likely to be realised), and that these acknowledgments of the stability of mixed governments, and the advantages of hereditary rank, are but the precursors of important changes, which the present generation, perhaps, may not live to witness; no man who has watched the progress of society, or traced the course of empires, can hesitate to admit. Mr. Cooper's opinions, therefore, are worthy of attention, as being in anticipation of his age, and prophetic of a destiny to which even he would be unwilling to contribute.

It must not be supposed, however, that these "Recollections" are essentially political; on the contrary, the greater part of the two volumes is filled with the lightest matter, sketches of society, chiefly in London and Paris, portraits of such distinguished individuals as accident happened to throw in the way of the author; long and minute descriptions of the modes of European life; and a collection of literary and fashionable gossip so pleasantly related, that the majority of Mr. Cooper's readers will derive more entertainment from this publication than from any of the very clever fictions upon which his reputation is based. That Mr. Cooper should think it necessary or judicious to dedicate so much consideration to these affairs of

:

mere form and courtesy which are almost instinctive with Europeans, such as dinner table habits, the etiquette of visiting, the orders of precedence, costume, &c., will hardly surprise any one who has penetrated the impressions under which the work was written and if the truth must be told, a very great portion of the difference between the two stages of society represented in the two worlds, will be found to consist in these apparently trifling traits, which, with us, are lost in the insignificance that attaches to commonplace and every-day usages, but which are intricate, perplexing, and wearisome to less cultivated nations. As Mr. Cooper became familiar with the toil of formal society, he began to discover, not merely its elevating character, but its intrinsic utility; and having once fallen into it habitually, the roughness, and brusque mannerism of his own countrymen could no longer be tolerated by the accomplished traveller. In fact, without intending it to be so, this work is a severer satire upon America than the caricatures of Mrs. Trollope: it is more in earnest, contains more positive truth, and is much more likely than any work we have ever read to satisfy all sceptics that America is a century behind us in taste and general civilisation.

Leicester-Square.

MR. BURFORD'S Panoramas have long been great favourites with the public; and no wonder, when by a change as rapid as any in Shakspeare's Plays, a cockney traveller steps at once out of Leicester Fields into Constantinople, or, as in the present instance, finds himself amongst the glaciers of Switzerland. Steam-carriages and balloons, though pretty miracles in their way, are nothing to the magic of this transition; besides that Mr. Burford's travellers have the singular advantage of performing their journey without fatigue to their limbs, or hazard to their necks-" suave mare in magno est aliena periêla videre," which may be freely rendered for the present purpose, "it is a very pleasant thing to sit snugly by the fire of an Exhibition room, and imagine the painted figures on the canvass toiling amongst the glaciers of Mont Blanc." For ourselves we must honestly confess that, like Falstaff, we greatly admire taking our ease in our own inn, and though much amused by the accounts of Saussure, Clissold, and other daring adventurers, we have no mind to emulate their example.

Mont Blanc is a lion well worth seeing, and, as if that were not enough, poets, painters, and travellers, have all combined to make him a subject of wonder and curiosity; they have painted, talked, and written him up, as if they had been specially retained in his behalf. The consequence is, that

to pay their respects to this last lion, while here and there may be seen a learned tourist comparing notes with his recollections, and testing the painter's truth by that which he has himself observed. And is this, indeed, the monarch of mountains which Byron has crowned with a diadem of snow, and braced about with mighty avalanches; are these in truth the glaciers, so graphically described by the intrepid Clissold? is this the valley of Chamounix, associated with a thousand recollections, all grand, and all beautiful? We hardly know what to say to it; the picture is far from fulfilling our expectations; but, then, in common fairness, comes the question, is such a realisation of the fancy possible? To us, the painting is deficient in vividness and grandeur; there is a want of magnitude about it; though, perhaps, all these defects may rather be attributed to the nature of the exhibition, than to any deficiency of power in the artist. As compared to the magic Diorama in the Regent's Park, and the moving pictures exhibited on the stage by Stanfield, it is certainly ineffective; but then, it must be candidly allowed, that the first of these dioramas owes no small portion of its effect to the peculiarity of its mechanical construction, while the second borrows half its brilliance from

the circumstance of its being seen by gas-light. Still, though the present panorama wants these adventitious aids, we may safely recommend it as a highly interesting exhibition.

THE patent theatres have been going over the old ground for the last month, and with much the same success as usual-that is to say with no success at all. The only novelties have been the appearance of Mr. Forrest in Howard Payne's Brutus, and a Mr. Hamblin in the part of Hamlet. There is a grievous disposition on the part of some critics to undervalue Mr. Forrest. He is not unlike Wallack in his style of acting, with less knowledge perhaps of the art, but with greater physical powers. Were he under the necessity of following the stage as a profession, and submitting to its drudgery for two or three years, there can be little doubt of the result. His merits are those of natural talent; his defects arise from the want of study and practice. We are accustomed to see actors burst upon us, on the London stage, in all the splendour of genius; and the spectator hence is too apt to infer, as honest Dogberry inferred of reading and writing, that acting-unlike other professions-comes by nature. Now the contrary happens to be the truth; almost all our first actors have gone through a long and hard apprenticeship, before they obtained the vacant chair of Garrick. Cooke, Kemble, Kean, Macready, were all, in the carly part of their career, diligent students of their art, and that, which now appears the result of inspiration, has

been in fact only the result of genius, matured by long and painful study.

Mr. Hamblin, whom some of the papers call an American, is, in reality, the same Mr. Hamblin, who, about twenty years ago, played subordinate parts at Drury Lane theatre, then under the management of Elliston. On a particular occasion, in the absence of those of higher name, he was called upon to play the part of Hamlet; and such was his success, that the whimsical manager, in a fit of gratitude, rewarded him with-guess, gentle reader-with a tooth-pick case! but poor Elliston, with all his talent, never could speak, talk, or act, like any other man; still, the effect of this humble present was to fill the aspirant with new notions of his own powers. It could not be expected that the Prince of Denmark could sink into the private gentleman, or deliver messages. Accordingly he fled from Old Drury to sport his newly acquired diadem in the provinces. His success appears to have been great, and no wonder, for at least he had all the outward qualities of an actor, though we hardly know whether we can, in justice, concede to him that mens divinior, which is the essential quality of a genius. Still, a man may be a good, and even a first-rate, actor, without being a Kean, or a Kemble.

An Account of an Expedition into the Interior of New Holland. Edited by Lady Mary Fox. "Picciola," or Captivity Captive.

..

A new edition of the Works of Goldsmith, with Notes. By James Prior, Esq.

Tableaux from Crichton, containing fourteen engraved Illustrations of Mr. Ainsworth's new Novel of Crichton. By John Franklin, Esq.

A Popular Account of the Public and Private Life of the Ancient Greeks, translated from the German of Heinrich Hase.

Modern India; or, Illustrations of the Resources and Capabilities of Hindoostan. By Dr. Spry, of the Bengal Medical Staff.

Temples Ancient and Modern, or Notes on Church Architecture. By Dr. Bardwell, Architect.

An Exploratory Voyage along the West Coast of Africa, and the Narrative of a Campaign in Kafferland in 1835. By Captain E. Alexander. The fourth volume of the Rev. C. Thirlwall's History of Greece.

The Spirit of the Woods, with 76 Coloured Engravings.

The Victims of Society. By the Countess of Blessington.

The State Prisoner. By Miss E. L. Boyle. The Married Unmarried. By the Author of "Almack's Revisited."

Early Recollections, chiefly relating to the late Samuel Taylor Coleridge, during his long residence in Bristol. By Joseph Cottle.

Napoleon in Council; being the opinions of Bonaparte delivered in the Council of State; by the Baron Pelet. Translated by Captain Basil Hall.

BIRTHS.

On the 28th ult. at Bowness, Westmoreland, the Lady of Sir T. S. Pasley, Bart. of a son. On the 28th of December last, at Dowlais, Lady Charlotte Guest, of a daughter. On the 26th ult. in Green Street, Grosvenor Square, Mrs. A. Shelley, of a son. On the 21st ult. at Strut Rectory, the Lady of the Rev. R. Fitzhugh, of a son. On the 28th ult. the Right Hon. Lady de Tabley, of a daughter, who survived only a few hours. On the 6th, in Upper Harley Street, the Lady of J. Melville, Esq. of a son. On the 7th, Lady Howard, of a son and heir. On the 7th, at Calverthorpe, the Hon. Mrs. Handley, of a son. On the 7th, at Hilborowe-hall, Norfolk, the Lady of H. B. Caldwell, Esq., of a son. On the 5th, at Dover, the Lady of the Rev. J. H. Harrison, of On the 19th, the Lady of Major Graham, of a daughter. On the 20th, at Exmouth, Devonshire, the Hon. Mrs. Osborne, of a daughter. On the 19th, at the Hendree, Monmouthshire, the Lady of John E. W. Rolls, Esq., of a son and heir. On the 19th, the Lady of Henry Foley, Esq., of Tetworth House, in the county of Huntingdon, of a daughter.

a son.

MARRIAGES.

On the 28th ult., at Woodford, Essex, Adolphus William, son of J. A. Young, Esq., of Great Ormond Street, to Anne Eliza, daughter of E. Smith, Esq., of Woodford Wells. On the 27th ult., at Steeple Aston Church, the Rev. E. Boyle, to Elizabeth Margaret Colquhoun, daughter of the late A. Colquhoun, Lord Register of Scotland. On 26th ult., at All Souls Church, Langham Place, Captain J. A. Cox, to Elizabeth Golding, daughter of Major Maxwell, of Itraquhan, N.B. On the 14th September, at St. Thomas's Mount, Madras, Capt. Prior, of the 23d Regiment (of Madras Infantry, to Elizabeth Lethes, daughter of Sir J. C. Mortlock, Commissioner of Excise. On the 18th ult., at Corwillgai, Carmarthenshire, Capt. J. Beck, Bombay Army, to Jane, daughter of the late J. Johnes, Esq., of Dolecothy. On the 2nd, at St. George's, Hanover Square, C. Turnor, Esq., of Stoke Rochfort and Panton House, Lincoln, to Lady Caroline Finch Hatton, daughter of the Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham. On the 13th of Dec. last, at Lake Erie, Upper Canada, William Johnson, Esq., son of Lieut.-Col. Johnson, C.B. of the Hon. East India Company's service, to Louisa Jukes, only daughter of the late A. Jukes, Esq., M.D. of the Hon. East India Company's Service. On the 20th Dec., at Quebec, G. L. Baines, Esq., Lieut. 66th Regt., son of the late T. Danus, Esq., of Greenhill, King's County, Ireland, to Emma, daughter of W. Kemble, Esq., Quebec. On the

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February 28, 1837. 7th, in Burlington Gardens, W. H. Harcourt Esq., of St. Leonard's Berks, to Elizabeth Georgiana Harriet, daughter of the Hon. Col. Cavendish. the 7th, at West Ham, the Rev. R.D. Buttewer, of Clare Hall, Cambridge, to Mary, daughter of J. E. Boulcott, Esq., of Stratford House, Essex. On the 9th, at the Charterhouse, W. Straham, Esq., of Ashurst, to Anne, daughter of the late General Sir G. B. Fisher, K.C.H. On the 16th inst., at the British Embassy at Paris, the Rev. James Gillman, Rector of Barfreyston, Kent, to Sophia, only surviving daughter to the late Alexander Riley, Esq., of Euston Square, London.

DEATHS.

On the 26th ult., at Portsea, J. Franklin, Esq., R.N. On the 25th ult., the Rev. W. Farly, M.A. 45 years vicar of Effingham, Surrey. On the 26th ult., at Witley, Surrey, of influenza, the Rev. J. F. Chandler, aged 75. On the 19th ult., at Ashurst rectory, Northampton, Mary, wife of the Hon. and Rev. F. Powys, and sister of the late Lord Grey de Ruthyn, aged 58. On the 25th ult., at Tichborne parsonage, the Rev. S. Strut, aged 63. On the 26th ult., at St. Ninian's, Wooler, Northumberland, of influenza, Lady St. Paul, aged 58. On the 26th ult., at Jompting, Sussex, the Rev. T. C. Hooper, aged 63. On the 27th ult., in Gay St, Bath, aged 88, Eleanor, relict of the late J. Sutton, Esq., of New Park, Devizes, and sister of Viscount Sidmouth. On the 27th ult., at Ruddington, Nottingham, Lieut. General J. Grey, aged 76. On the 1st inst., C. I. Romilly, Esq., barrister-at-law, of Gray's Inn, aged 47. On the 11th ult., at Brighton, Anne, widow of Admiral Sir R. Onslow, Bart. G. C. B., aged 85. On the 1st, at Mersham, Mina, daughter, of Sir N. G. H. Jolliffe, aged 4. On the 5th, at Fraul, Sussex, Captain L. Menit, late of the H. E. I. Company's Service. At Brighton, of influenza, Mr. M'Queen, son of Lord Braxfield. On the 6th, at Greatford, Edward, second Marquis of Drogheda, aged 68. On the 4th, the Rev. G. Somers Clarke, D.D. Vicar of Great Waltham, aged 82. On the 7th, at the parsonage, East Dul. wich, Surrey, the Rev. E. N. Walter, rector of Leigh, Essex, aged 74. On the 20th, in Vine Street, Lieut. Henry Munro, one of the heroic defenders of Gibraltar under Gen. Elliot, aged 77. On the 7th, at Dorking, Surrey, the Rev. G. Fencham, M. P. vicar of that parish, aged 70. On the 20th, at Abbots Ripton, aged 19, Jessie, sixth daughter of J. B. Rooper, Esq., M.P. On the 20th, at Brighton, in her 19th year, Hannah Augusta, only child of Augustus Gortling, L.L. D. On the 22d, at her residence, Tilney St., Park-lane, the Hon. Mrs. A. Stanhope.

A WRITER, who appears to be well acquainted with the subject, observes in a recent number of the Dublin University Magazine, that while every gentleman's house in England has its library, very few of the Irish gentry possess a dozen volumes. This fact-which may be partially referred to the indolent and heedless habits of the people-will explain in a great degree the reason why Ireland has never, at any period of her history, maintained a periodical press of higher importance than the newspapers of the day. The Irish, emphatically, are not a reading people—all the world knows that they are not a thinking people-yet, strange as it may seem, they are unquestionably a literary people. They possess an extraordinary aptitude for letters -touch the surface of things with amazing rapidity-are either indifferent to, or incapable of amassing details, but exhibit a remarkable faculty for catching at principles, which their eloquence, wit, and invention enable them to employ, if not to the best advantage, at all events with surprising facility, tact, and adroitness. The education of good habits is wanted in Ireland to make the people turn these peculiar traits to account. The gentry are quite as reckless in their own way as the peasantry. The knowledge they acquire in the rapid examination of every novelty that comes within their reach, instead of being concentrated and dedicated to the production of useful results, is wasted upon the air. There are men, says an Arabian proverb, who, instead of keeping their perfumes in cotton, allow them to evaporate in open bottles. An incapacity for the regular division and cultivation of time, and for the continuous pursuit of a settled object, render them at once various and capricious. And to this distraction of pursuits, and not to the want of ability, must be traced the failure of every attempt that has hitherto been made to establish, with success, that species of publication which is known in this country under the general name of Periodical Literature.

The primary cause of this perpetual diversion of the public mind is, no doubt, to be found in the political circumstances of VOL. X.-NO. IV.-APRIL, 1837

Ireland. Where there is an incessant warfare between religious sects and civil factions, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain a dispassionate and constant audience for those calm and abstract pleasures that are calculated to carry us out of the immediate business of life. In a country so much engrossed with daily feuds about passing affairs, it is not very likely that literature could take root; or that, if it did, it could long survive in so uncongenial an atmosphere. But that is a view of the subject upon which we do not desire to enter here :—it is enough to indicate the influence which politics have exercised, without a single interval of relief, upon the destiny of Irish genius. With the exception of a few treatises upon science, got up generally in the immediate vicinity of the University, an occasional reprint of an old school-book, or an ardent pamphlet, theological or political, printed, published, and distributed at the author's expense, you rarely hear of a new publication from one end of the island to the other. Original works of fiction seldom appear, and when they do, it is almost invariably under the sanction of some Lon don house; so that, in fact, they cannot be said to belong to the Irish press. Men of talent, finding no encouragement at home, naturally repair to the most profitable market. A very large proportion of what is called English literature, is well known to be written by Irishmen. Some of the most striking papers in Blackwood are of Irish birth; and it is only necessary to mention the names of Dr. Maginn, of the Rev. Mr. Mahony (Father Prout), of Crofton Croker, Lover, Croly, &c., to shew to what an extent the talent of Ireland is rendered available in our periodicals. Seven-eighths of the reporters engaged upon the newspaper press of London are Irishmen. This is natural enough. The nature of the reporter's occupation, laborious as it is, appears to be admirably adapted for men of an imaginative and restless temperament. It employs them intensely for a short time, drawing out in haste all the points of skill they possess, and exercising their superficial versatility in a way that is well suited

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to their discursive habits. The rest, and by far the larger portion of their time is open to the indulgence of idleness or pleasure; which is still more in conformity with their tastes, and in consideration of which they are not unwilling to compound for all that is irksome and toilsome in their duties. But we do not find them in any of the plodding professions, where unremitting attention is indispensable, and where industry and judgment are requisite for the attainment of eminence.

The country that produced an Usher (one of the most learned men of any age), a Swift, a Sterne, a Goldsmith, a Sheridan, a Flood, a Grattan, a Ponsonby, a Curran —has never been able to support a maga zine! A few magazines were attempted within the lasty fifty or sixty years; but they exhausted the pockets of their projectors, and were speedily abandoned. We will glance at them for the purpose of shewing the sort of materials of which those brief literary speculations were composed.

The earliest of which we have been able to discover any trace is the "Gentleman's Magazine." Such of our readers as may happen to have seen any of our old repositories, in which wonderful voyages, strange anecdotes about dogs and bears, curious facts in natural history, letters upon the powder tax, and “ original poetry” are to be found, may form a tolerably correct notion of the contents of the "Gentleman's Magazine.” It fairly represented the fictitious manners of the day, and was as vapid, maudlin, sentimental, and jejune as could be desired. Its good-natured readers were delighted every month with little engravings of lady T

and my lord S

looking at each other through two circles, intended to give the effect of locket-frames, their eyes staring out straight forward without a ray of thought or emotion, their hair combed and pomatumed back, and their regular features exhibiting the most placid tone of inanity. Underneath the ambiguous couple was printed some such mysterious announcement, as The Delicate Intrigue," "-or more probably, "The Conscious Lovers!" Occasionally the plates were varied by the introduction of a new muslin pattern spread over a whole sheet, the interest of which was usually heightened by some anecdote about the fashions, or an account of the reception of a certain macaroni at court. The slender

tales of love troubles were numerous, and it was customary to give them a sort of scandalous tendency, by suppressing, under initials, the supposed names of the chief actors, in order that the credulous and innocent public might be led to believe that the story was true, and that the editor had delicately concealed the personalities out of respect for the noble persons involved. All this, if course, only made people more curious, and, in proportion, increased the patronage of this sly old periodical. Then there were deaths, births, and marriages out of number; news of the fleet, in a couple of lines headed in huge capitals, that engrossed more space than the intelligence they introduced; elaborate accounts of street accidents, printed in large type,-picking pockets being at that time considered one of the black arts; and singular discoveries in geology, mineralogy, and astronomy, which sciences were then and there esteemed to be almost above the reach of the human intellect. The "Gentleman's Magazine" passed away like a shadow-noiseless, and leaving no impression behind. How long it lived we know not; nor do we believe, unless by accident some copies may yet be found in the lumber rooms of family houses, that a single copy of the work is now in existence.

The next magazine in order of time was a miscellany entitled "Walker's Hibernian Magazine, or compendium of entertaining knowledge." It is fifty years since this work flourished, and yet to this hour stray copies of it are to be met with in auction rooms, and in private houses; for, antiquated as it is in shape, in substance, and in style, the Irish people seem to regard it with a sort of lingering pleasure. It was published by the keeper of a lottery office, who, as appears by the following appropriate doggerel verses, dispensed alike the gifts of Fortune and the beauties of Literature. These stanzas afford a fair exemplar of the poetry which formed part of the staple of the work :—

Not only Entertainment flows,
In pleasing verse, instructive Prose,

But Wealth, from Fortune's store,
Descends to those who seek them all,
And for their friendly succour call

At Walker's lucky door.
In vain shall Envy curl each snake,
And raging Fury strive to break

The union that is found,
'Twixt sweet Amusement, and the charm
That every generous Heart can warm
In full Ten Thousand Pound!