were forced out, and the death was instantaneous; and I have no doubt an adroit person might kill numbers in this way.' The Kittiwake, in the breeding season, congregates in crowds in a natural arch by which the cliff of Foula is perforated. Puffins breed in great numbers among the lofty rocks; as does the Procellaria pelagica, or Mother Cary's Chicken, which many sailors foolishly believe to nestle under water. By a register of the weather kept on the Snuke hill, from the 8th to the 30th of July, (both inclusive,) 1821, it appears that the highest temperature, 56°, occurred at eight o'clock in the evening of the 22d; and the lowest, 41°, at eleven o'clock A.M. on the 8th. ART. X. Don Carlos; or, Persecution. A Tragedy, in Five Acts. By Lord John Russell. Fifth Edition. 8vo. 4s. 6d. sewed. Longman and Co. 1822. WE E so far agree in the sentiment of Dr. Johnson, that "when a nobleman appears in print he should be welcomed handsomely," as to allow that it is very desirable to encourage, by every means compatible with truth and justice, the application of the time and talents of those who are distinguished already by birth and fortune, to the pursuits of science and literature. The many direct and collateral advantages, which may be derived from such an encouragement, are too obvious to need illustration. In addition, however, to this general bias, which we think it is honorable to feel and to acknowlege, we own another also, of a more particular kind, which does not influence our judgment, but increases our satisfaction, in bestowing praise on the noble author before us. Consecrated as the House of Russell has so long been to the support and promulgation of the principles of rational and constitutional freedom, it must be gratifying to us, who are now almost octogenarian combatants in the same cause, to witness the present member of that illustrious' family not only maintaining the cause of his ancestors in the great political arena, but adorning and dignifying the spirit of the patriot with the liberal acquirements of classic knowlege, and the taste and vigour of poetic ability. This we feel assured will also be the gratification of every mind, in every party of the state, which by its own attainments is capable of appreciating those of the accomplished young nobleman in question: but, more especially, will it delight that truly English class of men who look to the union of high station with honesty, and of talent with learned information, to res cue cue them from the opposites of each of these qualities; by whose fatal introduction into our councils, nothing but the degradation and ruin of the state could with any sound judg ment be anticipated. We shall now turn to this first effort of Lord John as a candidate for Thespian laurels; and, with the same impartiality of censure as of applause, we shall endeavour to estimate the rank which it holds in our dramatic compositions. The tragical fate of Don Carlos is known to all readers of history; and we gave a particular account of it so recently as in our last Appendix, from Dumesnil's History of Philip II. At present, however, we must take the story as Lord John Russell has offered it in his tragedy. The prince here appears as having been betrothed to Elizabeth of France, and as having retained his affection for that princess after her marriage with his father. This partiality, under the management of the noble author, stands in the most innocent light in which such a feeling can possibly be represented, but is revealed with very different meaning and effect to Philip by the designing art of the Great Inquisitor, Valdez; and by Leonora, the wife of Don Luis Cordoba. All these three persons are fatally hostile to Don Carlos, for their own several reasons, and in distinct ways: the lady, revengefully, brings ruin on him whom she once loved in vain; her husband nourishes à base spirit of revenge against the Prince for having struck him, many years before, in the impetuosity and violence of youth; and Valdez, availing himself of the lawless feelings of these two instruments of his malice, avenges the cause of the Inquisition on Don Carlos, who, generously, and in the spirit of true Christian piety, had defended the interest of the unhappy Lutherans, when exposed to all the power and malice of bigotry under his father's government. Such is the outline of the materials of the play before us; and, so considered, it assuredly affords a very noble basis for the superstructure of the dramatic poet. By some mischance, however, which none can regret more than we do, Lord John Russell seems to have done all in his power to destroy the merit of his own choice of a subject, by shewing us, at length, and with minute details from history, quoted in his Preface, how irreconcilable with truth his fairy creation is! Surely, it would have been sufficient to suggest that the play varied from history, and merely to refer to the authorities where the facts were to be found: but, in the teeth of these facts, to give us his play as an appendix to the full statement of its own misrepresentations of characters and events contained in the Preface, and to attempt the feeble argument (we must so F 2 deno denominate it) which is there found in defence of violations of history occurring in fictitious works;-to do this, we say, furnishes us with a cause of serious regret. We shall be sorry, in the first place, to see the writer lose any thing in reputation by so injudicious a process; and, secondly, we shall be grieved, in a much deeper sense, if the authority of Lord J. Russell should have any effect in countenancing or excusing such abuses of the laws of fiction as he advocates in this Preface. After some obvious matter about the partialities, or, as they might be called, the falsifications of Hume and Voltaire, occasioned by the favor of one to the Stuarts (his heroes,' as they are here well denominated,) and of the other to the glory of France under Louis XIV., Lord John proceeds to defend the liberties taken by "the author of Waverley" in his novel of "Old Mortality." If among these liberties, which are numerous, and calculated to corrupt the pure stream of history in a degree to which few readers seem to have their eyes open, Lord John Russell includes the attributing to Balfour of Burley the murder of Cornet Grahame, we do say, (as we were the first, we believe, to say,) that the liberty in question is a gross violation of historic truth; and that it deserves to be held up as a beacon to all future novelists, who venture to build a fictitious tale on the foundation of truth. We anxiously trust (for this is an important point, and not a mere matter of taste,) that Lord John Russell will see reason to revise his opinion on this subject; and that, when occasion offers, he will either acknowlege that he has so done, or at least he will not repeat the dangerous delusion. For ourselves, we shall avoid, as far as we are concerned, the effect which must be produced by contrasting the discrepancies between the real and the fictitious account of any transaction here brought forwards; and we shall advise our readers to peruse the play first, as we did ourselves: then, if they must do so, as we were obliged to do, let them peruse the Preface, after the play. It may be a new mode: but it is a very expedient plan on the present occasion.* * On this point of historical authorities and representations, we shall only farther observe that Lord John Russell cites Llorente's History of the Inquisition for the statement of Don Carlos's fate and the causes of it, but does not appear to have been aware of Dumesnil's work on this specific period of history, to which we have already alluded as being fully considered in our last Appendix. The latter writer differs in several respects from Llorente, and combats his representations with severity. The The only extensive selection that we shall make from this tragedy is the principal and decidedly the best passage in it. We adopt this course for several reasons: first, because it will give our readers the fairest opportunity of judging of the powers of the author, as well as of the poetry and language of the drama itself; secondly, because we are sure that the free and noble sentiments, in which the play abounds, will rouse a host of enemies against it from the two Antipodes of Politics, the inhabitants of the Servile and of the Violent Regions; and, thirdly, because the principles and feelings here embodied in eloquent and ardent dialogue are of the last importance and deepest interest to mankind. Don Carlos having been "put under arrest" by his father, the latter enters his apartment. Philip. Don Carlos, 'tis with heavy grief The safety of the state has forced me thus To place a guard upon your sacred person: Carlos. Impeach my honour? who Philip. Softly, my son Carlos. By Heaven, not so. Carlos. Who dares -Oh! far from me Gives but a hollow joy and lasting grief; F 3 'Tis 'Tis for our subjects' honour, not for ours... The garlands and the gold that deck the bull, Denote the sacrificing people's pride, And not the victim's fortune. Carlos. What means your majesty. • Philip. I know not Listen, Don Carlos! Your honoured grandsire, when a manly beard Castile and Arragon, long separate, Became compact beneath his happy sway; Lay bowed beneath his yoke; in Germany Who in their conquests were as mighty kings, I may conclude in peace a stormy life. Carlos. Nay, king, my father, speak not so, I pray, am not fit - I have not been, To fill the throne though it were vacant, now As my most honoured king and dearest father. Philip. You do not wish to take it from me then? Ipray for your long reign. So kind, so good a father! thanks! and thanks! Philip. He is too warm for guilt, and yet, methinks, Too grateful for a perfect innocence. [Aside Thou |