the newspapers and magazines for the last three years. We are struck at every step with the poverty of the writer's invention, and the absence of all acuteness in observing manners, and sketching character. Except in one or two instances, for which he is probably, as he himself hints in the case of the Stout Gentleman, indebted to the assistance of others, we are unable to discover a single trace of originality. In every attempt at pourtraying the ways of men in his adopted country, he describes the manners of other timesmaking feeble sketches from the finished but faded pictures of Smollett and Goldsmith. A little humour, and some play of fancy, are all that serve to distinguish him from the sickly sentimentalist, who trades upon the cheapest topics of every-day wo-such as pathetic preachers use, to draw tears from a white-handkerchiefed and well-bred congregation. The almost invariable concomitant of true genius is intellectual courage. The man of original invention dares every thing for the sake of his discoveries; he will not bate one iota of what he feels to be the dictates of truth; he will even go on, like Sir Walter Scott, copying from the book of nature, when the very lines he is tracing refute and overturn the opinions, and prejudices, and maxims by which he regulates his daily life. A wavering timidity-a sensitive shrinking from the grasp of censure, on the contrary, marks the elegant and feeble imitator -a creature of wax, who receives his impressions from any set of people who will take the trouble to mould him. Geoffrey Crayon, a man of some little imagination, some cultivated taste, and some little reading of a light and insignificant kind, who spends his mornings in patching up something new and fashionable out of the faded lutestring and tarnished lace of other days, trembles at the frown of a well-dressed mob in an elegantly furnished drawingroom-he lives upon the smiles of such people, and would strike out his best passage, dilute his best argument, or recant his sincerest opinion, in the fear of losing the next invitation to dinner he may expect from Grosvenor-square.

FROM THE LITERARY SOUVENIR.

FRIENDS.

By Montgomery.

FRIEND after friend departs;

Who hath not lost a friend?
There is no union here of hearts
That finds not here an end;
Were this frail world our final rest,
Living or dying none were blest.

Beyond the flight of time,-
Beyond the reign of death,-
There surely is some blessed clime
Where life is not a breath;
Nor life's affections transient fire,
Whose sparks fly upwards and expire'

There is a world above
Where parting is unknown;
A long eternity of love

Formed for the good alone;
And faith beholds the dying here
Translated to that glorious sphere!

Thus star by star declines,
Till all are past away;

As morning high and higher shines
To pure and perfect day:

Nor sink those stars in empty night,
But hide themselves in Heaven's own light.

THE CONVICT SHIP.

By Mr. Hervey, Author of "Australia."

MORN on the waters!-and, purple and bright,
Bursts on the billows the flushing of light;
O'er the glad waves, like a child of the sun,
See the tall vessel goes gallantly on;

Full to the breeze she unbosoms her sail,

And her pennon streams onward, like hope, in the gale;
The winds come around her, in murmur and song,
And the surges rejoice, as they bear her along;
See! she loops up to the golden-edged clouds,
And the sailor sings gaily aloft in the shrouds:
Onward she glides, amid ripple and spray,
Over the waters,-away, and away!
Bright as the visions of youth, ere they part,
Passing away, like a dream of the heart!
Who--as the beautiful pageant sweeps by,
Music around her, and sunshine on high--
Pauses to think, amid glitter and glow,
Oh! there be hearts that are breaking below!
Night on the waves!-and the moon is on high,
Hung, like a gem, on the brow of the sky,
Treading its depths in the power of her might,
And turning the clouds, as they pass her, to light!
Look to the waters!--asleep on their breast,

Seems not the ship like an island of rest?
Bright and alone on the shadowy main,

Like a heart-cherished home on some desolate plain!
Who-as she smiles in the silvery light,
Spreading her wings on the bosom of night,
Alone on the deep, as the moon in the sky,
A phantom of beauty--could deem, with a sigh,
That so lovely a thing is the mansion of sin,
And souls that are smitten lie bursting within?
Who--as he watches her silently gliding—
Remembers that wave after wave is dividing
Bosoms that sorrow and guilt could not sever,
Hearts which are parted and broken for ever?
Or deems that he watches, afloat on the wave,
The death-bed of hope, or the young spirit's grave?
'Tis thus with our life, while it passes along,
Like a vessel at sea, amid sunshine and song!
Gaily we glide, in the gaze of the world,
With streamers afloat, and with canvass unfurl'd;
All gladness and glory, to wandering eyes,

Yet chartered by sorrow, and freighted with sighs :

Fading and false is the aspect it wears,

As the smiles we put on, just to cover our tears;

And the withering thoughts which the world cannot know,
Like heart-broken exiles, lie burning below;

Whilst the vessel drives on to that desolate shore

Where the dreams of our childhood are vanish'd and o'er!

Sown by the wind, nursed by the shower,

O'er which Love has breathed a power and spell
The truth of whispering hope to tell.
Lightly the maiden's cheek has prest,
The pillow of her dreaming rest,
Yet a crimson blush is over it spread
As her lover's lip had lighted its red.
Yes, sleep before her eyes has brought
The image of her waking thought,--

That one thought hidden from all the world,

Like the last sweet hue in the rose-bud curled.

The dew is yet on the grass and leaves,

The silver veil which the morning weaves

To throw o'er the roses, those brides which the sun

Must woo and win ere the day be done.

She braided back her beautiful hair

O'er a brow like Italian marble fair.

She is gone to the fields where the corn uprears
Like an eastern army its golden spears.

The lark flew up as she passed along,

And poured from a cloud his sunny song;
And many bright insects were on wing,
Or lay on the blossoms glistening;

And with scarlet poppies around like a bower,
Found the maiden her mystic flower.
Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell

If my lover loves me, and loves me well;
So may the fall of the morning dew
Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue.
Now I number the leaves for my lot,
He loves not, he loves me, he loves me not,
He loves me,-yes, thou last leaf, yes,

'll pluck thee not, for that last sweet guess!
"He loves me," "YES," a dear voice sighed :
And her lover stands by Margaret's side.

Literary and Scientific Intelligence.

Three volumes of Legal Ana, with curious portraits and engravings, will be published in November, under the title of "Law and Lawyers." It is intended to serve as a popular appendage to the Law library, with reference to the history, biography, and anecdote of the profession.

The Doctrine of Election, viewed in connexion with the Responsibility of Man as a Moral Agent. By the Rev. William Hamilton, D.D., of Strathblane, in 12mo. Prayers founded on the Liturgy of the Church of England.

Travels of General Baron Minutoli, in Lybia and Upper Egypt, are announced. The History of Italy, from the fall of the Western Empire to the extinction of the Venitian Republic, is preparing by George Percival, Esq.

A History of the French Revolution, by A. Theirs and Felix Bodin, will speedily be published in London.

Letters of Horace Walpole to the Earl of Hertford, during his Lordship's Embassy in Paris, are printing.

Illustrations of Lying in all its Branches. By Mrs. Opie.

Recollections of Foreign Travels, or Life, Literature, and Self-Knowledge. By Sir E. Brydges, Bart.

A Second Series of Sayings and Doings.

Tales of Irish Life, with Engravings, from Designs by George Cruikshank.

A New Process for Tanning Leather, in a quarter of the usual Time, without extra expense. By Mr. Burridge, Author of a Treatise on the Dry Rot.

History of the Commonwealth of England. By William Godwin. Volume the Second. 8vo.

Journal of a Residence in Colombia, in the Years 1823 and 1824. By Captain Charles Cochrane, of the Royal Navy. 2 vols. 8vo.

The Private Journal of Madame de Campan, with extracts from her Correspondence. Editions in French and English. One vol. 8vo.

The Memoirs of the celebrated Madame de Genlis, on which we believe she has been occupied for many years, are about to be published in 4 vols. 8vo. A more interesting work could scarcely be announced.

The second Series of "Highways and Byways," now passing rapidly through the press, is to consist of 3 volumes in 8vo. each containing one Tale. The scenes of the stories are placed in the Pyrenees, Versailles, and Normandy: and the heroine of one of them is the ill-fated Marie Antoinette, the late Queen of France.

We understand that the work talked of as forthcoming from the pen of the authors of the Rejected Addresses, is a Novel in 3 vols.; the hero of which is a citizen, and many of the scenes are said to be laid in that circle of society where a citizen's life is usually passed. From the well known talent of the Authors, a high treat may be expected in this new performance.

An English Translation of M. Picard's spirited work, Gil Blas de la Révolution, ou les Confessions de Laurent Giffard, which has become so popular in Paris, is promised soon to appear.

LIST OF NEW BRITISH PUBLICATIONS. Stanhope's Greece in 1823-4. 13s.—Medwin's Conversations of Lord Byron, 2d edit. 8vo. 18s.-Edmeston's Patmos, and other Poems, 12mo. 3s.-Kavanagh's Wanderings of Lucan and Dinah, 8vo. 10s. 6d.-Blossoms at Christmas, 12s.-Friendship's Offering for 1825, 12s.; proofs, 188.-Chandler's Life of Johnson, 8vo. 6s.-Amusements of Western Heath, 2 vols. 18mo. 48.-Tales of the Vicarage, 18mo. 2s.London Scenes, 18mo. 5s.-Vocal Repository. 18mo. 2s. 6d.-The Literary Box, 18mo. 38. 6d-Banow's School Bible, 12mo. 7s.-Turner's System of Medico-chirurgical Education, 8vo. 12s.-Bampfield on Diseases of the Spine, 8vo. 10s. 6d -Šisson's Historic Sketch of the Parish Church of Wakefield, small 4to. 15s.-Daniel Wilson's Sermons and Tracts, 2 vols. 8vo. 28s.-Rothelan, a Romance, by the Author of "Annals of the Parish," &c. 3 vols. 12mo. 21s.-Lasting Impressions, a Novel, by Mrs. Joan Carey, 3 vols. 218. bds.-Wood's Life of John Law, of Lauriston, 12mo. 6s.-Hancock on Instinct, 8vo. 128.Sinclair's Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, roy. 8vo. 36s. col.; 24s. plain.-Bliss's Fruit Grower's Instructor, roy. 12mo. 6s.-Bichat's Anatomy, vol. 2, 8vo. 18s.-Capper's Topographical Dictionary, new edit. 8vo. 30s.-Dictionary of the Apparatus in Chemistry, 8vo. 168.-The Statutes at large, vol. 9. part 2, 4to. 318. 6d.-Dallas's Recollections of Byron, 8vo. 158.-Decision, a Tale, by Mrs. Hofland, 12mo. 65. -The Sisters of Nansfield, a Tale, by the author of " Stories of Old Daniel," 2 vols. 12 mo. 8s.-English Life, or Manners at Home, 2 vols. post 8vo. 14s-Literary Souvenir, or Cabinet of Poetry for 1825, 12s. -Time's Telescope for 1825, 12mo. 9s.-Spirit of the Journals for 1824, 8vo. 10s. 6d.-Smith's Bay Leaves (Poems), 12 mo. 6s.-Hora Poetica, or Effusions of Candour, 8vo. 58.-Serres's Picturesque Views of Pere La Chaise, atlas 4to. 21s.-Moss's History and Antiquities of Hastings, demy 8vo. 123.; royal 8vo. 188.; India Paper, 24s.-History of Origins, 18mo. 33. 6d.-M'Donnell on Negro Slavery, 8vo. 10s. 6d.-Cornish on the Salmon and Channel Fisheries, 8vo. 6s. 6d.-Richmond's Manufacturing Po pulation, 8vo. 6s.-Belcher's Interesting Narratives, 12mo. 5s.-Parry's Cambrian Plutarch, 8vo. 10s. od.-Fawcett's Miscellaneous Works, 12mo. 48. 6d.-My Children's Diary, 12mo. 68. 6d.-Holiday's Guide to Latin Prosody, 12mo. 4s.-Twopeny's Dissertation on the Old and New Testament, 8vo. 10s. 6d.-Booker's Lectures on the Lord's Prayer, 12mo. 48. 6d.-Sketches of Sermons, Vol. viii. 12mo, 4s.Venables on Dropsies, 8vo, 88.

MUSEUM

OF

Foreign Literature and Science.

LIFE AND CHARACTER OF DR. JOHNSON.

BY SIR WALTER SCOTT.

[From Ballantyne's Novelist's Library.]

Of all the men distinguished in this or any other age, Dr. Johnson has left upon posterity the strongest and most vivid impression, so far as person, manners, disposition, and conversation, are concerned. We do but name him, or open a book which he has written, and the sound and action recal to the imagination at once, his form, his merits, his peculiarities, nay, the very uncouthness of his gestures, and the deep impressive tone of his voice. We learn not only what he said, but how he said it; and have, at the same time, a shrewd guess of the secret motive why he did so, and whether he spoke in sport or in anger, in the desire of conviction, or for the love of debate. It was said of a noted wag, that his bon mots did not give full satisfaction when published, because he could not print his face. But with respect to Dr. Johnson, this has been in some degree accomplished; and, although the greater part of the present generation never saw him, yet he is, in our mind's eye, a personification as lively as that of Siddons in Lady Macbeth, or Kemble in Cardinal Wolsey.

All this, as the world well knows, arises from Johnson having found in James Boswell such a biographer, as no man but himself ever had, or ever deserved to have. The performance, which chiefly resembles it in structure, is the life of the philosopher Demophon, in Lucian; but that slight sketch is far inferior in detail and in vivacity to Boswell's Life of Johnson, which, considering the eminent persons to whom it relates, the quantity of miscellaneous information and entertaining gossip which it brings together, may be termed, without exception, the best parlour-window book that ever was written. Accordingly, such has been the reputation which it has enjoyed, that it renders useless even the form of an abridgment, which is the less necessary in this work, as the great Lexicographer only stands connected with the department of fictitious narrative by the brief tale of Rasselas.

A few dates and facts may be briefly recalled, for the sake of uniformity of plan, after which we will venture to offer a few remarks upon Rasselas, and the character of its great author.

Samuel Johnson was born and educated in Litchfield, where his father was a country bookseller of some eminence, since he belonged VOL. VI. No. 32.-Museum.

N