little bag which he carries about his neck, and which is produced when all the dramatis personæ are assembled together to discover one another, must be as familiar to every novel reader as they are rare to the observer of society and nature.

Our third objection is, that the greater part of the characters, their manners and dialect, are at once barbarous and vulgar, extravagant and mean.

In Miss Edgeworth's works, the peculiarities of low manners are made auxiliary to the development of national character; in the Cottagers of Glenburnie the minute description of scenes of vulgar life contribute to the moral lesson inculcated by that work. In Waverley, the picturesque scenes and the original manners of the country, the romantic spirit and the generous devotion of the characters are heightened and stamped, as it were, with the impress of reality by the use of the appropriate dialect. But the events and objects of Mannering not only do not require, but do not excuse the pages of barbarous slang with which the author wearies our ears and puzzles our understandings; and we assure him that we think his work, though it should thereby become more intelligible, would be on the whole improved, by being translated into English; and so far is the story from being so peculiarly Scottish as to require the use of the Scotch jargon, that the whole apparatus of the fable might be transferred to Yorkshire or Cumberland, without doing the slightest violence to the narrative.

To this, however, there is one exception :-an eminent Scottish lawyer is introduced, who certainly could not, by any ordinary process, be changed into any thing at all resembling an English, or, indeed, any other lawyer that we have ever seen or heard of, unless it be the little French lawyer' of Beaumont and Fletcher's comedy.

We shall not pretend to know the character of the Scottish bar better than the ingenious author, but we are, with great humility, inclined to believe, and indeed to hope, that such a dull humorist as Mr. Paulus Pleydell cannot have had a prototype at the Scottish bar within the last half century; and that Hume, Robertson, Adam Smith, &c. who are described as friends of this barrister, had better taste than to admit the intimacy of a cock-brained pedant, a laborious jest-maker, and a superannuated pretender to gaiety and gallantry: we know, that when these Scottish luminaries descended into our southern sphere, they chose companions of a character the most dissimilar from that of Mr. Pleydell.

We have thus stated, strongly and candidly, our complaints against this hasty and undigested work; but we must not omit to add, that notwithstanding all these defects, the natural energy of the au thor's mind, his sly observation of the details of society, his dis

crimination

crimination of character, and the unaffected sprightliness and spontaneous vigour of his pen, all of which shone so brightly in Waverley, are still, though in a diminished degree, to be found in Mannering; and though we cannot, on the whole, speak of his novel with approbation, we will not affect to deny, that we read it with interest, and that it repaid us with amusement.

ART. X. Letters and Miscellaneous Papers by Barrè Charles Roberts, Student of Christ Church, Oxford: with a Memoir of his Life. London. 4to. 1814.

A BOOK printed for a private circle can scarcely be deemed a subject for public criticism. But we are persuaded that we shall render an acceptable service to our readers if we lay before them an account of the diligent talents, early acquirements, and domestic happiness of which this volume contains the memorial and the proofs.

What Shakspeare says of the course of true love, may be applied to the course of genius,-how seldom it runs smooth,-how seldom it finds a free channel! and what obstacles are to be overcome before it can make one, even if it have strength and fortune finally to force its way! To say nothing of the mute inglorious Miltons,' who lie in many a churchyard;-the mighty spirits which have never found opportunity to unfold themselves;—it is but too true that the greatest efforts of learning and industry and intellect have been produced by men who were struggling with difficulties of every kind. A morning of ardour and of hope; a day of clouds and storms; an evening of gloom closed in by premature darkness:—such is the melancholy sum of what the biography of men of letters almost uniformly presents. In the present instance, however, there were no early difficulties to contend with: Barre Roberts might, like Gibbon, have been thankful for all the accidents of birth and fortune; but the latter part of Shakspeare's words applies too literally to the fair promise of this favoured mind-for death did lay siege to it;

Making it momentary as a sound,

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;

Brief as the lightning in the collied night,

That in a spleen unfolds both earth and heaven,

And ere a man hath power to say-Behold!

The jaws of darkness do devour it up;

So quick bright things come to confusion.

A biographical account, written at some length and with much feeling, is prefixed to the memoirs of this extraordinary youth.

"These memoirs,' says the writer, record a happy, though, alas! a very short life; a life passed in the enjoyment of affluence, leisure and study. They record a youth in whom the hopes and wishes of parents and friends were centered, and who justified these in the cultivation of his natural talents, and the exercise of the domestic affections, creating and maintaining the happiness of that circle of which he was the delight and ornament. To some who were connected with him by friendship, they will recal many circumstances to perpetuate him in their recollection, and keep alive that tender regret for his loss, which, when it is preserved in kindred hearts, is the worthiest and most valuable monument that can be raised to virtue. Nor is it presuming too much to say, that these pages may contain enough to draw from such as value the display of early talents, the wish that a longer period had been granted to one whose matured taste might have perfected the produce of his youthful industry, and whose diligence might have added to the stores of a mind formed by nature to accumulate and decorate them.' :

The events of so short a life are soon summed up. Barrè Charles Roberts was born 13th March, 1789, in St. Stephen's-court, Westminster, in a house which,his father inhabited as Deputy Clerk of the Pells. After being successively at the schools of Dr. Horne at Chiswick, and the Rev. William Goodenough at Ealing, where his father then resided, he was entered at Christ Church in 1805, obtained a studentship there by the presentation of Dr. Hay at the request of Lord Sidmouth, graduated in 1808, and after a lingering decline, which began to show itself in the autumn of 1807, terminated his short career on the first of January, 1810.

'During the whole progress of his ailment, his mind remained unaltered in its inclination and desires. The thirst for knowledge continued, but the exhausted state of his corporeal system opposed physical obstacles to its gratification: he bore up with cheerfulness and courage against evidences of that which certainly he himself could not be ignorant of, and lamented only the languor of nervous debility which rendered him unable to pursue his favourite and wonted occupations. To those about him he always spoke in a tone of hope and confidence in his recovery; no word of complaint, no appeal to pity ever escaped him. Of all the house, he for whose sake every one was suffering appeared to suffer the least.

This exercise of patience and effort to support the spirits of his parents was continued unremittingly to the first of January, 1810, and ceased only with existence.

6

The last and unequivocal symptom took place only twenty-four hours previously. Painful as the recollection and detail of these circumstances must be to the writer of this Memoir, to whom Barrè was endeared by many ties of affinity and esteem, he does not shrink from

the

the task while one duty remains to be performed to his friend and relation. The strength of affection triumphed in a moment when life and death were struggling. The world was passing away, the fair hopes and blossom of youth were withering, energy was benumbed, every interest was fading fast from the scene-one only remained to animate and light it to the last moment. The sentiment of filial love survived all others. He had desired, with admirable fortitude, to be acquainted with his real state, and when Mr. Douglas, who attended him professionally, and had passed the night in his chamber, communicated to him the truth, he received it without alarm or surprise. "Then takė care of my Mother. Do not leave her," he cried, with a prescience of what her sufferings would be. His father was summoned to his chamber; and such was the tranquillity and cheerfulness of Barrè's countenance and manner, that hope even in those moments could not be stifled. Death could have no terrors for himself. His spirit was about to be rendered up pure and unspotted as he had received it; and if any thing marked his transition to a better state, it was a smile and a look of in tenser love, that fixed his eyes on the objects which had ever been the first and dearest to them.'-p. xliii.

We could not forbear inserting a passage, painful as it is, which reflects so much honour upon the subject and the writer.

The letters chiefly consist of Barrè's correspondence with his parents during his residence at the University. They exhibit the rare union of a playful disposition with a predilection for antiquarian researches, and would, if only on. this account, be well worthy of being thus preserved. But in another respect they are highly interesting: a few of his father's letters are inserted where they were required to make his own more clearly understood; and it is not possible to conceive a more beautiful idea of the intercourse between parent and child than is here exhibited ;the father always attentive to the real welfare of his son, always entering into his pursuits, encouraging and assisting them, always affectionate and always prudent; giving the wisest counsel in the most endearing manner, and finding his reward in the perfect confidence, the perfect friendship and the perfect duty of his child.

The correspondence begins with the young student's first arrival at Oxford. Aware of what had been, at no very remote period, the contagious vice of the universities, his father writes to caution him against the abuse of wine, expressing the fears of affection, which,' he says, 'I doubt not are groundless, as far as your own inclination may govern; but I am not to learn how often the frequent occurrence of bad example prevails over the best intentions.' Barrè, who knew not so well what the manners of the place had been, and who had no propensity that required a curb, replies, "I shall endorse your letter of yesterday, "advising me to leave off my old habit of drunkenness," and concludes by saying, 'I have been

to a wine party, and am dead drunk as you advised.' His feelings respecting the university may best be related in his own words.

You fear my residence here is uncomfortable, and it is therefore incumbent upon me to hasten to remove any idea that I am compelled to remain here in opposition to my own inclinations.

'If in a moment of solitude, or perhaps of vexation, I am led to contrast a transient adversity with the undisturbed repose which I have enjoyed, and which I only exist in hoping to enjoy again, it is not in such a time that my more solid and real feelings can be judged of. I perfectly agree with all your notions respecting the advantages of the University with regard to reputation and fortune; but you are a most convincing and decisive proof, that every advantage expected here may be obtained otherwise.'-p. 47.

'While I was attempting to shew you how little the University should be regretted, I perhaps failed to assure you, that I am happy to be a member of it.

Solitude is little painful to me; there are very few that I wish to interrupt it, and those are my own family, and very old friends. It amuses me, indeed, to walk perhaps for an hour or two in discourse with the few I live with here, but I return to my rooms with the prospect of passing the latter half of the day alone, in the best spirits, and with the most perfect content. There are, perhaps, moments, when tired with thought, or reading, I should wish to hear a footstep; then I am dull and in what situation of life can I ever be, wherein I shall not pass many melancholy moments ?'-p. 49.

The latter part of his residence was clouded by ill health, and by a feverish fear of failing in the examination for his degree; this in all probability accelerated the progress of that fatal malady which had already begun its work. In his case, perhaps, born as he was with a delicate frame, his life could not, under any circumstances, have been much prolonged; but stronger constitutions have sunk under this wearing and wasting excitement. The reform in the examinations was indispensable; but it is to be wished that some means could be devised which might prevent this most serious evil. He speaks of the approaching trial with great judgment..

'No other kind of examinations can be at all compared with them; there are no other means in which a man's intellectual character is brought to a trial: what approaches nearest to an examination in this respect, is a man speaking in parliament: that is a test of ability, but not near so accurate a one as an academical examination. In the latter, you propose yourself as being able to give the sense of certain authors, and to answer questions in certain sciences. It is a known fact, that nine-tenths of mankind can do both; if, therefore, you fail, it is owing to defect either of penetration or of application: if the former is allowed, you are declared to be so stupid and dull a man, that you cannot do what every one else can do; if the latter, you are justly asked, what have you been doing in all the years which have been de