18.20.]

11. Odes and other Poems. By Henry Neele. Sherwood and Co. 1816, pp. 144.-Additional Poems, 1819.

Mr. NEELE is the Author of some of the Lectures on Shakspeare, delivered by Mr. Britton at the late Stratford Commemoration of Shakspeare, and designed to be read at the Royal Institution. We are told that these evince powers.-In poetry, he is

a

pyra preciosa" in the school of Collins, Shakspeare, and Gray. We would say that he has read, rather than imitated either, with the exception of the first. How near he has invented any thing to match with the genuine prosopopæia of Collins, we leave the reader to judge.

"See Death, the mightiest of all,
Yet not the direst of the train,
To deck him for the ghastly festival,
He gathers a dark garland from the plain,
Of flowers, whose sweets the worm has
suck'd away,

Of Eglantine that once was gay,
Lilies dead, and wither'd roses,
Blooming once in fragrant posies,
Nauseous and unlovely now
Rotting on his fleshy brow;
He smiles when finish'd his employ,
And waves his bony hand,
And laughs a horrid joy.”—p. 27.

But, notwithstanding these indications of high merit, we think that there are many of a superior order in his later descriptive pieces; a circumstance which is easily accounted for.

Appearances with which our senses are conversaut, please more than any other in poetry." Mr. Neele, in our next quotation, evinces sensibility enough for the charms of nature, and let him fill his fancy with them. Such is the theory of educating poetical genius; and the most eminent bard of his day is only pure and matchless, when he bears witness to it.

"The gentle Avon [ery vale, Wanders, like thought, down its own flowNow hid between its willows, and now bursting [sight, Bright with the beam of heaven, upon the Kissing away the moss that binders it. The everlasting hills are ranged around Magnificent; and on the highest summit The noon-lide rays in lines of glory fall, And form a path-a path of light that

seems

To lead from earth to heaven.

"Of one clay"

The world and man was made; and there are times

When that mysterious union's felt-then

sweet

55

And strange emotions, like remember'd music,

Steal o'er the soul, and every bud of. feeling,

Like Coerulea, when the day-God smiles, Opens, expands, and blossoins."

These were written on the Welcombe Hills, Warwickshire. We omit, with regret, the lines so full of truth and beauty, on Fame, p. 103-and dismiss the subject with this hint, that no Muse, however pregnant with essential fire, is ascendant now, which bas not eminently admired, selected, and displayed the forms of nature. It is the alphabet of the Poet, the informing source of variety, fertility, and sympathy.

-12. A Treatise on the Existence of a Supreme Being, and Proofs of the Christian Religion, with an Appendix concerning the earlier Opponents and Defenders of Christianity. By Thomas Moir, Member of the College of Justice, Edinburgh. 12mo. pp. 155.

AN excellent little Book, containing the principal arguments and proofs contained in more voluminous publications, and especially accommodated to the circumstances of those, whose situations in life do not permit them to peruse, or who are unable to procure, more expen sive works.

We shall extract a short passage, because it seems to bear hard upon some recent Medical revivers of Materialism.

"It [the Soul] is a spiritual and immaterial substance, whose nature depends,

not on the state of our mortal body, as is seen every day in old men, and bodies exhausted by sickness, where the mind or

soul is often more pregnant and lively than in youth, when the body is in its full vigour." P. 33.

Should this Book reach a new edition, we recommend to the Author a studious perusal of the Works of Norris, Author of the "Ideal World," as a means of further enriching this useful Compendium.

as are common in Society, but distinguished only in colloquial cant terms. Among these, are sordid fellows-litigious men-religiorists-unhappy couples-happy couples-surly men-scolds- vixens-jilts-slat

terns-snuff-takers-tormentors-spiritual reformers-designing servants -gossips-tidy housewives-female clacks-male clacks-well-bred and vulgar girls-dinner hunters-uxorious husbands-dreamers-battles, &c. From this Dramatis Personæ, we shall select the "Tidy Housewife," as the best written.

"But honest Judith must make room Fór madam of the brush and broom, Whose rage for cleanliness is such, Her furniture none dare to touch. If on a place you lay your hand, 'Tis either scrubb'd with soap and sand; The salt, should you unlucky spill, The table's brightness it will kill, And if your shoes have trod in soil, The carpet's colours they will spoil. Now here, now there, the Lady flies, And every where the rubber plies; Your breath, if on the glass she sees, It makes her blood with horror freeze, Or if a spot bedaubs the floor, It sets her trumpet in a roar; So seldom does her larum cease, You cannot eat or sleep in peace; Where'er you sit, where'er you stand, She follows close with brush in band; Your neckcloth and your coat she blows, And drives the dust up in your nose, And that her parlour may be fine, She makes you in the kitchen dine." P. 151.

In the Poem, entitled "Heraldry,"

we have Arms for Clerks. "The crests of Clerks of all degrees Are bands extended forth for fees." P. 334.

14. An Essay on the Evidence from Scripture that the Soul, immediately after the Death of the Body, is not in a state of Sleep, or Insensibility; but of Happiness or Misery and on the Moral Uses of that Doctrine. By the Rev. R. Polwhele, Vicar of Manaccan and St. Anthony, &c. 2d Edit. 8vo. 1319. pp. 47. Nichols and Son. [The Prize Essay of the Church Union Society for 1818.]

THE first edition of this Essay was noticed in p. 47 of our last Volume. We are glad our good opinion of it is confirmed by a second edition hay ing been required by the Publick.

It has been maintained by our chief divines that the soul, upon separation from the body, passes into an intermediate state of happiness or misery, accompanied with conscious,

ness, in which state it continues unto the day of final adjudication. It then receives a body adapted to its state of being, which body is to endure for ever. Such is the bearing of Mr. Polwhele's Essay, highly scriptural, elaborate, and instructive. We warmly recommend it, as containing a compendium of useful information upon an interesting topick to readers not versed in Theology.

From circumstances which have recently occurred, the subject deserves especial consideration. Of late years, Materialism has been much revived by medical definitions of life, of which: all that we have seen, with the exception of Mr. Abernethy's summary character, are manifestly unphilosophical, as making effects the parents of

causes.

The two points which we shall endeavour to prove are, that existence and matter are not necessarily conjoined, and that the former may possess mental powers by itself alone.

It is unfortunate that mankind perpetually err, by ascribing actions to the tangible operation of matter. By means of motion, and the close texture, i. e. specific gravity of iron, a nail perforates a board, yet we recognize only a carpenter, and a hammer; which is just as philosophical as to confound the fabrick of a steam-engine with its powers. For colloquial purposes, such definitions are fre resorts to a ready-reckoner in the quently useful; but they are mere hurry of business. In the court of Philosophy we ought not to appear in butchers' aprons.

nished that it has not been univerFor our parts we are utterly astosally comprehended, how easily there may be existence without matter. It is not a paradox to say that even sensible things exist which have no being. For instance, darkness exists, but has no actual being, because it is merely the absence of light; yet it has the power of affecting the senses, and creating various combinations of ideas, though in fact a mere nonentity. We mean no more by this argument, than to show that negation of material properties may and does produce new forms of existence, and may therefore beget new modes of feeling. We could physically exhibit this position in various instances; but for our present purpose it is unneces

sary,

1820.]

sary, because an idea is manifestly incorporeal, and acts upon the material body with the same power as the Fiat of the Almighty upon the Universe. It is, in short, the "Divinæ particula aura" of Horace; and whether it is a subtle essence," or what, we know not, and regard not, because it has self-agency, which can alone be a divine communication. The error of Materialism is, that it makes properties dependent upon organs; which is as much as to say, that the creation of the eye generates vision; or of the legs, motion. It makes the tools beget the workman.

We again repeat, that all being must be an integral part of the great primary being, and the "molem spiritus intus alit" of Virgil is a selfevident truism. We therefore think that life, with all its properties, is no more than the Vis Divina acting_variously, according to the organization of the matter, which it animates for what else but the primary and only original being can confer selfagency? It is also certain that nothing can possibly perish, though it may alter its modes of existence; for if complete annihilation were possible, there might be a place, where being is not, which is absurd. Even in an apparent vacuum, the Vis Divina exists, for it pervades all space; only, it does not exhibit itself, because it does not animate any substance. A single faculty of the mind is only a limb. The soul or mind is the whole man, composed of these faculties, abstractedly considered, distinct from the matter upon which they act; and Scripture only says, that the Vis Divina, after death, confers upon a personification suitable to the character which they bore in material life. To explain this, it is necessary to quote a masterly Logician and Sound Philosopher and deep Theologist, namely, the fate Dr. Wheeler, Regius Professor of Divinity at Ox ford. The common opinion (and it has produced infidelity incalculable) is, that the punishment of the damned consists in torments by fire, the physical fire, with which we are acquainted. The Professor, however, says, "We are not authorized in Scripture to say any thing positively with regard to the precise nature of either GENT. MAG. January, 1820.

them

57

We

future happiness or misery*.” are, therefore, permitted to think that Scripture here speaks metaphorically; and the Professor, from the impracticability of repentance after death, presumes that our good_or: bad qualities will respectively, as they form the character at the time of decease, be enlarged either into divine or dæmoniacal assimilations. The man," he says, "who is addicted to violent passions, even in this life, especially of the black kind, may be best enabled to form an idea of the misery of that state, which is attended with an uninterrupted variety of. such passions in a large degree and extent t."

Now all this is strictly analogical, the only mode of ratiocination where data cannot be obtained. Enormous corruption of principle follows habitual guilty indulgence; and even dreams will sometimes occasion the horrid state described by the Professor. The mind is susceptible of excess of misery, without any instigation from the body, as appears by violent grief. Even the common faculty of associating ideas, under disappointment, may render life automatical and incapable of pleasing, like the mere going of a watch. In short, the Hell of Scripture seems to denote a situation incapable of any pleasurable sensation whatever, and that through the perpetual grief-like state of the faculties. "For," says Dr. Wheeler," the rivers of pleasure on the one hand, spoken of in Scripture, however misrepresented by the sensual Mahometan, must be metaphorically understood; and the wor never dying, and the fire never consuming, on the other, must also be intended to intimate the infinite degree of inward misery in general, that will be experienced by the bad." We also believe, with Dr. Wheeler +, differently from Mr. Polwhele (p. 32, seq.) that Christ's preaching to the spirits in prison (1 Pet. iii. 18, 19) does not imply that he went into

Hell, of the place of torment, after his crucifixion; but only his having, as the Logos, or Divine Word, gone himself or sent his prophet Noah, by the Spirit, to preach to the profligate sinners of the antediluvian world.

There is another popular opinion, with that of the physical fire of Hell, viz. that there is a gradation of beings above man in the scale of intelligence. Now we have a right to infer from analogical discoveries by the telescope, that the inhabitants of such planets as we know, have souls like the human, because, from the external face of such worlds, they subsist apparently in the same or similar manner; but from the amazing mo mentum of light, when conspissated, we think that the natives of the Sun, fixed stars, or central orbs of systems, whether such light proceeds from ignited matter, or a luminous atmosphere, must have a different conformation; but what we cannot conjecture; for our chemical knowledge does not reach to the possible existence of any animated beings in fire like our own, and no other fire we know. However this be, we believe that the human mind, abstractedly considered, is on a par with that of the highest order of created beings, because it is permitted to acquire branches of knowledge, deducible by abstract reason alone: and believing also, that light is the most glorious visible exhibition of the Vis Divina, we see no reason why it may not be condensated into a bodily pattern, be impregnated with mind, and from the astonishing velocity of its progress, realize poetical fiction, and form "an gelic messengers of the All-Supreme." Changes of nature far more miraculous, exist in our present world. By seeing God, as he is, we understand in part, seeing the very principles of being and action, not only a wheel revolving, but the very power by which it turns.

One important corollary may be drawn from Dr. Wheeler's doctrine concerning the future state, viz. that it is purity, probity, and godlike benevolence, which can alone render us capable of celestial happiness; not fanatical exhibitions of religion, because impossible to be disunited from anger, bigotry, and various bad human passions. Holiness (in its very

definition) knows no impure, or even perturbed sentiment. It is a sublime, dignified representation of divine benevolence, exhibited in a character pure as crystal, far different from noisy electioneering agency. Passion is not admissible into the blessed regions of Immortality and Peace, governed by divine Wisdom. To think otherwise would be low, vulgar conception.

15. Homeri Ilias, ex Recensione C. G. Heynii fere impressa ; cum Notis Anglicis, in usum Scholarum. Londini, in Edibus Valpianis. 8vo. pp. 644.

THIS is a neat and correct edition of the most ancient book in the world next to the Bible;" and, "to form a proper judgment of its excel lence, (says Dr. Blair) the reader should transport his imagination almost 3000 years back in the history of mankind." The present edition is enriched by many excellent Notes in English.

"These are offered both to the teacher and scholar, as a mere selection from various writers and commentators, and the result of some experience. They were intended for the use of a School, into which they were introduced with great advantage."

18. Caution and Information to Life Insurers, in a Correspondence between_one of the Insured and the Secretary of the West of England Assurance Company. Longman.

THIS very small Pamphlet is entitled to the notice and attention of those who have insured, or mean to insure, their lives. It consists of a correspondence, as its title professes, between one of the insured and the life in that Society for 3000l. to which Secretary. The author insured his he was induced by an advertisement, signifying that the advantages of this institution would give it a decided preference, professing to insure lives on the same terms as establishments of a similar kind in London.

Without professing to know any thing more of this Institution than the publication before us communicates, we recommend it to the attention of our readers. They may receive from it much useful information, and may be thereby enabled to make a better provision for their families.

LITERARY

The XIIIth Number of Mr. SKELTON'S "Oxonia Antiqua Illustrata."

A Chronological Chart, shewing, in one view, the contemporary Sovereigns of Europe, from the Norman Conquest of England to the present time.

The Eleventh Part of the Journal of new Voyages and Travels, consisting of Admiral CORDOVA's late Voyage of Discovery to the Strait of Magellan.

A Translation of the Works of Virgil, partly original, and partly altered from Dryden and Pitt. By JOHN RING..

An Historical Map of Palestine, or the Holy Land. Engraved by Mr. Hall, from a Drawing by Mr. ASSHETON.

A Treatise on Trolling, by T. F. SALTER, Author of the Angler's Guide.

The second Outinian Lecture; being also the second on the Married State.Edited by JOHN PENN, Esq.

Letter to the Hon. Charles B. Bathurst, M. P. on the subject of the Poor Laws, by RICHARD BLACKMORE.

The First Volume of the proposed Periodical Series of new Novels; consisting of an Edinburgh Tale, under the title of "Glenfell; or, the Macdonalds and Campbells."

Patronage. A Poem, suggested by the Prince Regent's Treatment of the late Mr. Sheridan. By J. BROWN, Esq. author of the Stage.

Poems descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. By JOHN CLARE, a Northamptonshire Peasant.

Preparing for Publication.

A Catechism of the Evidences of Christianity. To be used as a Sequel to the Catechism of the Church of England, and drawn up.so as to supply Answers to the most common Objections. By RICHARD YATES, D.D. and dedicated, by permission, to the Prince Regent, the Earl of Liverpool, and other distinguished Members of the National Society; and the profits of the sale to be given to that excellent Institution.

A New Plan for Social and Domestic Worship, wherein all who love the Gospel may unite together; with the Feasts and Fasts of the Established Church. By the Rev. WILLIAM SMITH, Author of "The Domestic Altar," &c.

Sacred Lyrics. By JAMES EDMESTONE. Burnham's Pious Memorials. By the Rev. GEORGE Burder.

Memoirs of M. Obelin, Lutheran Pas

tor of Walsbach. By the Rev. Mark WILKS.

The Heraldic Visitation of the County Palatine of Durham, by William Flower, Esq. in 1575; containing upwards of fifty Pedigrees of the principal Families of the County, each embellished with a Woodcut of the Arms and Quarterings then entered, and a beautifully engraved TitlePage, from a design by Willment.Edited by NICHOLAS JOHN PHILIPSON, Esq. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Tour through Normandy; to be illustrated by numerous Etchings of Antiquities, and other interesting subjects. By DAWSON TURNER, Esq. of Yarmouth.

A FOURTH VOLUME of Mr. NICHOLS'S illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century.

A Translation of Amyntas, from the Italian of Torquato Tasso, and an Essay on the Pastoral Poetry of Italy, by Mr. Leigh Hunt.

An English Translation of O. Von Kotzebue's Voyage round the World, in the Years 1816, 1817, 1818. In 3 vols. 8vo, with Maps and Plates.

The Canadian Settler; being a Series of Letters from Lower and Upper Canada, in June, July, and Aug. 1819. By T. CARR.

The Essentials of Modern and Ancient Geography, on an entire new Plan, and adapted to the following Maps; viz. Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the East Indies, West Indies, Aucient Greece, the Roman Empire, and Canaan,

Abridgment of Popular Voyages and Travels, forming the Tour of Asia.

Illustrations of Dr. BARON's Inquiry respecting the Origin of Tubercles and Tumours. The Work will be printed in quarto, and contain Engravings, several of which will be accurately coloured, shewing in a particular manuer the Progress of Tubercles in the Lungs, the Liver, and the serous Membranes..

The Mother's Medical Assistant, containing Instructions for the Prevention and Treatment of the Diseases of Infants and Children. By Sir ARTHUR CLARKE.

A Volume Supplementary to the differential and integral Calculus of LACROIX, containing a collection of Examples, &c. intended as Exercises for the Use of the Student.

Sunday School Sketches: a Memoir descriptive of the benign Operation of those Institutions.

An elegant Translation of. "Marie de Courtenay," written by a FRENCH COUNTESS, nearly related to the celebrated Mirabeau.

Retro