On a dark rainy night in November, an old midwife, who resided in Berkshire, was suddenly summoned to attend a lady n labour, for which she was told she should be liberally rewarded; but as secrecy was necessary, she must submit to be conveyed blindfolded to the place where her assistance was required. She consented, and a handkerchief having been bound over her eyes, she was mounted on horseback behind the person who came for her. After a long and rough journey, she was brought to a house, and led through many seemingly extensive apartments till she arrived at a room, in which, on her eyes being uncovered, she saw the lady on whose account she had been sent for, and also a man of a haughty and ferocious aspect. After the lady was delivered, this man again made his appearance, and snatching the child from the midwife, threw it on a large fire, blazing in the chimney. The child, struggling amidst its torments, rolled from the flames upon the hearth. The man again seized it, and in spite of the entreaties of the midwife and the agonised mother, thrust it under the grate, and destroyed it by heaping on it live coals. The midwife was then handsomely paid, and conveyed to her home in the same manner in which she had left it. Soon afterwards, the woman went before a magistrate, and disclosed the horrid deed she had witnessed. She had adopted two methods to identify the scene of the murder. While sitting at the bedside of her patient, she cut out a piece of the bed-curtain, and brought it away with her, and she had also taken the precaution to count the steps of the stairs, down which she had been led blindfolded. Some suspicious circumstances attached to the conduct of the then owner of Littlecott-House, and a warrant was issued for his apprehension. He was tried at the next Salisbury assizes; but, notwithstanding the evidence of the midwife, he escaped punishment, as is reported, by bribing the judge. * His death, a few months after, owing to a fall from his horse, was considered as the judgment of Heaven, and the stile where the accident happened is still called "Darell's Stile." This event must have taken place in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.'

Proceeding to the celebrated site of Avebury, Mr. Britton employs a great deal of assiduity in discovering the origin and use of the wonderful structure called the " Temple of Avebury," which, though a curiosity of unparalleled interest according to the testimony of every antiquary, is little known to the general body of tourists. The following short de

* Aubrey, who concisely notices this story, in his Life of Sir John Popham, informs us, that "The Knight [Sir Dayrell] was brought to his tryall; and to be short, this judge had this noble house, park, and mannor, and (I thinke) more, for a bribe to save his life." The female who was delivered of the infant so barbarously murdered, is said to have been the waitingwoman of Lady Darell.. Letters from the Bodleian Library, vol. ii. p. 493.'

scription

scription of the appearance of this extraordinary monument may convey some notions of its nature:

In the midst of a wide tract of generally flat country, bounded by a continued but irregular range of hills, at the distance of a mile on the east, by another range more lofty, about three miles to the south, and by rising grounds on the west and north, is situated the village of Avebury; the greater part of which is encircled by a deep and wide ditch, and a lofty rampart, or, as Aubrey calls them, a graff and a vallum. Within the enclosure are some very large masses or blocks of stone, standing erect, whilst others lie on the ground. At some distance, to the south of the village, other stones are seen, both erect and prostrate, and two more stand about half a mile west from the vallum. Masses of broken stones, which originally formed part of the monument, have been employed in constructing the houses and walls of the village; and modern economy and customs have, in other respects, infringed on the original arrangement of this venerable structure.'

Our author cites the speculations of a great number of writers who have undertaken the task of inquiring into the construction of this temple, with a view to ascertain the purposes for which it was raised.

Among the visionary theories,' says our author, which have been hazarded concerning Avebury, is that of Mr. H. Browne, the manufacturer of ingenious models of Avebury and Stonehenge, who published, in 1823, a pamphlet, entitled "An Illustration of Avebury and Stonehenge." Adopting Dr. Stukeley's idea, that the former was a serpentine temple, this writer imagines that it was erected by Adam in commemoration of the fall and previous temptation of Eve by the serpent. He considers Stonehenge also as an antediluvian temple; and the chief arguments offered in favour of this notion are drawn from the supposed effects of the deluge in altering the position of the stones, and from the general appearance of the country between the two antient monuments.'

The greatest number of authorities incline to the opinion that it is a druidical structure, and that it was the site of some peculiar ceremony of that solemn superstition. In the presence of learned and celebrated men, the modesty of Mr. Britton refrains even from conjecture. The following anecdote respecting Standlynch is curious:

Standlynch-House was the seat of the Dawkins' family. It is a brick edifice, with a park and pleasure-grounds, bounded on the west by the Upper Avon. In 1814 the estate was purchased by Commissioners appointed under an Act of Parliament of the forty-sixth of George III. cap. 146., to provide, at the expense of the nation, a domain to be conferred on the relatives of the late Lord Nelson, Duke of Bronte, as an act of national gratitude for his unparalleled services to the country. It was ordered to be called TRAS 2

FALGAR

FALGAR PARK, in commemoration of the splendid victory in which that great officer lost his life; and it was also intended to erect a splendid mansion at the public expense; but the present Earl Nelson and his Countess are reported to have such an invincible dislike to any establishment of a splendid or expensive nature, that there is not the least probability of any palace being erected here, as the legislature intended, during their lives. It is amusing and curious to reflect on the speedy transition of public feeling, from zeal and enthusiasm, to indifference and apathy. The glorious achievements by the heroes of the Nile and Waterloo excited more than common interest and admiration in the public mind, and the whole kingdom was eager to honour and reward them, by erecting national palaces, or rather mansions, for their descendants. The history of Blenheim, in Oxfordshire, holds out a warning against, rather than an encouragement for, such works. Besides, the philosopher very properly remarks, that the business of war has been too much honoured and rewarded; whilst the real benefactors of mankind are either entirely neglected, or very inadequately remunerated.'

The topographical part of the volume concludes with a notice of the village of Milston, near Amesbury, which is only remarkable as having been the birth-place of Addison; Then follow a list of the provincial words peculiar to Wiltshire; an enumeration of the monasteries, with the date of their foundation, and value; descriptions of the seats of seve ral noblemen and gentlemen, biographical sketches of eminent persons, and remarks on the geology of the county. The book gives proof of extended and patient research, the narrative is plain and sensible, and some of the anecdotes are curious and altogether new.

ART. V. Ballantyne's Novelist's Library, 10 Vols. Edinburgh. John Ballantyne. 1821-1824.

I'

is a remarkable circumstance attending the literary career of the Great Unknown," that those publications which, without being acknowledged by him, are reputed to be his, obtain much more celebrity than those which he openly avows. The whole reading world is acquainted with the Waverley tales, while, perhaps, not a tenth part of it is aware that, within the three or four last years, a very interesting collection of the best English novels and romances, from the time of Richardson to that of Mrs. Radcliffe, inclusively, has been printed by Ballantyne, under the editorial superintendence of Sir Walter Scott. We gather from the preface that it was originally intended to include in this undertaking selections from the best German, French, and Italian novelists: this portion of the plan would seem for the present to be sus

pended;

pended; but we trust that it will ultimately be completed, as it would form a valuable addition to the productions of our own authors. Indeed the execution of the whole plan is the more necessary, as we have no collection of foreign works of fiction, combining those of the three most civilised countries of the Continent. Those of Spain should also be added; for, though they are comparatively few in number, they are important for their merit. Among the latter we should like to see a good translation of "Fray Gerundio de Campazas," written by the famous Padre Isla, which, in the Peninsula, is ranked next to the immortal work of Cervantes. We are aware of the peculiar difficulties attending the translation of this witty satire, on account of the many verbal criticisms which it contains. But all these passages, and such others as are not closely intertwined with the thread of the story, might be very safely omitted.

The contributions which Sir Walter Scott has given to the present collection consist of memoirs of the author's lives, and criticisms on their writings, which, after the manner of Johnson's Lives of the Poets, are prefixed to the works of each writer. The memoirs, we are bound to say, are by no means comparable to those of the admirable biographer of Savage. In truth, they are, for the most part, loosely compiled from scanty materials, and the editor has seldom been able to elucidate them, or to augment their interest, by supplying any thing new. His Criticisms,' however, are of a very different character. They are distinguished by sound taste, formed not so much on any given model, as on a deep insight into the construction of those feelings by which men are soothed or inflamed. These commentaries exhibit the results of a great deal of thought, long bestowed on a favourite subject, and matured by experience, to a degree of standard perfection.

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If any doubts were entertained as to the real author of the Waverley novels, we think that we might easily dissipate them by references to these criticisms. It is worth remarking, that they make no mention whatever of those celebrated novels, although the latter are uniformly framed on the principles which Sir Walter Scott, in his critical capacity, recommends; and, indeed, the subject would have led him to appeal to those works as the best illustrations of his canons of romance, had he not personal motives for avoiding every allusion of the kind. In his prefatory memoir to the novels of Mackenzie, the editor repeatedly bestows on him the title of the northern Addison. The author of Waverley dedicates his work to Mackenzie under a similar title. There are many coincidences

S 3

coincidences of thought, feeling, and expression between the Scottish novels and the criticisms in the collection before us, which we might point out, if we conceived the inquiry to be worth pursuing; but, in truth, it would be superfluous.

It is not our intention to take the reader through the whole of the memoirs and commentaries contained in these ten volumes. A few specimens will be sufficient to show the style in which they are executed. The life of Fielding, which is the first, is also the best of the series. It is written, throughout, in a vein of affectionate veneration for the father of the English novel,' as Sir Walter repeatedly styles him. We much regret, however, to find in this memoir a vindication of that sort of censorship which is exercised by one of His Majesty's officers of state over the productions offered to the theatres for representation. The passage is as follows:

During his theatrical career, Fielding, like most authors of the time, found it impossible to interest the public sufficiently in the various attempts which he made to gain popular favour, without condescending to flatter their political animosities. Two of his dramatic pieces, Pasquin, and the Historical Register, display great acrimony against Sir Robert Walpole, from whom, in the year 1730, he had in vain sought for patronage. The freedom of his satire is said to have operated considerably in producing a measure which was thought necessary to arrest the license of the stage, and put an end to that proneness to personal and political satire which had been fostered by the success of Gay's Beggars' Opera. This measure was the discretionary power vested in the Lord Chamberlain, of refusing a license to any piece of which he should disapprove. The regulation was the cause of much clamour at the time; but licentious satire has since found so many convenient modes of access to the public, that its exclusion from the stage is no longer a matter of interest or regret; nor is it now deemed a violent aggression on liberty, that contending political parties cannot be brought into collision within the walls of the theatres, intended, as they are, for places of public amusement, not for scenes of party-struggle.'

The answer to this is, that the power vested in the Lord Chamberlain is in the first place an anomaly in our constitution. It is the birthright of an Englishman to give free expression to his thoughts, through every channel which he thinks fit to use, he being responsible to the laws if he should violate them. The authority vested in an officer of His Majesty's household, of preventing a play from being acted, if he should deem it expedient so to do, supposes the freedom of the subject to emanate from the will of the sovereign, whereas it really emanates from a compact made on equal terms between both, in which this particular liberty was not, nor ever in

tended