impregnable bulwarks of whalebone, wood, and steel; such much quiet decency as possible, remembering that they impassible mazes of gold, silver, silk, and furbelows, met a may make themselves esteemed long after they have ceased man's view, that before he had time to guess it was a wo- to inspire either love of admiration. man that he saw, she had passed from his sight; and he only formed a vague wish on the subject, by hearing, from an interested father or brother, that the moving castle was the consideration how the most perfect effect is to be given one of the softer sex.

In close connexion with the subject of dress, stands

to those features which are usually left uncovered. Every "These preposterous fashions disappeared in England a body is aware how much the same features vary in beauty short time after the Restoration; they had been a little on at different times. Late hours and fashionable dissipathe wane during the more classic, though distressful reign tion steal the roses from the healthiest cheek-the lustre of Charles I.; and what the beautiful pencil of Vandyke from the brightest eye. The indulgence of ill temper shows us, in the graceful dress of Lady Carlisle and Sacharissa, was rendered yet more correspondent to the soft engraves premature wrinkles on the fairest brow; and undulations of nature, in the garments of the lovely, but the want of due attention to neatness, cleanliness, and exfrail beauties of the second Charles's court. But as change ercise, destroys for ever the brilliancy of the complexion. too often is carried to extremes, in this case the unzoned In these circumstances, the question naturally arises,—how tastes of the English ladies thought no freedom too free; far may fictitious aids to beauty be allowed? Our tenets their vestments were gradually unloosened of the brace, un- upon this matter are not quite so strict as those we have til another touch would have exposed the wearer to no often heard laid down. Our opinion is, that the necesthicker covering than the ambient air. "The matron reign of Anne in some measure corrected sity of resorting to such means of pleasing is, in general, a this indecency. But it was not till the accession of the sufficient punishment. We, of course, prefer natural House of Brunswick that it was finally exploded, and gave ringlets to a wig, but if the natural ringlets have all dropped way by degrees to the ancient mode of female fortification, off, should a lady therefore erect her bald head upon a sofa by introducing the hideous Parisian fashion of hoops, buck- or at a dinner table? We prefer the row of ivory teeth ram stays, waists to the hips, screwed to the circumference that have been growing out of one's gums from childhood of a wasp, brocaded silks stiff with gold, shoes with heels so to any other set of teeth which may be fastened there by high as to set the wearer on her toes; and heads, for quan- the cunning wires of the dentist, but shall we therefore tity of false hair, either horse or human, and height to

outweigh, and perhaps outreach, the Tower of Babel! defend the gaping gulf of a dilapidated mouth against These were the figures which our grandmothers exhibited; the pleasant appearance of a well-furnished orifice? We nay, such was the appearance I myself made in my early prefer the "purple bloom of youth" to all the carmine at youth; and something like it may yet be seen at a drawing- this moment in Paris, but if a few touches of a little inroom on court-days. nocent vegetable rouge rescue from milky paleness or yel"When the arts of sculpture and painting, in their fine low biliousness the face of one we like, shall we be stern specimens from the chisels of Greece, and the pencils of Italy, were brought into this country, taste began to mould moralist enough to forbid the application of the revivifythe dress of our female youth after their more graceful fa-ing tint? Hear our authoress upon this point. She very shion. The health-destroying boddice was laid aside, bro- properly forbids the use of white paint, which is always cades and whalebone disappeared; and the easy shape and poisonous, and, sooner or later, corrodes the skin; but she flowing drapery again resumed the rights of nature and of has not the same objections to the use of red : grace. The bright hues of auburn, raven, or golden tresses adorned the head in its native simplicity, putting to shame the few powdered toupees, which yet lingered on the brow of prejudice and deformity.

REMARKS ON ROUGING.

"What is said against white paint, does not oppose with the same force the use of red. Merely rouging leaves three "Thus for a short time did the Graces indeed preside at parts of the face, and the whole of the neck and arms, to the toilet of the British beauty; but a strange caprice seems their natural hues. Hence, the language of the heart, exnow to have dislodged these gentle handmaids. Here stands pressed by the general complexion, is not yet entirely obaffectation distorting the form into a thousand unnatural structed. Besides, while all white paints are ruinous to shapes; and there, ill taste, loading it with grotesque orna-health, (occasioning paralytic affections, and premature ments, gathered (and mingled confusedly) from Grecian death,) there are some red paints which may be used with and Roman models, from Egypt, China, Turkey, and perfect safety.

Hindostan. All nations are ransacked to equip a modern "A little vegetable rouge tinging the cheek of a delicate fine lady; and, after all, she may perhaps strike a contemn-woman, who, from ill health or an anxious mind, loses her porary beau as a fine lady, but no son of nature could, at a roses, may be excusable; and so transparent is the texture glance, possibly find out that she meant to represent au ele- of such rouge, (when unadulterated with lead,) that when gant woman."-P. 12-15. the blood does mount to the face, it speaks through the slight The allusion in the last part of this extract to the covering, and enhances the fading bloom. But, though the ridiculous attempts which some people make to dress occasional use of rouge may be tolerated, yet my fair friends themselves up in all the fashions of earth, and all the co-must understand that it is only tolerated. Good sense must lours of heaven, is painfully just. The virgin or the so preside over its application, that its tint on the cheek. bride, (and who shall say which is the more lovely of the may always be fainter than what nature's pallet would have two,) in endeavouring to increase her charms in the eyes disgusting objects to the eye. The excessive red on the face painted. A violently rouged woman is one of the most of some virtuous lover or proud and affectionate husband, gives a coarseness to every feature, and a general fierceness is but obeying one of the ends of her creation. "But to the countenance, which transforms the elegant lady of when the wrinkled fair, the hoary-headed matron, at- fashion into a vulgar harridan. tempts to equip herself for conquest, to awaken senti- "While I recommend that the rouge we sparingly perments, which, when the bloom on her cheek has disap-mit, should be laid on with delicacy, my readers must not peared, her rouge can never recall; and when, despite of suppose that I intend such advice as a means of making the all her efforts, we can perceive memento mori written on an apparel of the face, (a kind of decent veil thrown over art a deception. It seems to me so slight, and so innocent her face, then we cannot but deride her folly, or in pity the cheek, rendered too eloquent of grief by the pallidness counsel her rather to seek for charms, the mental graces of secret sorrow,) that I cannot see any shame in the most of Madame de Sevignè, than the meretricious arts of Ninon ingenious female acknowledging that she occasionally reuges. de l'Enclos." There is not, in good sooth, a more dis- It is often, like a cheerful smile on the face of an invalid, gusting sight than a creature of this kind. She has com- put on to give comfort to an anxious friend. monly red hair, and a large mouth, and a prodigious bo- should not feed, like a worm, on the bud it affects to bright"That our applications to this restorer of our usual looks som, which she wears quite uncovered, and a dumpy per-en, no rouge must ever be admitted that is impregnated son, and a smile like the reflection of a washerwoman's face with even the smallest particle of ceruse. It is the lead which in a tin cover. Yet the poor object conceives that she is is the poison of white paint; and its mixture with the red gaining universal admiration, when, in point of fact, she would render that equally noxious."-P. 40-2. is the ridicule or contempt of the whole world. Let old maids and married matrons cover their persons with as

The transition from the cheek to the lip is not difficult, and, in our humble opinion, the lip is one of the most

sacred and interesting features of the female form. There ought to be but one opinion upon this subject. The female lip, that has been profaned by the touch of any man save one, (unless it be some near and dear relation,) ought to lose all honour and respect. 'Tis sweet, as Moore

says,

"To breathe on those innocent lips,

"A lively contest between the lady and the gentleman lasted for a minute; but the lady yielded, though in the midst of a convulsive laugh. And the Count had the mortification-the agony-to see the lips, which his passionate roughness and repetition by another man, and one whom and delicate love would not allow him to touch, kissed with he despised. Without a word, he rose from his chair, left the room-and the house; and, by that good-natured kiss, the fair boast of Vienna lost her husband and her lover. The Count never saw her more."-Pp. 132-5.

Some persons may be disposed to smile at the extreme

That never were breathed on by any but thine;" but when a lady becomes a prodigal of her kisses, we are instantly forced into one of two conclusions-either that she holds her virtue upon a very frail tenure, or that, al-scrupulousness of Count M; but his feelings were of a nature which we can perfectly appreciate, and which, though far removed from any thought of guilt, she is altogether incapable of that delicate feeling, and of draw-on the whole, we are inclined to respect. Worse, perhaps, than even promiscuous kissing, is the ing those nicer distinctions, by the due observance of immedest manner in which some ladies, misled either by which alone regard becomes in any instance valuable. Kissing is more common in England than in Scotland, fashion, or a diseased vanity, scruple not to unveil the and in France still more common than in England. In charms of their bosom and back. these countries it is often a piece of idle etiquette; but it persons understand in what the real eloquence and power is bad etiquette, for it tends to rub the bloom of modesty the orator; it is its first, its second, and its third arguof beauty consists! Modesty is to it what action is to away, and to deaden the susceptibilities of the female heart. What remains for the husband, if the lips-the very outlet of the soul—have mingled their breath of life with the breath of others?

"Who cannot love but one alone,

Is worthy to be loved by none."

Our sentiments upon this matter perfectly coincide with those of our authoress, as will be seen in the following extract :

KISSING ANECDOTE OF COUNT M

"As to the salute, the pressure of the lips-that is an interchange of affectionate greeting, or tender farewell, sacred to the dearest connexions alone. Our parents—our brothers -our near kindred—our husband-our lover, ready to become our husband-our bosom's inmate, the friend of our heart's core,―to them are exclusively consecrated the lips of delicacy, and woe be to her who yields them to the stain of profanation!

How little do such

ment. Without modesty, there can be, in truth, no beauty,
in the same way that without mind, the body would be
a piece of worthless inert clay. We do not agree with
the advice given by the poet to the fair sex-

"Let that which charms all other eyes,
Seem worthless in your own,"

for this might lead to the too great diminution of that
proper self-respect which is the very foundation of a vir-
tuous character; but we certainly agree so far, that she
who attempts to charm all eyes, by an unblushing dis-
play of beauties which are usually concealed from the
vulgar gaze, instead of exciting admiration, ought only to
obtain contempt. Concerning the exposure of the bosom,
we feel particularly sensitive. Beyond a certain limit,
we hesitate not to pronounce it unpardonably meretri-
cious. We entirely approve of the passage subjoined:

"By the last word, I do not mean the embrace of vice, but "To the exposure of the bosom and back, as some ladies merely that indiscriminate facility which some young wo- display those parts of their person, what shall we say? This men have in permitting what they call a good-natured kiss. mode (like every other which is carried to excess and indisThese good-natured kisses have often very bad effects, and criminately followed) is not only repugnant to decency, but can never be permitted without injuring the fine gloss of most exceedingly disadvantageous to the charms of nine wothat exquisite modesty which is the fairest garb of virgin men out of ten. The bosom and shoulders of a very young beauty. and fair girl may be displayed without exciting much dis"I remember the Count M-, one of the most accom-pleasure or disgust; the beholder regards the too prodigal plished and handsomest young men in Vienna. When I exhibition, not as the act of the youthful innocent, but as was there, he was passionately in love with a girl of almost peerless beauty. She was the daughter of a man of great rank and influence at court, and on these considerations, as well as in regard to her charms, she was followed by a multitude of suitors. She was lively and amiable, and treated them all with an affability which still kept them in her train, although it was generally known that she had avowed a predilection for Count M, and that preparations were making for their nuptials. The Count was of a refined mind and delicate sensibility. He loved her for herself alone-for the virtues which he believed dwelt in a beautiful form; and, like a lover of such perfections, he never approached her without timidity, and when he touched her, a fire shot through his veins, that warned him not to invade the vermilion sanctuary of her lips. Such were his feelings, While our authoress thus properly expresses herself conwhen one night, at his intended father-in-law's, a party of cerning the latitude allowed to female modesty, we must young people were met to celebrate a certain festival. Se-point out an instance in which, we think, she has gone a veral of the young lady's rejected suitors were present. For- little too far, and borders upon prudery. We allude to feits were one of the pastimes, and all went on with the the matter of shaking hands. That any man, except a greatest merriment, till the Count was commanded, by some lover, has a right to seize upon a lady's hand, and retain witty mademoiselle, to redeem his glove by saluting the it in his own, is of course not for a moment to be main cheek of his intended bride. The Count blushed, trembled,

the effect of accident, or perhaps the designed exposure of some ignorant dresser. But when a woman, grown to the age of discretion, of her own choice unveils her beauties to the sun and moon,' then, from even an Helen's charms the sated eye turns away loathing.

"Were we even in a frantic and impious passion to set virtue aside, policy should direct our damsels to be more sparing of their attractions. An unrestrained indulgence of the eye robs imagination of her power, and prevents her consequent influence on the heart. And if this be the case where real beauty is exposed, how much more subversive of its aim must be the studied display of an ordinary or deformed figure!"-Pp. 77, 8.

advanced to his mistress, retreated, advanced again and attained; but that a lady in England or Scotland should last, with a tremor that shook every fibre in his frame, with refuse to shake hands with almost any person whom she a modest grace he put the soft ringlet which played upon meets in good society, we hold equally preposterous. Were her cheek to his lips, and retired to demand his redeemed the following advice, for example, to be adopted, a stiff pledge in evident confusion. His mistress gaily smiled, and and freezing manner would be the consequence : the game went on. One of her rejected suitors, but who was of a merry, unthinking disposition, was adjudged, by the same indiscreet crier of the forfeits-as his last treat before he hanged himself,' she said-to snatch a kiss from the lips of the object of his recent vows

'Lips, whose broken sighs such fragrance fling, As love had fanned them freshly with his wing!'

"When any man, who is not privileged by the right of friendship or of kindred to address her with an air of affection, attempts to take her hand, let her withdraw it immediately, with an air so declarative of displeasure, that he shall not presume to repeat the offence. At no time ought she to volunteer shaking hands with a male acquaintance, who holds not any particular bond of esteem with regard

to herself or family. A touch, a pressure of the hands, are But, thank Heaven! with or without stays, this country the only external signs a woman can give of entertaining a can boast of many a noble maiden, particular regard for certain individuals; and to lavish this valuable power of expression upon all comers, upon the impudent and contemptible, is an indelicate extravagance, which, I hope, needs only to be exposed to be put for ever out of countenance."-P. 132.

This is de trop. An innocent-hearted girl may shake hands freely with every body; and, for Heaven's sake, when she does shake hands, let it be, as often as possible, cordially, and, to a certain extent, con spirito. There be certain young ladies, whose hands, when they come in contact with yours, have all the cold lifelessness of an unheated bunch of curling-irons, and who simply permit of their receiving a listless shake, leaving behind with you for the next half hour, the disagreeable impression that you might as well have shaken the handle of a pumpwell, the pendulum of a clock, or the long queue of an old navy-officer. Give us, on the contrary, the firm, but gentle and speedily-withdrawn pressure of the warm and rosy fingers, which communicates a thrill of frank and harmless pleasure to the whole frame, and which says, more expressively than words, "I entertain that friendly and benevolent feeling towards you, which it is my nature to entertain for all my fellow-creatures."

In making these remarks, we cannot for a moment be understood as wishing to encourage the slightest degree of undue familiarity, either towards equals, or, much less, towards inferiors. So far from this, we hold a becoming dignity and reserve to be one of the most important attributes of the female character; and there is no part of the whole book before us with which we more heartily agree, than with the sentiments contained in the following paragraphs:

"Fitted to shine in courts, or walk the shade, With innocence and contemplation join'd."

History of Scotland. By Patrick Fraser Tytler, Esq.
F. R.S. E. and F. A. S. Volume III. Edinburgh.
William Tait. 1829. 8vo, Pp. 398.

MR TYTLER'S work increases in interest as it proceeds. It indicates in its author a power of patient and wide research, conjoined with a mind which can elevate itself above mere details, to grasp the complicated relations which run through the individual actions of an age or nation, connecting them into one great whole.

The present volume commences with the accession, in 1371, of the House of Stewart to the Scottish throne, in the person of Robert II., grandson, by the mother's side, of the Bruce; and carries on the history to the murder of James I. in 1437. The period is by no means a cheering portion of our story. We can trace in it that undue power of the aristocracy which was the curse of Scotland for so many years, in footsteps of blood. The barons obtained no small accession of consequence when Bruce, in his contests against England and the Pope, was forced to rest his title to the crown of Scotland almost exclusively on the choice of the nobility. Their consciousness of their own strength increased during the troubled reign of Bruce's son, David II. But it reached its height when Robert II., who had formerly ranked as one of themselves, was promoted to the throne. Robert was of too advanced an age to repress with sufficient energy this domineering spirit; and his son was, from the first, of too feeble a character to oppose to it any more active resistance. The "This sentiment of order in the mind, this conviction of ambition of Albany co-operated with the lawless spirit of the beautiful harmony in a well-organized, civil society, the nobles to wrest power for a while from the hands of gives us dignity with our inferiors, without alloying it with its legitimate owner-a circumstance which only added the smallest particle of pride; by keeping them at a due dis- fuel to a flame already burning too high. Through the tance, we merely maintain ourselves and them in the rank influence of the wayward spirit thus engendered, and the in which a higher power has placed us; and the condescen-yet more fatal effects of his own irrascible temper, it was sion of our general manners to them, and our kindnesses in their exigencies, and generous approbation of their worth, are sufficient acknowledgments of sympathy, to show that we avow the same nature with themselves, the same origin, the same probation, the same end.

THE IMPORTANCE OF RESERVE.

rendered impossible, even for the high talen.s of the first James, to restore lawful and efficient government to the country. His life was the forfeit of the bold attempt.

Yet we cannot help feeling impressed, while perusing "Our demeanour with our equals is more a matter of Mr Tytler's pages, with the savage grandeur of many of policy. To be indiscreetly familiar, to allow of liberties be- the personages whom we find acting their parts in the ing taken with your good-nature; all this is likely to happen troubled drama. Archibald the Grim is well known to with people of the same rank with ourselves, unless we hold all readers of Scottish history. But we frankly confess our mere acquaintance at a proper distance, by a certain re- that this man of iron interests us little, when compared serve. A woman may be gay, ingenuous, perfectly amiable to her associates, and yet reserved. Avoid all sudden inti- with the two darker and more subtle spirits, Albany, the macies, all needless secret-tellings, all closeting about non-usurping uncle of James I., and Robert Graham, his sense, caballing, taking mutual liberties with each other in murderer. There is, no doubt, much that is revolting in regard to domestic arrangements; in short, beware of fami- the unfeeling policy of the former; and we have already liarity! The kind of familiarity which is common in fami- observed, that the necessity his ambition imposed of conlies, and amongst women of the same classes in society, is ciliating the nobles, had a great share in fostering their that of an indiscriminate gossiping; an interchange of thoughts, without any effusion of the heart. Then an unce-character of Albany. He clung with a desperate grasp lawless spirit; yet there were redeeming traits in the remonious way of reproaching each other for a real or supposed neglect; a coarse manner of declaring your faults; a to the devotional feelings of his age, rude as many of these habit of jangling on trifles; a habit of preferring your own were; and when we find him on the battlements of Edinwhims or ease before that of the persons about you; an in- burgh Castle, on a bright moonlight night, holding high delicate way of breaking into each other's privacy; in short, converse with his companions regarding the phenomena doing every thing that declares the total oblivion of all po- of the heavens and their causes, we forget the usurper in liteness and decent manners."-Pp. 163, 4. the philosopher. So is it with Graham, relentless though We must now bring our remarks upon this work to a his hatred was, and unpardonable the crime that it led close. As we have already said, it is one which may him to commit; still there is something in his fearlesswith safety and advantage be put into the hands of a young ness on all occasions, in the scrupulous anxiety with which lady. It treats of many points to which we have not ad- he always strove to reconcile his actions to his own noverted, and even enters upon certain mysteries of female tions of law and honour, and in his dying declaration to costume, concerning which we should scarcely deem it his executioners, that, should the tortures they inflicted lawful for any male animal to give an opinion. The chap-tempt him to blaspheme, he laid the loss of his soul to ter on the use of stays should be read with attention; for, though we do not look on corsets with the same horror that some folk do, we certainly conceive them to be less conducive to health than any other part of female apparel.

their charge, there is something in all this that bends us to an unwilling respect. It is such a mingling of ap parent inconsistencies, that convinces us the likeness of the Godhead, originally stamped upon man, is indelible, even

in his wildest aberrations. Were it not for the recurrence true genius. It by no means follows that he who rashly of this belief, the perusal of history would not only be the ventures to draw aside the awful veil from the hidden most painful, but, at the same time, the most deadening mysteries of nature, was born a Milton. exercise for the heart of man.

What we like to see well delineated in poetry, is all the Nor are the whole details of this period of so tragic a varying shades of human passion, as called into existence strain. The ample materials provided by Mr Tytler by circumstances of probable and not infrequent occurshow, that amid this seeming chaos, the work of civilisa-rence. He who attempts to write a long poem concerntion was going noiselessly but steadily on. Many facts ing a universal flood, or a plague of so horrible a descriptend to prove, that industry and wealth were advancing. It was during this period that the first attempt was made to found a University in Scotland; and it is from the enactments of James I. that we date some of the most important features of the Scottish constitution.

tion that none could escape its influence, takes up so unwonted a position, and must revel in conceptions so foreign to all natural associations, that there are ten chances to one against his producing a poem that will be read with interest. And if it be not read with interest, you may depend upon it there is something wrong about it, there are many chords of the human heart that it has not touched,—it is cold and artificial. We recollect we objected to the "African" by Mr Moore, that the author took greater delight in describing the stern conflict, or overboiling desire for revenge, than the gentler and more abiding emotions of the bosom, which so beautifully relieve the severity of the others. Unless a writer have a quick perception of these softer graces of composition, we

After all, however, the most novel and interesting portion of this volume is the disquisition which Mr Tytler has appended to it, respecting the fate of Richard II. of England. We frankly confess, that he has not succeeded in convincing us that the view he has taken of the matter is correct; but we should be the last to refuse to him the high merits of candour and patient investigation. Our own opinion, however, is, that, taking the evidence on this question, as it is stated by Mr Tytler himself, the authorities for believing the death of Richard at Ponte-in general despair of his ever rising very high in the refract are too strong to be overturned by the testimony offered of his subsequent appearance in Scotland. The frequent reports of his escape in England, we regard merely as signs of the unsettled state of men's minds at the time.

A press of matter of more immediate interest, prevents us from entering fully into the discussion at present; but we propose taking an early opportunity of reverting to it.

gions of the true sublime. How exquisitely does Shakspeare know how to modify and alternate his style! and how easily does Byron pass from the pinnacle of grandeur into the very bosom of domestic quiet! We do not, of course, expect to see Mr Dugald Moore writing like either Shakspeare or Byron; but we wish him, if possible, to come a little more within the sphere of human sympathies, we wish him to be a little less magnificent, and a little more at home. There is, no doubt, something imposing in many of the subjects he has chosen; but, if

Scenes from the Flood; The Tenth Plague, or the First-we are not mistaken, the best part of their poetry will

born of Egypt smitten; and other Poems. By Dugald Moore, author of "The African," &c. Glasgow. Robertson and Atkinson. 1830. Pp. 213.

WHEN we reviewed Mr Moore's former volume, we said as much of its merits, and as little of its faults, as possible. We saw that he possessed talents far above his opportunities, and we were anxious to foster them into maturity. We must not pursue exactly the same course in speaking of his second production; we must be more chary of our praise, and less scrupulous in our blame. We consider this new volume as much upon a par with its predecessor;--we should have been glad to have perceived a marked and evident improvement. We believe we have already stated, in the first volume of the Literary Journal, that what we principally like in Mr Moore's style is, that it always aims at being strong and vigorous, and seldom or never degenerates into that maudling sentimentality which weak and commonplace minds suppose to be synonymous with poetical feeling. To this remark, however, we have now to add, that there is considerable monotony in Mr Moore's mode of thinking, and that there is a want of flexibility in his versification, which gives it rather a hard and harsh tone. He is continually seeking for ideas more lofty and farther fetched than usual, and so far the ambition is an honourable one; but when the exertion of straining after such ideas becomes apparent, they cease to afford the reader the same pleasure. Besides, Mr Moore seems to us rather to catch high ideas from the subjects he selects, than to be able to impart them to his subject out of his own stores. This is a very common expedient with minds somewhat deficient in innate sensibility, and it is well calculated to deceive for a time the unskilful. Martin paints the De

luge, and his black and fiery masses, heaped inch-thick

not unfrequently be found in their title. Thus we have
"The Last Peak," "The Vulture of Caucasus,"-
The Fossil Skeleton of the Mammoth,"_" The Dying
Patriarch,"—" The Tenth Plague, or the first-born of
Egypt smitten,”- "The Sailor's last Huzza,"- "Death
on the Pale Horse,”. "The first Star,"- "The Flight
of the last Spirit," "The Vessel of the Dead," and
many others, each of which, we suspect, necessarily con-
sists of the amplification of one good idea. Where other
extraneous ideas are introduced, they are vague and unsa-
tisfactory, and though their apparent magnitude may at
first surprise, it will be found that they want substance.
In the "Tenth Plague," for example, we have the fol-
lowing passage descriptive of Death, which, to say no-
thing of its ungrammatical construction, appears to us,
whatever it may do to Mr Moore, not a little bombastic:
Meantime, far journeying from his realms of night,
Death swept the dread immensity of space,
By dim and dead annihilated worlds,
Old systems, which his arm of old had smote,
Whose sunless fragments, and disjointed forms,
In thunder roll'd around him and by stars
Nor shake his dart above them, for they beam'd
Which he durst not o'ershadow with his wing,
Pure and unspotted in the sight of God,
At last alighted on earth's heavy clouds:
Aloft the giant like a mountain stood-
A mountain of tall flame, whose sulphury crest
Illumes a continent."

Mr Moore delights in these generalities and vaguenesses. He is not only very great upon Death, but upon the conqueror of Death, of whom he frequently speaks in some such terms as these:

"Meantime, the Eternal, sitting on his throne," &c.

Or,

"the voice

Of the Eternal echoed thus through space," &c.

upon the canvass, are applauded to the echo. Robert Montgomery, the young man whose pretty face forms the frontispiece to his volume, writes about the "Omni- We cannot say that we altogether approve of a journeypresence of the Deity," and some critics immediately de- man-printer in Glasgow talking thus familiarly of the clare that he is among the most sublime of Britain's Most High. We seriously advise him, at least for some bards. But such expedients as these are not the test of time to come, to be less ambitious. We doubt that