659 Review.-Massinger's Family Library. mind, when brought into the closet, or introduced to the boudoir. If the truth of this remark be admitted,-and it will not be denied-insuperable objections must arise to the reading of many plays, which possess much intrinsic worth, and, in some parts, offer very strong motives to perseverance in moral virtue. In confirmation of this opinion, we quote from the ably written advertisement prefixed to the present volume of the Family Library, the following passage. "The neglect of these authors, (the Old English Dramatists) in an age so favourable to works of imagination as the present, can only be ascribed to that occasional coarseness of language which in termixes with and pollutes the beauty of their most exquisite scenes. For what may be termed the licentiousness of the stage, for immorality of principle, for that offence which was transplanted from France to England with the Court of Charles the Second, our old dramatists do not require the aid of any apologist. They are innocent of attempting to confound the notions of right and wrong, or of seeking to influence the bad passions of our nature against the first great principles of morals. These were the corruptions of a later and more vicious age. With the earlier playwriters, the bent of the story and the interest of the spectator are always directed to the side of virtue; but the objection against them is, that though they armed themselves in her cause, they were too little scrupulous what kind of weapon they employed. The worst things are always called by the worst names! Nothing is sacrificed to delicacy. The grossest subjects are treated, whenever they happen to occur and no care is taken to avoid them in the grossest terms. Vice loses none of her enormity by any diminution of her coarseness. If the wicked are introduced, they are painted with a perfect truth of nature; they are represented as loathsome in language as they are detestable in conduct; and are rendered as offensive to the reader of cultivated taste and virtuous habits as they would be in the actual intercourse of life. However well it may have suited the less polished age of Elizabeth and James, thus to inculcate purity by exhibiting all the corruptions of the depraved, and to fortify the moral principle by por | 660 productions, included in this class of writing have undergone a scrupulous examination at their hands; and what they contain of real worth and utility is presented under features that will recommend these neglected works to popular favour, without involving any compromise of moral principle. The Elizabethan era was distinguished by a splendid galaxy of dramatic authors, including Shakspeare, Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, Shirley, and Massinger. These talented writers brought both tragedy and comedy to a state of high perfection,-and the compositions of Shakspeare, especially, threw round the stage a splendour that has only brightened in the lapse of time. Few materials for a life of Massinger can be found, yet from the scattered and imperfect data that could be obtained, the Editor of the Family Library has woven a biography of no common interest. Philip Massinger was, it would appear, born at Salisbury in the year 1584. He was the son of Arthur Massinger a gentleman in the service of Henry, the second Earl of Pembroke." All, however, which we need notice in this place is, that, at the age of two-and-twenty, he was driven, partly by his necessities, and partly by the bent of his inclination, to commence dramatic author, for which purpose he came up to London. His productions were very numerous; but some of them have been destroyed, and others are in toto too gross to be brought to light in the nineteenth century. The "Dramatic Series" commences with "The Virgin Martyr," of Massinger; this tragedy, includes two distinct plots, one traying wickedness, with all its hateful accompani- (this submitted to the reader) eminently ments, as an object of disgust as well as of abhorrence and contempt, such strong pictures are no longer tolerable at the present day, and the recurrence of them militates against that general circulation and approval which is otherwise due to the great merit of the works in which they occur." beautiful, and the other disgustingly offen sive. If space would permit, we should make copious extracts from the piece as it stands in the present work, to show the style of our author both with respect to the mechanism of his dramas and the structure of his language: we must, however, quote sparingly, and rest content with recommending to the reader the classic remains of an author comparatively little known. We do not entirely concur with the writer of this advertisement. The Old Dramatists are not so guiltless of confounding the principles of right and wrong as he supposes. Much obscenity frequently tarnishes the brightest portraitures they have The scene of the tragedy is laid in Casa drawn; and licentiousness is too often ad-rea, in the time of the emperors Dioclesian mitted under the specious veil of venial and Maximinus, by whose orders a fiery levity. If called upon to adduce instances, persecution was directed against the Chriswe name, Hamlet's observations to Ophe- tians. Dorothea, the heroine of the piece, lia, and the conversation between the beloved by Antoninus son of Sapritius, goFrench princess and her confidante, both of vernor of Cæsarea, is brought under senwhich are from Shakspeare. tence of death for her attachment to Christianity. Her lover accompanies her The conductors of the Family Library have, however, pointed out the radical evil in dramatic literature, and prepared an ef to the scaffold, and, after witnessing her ficient remedy to counteract its effects. The his beloved mistress. the side of 661 Review.-Massinger's Family Library. Angelo and Harpax are spirits, clothed in human shape; the former a ministring angel attendant on Dorothea, and the latter a servant of Satan, employed to stir up hatred against the Christians in the mind of Theophilus. suffer, And heavenly beauty, leaving this base earth, Mac. By this preparation You well may rest assured that Dorothea Anton. Then with her dies The abstract of all sweetness that's in woman! Mac. Strange Affection! Cupid once more hath changed his shafts with Death Anton. Ob, Macrinus! Twould linger out my torments else, not kill me, Enter a Guard bringing in DOROTHEA a See, she comes; How sweet her innocence appears! more like To heaven itself, than any 'sacrifice That can be offered to it: By my hopes Of joys hereafter, the sight makes me doubtful In my belief; nor can I think our gods Are good, or to be served, that take delight In offerings of this kind: that to maintain Their power, deface the masterpiece of nature, Which they themselves come short of. She ascends, And every step raises her nearer heaven. Sap. You are to blame To let him come abroad. And we were left to serve him, not command him. Theoph. Now, proud contemner Of us, and of our gods, tremble to think, thee: 662 And, therefore, having first with horror weighed Anton. She smiles, Unmov'd by Mars! as if she were assured The use of his inevitable hand. Theoph. Derided too! despatch, I say. That gloriest in having power to ravish What is this life to me? not worth a thought; Or, if it be esteemed, 'tis that I lose it To win a better: even thy malice serves To such a height of happiness, where I shall Elysian shades; for he hath made his bowers And be assured you shall. Sap. With my own hands I'll rather stop that little breath is left thee, Theoph. By no means; Let him go with her: do, sedue'd young man, ters, Whom I have sent as harbingers before you; In thankfulness to one, that with care hasten p. 81. At this moment Angelo enters, when Harpax retreats confused, and can no more be brought into his presence. The headsman soon after performs his murderous office, and the soul of the "Virgin Martyr" enters into its rest, accompanied by the spirit of her lover, who falls lifeless at the completion of her sentence. Angelo is deputed to bear a taste of the true heavenly food to Theophilus, according to Dorothea's promise. The heart of this destroyer is in consequence converted; and he subsequently glories in, and suffers, the extreme pains of martyrdom. The tragedy concludes with his death. 663 Poisoning with Arsenic. Review. Such of our readers as are little acquainted with the works of Massinger, will be able to form some idea, from the long extract we have given, of his merits as a dramatic writer, They will notice no small portion of Shakspearian fire, and negligence, in his compositions, mingled with occasional quaintness of expression, and extravagance of figure. His writings certainly deserve a niche in the archives of fame; and, as presented in the "Family Library," they supply an important desideratum in the literature of the present day. REVIEW.-Poisoning with Arsenic. Simultaneous poisoning of Six Persons.Taste of Arsenic.-The Test of Redecation may supply Evidence, when the quantity of Metal sublimed is less than a 250th part of a grain, and is too minute to form a characteristic crust. By Robert Christison, M.D. Edin. Med. & Surg. Journal, c. 11. Jan. 1830. THE paper which we select for review, upon this occasion, is one of very great moment, whether we regard the circumstances under which the poison was taken, or that minuteness and precision of chemical inquiry, which so successfully investigated and verified the nature of the poisonous ingredient, and ultimately led to a thorough knowledge of the whole of he process. It appears, that on the 1st of November last, a baronet in Roxburghshire, together with his family, and several visitors, amounting to six persons, sat down to dinner; and were all, during the repast, or immediately after, seized with severe symptoms-sickness, vomiting, and pains in the bowels, and, in one instance, diarrhoea. The continuance and severity of the symptoms, together with the circumstance of the whole six persons being similarly attacked, left no doubt that they were caused by the presence of some poisonous substance in one or other of the articles used at dinner, and of which all had partaken. In order to discover what the poison was, and to clear up the mystery of its introduction, a proportion of the various articles used were sent to Dr. Christison, for chemical examination. At first it was supposed, that the only thing at table, of which all had partaken, was some soup, but, on examination, there was no indication of the presence of any metallic poison, the only class of which, from the symptoms, there could be any suspicion. The next article examined was the 664 vomited matter, of which two quarts were sent, taken from a pail containing about four gallons-the matter vomited by four of the party. We shall give the result in Dr. Christison's own words. "A small portion of this, when filtered, gave no indication of any of the above metallic poisons, on being treated with sulphuretted hydrogen. But when the whole filtered fluid was evaporated to the volume of two ounces, sulphuretted hydrogen produced a dirty yellowish cloudiness, which, after ebullition, and subsequent rest for twelve hours, gave place to a scanty, Naples yellow, flaky precipitate. This precipitate was separated and washed, by the process of subsidence and afusion, repeatedly performed, and was then dried in a watch-glass. The product, which was very small in quantity, and, of course, contained a large proportion of animal matter, was then subjected to the process of reduction, in one of the small tubes iecommended by Berzelius. By close and cautious management of the heat, a scanty sublimate was procured, forming a dark filmy cloud, on a small part of the narrowest portion of the tube. This sublimate was entirely destitute of brilliancy on the outside, or of crystalline appearance on the interior; and, consequently, without the subse quent test of oxidation, suggested lately by Dr. Turner, no conclusion whatever could be deduced from it. But, on removing the portion of the tube containing the plug, and then subjecting the film to repeated sublimation, a ring of fine sparkling white crystals was formed, on some of which I could observe, with a common magnifier, triangular facettes. I could hardly doubt, therefore, that I had procured a minute quantity of oxide of arsenic. But as the quantity was so small, that, being in the custom of weighing somewhat larger quanti ties, I was sure it did not amount to nearly a 250th part of a grain, I resolved to subject it to a farther Arsenic, mercury, copper, antimony, lead, or zine, or any of their preparations. We know of no work, professedly treating on this subject, which recommends the evaporation and concentration of suspected fluids, for the pur. pose of detecting poisons in very minute quantity; application may be original with Dr. Christison; and, therefore, it is possible that the idea and but certainly he is not the first to have suggested this improvement in toxicological analysis. In Vol. I. No. 6. New Series of the Medical and Physical Journal, for December, 1825, and which we have now before us, we observe, among the "Original Papers," one by Dr. Venables, entitled, "On the Detection of Poisons," from which we make the following extract, "It may now be in quired, after having applied our reagents, and finding no traces, are we to conclude that arsenic does not exist in the suspected fluid? This ques tion may be fairly replied to, in the negative. I diluted a solution of arsenie, till the addition of the most delicate reagents afforded no sensible indication of its presence. But, upon distilling the mix. ture, when the fluid became concentrated, the action of the test became sensible. Hence, in all suspicious cases, it would be well to concentrate the suspected fluid, by distillation or evaporation. "It will frequently happen, that, when a flaid has been evaporated nearly to dryness, by con tinuing the heat, if the process have been perform ed by distillation, or applying a sufficient tempera ture, if otherwise-that arsenic will sublime, and may thus be collected and treated by the usual reagents."-p. 513. These we consider as very important directions, and, indeed, highly deserving attention. Concen tration should always be practised in suspicious cases, where the usual tests afford not the charac teristic reagencies. The paper in Med. and Phys. Journal contains some useful hints, and we recommend its perusal; for, though there may be some chaff, we are satisfied that the grain will amply repay the trouble of winnowing. 665 Review. The Drama of Nature. test. With this view, two drops of water were 666 mere accidental occurrence, arising from introduced into the tube, and boiled on the crystals. inattention, and not seeing that the bottle These were soon dissolved, and in the solution, the ammoniacal nitrate of silver caused as characteris tic a lemon-yellow precipitate, as it could produce in any arsenical solution."-p. 68-69. The obvious conclusion, from the above facts, was, that arsenic existed in the matter ejected by vomiting. However, Dr. C., with that precaution which should ever characterise the medical jurist, hesitated to come to such a conclusion, lest the small trace of arsenic discovered might have been owing to an accidental contamination arising from an arsenical foulness adhering to the vessels-precipitating jars, glass funnels, and evaporating basins, &c.-in which the analysis was conducted. However, this difficulty was removed by the subsequent proceedings, as detailed by Dr. C. He observes "It was afterwards remembered by the party, that they had all partaken of certain bottles of wine, the remains of three of which were therefore sent to me. "In a bottle of Teneriffe, and in another of a light French white wine, sulphuretted hydrogen gas caused no change whatever, and both of them were free of foreign taste. But, in the remains of a bottle of Champagne, which also was free of any taste, except that of vinous sweetness, the same test caused a copious sulphur yellow precipitate. The arsenical nature of this precipitate was proved by the process of reduction. Two ounces of the wine gave one grain and a quarter of sulphuret of arsenic, corresponding to one grain of oxide of arsenic. "On subsequent inquiry, it appeared that the bottle of Champagne was brought from the cellar before dinner, by the baronet himself, who undid the wine during dinner, immediately before the wine was used. This circumstance 'shewed that the wine had been poisoned before the bottle was corked by the wine-merchant."-p. 69. We acknowledge that the above paper is one of great merit, and one of no small degree of interest; and, indeed, if any thing were wanting to stamp the zeal and industry of the learned professor, it is one that would go far to do this. Yet, though we willingly acknowledge the value and importance of this paper, we cannot but regret, that the inquiry has not been carried a step farther, from which the most important results, in a public sense, are to be anticipated. The history terminates, after having shewn that the Champagne was the wine in which the arsenic existed, and that the poisoning took place before the wine was corked. was thoroughly clean when the wine was introduced. Thus the wine might have been incautiously put into a bottle containing a solution of, or arsenic in substance. If this were found to be the only bottle containing it, such would be a legitimate conclusion. If the effect of a criminal design, this would be a fair presumption, if, out of a certain number taken promiscuously, some were found to contain arsenic, while others were found to be free from any such contamination. If a fraudulent adulteration were the object, the contamination would be found to pervade every bottle of the sample. We are not aware of any object to be obtained by introducing arsenic into wine of any kind, much less Champagne; but, still, fraudulent adulterations are often practised without the object being obvious at first. Arsenic may, for aught we know, correct some flavour, taste, or other obnoxious quality, and we are all well satisfied, that many unprincipled dealers are not always over-scrupulous as to the means to which they resort, to render their goods more palatable, or more marketable. man now will feel secure, as to the consequences, if he indulge in Champagne ; every glass may be the passport for a grain, or so, of arsenic to his stomach; and, on every occasion of indulgence, he incurs the fear, at least, if not the risk, of its proving his last. No The suggestions of a further, and more extended examination of the impurity of this wine, involve, in our opinion, objects of the highest public moment, and, if they have not already occurred to Dr. Christison, we trust he will turn his future attention to the subject, and that he will not leave a work of such importance, which he has begun so well, and so creditably, in its present unfinished state. REVIEW.-The Drama of Nature. A Poem in three Books. By Joseph Mitchell Burton. 12mo. p. 187. Fisher and Co. London. 1830. Now, the questions of greatest moment to the public are--was the poisoning of the wine the result of accident, of design, or of fraud? Much might be done towards being found unmarketable. Many volumes THE age in which we live is so overstocked with poetry, that unless the commodity is of an excellent quality, it is in great danger of solving these questions. The presence of arsenic in this bottle might have been a Allowing twelve ounces to be the average capacity of a bottle, there must have been six grains of arsenie in solution in the bottle. which we could mention have dropped stillborn from the press; and several others, after uttering a feeble cry, have retired silently into the shades of oblivion, where they enjoy undisturbed repose. In this beaten path many others are quietly travel 667 Review. The Sacred Harp. ling, and their authors may at least console themselves with this reflection, that no one has dared to interrupt them in their journey. The neat little volume now open on our desk, appears without preface or table of contents; but its title is sufficiently comprehensive to show that the vast arcanum of nature is encircled in its wide embrace. After a short invocation, the author calls our attention to his subject in the following lines: "I sing the birth, the life, and death of Time, The morning, noon, and evening of his day, From natal hour to final obsequies." In the last line the reader will have a very formidable ellipsis to supply, but having overcome this unharmonious obstacle, he will be directed to behold creation rising into birth, and led to contemplate the various orders of being to whom God has imparted existence. Having laid this foundation, Mr. Burton conducts us through the varied orders of nature, both animate and inanimate, sometimes recreating the mental vision with poetical landscapes, and, at others, calling us to mount among suns and stars, to traverse with him the regions of the universe, and contemplate, either in its distinct departments, or in one comprehensive survey, the astonishing machinery of creation in all its complicated simplicity. With materials so numerous and diversified, he need never be at a loss for a subject; and yet we find in many places recurrences to the same ideas, in language that, with a little care, would have admitted of a much greater variety. Of the dignity and character of the human soul, the following lines are strongly expressive: "Look in the soul, more vast than universe, Or starry base of structure piled with suns, To the preceding paragraph we readily allow a deserving meed of energy, and award a due proportion of praise; but, unfortunately, the two first lines are disfigured by the strange ellipsis which they contain, and the use of the word doll in the last line, merits an explanation which we are unable to supply. The character and condition of the Atheist in a future state, are vigorously delineated in the following passage, which would have ..... 668 been still more pleasing, had it not appeared to be laboured: "Who doubts this truth, who, but that wretched soul That folds herself within the hideous claws Fell down ingulfed in the black tempest's lake, The word down which occurs in two successive lines in the preceding extract, betrays great carelessness in the author. "Down the smoking skies fell down ingulfed," every one must allow to be capable of considerable improvement. A similar repetition of the word now occurs in the two first lines of the poem. "Assist me now, ye choirs in heaven above, while now on earth I strike the golden harp." We have neither time nor room to follow the author through the varied scenery of his volume. From the third book, on the events connected with unfulfilled prophecy several favourable extracts might be taken, but we must desist. It is a work which contains a respectable share of native vigour and laborious energy, but many passages demand emendation. The pointing is some. times bad, the ellipsis is occasionally very disagreeable, and several terms may be exchanged for others with great advantage. It seems to have been prematurely published, and precipitancy sometimes proves fatal to an author's reputation. |