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determined; in the case under consideration, the person is still in suspense. Every one has felt the distress that accompanies suspense; we wish to get rid of it at any rate, even at the expence of bad news. This case, therefore, upon a more narrow inspection, resembles that of bodily pain: the present distress, in both cases, makes the time appear extremely tedious.

The reader probably will not be displeased to have this branch of the subject illustrated, by an author who is acquainted with every maze of the human heart, and who bestows ineffable grace and ornament upon every subject he handles.

Rosalind. I pray you, what is't a clock?

Orlando. You should ask me what time o'day; there's no clock in the forest.

Ros. Then there is no true lover in the forest; else, sighing every minute, and groaning every hour, would detect the lazy foot of Time, as well as a clock.

Orla. Why not the swift foot of Time? Had not that been as proper?

Ros. By no means, Sir. Time travels in diverse paces with diverse persons. I'll tell you who time ambles withal, who time trots withal, who time gallops withal, and who he stands still withal.

Orla. I prythee whom doth he trot withal.

Ros. Marry he trots hard with a young maid between the contract of her marriage, and the day it is solemnized: if it be but a se'ennight, time's pace is so hard, that it seems the length of seven years.

Orla. Who ambles Time withal?

Ros. With a priest that lacks Latin, and a rich man that hath not the gout: for the one sleeps easily, because he cannot study; and the other lives merrily, because he feels no pain; the one lacking the burden of lean and wasteful learning: the other knowing no burthen of heavy, tedious penury. These Time ambles withal. Orla. Whom doth he gallop withal?

Ros. With a thief to the gallows; for though he go as softly as foot can fall, he thinks himself too soon there.

Orla. Whom stays it still withal?

Ros. With lawyers in the vacation; for they sleep between term and term, and then they perceive not how Time moves. As you Like it.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE.

Qui monet quasi udjuvut.

Letters between the Rev. James Granger, M. A. Rector of Shiplake, and many of the most eminent Literary Men of his Time: composing a copious History and Illustration of his Biographical History of England. With Miscellanies and Notes of Tours in France, Holland, and Spain. Edited by J. P. Malcolm, Author of Londinium Redivivum. From the Originals in the Possession of Mr. W. Richardson. 8vo. pp. 534. Longman and Co. 1805.

GRANGER'S Biographical History of England has been too long known and esteemed as an entertaining and instructive work, to need any description or praise from us. It is also no secret, that what is termed a Granger, that is, his history illustrated with heads, is of fanciful value. We recollect one which sold for a thousand pounds, and others more perfect exist, which could not, perhaps, be purchased for double that sum.

The composition of this olla podrida is pretty well explained in the title, to which we shall add some of the little information afforded by Mr. Malcolm.

"The following letters and other miscellaneous papers were procured by purchase from the family of the Rev. James Granger, M. A. by Mr. Richardson, printseller, of York House, in the Strand: to authenticate these, I have annexed the autographs of the most eminent authors of them.

"I shall not at present enter into a biographical account of Mr. Granger, but introduce him merely as the author of the celebrated work which has immortalized his name. It is barely necessary to mention, The Biographical History of England.' These five words will operate on the recollection of the reader, and produce an interest for the following pages, which, I am confident, I possess no other means of exciting.

"A complete history of so valuable a work, authenticated by the writer's own thoughts, in his own words, supported by his correspondents, cannot fail of being a valuable accompaniment to his book." Introd. p. 4-5.

This is perfectly true, and so far good; but we are sorry to read the following period. "I am," says Mr. M. " under the necessity, from the unconnected mass of papers before me, of leaving part of the narrative defective, because it would be utterly impossible to obtain the answers of letters directed to so many quarters." Mr. Malcolm has indeed done little that entitles him to praise as the editor of these letters. From himself we have, as it were, nothing,

D-VOL, XXI.

and the arrangement of his materials is only remarkable for its slovenliness. A letter from Mr. Cambridge is printed twice.

The work, however, in the various epistles which compose it, contains many interesting particulars relating to the origin, progress, and completion of Mr. Granger's valuable publication. His own letters are few, which we regret, but those of Mr. Davies, the author of the life of Garrick, and Mr. Granger's bookseller, are numerous, and full of ease and sprightliness.

To readers in general, who are not troubled with the Icomania, most of these letters would appear dry, we shall therefore leave them to be consulted by those whom they peculiarly concern, and content ourselves with several pleasant extracts, which seem suited to every one's taste.

As the plays of Massinger have lately been called into particular notice, and are likely, from their intrinsic merit, to share a larger and more deserved share of public attention than they have hitherto experienced, the opinion of Mr. Davies on the distinction due to this great dramatist, cannot fail to be acceptable.

"It is not enough to say of Phillip Massinger, that he was a poet of considerable eminence; his style is equal to that of any of our old poets, if not superior, especially in tragedy. His characters are well drawn and properly discriminated; his sentiments are full of energy and poetic vigour; his plots are like those of Shakespeare, taken chiefly from novels and histories. He is not so inflated as Ben Jonson, nor so unequal as Beaumont and Fletcher. He is certainly inferior to Shakspeare, and I think must be ranked after the Castor and Pollux of dramatic poetry.

-Read Colman's disputation prefixed, and then I doubt not but you will read (the plays) with greediness. The Picture, the Fatal Dowry, the City Madam, and the Maid of Honour, &c. Mr. Colman does not think so highly of the Bondman; but I am of opinion it is an excellent play." P. 26.

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Anecdote of Tom Martin, the Antiquary." His second wife one evening reprimanding him severely, Tom heard her very patiently, and coolly wishing her a good night, said to her, Madam, I will once in my life say, I have lain with a quiet wife;' and immediately went and lay in the church-porch, where his first wife was buried." P. 104.

1. P.

Among Mr. Gostling's notes sent to Mr. Granger, is the following. "Vol. 382 (262, first edition.) Sir Thomas Smith of Bidborough, rather Beachborough. The present Lord Strangford is his descendant. In this family I have heard, (as a good story) that the customer Smith, on a hill in this estate, which has a vast prospect, was met by the devil, who offered that if he would fall down and worship him, he would give him all the land within view; to which he answered, I often heard that the devil was a liar, but never knew till now that he was a fool. The land is mine already.'" P. 122.

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Acting on the principle of beauty's being most adorned when unadorned, our belles seem to aspire to an exhibition of all the charms of their primitive mother. Shameless as this is in our day, it appears to have been far more disgustingly so in former times. Mr. Gostling writes, "I have one leaf of an old book, (with running title, The Christian Sacrifice,' p. 167-8.) inveighing against women for painting their faces and breasts, and laying open their said breasts most immodestly, almost to their waists. Yea, their picturing likewise upon their breasts cherries and birds, the patching of them, and of their faces; here a patch and there a patch. Oh abominable! (says the writer) Oh, monstrous! The daughters of Sion before mentioned, and wicked Isabel herself, never came to this height."" P. 123.

Sir Christopher Wren.-" I have heard," says Mr. G. " that on his being employed in building churches, after the fire of London, he offered the choice of his designs to the parishioners of St. Stephen Warlbrook, as having been born there. They thankfully acknowledged the obligation, but said it would be still greater if he himself would make the choice. I need not say what justice he did them on this occasion. P. 124.

In the "Notes of Tours," made by Mr. Granger, we find that a Mr. Brown at Utrecht told him " amongst other things relative to the manners of the Dutch, that they obstinately adhered to their old customs: as an instance of this, he added, that when the late King George ordered the driver of a carriage that went with him from Utrecht towards Helvoetsluys, to proceed with more expedi tion, he replied to his majesty (Mynheer Koning, &c.) 'Mr. King, I will not drive any faster, though you were burgomaster of Amsterdam,' Notes, p. 32.

That Mr. Granger was endowed with no great political foresight, we have lived to verify and to rejoice at. "If Holland and France," said he, "should unite against England, as the one has such a number of forces by land, more than any christian prince ever had; and the other more ships than any state that ever was in the world; we should be an easy conquest." Notes, p. 54.

These letters need no recommendation in the quarter to which they look, and no praise whatever could make them very interesting elsewhere. At parting, we may notice an error in the plate, representing the phoenix, or Mr. Henry Welby. In the letter-press we are told that "before him lies a book, open, wherein are to be read these words, Vanitas Vanitatum, &c." p. 358, but on turning to the picture, we read " Vanitas Vanitatis."

Poetic Sketches. By T. Gent. 12mo. pp. 120.

Rivingtons. 1805.

MR. GENT pleasantly takes for his motto this couplet :

"In mercy spare me, when I do my best,

"To make as much waste paper as the rest-"

but we, who are tolerably in the secret of the quantity of paper printed to waste, and how it deserves its fate, cannot allow that his work verifies the assertion. To an easy and correct style of versification, our poet adds a feeling and spirit both in his serious and lively compositions, that will, we think, for ever secure him from his dread:

"Relentless trunk-makers and pastry cooks." P. 14.

The sonnets, which form a considerable part of the numerous pieces in this collection, are generally full of merit. The thought contained in the last two verses, breaks upon the reader, in many instances, with the most pleasing effect; and in these as in all his other serious poems, there is a degree of becoming piety and mora lity, which reflects great credit on the writer. He is not less deserving of praise in his livelier efforts. Chloe," is a very happy jeu d'esprit. cellent, as well as an Impromptu to pleasantly observes:

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A poet much too poor to live,

"To a Fly on the Bosom of A Lover of Spirit" is also exIn this last piece he

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One stanza, written on another occasion, very aptly applies to the battle of Trafalgar, and the death of the great defender of his

country:

"On a friend lost in battle they mournfully dwelt,
'Twas a theme that together the heart and eye felt,

And a bumper to valour they gave's

While the liquor that flow'd in the blest circling bowl,
Was enrich'd by a tribute that flow'd from the soul,
"A tear for the tomb of the brave." P. 103.

Mr. Gent is already known to the readers of the Mirror as a poet, several of these poems having appeared in our work at diffe

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