sence of the King of the East. Roses open their ruby lips, and breathe soft their choicest fragrance; birds praise his powerful beauty, pouring forth sweetest notes of thrilling eloquence; earth smiles, well pleased; air dances in many a curious maze; and the lake and the river receive, with shining face of joy, the soft impressions of the lovely light.

Shall man, Lord of earth and sea, who walketh erect in the majesty of his form, who stampeth on the earth, and saith, "it is mine;" who stretcheth out his right hand for a sceptre, and commands the beasts and the fowls; whose eyes span the Heavens; whose voice is the thunder of terror; whose thought pierces through the Heaven of Heaven, and follows the comet's course, and reaches into the fathomless cavern of futurity; shall God-like man lie buried under the darkness of his eye-lids, in unprofitable and monotonous oblivion, dead to the countless felicities of light!-Awake! thou who art so capable of varied happiness, call into life thy numerous powe rs-thy senses, shake off old sloth, rouse up thy vigour like a lion, go forth, and inhale, at every pore and every sense, the pleasures of the morn, unspeakable in beauty.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

Y

SIR,

OUR correspondent" Philalethes" has contradicted a statement made by me, in my sketch of the former aud present state of Lambeth, &c. I can have no disrespect for the writer, but I do not like noticing anonymous replies, and, indeed, have but little inclination, or time, for controversy.

In the hasty sketch which I gave of remarkable objects or occurrences, I might have mentioned the quarrel between Mr. Carpenter and Joanna South. cott; but felt no wish to dwell more par. ticularly on that subject. But it might not have occurred to your correspondent, that negative information is not always satisfactory or candid: he has told us that neither Mrs. Southcott nor her friends ever attend Mr. Carpenter's House of God; but has neglected to inform us in what particulars their doctrines now differ; and the ambiguity of his language might lead some to doubt whether Mr. Carpenter had ever been the supporter of the awful pretensions of this extraordinary female, who considers herself "the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, and the Woman clothed with the Sun." I think my information sufficiently correct to permit me to say that the chief cause of the dispute originated m Mr. Carpenter's belief in the visitations of the Youth of Neckinger-Mills

notoriety. Mrs. Southcott, feeling a natural wish to monopolize fame, could not endure that another should also become popular as a dealer in dreams and visions. However, the zeal with which Mr. Tozer defends the opinions of the prophetess at his chapel, near the Obelisk, Saint George's Fields, in some measure perhaps counterbalances the loss of Mr. Carpenter. The multitude are fond of the marvellous; and absurdity is sure to be sanctified by Scripture proofs.

The absurdi.

I was once present when Mr. Carpenter explained the representations of the visions, said to be seen by the aforesaid youth; they were then drawn and coloured on large paper, and held up under his pulpit, while he named to the audience, the time and place at which those wonders were seen. ties be related, and the confidence with which he declared his firm belief in them, almost induced me to doubt the evidence of my own senses.—Mr. Hann, who was formerly one of Mrs. Southcott's follow ers, has, since his recantation, taken up the pen to expose her impudence and falsehoods: according to him," she opened her commission in 1792," and declared herself to be the woman spoken of in the Revelations; that her business is to warn the world of the near approach of the Millenium, and to seal the people for the enjoyment of the same to the amount of 144,000, &c. &c. (See his Life of Joanna Southcott, Letter to the Bishop of London, &c.)

With respect to the letter, or seal, as it is termed, which has excited so much inquiry among the curious, the following is a description of one which was profanely broke open, and presented to me as a curiosity.

In the centre of an oval which occu pies one side of the paper, is the name of the disciple who is sealed, on the other side appears the following words, "The sealed of the Lord, The elect precious Man's Redemption, To Inherit the Tree of Life, To be made Heirs of God and Joint Heirs with Jesus Christ. May 21, 1803." To this, in a scarcely legible hand, is signed, "Joanna South

cott."

One of the seals, intended to secure the contents, appears to repre-ent a lion: the other impression has I. C. with two stars, the explanation of which, she says, was given her by the spirit. Ou the face of this letter appears again the name of the person sealed; and some of

the

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November 15, 1812.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine,

SIR,

INDIGNATION always arises in my

Exchange, the statue of that most profligate monarch Charles II.

Greece and Rome erected statues to their heroes, patriots, orators, &c.; when these were seen, their noble actions were recalled to memory. Beholders thought of them with gratitude. The sight of them encouraged others to love their country; reflected shame on self interested men, and despicable traitors; and stimulated youth to obtain such honors. But, when any one sees, in the first place, in the centre of the first city in the world, the statue of this man, how will be be astonished to hear, that he, whom it represents, was a drunkard—a profligate-a traitor whose court was a seraglio, who was a patron of vice; who, to sup port his vicious courses, sold Dunkirk to Louis XV. of France!"

Would it not be more grateful to En

* Hume, vol. vii., p. 394-Rapin, vol. ii. p. 619, 640, 653, 675.

3.1

glishmen, to have one of our great men grace this noble emporium, one whoma people of every nation may view and admire, instead of one who is a disgrace to our nation, and an object of contempt? W. BEEK.

Herts, Sept. 15, 1812.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

Norder to ascertain, by an annual

I Exhibition, which breeds of oxen,

sheep, and pigs, respectively, will improve the most in weight of meat, of good quality, for the market, in a given time, and with a given consumption of food; the Smithfield Club, which was instituted in 1798, through the patriotic endeavours of the late Duke of Bedford, distributed their annual prizes in Decem ber last, on the award of Mr. George Guerrier of Poplar, Essex; Mr. Wm. Harrison of Folkington, Sussex; and Mr. Emanuel Pester,of Yeovil, Somersetshire, the three judges appointed for examining the animals exhibited, and considering the several particulars in the certificates of their breeds, ages, food, &c.-Below is a return of the particulars *.

1274

1156

a poor return.

Your correspondent W. G. whose musical genius and eccentricity equally delight and amuse his friends, has spread over his first paper a blaze of imagina tion, through which it is somewhat difficult to discern the justness of his critieism, as resulting from the soundness of his judgment, and the purity of his taste. Some suspicion of an obliquity of judgment, or of an aberration from the truth of nature and good taste, can hardly be avoided, when an enthusiast talks of a ❝menstruum" chord, in which all the chords are chemically changed; of chemical " precipitation," ," "volcanic eruptions," &c. It opens a new expectation to me, that the next discovery of musical science will issue from Sir H. Davy's laboratory. Let not Mr. G. take excep. tion at the word enthusiast; I mean to dignify, not degrade, him in it; esteem ing enthusiasm in music to have an alli ance with the great and good of human character.

lbs.

141

9

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To speak of either of the mighty ters of harmony, Handel and Hay having attained the ne-plus-ultra o sical excellence, would be equally but we may give the palm to one other without an imputation of bli tachment to either. Those of readers, Mr. Editor, who can unde the scientific points between Oxens Mr. Gardiner, will perceive the of the question do not rest upon

No one would measure the pow Newton's mind by a philosophical nor of Locke's understanding by a physical subtilty; nor of Shakesp genius by a point of grammar; nor I decide between Handel and Hay a chord of the 13th, or 4 minor 3ds

Admitting that they possessed science, or even that Haydn refin that of Handel, I cannot but pref latter, on the basis of his truth to n and his faithful, powerful, and mo fecting language of human' senti and passion, which the genius former has not equally expressed. is the ground on which we must co these great composers. They ha their works, addressed themselves most profound, dignified, and an emotions of man: query, which of with most complete success? Thou have felt something like inspiration a sacred performance of Hande holy sentiment and impression, as t a celestial ambassador, with a ch angels, had been speaking to them there has been a consciousness of a ercise of the soul under it, similar rity and elevation to the enthusia devotion and virtue. A grand sent and a high tone of feeling have also communicated to many by the Crea but, I do not think it so obvious Editor, that Haydn's ambitious splo "theatrical" air, elaborate orna and brilliant science, have eminent spired the hallowed feeling, that be powerful a testimony to the genius rival.

I cannot but feel, sir, there degree of sophistication (if you will

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the term in music) in the compositions of the new school; and the admiration they have drawn from me has not always had the according approbation of moral feeling, or religious sentiment; any more than the imposing, bu: false, sentimentality of a Kotzebue; or the grand, but pernicious, morality of a Goethe or a

Schiller.

It might be supposed the continental philosophers and musicians had discovered some new region of human nature, to which their works were addressed; bearing some relation perhaps to the sen sation, intellect, moral sense, and ima. gination, we generally ascribe to man; yet not expressly referable to any one of them; for they certainly often succeed by the magic of talent to raise a great feeling, which with difficulty we can define, approve, or account for.

I trust, Mr. Editor, that, with all our exotic follies and mimicry, there is less adulteration of natural sentiment in this country, than on the continent; and I would wish a jealous veneration of Handel long to remain at once an evidence of it, and a pledge of security to the distinction.

Matchless in sublimity as Handel's chorusses are, I conceive, sir, the test of his inspiration and powerful genius is less in them than in the profound emotion be produces by a few simple notes in his sacred songs; as in the three following, of the minor key: "Behold and see," in the Messiah; "Farewel, ye limpid Springs," in Jeptha; and "Total Eclipse," in Sampson. There is no language to describe the feeling these compositions give me; none will be necessary to those who have felt them with a kindred spirit, to that which inspired them. To the grace and sweetness of Haydn's melodies, we can scarcely conceive a rival excellence; and, accompanied as they are with such refinement of scientific skill and exquisite beauty of ornament, they will ever be a feast of the first order to a cultivated taste; but this, sir, is very distinct from the soul moving awful simplicity of Handel, and certainly evinces a mind of a different order, with K less of the divinity stirring within it.

Venerating Handel as I do, conceive, sir, how it moves one's spleen to hear, as I have done, quacks in the art deny that Handel has any music of characteristic expression, and then perhaps amble on the keys a scrap of Italian inanity, and call it perfection. There is, indeed, a great deal of quackery in musical science, MONTHLY MAG, No. 237.

33

and inferior writers frequently debase it with tricks and prettinesses, that make sensible men ashamed of it: refinement too has nearly made it incapable of speaking to the honest and genuine affections of the human bosom: it is more frequently the language of affectation than of truth; of a sickly sensibility than of good feeling, But I would allude more particularly to a special quack con ceit of musical expression, with which some composers have played strange fantastic ganibols, and nearly exposed by them the whole science to derision and contempt; but it is, Mr. Editor, a straining of musical sound to represent mechanic motions in nature, which were never intended to be so represented. That there is some relation between sound and motion, I acknowledge; and great beauty and effect in one accompanying the other; but, to take one to express the other, is using the former at some hazard-as the ludicrous is ever close at hand to mock the foolish attempt.

Many of your readers will recollect the most notable Battle of Prague," and the imminent danger they have been in from the flying bullets and charge of cavalry, as exhibited on the keys of the piano: instances might be mentioned, sir, ten times more absurd than these, The greatest masters are in equal danger when they desert the proper sphere of musical expression, and cease to use it as the language of strong or amiable pas sion. My reverence for the " Creation," (which surely has given to Haydn a deathless name,) restrains my pen; and will not permit me to particularize incongruities of a similar kind, which I would have ever offensive to good taste, and scouted by all who have at heart the trus dignity and honour of musical science.

Beethoven (whom Mr. G. námes with great honour) mocks all criticism; a wild insanity of genius bears him to some supra-lunary region, where human judg ment and feeling are equally at fault.

Of the greater works of Mozart, I am too ignorant to form an opinion; the elegance, pathos, and chastity, of his mi nor ones challenge a more general stu of his refined genius.

Had Mr. Gardiner spoken in stronger terms of the emasculate racter of the Italian opera, ma myself, would have heartily with him; for certainly that form of a noble art and s serves merely to voluptuou a spurious refinement of se

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