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the dungeon, and though he was an enemy to the Methodists, when he smelt the ill savour of the place, said, 'Humanity moves me.' He went away directly, and about eleven came again, and said, 'I will assure you I am not in your way of thinking; but for all that, I have been with your Captain, and offered him ten pounds bail for you, and myself as prisoner, if he would let you lie in a bed; but all in vain, for I can get nothing of him but bad words. If the Justice were in town, I would have gone to him, and would soon have fetched you out. But since it is as it is, I pray God plead your cause.'”

We must refer our readers to the celebrated "Journal" which bears the name of this valiant man, of whom Dr. Southey says, that "he had as high a spirit, and as brave a heart, as ever Englishman was blessed with;" and whom the Rev. Thomas Jackson, in his "Centenary of Wesleyan Methodism," describes as "a man of deep and fervent piety, of strong and manly sense, of ready and pungent wit, and of admirable firmness and resolution;" and who may be also regarded, as far as Methodism is concerned, "the Apostle of the West Riding."

The view of the dungeon which accompanies this Number, for which we are indebted to the Rev. W. W. Stamp, the author of "Historical Notices of Wesleyan Methodism in Bradford, &c.,"* may be briefly described. The market-place, at the period referred to, was a triangular opening at the top of Kirkgate, in Bradford, in the centre of which stood the cross, to which reference has been made. Two sides of the opening were occupied by butchers' shambles, having slaughter-houses in the immediate neighbourhood. The dungeon in which John Nelson was so unrighteously confined, still remains, and forms the lower cellars, two stories below the level of the street. The entrance marked E on the plate, was along a dark passage, opening into Ivegate. The dungeon is said to have been divided into two compartments, one for male, the other for female, delinquents. Each of these was little more than three yards square, and must have fully answered the sad description given by Nelson in his "Journal.”

* We take the opportunity of recommending this work to our readers, as containing much very interesting information,

113

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS.

GEN. xli. 42. "Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand."-This was, no doubt, a principal circumstance in Joseph's investiture in the high office of Chief Minister to the King of Egypt. Investiture by a ring is not unknown in the history of Europe during the middle ages. But the present ring was undoubtedly a signet, or seal-ring, which gave validity to the documents to which it was affixed, and by the delivery of which, therefore, Pharaoh delegated to Joseph the chief authority in the state. The King of Persia in the same way gave his seal-ring to his successive Ministers Haman and Mordecai: and in Esther viii. 8, the use of such a ring is expressly declared:-"The writing which is written in the King's name, and sealed with the King's ring, may no man reverse." The possession of such a ring, therefore, gave absolute power in all things to the person to whom it was entrusted. This may in some degree be understood by the use of a seal among ourselves to convey validity to a legal instrument or public document; and still more perhaps by the use of the Great Seal, the person who holds which is, at least nominally, the second person in the state. But our usages do not perfectly illustrate the use of the seal as it exists in the East, because we require the signature in addition to the seal; whereas in the East, the seal alone has the effect which we give to both the seal and the signature. People in the East do not sign their names. They have seals in which their names and titles are engraven, and with which they make an impression with thick ink on all occasions for which we use the signature. To give a man your seal is therefore to give him the use of that authority and power which your own signature possesses. It would seem that most of the ancient seals were rings; but they were not always finger-rings, being often worn as bracelets on the arm. Indeed, it is observable, that nowhere in the Bible is a signet expressly said to be worn on the finger, but on the hand, as in the present text; and although this may denote the finger, we may understand it literally, as a ring worn on the wrist. Finger seal-rings are now, however, more usual than bracelets; and very often seals are not used as rings at

all, but are carried in a small bag in the bosom of a person's dress, or suspended from his neck by a silken cord.-Knight's Illustrated Commentary.

SKETCHES OF THE ENGLISH POETS.

CHARLES WESLEY.

THE poetry of Charles Wesley has been strangely overlooked in all collections of English poetry. He has been regarded rather as hymn-writer, than as poet; and while in collections of hymns several of his compositions have been inserted, from collections of poetry they have been omitted. The reason is only too obvious. His Methodism has been the stigma which has operated as a bar, and the obstacle seems to have been regarded as insurmountable. Even his hymns have too frequently been inserted, not only sparingly,-far too sparingly when their intrinsic excellence is considered, but with alterations which have imparted to them a character very different from their original and proper one. And of this, also, the reasons have been obvious. He has been considered as heretical, because he believed in universal redemption, and in Christian perfection; and the alterations which his hymns have sometimes undergone have often not only changed the sense, but lowered the verse. Instead of the strong manliness which characterizes all his compositions, as they came from his own hands, a diluted prettiness has been substituted, making the verses altogether unlike those which were really written by him.

Nor has justice been done to his poetry by the Methodists themselves. His hymns they, indeed, have not undervalued; but they have not called for any complete edition of his poetical compositions, many of the best of which, even though printed, are almost as much unknown to the Wesleyans, as they are to the world. And there are yet remaining in manuscript as many pieces as have been published; judging of which by the few specimens which have been occasionally given in the Wesleyan Magazine, we should consider them as not in the least degree inferior in merit to those which have already been sent into the world. As yet, however, we fear that his Methodism, his Arminianism, and his strongly-expressed belief of Christian perfection, are as likely as ever to operate

unfavourably both on the public at large, and on what is sometimes termed, distinctively, the religious public.

Nevertheless, we think that he stands, as a poet, on high ground. He knew well the power of the English language for the construction of verse, both strong and musical; aud ably did he make use of it. We intend to devote a paper to the subject; and, as the ground of our observations, we shall take the two printed volumes of his "Short Hymns on select Passages of the holy Scriptures," published in 1794. The edition, however, has nothing attractive about it; and we rather wish that by calling attention to the hymns themselves, another and a better edition may be called for, than (at least at present) hope that it actually will be so.

Poetry may be very generally described as that species of composition, the form of which is metrical, and the matter, such subjects as the mind expresses in a state of emotion. When the subject is merely contemplated by the intellect, for the simple purpose of description, or demonstration,-with no reference either to the existence of emotion in the writer, or the production of it in the reader, but solely with the intention of showing what it is, and so imparting knowledge, or proving what it is, and so producing conviction,—there is no poetry. Although should what is thus written be written metrically, the mere presence of verse does not make it poetry. Strictly speaking, even if verse be absent, yet if the description (if description it be, we take this only as an instance) be written under the influence of emotion, be intended to express emotion, and to produce it, the composition is poetical, and may even be said to be poetry, especially if the imagination employs analogies and similitudes as the form of expression. If we say, intending to impart information, "The pasture-fields are full of sheep, and the valleys have corn growing in them," we speak plain prose. But to say, moved by what we see, and wishing to move others by the description, "The pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys are also covered over with corn," we speak what is poetry. And as, if the pastures and valleys were possessed of life, and had the capacity of emotion, such a state would be an occasion of gladness, the poetry becomes heightened

by the additional similitudes, "They shout for joy; they also sing." Indeed, we know not whether we might not say, that as we are made capable of perceiving things just as they are, as mere existences, knowing them, investigating their nature, conditions of being, laws of movement; so we are made capable of perceiving them poetically: so that thus the poetical is an original state of mind. And as it is always difficult to describe what is thus original, the difficulty of adequately defining poetry will be accounted for. Most definitions are only descriptions of it under some particular aspect. Who is not conscious of the difference between looking at the starry heavens for the purpose of astronomical observation, and with poetical feeling? Whatever is thus contemplated and described by the mind in this poetical state, whether the subject be material or mental, is poetical: and if the imagination be at work, so as that the description be pictorial, (and this is the poetry of the eye,) and the composition be metrical, (which is the poetry of the ear,) then it is, properly speaking, poetry.

The subjects to which Charles Wesley devoted his poetical compositions, are chiefly those which are presented by the comprehensive one of personal religion. The principal characteristic of his own mind appears to have been strong sense. He was capable of very deep feeling, but does not show much of what is properly imaginative; still less, of what is fanciful. The subjects with which he was most conversant, and about which he most concerned himself, were those which belonged to what is usually called, religious experience. To external nature he did not attend in the manner, or to the extent, of which the generality of poets, even religious poets, furnish examples. He studied the word of God, and the spiritual works of God; and the subjects with which his mind was thus stored, he contemplated and described poetically. And generally, his descriptions refer, not so much to the mere emotion, which would have made them vague and indistinct, as to the thought by which the emotion was produced, and to that thought as influenced by the emotion. He does not descant on the fragrance of the rose, but brings the rose itself before us. His poetry may be described as molten thought. It is not so much the feeling that he

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