mourning where they are lamenting over his vices, to make him sensible of them. The expedient does not want novelty, nor ingenuity, and it is well executed; as the following extract will testify. "Enter Fowler. The Hearse brought in, Tapers. "Fow. This is the roome I sickned in, and by report, dyed in, umh I have heard of spirits walking with aeriall bodies, and ha beene wondered at by others, but I must only wonder at my selfe, for if they be not mad, I'me come to my owne buriall, certaine these clothes are substantiall, I owe my Taylor for 'em to this houre, if the Divell bee not my Taylor, and hath furnish'd me with another suit very like it-This is no magicall noyse, essentiall gold and silver? What doe I with it if I be dead? Here are no reckonings to be payd with it, no Taverne Bils, no midnight Revels, with the costly Tribe of amourous she sinners, now I cannot spend it, would the poore had it, by their prayers I might hope to get out of this new pittifull Purgatory, or at least know which way I came in to't -Here they are in mourning, what a Divell doe they meane to doe with me-not too many teares Lady, you will but spoyle your eyes, and draw upon 'em the misery of Spectacles, doe not you know me neyther? "Pen. Oh Master Fowler. (as not seeing him.) "Fow. Ha, out wi't, nay and the woman but acknowledge me alive, there's some hope a me. "Pen. I loved thee living with a holy flame to purge the errours of thy wanton youth. "Fow. I'me dead againe. "Pen. This made thy soul sue out so hasty a Divorce. And flee to acry dwellings, hath Left vs thy cold pale figure, which wee haue Commission but to chamber vp in Melancholy dust, where thy owne wormes Like the false servants of some great mau shall devoure thee first. "Fow. I am wormes meate, "Pen. We must all dye. Fow. Woo'd some of you would do't quickly, that I might ha company,' "Pen. But wert thou now to liue againe with vs Thou woo'dst study to keepe it a chast temple, holy "Fow. This is my Funerall sermon. "Pen. The burden of which sinne, my feares perswade me, both hastned and accompanied thy death. "Wor. This sorrow is vafruitfull. "Pen. I ha done, May this prayer profit him, woo'd his soule were "2. We must hope the best, he was an inconstant young man, frequenting of some companies, had corrupted his nature, and a little debauched him. "Fow. In all this sermon I haue heard little commendations of our deare brother departed, rich men doe not goe to th' pithole without Complement of Christian burial, it seemes if I had liu'd to ha made a will, and bequeathed so much legacy as would purchase some Preacher a neat Cassocke, I should ha dyed in as good estate and assurance for my soule as the best Gentleman i'th Parish, had my Monument in a conspicuous place of the Church, where I should ha beene cut in a forme of prayer, as if I had been cal'd away at my devotion, and so for hast to be in heauen, went thither with my booke and spectacles-doe he are Lady and Gentlemen, Is it your pleasure to see me, though not know me? and to enforme a walking business when this so much lamented brother of yours departed out of this world, in his life I had some ralation to him, what disease dyed he of pray? who is his heire yet at Cōmon Law, for he was warme in the possession of Lands, thanke his kind father, who hauing beene in a consumption sixteene yeares, one day aboue all the rest hauing nothing els to doe, dyed, that the young man might be a Landlord, according to the custome of his ancestors. "1. I doubt the proiect. "Fow. You should be his heire or executor at least by your dry eyes, Sir I commend thee, what a miserable folly 'tis to weepe for one that's dead, and has no sence of our lamentation, Wherefore were Blackes inuented? to saue our eyes their tedious distillations, 'tis enough to be sad in our habits, they haue cause to weep that haue no mourning Cloth, 'tis a signe they get little by the dead, and that's the greatest sorrow now adayes, you lou'd him Lady, to say truth you had little cause, a wild young man, yet and hee were aliue againe, as that's in vaine to wish you know, he may perchance be more sensible, & reward you with better seruice, so you would not proclaime his weaknes,-faith speake well a'th dead hereafter? and bury all his faults with him." When the joke has been carried on long enough partially to answer the purpose, Fowler, giving some signs of his repentance, he impatiently asks the solemn company where it is that he is dead, and Penelope replies with disdain, 66 Here; every where! You're dead to virtue, to all noble thoughts." And till the proof of your conversion Let in my memory to my thoughts, or see you Which never shall have power to fright my innocence !" The desired effect is produced, and Fowler, self-convicted, exclaims in return; "Witness my death to vanity, quitting all Unchaste desires: revive me in your thoughts This contrivance, if we are not mistaken, has since been extended to a whole comedy, though never presented before our modern matter-of-fact audiences, who think that they ought not to allow of a moment's delusion, lest it should cast an imputation of their great discernment. The Example, is another of Shirley's Comedies that deserves considerable applause it is written something in the style of Ben Jonson, and was probably an early effusion; for few of those plays of our author, known to have been written later in life, bear any peculiar resemblance to the productions of that dramatic veteran. It consists chiefly of contrasted humours, or individual peculiarities, which may be gathered from the Dramatis Persona-thus, Sir Solitary Plot, is always suspecting schemes and intrigues, and always awake to detect them, while his man Dormant is ever asleep upon his post, and outwitted in consequence: other names, such as Mr. Confident, Rapture, and Lord Fitzamorous speak for themselves. We must postpone our remarks upon the Pastorals, Masques, and Miscellaneous Poems of Shirley until our next number. J. P. C. 1 ART. 9.-The Son of a Genius, a Tale, for the use of Youth. By Mrs. HOFLAND, a new edition. London, Harris -and Simpkin and Marshall, 1816. 12mo. pp. 172. THIS very excellent performance is intended to inculcate one of the most valuable truths in the experience of human life, and it is, that brilliant talents, large conceptions, and refined sensibility possessed in the highest degree, may be rendered useless, and even prejudicial, unless directed by prudence, humility, and discretion. The story is throughout interesting and well managed, and a more excellent history for the instruction of age as well as youth, has seldom fallen under our notice. Mrs. Hofland, the author, has published several other pieces, to which we shall be glad to direct our attention now we have become ac quainted with her merits. We understand that a novel writer who is the most distinguished of our time in that department, in the exercise of her sound judgment on this little production, has taken great interest in its circulation in the sister island where she resides. ART. 10. Stories for Children, selected from the History of England, from the Conquest to the Revolution. London, Murray, 1816. 12mo. pp. 186. T THE principal object of these narratives is not so much to instruct as to amuse; but the author has generally adhered to historical fact, departing from it only, as in the story of Fair Rosamond, Richard, &c. in favour of some popular prejudices, and where the truth is not precisely ascertained. The author says, that he found fictions led to enquiries which it was not very easy to satisfy; that supernatural factions, such as fairy tales, vitiated the young taste, and indisposed it to more substantial nourishment; and that those of common life, such as the histories of Jenny and Tommy, of Dolls and Tops, though very useful as lessons, had not enough of the marvellous to arrest the attention, and that under these impressions he composed the present work, which will not be subject to the disadvantages CRIT. REV. VOL. IV. Dec. 1816. 4 P that result from relations merely fictitious. We think the stories are told in an entertaining manner; but in some of them perhaps, as in the account of King Charles's Martyrdom, the opinions of the young reader will be too much shackled with regard to an important branch of history, by the notions of the writer. ART. 11.-Cato, or Interesting Adventures of a Dog of IT. is the sentiment of a French writer of high repute on the subject of education, that the most successful lessons of humanity to young persons, are those which lead them to treat with tenderness the brute creation. Cato, the first of these little books, is throughout intended to inculcate such an important article of instruction. The two others are illustrated by plates, are well calculated to amuse children, and are pretty Christmas presents. ART. 12. An Account of the Origin, Principles, Proceedings, and Results of an Institution for Teaching Adults to read, established in the contiguous parts of Bucks and Berks in 1814. Dedicated to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. Windsor, Knight, and Son; London, Hatchard, 1816. 8vo. pp. 140. THE institution here alluded to, originated in an invitation on the part of fifteen clergymen, given for a meeting to promote the establishment of adult schools in several parts of the kingdom, for the purpose especially, of instructing persons of the age of sixteen years and upwards, with the direct and immediate view to their acquiring a knowledge of the Bible. It was thought that the societies formed for the distribu tion of the Holy Scriptures, would be able more advantageously to extend the circulation of Bibles, if the associa tion for teaching adults should prepare the ignorant for their perusal, and if the sacred volume were held forth as |