offence, he cautiously omits the mention of persons and places; and we have no knowlege whatever of his name or connections. He suspects that the account which he has given of himself may appear to border on romance;' and he is aware that the circumstance of his being anonymous may weaken the weight of his testimony: but he begs the reader to recollect that his name may not continue for ever, nor even long, concealed, and that when it is detected, all the infam of deception, if he has deceived, will attach to his real character. Judging by internal evidence, we are fully confident that here no deception is practised, and that the author has honestly recorded the incidents which actually took place in his life. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that in these pages his design has been more to describe a class than an individual, to paint manners than to detail incidents; so that, if we must not say ex uno disce omnes, we may conclude that the outlines of his sketch suit many of this gentleman's profession. The tale throughout is of a sombre cast; and it is prefaced with the melancholy intimation that the days of the author have been filled with evils which admitted of but little alloy, and that vexation and sorrow have marked the last 25 years of his life. For the details, we must refer to the memoir, which appears to have been written not so much for the sake of the events that marked the author's life, as for the strictures and observations relative to Dissenting colleges and churches with which it is abundantly interspersed, and which merit the serious consideration of those to whom they are addressed. Art. 37. Aphorisms from Shakspeare; arranged according to the Plays, &c.; with a Preface and Notes, numeral References to each Subject, and a copious Index. 12mo. 75. Boards. Longman and Co. 1812. A young lady, "nella più fiarita et verde etate,” first conceived the idea of forming, and in a great measure executed, this selection from our immortal bard;' which Mr. Capel Lofft has endeavoured to complete, not only by making large additions to the Aphorisms, but by furnishing an introductory preface, references to various clasical authors at the bottom of the page, and a very useful index at the end of the volume. This learned gentleman appears to have engaged in the labour he delights in," which has done more than "physic pain :" it has excited an enthusiasm creative of positive pleasure. We shall venture to hint, however, that, in the gratification of enthusiastic feeling, he has displayed his reading with unnecessary profusion; and that the title, which he has chosen to affix to this selection, is not adapted to many passages which it contains. According to the definition here given, " an aphorism is a clear, concise, detached, pithy sentence:" but does the passage extracted from Henry V., at p. 180., extending to more than 30 lines, come under this description? Would not the hacknied title of Beauties or Essence of Shakspeare have been preferable to that of Aphorisms? It would have been more adapted to the extracts taken en masse: but then Mr. Lofft could not have descanted so learnedly and diffusely on the long string of writers, antient and modern, who have professedly furnished their quota to the aphoristic treasure, or of those from whose writings aphorisms may be collected. Extensive as Mr. L.'s enumeration of the latter class now is, he might have enlarged it by subjoining the name of every valuable writer in every language, not excepting even Euclid, whose remark that "the three angles of a plain triangle are equal to two right angles" is an "aphorism;" which, in the intro duction to this volume, is defined to be an interesting truth or prin ciple reduced to a concise, simple, and impressive proposition.' Ben Jonson truly says of Shakspeare that he was not of an age, but for all time;" and from his rich mine of philosophic and moral wisdom, aphorisms that are applicable to almost every subject may be selected. We therefore approve the design of the present undertaking, which places him, perhaps, in a clearer and stronger light than he has yet been seen, as to some very high characteristic merits: as a most acute and profound thinker, a most comprehensive reasoner; a consummate teacher of private prudence and political wisdom as uniting with the most exalted genius and poetic enthusiasm an heart full of love and veneration to the SUPREME BEING! of the relative and social sympathies; of justice, magnanimity, and benevolence, in the most extended view.' Mr. Lofft adds, I know not how to imagine that any one should rise from the perusal of this little volume, without still higher thoughts of Shakspeare than they brought with them when they sat down; some accession of intellectual strength; improvement in the conduct of life; a more lively sense of the beauty of virtue, and of all the relative offices and affections which cement and adorn society, constituting individual happiness and public welfare. I know not of any professed system of ethics from which they could have been extracted more copiously, more perspicuously and correctly; or, by the influence of their form and manner, so impressively.' He concludes: I think I may flatter myself that this little book may contribute to make Shakspeare even now more known among us; and to give foreigners, should it fall into their hands, a more just sense of the greatness of his intellect and the goodness of his heart: the merit of his aphorisms being such in kind and extent as they probably have very little supposed.' Shakspeare is here asserted to be one of the most purely moral of all writers' but surely, as far as indelicacy operates against good morals, some abatement of this encomium must be made. It is remarked by the editor, on a passage numbered Aphorism 2032, that Shakspeare has here drawn his own picture. We shall quote it: "Some there are Who on the tip of their persuasive tongue Carry all arguments and questions deep; This passage is very expressive of the vast powers of Shakspeare: but it is not an aphorism. For the exhibition of Shakspeare as a writer of maxims relative to human life and manners, this volume will be useful both to our own countrymen and to foreigners: but we should have been better pleased had the editor's idolatry of Shakspeare restrained him from altering the text, or from accommodating the words of the bard of Avon to a meaning different from that which he intended. Let Shakspeare, whether he speaks dramatically or aphoristically, appear as he is: but let not his language be twisted and turned about by additions, alterations, &c., to say what Mr. L. or any other person may chuse to put into his mouth. This little volume is even more incorrectly printed than the long list of errata indicates; and the aphorisms should have been arranged in one series. Art. 38. Tracts on important Subjects; Historical, Controversial, and Devotional, by Micaiah Towgood, late Pastor of the two united Congregations, Exeter; and Author of "The Dissent from the Church of England fully justified." 8vo. pp. 560. 12s. Boards. Jones, &c. Mr. Micaiah Towgood was a Dissenting divine of the last century, who obtained considerable celebrity by his spirited and able defence of the principles and conduct of the Dissenters in their separation from the Church of England; he was also a Whig of the old school, and advocated the cause of civil and religious liberty as settled at the Revolution. His writings are now held in esteem by the denomination of Christians to which he belonged; and this collection of tracts, edited by Mr. Flower, will be very acceptable to them. The first Essay, here reprinted, consists of an examination of the character and reign of Charles I, and of the causes of the civil war; the second and third are on Infant Baptism; the fourth, fifth, and sixth relate to the Principles of Dissent; the seventh is intitled. "Spanish Cruelty and injustice, a justifiable Plea for a vigorous War with Spain; and a rational Ground for Hopes of Success," first published in 1741; and the remaining tracts are of a devotional and practical nature. We shall not re-trace the grounds of Mr. T.'s controversy with the Church of England: but, as the Essay towards attaining a true Idea of the Character of Charles I. is drawn up with much ability, and as unquestionable facts and documents are adduced in support of the opinions advanced, we may recommend it to the consideration of those who wish to study the subject of the reign of that unfortunate monarch. We copy the conclusion: Having from a series of most clear and incontestable facts, and from the suffrage of the most authentic historians of those times, attempted an idea of the character and reign of King Charles I.; I only add will it not extremely astonish posterity to find the memory of this prince still celebrated in the English nation with the highest honours and applause! To see a tribute of yearly incense offered up to his name in the most holy places of the kingdom; to hear him almost adored as a royal and blessed martyr; extolled far above all the the princes that ever filled the British throne; pronounced not the best of kings only, but the most excellent and best of men; and a parallel often run betwixt his sufferings and the Son of God's; yea, his treatment represented as in some respects more barbarous, iniquitous, and vile, than that of our blessed Lord! 6 Strange! That the English nation, who glory in their constitution as a limited monarchy; who have always been extremely jealous of any encroachments on it, and who dethroned by force of arms and banished the son for less breaches of the constitution than were made by his unhappy father, should yet stigmatize that just war of the parliament with Charles I. with the odious name of a Rebellion: a war by which alone their expiring liberties were preserved, and their be loved constitution snatched from the cruel arm of oppressive and arbi. trary power. If this war was a rebellion, so surely was that too which drove King James from his dominions, and made way for the Revolution and the happy succession under which we are now placed. The war against Charles I., it is carefully to be noted, was waged by the parliament of England, legally assembled; an original and essential part of the legislature, sharers in the supreme power together with the King: but the war against James II. was waged by a foreign Prince encouraged and invited over only by particular subjects. If the former therefore was a great rebellion, the latter surely was a much greater. To call it therefore by this name is to reproach the Revolution; to strike at the foundation of our present happy settlement; and to shake the right of his sacred Majesty King George to his throne: whom God long preserve; a blessing to this, and a bright pattern of justice and tenderness of his people's rights, to distant future ages. And of his illustrious house may there never want a branch to be a terror and a scourge to tyrants, and the support of our constitution, till time itself shall end !'' It will hence be seen that Mr. T. was a most strenuous Whig: but he has brought such a number of facts together, and facts resting on the best evidence, for the purpose of placing the character of Charles I. in its proper light, that his essay deserves more notice than it seems to have obtained. If his statements can be refuted, they ought to be refuted, for the credit of the monarch on whose character they now bear with so much weight. CORRESPONDENCE. Quidnunc is informed that we have not forgotten the posthumous works of Mr. Burke, but mean to attend to them very soon: probably in our next Number. H. A.'s letter is received, but we cannot find that the work to which it refers ever came into our hands. We know nothing of the volume of poems from the pen of a lady, which Dr. M. requests us to take an early opportunity of reviewing.' The APPENDIX to our ixxiid Volume was published on the first of February, with the Review for January. THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For MARCH, 1814. R ART. I. Mr. Eustace's Tour through taly. [Article continued from p. 128.7 ETURNING from his excursion to Names, the author revisited Rome with impressions of veneration yet more profound than that which was inspire by his first entrance into the Eternal City.' In his tnvels from the German frontier, he was at first struck by thechange from Trans-alpine to Cis-alpine proportions in archit cture; and nature and the works of man, that harmony the offspring of the south, which breathes in language and glows in colours, and many of the graces of peerless Ital, had already characterized the soil which he trod as the lan of wonders. Those declamations against Italian idleness, Italan cruelty, Italian cowardice, Italian filth, and all the ide or wicked charges that have been brought by ignorance or malice against this envied parent of great men and great yorks, which our elementary book* of geography carefully stils into the minds of our boys and girls, with the design of keeping them for ever boys and girls, are fairly met, learnally refuted, or indignantly rejected; and the country of Columbus, Tasso, and Michael Angelo, of enterprize, poesy. and the arts, - -is vindicated by no common champion. Placenti, Vicenza, Parma, and Venice, rich and almost inexhausible as they may appear in monuments of antient and of more modern days, formed but the vestibule to the sacred metropolis. He, therefore, who wishes to improve himself by a sojourn in Rome would do well to enter it from the north. Having passed the Alps, and even at intervals among their gorges, he stands on ground truly classical: but he will yet detect many ultramontane fashions, and a taste that does not well harmonize with the happy clime, which gradually retire as he advances, and by degrees yield to the true costume of Italy. This imperceptible initiation into the mysteries of Rome wears off that strangeness which a more sudden arrival would cause VOL. LXXIII. * Guthrie. Q in |