18. I. The Poems of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, K. G. and Sir Benjamin Rudyard. The Second Edition. Reprinted from the First Edition of 1660. London. Triphook. 12mo. II. Fair Virtue, the Mistress of Philarete. By George Wither, Gent. A New Edition. Reprinted from the Edition of 1622. London. Triphook. 12mo.

REVIEWS are apt to deal most in that very kind of information of which the publick stands least in need. Books of large circulation, which may be seen in every bookseller's shop, and every circulating library, require not to be pointed out even to the most remote and secluded Readers of the Kingdom. It is otherwise with works of a small impression, and adapted only to a select and curious class of Literati. Many of these, who may not be occasional frequenters of the Metropolis, nor in correspondence with those of congenial pursuits, require the aid of some publication of general sale, to convey to them intelligence of what is going forward in these comparatively private departments.

It is not at present our intention to balance the arguments for and against popularity and general interest, as the only sound criterions of merit. But it may be observed, that it is quite clear that some things may be distasteful to the majority of readers, because it may require a greater degree of mental cultivation, or a higher refinement of feeling, to relish them, than any but a favoured few possess. The active calls of life, the cares and necessities of self-interest, the more intense pressure of present and surrounding objects, allow no leisure for the mass of mankind to give their labour or their attention to the investigation of longpast characters or occurrences; or so to discipline their intellectual faculties to abstract merit, as to enable them to derive a pleasure from the expression of thoughts and images, when they want the temporary and factitious attraction of existing cir

cumstances.

So little can common minds range beyond the familiar forms of lanGENT. MAG. February, 1818.

guage, that with them an obsolete phraseology is a proof of intellectual weakness. They smile with sarcastic scepticism at the beauty of any literary composition not of their own day. They believe our ancestors to bave been, in truth, little more than drivelers; and that to attempt to find charms in the relics of their genius is nothing but whim, and prejudice, and bigotry.

WILLIAM HERBERT, EARL OF PEMBROKE, the nephew of Sir Philip Sydney, is a man whose character has been drawn in such striking and beautiful colours by Lord Clarendon, not only for moral and social qualities of the most amiable and affecting cast, but for brilliant gifts and acquirements of intellect, that he who has felt no curiosity to become acquainted with the fruits of those high capacities which the virtuous and enlightened Historian has recorded, may be sus pected of a dullness and an apathy not creditable either to his head or his heart.

Hitherto there has been no opportunity to gratify that curiosity. The noble Poet died early in the reign of King Charles I.; and for thirty years his poetical blossoms survived only in the memories of his contemporaries. At the Restoration, Christiana, Countess Dowager of Devonshire, the daughter of Lord Bruce, who, it seems, had been a sort of poetical idol of Lord Pembroke, opened her common-place book, in which she had fondly preserved many of these blossoms, to John Donne, the son of the celebrated Dean of St. Paul's; and this Editor, with her consent, gave them, in a little printed volume, to the world. It is probable that the impression was very small; for scarce a copy has passed through the hands of booksellers for generations: there is a copy in the British Museum, and another in Mr. Malone's Collection.

before. The contents of the volume will speak for themselves to those who peruse it. Delicacy of fancy, sweetness of sentiment, vigour and originality of thought, and enchanting elegance of expression, often distinguish the pieces it contains. The parts which come from the pen of Sir Benjamin Rudyard are more close, subtle, and argumentative; Lord Pembroke's are more flowery, picturesque, and poetical. The mind which amid the enfeebling luxuries of rank and wealth could cultivate powers adequate to such productions, must have been extraordinarily gifted, and disciplined with extraordinary care. We know the sort of false ambition which the distinctions of a Court and the tide of fashionable pursuits are apt to generate. He who can have flattery and subservience without the efforts of mental labour, is virtuous and elevated above ordinary example, if he do not listen to the voice of the Syren, and repose himself upon the bed of ease and luxurious enjoyment.

This Re-print is dedicated to Earl Spencer, K. G. in a poetical address, in which is a succession of allusions to the literary and historical lustre of his Lordship's ancestors; and their union in one who had the immortal Sir William Jones for his tutor.

As to the Re-print of WITHER'S FAIR VIRTUE, which is here joined in the same Review, because it is by the same Editor, in the same size and type, and of the same limited impres sion, some remarks may neither be out of place, nor unacceptable. The Poem itself, though it largely partakes of the usual fault of WITHER extreme diffuseness-is a most striking proof, how little our language, as exhibited by the pens of those writers who were free from affectation, bas changed since the reign of King James I.; almost every part of this long and most beautiful Poem is as little obsolete in its diction as the compositions of yesterday. It is exquisitely elegant, flowing, and musical. Its naiveté of touching and virtuous sentiment, the purity of feeling which it describes, and the justness and nicety with which it delineates the ideal picture, both mental and personal, of female excellence, with a copiousness and chasteness of words scarcely ever equalled, will, fill a reader of

taste and sensibility with delight and astonishment.

All this praise of the despised old puritanical Poet, GEORGE WITHER, will furnish wonder to the common reader, labouring under the influence of vulgar prejudices. This luckless Bard lived in times when all the worst parts of his nature were called into play. An epoch of religious intemperance, and insurrection and rebellion, brought forth all the venom of his factious spirit. A sort of disposition to be discontented, and to complain and revile, appears to have been implanted in his disposition. Having been called home from college when almost a boy to rural cares, which were ill suited to his temper and acquirements, he broke from his father's roof, and came to the Metropolis about 1611, with a scourge in ‍his hand to lash the vices of the age. A corrupt Court and corrupt City afforded ample subjects for his rod. Powerful individuals felt the smart of his lash; complaints were made of his licentious language; and be was imprisoned in the Marshalsea for his Satires, intituled "Abuses stript and whipt." It must be confessed that in these Satires there is much coarseness, exaggeration, and virulence; and in the major part little, if any, poetical merit. To those who are studying the manners of the times, these pieces afford many curious illustrations. The outline is, perhaps, generally not incorrect; but the colours are overwrought, unskilful, and vulgar. But the Poet's other juvenilia are of a very dissimilar character; they are full of imagery, and romantic sentiment, and pure and visionary virtue. The Bard seems as if he had two souls, and as if the ferment of politicks and the throng of crowded cities changed his very nature.

Contempt is a dreadful infliction ; if it touches but a hair it spreads contagiously over the whole person. Merit cannot even wrestle with it; still less can it stop its progress. Wither, busy,"factious, poor, perhaps rapacious, garrulous, boastful, and im prudent, had probably made more enemies than friends, even in the days of his prosperity.

When the Restoration took place, he became irrevocably the victim of scorn; and the better effusions, of

his

his youthful spirit were condemned in one undistinguished mass with the voluminous trash produced by his political venom to the shops of pastry-cooks and trunk-makers! The unsparing hand of Pope, in a subsequent generation, confirmed the stigma affixed to the name of Wither; and the decree seemed irreversible till within these thirty years, when by the exertions of the late Mr. A. Dalrymple and others, a gradual change of opinion has been spreading.

The Poem of" Fair Virtue" proves that such a change is due to justice and good taste. We will only add that in this Poem appeared the famous Song,

"Shall I, wasting in despair,

Die because a woman's fair?"

In our Review of "Davison's Rhapsody" we mentioned the present Editor as a zealous reviver of our old Poetry. The Reader does not require to be told what has been done in great collections of general notoriety. A similar zeal added to the last publication of our body of National Poetry several obsolete authors, which had not hitherto been incorporated with them. Mr. A. Chalmers, whose extent of research, and elegance of taste, has seldom been equaled, added Gascoigne, Turberville, Warner, Lord Sterling, Drummond, Sir John Beaumont, Habingdon, and many others, to the collections of his predecessors.

We shall soon have to notice a Bibliographer in a different department, in the uncommonly splendid

"Decameron" of Mr. Dibdin.

wanting to compensate the dry details of the Concord of Rules and Institutes of Lanfranc. Exclusive of a large collection of curious passages illustrative of Monachism, by contemporary ideas, the only true method of elucidating History, the heavy matter is relieved by ample notes upon various obscure parts of Archæology. In these Mr. F. exhi bits very recondite research, and has drawn amply from an Author without whose aid no person can correctly understand the Antiquities of the Middle Ages: we mean the celebrated Du Cange. In this Work exist several very curious mummeries practised on festivals; and these are faithfully exhibited. To these are added various incidental discussions, arising from the subject, all adapted to enliven and entertain. Of these some are of a very abstruse and latent description. We select the following as explanatory of two curious customs, which once obtained during the festivity of Christmas.

"Andrews and others note, that Christmas was represented by an old It escaped the recondite Mr. Douce, in his man, hung round with savory dainties. that the Bauble is a Phallus, actually reelegant illustrations of Fools and Clowns, presented in Boissard (and Montfaucon, vol. I. p. 2, b. i. c. 28) in a woman's hand; and that the Cock's head, Ass's head, &c. are relics of the Priapeia. In

the same manner this old man of Andrews is the Priapus of Petronius (I. 306, ed. Nodot), made by the Baker, who held in a very large bosom all kind of apples and grapes.

"Tire-lire is the only French for Christmas-box, or money-box cleft on the side. Conceding that the benefactions originally were for servants, to procure masses for their souls at this season of joy, Count Caylus gives a tire-lire of pottery, found under Mount Cælius in Rome, with another of similar proportions, and exhibiting Ceres between two figures. The other, much more finished,

has a head of Hercules."-P. 77.

It is not practicable for us to include within our limits the various information given in these curious

notes.

Besides numerous additions interspersed throughout the Work, we have dissertations, now first printed, upon the following subjects:

1. The Education of Monks and Nuns. Pp. 253-258.

II. A Classification of Castles.-Pp. 274, seq.

A

III. A long Disquisition upon Monastic Literature, founded upon contemporary ideas.

IV. A copious and minute elucidation of the Writing-room, and Ancient Illuminations.

In p. 349 is the following ridiculous anecdote. Mr. Fosbrooke says,

"Numerous titles of Manuscripts are very indecisive of their contents. This is remarkably shown by an instance supremely ridiculous. In the 13th century Richard de Furnival wrote a Bestiary, or Treatise of the manners of Animals; to which he sometimes annexed moral paraphrases, but mostly addresses to his Mistress. These, of course, turn chiefly upon points of love and gallantry. To distinguish this Manuscript from the Bestiaries of other writers, the Copyists entitled it, Bestiarium Amoris, i. e. the Bestiary of Love, a surpassing incongruity of terms and meaning.''

In p. 380 we have the Costume of British Nuns from ancient French Monuments of contemporary date; and besides various plates of very rich and elegant Ecclesiastical Costumes, drawn from the originals by our late valued Correspondent, Mr. John Carter, a long Chapter of Modern Monachism, from materials furnished by Mr. Nichols. The chief of these refers to the Monastery of La Trappe; of which building, and the costumes and habits of the Monks, there is a truly interesting plate. As these Monks have now left the country, this Chapter is a very valuable record; and not the less so because the institution attracted the attention of our much-lamented Princess Charlotte. Her Royal Highness was making an aquatic excursion upon the coast of Dorsetshire, and accidentally, or otherwise, heard of the vicinity_of this Monastery. The want of due preparation of carriages did not deter her; the boat was hoisted out, by peremptory command, and her Royal Highness landed. She proceeded to a small farm-house, and inquired of the honest rustick if he had a horse with which he could accommodate her. "None that will do for you, Madam; he only goes in a cart.” "Bring him out," was the Royal mandate. The Princess insisted upon his being equipped in the best possible manner; and, disdaining the appearance, arrived, thus mounted, at the Abbey. When arrived, another difficulty presented itself; it was inaccessible to females.

"Do you know who I am?" was the reply; and, after a short consultation, it was discovered that a dispensing clause existed in favour of Royalty. Her Royal Highness, after gratifying her curiosity, returned in the same manner to the boat; it was evening, and the voyage to the ship tedious: at length she arrived. With such Elizabethan strength of character was this much-lamented Princess endowed.

To return from this digression, after a long and valuable extract from a curious MS. the work proceeds with three very long and curious dissertatious. The first of these describes the various sorts of Pilgrims, and their respective manners and customs. It consists of fifteen chapters, all of them very curious and entertaining. It would be impracticable to adduce the vast variety of novel information, now first presented to the publick. The following is only one specimen of many:

"A very singular custom prevailed tain penitents imposed upon themselves in some pilgrimages of Penitence. Cer the penance of receiving blows with ferules, upon the palms of their hands, which they commuted by striking the ground instead. Peter Damian mentions a man who wore an iron corslet next his skin, had iron rings around his limbs, with difficulty performed his Metanaas [penitential inclinations], and very often dashed the palms of his hands upon the pavement. In Strutt's Dresses is a female Pilgrim lying on the ground apparently to perform this penance." Pp. 463, 464.

The chapter of Love-Pilgrims contains some exquisite traits of chivalry, and a very curious history of courtship in the middle ages.

The Consuetudinal of Anchorets and Hermits exhibits minutely the distinctive habits and manners of these two Orders. In p. 491 is the following account of Anchor-holds:

"In Rader's Rule of the Solitaries the

cell of an Anchoret is to be of stone, 12 feet long, and as many broad, with three windows; one, opposite the choir, by which the sacrament was received; the second for admitting food; the third light, which was to be closed with horn or glass.

"Osbern, in his life of Dunstan, mentions the Destina (for so these anchorholds, or stalls, affixed to larger buildings, were called) occupied by Dunstan, soon after he became a Monk. It was annexed to the Church of the Virgin Mary at

Glas