MONTHLY CATALOGUE, FOR JANUARY, 1823. POETRY and the DRAMA. Art. 12. The Bride's Tragedy. By Thomas Lovell Beddoes, of Pembroke-College, Oxford. Svo. 4s. 6d. sewed. Rivingtons. 1822. Were we quite sure that our suggestions would have any weight with Mr. Beddoes, we should feel inclined to bestow some of our time, and a few of our pages, on The Bride's Tragedy:' but, in his preface, he has thrown out a sort of menace on the gentle craft of criticism; and, as we feel no doubt of his making another appearance before the public, we shall for the present content ourselves with giving him a little good advice in a compact form. He possesses many of the essential qualities of a true poet;-a warm, rich, and brilliant imagination; a great play of fancy; and an ear susceptible of harmony. Occasionally, too, he displays deep and tender feeling. With all these advantages, however, he is in great danger of throwing away his chance of a reputation which in all probability would prove highly honorable to him, by yielding to the sin of affectation. He affects to write not as nature and his genius prompt him, but as our elder dramatists wrote, and as the pseudo Mr. Barry Cornwall has attempted to write. We would earnestly exhort Mr. B. not to be led away by this spirit of imitation: but, if he will follow our old writers, let him endeavor to resemble them in their glorious conceptions and subtle discrimination of character, in the power of their feelings, and the grasp of their thought; not in the turn of their expressions, the quaintness of their antique phraseology, and the conceits and perversions in which they often indulged. By far too much ingenuity is visible in this poem: the images and illusions are too recondite; and the feelings have scarcely ever fair play. As a pure tragedy, it has few claims to our attention; and it betrays all those marks of a juvenile hand, which we might expect when the author informs us that he is yet a minor. We could select many pleasing passages: but we must content ourselves with giving two specimens, one of the writer's best and the other of his worst style. Considerable fancy is displayed in the following vision of the Queen of Love: -Suddenly, Methought, a cloud swam swan-like o'er the sky, In beauteous languor lay the Queen of Smiles. Or fay-spun threads of light, her locks were floating, And And in their airy folds slumbered her eyes, Astride their darts. And one there was alone, Of fickleness, and woe, and mad despair.' The opening lines of the poem are characteristic of the author's faults: Now eve has strewn the sun's wide billowy couch Some golden-fleeced, some streaked with delicate pink, The wind, their boisterous shepherd, whistling, drives them, Antipodean noon.' We presume Mr. Lovell Beddoes to be sprung from a family of genius on both sides, and we therefore trust in his improvement. A descendant of the Edgeworths and of Dr. Beddoes ought to warrant and to realize this anticipation. Art. 13. The Sun Flower; or, Poetical Truths for Young Minds, Religious, Moral, Miscellaneous, and Historical. By Mary Elliott, (late Belson,) Author of "Simple Truths." 12mo. 1s. 6d. half-bound. Darton. 1822. Children have more correct taste than many persons suppose, and regard with Hotspur's aversion all "maudlin poetry." —The verses published by the family of Taylor, of Ongar, and some few others, are favorites because they possess talent and simplicity: but such compositions as the present, consisting of tales and reflections in inharmonious verse, will be less relished than simple prose. They are, however, commendable in point of morality." Art. 14. Zaphna, or the Amulet; a Poem. By Isabel Hill. 12mo. 5s. Boards. Sams. 1823. H REV. JAN. 1823. We We think, and have thought, that there are proofs of very considerable poetical talents in Miss Hill's compositions, but hitherto such powers are far from being developed. Although this is her third appearance before the public, she is still a very young writer, and we may anticipate improvement as her taste becomes matured and her judgment more correct. From her preface, she appears very willing to take advantage of all critical observations, and that critic must be harsh indeed who could treat with discourtesy so young and gentle a disciple. If any sincerity ever did exist,' says she, in a defiance of criticism, I, at least, cannot comprehend it, receiving correction humbly and with gratitude, and ready if I am at last pronounced incorrigible to bow beneath the award of better judgments, and so be heard no more.' We trust, however, that Miss Hill will not be compelled to make this submission, but that she will be heard again, and with increasing pleasure. Her present poem contains a considerable portion of elegant verse, and occasionally a considerable display of feeling and imagination. The opening is very pleasing. 'Where Brahma is adored, this eve The moon outshines her former power; And sad sweet airs sigh to relieve We would advise Miss H. to abstain from writing when she finds that she can only write tolerably. The great fault of the poem before us is, not that it commits any glaring offences against good taste, or that it contains any absolutely bad verses, but that it betrays too much mediocrity. We do not, however, find any proofs that the author is not capable of higher efforts. NOVELS. Art. 15. Reformation. 3 Vols. 12mo. 18s. man and Co. 1822. Boards. Long Mrs. Hannah More's novel of "Calebs" may be charged with having led the fashion of religious romances; and we question whether this union of light and serious subjects be judicious, even when conducted by a writer of distinguished piety and talents: but, when it seems attempted only to make the book acceptable to a particular set of readers, and, as in the work before us, extravagant love-scenes, romantic sentiments, and pious reflections, are jumbled together in mawkish admixture, the author (like the fabled traveller) blowing hot and cold with the same breath, — it then becomes a pernicious olio which deserves censure. This flimsy and improbable tale needs scarcely be analyzed: but the scenes of Arthur's shipwreck and of Lord Glenmurray's death are perhaps the nearest approaches towards tolerable writing; and, per contra, we may notice, among those incidents which bear con tradiction tradiction on their very face, the death of Miss Meyer, who had run away with a gentleman whom she had seen but twice, and, on being brought back by her brother, expires from apprehension less the neighbours should know the circumstance: together with the pious contrivance of Lady Norman, who steals her friend's child, in order to give him a religious education. In some passages, we find absolute nonsense; as in vol. iii. p. 220., where an aquiline blue eye' is mentioned; and the author betrays ignorance of the expressions usual in polished society when he makes his hero, Captain Montgomery, repeatedly say, 'Yes, your Ladyship;'-' Certainly, your Ladyship,' &c. &c. Art. 16. Which is the Heroine. 12mo. 2 Vols. 12s. Boards. Robins. 1822. Great fluency of language, and an acquaintance with the novelist's common-places, have enabled this writer to produce a couple of volumes, in which, though all goes on smoothly, no approach is ever made to nature and probability. The tale begins with describing a morning visit of two fair friends to the inhabitants of a cottage, (with a double coach-house, no doubt,) in which the musicroom and the library, exquisitely fitted up, afford charming retreats, from the heat of the noon-day sun,' and they are received by an elegant woman whose dress is of a snowy white:' (vulgò, a clean white gown:) but in the next paragraph the noon-day sun has "sunk to rest," for we are told that the evening is devoted to those elegant amusements which harmonize the spirits, and dispose the heart to receive impressions of virtue and piety. What a relief would it be to us if the writers of such books, whether male or female, would wisely Art. 17. Journal of a Tour through the Netherlands to Paris, in 1821. By the Author of "Sketches and Fragments," &c. &c. Crown 8vo. 8s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1822. Report ascribes this volume also to the pen of the Countess of Blesington, whose preceding publication of "Sketches and Fragments" we announced in our Review for September last; and the same general character belongs to it as a production, and as ar index to the fair writer's mind. The observations are lively and elegant, and far from wanting acuteness and good sense: but they do not indicate profundity of thought or research, and probably we shall be told that they do not pretend to it. From the preface, we learn that this Journal is published without Lady B.'s knowlege, and during her absence on a renewed tour; and we are not certain that the friend who has committed it to the press is acting with sound judgment and real kindness.✔ We have been so profusely supplied with narratives of journeys over the ground occupied in this little volume, that we cannot expect much new information respecting either the persons or the H 2 places places whom it introduces to us: but we shall quote a few specimens of the style in which the Countess thinks, writes, and describes. She appears to be partial to the great talents of Napoleon, of whom she speaks favorably on various occasions. For example: We viewed Château Lacken, or the palace of Schonenberg, built by the Archduchess Maria Christina, during her residence in the Low Countries, and afterwards inhabited by Buonaparte, who fitted it up with great magnificence, and resided there sometimes. It is at present the occasional residence of the King of the Netherlands, who now occupies it. The house contains some good rooms, and the inlaid floors, which are of a different pattern in each, are very pretty. The salle à manger is capacious, but plainly furnished. A magnificent circular room of immense height, lit by a dome-light, and supported by twelve pillars, joins this, it opens on a handsome terrace, and commands a fine view of the country through which the canal winds very gracefully. This apartment has two fire-places, 'which correspond in shape with the windows and doors, and round the frieze are allegorical groups representing each month, beautifully executed. The floor is of black and white marble, paved in stars, and the whole effect is truly grand. The third room is furnished with purple velvet, richly trimmed with gold lace, and hung with tapestry representing the nine muses. It contains some fine pier-glasses. The fourth room, or chamber of council, is fitted up with green velvet, trimmed with gold fringe, and opens into a cabinet, or writing-room. The next is the bathroom, which is very superbly furnished, and leads to the bed-, room once occupied by Buonaparte. It is hung with crimson Genoa velvet, trimmed with rich gold lace, and a sort of colonnade is formed of white and gold pillars to receive the bed. niture of this single apartment is said to have cost 80,000 francs. The fur How many reflections did this room give birth to in my mind. It was here that, as a conqueror receiving universal homage, reposed that head whose cogitations so often agitated all Europe. Here, pillowed on down, and surrounded by all the appendages of state and luxury, reclined that form which lately found its last resting-place on a soldier's hard bed, and is now hid beneath a tomb simple and unadorned as that of the humblest soldier that ever fell beneath his banners. I looked from the windows, whence he too had viewed the prospect; and I felt a melancholy pleasure in fixing my eyes where his also had often glanced. How frequently in the desolate island where he pined in captivity, and beneath a roof unworthy of sheltering a head that had once worn a crown, must he have recalled the memory of past days, when, master of empires, and possessed of palaces, he little dreamed of drawing his last sigh in exile, denied even the comforts which his debilitated frame required. It is said that it is from days of past prosperity that adversity borrows her sharpest darts. How must the recollection of his past greatness have increased the sufferings of Napoleon! Unfeeling must the mind of that person be, who can view any |