Gleanings. Heresy of Pope John XXII. his wreathed horn," and there the Fates in awful silence, regulate the variously-coloured thread of human existence. But will these imaginations diminish our anxiety for our own eternal condition? Will they be less "assoiled from the grossness of present time," because our reliance is fixed on the rock of ages and our hopes have their resting place in heaven ? 159 and to hail the dawnings of imperfect light as the welcome harbingers of an unclouded day. An Unitarian is the only sectary who makes charity an article of his creed. And yet he must be scornfully accused of scorn, abused for want of kind-heartedness, and reproached for believing too little, and having, therefore, no power of enjoyment, by those who believe nothing in order to enjoy every thing. Poetical fancies might have a better claim to take the place of religious conviction if, like it, they could last for ever. But alas! life cannot be all a holiday dream. Death must separate our dearest companions from us, and compel us to weep over their tomb. Will it then be enough to strew the grave with flowers, and vent our sorrows in the melody of woe;-or will it not be some additional relief to be able to cherish a sure and certain hope of meeting them in happiness hereafter? And even if we could pass along wrapt in one delicious vision through this vale of tears, we must awake to die! Surely in that awful moment when heart and flesh fail us, it will be some consolation to think that we are safe in the arms of the Almighty-that our noblest faculties will revive to an immortal youth-that our loveliest visions will be more than realized-and that imagination will expatiate for ever in those glorious regions, to which, in its happiest moments, it delighted to aspire. But it is boldly asserted that a spirit of inquiry into religious truth is incompatible with all poetical feeling that it tends to make those who indulge it hard-hearted-and degrade them from imaginative into mere reasoning beings. In answer to these assertions it is not necessary to contend for the superiority of truth over fancy, it is quite sufficient to shew that both may exist together without the least injury to either. Our opponents themselves would exercise their reason in all the concerns of life; and would esteem those madmen who should refuse to apply it to any thing but religion. It is strange then that it should be debarred from the noblest of its uses, from the objects which are most worthy of its powers, and most nearly allied to the divinity which is stamped upon it. And surely it would be strange if heaven had endowed us with both intelligent and creative faculties, one of which must necessarily be left inactive, in order to the perfection of the other. And what luxury of imagination is there, which a Christian, whose belief is founded on understanding is unfitted to enjoy? He would no more allow reason to interfere with the delights of his fancy, than he will suffer poetry to take the place of conviction. He can muse with as delicious a suspension of thought over the still fountain, and people every lovely scene with images as beautiful and unearthy as if he had never investigated the doctrines of scripture. As far as repects the contemplation of the superstitions and errors of mankind he will have an advantage over the most poetical sceptic. For his religion teaches him to see a" spirit of good" in them all to look at the dim glimpses of heaven which have shone through pompous ceremonials with gratitude -to trace the sweet affections which Mezeray, an exact writer, dehave flourished beneath the shade of scribes the election of this Pope very nstitutions in themselves unholy-pleasantly, and says that the Cardi S. N. D. P. S. With your permission, I propose in a few essays in your succeeding numbers, to expose the other dogma of modern sceptics—that Calvinism is a more poetical system than Unitarianism-by comparing the leading doctrines of both, not as it respects their truth, but the beautiful associations which may be thrown around them and the kind affections they cherish and mature. AND GLEANINGS; OR, SELECTIONS nals being shut up in the conclave by Philip, could not any otherwise agree upon the election of a Pope than by their joint referring it to the single voice of James D'Ossat, Cardinal and Bishop of Port: he without any scruple at all named himself, to the great astonishment of all the Conclave, who nevertheless approved of him; and so he took the name of John XXII. and reigned quietly eleven years or thereabouts, without ever having his election questioned or doubted. This John the Two and Twentieth declared that the souls of the dead were neither happy nor miserable till the day of judgment; which opinion was generally held in the former age. But the university of Paris (says Clarendon, Relig. and Pol. i. 34.) having more exactly examined this point, corrected the Holy Father in it, as Mezeray says, and thereupon the king Philip of Valois, writ to the Pope in these terms: Que s'il ne se retractoit il le feroit ardre. Whether he was converted by this threat, or convinced in his conscience, the Pope did not only change his opinion, but published an act of retractation. So far was the holy chair from being infallible when it rested in Avignon. No. CCXLVI. Eighty Thousand Jacobins. In England and Scotland, I compute that those of adult age, not declining in life, of tolerable leisure for such discussions, and of some means of information, more or less, and who are above menial dependance, may amount to about four hundred thou saud. Of these four hundred thousand political citizens, I look upon one-fifth, or about eighty thousand, to be pure Jacobins; utterly incapable of amendment; objects of eternal vigilance, and when they break out, of legal constraint. Burke's Letters on a Regicide Peace. No. CCXLVII. John Bradshaw. It is to this day problematical and can never be ascertained whether the bodies of Cromwell and Bradshaw were actually taken up and dishonoured at the Restoration. It is in secret tradition that Bradshaw was conveyed to Jamaica. His epitaph is descriptive of him and full of spirit. In a public print of 1775, it was said, The following inscription was made out three years ago on the cannon, near which the ashes of President Bradshaw were lodged, ou the top of a high hill, near Martha Bay, in Jamaica, to avoid the rage against the Regicides exhibited at the Restoration. Stranger! Ere thou pass, contemplate this Cannon, That near its base, lies deposited the Dust of Who nobly superior to all selfish regards, Tyrant of England, To a public and exemplary Death, Of Unshaken Virtue, Love of Freedom and Impartial Justice, Pass not on till thou hast blessed his Memory: And never, never forget, THAT REBELLION TO TYRANTS IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD. [From Dr, Ezra Styles's History of the Three Judges, Whalley, Goffe and Dixwell, who fled to America and concealed themselves to avoid the Fury of Kingly Violence. 12mo. Hartford, America. 1794.] ( 161 ) REVIEW. "Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame.”—POPE. ART. J.-Poems, by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq. Vol. III. containing his Posthumous Poetry, and a Sketch of his Life. By his kinsman, John Johnson, LL.D., Rector of Yaxham with Welborne, in Norfolk. London: Printed for Rivingtons, &c. &c. 1815. 8vo. PP. 434. THAT is Poetry?" inquired Boswell of his guide, philosopher and friend. "Why, Sir," answered Johnson," it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what light is; but it is not easy to tell what it is." To hazard a definition of Poetry, after such a judgment, might be presumptuous: let us satisfy ourselves with the account given of it by this great writer. " Poetry," he observes,† "is the art of uniting pleasure with truth, by calling imagination to the help of reason." If, by this statement, he intended to define the exalted art of which he speaks, some critical objections might be taken to his language; which, nevertheless, is for all useful purposes sufficiently exact. That poetry may communicate pleasure, two objects must be kept in view by the poet: he must raise his diction above mean and ordinary modes of speech; and, at the same time, he must address himself to the associations of ideas existing in the minds of those readers whose approbation is substantial praise. Many of our poets and critics have been extravagant in their respective efforts and decisions. Some of them have bestowed a disproportionate care on splendid images and a well-poized and agreeable versification. Others have become vulgar and insipid, through an affectation of simplicity: it is not that they are destitute of genius, but that they fail in taste. We may admit, though not without obvious exceptions and qualifications, that the "materials" of poetry 66 are to be found in every subject which can in *Life of Johnson. 8vo. (ed. 3rd.) Vol. iii. 37. + Works, (Murphy's Ed.) ix. 160. VOL. II. terest the human mind." Yet, surely, it will not follow that "the lan guage of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure." To afford pleasure, poetry must call imagination to the aid of reason: fancy must create, or at least combine, arrange and select the "materials." The votary of the muse may avoid "the gaudiness and inane phraseology of many modern writers," without deviating, however, into rusticity and childishness. Facts disprove the proposition that the customary style of conversation in the humbler ranks of life is calculated for poetic uses. We are silent concerning recent exemplifications of this doctrine. From instances more remote it certainly receives no support. In what estimation do we hold the pastorals of Ambrose Philips? By whom will Swift's "humble petition of Frances Harris to the Lords Justices of Ireland" be dignified with the name of Poetry? We could refer to many metrical compositions which as pictures of ancient manners are highly attractive, but of which the dialogue would otherwise be disgusting. For the poet, like the painter, must copy general, not individual, nature. His employment supposes discrimination: he must elevate what is mean, he must soften what is harsh; and these objects he will not reach if his style is familiar and provincial. The poetry of a cultivated age, must itself be cultivated; since it can yield no delight unless it correspond with the habits of thought and feeling, of taste and reading, which distinguish the times and the people to whom its productions are submitted. Faithfulness in the “delineation of human passions, human characters and human incidents" may exist in combination with lofty and harmonious numbers, beautiful and majestic images and a truly poetical skill it is the union of these excellencies which causes Homer to be the poet of all countries and periods. The most popular of his translators has been accused of " a monotonous and cloying versification :"* and ridicule is attempted to be thrown on -his cuckoo-song verses, half up and half down." are those of his productions which partake greatly of the nature of the sermo pedestris. Yet where he trifles it is at once with dignity and ease: his descriptions of natural objects exhibit a proof of his having looked through creation with a poet's eye; and his choice of topics, his lively and faithful pictures of human manners, his keen and delicate and playful saNo ridicule however can deprive him and graceful transitions, his skill in tire, his ardent sensibility, his quick of his well-earned fame. It may be true that his pauses are not sufficient painting those domestic scenes and ly varied. In this respect he is, no-these are his appropriate recom retired employments which he loved doubt, inferior to some of his prede- mendations. He who has once read cessors. Still, he has redeemed the Cowper, is desirous of reading him fault by various and characteristic charms: nor is it accurate to speak with his strains. There are writers again, and even of becoming familiar of "his rhyming facilities;" it being whom we can enjoy only in certain perfectly ascertained that his lines states of our minds: Cowper always were laboured into ease, and, by regains admittance to us; he is our peated efforts, polished into elegance. If it has been the fate of Pope to have companion and instructor, he can soothe and engage us, at every hour. injudicious imitators, it were, nevertheless, heartily to be wished that the care and diligence which he bestowed on his versification were copied by many of his censors. Let not our readers consider these observations as misplaced in a critical notice of the poetry of Cowper. This amiable writer holds, we think, a middle rank between the race of poets who have formed their versification on that of Pope, and those who introduce the language of common life into compositions professing to be poetical. Besides, Cowper is a favour ite and popular author. His pages interest readers of nearly all classes. And though it be readily admitted that "the magic of his song" is to be found in his virtues; yet, to have been so generally acceptable in this capricious age, he must have possessed intrinsic excellence as a poet. In those of Cowper's poems to which he owes his high reputation, he is neither mean and infantine, on the one hand, nor fastidiously attentive to cadence and ornament, on the other. Doubtless, some of his lines are harsh and unfinished: and there Feast of the Poets, ii. 27. +"simplicity, though frequently naked, is not consequently poor: for nakedness may be that of a Grace, and not of a beggar." Headley's Introd. to Select Beauties, &c. (2nd. ed.) Introd. P. xx. of such an author was sure of raising An additional volume of the poems not gratified, the cause of the disap expectation: if that expectation be of the respectable editor, who says, pointment appears in the declaration "It is incumbent on me to apprize the reader, that by far the greater part of the poems, to which I have now the honour to introduce him, have been already published by Mr. Hayley.". Preface. In the Dedication, too, he speaks of "the few additions inserted in this collection." Among these additions, which should have been distinctly marked, we perceive an “Address to Miss on reading the Prayer for Indifference," some Latin translations from the Poems of V. Bourne, and some English ones of the Epigrams of Owen; together with a few minor pieces. The translations of the Latin and Italian Poems of Milton, are here presented again to the world; notwithstanding they had been published in 1808, in a quarto volume. We confess therefore that we doubtful of the necessity of this part of the undertaking of the Rector of Yaxham, as well as of the propriety of entitling the larger portion of the volume, the Posthumous Poetry of Cowper. In selecting the produc ↑ By Mr. Greville. are Though, strictly speaking, it be post humous, yet the word, so used, conveya Review-Cowper's Poems. tions that were previously unpublished, some readers will regard the editor as sufficiently bountiful. But we feel so greatly indebted to him for his sketch of his kinsman's life, which we shall soon notice, that we are not disposed to make any complaints or pass any censures. Cowper's admirable good sense qualified him for placing in a clear and striking light every subject in which the manners of men are concerned nor would it be easy to mention any poem, of its class, at once so instructive and interesting as the verses on Friendship, preserved, though not for the first time printed, in the present volume. The following stanzas, in particular, are deserving of being impressed on the memory, and will indeed be very easily retained: "As similarity of mind, Or something not to be defin'd, The man who hails you Tom-or Jack, In these lines there are singular justness of thought, fidelity of description, poignancy of satire and sprightliness and terseness of expression. Theophrastus himself was never more successful. The Montes Glaciales, a truly classical poem, was written by Cowper in 1799, at a time when his health, both of body and mind, was considerably impaired. But he appears to have been fond of composing Latin verses, which he framed with a readiness and felicity demonstrative of his having left Westminster school with "scholastic attainments of the first order." His lines on the loss of the Royal George [Aug. 29, 1782], he translated into the language of ancient Rome: and he has well preserved the simplicity, pathos and force of the original; an elegiac ballad of uncommon merit. Let the rendering of the following stanzas be a specimen : "Toll for the brave! Brave Kempenfelt is gone; She ran upon no rock. His sword was in its sheath; With twice four hundred men." Magne, qui nomen, licèt incanorum, Non hyems illos furibunda mersit, 106 Navita sed tum nimium jocosi Some of our readers will here. call to mind the frequent recurrence of the compellation Magne in the Pharsalia of Lucan, and the dignified and plaintive manner in which that poet applies it. With the life of Cowper the public had already been made acquainted by Mr. Hayley. There was still wanting, however, the sketch of it which Dr. Johnson has exhibited in the present volume. He speaks of this composition with the greatest modesty. Yet, in truth, it possesses distinguished excellence as a biogra phical narrative, and is characterized not only by faithfulness of delineation, but also by that simple and artless, that lively and decorously minute relation of circumstances which renders us, for the time, the companions of Cowper and his kinsman. In illustration of this remark we transcribe a passage descriptive of some incidents on the journey of the poet and of Mrs. Unwin from Weston into Norfolk; whither they were attended by the editor: lii. "As it was highly important to guard against the effect of noise and tumult on the shattered nerves of the desponding tra veller, care was taken that a relay of horses should be ready on the skirts of the towns of Bedford and Cambridge, by which means he passed through those the idea of these poems not having been places without stopping. On the evening before published. of the first day, the quiet village of St. |