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Biographical Portraits.-Francis Jeffrey, Esq.

[VOL. 2 terloo, I think we might convoke a con- he could do wonders in describing the gress of our poets, to compound amongst care taken of the wounded; to say nothem a poetical monument. To Lord thing of some episode respecting a tall Byron might be allotted that part which pathetic Lifeguardsman and his Dutch should describe the feeling of both ar- Dulcinea. I think I would permit Mr. mies before and after the battle, and its Rogers to insert three lines about the effects upon the moral world in general. birth and parentage of a tear; Messrs. Mr. Scott should be endowed with a lim- Coleridge and Wordsworth should deited power of rehearsing the names of scribe the unsophisticated death of an the leaders, their dresses, their genealogy, aide-de-camp's horse; and to Mr. Moore and the foaming bits of their steeds. Both I would adjudge the most arduous task these bards should mash up the battle it of all-namely, to erase, correct, and inself between them. Mr. Campbell might sert, as his classical taste might lead him; give us a pathetic episode of a young in which case, much of Scott, some of lady who had arrived just time enough Lord Byron, a little of Campbell, the to stop, by the interposition of her own essence of Southey's four thousand lines, heart, a bullet that was going on very making about as many hundred,-might fairly towards her lover's. If any im- be retained; but Heaven knows whether mortal gods were deemed necessary, I a single line of the remaining members would, by all means, recommend Mr. of the congress would remain! By the Southey to the mythological department. help of all this pruning, the structure Mr. Crabbe might be furnished with lint might indeed be made immortal. and ligaments, and a wardrobe of the Dutch women's costumes, in which case

Note. We wish our ingenious correspondent would remember the old maxim: " Amicus Plato, sed magis, c.-Ed.

BIOGRAPHICAL PORTRAITS,

From the Monthly Magazine.

CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS.
No. III.

AN ESTIMATE of the LITERARY CHARACTER
of FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ.

FEW

NEW writers of the present time occupy a larger share of the attention of literary men than Mr. Jeffrey. He is the editor of the Edinburgh Review, and author of some of the best papers in that popular journal; and it is alledged, that few critics have exposed the faults and deficiencies of the candidates for literary distinction with less indulgence and more presumption. Many who have smarted under the lash of his ridicule regard him with indignation, while they endeavour to persuade themselves that he is only worthy of their contempt. It is to be hoped, however, that, among the vast number who have felt the impartial malice of his pen, there may be some who will acknowledge, though he is always severe, that he has been sometimes just but never in their own particular case. It would indeed be folly to deny the talents and merits of a writer who has so essentially contributed to establish the reputation of the Edinburgh Review.

It must be conceded to the exaspera. ted victims against whom he has so bitterly directed" the quips and scorn of the time," that an author who is only known as a critic can assert but a negative claim to distinction; for it is easier to poist out the faults of the noblest work of art than to execute the meanest. Mr. Jeffrey must not be allowed to imagine himself superior in genius to any of the authors whom he has reviewed, merely because he has successfully made them objects of mirth or derision: his merits lie in other qualifications than the glibness of his satire; for, with every allowance that may be granted to the invidiousness of cotemporaries, it cannot be denied that there is a strong basis of good sense in his strictures, of which the pungent and sparkling acrimony of his manner is the flavor and effervescence. He often errs in estimating the general abilities of the writers whom he reviews, and allows his distaste to their works to be improperly directed against themselves; assuming, in this way, a privilege of censuring, which is not permitted in good society, and is never exercised without exciting

VOL. 2.]

Biographical Portraits.—Francis Jeffrey, Esq.

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feelings of resentment, destructive of the tural acid, that requires to be mixed with quiet reciprocities of social intercourse. the nauseous alkali of folly in others, to His taste is sometimes capricious, and is produce that brisk and wholesome corevidently more under the influence of the rective which has become so fashionable moment than regulated by settled princi- as to be almost necessary to the sickly ples; but, upon the whole, a spirit of appetite of the age.

justice may be discovered in his most Mr. Jeffrey has without question more merciless animadversions. Sometimes admirers than enemies; the latter are he has released his victims from the rack, only to be found among the small class when it might have been thought that he who subject themselves to his jurisdiction, intended to inflict a capital punishment: while the former are spread throughout at others he has gamboled to the last; the whole commonality of readers. But and, with true feline cruelty, only ended he has no disciples. He has too much their misery when he was tired of tor- practical sense ever to become the foundmenting them. But we are acquainted er of a sect; for it is not in the nature of with no writer who more youthfully states that quality to inspire enthusiasın, or to his own taste and predilections; and, if allow it to be felt. His head and heart there is some degree of conceit in his in- are made up of household stuff, and seem genuousness, it must be allowed that, to have so little affinity for any thing rowhen he advocates the principles of those mantic, that we are inclined to think even Opinions in which his judgment is settled his personal manners must have many and matured, he does it with a manliness angular points towards those who are less that has nothing superior in the literature earnest to be always instructive. The of any age or country. cast of his mind seems to be much more

It has been objected to Mr. Jeffrey's akin to that of the man of business than papers, and indeed to his journal, that of the author; but he oftener expresses the want of circumstantial and scientific himself with the billious irritability of the knowledge is but ill supplied by theoret- one, than the hearty urbanity of the ical ingenuity. It cannot, however, be other; he is, in fact, neither a man of the denied that, on a great variety of subjects, world nor a man of genius, but belongs he has manifested much ability and in- to that dubious class who are regarded formation. He may not appear always with indulgence by the wise, while they a profound scholar, but he is uniformly are lauded by the weak and contemned an accomplished gentleman. Some of only by the foolish. He is an author adhis belle-lettres articles are among the mirably suited to the occasional topics of best-written dissertations in the English his own day; but, when time shall bave language; especially those in which a obliterated those associations in the pubvein of historical illustration serves to de- lic mind, to which he so felicitously revelope the particular and relative merits fers, and draws from them so many apt of the author under consideration. and amusing illustrations, his style will

But a light and sketchy outline is the lose much of its perspicuity, and a great character of his style, His canvas is sel- deal of its life and interest. A critic, in dom filled; and, if he occasionally fin- fact, is something like a player; his talishes a head with delicacy and effect, he ents are brought out by the ideas of othneglects the extremities, and often sub- ers, and his merits can only be appreciastitutes, for the bands and feet, the ted by comparing his efforts with those of idle flourishes of a free and rapid pencil. his cotemporaries. Mr. Jeffrey is clever, In his manner there is frequently much but not great; eloquent, without being elegance, sometimes great beauty, but impressive; accomplished, but not proalways a large expanse of loose and care found. His main fault belongs more to less writing. Conceited and dainty ex- the man than the author-it is in presu pressions may be here and there discov. ming to be the censor of private manners, ered; they are, however, more of the na- where the clear and obvious line of his ture of freckles than of moles, and we duty (as pointed out both by the consuspect are sometimes esteemed as beau- sciousness of his own petulance, and the ties. His wit may be described as the nature of the task he has assumed,) is an tithesis of affectation. A sharp na- merely to review the merits and defects

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Illustration of Saints' Days, obscure Ceremonies, &c.

[VOL.2

of published books. Latterly, however, as Dr. Johnson says, "there may yet be he has more modestly adhered to his vo- virtue."

cation ;" and, where there is shame,"

TIME'S TELESCOPE, FOR MARCH.

From "Time's Telescope."

AMONG the Romans, March, from the church of Saint Andrew, which,

Mars, was the first month, and with the town and whole diocese, are marriages made in this month were ac- named after him. Near the church counted unhappy. The Saxons called stand several chapels, formerly resorted March lent-monat, or length-moneth, to with great devotion: the principal is because the days did first begin, in that of St. Nun, mother of St. David, length, to exceed the nights.'

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In mantle of Proteus clad,

With aspect ferocious and wild ;
Now pleasant, now sullen and sad,

Now froward, now placid and mild.

Such is the poet's character of this month, which is, in general, cold, with keen winds, the air clear and healthy.

SAINT DAVID'S DAY, MARCH 1.

The leek worn on this day by Welshmen is said to be in memory of a great victory obtained by them over the Saxons; they, during the battle, having leeks in their hats, to distinguish themselves, by order of St. David. Another account adds, that they were fighting under their King Cadwallo, near a field that was replenished with that vegetable.*

He

Saint David was the great ornament and pattern of his age. He spoke with much force and energy, but his example was more powerful than his eloquence; and he has in all succeeding ages been the glory of the British church. continued in the see of St. David's many years; and having founded several monasteries, and been the spiritual father of many saints both British and Irish, he died about the year 544, at a very advanced age. He was buried in

The following is Shakspeare's account of it,(Henry

V.) in the dialogue between Fiucllin and the king:

Flu. Your grandfather of famous memory, ant please your majesty, and your great uncie, Edward the plack prince of Wales, as I have read in the chronicles, fought a most prave pattie here in France.

K. Henry. They did, Flueliin.

Flu. Your majesty says very true. If your majesty is remembered of it, the Welshmen did goot service in a garden where leeks did grow,wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps, which, your majesty knows, to this hour is an honorable pedge of the service; and,I do pelieve your

near which is a beautiful well still frequented by pilgrims. Another chapel is sacred to St. Lily, surnamed GwasDafydd, that is, St. David's man; for he was his beloved disciple and com panion in his retirement. He is hon. oured there on the 3d, and St. Nun, who lived and died the spiritual mother of many religious women, on the 2d of March. The three first days of March in honour of these three saints; at were formerly holidays in South Wales present only the first is kept a festival throughout the principality.

In the wild and romantic scenery of mountains, on the banks of the Honddy, Llanthony, at the foot of the black in the sequestered vale of Ewias, St. David formed a hermitage and erected a chapel:

A little lowly hermitage it was

Down in a dale, hard by a forest's side,
Far from resort of people, that did pass
In traveil to and fro: a little wyde
There was an holy chapell edifyde,
Wherein the hermit dewly wont to say
His holy things each morn and eventyde;

Thereby a christall streame did gently play,
Which from a sacred fountain welled forth alway.

So retired is this spot, that, at one time, it was scarcely known to the neighbouring hamlets. Walter de Lacy, those mysterious erections, and being one day in pursuit of a deer, discovered struck with the solemnity of the spot, be was visited by religious enthusiasm ;he disclaimed the world, and erected the abbey of Llanthony for the use of the Cistercian order.

MIDLENT SUNDAY, MARCH 1.
The middle or fourth Sunday in Lent

majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek onSt Tavy's-day. Was formerly called the Sunday of the

K. Henry, I wear it for a memorable honour,

five Loaves, the Sunday of Bread, and

VOL. 2.] Tine's Telescope for March-Perpetua-St. Patrick's Day.

429

SAINT PATRICK, MARCH 17.
The tutelar saint of Ireland was born

6

the Sunday of Refreshment, in allusion to the gospel appointed for this day. It was also named Rose-Sunday, from the in th year 371, in a village called pope's carrying a golden rose in his hand, Bonaven Tabernia, probably Kilpatrick, which he exhibited to the people in the in Scotland, between Dunbriton and streets as he went to celebrate the eu- Glasgow. He is, however, claimed as a charist, and at his return. Mothering Cambrian by Mr. Jones, in his Welsh Sunday is another name attached to this Bards,' who makes him a native of day, from the practice, in Roman Cath- Caernarvonshire. When sixteen years olic times, of people visiting their mother- old, he was carried into captivity by church on Midlent Sunday. Hence, certain barbarians, together with many perhaps, the custom now existing in of his father's vassals and slaves, and some parts of England, of children visit- was taken to Ireland, where he kept cating their parents, and presenting them tle on the mountains and in the forests, with money, trinkets, or some other in hunger and nakedness, amid snows, trifle. Furmety is commonly a rural rain, and ice. After six months, our repast on this day. It is made of whole saint escaped from this slavery, only to grains of wheat first parboiled, and then fall into the hands of another master. At put into and boiled in milk, sweetened length emancipated, he travelled into and seasoned with spices. Gaul and Italy, and spent many years in preparing himself for the holy functions of a priest, studying intensely until his Perpetua, a noble lady of Carthage, 55th or 60th year. Being successively only 22 years of age, suffered martyrdom ordained deacon, priest, and bishop, he in 203, by order of Minutius Firmianus, received the apostolical benediction from under the persecution of the Emperor Pope Celestine, and was sent by him, Severus. In the amphitheatre, Perpetna about the beginning of the year 432, to was exposed to the attacks of a wild preach the gospel in Ireland. He died cow, and, after being much gored by at the good old age of 123, and was this animal, she languished for some time, buried at Down, in Ulster. under the wounds given her by a young and unskilful gladiator.

PERPETUA, MARCH 7.

On this day the Jews celebrate the festival of Purim. In this ceremony the reader recites the whole book of Esther, which, being written on parchment, is spread out in the manner of a letter, in reference to the twenty-sixth verse of the ninth chapter. As often as the reader mentions the name of Haman, it is customary for the children (who have little wooden hammers) to knock against the wall, as a memorial that they should endeavour to destroy the whole seed of Amalek.

SAINT GREGORY, MARCH 12.

Saint Gregory, surnamed the Great, was born about the year 540. He was consecrated Pope about the year 590,

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Every day was he wont diligently to sing the entire psaltery, with many songs and hymns, and the Apocalypse of the apostle John, and two hundred prayers before God; three hundred times did he bend his knees in adoration of the Lord; every canonical hour of the day did he one hundred times sign himself with the sign of the cross. Nevertheless did he not omit every day worthily and devoutly to offer up unto the Father the sacrifice of the Son; and never ceased he to teach the people, or instruct his disciples.

And in a wonderous manner dividing the night-season, thus did this wakeful guardian and labourer in the Lord's vineyards distinguish that also. For in the earliest part thereof having with two hundred genuflexions, and one hundred psalms, praised God, then applied he unto study; and in the latter part, he ment to the see, Gregory projected the plunged himself into cold water, and conversion of the English nation; and, raising his heart, his voice, his eyes, and although his offer to this effect was at first his hands towards heaven, offered he retused, he accomplished his wishes after one hundred and fifty prayers.-Afterhe assumed the papal chair. ward he stretched himself on a bare stone,

and died in 604. Before his advance.

430

Time's Telescope for March.-Palm-Sunday-Lady-Day, &c. [voL. 2 and of another stone making a pillow, vegetation shown by the trees of this clihe rested his most sanctified body with mate, are gathered and adopted for a short sleep; or that more clearly we branches of palm. Mr. Bourne says, may speak, he refreshed himself unto the the branch of palm was used in the labour of his continual conflict.-With country near Jerusalem as an emblem of such rest indulging, he girded his loins victory. Our adoption of the willow with roughest haircloth, the which had buds may arise from their being the first been dipped in cold water.' bloom which appears in the woods after

The shamrock is said to be worn by the the close of winter; and might be used Irish, upon the anniversary of this saint, also typically, from their bearing testifor the following reason: When he preach- mony of renovation, as a sacred emblem ed the gospel to the Pagan Irish, he illus- of victory over death. trated the doctrine of the Trinity by show- Much ceremony is still observed by ing them a trefoil, or three-leaved grass, the Greek church in Russia on Palm with one stalk; which operating to their Sunday. On the eve of this day,' says conviction, the shamrock, which is a Dr. Clarke, all the inhabitantts of bundle of this grass, was ever afterwards Moscow resort, in carriages, on horseback, worn upon this saint's annniversary, to or on foot, to the Kremlin, for the purcommemorate the event.-Brand. chase of palm branches, to place before

1785.-HENRY KIRKE WHITE BORN,
MARCH 21.

Too, too prophetic did thy wild note swell,
Impassioned minstrel ! when its pitying wail
Sighed o'er the vernal primrose as it fell

The Order of St. Patrick was insti- their Boghs, or images, and to decorate tuted by George III, in 1783. It con- the sacred pictures in the streets, or sists of the sovereigu, a grand master, a elsewhere. It is one of the gayest proprince of the blood royal, and thirteen menades of the year. The governor knights, making in the whole sixteen, and attended by the maitre de police, the seven officers. The lord lieutenant for commandant, and a train of nobility, gə the time being is the grand master. in procession, mounted on fine horses. The streets are lined by spectators; and cavalry are stationed on each side, to preserve order. Arriving at the Kremlin, a vast assembly, bearing artificial bouquets and boughs, are seen moving here and there, forming the novel and striking spectacle of a gay and moving forest. The boughs consist of artificial flowers, with fruit. Beautiful representations of oranges and lemons, in wax, are sold for a few copecks (an English halfpenny). Upon this occasion, every person who visits the Kremlin, and would be thought a true Christian, purchases one or more of the boughs, called palm-branches.'

Untimely, withered by the northern gale.
Thou wert that flower of promise and of prime!

Whose opening bloom 'mid many an adverse blast,
Charmed the lone wanderer through this desart clime,
But charmed him with a rapture soon o'ercast,
To see thee languish into quick decay.
Yet was not thy departing immature!
For ripe in virtue thou wert reft away,

And pure in spirit as the blest are pure;
Pure as the dew-drop, freed from earthly leaven,
That sparkles, is exhaled, and blends with heaven!

Day, MARCH 25.

PALM SUNDAY, MARCH 22. In the missals, this day is denominated Dominica in ramis Palmarum, or Palm Sunday, and was so called from the ANNUNCIATION OF THE B. V. M., or Lady palm branches and green boughs formerly distributed on that day, in commemoration of our Lord's riding to Jerusalem. Sprigs of boxwood are still used as a substitute Blessed Lord. She was, probably, an for palms in Roman Catholic countries. only child, and but fifteen years

This day celebrates the angel's message to the Virgin Mary, respecting our

AT THE CARACCAS.

of age

On this day is still retained the antient when espoused to Joseph. She died usage of decorating churches and houses A. D. 48, being about 60 years old. with evergreens, &c. It was the custom MARCH 26, 1812.-GREAT EARTHQUAKE of the antient Christian church to repre seat our Saviour's entry into Jerusalem The first commotion took place at on this day, by a procession with palms. five o'clock in the afternoon. The air In this country the buds of the willow, was calm, the heat excessive: nothing which is one of the earliest marks of preceded or announced such a catastro

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