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travel with him in the carriage prepared for his journey. This boon she could not obtain; but what obstacles can subdue the strength of filial love? Mademoiselle Delleglace, notwithstanding the weakness of her constitution, and laying aside the timidity natural to her sex, set off on foot with the carriage, which she accompanied in that manner for more than an hundred leagues; she sometimes quitted the side of the carriage, but it was only when she preceded her father, to procure proper nourishment for him in the towns through which they passed, and in the evening of every day, when she ran forward to beg of some charitable person a covering, to administer to her father's wants in the dungeon where he must pass the night.

"The gates of the Conciergerie, which she reached at the same time with her father, now excluded her from his sight. Still the fortitude of this extraordinary woman did

not give way. She had been accustomed to subdue the ferocity of jailors, and she could not be persuaded that she should plead for justice in vain before magistrates. Every morning, for three months, she implored the justice and humanity of some who had influence, and her virtuous perseverance was rewarded with her father's liberation.

"What pen can express the excessive joy of this happy girl, when she carried the tidings to her father? Exulting in her success, she next thought of conducting him back to his home and family. She fell ill in an inn on the road, worn out, no doubt, with the excess of fatigue, during this unparalleled exertion. She had not the good fortune to witness the utmost benefit of her enterprize; she never quitted her bed, but died in her father's arms, still deeming herself happy to have saved his life at the expence of her own."

ART. VIII. The Thespian Dictionary, or Dramatic Biography of the Eighteenth Century, containing Sketches of the Lives, Productions, &c. of all the principal Managers, Dramatists, Composers, Commentators, Actors, and Actresses, of the united Kingdom. 8vo. Six Portaits.

THE best praise that can be bestowed on such a work as this is, that there is nothing malevolent in the execution; that it is not, like the generality of Thespiana, the libellous work of a needy scoundrel. They who feel an interest

in green-room anecdotes, may be gra tified by perusing the volume, provided their eyes be strong, or their spectacles good, for it is printed in imitation of a pocket bible.

ART. IX. Public Characters of 1802-1803. 8vo. pp. 568. AN impartial publication this cannot be called, for it praises every body; but it is only this indiscriminating praise that can render the biography of living characters sufferable. The great men and little men who figure in these annual volumes, can have no objection ta

see their ages stated to the public, and a respectful account given of their birth, parentage, and education. The book is compiled to satisfy vulgar curiosity; and the execution is in general as creditable as the design.

ART. X. A Sermon occasioned by the Death of John Earl of Clare, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Vice-Chancellor of the University. Delivered in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, on Sunday, the 7th of February, 1802, by the Reverend WILLIAM MAGEE, D.D. senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and Chaplain to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant. Third Edition, revised and corrected. 8vo. pp. 44.

"DETAILS of political conduct," sayst preacher, "are not the proper subjeers for this place; and, perhaps, in all cases reactions and motives of political me thould be viewed from a distance, to reduce them from the exaggerated standard of party feeling, to their true and natural dimensions." But it is impossible to contemplate the character of

celebrated subject of this laboured eug, without reference to the conpicuous part which he so recently per

formed in the political drama. The warmth and animation of this discourse do honour to the feelings of its author, but from beginning to end it is one continued panegyric, and must, therefore, be perused with caution.

Vertue, the engraver, had a pocketbook in his possession of Isaac Oliver, in which the latter had made a memoandum that the queen, his mistress, would not let him give any shade to her features, telling him that shade was an

accident, and not naturally existing in a face. The portraits of Elizabeth are therefore, usually without shadow. But the pencil of history flatters not: who her shadow is an accident to the face of

a woman, or the mind of a man, is immaterial; it is so constant an accompani ment to both, that a portrait of either, in which it is omitted, will be unlike the original.

ART. XI. Memoirs of John Bacon, Esq. R.A. with Reflections drawn from a Review of his moral and religious Character. By RICHARD CECIL, A.M. Minister of Saint John's, Bedford Row, &c. 12mo. pp. 118.

THE subject of these memoirs affords but few topics for the pen of the biographer. Mr. Bacon, one of the first sculptors that this country ever produced, was a man modest and unassuming, as well in his profession as in his domestic habits. He could not be insensible to his own superior merit, but he never seems to have courted competition, or to have felt the jealous ar dor of rivalry. We have here, therefore, no account of academic squabbles, but merely a plain, unornamented narrative of the rise, progress, and perfection, of Mr. Bacon's celebrity.

The father of Mr. Bacon was a clothworker, in Southwark, where himself was born, November the 24th, 1740. "Providence," says his biographer, 66 seems to have peculiarly favoured his infancy; for when he was about five years of age he fell into the pit of a soap boiler, and would have perished, if a man who then entered the yard, had not discovered the top of his head, and immediately drawn him out. About the same time he fell before a cart, the wheel of which went over his right hand, and must have crushed it, had it not fallen between two projecting stones."

Mr. Cecil takes this opportunity of enforcing the belief of a particular providence if our next-door neighbour's house is on fire, and the wind blows the flames away from our own, the escape is attributed to the intervention of a particular providence; when the flames communicate to our own, we seldom hear any thing about this doctrine; as if, truly, Providence had not as much concern in the one case as the other!

When very young, Mr. Bacon discovered an inclination for drawing, but not pursuing it, he never made any great proficiency in that art.

"In the year 1755, and at the age of fourteen, Mr. B. was bound apprentice to Mr. Crispe, of Bow-church-yard, where he was employed, among other things, in painting on porcelain. Mr. Crispe had a manufactory of china at Lambetli, to which Mr.

B. occasionally went, and where he assisted. His then occupation, indeed, was but a feeble step towards his future acquirements, as he was chiefly employed in forining shepherds, shepherdesses, and such small or namental pieces; yet, for a self-taught artist to perform even works like these with taste, and, in less than two years, form (as he did) all the models for the manufactory, was to give an indication for no ordinary powers. But as goodness of heart excels greatness of parts, a proof of his feeling ought here to be recorded: at this early period he principally supported his parents by the produce of the necessaries of life." of his labours, even to the abridging himself

In attending the manufactory at Lambeth, Mr. B. had an opportunity of observing the models of different sculptors, which were sent to a pottery on the same premises to be burnt; from the sight of these models, he first conceived a strong inclination for his future profession. He applied himself to this attainment with the most unremitting diligence, and the numerous premiums bestowed upon him by the Society for the encouragement of Arts, between the years 1763 and 1766 inclusive, attest that his progress was as rapid as his turn for it was sudden and unpremeditated.

It was during Mr. B's apprenticeship that he formed a design of making

"Statues, in artificial stone, which he afterwards perfected. By these exertions he recovered the manufactory at Lambeth, now carried on by Mrs. Coade; and which, before Mr. B. undertook the management of it, had fallen into very low circumstances.

tempted working in marble; and having ne"About the year 1763, Mr. B. first atver seen that operation performed, he w s led to invent an instrument for transferring the form of the model to the marble, (technically called getting out the points), which instrument has since been used by many other sculptors in England and France. Its advantage, beyond the instruments formerly employed, consists in its certainty and exactness; in its taking a correct measurement in every direction; in its occupying so small a compass as not to encumber the workmen; and that it may be transferred either to the model or to the marble, without having a se

parate instrument for each, as before was the

custom.

"At this time Mr. B. lived in the city, where his family connections were, but in the year 1768 he removed to the west end of the town; and it was then (being about twenty-eight years of age) in attending the Royal Academy, instituted that year, that he received his first instructions in his future profession, having never before seen the art of modelling or sculpture regularly performed. "In the following year, the gold medal for sculpture, the first ever given by that society, was decreed to Mr. B. He became an associate of that body in the year 1770. His reputation was now well established by the exhibition of his statue of Mars; it recommended him to the notice of the present

Archbishop of York, who having designed to place a bust of his present majesty in the hall of Christ Church college, Oxford, presented Mr. B. to the king, who was pleased to sit to him for that purpose."

From this time Mr. Bacon's reputation shone with increasing lustre: his works are numerous, and from the public situations in which such works are usually placed, remain exposed to general criticism. At the time of his death Mr. Bacon had under his hand the following monuments, that of Mr. Whitbread, Sir William Jones, the poet Mason, Reverend Joseph Milner, General

Dundas, for Saint Paul's; Captains Har vey and Hutt, for Westminster Abbey, a group for India, containing a colossal statue of Marquis Cornwallis; an equestrian bronze of William III. for Saint James's Square, with some others of less importance.

with an inflammation in his bowels, on Mr. Bacon was suddenly attacked the evening of Sunday, August 4, 1799, and died on the Wednesday following, August 7, in the 59th year of his age, leaving a widow and eight children to lament his loss. By his will he ordered a plain stone, with the following inscription, (after the name and date), to be placed over his grave.

"What I was as an artist,
Seemed to me of some importance
While I lived:
Bat

What I really was as a believer
In Christ Jesus,

Is the only thing of importance to me now."

The religion of Bacon was of that complexion which is usually denomi nated vital; he was zealous, but his heart shrunk from intolerance and persecu tion.

ART. XII. A Sketch of the Life and Character of Lord Kenyon, late Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench. 8vo. pp. 40,

IN this meagre memoir we are informed that Lord Kenyon was born at Gedington, in Flintshire, 1733, and that he died at Bath, April 2, 1802.

Voila tout! Surely the active life of the late Lord Chief Justice will employ the pen of some competent biographer?

CHAPTER X.

BELLES LETTRES

AND

MISCELLANIES.

THIS chapter contains the poetry of the last year (except translations from the classics, which have been already noticed in Chap. VI.) the dramatic works, and such miscellaneous publications as cannot with. propriety and convenience be placed elsewhere.

Of the poetical productions, none are first rate, and but a few can fairly lay claim to a reputation of longer duration than an almanack. If their composition has not entrenched on the more serious occupations of the authors, if they have remunerated the bookseller for his risk and expence, and if the perusal of them has agreeably filled up a few leisure hours that might have been worse employed, they have been crowned with all the success to which they could reasonably aspire. A higher praise, however, is due to the Orestes of Sotheby, and the elegant productions of Mr. Wrangham. The Metrical Miscellany also contains several pieces of great interest, which invite to a more intimate acquaintance, and impress themselves strongly on the memory. Mr. Boyd has effected the long and difficult task of translating the Divina Commedia of Dante, with spirit and faithfulness. The Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, is neither likely nor worthy to be popular, but may be of use to the student and antiquary, as a specimen of the language, and as illustrative of the manners and literature of the Scottish nation. The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, is an entertaining and interesting addition to the information already published concerning the feats of courage and enterprise which distinguished the rapacious clans on each side of the borders. Mr. Southey has published a complete edition of the works and letters of Chatterton. And Dr. Aikin has engaged in an enlarged edition of Johnson's English Poets, of which the Spencer has already made its appearance.

Of the dramatic class there are none worthy of a moment's regard, except two. Mr. Lamb, in his John Woodvil, a tragedy, has sounded the very base string of meanness and poverty; and Miss Baillie, in her Ethwald, has gloriously retrieved the character of the age, by producing a drama, that, for lofty poetry, sublime sentiment, and true pathos, stands unquestionably at the head of every modern effort of the tragic muse.

The miscellanies form a very discordant list, the articles of which, like the orders composing the Cryptogamia class of Linnæus, have no other bond of mutual connexion, than their dissent from all the established chapters of our volume.

.

ART. I. Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, from the Thirteenth Century to the Union of the Crowns. To which is added a Glossary. By J. SIBBALD, 4 Vols. 8vo. about pp. 1700.

THE "Reliques of ancient Poetry," by Doctor Percy; and the "Evergreen," and "Tea-table Miscellany," of Allan Ramsay, were te first publications that excited in the English a general desire to become acquainted with the works of the Scottish poets, and of those north country bards who have celebrated the martial and predatory incursions of the border chieftains. An eager curiosity was thus awakened by the simplicity, the poetical merit, and the pathetic or animating incidents which distinguish many of these pieces. The difficulties and disgusts arising from the peculiar and almost foreign dialect in which they were written, began to be overcome, and the public taste was successively gratified by the judicious selections of Lord Hailes and Mr. Pinkerton, of Headly, Ritson, and others. These editors, however, being very properly more scrupulous than their predecessors, have taken no further liberties with the ancient text, than some slight alterations of the spelling, and emendations, either conjectural, or on the authority of manuscripts, where the sense was materially obscured. Hence as authentic registers of the state of literature, in the periods to which they belong, as historical documents of many minute and interesting particulars relative to manners and opinions, the works alluded to are highly valuable, but on this very account have added little to the permanent stock of British poetry.

The harmony of versification, the congruity of expression, the delicacy and tenderness of sentiment, which characterize Doctor Percy's elegant paraphrases, appear to be almost wholly due to the correct tast of the editor; while the originals, as might be expected from the times in which they were written, contain many vigorous, and some' beautiful passages, overwhelmed and almost lost among the affectation, the dullness, the grossness, and ruggedness of the rest. It would, therefore, be a real service to literature, if a judicious and readable selection were made from the writings of Dunbar, of Gawin Douglas, and the other immortal names in the list of Scottish poets, which should exhibit their genuine but most pleasing features, and thus tempt an acquaintance with

them, in spite of the unavoidable diffi culties of a foreign dialect.

The collections of Lord Hailes and Mr. Pinkerton being out of print, Mr. Sibbald, the editor of the work before us, has incorporated the greatest part of their publications with other materials, procured from various sources, in order

to present a more complete collection of the ancient miscellaneous poetry of Scotland, than has hitherto appeared." These are arranged chronologically, so as to exhibit the progress of the language through a period of more than two hundred and fifty years, from 1341 to 1603. In conformity with our general plan, we shall present our readers with a short analysis of this "Chronicle of Scottish Poetry," and shall terminate the article with a few remarks on the merits and faults of the work.

The chronicle commences with the reign of David II. 1341-1371. Of the poetry of this period there is no specimen, except a selection from the "Adventures of Sir Gawane," supposed by Mr. Sibbald, but in our opinion on very insufficient evidence, to have formed a part of the "Grete gest of Arthur," written by Huchowne. In the succeed. ing reign of Robert II. 1371-1390, the first work of importance in the language of the Scottish lowlands made its appear. ance; it is the "Life of Bruce," by John Barbour, lately republished by Mr. Pinkerton. From this Mr. S. has selected the "Speech of King Robert the Bruce, on the Evening before the Battle of Bannockburn." This piece has no pretensions to poetical merit, and it might, perhaps, be objected that the sentiments are not of so highly heroic a cast as the occasion would justify. As a specimen of its linguage and spirit, we shall quote the following lines.

"Mete thaim with spers hardely,
And think than on the meikell ill,
That thai and thairs has done us till,
And ar in will yeit for to do,
Giff thai hass mycht to cum tharto.
And certs me think weill that ye
Forowt, [without] abaysing aucht to be
Worthy, and off gret wasselags [prowess],
For we haiff thre gret awantags.
The fyrst is, that we haiff the rycht;
And for the rycht ay God will fycht.
The tothyr is, that thai cummyn ar,

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