ILLUMINES AND MESMERIANS, &c. Judge as you please, my dear friend, of what is extraordinary in this incident; but there is no denying it. I have used all possible means to come at the truth, even of the minutest circumstance. Neither must Sweden, notwithstanding all this, be regarded as exclusively the country of apparitions and visionaries. Similar cases are occurring everywhere, though they may perhaps make less noise ;-and what inference can be drawn from five or six such stories in the space of a century? Where is there a country with a population of 3,000,000 souls, but contains a couple of hundred persons who imagine that they see spectres, and where you might not collect a dozen inexplicable histories of this kind? Go-I will not say to Italy-but only to Munich or Cassel, and I am certain you would then be less precipitate in forming an exclusively unfavourable opinion of Sweden. You will, without doubt, ask me whether the dreams of the Illuminés, and the disciples of Mesmer, are received in Sweden. To this also I answer,-No more than anywhere else, unless you count among the Illuminés the Swedenborgians and the Brothers, as they are called; who, however, have adopted of the principles of the former only that of universal benevolence; who, animated by it, like the venerable Afzelius, open on the coast of Africa to unhappy slaves a source of instruction and happiness; and, when the furies of war destroy their benevolent work (as happened on the river Senegal, in the last half of the 18th century) take the long and dangerous journey, for a second time, to begin it anew. If these are Illuminés, then happy is the country which has many of them! by magnetical operations. He who is able | SAMUEL JOHNSON lived and died, by a What I have just related has properly no place in a Swedish province, and relates to in addition to those which have been alrea:ly honoured with such cheering encouragement. We beg to request the notice of our readers to our page as a specimen of the art of printing by the singular means devised and perfected as is below explained. About ten years ago Mr. Bensley was applied to by Mr. König, a Saxon, who Lastly, I repeat that Ghost-seers, and the submitted to him proposals for joining him like, are no more numerous in Sweden in the prosecution of a plan for improving than any where else. In general, people the common printing press, which conhere have no great faith in all these things. sisted chiefly in moving the press by maTheir minds are far too composed, far too chinery, by which the labour of one man remote from every kind of enthusiasm. might be saved. A press was formed on Every one is occupied with his little pro- this plan; but the result was so unsatisfacperty, his little intrigues, with his trade, tory as to induce the rejection of it altothe working of his mines, with the cultiva-gether. It will readily be conceived that tion of his fields. The enlightened (and they are numerous, particularly in the great towns) laugh at all these pretended wonders, and even at Swedenborgianism, though it is truly a native production; others do not even know any thing of it. ARTS AND SCIENCES. THE PATENT COMPLETING PRINTING In our last Number, we mentioned that the Literary Gazette was the only Journal in the world printed by this most admirable Machine; and as a matter of extraordinary mechanical interest we subjoin a brief account of the process by which about a thousand of these large sheets are per hour produced by this magical invention. The Of Mesmerians, or, to speak more pre-beauty of the movements, their rapicisely, Adherents of Animal Magnetism, Somnambulism, &c. I found only very fewv. The best known of them is a Colonel Silfverheilm, who was initiated in France, and seems to have gained a great degree of perfection in his art. Acerbi relates (surprised, but still incredulous) what he saw of Silfverheilm's operations at Uleaborg, in East Bothnia, where he met with him. He confesses that Belotti, his young companion, who was magnetized by the Cofonel, said, during the crisis, in his (Acerbi's) presence, things which the young man, when awake, would have been incapable of thinking, much less of saying. Nor does he deny that he thinks neither Belotti nor the Colonel capable of an imposture. I have read, after Acerbi's own original manuscript, those answers which were written down during the sittings by Acerbi himself. They furnish another proof of the strange changes which may be produced within us this resolution was not taken till after numberless experiments had rendered the prospect of success hopeless. The idea of cylindrical impression now presented itself, which had been attempted by others without success; and a machine on this construction was completed, after encountering great difficulties, at the close of the year 1812. It may be proper here to introduce an outline of its operation. The form (.e. the composed types) is placed on a carriage or coffin, which is constantly passing under the inking cylinders, obtaining a coat of ink in its ingress and egress; these cylinders have a lateral and rotatory motion, for the purpose of equalizing the ink before it is communicated to the form. After the form is thoroughly inked, which the paper is laid, where it receives it passes under the printing cylinder, on the impression, and thence delivers itself into the hands of the boy who waits to receive it. This is termed a Single Machine; by the assistance of two boys it prints 750 dity, their precision, are enhanced to sheets on one side per hour. As despatch, the imagination by the nature of the however, is of the utmost importance to a operation they perform: it looks as if newspaper, it was deemed advisable to construct what is called a Double Machine. mind and not matter were at work. This differs in no respect from that above We see a boy lay a white sheet of paper described, excepting the addition of a seupon the web (here described,) and cond printing cylinder, by which means, while we tell three it is received by with the assistance of four boys, 1100 another boy, as flour comes from the sheets are printed within the hour on mill, a perfect newspaper, printed on one side. The Machines used for printing the Times newspaper are on this plan, both sides, with a degree of unequalled and have now been constantly in use since force, clearness, and correctness. A November 1814. After the Times' Mamore gratifying scene than the action chines were constructed, the grand imof this piece of mechanism, it is improvement of the Completing Machine was possible to conceive: it seems the very suggested, so called from its delivering the climax of hunan ingenuity, and if ever sheet printed on both sides. It has a double a thing of the kind merited public ad-inking and printing apparatus, with two carriages or coffins, each large enough to miration and acknowledgment, we he admit a double demy form 344 by 21 inches. sitate not to say that it is this wonderful The paper is laid on an endless web, called apparatus. Printed in the house where the feeder, which revolves at intervals; thence the sheet passes into the Machine, and is ejected in a few seconds printed on both sides. By this means 900 sheets are struck off in an hour, printed on both sides, or 1800 impressions; if the double sized paper be used, 3600 single impressions. Two boys and an overlooker are all the assistance requisite, and a steam engine of one-horse power is sufficient force to impel it. The Patentees must feel a just pride in the completion of such an arduous undertaking, after so many years of labour and expense; and it is not the least gratifying circumstance attending it, to consider that in England so important an invention has been matured, which had been previously rejected by all the principal cities on the continent; for the inventor (Mr. König) spent not less than two years in seeking patronage in Germany and Russia, till at length, to use his own words, he was compelled to take refuge in England, the only country where mechanical inventions are duly rewarded." LEARNED SOCIETIES. THE ATHENÆUM AT PARIS. (From Paris.) In the first sitting this winter, which took place on the 25th November, M. Tissot delivered the opening speech before a numerous and brilliant assembly, which had a right to be difficult, after having heard La Harpe, Chenier, and M. Le Mercier in the same place; and which shewed itself to be just, by applauding the talents of the new speaker. of three epic poems, and of fifteen tra- "Vos vers sont innocens, et votre prose aussi." No, answers the inexorable poet "Il me faut des lecteurs, et j'en prends où je This epistle was completely successful. THE FINE ARTS. ROYAL ACADEMY. the French regard not only all modern, but all ancient art with contempt in comparison with their own productions. The vanity of the French, and not their taste, was gratified by the temporary possession of the great works of which, during their career of infamy, which they are pleased to call glory, they pillaged the surrounding nations of Europe. They felt not their real value. They were incapable of enjoying thein. A friend of mine who visited Paris during the autumn of 1815, when the Louvre was in full splendour, observed that the few French artists who had placed their easels in the gallery, were shabbily clad, and had in all respects a mean appearance. A French gentleman to whom he made the remark, told him that he must not judge of French artists generally by those individuals; for that it was only such persons as could not afford to attend the ateliers of the great Parisian painters, that were compelled to have recourse to the Louvre. In other words, it was only those who were unable to study the performances of David, Girard, or Lefebvre, that were under the degrading and injurious necessity of putting up with the pictures of Raphael, Titian, or Corregio. I could not resist the temptation of troubling you with this anecdote, because I think it is characteristic and satisfactory; decidedly shewing, that if the English painters are to be condemned for want of genius, at least the French are not qualified to pronounce the sentence. As to the repeatedly insinuated, and as repeatedly refuted, asserAlbert Durer is no doubt a good au- tion, that the climate of England is unthority for certain data; yet it is carrying favourable to the cultivation of the fine arts, a regard to forms too far to find geome-I will not trespass on your patience by say trical figures in every subject, as fancy sees ing a single word on the subject. "Facts,” images in the fire. It is admitted that there as Burns has it, can be no great artist without a perfect | " knowledge of this A B C of his profession; but if he servilely adheres to it, he will never arrive at that consummation so devoutly to be wished— On Monday Mr. Turner commenced his annual Course of Lectures on Perspective. As an introductory discourse, it perhaps does not offer a fair subject for minute examination; but it did seem to us to be a little unconnected and obsolete. The lecturer laid due stress upon the fundamental principles of geometry, as the source of all true outline in the arts; but we thought that he rather dilated too much upon this part of his subject, and exalted it at the expense of analogy to Nature in all her forms,-the genuine and only foundation for the grand, the spirited, and the sublime, as geometry is the rudiment of the just and correct. To snatch a grace beyond the reach of art. From the mode in which the illustrative drawings and designs were displayed, we were rather confused than enabled to follow the speaker, whose course was sufficiently erratic without further impediments. Such a lecture might be concocted out of some two or three old volumes,―the application being left to the hearer. M. Tissot, by an ingenious supposition, inquired to what degree of perfection the great writers of the age of Louis XIV. would rise if they were to revive in our days, when literature has shaken off almost as many prejudices as politics. He then proceeded to a judicious examination of our theatrical system, and at the same time that he acknowledged our incontestible superiority, the blind idolatry of those literary Jansenists, who defend the three unities of Aristotle with as much zeal as if they were evangelical truths, M. Tissot demonstrated that, aided by our classical taste, we may conquer, among modern nations, dramatic combinations hitherto unknown among us, and poetical beauties of a new order. Such is the interesting object which the Professor proposes to himself in the course which he has just opened. The opinion of English painters exAfter a very agreeable little tale by M. pressed by M. Simond, and by the critic Lemazurier, M. Viennel recited an epistle of his own nation, whose review you pubin verse, full of fire, spirit, and gaiety.lished in the Literary Gazette of the 27th The subject is an absurd denunciation, of ult. cannot surprise those who know that which the author himself was the victim. The mayor of a village, followed by a guard and several gens d'armes, suddenly enters one morning to inspect the papers of the suspected poet: the latter seizes the opportunity, and calls upon them, in the name of their duty, to hear the reading THE FINE ARTS IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. Simond, we might have noticed, is a Frenchlived twenty-two years at New York, and only man by birth, an American by habit, having half an Englishman, having married an English woman. It is to be hoped, his other Gallic judices are not so strong as on the subject of the Fine Arts.-EDITOR. pre are stubborn chiels that winna ding, And munna be disputed." It would be invidious to particularize British artists now living; but the country that has produced a Reynolds, a Hogarth, and a Wilson, may fearlessly challenge the rivalry of any nation, though broiling in the torrid zone. I am, Sir, Yours, &c. AN ENGLISH ARTIST. CANOVA ON THE ELGIN MARBLES. (Concluded from No. 48.) According to this testimony,* therefore, England possesses much, nay, the most of what has come down to us from that highest period of the art, and the only doubt is, whether this possession be legal or not. Some scrupulously honest men, or those who wish to appear so, publicly accuse Lord Elgin; as if, by bringing away these antiques, he had committed the most shameful robbery out of lust of gain; whereas we know for certain, that he deis in no proportion with their intrinsic manded but a very moderate price, which value, or even with the trouble and risk of The Testimony of Canova. transporting them. This accusation is repeated so loudly in all our continental papers, that a half defence might leave some stain attached to the name of a man who ought to be mentioned with respect by his grateful contemporaries and posterity, if his undertaking was not to be justified in every respect. We therefore owe it to the Noble Lord to check this prejudice in its birth, as far as it might take root among us. From the reproach of thirst of gain, he is sufficiently cleared by the inadequate sum which he fixed. But perhaps the real ground of complaint, is the robbery laid to his charge. Have his accusers ever thought of charging with robbery the collectors of ancient coins and manuscripts, who for centuries past have been carrying off treasures of this kind from their country? Or, have they done any thing else, on a small scale, than Lord Elgin has done with his marbles, on a larger scale? But if we combine with the idea of robbery, violence and injury done to the original possessor, according to the general acceptation, this is as little applicable here. Lord Elgin did not come with arms, hostilely to seize upon works of art; neither can such an undertaking be accomplished in haste, and without noise. Ah, no! the natives readily assisted for good English payment; and the public officers, as usual, sold their permission. If Lord Elgin availed himself of his official character, this is nothing like violence or abuse; but well done. In short, there is only one thing more which is seriously to be considered; that is, the sanctity of the place. It is true the noble Parthenon was the idol of ancient Athens, and is now stripped of its last ornaments. Did the ornaments belong to the dead, or to the ruined walls? The Parthenon itself will soon be nothing, yet it lives immortal as a work of the finest architecture, having been long since examined, measured, and drawn, with conscientious exactness, and preserved in costly works. Only its statues were not so, because they were not so easily got at, or had been more seldom seen by men who were able to make their particular value evident to us in a satisfactory manner. This must be done on the spot by able modellers; which would certainly have been attended with greater difficulties than tak. ing down and removing the originals themselves. But we will not allege this difficulty as an excuse ; we only ask any man capable of giving an opinion, if no one living makes any further claim; when no native of the country has any sense of their value; when these images, which might be a torch of instruction to the civilized world, are attached to the melancholy remains of old decayed walls, which will fall together to-day or to-morrow, and crush the noblest productions of human genius, and the worthless stone, in one indiscriminate ruin; is it a robbery or a duty to save what still can be saved? The ques tion answers itself; and at the end we must only lament that what has now been | done, was not done long ago. Unhappily for the promotion of the study of art, none of those statues which filled Canova whose sole object it should be to multiply with rapture, are free from damage. We the productions of Greece by means of able must console ourselves with the reflection, mould-makers, and good casts for the that the Torso alone was sufficient to direct supply of the rest of the world. a superior mind to the right path; and that many such admirable Torsi must do wonders. It is well known that the French Government, from the time that it obtained possession of the Antiques from Rome, founded a truly praiseworthy establishment, in which good casts of these fine statues were to be had at a reasonable price; and that these casts becoming common, have been of incalculable advantage all over the Continent. Something similar might be introduced in England. The best mould-makers are to be found in Rome, or perhaps now even in Paris. With respect to the execu tion, even more might be expected in England, as they are used in that country to unite the greatest liberality with the greatest accuracy; and to do nothing by Perhaps some scrupulous sceptic objects, that Ionia, now coming into new life, has more claims to these treasures than England; and to this we again answer, No. This Ionia did not exist when Lord Elgin executed his well-meant enterprize; but it owes its happy prospects to the very country which is now in possession of the Athenian statues. When it is one day so far advanced in civilization as to want such models, it will certainly still find sufficient on its own soil; and as it now borrows its light from us, so will the happy consequences of the acqui-halves. sition of these treasures of art be one day also extended to them. Lord Elgin's name will be immortal in the history of the Arts, whatever Envy or Misconception may object. Our request to the English Nation therefore is, That by a liberal participation it would make those extraordinary treasures of invaluable works of art, the acquisition and possession of which will for ever be the pride of the nation, a common benefit to the whole civilized world. Nothing so much contributes to real illumination as Truth itself; and nothing so much tends to ennoble humanity as true feeling for art. Whoever possesses the best models of the sublimer branches of art, is in some measure bound to disseminate them as much as possible. An important concern for us inhabitants of the Continent is, to obtain, as soon as possible, a moderate participation in the enjoyment and use of these admirable productions of art. In the happy Island of our rich neighbours, treasures are collected of inestimable worth for the improvement of the art, as it possesses not only the whole Elgin Collection, which alone contains more ancient Greek originals than May somebody, who feels the justice of Italy itself, but has also obtained the our request, and is qualified for the task, Friezes (since discovered) of the Temple lay it before the most liberal promoters of at Phigalia, which, as we hear, are equal what is good and great, and so energetiin excellence to the others.+ An entirely cally enforce it, that we may soon have the new era for our improvement in the arts pleasure of seeing it accomplished. Our must thence arise. Every sensible English-countryman, Mr. Ackermann, in London, man will readily allow that the situation of who though naturalized in England, so the country, and the localities of its Capi- willingly remembers his country, and has tal, are not adapted to unite in it the young on other occasions so warmly taken up its students of the arts of all nations; and yet cause, might become our intercessor in this it is not possible to draw from these mas- also; and he is in every respect just the terpieces the inspiration of their innate man we should desire. greatness, except by immediate contemplation and study. The question therefore is, How can the great uses of these treasures, to which the whole human race, as it were, has a claim, become general? That it is possible we cannot doubt;-it is even easily possible to be effected, if the good-will of the nation is combined with its power. Nay, we may say, that it is not so easy for any people as for the English nation, which so justly feels and so actively promotes all that is great and noble. England is hitherto unequalled, as in so many other particulars, also in its private associations for the promotion of the moral, religious, and scientific advancement of the human race. To attain the end in question, therefore, nothing is requisite but a similar association This is a mistake. These Friezes being judged by the best artists to be inferior in many respects to the Elgin Marbles.-EDITOR, DESIGNING. MR. EDITOR, Your notice of the elegant and appropriate device of Time drawing up Truth and dispersing the Clouds of Falsehood, in your review of the Bibliographical Decameron, by the Rev. T. F. Dibdin, reminds me of the Painting by Poussin of the same subject, from which there is a beautiful print by G. Audran. The late Professor the finest and most perfect in its kind. Barry remarked of this allegory, that it was There can be little doubt but this device of three centuries back gave birth to the the originality of the idea is due to Marcharming composition of Poussin, and that colini. The stores of antiquity are certainly a common stock, from which both painters and sculptors have a right to derive all the advantages they can. Raphael and Michael Angelo have drawn largely from these sources; and to the devices of gems, coins, and basso-relievos, may be traced many of the compositions of these great masters, as well as many others, both ancient and modern. Upon this ground, it would be highly gratifying to see the beautiful subject you inention adopted by some of our able sculptors as an exercise of their talent, and applied to some forms of use or tasteful ornament. the Chevalier Pascholini to present it to Whatever may be said by those who ad-rins. vocate the disuse of allegory, it is still the epic of art. The historian and the poet chiefly supply the artist with subjects, which it is the business of the painter to embody. In allegorical painting he must invent and think for himself. If in some instances allegory has been affected or applied to subjects of mean or common importance (in the frontispiece to books, &c.) we cannot pass over some where the sentiment and the thought might rank them in the highest scale of classic art. In a book print, from the design of Cheron, engraved by Picart, is one where Apollo is consecrating his lyre to Truth. Another, the invention of B. Picart, is a frontispiece to Fontaigne's Fables; in which Truth appears enveloped in a veil on which the Fables of Æsop are wrought. Nothing can be more chaste and beautiful than these designs, and were it my purpose to exceed a slight notice of the point thus raised into attention, I could instance a multitude of examples, instead of subscribing myself an Admirer of the Literary Gazette, and an Artist who highly values its devotedness to the welfare of the Arts. CHIARO. EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF HENRY IV. Paris will soon exhibit a new monument in honour of Henry IV. The ancient equestrian statue of that monarch is shortly to be replaced on the Pont Neuf. Some anecdotes relative to this statue and its history may not perhaps be uninteresting to our readers. This monument was the first of the kind erected to the memory of the kings of France. Its foundation was laid by Marie de Medicis, as a token of love to her illustrious consort in the year in which Louis XIII. her son, came of age. That princess destined for the monument a superb horse executed in bronze, which had been presented to her by Cosmo II. de Medicis, her father. This horse was executed by order of Ferdinand, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, who intended to have had his own statue placed upon it. He had commissioned Giovanni di Bologna, a pupil of Michel-Angelo, to execute the work; but the prince and the artist dying before the statue was completed, Cosmo II. his successor, had it finished by Pietro de Taca, the most celebrated sculptor of his time. He afterwards gave it to his daughter, who was regent of the kingdom, and appointed The horse was shipped at Leghorn in 1613, on board a frigate, which was wrecked on the coast of Sardinia. The vessel and the crew perished, and the horse remained nearly a year in the sea. It was afterwards drawn out, and conveyed to Havre, where it arrived in the beginning of May 1614, and reached Paris, by the Seine, on the 13th of August following. The statue was executed by Dupré, the master of the famous l'arin. Girardon, who himself took the dimensions of this statue, informs us, that the figure of the king was ten feet ten inches high, and that the horse measured eleven feet four inches from the front of the head to the extreme point of the tail. The ornaments of the pedestal were executed by Francheville, first sculptor to the king, who copied the designs of Civoli for the figures at the four corners. to disguise their intentions by the respect they affected to entertain for a king, the idol of the French people. The statue of Bearvais was not protected from revolutionary outrages. After the 14th of July, 1789, the forehead, which was shaded by the plume of Ivry, was profaned by the cockade of rebellion. During the scandalous scenes of 1790 and 1791, portraits of the apostles of sedition were placed above the inscriptions on the pedestal, which expressed the most ardent wishes for the prosperity of France. Finally on the 11th of August, 1792, the statue of Henry IV. fell with the throne of Louis XVI. and the cannon of alarm was planted on the spot where the image of the saviour of Paris had been adored for the space of two centuries. reach ORIGINAL POETRY. SONNET. It is a stormy night, and the wild sea THE LILY OF THE VALLEY. II White bud! that in meek beauty so dost lean green, An Eremite beneath his mountain's brow. The inscriptions on this monument have been the subject of much literary disquisition. The queen first of all appointed Father Cotton, a jesuit, to compose them in French. But he died before this task was completed, and it accordingly devolved on Gilbert Gaulmin, Sieur of Montgeorget, Intendant of the Nivernais, and one of the most learned men of the age in which he lived. Gaulmin was distinguished for an excellent Latin; but Charpentier, in his work on the Excellence of the French Lan-White bud! thou'rt emblem of a lovelier thing— guage, accuses him of preferring Latin to To silent shades, and there sits offering The broken spirit, that its anguish bears French, and of having laid the ideas of To Heav'n the holy fragrance of its tears. several Latin authors under contribution. Some historians have erroneously attributed these inscriptions to Benigne Millotel, advocate general to the parliament of Dijon. Twenty-one years were allotted for the completion of this statue, which was not entirely finished until the year 1635. THE ONLY CURE FOR GAMBLING. Prone on his back poor Shuffle lay, CLUBS Since that period the equestrian statue BIOGRAPHY. C. VONDEL, THE DUTCH POET. As but little is known respecting the literature of Holland and Flanders, the following notice of Vondel, the celebrated Dutch poet, may perhaps prove agreeable to our readers. Vondel was born in the year 1587, and died at the age of 91. His works are printed in nine volumes quarto. They consist of tragedies, satires, songs, a translation of Virgil, and a poem in favour of the Roman Church, entitled The Mysteries. In whatever age or country Vondel might have lived, he would have been a great poet. Nature had endowed him with eminent genius. If in early life he had matured his talents by study; had he acquired correctness of taste from the pure sources of antiquity; if during his era the arts had been cultivated and encouraged, it is probable that the works of this astonishing man would have equalled the dramatic master-pieces of the greatest and most illustrious nations. But Vondel proceeded without a guide, and without preliminary study. The first productions of his youth were consequently mishapen and devoid of art and taste, though the rays of his genius occasionally intervene. He was nearly thirty years of age when he began to learn Latin; and, ten years afterwards, he turned his attention to the study of logic. The enthusiastic way in which Vondel laboured to surmount obstacles so great, at an age so advanced, is indeed astonishing. Had he succeeded, he would have performed a task superior to human nature; but it is too late to enrich the imagination with knowledge, and to regulate it by reasoning, when its fire is in some measure extinguished. Lest the admirers of Vondel should accuse us of prejudice, we will endeavour to justify our judgment by entering into an examination of his productions. duced: but his confidant goes still further scene changes to Troy, where the death of Palamedes is celebrated by a solemn festival, during which a chorus of twenty-two stanzas is sung. It would certainly be unjust to deny that the works in which we have pointed out these essential faults, contain ideas and expressions worthy the reputation of Vondef;—on the contrary, they present many traits of genius, and fragments full of force and eloquence. "Ennius ingenio maximus, arte rudis." We shall not enter into any detail of his other poems. His Satires, which are for the most part directed against the ministers of the established religion, are a tissue of vulgar and childish insults. With regard to his translation of the Eneid, we shall merely quote the opinion entertained of it by Barlaus, a celebrated Latin poet of that time. In a letter to Zuglichen, he says, Had Augustus read Vondel's Virgil, he would not have been so ready to save it from the flames. The tragedy entitled Gisbrecht van Amstel, is more highly esteemed in Holland than any other of Vondel's works. The subject is the taking of Amsterdam. The enemy having feigned a retreat, abandon a large vessel in which are concealed some of their best troops. The inhabitants of Amsterdam convey the vessel into the city. The result may be easily guessed. As this event is said to have taken place on the In conclusion we may observe, that the evening of Christmas-day, the author poetic genius of Vondel drew upon him seized the opportunity of introducing on as much vexation as glory. Besides the the stage bishops, abbots, abbesses, hatred of the Protestant ministers, which monks, and nuns. Gisbert's wife puts on he deserved, and which he avenged by his her best clothes to go to church: the Bi- Satires ;-besides the mortification of findshop of Utrecht sings the Chant of Simeon.ing that his Fall of the Bad Angels was Gisbert retires to a fortress, whither he forbidden to be represented, his Palamedes is followed by his wife and children. He had well nigh cost him his life, or at least wishes that his wife should quit the for- his liberty. This piece greatly irritated tress, but the children persuade her to re- Prince Maurice; he wished to bring the main. The contest, which is very ani- author to trial, which however Vondel mated, is interrupted by the angel Raphael, evaded by paying a fine of three hundred who puts an end to the dispute by advising florins. the unfortunate family to retire to Prussia: he foretels the future greatness of Amsterdam, when the inhabitants shall have shaken off the detested yoke of the Spaniards: he then disappears. THE DRAMA. DRURY LANE. We pass over unnoticed a piece entitled Easter; or the Deliverance of Israel. The Deity is the principal character in this tragedy. The play entitled The Brothers, has been universally applauded, though the Mary of Scotland, another of Vondel's These holiday times furnish more occusubject is somewhat whimsical. It turns tragedies, gave high offence to the Proon the way in which King David, by the testants: he made the Queen a perfect pation for children than for critics. Lillicommand of God, delivered up the chil-saint. The illustrious De Thou would putians and Harlequinades have at this dren of Saul to the Gibeonites, by whom have formed another opinion of her. Von-house, divided the nights since our last, they were hanged. This is repugnant to del was very ignorant on religious subjects, with Richard Duke of York, and other every idea of propriety. But Vondel has and consequently extremely bigoted. He pieces, upon which we have already dechosen a subject still more extraordinary; ventured, during the life-time of Prince livered our opinion. We are glad to notice namely, the rebellion of the bad angels, Maurice, to introduce upon the stage the that the theatre is getting better attended. and their fall, brought about by the passion Death of Barnevelt, under the title of the COVENT GARDEN. which the Devil conceived for Eve. This Death of Palamedes. The first act consists RETRIBUTION. We have seen this play play is entitled Lucifer. The magistrates of a monologue of Palamedes, in which he again, and read it; and we must confess that of Amsterdam would not suffer it to be re- asserts his innocence, and recites five or it barely justifies the favourable judgment presented. six hundred lines without interruption. In we formed on witnessing its first representhe following act, Megara arrives with tation. We do not mean to retract our Sisyphus, the grandfather of Ulysses, whom augury of the future success of the author, she has brought from the infernal regions; Mr. John Dillon, but we certainly were not -Ulysses (the name by which Prince Mau- aware how much he was indebted to the rice is designated) styles her a witch and exertions of Messrs. Young, C. Kemble, an old sorceress;-she, notwithstanding, and M'Cready, for the impression made prevails on him to put the innocent Pala-upon us, till we came to peruse the play, medes to death. In course of the piece and examine it on its intrinsic bases, dithey proceed to try the criminal, who is vested of the aids of fine scenery and adcondemned on the evidence of a forged mirable acting. The passages of beauty letter, supposed to be written by Priam. and poetry which we had observed, were Neptune (that is to say, Holland) appears, indeed still to be found, but some of their and declares that the death of Palamedes spirit was lost; and upon the whole the shall be avenged on the family of the fabric appears more slight, and the foundaPrince who condemned him. Finally, the tion for fame less solid, than we expected. As Vondel did not always manifest discernment in the choice of his subjects, it must also be confessed that he seldom turned them to the best account. The action generally languishes, owing to the length of the scenes and choruses;-a very long act frequently contains only two scenes; and one character sometimes recites from four to six hundred lines, without interruption. Yet in Holland, his Jerusalem Destroyed is still spoken of with admiration. In the first act, the city is taken by Titus, who pronounces a long eulogium upon his own character;-he places himself above all the greatest men that Rome ever pro |