Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

1823.]

On the Mutability of National Grandeur.

tolerable. There are no dull narrations, or dull discussions; or dull masses of dry and trifling facts, which I would not prefer to false poetry. Affectation of exaggerated feelings; factitious impulse; "the contortions of the Sybil, without the inspiration," are loathsome.

There is an endeavour to make our poetry a poetry of Materialism. But, after all, genuine and high sentiment, and lofty thought, are more valuable than imagery-and indeed presuppose animated and inspiring imagery in the writer's mind.

Next in poetical pleasure to the compositions of the few really great poets, are those occasional productions in verse of men of grand talents not professing to be poets, and therefore free from those poetical artifices, by which second-rate poets in the endeavour to improve, debase what they attempt.

513

On the mutability of National grandeur in Arts and in Science; and the proneness to deteriorate, which in certain circumstances is observed to characterize the human intellect.

THE

(Concluded from p. 312.)

HE sympathies which appear to have ruled in the bosom of Chrateaubriand, have, doubtless, found à place in the hearts of multitudes who have contemplated greatness of thinking and of views in our ancestors through the medium of their works,-bad and untenable upon the basis of the experience of all ages,-when he favours the idea that universal equality should pervade mankind, if justice and right be established in the earth. For although it may possibly be alleged that every human being is by nature alike entitled to the same immunities as his neighbour, it is certain that man, in a state of society, could not so exist; some must be subordinate, and various walks in manners, in genius, and in thinking, as well as in tempers and dispositions, characterize our species, or the business of life could not proceed. If all, for instance, were to plan, where should we find individuals to execute?

Such men of talents, roused by some accidental fervour above their usual tone, carelessly burst out into strong flashes of frank and untutored eloquence. They are never flowery: they are too much in earnest to struggle after technical ornaments. Lord Essex, Sir Hen. Wotton, Sydney Godol--if, on the other hand, every intelliphin, Charles Cotton (the father), Lord Falkland, &c. and even Lord Bacon, sometimes wrote in this way. There are many such poems among the early writers of Latin poetry after the revival of Literature. When the late Sir Charles Hanbury Williams wrote his best, he wrote in this way. I allude especially to a poem on Sir Robert Walpole, in which there are some beautiful lines.

Till we can bring back poetry to an appeal to the understanding, and the unsophisticated heart, as well as to a pure and simple imagination, it will only deserve the name of an empty and corrupt pursuit.

It ought to make us conversant with the beautiful and the grand :-and therefore it makes us conversant with the ugly and the monstrous !-This is to pursue merit by the rule of contra'ries!

But not only is the poetry uninteresting, which has no reference to life that poetry is worse than uninteresting; it is strongly objectionable, which encourages delusive views of life.

GENT. MAG. June, 1823.

s..

gent agent were occupied in performing, there would hardly be leisure for those gifted understandings - whose province it is to elicit plans for the moral and political improvement of the aggregate whole-to pursue the trains of their intellectual association.

The equality, therefore, spoken of by M. Volney, and so enthusiastically hailed by all the French philosophers of that age, is extravagant in theory, and utterly incapable of being reduced to practice.

It will probably be thought by the readers of the book in question, that the invocation amidst a countless multitude of superb colunins and magnificent edifices, while the ground was covered on all sides with fragments of similar buildings, cornices, capitals, shafts, entablatures, and pilasters, all constructed of a marble of admirable whiteness, and exquisite workmanship," is imposing.

But it will also be observed, that in his immediately subsequent meditations he is too indiscriminately eulogistic of the ancient grandeur of several of the nations of which he speaks,

and

514

On the Mutability of National Grandeur.

and also that his hypothesis of the smiles of Heaven having in the long course of history appeared propitious to Idolaters, whilst Believers have rather encountered its frowns, is purely gratuitous, and not by any means borne out by facts.

The imaginary translation of the Author to etherial heights, in the subsequent chapter, by some friendly Genius, where from empyrean heights he is represented as looking down upon sublunary affairs, is not in ill taste, though may be doubted whether the elevation of a mortal so far beyond his native sphere, might not have been associated with more sublime circumstance of description.

it

His theories, with regard to the principles by which man is actuated and governed, his original state,—the motives which afterwards first prompted him to emanate to higher enjoyments than those connected with his animal wants, the progress of society, and the truths to which, by the exercise of his intellect, he has gradually advanced, inculcates in the main nothing derogatory to sound philosophy, although it will be observed that he does not in this account satisfy him who carries his views somewhat higher.

So far from any recognition of the tutelary and omniscient eye of an AllProvident Being extended over his creatures, he ridicules all ideas of sacrifices, invocations, prayers, and every act of propitiatory worship, as being alike unavailing, and indicatory of folly and madness in mortals. He has, therefore, in the progress of human society, and the examination of causes which he conceives to have promoted the prosperity or accelerated the fall of nations, adopted the creed of deism, although his opinion, that mankind had never from the beginning any other counsellors to guide his conduct and his principles than the light of reason, may be rather understood as insinuated, than openly avowed.

But on examining further, we find that in his chapter on "the Investigation of Truth," and the "Problem of Religious Contradictions," he throws off the mask, and no longer conceals the bold avowal that all the religions which ever divided the opinions of mankind, were equally well authenticated in their evidences, and that all were equally false. Here the infidelity of the author assumes a positive cha

[June,

racter. Having by a somewhat preposterous fancy converted the entire population of our globe into one vast arena, where the differing creeds of each respective nation are designated by innumerable standards, he, in pursuance of this imaginary investigation, makes their leaders unfold the doctrines, explain the mysteries, and describe the institutions, with the authorities upon which they individually

rest.

*

Here is apparent the flagrant sophistry, tergiversation, and disingenuousness of the author. During the recapitulation of the most opposite and incoherent creeds, and the most absurd and preposterous miracles, it is easy to see that the author tacitly enjoys the inferences which he thinks are presently deducible from the mode of argumentation he has adopted.

With the most signal and glaring effrontery which ever characterized an author, he suppresses all the incontestible authorities which are usually adduced in support of our faith, and maliciously paints in glowing colours the rhapsodies and manifest fabrications of the Koran, the Shastra, and the Zadder and Zurdavesta, in order presently to recapitulate a few of the leading dogmas of the Christian Religion, which he pretends are still more at variance with the dictates of reason and common sense. To hear him, indeed, explain from the mouth of the Iman of the Mussulman, the Mobad of the Parses, the Bramin of Hindostan, the Lama of Thibet, the Telapoins of Siam, the Chamaus of China, and the Bonzes of Japan, the most puerile and monstrous creeds, one might really imagine that he supposed they carried with them, equally with the Christian Faith, the marks of authenticity and of truth, and that they all hang upon the same slight and fragile authorities.

But as it is impossible that any man in the possession of his senses, should, upon an impartial examination, ever believe any such thing, so it is equally impossible that M. Volney could, in his subsequent examination, as he is pleased to style it, be guided by any views of honesty, candour, or even philosophical consistency. He attempts, in his chapter "On the origin and genealogy of Religious Ideas," to explain how those crude and visionary notions, which had individually assumed

the

1823.]

On the Mutability of National Grandeur.

the divine impress and authority, had been generated in the human breast. He here ascends to remote antiquity, and attempts to prove (or rather, for he can do nothing more, he throws out the speculative hypothesis), that all religious codes, without an individual exception, may be traced to some tradition, or instituted right, or symbol, which the policy of interested men have, through a long series of ages, succeeded in perpetuating.

Imposed by force and authority," he says, "inculcated by education, maintained by the influence of example, they were perpetuated from age to age, and habit and inattention strengthened their empire." He most impiously, and in the face of all historical truth, which substantiates its facts on the clearest authority, assigns such an allegorical origin to the Divine Founder of the Christian Religion, and treats its sublime doctrines and precepts with as little ceremony as if they rested on an equally equivocal basis as those of the fire-worshippers of Persia, or the adorers of the Egyptian Apis.

But if indeed it be so,-if the advent and divine mission of the Messiah stands corroborated by no vouchers, save crude chimera and visionary spe. culation, how strange that the genius and indefatigable research of so many enlightened men-some of them men of clear intellects and exalted talents, whose penetration ranked still higher in the scale than that of M. Volney,should have been so unaccountably deluded,—should have pledged their credit, and employed their resources, to prop a falling cause, the internal and external evidences of which were at once loose, vague, and imbecile.

By what epithet shall we designate such men as Grotius, Butler, Stillingfleet, and Warburton, Locke and Newton, Soame Jenyns, Lord Lyttelton, West, Paley, Lardner, and Bp. Watson, with various others scarce their inferiors? They must henceforth be content to have their names enrolled among fools and blockheads and dolts, if the actual evidences of the common creed, which they have laboured to support, stand not on vastly higher ground than those of the monstrous and absurd rites which have prevailed in the heathen world, and which have alike laid claim to divine origin.

515 Upon a candid review of the end and object which Volney had in view, by instituting a train of enquiry kindied from a survey of the magnificent ruins of Palmyra, it must strike every discriminating reader that the primary design of the writer was the subversion of every religious code among men. But he must have had a very mean opinion at once of the discernment and the honesty of mankind, if he supposed that they could indeed take it upon the strength of the slight investigation which he has thought sufficient for his purpose, either that the Christian faith stood upon a basis utterly destitute of any real support, or that a few sophisticated corollaries bearing but in name the aspect of philosophic examination, could induce them to forego the claims they had ever previously deemed sacred. the last chapter of his work, he declares the end of all religions to be the same," that is, they are all the base fabrications of man's ingenuity: but if a man chooses to advance bold propositions which will not bear the shadow of serious enquiry,-if he insinuate atheistical tenets, on the score of advancing the moral and political welfare of mankind, he cannot expect the world to give entire credence to him, or indeed avoid the inevitable dilemma of incurring the reprobation and contempt of all who think with perspicuity, and reason with candour.

In

My soliloquy might have longer continued, but the dusky shades of evening had already begun to close around the broken architectural masses which first elicited my contemplations. The light gradually faded from the objects before me, and the rude fret-work which filled the interstices of the arcades, was no longer visible, the bat flitted across the wide area of the ruin,

when the guide accosting me, said he was about to lock up the edifice for the night.

As I quitted this venerable monument of the piety and superstition of our ancestors, the moon beamed upon me from a serene and cloudless sky; and I reflected, as I descended to the boat that was waiting to convey me back to Chepstow, that I had passed a day not without very considerable intellectual gratification.

Melksham.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

516

Monumental Inscriptions from Duloe, Cornwall.

Mr. URBAN,

As

June 10. S an accompaniment to Bond's "Historical Sketches of the Boroughs of East and West Looe, in the County of Cornwall," I send you transcripts of divers monumental inscriptions in the neighbouring Church of Duloe, which are curious in themselves, and tend to throw light on many circumstances mentioned in that work. The parish of Duloe lies between the two streams, called the East River and West River, which uniting at the point of Trenant Park, above Looe Bridge, form the River Looe. The Church stands on an eminence, commanding an extensive prospect, and is built in form of a cross, with a clumsy awkward tower at the end of the South transept, and a chantry chapel, or aile, of good masonry, on the North side of the chancel. From the accumulation of earth round its foundations (as is the case in many other Cornish Churches), it is very damp and uncomfortable.

Under one of the arches which divide the chantry aile from the chancel, is the tomb of Sir John Colshill, Knt., having on the top his effigies in stone in complete armour, and round the verge this inscription in old English characters:

[June,

Filii Pietas hoc Marmor extruendum curavis Harricus Bewes, Armiger,

XXVIII. Mart, A.D. мDCCXCIII. æt. suæ Lik Vita defunctus, infra requiescit.

Adjoining the tomb of Sir John Colshill, a large slate is affixed to the West wall, in memory of Mary, daughter of Thomas Arundell, Esq. who was owner of the Barton of Tremethut, and younger brother of John Arundell, the brave defender of Pendennis Castle in the time of the Civil War.

Here lyeth the body of Mary Arundell, the daughter of Thomas Arundell, Esq. who was buried the 8th day of June, Anno 1629.

Maria Arundell,

Man a dry laurell' Man to the marigold compar'd may bee, Man may be liken'd to the laurell tree. Both feed the eye, both please the optic Both soon decay, both suddenly fleet hence, What then inferr you from her name but this,

Hic jacet Joh'es Colshill Miles, quondam I Dn'us de Tremethert et Patronus hujus Eccli'e, qui obiit xшл die Me's M'rcii, Ano. Dn. Millo. CCCC. LXXXIII.

At a little distance, against the North wall, is a mural monument of white marble, exhibiting a female figure, having her left arm raised to her head, with the elbow resting on a column charged with the profile of the deceased, and above is this inscription:

In Memoriam Viri inter Homines

Fidei spectatissimæ,

Parentis in Stirpem voluntatis optimæ, In oculis Civium, humanarum Literarum Studiis, et Rei familiaris Ratione pariter insignis.

sense,

[blocks in formation]

I once did live, but ere I liv'd in light, tooke my leave, and bid the world good night.

On a similar slate in the chancel, bearing the figure of a female, with a ruff round her neck:

Anna Filia Richardi Coffyn Ar. Vidua Rogeri Tremeyne Ar. cepit in Virum Johannem Smith, Gent. ejusq. Uxor obiit primo Die Marcii Anno Domini millesimo quingentesimo nonagesimo.

On a flat stone, within the rails of the communion table:

Under this stone are deposited the remains of Jeremiah Milles, M.A. fellow of Baliol College, Oxford †, and 42 years Vicar of this Church, who died Jan. 21st, 1745-6, in the 74th year of his age. zeal for the honour of God, his benevolence

His

This anagram, and the verses allusive to it, were evidently the composition of the same person who made the anagram and verses for Edward Trelawney, inscribed on a monument in the neighbouring Church of Pelynt, June 7th, 1630, a copy of which is given in Bond's "Historical Sketches," p. 161.

+ He was the father of Jeremiah Milles, D.D. Dean of Exeter, and President of the Society of Antiquaries, a man of considerable learning, but of little sagacity; for he was miserably deceived, when he supposed that the Poems called Rowley's were a genuine work of the middle of the 15th century. Jacob Bryant, a still more distinguished scholar, participated in the same error.

to

1.823.]

Letter from James Morice, Esq. to Lord Burleigh.

to mankind, his moral and social virtues, attracted the reverence and esteem of all who knew him, and knew what virtue was, In his domestic character not less amiable, a most affectionate husband, a tender and indulgent father, honoured and beloved in life, most sincerely lamented in death.

Here also is interred the body of Mary Milles, his beloved wife, who died April 24th, 1756, in the 77th year of her age. A matron of unaffected piety and exemplary prudence. A pattern of conjugal and maternal affection. In honour of such parents and such virtues, their affectionate children have gratefully inscribed this stone to their memory.

On a flat stone, without the rails: Isaacus Milles, A.M. hujus Ecclesiæ per viginti Annos post Mortem Patris Vicarius, nec non per ejusdem temporis spatium, Rector Parochia de St. Pinnoch, obiit xxII. die Novembris MDCCLXVI. Anno Etatis

şuæ LI.

[blocks in formation]

517

Commons, to represent that reign as the era of liberty as well as glory. Yours, &c.

[Cecil Papers.]

W. M.

James Morice, Esq. Attorney of the
Court of Wards*, to the Lord High
Treasurer Burleigh, Master of that
Court.

Right Honourable, my very good Lord,

I impute, next unto God, to your ho-
That I am no more hardly handled
nourable good will and favour; for,
although I am assured that the cause
I took in hand is good and honest, yet
I believe that, besides your Lordship
and that honourable person, your son †,
I have never an honourable friend, but
no marvel; for the best causes seldom
find the most friends, especially hav-
ing many, and those mighty enemies.
I
see no cause in my conscience to re-
pent of that I have done, nor to be
dismayed; although grieved by this
my restraint of liberty: for I stand for
the maintenance of the honour of God
and of my Prince, and for the preser-
vation of public justice and the liber-
ties of my country against wrong and
oppression; being well content at her
Majesty's good pleasure and command-
ment (whom I beseech God long to
preserve in all princely felicity) to suf-
fer and abide much more. But I had
thought that the Judges Ecclesiastical
(being charged in the Great Council
of the Realm to be dishonourers of
God and her Majesty, violators and

He was likewise Recorder of Colchester in Essex, and Representative of that Borough in the Parliaments of the 27th, 28th, 31st, and 35th of Elizabeth. On the 27th of February 1592-3, he spoke in the House of Commons against the severities practised by the Ecclesiastical Courts; and proposed two Bills to remedy the evils of which he had complained. For this just exercise of senatorial right, he was, on the following day, seized by a Serjeant at Arms in the House itself, and committed to prison; whence he made the subsequent noble appeal to the upright minister of the incensed Queen. His confinement, however, was probably not of long continuance; for, in the following October, it appears that this able Lawyer and real Patriot was named to the Queen by the Earl of Essex as one well qualified for the then vacant office of Attorney General. Her Majesty (as that Earl reports in a letter to Mr. Anthony Bacon) acknowledged his gifts; but said his speaking against her, in such manner as he had done, should be a bar against any preferment at her hands."-Mr. Morice died February 2, 1596-7, in his fifty-ninth year, at his seat of Ongar Castle, in the county of Essex; where he had been honoured by a visit from the Queen, July 16, 1579 2.

+ His second son, Sir Robert Cecil, Knt.; who in 1596 was appointed Secretary of State, and in the following reign was created Earl of Salisbury. On the occasion referred to, Sir Robert thus spoke of Mr. Morice in the House of Commons. He is learned and wise, and one whom I love 3."

1 Given in Birch's Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. Account of the Queen's Progresses, published by Mr. Nichols. s Dewes's Journal, p. 476.

per

« AnteriorContinuar »