'At last the ablution is done;

The wild little innocent's gambols are o'er-
The dripping limbs dried one by one;
And the mother breathes kisses all over her son,
And thinks he was never so lovely before.

'Her arms round her darling she twines,
And his flower-like senses in sleep are up-curled;
So he lies-till the Sabbath sun shines,
When, waking, his Saturday dress he resigns,
And puts on the prettiest frock in the world.

May he, when his childhood's resigned,

With its dress, and the rough paths of life are in sight,
As immediately wash from his mind

The dust and the stains of the world-may he find
Before him, a Sabbath of love and delight!'

Ackermann's Forget-me-not has just reached us; but we have not had time even to peep at it, and must reserve all further comment and extract till our next.

ART. VI.-LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

Lieutenant Holman, the Celebrated Blind Traveller, has nearly completed the second volume of his singular and highly interesting Voyage round the World, an undertaking which has justly been designated, one of the most extraordinary that has occurred in any age or country."

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In the Press, a new volume of Sermons by the Rev. Thomas Arnold, D.D.

Early in November will be published, in demy octavo, the History of Evesham, its Benedictine Monastery, Conventual Church, Existing Edifices, Municipal Institutions, Parliamentary Occurrences, Civil and Military Events: by George May, Bookseller, of that town.

Pryse L. Gordon, Esq., the Author of " A Guide to Italy," &c. &c. has just completed a highly interesting work on Belgium and Holland, in which he has vividly depicted the Manners, Customs, and Habits of the Belgians and Dutch, and given an animated Account of the late memorable struggle at Brussels, of which he was an eye-witness; also a Sketch of the Revolution in 1830, and of the causes which led to the Independence of the Belgians.

Early in November will be published, Six Lectures on the Atheistic Controversy, delivered at Sion Chapel, Bradford. By the Rev. B. Godwin, Author of Lectures on British Colonial Slavery.

Early in January will be published, a new edition of the Bible, which has been long in preparation, to be entitled, "The Treasury Bible." It promises to combine copiousness of Scriptural Illustration, with perspicuity of arrangement to a degree surpassing every preceding edition of the Sacred Scriptures. The plan is new, the paper also has a feature of novelty in its fabric, which will both adorn the page, and add greatly to the utility of the volume.

Roman Coins. On the 1st of January 1835, will be published, in 4to, price 7s. 6d, (to be continued quarterly,) the first part of a Series of 143 plates of Roman Coins and Medals, comprising all the important varieties of the Consular or Family Series, and those of the Empire from Pompey the Great, down to Trajan Decius. Including many of those struck in the Colonies and Imperial Greek Cities, embracing a period of 475 years. With Introductory observations, by the late Rev. John Glen King, D.D. F.R.S. F.S.A. &c.

Mr. Bent is preparing for Publication, a New Edition of the London Catalogue of Books, with their Sizes, Prices, and Publishers' Names; containing all the Books published in London, and those altered in Size or Price, from the Year 1810 to December 1834, inclusive.

Mr. Sharon Turner is preparing a second volume of his Sacred History of the World, which will be published about Christmas.

Mr. William Wordsworth is about to publish a new volume of Poems, which is now in the Press.

ART. VII. WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

&

THE

ECLECTIC REVIEW,

FOR DECEMBER, 1834.

Art. I.—1. Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs. Hannah More. By William Roberts, Esq. In Four Volumes. 12mo. London, 1834.

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2. The Works of Hannah More. Foolscap 8vo. Vols. I. to IV. (To be completed in Eight Volumes.) Price 5s. each. London, 1834. WE reviewed, in our last Number, a Thirty Years' Correspondence' between two learned and accomplished friends, which presented to us some interesting retrospective glimpses into the past. Here is a work which takes us back nearly ninety years, and brings once more upon the stage, Garrick and Johnson, Walpole and Lord Lyttleton, the beaux esprits and bas bleus, the fashionables and literati of the days of our grandfathers; and from that period leads us forward through the social changes which, could they start to life again, would make them feel as foreigners in their native land. The history and character of Hannah More, her Biographer remarks, belong to and represent an age, the form and pressure of which has of late been rapidly 'disappearing, to give place to a new order of things and a very 'different system of manners; whether better or worse may be variously affirmed; in some points probably better, in others not so good; but certainly very differently constituted, and disclosing very different tendencies.' In the twilight of the old, and in the dawn of the new era,' Mrs. More accomplished her term on earth;-a figure, by the way, which would make the greater part of the interval to have been night. Mr. Roberts did not, perhaps, intend that we should interpret his metaphor as conveying this intimation. Yet, we cannot but think that, in some respects, the new era and the precursive one differ as night from day-break. Say not thou, What is the cause that the

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VOL. XII.-N. S.

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'former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this."*

Mrs. More was one of those efficient moral instructors, who laboured to make the present generation wiser and better than its predecessors. To deny that it is so, would be to assert that she laboured in vain. Her influence was considerable as a reformer of the manners and education of the great; and she contributed a powerful impulse to the exertions since made for promoting the instruction of the poor. She enjoyed, during life, a brilliant reputation, and an ample measure of homage from the public, so that her usefulness, if not equal to her pious wishes, was commensurate with her exertions, and she lived to see their results. Her memory will always be loved and honoured, but she belonged to the day in which she lived, and had her good things of fame in her life-time. She had become, as an author, posthumous to the present age, long before she quitted life; and her writings have probably produced very nearly the full amount of good they are adapted to effect; except that all good seed is reproductive, and usefulness is thus propagated in infinite succession. But what we mean to say is, that, while Mrs. More will continue to live as a character, and to shine as an example, the great merit of her writings consisted in their adaptation to the transitive state of society during which she reigned as an authority; and she comes under the class of authors who are in danger of not being duly appreciated in consequence of that very advancement which they contributed to produce. It would be as unjust to try her productions by the taste and advanced knowledge of the present day, as it would be absurd to maintain, that no improvement has taken place since the times for which she wrote. Our present business will lead us, however, to dwell upon the character of Mrs. More, rather than upon her writings, and to merge the critic in the biographer.

'Her life and social intercourse will be developed in the correspondence about to be presented; in which it will be seen, how violent was the assault made upon her principles by flatteries and distinctions; and how the convictions which religion brings to the conscience struggled with the world, and brought her safe out of the conflict, into that humble path of moderation, circumspection, and trust, which made her example so profitable, and her teaching so efficacious.'

Hannah More was descended from a respectable family at Harleston, in Norfolk. Her father, Mr. Jacob More, was educated at the Grammar-school of Norwich, and designed for the church; but, his early expectations being defeated by the failure of a law

*Eccl. vii. 10.