I am not prepared to go quite the length of Dr. Jackson*, in commendation of Quarles's Poetry, though I am firmly convinced it merits not one half of the censure which the pedantry of Pope and of others has bestowed upon it. A Volume of Quarles's Poems would not probably be very kindly received by the public: but it is hoped that the foregoing Specimens will be considered as an acceptable gift.

In his "Thirty Letters," &c.

EDITOR.

THE reader is now in possession not only of the remarks of various critics on the merits and demerits of Quarles, but of such Specimens of the author's compositions as may induce him to form his own unbiassed opinion.

It is not my wish to speak of this writer in a strainˆ of unqualified panegyric; though I feel confident, that, with those who can relish the genius of JEREMY TAYLOR, or the energy of Sir THOMAS BROWNne, the ensuing pages will not be read with apathy or disappointment. The periods of Quarles are sometimes balanced with a nicety and precision which Johnson might not have disdained to adopt; and his images of virtue and of vice are so happily conceived, and forcibly expressed, that we immediately turn with rapture towards the former, and with abhorrence from the latter. Perhaps there is no other instance of a writer before Milton, who, in the language of Cowper's encomium of Sydney, may be more justly called a

-warbler of poetic prose.

As Quarles's plan will be found to be entirely novel, so is the execution of it equally happy. It may be difficult to discover, in the whole compass of English literature, the characteristics of vice or of weakness more forcibly displayed, or the consolations of religion more efficaciously administered.

These beauties may however, in some places, appear to be tarnished by a style too luxuriantly metaphorical for the simplicity of devout compositions: and that excessive love of antithesis *, which the author evinces in almost every page, may produce a kind of artificial effect which should never arise from perusing the effusions of the heart. But these defects are venial, and are connected rather with matters of taste and criticism, than of genius and talent. The reader will never meet with poverty of fancy, or feebleness of expression, in the periods of Quarles.

True it is, some passages may appear to savour a little of those principles now technically called evangelical; but it must be remembered that they were written by their AUTHOR with other feelings, and other motives, than those by which the present evangelical Sectarists seem to be actuated.

That QUARLES had the most upright notions, and a proper sense of the relationship between man and his

I incline to think that Quarles had, in some measure, studied the periods of " Sir Wm. Cornwallyes, the younger, Knight;" the most complete edition of whose "Essayes" was published in a small octavo volume, in 1632, with a eurious frontispiece of the Father and Son, sitting at their studies. There is a terseness and antithesis in Cornwallis, occasionally not unlike Quarles. These Essays deserve republication; and one is rather surprised not to find an extract from them among Mr. Burnett's "Specimens of English Prose Writers." For some particulars relating to Cornwallis, see Granger's Biog. Hist. Eng. vol. xi. 333-4. ed. 1804.

d.

Redeemer, is evident from the following Prayer: a Prayer, which is not only distinguishable for the beauty and correctness of its language, but to which no sincere lover of our excellent Church Establishment can refuse his "Amen.”

"Lord, if thy mercy exceeded not my misery, I could look for no compassion; and if thy grace transcended not my sin, I could expect for nothing but confusion. Oh, thou that madest me of nothing, renew me, that have made myself far less than nothing; revive those sparkles in my soul which lust hath quenched; cleanse thine image in me which my sin hath blurred; enlighten my understanding with thy truth; rectify my judgment with thy word; direct my will with thy Spirit; strengthen my memory to retain good things; order my affections that I may love thee above all things; increase my faith; encourage my hope; quicken my charity; sweeten my thoughts with thy grace; season any words with thy Spirit; sanctify my actions with thy wisdom; subdue the insolence of my rebellious flesh; restrain the fury of my unbridled passions; reform the frailty of my corrupted nature; incline my heart to desire what is good, and bless my endeavours that I may do what I desire. Give me a true knowledge of myself, and make me sensible of mine own infirmities; let not the sense of those mercies which I enjoy, blot out of my remembrance those miseries which I deserve-that I may be truly thankful for the one, and humbly penitent for the other. In all my afflictions keep me from

despair; in all my deliverances preserve me from ingratitude; that being timely quickened with the sense of thy goodness, and truly humbled by the sight of mine own weakness, I may be here exalted by the virtue of thy grace, and hereafter advanced to the kingdom of thy glory."

Vide post, "THE HUMBLE MAN," p. 236.

We cannot suppose the Secretary of USHER to have been a mere enthusiast: those, therefore, who may be inclined to admire only the effusions of Quarles's fancy, will do well to consider the extent of his erudition, and the sincerity of his endeavours to reform the depravity of the human heart.

EDITOR.