sented to the removal of the objectionable ladies, it would have been impossible for Sir Robert to have insisted, that the ladies imposed upon her should have been received by her Majesty with that grace and favour which had been shown to those who had been dismissed against her will." Now this, we are bold to say, is a dilemma from which there is no escape. In either alternative, the personal character-the simply human-in the Sovereign, would have been the sole point of reliance.

But it does not therefore follow, as Lord John supposed, that Sir Robert Peel's better policy would have been to withdraw at once the repugnant condition; for the individual to be depended upon might have stood firm in the one case as in the other, and, indeed, the condition was a test of the degree of confidence to be expected! It is not a question between man and woman, but between sovereign and subject. The whig ministry may have treated, as Lord John seems to recommend his successor, the Queen as a child, but a conservative ministry must assume her competence for her office. That, in his lordship's estimation, her Majesty is of a high and generous spirit, and would have felt the generosity which dictated concession, is a favourable accident. But what then! would the nobleman's sister and the marquess's wife have waited to be turned out? Would they have so much been lacking in generosity, as to put their royal mistress to that unpleasant necessity? No generosity has been wanting on the part of her Majesty, that is clear;but has it not been wanting in other quarters ? Had Sir Robert Peel conceded, would those ladies have resigned?

To return again to the humanities of the argument. We are by Lord John Russell reminded--and it behoves the country and the leaders of all parties in it, to recollect constantly, that the Queen is "a Sovereign of no mature age, who was very young when she came to the throne, and of a sex which calls for the peculiar exercise of generosity; but that neither the sex of her Majesty prevents her from being wanting in courage, nor the age of her Majesty prevents her from having a just discrimination and a sound understanding." It is so. Our's is a limited monarchy; and notwithstanding the irresponsibility of the Sovereign, we are yet subject to the influences that flow from the personal character and conduct of the Monarch. The country is now thrown upon that. Her Majesty has for the first time assumed authority. It is a serious crisis both for the Crown and the country. Not a head-not a heart-but should think-but should feel-concerning this great, this important day of transition

"Big with the fate of Britain and the Queen."

The dawn is overcast, the morning lours-the first gleams of which were so bright and welcome. Nor is the sudden dimness of any politician's raising, nor by the spells of any such can it be banished from the prospect. Man, we repeat, is working. Working? But what is all human working, but being worked? It is He only who works, who has worked hitherto, and who has said that, in the latter days, "the Sun shall be darkened, and the Moon shall not

give her light, and the Stars shall fall from Heaven, and the Powers of the Heaven shall be shaken." Already, according to the testimony of the Oxford Divines, the Spirit of God has departed from the Church; at any rate, that neither priest nor people have any certainty of his presence; that nothing but an historical chain of a disputable succession remains as evidence of its authority. Even while we write, news is brought that the barricades are again in the streets of Paris; and that in every quarter of England the Chartists are rising. Both here and in France blood has flowed. The cause of insurrection has been baptised-its votary is red-a cause, according to the opposing views of adverse parties, either sacred or accursed, but none indifferent! "Watch ye, therefore ! for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!"

We write as philosophers also, therefore with imperturbable impartiality; esteeming all parties as moral forces, the operation of which it is the point of wisdom to ascertain. Nor let it be supposed, that the democratic power is, in these days, a mere brute power; and composed of a union of ignorant men. We have taken some pains to ascertain the fact, and can declare, on our conscience, that it is guided by intelligence, and is not to be resisted by physical means. By the God of heaven! the Chartist is a man; and the words he uses are facts—or more—that is, truths! That man, indeed, is wronged, who is in a condition to be compelled to call another man, master! "Call no man master!"-that is the Christian principle. But it is a principle for a pure estate of the Church -and for the world, when it shall, if so destined, have become a Church. But we doubt this destiny-we doubt the possibility of perfect Christism on the earth. The principles point to another state; and are given to man as evidences of it. Always over-informed and inspired with such ideas, he is discontented with his temporal condition, however good; if evil, he has still greater reason for his discontent; and the law of his constitution is, that the better his temporal estate shall become, the more evil it shall appear; for the perception of a greater good in any way leads to future anticipations that make the present still meaner in contrast; and thus it is that the appetite for human welfare grows by what it feeds on.

We have just received evidence that there is strong genius at work also among the elements of disaffection. An unpublished book in blank verse, with lyrical interpositions, without author's name or envelope has only this morning been left at our domicile. Incorrectly and meanly printed, yet the manner of its transmission and other signs about it, made us look into it at once. We plainly saw that our admiration of Milton had not a little to do with the transmission to us of the volume. Perhaps, because of his head on our cover, it might have been conceived that we held republican sentiments; which is an error. The grounds for our belief consist in the title and dedication of the book which are as follow.

N. S. VOL. I.

4 Y

"Ernest, or Political Regeneration, in Twelve Books, London; Printed for the Author, by R. Gadsden, Upper St. Martin's Lane, M.DCCC.xxxix.

Damit das gute wirke wachse, fromme,

Damit der tag des edlen endlich homme.

To the Memory of Milton, the Poet, the Divine, and the Republican, this work, written in the light of his Glorious Countenance is dedicated." Rough as sometimes is the versification of this poem, it is always energetic, genial and truthful; erring only in the supposition that the regeneration sought is compatible with temporary conditions. We mention it, to point the attention of ministers and legislators to the fact that the Chartist demonstrations are not unconnected with the noblest feelings and the brightest talents. Let these be reverenced, whatever else is done. It may also be instructive to know the searching views that are taken. Such men as the writers of this poem are no grovelling politicians, we quote the following in the way of caution: "Now then away

With saws of ancient use; bury the dead,

And let the quick go forth: give heed no more
To blear-eyed custom, that would fain pluck back
Our forwardness to suit his cripple pace;

Make level every fence of privilege,
And boil our cankered constitution up
To fervency and fulness of young blood!
In the fierce cauldron of Democracy;

But hold! lest thou shouldst say, so high a sound
Betokens nought but hollowness; look, then,
And see the substance. First, 'tis need we lay
The basis of our work both wide and deep;
Marry, as wide as our land's utmost width,
As low, and all as liberal, as is

The common throng that do inhabit it:
For how should revolution have its end

If that the commons have not their free-will,
Who first set it astir?—No, till such time
'Tis but an errant revolution, still

To whirl without all stay; trust me, 'twas s0
They missed their aim, the philosophic fools
Who stamped erewhile their character on France,
Marring a precious metal; there, as here,

Would'st have the people take their stedfast stand,
Give them the soil: given but once, no fear
Lest old prescription wrest it back from them,
Or frame another fraud, having no ground
But only the thin air to build upon.

But they, the dolts, wise but in words alone,
Set for a bolt, a feather in their string,

And shot their chance away; the commons came
To that loud call, and conquered ere they came.

It touches nought beside: for so to spoil
Industry of the wages it hath earned,
Giving creation form, and so well nigh
Passing creation's self, and being indeed
Another maker, second only to Him

Who first made all of nothing,-such a spoil
Were a sin, no less than is their selfishness
Who would usurp the earth; no, but let right
Be done even to those who challenge it
Against the example of their proper enemy;
And so let every man who hath gained aught
Of cattle, stores, gold, or mechanic gear,
Thus winning to the commonwealth what else
Would ne'er have been, or being had no use;
So let him keep it still, freely to have,
And give as free. So toil shall bid us speed,
And think no ill, and so the artificer
Shall ply his daily labour, well content
Not to possess, but to enjoy the land
In its full fruit, disfettered and earth-free,
Buying two loaves of the honest husbandman
For the imperious landlord's price of one;
So making that same plenty, once as strange
As an angelic vision upon earth,

To be his housemate, and familiar,

Homely as the goodwife that sweeps his hearth;
Nor craving aught beside. This were a feat

Indeed, not to trim here and there a bough,

But strike at the root of all; what seems to the eye

Of doubt most hard, is easiest to the hand

Of stubborn strong determination,

For safety dwells not in the shallow sands,
But in the very deepest ocean,-depth
Where fools do fancy danger!'

Such sentiments let the politician ponder, that he may act advisedly. The superior orders have hitherto maintained themselves by superior intelligence. But this is no longer possible. All classes of men are rising to the same level. The religious sentiments of the work before us, and of the late demonstrations, are deserving of the profoundest consideration. Literature, too, is a general accomplishment. The democratic cause is no longer divorced from either piety or knowledge. We must look to this. Nor should we forget that the influence exerted by literature must, in all cases, be in favour of morals against manners. We mean, that where the conventional has substituted the morality of which it was originally the exponent, there the Man of Letters, the Poet, the Dramatist, the Romancist, the Critic, is called upon to prophesy against the stagnant surface, so that society may be put into healthful motion again. Any system which would reduce the whole moral law to something merely conventional, must be evil. It is given to literature to assert the claims of soul over body; of spirit over matter. Wo! to its professors, if they neglect their duty.

702

SONNETS

BY H. L. MANSEL, ESQ.

I.

We live twin lives together; that without
Made up alternate of the chilling fear,
The short-lived joy, the unavailing tear,
The sand-erected hope, the needless doubt;—
And that within, all glorious, where doth shout
Our own Creation, hailing us. All here

As grateful for their being, are sincere

To work our hests.

Cast then thine eyes about,

And choose thy station. Prince or potentate,
Prelate or peasant be; the choice is thine,
And what thou wilt thou art. We must abate
Our wills i' th' outward world; men countermine
Each other's longings. Where thou dost create,
There only in thy service all combine.

II.

Seek'st thou Arcadian joys? Thy flocks and herds
Graze by thee, winged thoughts, and they are fed
From thine inspired breathings. Or instead
Wouldst roam where solitude her sweets affords
To groves, the lover's haunt? Thy vocal birds
Are on the boughs before thee. Hark! they shed
Their music round. Or shall great nations dread
Their sovereign, thee? Obedient to thy words
Stand thy obsequious ministers. Wouldst lay
Piled treasures in thy chest? At thy command
Blaze thy heaped ingots. Changing, they obey
Thy shapings, swifter than enchanter's wand
Of fairy legend, which in childhood's day
We heard, undoubting of that powerful hand.