Drama? Surely, it is beyond the nationality even of our northern brethren, to welcome such ordure of flattery as is here administered to their patriotic recollections.

The narrative of the novel is embodied in directions to the actors, and the dialogue is verbally copied out, each in the proportion that is wanted; and this is a tribute which the Scots, and which Sir Walter Scott, can endure! We trust it is not. Concluding, therefore, that all the countrymen of this melo-dramatist, together with the illustrious poet above mentioned, propine him to unmitigated reprobation, we beg leave to bestow that boon on him; and to express our hope that we shall not be required to make a similar present by any kindred effusion.

Art. 18. Gay's Chair. Poems, never before printed, written by John Gay, Author of "The Beggar's Opera," "Fables," &c. With a Sketch of his Life, from the MSS. of the Rev. Joseph Baller, his Nephew. Edited by Henry Lee, Author of "Poetic Impressions," "Caleb Quotem," &c. &c. To which are added, two new tales, The World, and Gossip, by the Editor. 12mo. 5s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1820.

New poems from the pen of Gay cannot fail to interest every reader who yet retains a pure and classical taste; and therefore this little volume is sure of being opened by such persons with anticipations of pleasure: but, alas! they will be disappointed. We see nothing here of the terseness or elegance of that lively writer; nothing of the command of his own peculiar octosyllabic measure, which so distinguished him among his celebrated cotemporaries. That measure, indeed, since his days, has most improperly (not to say ludicrously) been applied to long and serious composition: but this anomalous practice cannot add dignity to a metre calculated to convey only short and familiar tales, or, at all events, detached moral precepts.

As a frontispiece, we have an engraving of a very comfortable, but very singular, scholar's chair, furnished with a writing-apparatus, with secret drawers for manuscripts, &c.; and in one of these drawers were found, according to the editor, the brief effusions now attempted to be added to the acknowleged list of Gay's writings. We shall enable our readers to form their own judgment of the story of this discovery, by an extract from the preface.

Many of the most respectable inhabitants of Barnstaple and its vicinity remember having often seen this chair, several years ago, while it was in the possession of Gay's immediate descendants, who always spoke of it as having been the property of the poet, and which, as his favorite easy chair, he highly valued.

Its identity cannot be well mistaken, from the peculiarity of its shape, its antique appearance, and curious construction; forming, with its conveniently attached apparatus for writing and reading, in every respect a complete student's chair.

About twelve years since, it was sold amongst some of the effects of the late Mrs. Williams, niece of the Rev. Joseph Baller,

and who by a previous marriage had been the wife of the Rev. Hugh Fortescue of Filleigh, near Barnstaple. Both families (the Fortescues and the Ballers) were by marriage nearly related to Gay, whose property was, at his decease, equally divided betwixt his sisters, Katherine Baller and Joanna Fortescue.

'Since the period of Mrs. Williams's death, the chair came into the hands of the late Mr. Clarke, of High-street, Barnstaple, and it was sold, with the rest of his household furniture, by public auction. The editor happening to be then in Devonshire, heard of the above circumstance, and anxious to ascertain the particulars, applied to the auctioneer, who informed him that the chair had been sold to a person of the name of Symonds, to whom the editor immediately went, saw the chair, and afterwards purchased it: orders were given that it should be sent to the house of Mr. Crook, a cabinet-maker in the same street, to be repaired; who, on removing the drawers, discovered the manuscripts from which the principal articles of this publication are taken.

The following extract from Mr. Crook's letter to a gentleman who made enquiries on the subject, will, it is presumed, be satisfactory: "The chair was bought at an auction by Mr. Symonds of this town, from whose house it came to mine. I was desired to repair it, and on taking out the drawer in front, which was somewhat broken, I found at the back part of the chair, a concealed drawer, ingeniously fastened with a small wooden bolt. Those who have lately had possession of the chair never knew of this concealed drawer: it was full of manuscript papers, some of which appeared to have slipped over, as I found them stuck in the bottom or seat of the chair. A respectable tradesman of this town was present when I made the discovery. The owner of the chair was immediately sent for, and the whole of the papers safely delivered into his hands. "I am, Sir, your humble servant, "RICHARD CROOK, "Cabinet-maker, Barnstaple."

"March 21st, 1819.

That the chair originally belonged to Gay there is not the least doubt: the fact is admitted by all the best informed persons in the neighbourhood, who have paid any attention to the subject.'

The names of many respectable individuals are annexed to this statement, as proving, by various degrees of evidence, the genuineness of the chair, and consequently the authenticity of the poems. Would that the question were of more importance! but, whether written by Gay or not, these poematia will add nothing to any established fame, and, we think, may take something from the reputation of their supposed author.

Of the justness of this opinion we shall now offer a proof.
Need any person now be told

That single ladies cann't grow old?
We should despise such taunting carriage,
Did we not quite despair of marriage;
Nor about husbands make this fuss,
Were there enough for them and us.

But,

But, 'tis the truth we represent t'ye,
Men are so scarce, and maids so plenty,
That were each man a maid to wed,
Not one in fifty would be led
To Hymen's shrine, or, during life,
Become that envied thing -
a wife.
'While thus the widows interlope,
How can we maidens live in hope?
Your honored House will then debate
On our most lamentable state,
And after hearing this as fact,
Will guard our rights by legal act:
For if the widows be allowed
To taunt us thus, and be so proud,
We maidens must embrace the pillow,
Or cut a caper from a willow!'

We know not that any thing better than this occurs in the book; and, such being the case, surely we are justified in asserting that, if Gay wrote these poems, he suppressed them from a consciousness of their inferiority. The editor tells us that reasons equally satisfactory cannot, perhaps, be offered, respecting the authenticity of all the other poems,' with those which support the credit of the Petition of the Maids of Exon City.' This is in Gay's handwriting; of which a fac-simile is printed in the present work. We may add that some of the other poems have still less of the power of the reputed writer. For instance;

'To Miss Jane Scot.

The Welch girl is pretty,
The English girl fair,

The Irish deem'd witty,

The French debonnaire:

Tho' all may invite me,

I'd value them not;

The charms that delight me

I find in a SCOT.'

It is unnecessary to say any thing of the avowedly original compositions of the editor, but that they are in the style to be expected from the author of "Dash, a Tale."

Art. 19. The Mélange, containing the Lunarian, a Tale, in Five Cantos. Wonders, in Two Parts. The Picture Gallery, in Nine Cantos: and various other Pieces, in Verse. By F C. 8vo. pp. 336. Boards. Baldwin and Co. 1819. Mr. C. - informs us in his advertisement that, if he should succeed in promoting rational pleasure, he will have effected his purpose:' but we had not read many lines of his work before we perceived that our ideas, both of rationality and pleasure, did not accord with those of this writer. We will enable our readers to decide whether they harmonize with their own.

In the Lunarian,' a stranger arrives from the moon, who calls the particular attention of the Persian court to the elegance of

H 4

his

his pantaloons: but we shall make much too light an impression of the author's extreme folly and vulgarity, if we do not add a word or two of his own; for which we need only open the first page, or the midmost, or the last, in any of his stories.

I boast not of my birth or riches,

You see my mantle, vest, and breeches.'

This admirable joke, too, is repeated! We give a longer specimen. The page immediately preceding is much too disgusting for quotation, and the following is surely enough for moderate endurance: 'One half of human wants we make,

And hence it is that snuff we take;
Great numbers, true, the box produce
Much more for ornament than use;
Beginners always take it clean,
Pretending that it cures the spleen;
Some say its greatest virtue lies
In cleansing humours from the eyes!
The stomach's sickness some pretend
The pungent particles may mend!
While others loaded in the chest,
Without its aid can never rest;
Hence 'tis we always reasons find
For doing what we feel inclin'd.
When both the sexes cease to flirt,
Their noses soon shine forth in dirt;
On ladies' handkerchiefs it falls,

And stains their tuckers, ruffs, and shawls;
Men's chitterlings beneath it bend,
And bad effluvias sometimes send;

On lips, on chins, on breasts, on thighs,
The unwip'd essence often lies.'

Art. 20. Fashion, a Didactic Sketch: the Emigrants, a Tale of
the Nineteenth Century; and other Poems. By Thomas Gillet,
Author of "The Banks of Isis." Crown 8vo. 5s. Boards.
Longman and Co. 1819.

We took an opportunity, soon after the publication of "The Banks of Isis," (Review for June, 1818,) to express the satisfaction which we derived from that early production of Mr. Gillet: who still speaks with great diffidence of his own powers, and seems anxious to throw himself on the indulgence rather than to challenge the fair verdict of the public. It is, perhaps, too much the fashion of criticism in the present day to deal with the knife and the cautery; and therefore such appeals to mercy from a juvenile adventurer, though they should not satisfy the judicious, may not be entirely either unnecessary or unserviceable. In all youthful efforts at composition, it is easy to detect imperfections both in matter and style; to observe towering sentences leading to some most lame and impotent conclusion;" to discover a series of sentiments strung together, of which the author himself had forgotten all the connecting links that once existed in his own

mind;

mind; or to trace glimpses of some bold image of thought, imperfectly conceived, and still more imperfectly expressed. When merit displays itself, however, as in the case of the present author, with an air really unassuming, we would much rather note the appearances of promise in the individual, than dwell on failings which he exhibits in common with the multitude. The sketch of Fashion is by much the happiest production in this volume. It is an invective against the dissipation of fashionable life, the insignificance of the female sex, and the effeminacy of the male; and it reminds us occasionally of the terseness and sincere spleen of Young's Satires. We extract the description of that equivocal being whom the cant phrase of the day denominates A Dandy:

At length a thing of whalebone, buckram, starch,
With mincing gait, half tip-toe dance, half march,
Unlike to woman, more unlike to man-

A thing ne'er heard of since the world began,
Till lately in the realm of Fashion found,
Adoring self with reverence profound:
Since of its gender doubtful signs were shewn,
Its species e'en to naturalists unknown,
"Scorn'd by one sex, rejected by the other,
Its very sister laughed to call it brother;"
The languid looks this non-descript put on,
Its Gallic accent and its tender tone,

Its novel

carriage,-figure-raiment-feature,
Procur'd it notice, 'twas so strange a creature.
Almeria saw it shining at a fête,

And deem'd 'twould make her a convenient mate;
It thought the nymph a kindred soul, and seem'd

As

next to self-the damsel it esteem'd

They spoke! embrac'd! and-all due matters carried
The loveless pair in Christian mode were married.'

The sequel of matrimonial bliss is such as we might expect. In the smaller poems, particularly those intended to be of an impassioned turn, Mr. Gillet is not equally successful. We cannot, however, dismiss the volume without expressing our hopes that the honest ambition and unremitting industry, which the author has hitherto exhibited, may, when directed to the real affairs of life and to pursuits more serious than the Muse's visitations, be supported with due encouragement, and crowned with eventual

success.

EDUCATION.

Art. 21. A Grammar of Rhetoric and Polite Literature; comprehending the Principles of Language and Style, the Elements of Taste and Criticism, with Rules for the Study of Composition and Eloquence: illustrated by appropriate Examples, selected chiefly from the British Classics, for the Use of Schools or private Instruction. By Alexander Jamieson. 12mo. 6s. Boards. Whittakers.

Art,