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closed by some lists useful to men of the world, and men of literature; and the whole constitutes a work, from whose annual series we are entitled to expect unusual gratification. Our readers will thank us for giving this touching and powerful fragment.

A BRIDAL SONG.

Caligine profonda
Gia opprime i sensi miei
Del più fatale orror

Per sempre lo ti perdei,

COME ye to seek me? Then bear me home,
For the lover is banish'd-the bridegroom
is come!

Hear ye the chime of the bridal bell?
Soon shall it toll a funeral knell.
Hear ye the bridal song this morn?
Soon shall ye hear a song forlorn.
Scatter sweet flowers on my thorny way,
I shall be wither'd as soon as they.
Clothe my form in bridal white,
So shall it serve for my shroud to-night.
Deck with jewels my raven hair,
To-night it a darker wreath shall wear.
Take this fading rose from my breast,
And give it to him that loves me best;
And say, as ye point to my early tomb,
That the lover was dear, though the bride..
groom was come.

X.

BEAUTY.

"Quel dommage que tout cela nourrira !"
Oui, Monsieur ! mais cela n'est pas pourri."

JOHN BULL and Lord Byron are agreed on one point at least. Both assert "cant" to be the prevailing moral feature of the age we live in. Innumerable scribblers have caught up the same note, and spun it out in endless variation, and I, among the small fry of literature, am fain to join in the chorus. Of all cants, then, one of the most sickening to my taste is that of some parents who pretend (for I give them little credit for sincerity) to deprecate for their female offspring the possession of that precious gift, as it really is, or, as they are pleased to term it, "that dangerous endowment," personal attractiveness. They affect, forsooth, to thank Providence that their daughters are "no beauties"-or to sigh and lament over their dangerous comeliness, and then they run out into a long string of trite axioms, and stale common-places, about the snares and vanities of this wicked world, as if

none but beauties were exposed to the assaults of the tempter. Now, I am firmly of opinion, (nay, every day experience proves it so,) that ugly women, called plain by courtesy, are just as likely to slip and stumble in those treacherous pitfalls, as others of their sex, more distinguished by personal attractions; and that, on a fair ave rage, pretty women are the happiest, as well as the most agreeable of the species.

Let us take a fair sample of this ge nus-not a perfect specimen. The bo tanist may select such for his herbal, but it would not so well answer our purpose in exemplifying human varie ties. Let us suppose a child endowed with moderate abilities, an amiable disposition, and a decent share of beauty, and other children in the same family, gifted in an equal proportion with the same mental qualifications, but wholly destitute of exterior advan

tages. Will not the fair attractive child be the most favoured, the best beloved, generally speaking, even of those parents who endeavour to be, and honestly believe that they are, most conscientiously impartial? The same anxious cares may, it is true, be equally bestowed on all. The same tender and endearing epithets be applied to all-but the eye will linger longest on the sweet countenance of the lovely little one, the parental kiss will dwell more fondly on its cherub lip, and the voice, in speaking to it, will be involuntarily modulated to softer and more tender tones. I am not arguing that this preference, however involuntary and unconscious it may be, is even then wholly defensible, or that, if knowingly, and weakly yielded to, it is not entirely inexcusable. I only assert that it is in human nature, and waiving that side of the question, which if analyzed would involve a long moral discussion, not necessarily connected with my present subject, I shall simply proceed to observe, that if this unconscious, irresistible preference frequently influences even the fondest parents, how far more unrestrainedly does it manifest itself, in the surrounding circle of friends, guests, relations, and casual visitors. How many indulgences and gratifications are obtained for the irresistible pleader! How many petitions granted for the remuneration of a kiss! How tenderly are the tears of contrition wiped away from eyes that look so beautifully remorseful!-And all this, I firmly believe, if restrained by good feelings and just principle, from reaching a blameable excess, is productive only of good results in the young mind, and that children happily constituted by nature in person and disposition, thrive best (even in a moral sense) in that atmosphere of tender indulgence, and become ultimately most amiable and equable, least selfish and exacting, in all the various relations of life. The reason of this I take to be-that they feel the most perfect confidence in their fellow-creatures; and how many of the best affections of our nature spring up and flourish under the kind ly influence of that most Christian feeling! The fair engaging child expands into womanhood in the warm sunshine of affectionate encouragement, and all the delicate and grateful emotions of her heart are drawn out to bud and

blossom in that congenial clime ;every individual of her family and friends, fondly or courteously contributing to her happiness or pleasure. Will not the desire to repay kindness with kindness, love with love, blessing with blessing, be the responsive impulse of her young heart? She finds by every day's experience, that the tenderest approbation, the warmest encomiums, the fondest caresses, reward her endeavours after the attainment of useful information, and elegant accomplishment, and that blessings more expressively silent, (the eloquent blessings of the eye,) beam unutterable things on her performance of higher duties; that a powerful stimulus to persevere in the paths of well-doing, to strive to be all she is thought capable of being!

Her natural failings and youthful errors are most mildly and tenderly rebuked; her motives most charitably interpreted-what incentives to conquer those failings! to avoid those errors! to realize hopes so fondly san guine! Happiness is far less selfish than sorrow. Its natural tendency is to communicate, to infuse itself, as it were, into every surrounding object; and certainly nothing inspires us with such good will and charity towards our fellow-creatures, as the sweet consciousness that they are benevolently disposed towards us. If all the dis courteous, ill-natured, uncharitable things that are said and done, were traced back to their real source, it would be found that every other one at least, resulted, not from resent→ ment for the infliction of serious injury, but from some wounded feeling, some smarting sense of neglect, unkindness, or, it may be, of conscious insignificance, a consciousness (by the way) widely differing from Christian humility, and operating far otherwise on the heart and temper.

Allowing these to be fancied, or at least fancifully exaggerated injuries, their influence on the character is not therefore less pernicious, and the question is, Would these corroding, crushing thoughts, have sprung up in the cheering sunshine of favour and indulgence? Have they not been generated and fostered in a cold, ungenial shade, where "flowers that love the light" could never blossom?

But" vanity! vanity!" saith the Preacher. What sevenfold shield can

fence the heart of woman, against vanity and its satanic legion? The only shield, I reply, capable of fencing any human heart against the perpetual, insidious, and ever-varying assaults of the tempter-sound moral principles, founded on religious knowledge, and a firm and humble faith in the truths of revelation. When these have not been early and sedulously inculcated, the Beauty is exposed, indeed, to great and peculiar dangers. But, is the ugly woman, on her part, more secure from those temptations, to which she also is peculiarly liable? Is vanity solely confined to the consciousness of personal attractions? Is there no such thing as conceit of sense, of talent, of taste, of goodness-nay, even of humility? There is conceit active, and conceit passive. That which plumes itself on being superior in such and such points, is, to my taste, less odious than the pharisaical cant, "Well! thank God, I am not so and so."

Now, verily, I am inclined to believe, that of all modifications of this infirmity-this vice, if you will have it so, that is most harmless which plumes itself on outward advantages, (I speak with exclusive reference to female beauties,) and in point of fact, have we not often occasion to remark, that a pretty, vain, giddy girl, one of the most apparently inconsiderate character, will settle down for life with a companion who deserves and possesses her respect and affection, into a domestic, prudent wife, a careful and tender mother, an exemplary mistress of a family, while some grave, demure-looking maiden, guarded at all points in the armour of ugliness, bristling all over with decorum, and pinched into the very pattern of primness and propriety, will (if occasion offer) launch out into such extravagances and indiscretions, as defy all calculations on probability and liability, and utterly confound the wise theories of all declaimers against the dangerous endowment of beauty.

But, to sum up all-are there, in the class of beauties, fewer good wives, good mothers, good women, and good Christians, than amongst those of the sex, to whom nature has been more niggardly of outward adornments? An impartial observer will acknowledge, that such characters are found, in pretty equal proportions, amongst the lovely and unlovely; but, revert ing to minor considerations, from that

higher ground of observation, I will venture to assert, that there is less vanity, or, perhaps, more properly speaking, less solicitude about personal appearance, in pretty than in plain women. The cause is obvious-the one is perpetually striving to make herself, what nature has made the other. Its frequent result is more perplexing. The exuberant self-complacency with which an ugly woman, in the full pomp and panoply of dress and decoration, seems, as it were, to inflate and expand her whole-person; and if some solitary charm of form or feature, has been grudgingly bestowed upon her, what sedulous anxiety to exhibit it to the best advantage! How the malady concentrates itself, in a manner, in that peculiar part! Betrays itself, by an unnatural and perpetual distention of the mouth, if a set of white and even teeth is the seat of the disorder ;—is characterised by a delicate curve of the fingers, or graceful action of the hand, if that happens to be the part affected; or by a frequent protrusion of the foot, should the disease have possessed itself of the lower extremities.

Good Heavens! in what thing, in what place, under what circumstances, will not vanity take root, and thrive? Stick it, like house-leek, on a bare wall, its fibres will insert themselves into the crevices, and the plant will prosper somehow. Strew it like mustard and cress over a few woollen threads in an earthen platter, and you may pick sallad to-morrow. Hang it up like the air plant, between heaven and earth, by a single thread, and, like the air plant, it will bud and blos som without other than ethereal nutriment. They are inexperienced naturalists, who affirm, that it flourishes only, or peculiarly, in soil or climate of such and such nature and temperature.

But to all who persist in the belief that beauty is the forcing bed of this idle flaunting weed-to all parents who are really sincere in deprecating for their offspring, what they term so fatal an endowment,-I would compassion→ ately suggest one simple expedient, calculated to strike at the very root of the evil. Let the pride of civilization, for once, condescend to adopt the practice of those unsophisticated savages, who (for very opposite purposes, it is true) flatten the noses, depress the skulls, and slit the lips and ears of

their new-born females. The most progress of time, could hardly fail to obstinate charms, the most invete- be wholly obliterated; and in their rate beauty,must infallibly yield to stead, would arise a new standard of this early discipline; to which, for perfection, not less the object of a further security, may be added, a ge- dangerous worship, for being the very neral tattooing of the whole person, so reverse of a former idol. With the that no separate part or portion may custom of a savage nation, we may become a stronghold for that subtle adopt its tastes also; and thencefordemon, who can entrench himself in ward, a celebrated beauty of the Brithe hem of an ear, or the tip of a little tish Court, may be constituted such, finger. But whither, in its compas- by perfections similar to those that quasionate zeal for the relief of parental lify a Hottentot Venus,-an Esquianxiety,-whither tends my specula- maux pètite Maitresse, or a reigning tive genius? What might be the pro- toast of the Sandwich Islands; and bable result of the measures I sug- the first view of a squat nose, and flatgest? If adopted by a few leaders of tened pericranium, in his new-born rank and fashion, the universal rage babe, may strike into the heart of an for novelty and imitation would soon anxious parent, the same pious horror, make the practice general, and then, with which he now contemplates the indeed, a great and decisive conquest Grecian outline and delicate proporover beauty, might be confidently an- tion of the infant beauty, who smiles ticipated. But, with its utter extinc in his face, with such innocent uncontion in the land, might not our pre-sciousness of the fatal charms with sent conception of its component parts, which nature has endowed her. and general combinations, fade away to dim recollections? Those also, in

A.

SPAIN.

THROUGHOUT the months occupied by the Duke of Angouleme's campaign, we have abstained almost entirely from touching on the subject of Spanish affairs. Long before that expedition commenced, nay, long before the House of Commons heard Mr Canning's most admirable exposé of the views of the British government in contemplation of it, we had said enough to convince our readers, that we had thoroughly made up our own minds as to the unjustifiable character of those principles, on which the Bourbon government of France had proclaimed themselves to be acting. Some months later, in the course of a Review of Mr Quin's Travels, we took occasion to be equally explicit in expressing our sentiments, touching the constitution promulgated by the Cortes of Cadiz in 1812, and re-established in Spain by the military insurrection of 1820. The result of the conflict between these two systems, with which we from the beginning had thus expressed our equal dissatisfaction, is now before all the world. The result, said we?-No, not the final result, assuredly, but the primary one;-and we conceive it is now time for us to lay the consequences by the

VOL. XIV.

cause, and clothe, in a few plain sentences, what is our opinion, and what we take to be also the opinion of the great majority of the impartial public of England, in regard to the whole of this matter.

Our opinion, then, to state the thing distinctly at the outset, is, that the Spanish Liberals and the French government have all along, and throughout the whole business, been in the wrong; but that, compared with Ferdinand VII., notwithstanding, they have always been, and are now," whi ter," both of them, " than unsunned snow."

The faults of the Spanish Liberals have been many. In the first place, they framed at Cadiz, in 1812, a constitution altogether unfit for the country where they meant it to be placed in operation, in regard to many of its most important provisions. In the second place, they, by false representations as to fact, made it pass for a time that this constitution had been really framed by the real representatives of the Spanish nation-it having never been anything but the manufacture of one particular party, and having been openly disavowed from the beginning 4 Q

by every part of the nation besides. Thirdly, they abandoned this constitution at the time of Ferdinand's restoration, in a manner altogether unworthy of the high principles on which they had professed to be acting. In the fourth place, they re-established it in 1820, in a manner equally at variance with those principles. And, in the fifth place, they have utterly and irremediably disgraced themselves by the pusillanimous exhibition with which they have just concluded their

career.

The sin of the French government, on the other hand, is one, and indivisible. It lies in the unjustified, and unjustifiable aggression, which has been made upon the Spanish soil. For the present, this interference has been crowned with apparent success-probably much more so than King Louis's ministers themselves had anticipated; but the whole business is rotten, and will come to nothing, or to worse than nothing, in the upshot.

On both of these, therefore, we are of opinion, that a great burden of blame lies and must lie. Still, however, we must admit, that neither the conduct of the one party, nor that of the other, is to our minds irreconcilable with somethink like fairness of intention in the main. They may both have chosen false principles of action, but it is not quite apparent that either has done so knowingly-and the haughty rashness of the one side, need not, any more than the vacillating imbecility of the other, be taken as the clear and indubitable symbol of deliberate dishonour.-We can pardon much from any Spaniards striving against the cause of despotism, and we can also pardon much from any French government striving against the cause of Jacobinism; but the conduct of Ferdinand VII. has been consistent with no intelligible principle of -any kind, that is worthy of being regarded with any species of tolerance. He has been guilty of the basest treachery to ALL-and has stamped THE WHOLE of his own character with one dye of unrelieved blackness.

The history of Spain has been, indeed, one series of misfortunes ever since the accession of Charles V. A few brilliant campaigns, and many magnificent foreign acquisitions, have for their respective seasons blinded the eyes of this proud race to their

own condition; but that condition has, nevertheless, been uniformly and unbrokenly sinking. The crafty Charles, by alternate acts of swindling and robbery, deprived the nation of all that was really valuable in her political institutions. The glare of his conquests the splendour of his name

the imperial influence in Europe, and the American floods of wealthall these were considered by the Spaniards as things of their own, and they shut their eyes to the domestic misdeeds of their magnificent tyrant, just as the French of our own time did theirs, to those of a tyrant not his inferior in meanness, and certainly his superior in almost everything besides. The spirit of military adventure, and the lights of a beautiful literature, gilded over, in like manner, the superficies of the two ages that followed that of Charles V.; but all this while the elements of universal degradation had been working surely below, and it was not long ere all settled into the uniform and melancholy gloom of that intellectual night, the first lurid, uncertain, and stormy dawning from which, has just been fixing the hopes and the fears of Europe.

The history of Superstition and the Inquisition in Spain, has been sketched by Mr Southey, in one of the late Numbers of the Quarterly Review, with the hand of a master-to that sketch we need add nothing hereit is complete so far as it goes; it will live as a chapter in the history of our species, long after the mass of contemporary writings shall have passed into oblivion. But Mr Southey has not brought the matter sufficiently down to our own time, nor, by consequence, sufficiently home to our feelings. On the contrary, the picture he presents, deriving evidently, and indeed confessedly, all its darkest touches from the congeries of a most laborious erudition, is a thing which ordinary observers are more apt to stare at, than to study-the impression it leaves is rather that of what has been, than of what is.-The appearance of Mr Blanco White's book, (Doblado's Letters,) was therefore a matter of greater immediate importance, and we regret exceedingly that Mr Southey has done no more than refer to that work, instead of drawing from its comparatively ephemeral pages the materials for a fuller

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