sentence into this sort of blank verse. "Clean my boots directly, for I want to go out."

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My boots directly clean, for out, to go, I want."

Martinus Scriblerus, we remember, mentions a person who was always so figurative in his language, that he could not bid his servant "shut the door" but said

"Swift on its axle turn

The wooden guardian of my privacy."

Every page of Mr. Heraud's "splendid epic" (judging from the specimens carefully and rapturously selected by his critic,) abounds with such tawdry, unmeaning, glittering, gew-gaw passages as the above, where the art of coining some words, stringing others together in lines of ten syllables, dragging into monstrous comparisons things ludicrously unlike, and converting plain prose into hobbling heroics, is mistaken for poetry. But we have said enough to establish our case; or if we have not established it, if there be those who will contend that the examples we have cited are not only poetry, but good poetry, fine poetry, and genuine poetry, we should not make our case, in the judgment of such persons, one jot better, were we to multiply examples a hundred fold. Here, therefore, we take leave of Mr. Heraud's "splendid epic."

And do we mean to say, or do we wish it to be understood, that there is nothing in the "Judgement of the Flood," of a better description than the passages we have quoted? No. We should be unjust if we left the reader under any such impression. Mr. Heraud can sometimes write very prettily, when his ambition to be Miltoniç does not befool him into fustian; and as a proof that he can, we extract the following picture of the "daughter of Ardis", the commencement of which is disfigured by the namby pamby

stuff about "a thought devout" and the "bower of delicacy."—What we here give, is conceived in good taste, and expressed without bombast.

"Who listened there,

Had heard the Mother prattling to the Children
Tales of their Father, and low-breathed numbers,
Like the sequestered stock-dove's brooding murmur,
Full of maternal tenderness-the burthen,
The gladness of that Sire's return at even,

When he should take the sweet Boy from her bosom,
Or on his Daughter's head let fall the tear,
The purest that can fall from human eye;
While, quiet in her bliss, she should await
The sweet embrace; and after, on his breast
Reclined, from his meek lips receive account
What knowledge, wisdom, truth, the sons of God
Had won from large discourse on loftiest themes,
Or by the elders of the Brethren taught,

Or from Angelic ministry derived.

-Anon, the sun went down ; their hearts first bowed
In worship pure, then folded each to each,

In calm repose,-the stars watched over them."

KENTISH IDOLS.

It is unknown when carved or graven images were first introduced into the churches of England; but the Normans certainly worshipped them. The English, although they had pictures of Saints and representations of sacred history, had no graven nor molten images; nor did they pay any sort of adoration to them, till they were introduced by the Normans after the Conquest. Then, indeed, images were set up in churches, and the people were taught to place lighted candles before them-to creep softly on their knees towards them-kiss them-deck them with gay garments-pray and offer to them. They had images in the body of the church; and the image of the Saint, to whom the church was dedicated, in the high chancel over the altar; besides the image of Christ on the Cross, then called the Rood, or the Rood Mary and John.

In an old church-book, at Crundale, the following memoranda some time since remained :

:

"Item, paid a joiner in Canterbury, for making the Rood Mary and John, and painting the same XI shillings."

"For setting up the Rood Mary and John, and for paper and thread to truss the same, 1s. 6d.'

the

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To persuade the common people, that the saints were personally present with these their images, the Priests contrived them so as to move their eyes; and to seem to change countenance; sometimes to weep; at others to smile. Witness the crucifix commonly called the Rood of Grace, at Boxley, in this county, which, Lambarde says, was able to bow down and lift up itself, to shake and stir the hands and feet, to nodd the head, to roll the eyes, to wag the chops, to bend the brows, and finally to represent to the eye, both proper motion of each member of the body, and also a lively, express, and significant shew of a well contented or displeased mind: biting the lip, and gathering a frowning, froward and disdainful face, when it would pretend offence and shewing a most mild, amiable, and smiling cheer and countenance, when it would seem to be well pleased." All this was performed by means of wires, as was fairly exposed at St. Paul's Church Yard, London, where this image was taken to pieces before a multitude of people, and then publicly burned.

C.

A NEW PLAN OF COTTAGE ALLOTMENTS.

To Geoffrey Oldcastle, Esq.

SIR-I suppose Horace's "Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci," will be somewhat too trite to be adopted as the motto of your MAGAZINE; but the sentiment it contains is too good to become contemptible by ages of familiarity. Your interest, no less than your inclination, will render you desirous of blending the useful with the agreeable, and I look forward to the appearance of your first number with considerable expectation, as I am convinced that a work of the kind, if taken up as it ought to be, may become the means not only of rational amusement, but of important and beneficial communication between the many active and intelligent minds with which I know Kent abounds.

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I was in hopes the "Agricultural Association" would have undertaken Quarterly Reports," which would have been the focus of such communications. But circumstances soon developed themselves, which at once satisfied me it was not capable of this application of its funds, nor indeed likely to raise, for a constancy, adequate funds for the purpose. Your MAGAZINE, however, appears to offer a medium for effecting the purpose referred to, and by mingling practical or scientific communications with lighter articles, it will obtain a greater range of readers, and a wider circulation than dry reports confined to one subject.

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I have dwelt somewhat at length on these points, because I wish in your first number to bring them under the notice of the county; and I will now proceed to make a practical application of them by requesting the consideration your readers upon a plan which, many years ago, I submitted to an eminent statesman then employed in preparing measures for legislation on the Poor Laws. He approved of the first outline of it, but after considerable deliberation rejected it, on the ground of its tendency to increase population by multiplying habitations for the poor. I yielded to his authority, though I cannot say that my mind was convinced by his reasoning. The attention which has recently been drawn to the cottage system, and the probable changes in the law of settlement, appear to be more favorable to my plan, and I will therefore submit it to the gentry, clergy and yeomanry of this county, that it may have the benefit of their judgment; feeling satisfied, that if it appear likely to improve the condition and morals, and add to the comforts, of the poor, it will be taken up with spirit and brought into useful operation. I do not profess now to give the calculation with accuracy, having destroyed my memoranda; but merely to state the principle.

I assume the ordinary rent of a labourer's cottage, with 4 rooms, to be £6. per annum, and that an acre of land with 6 such cottages, each having onesixth of an acre as a garden, would cost £420. or £70. per cottage; and £6. a year would, in a given number of years, (say 15 years) pay off the interest and principal of £70.

I propose that government, through the medium of savings' banks, should be empowered to advance parishes, on the security of the rates, sums of money at 3 per cent. to purchase such land and build such cottages, to let to labourers under the following Rules and Conditions.

1. Tenants to be able bodied labourers, not exceeding 20 years of age. 2. Rent £6. per annum-to be paid monthly, and in advance.

3. Rent to be applied annually towards payment of interest and redeeming the principal of the £70., expended in purchasing the land and building the house.

4. If the tenant shall pay the rent and fulfill the conditions (hereafter stated) up to the period when the principal shall have been redeemed-then, the house and garden shall become his own absolute property.

5. The tenant may, if he thinks proper, pay over and above the £6. per annum any larger sum in order to hasten the redemption of the principal, and in propor

tion to such sum as well as to the surplus of the £6. so applied, the interest on the said principal will be diminished.

6. An account of these extra and voluntary payments to be kept, and in the event of the tenant being ejected for non-compliance with the conditions, the amount of the extra payments to be returned.

CONDITIONS FOR BREACH OF WHICH THE TENANT WILL BE EJECTED.

7. The rent must not go in arrear above one quarter.

8. The tenant shall not marry till he attain the age of 26 years.

9. He shall not at any period become the father of an illegitimate offspring. 10. He shall not be convicted of any felony or misdemeanour.

These are the principal rules and conditions, but not all that would be necessary, if the plan should be thought worthy of attention by the philanthropic and practical legislator. Some powers would be required to be given, and some additional rules laid down, which I should be prepared to suggest. But these are sufficient to shew the bearings of the plan, upon certain very important principles of which I will now specify a few.

1. The labourer pays no more than the usual rent for a cottage with such a garden-consequently, if ejected, for violating the rules, he suffers no injury. The principal returns to government to be applied to a similar purpose, and to multiply property amongst the labourers.

2. If he comply with the rules, he begins, in early life, to prepare himself a small property against the time when he becomes aged, or has a family. He is early encouraged to habits of saving and industry.

He is prevented from premature marriage.

He has an inducement, while he can afford it, (before marriage,) to lay up money in the shape of extra payments.

He acquires a stake in the country by the possession of property.
The rules (9 and 10) are a direct check upon immoral habits.

These are all the points on which I shall now touch, as I merely wish to bring the subject under discussion. If your readers should encourage the plan and think it worthy of notice, I shall be prepared to suggest means for preventing its affecting settlements, and various details to guard against contingent inconveniences. But I wish, first of all, that the gentry, yeomanry, and clergy, would look at the great importance of the points in the poor man's condition and character on which this plan may have influenceMORALITY, INDUSTRY, ECONOMY, PROVIDENCE, PROVISION FOR MARRIAGE, Independence. Номо.

GRAY'S RESIDENCE AT DENTON.

The following passage, in one of Gray's matchless "Letters," may have a little local interest for the reader; while it just serves to fill a little corner which the printer did not know what to do with. The letter is dated"Pembroke Hall, August 26, 1766," and is addressed to his friend, Dr. Warton:

"In spite of the rain, which I think continued, with very short intervals, till the beginning of this month, and quite effaced the summer from the year, I made a shift to pass May and June, not disagreeably, in Kent. My residence was eight miles east of Canterbury, in a little quiet valley on the skirts of Barham Downs.* I took the opportunity of three or four fine days to go into the Isle of Thanet ; saw Margate, (which is Bartholomew Fair by the sea side) Ramsgate, and other places there; and so came by Sandwich, Deal, Dover, Folkestone, and Hythe, back again. The coast is not like Hartlepool; there are no rocks, but only chalky cliffs, of no great height, till you come to Dover; there indeed they are noble and picturesque, and the opposite coasts of France begin to bound your view, which was left before to range unlimited by any thing but the horizon; yet it is by no means a shipless sea, but every where peopled with white sails, and vessels of all sizes in motion.”

* "At Denton, where his friend the Rev. William Robinson, brother to Matthew Robin-son, late member for Canterbury, then resided."

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