No. 883. MONDAY, JAN. 3, 1825.

THE POLITICAL EXAMINER.

doers.

Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few.-POPE.
CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION-MR. O'CONNELL.

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY
INGRAHAM FUND
Job 141933

observes the Globe and Traveller, " is to be prosecuted by Mr. PLUN KETT before the Dublin Commission. Has not Mr. PLUNKETT himself declared, that at that Commission justice is not to be obtained in any case in which the feelings of the Orange party are concerned?". It further appears, that the Defendant has been refused a copy of the information against him, by which refusal he is kept in the dark as to the particulars of the charge on which he will be tried. The truth is, we have no doubt, that the prosecutor is ashamed to disclose the particular report of Mr. O'CONNELL'S Speech, upon which the prosecu tion is founded. He delays as long as possible the discovery, that he has chosen, without enquiry, to prosecute a man on the strength of one doubtful account of a speech,-doubtful, because differing from all the other reports. Never was there visible a greater consciousness of rashness and embarrassment!*

We can hardly believe, what some persons suspect, that the arrest of Mr. O'CONNELL was the result of a resolution, adopted by the CabiDet Council at a late meeting, to strike a blow at the Catholic leaders, by way of intimidation. It is not easy to suppose that Mr. CANNING would acquiesce in so desperate and impolitic a determination; and yet it is equally difficult to believe, that the Irish ATTORNEY-GENERAL would have volunteered, on his own responsibility, a step so hazardous in itself, and so certainly destructive of his own credit with the Catholic body. In any view the affair is a puzzle; but the satisfaction It will be seen by the proceedings of the Catholic Association, that in it is, that it will inevitably end in the discomfiture of the wrong- a committee of that body is appointed to consider the propriety of Every day increases one's astonishment, that such a very absurd prosecuting the Courier, for its slanderous attacks on Maynooth College. attack should have been made. To indict a British subject for hop- Courier's falsehood was gross, the spirit of its attack of the meanest We earnestly hope no such prosecution will take place. Doubtless the ing, that " if the Irish should ever be goaded to madness by oppres- and most disgraceful kind; but what have the Catholic Priesthood to sion, a BOLIVAR would not be wanting to their cause !" And the prosecution to emanate from the official servants of a Crown bestowed fear from slanders so easily repelled,-from calumnies which can be on the reigning dynasty by a "Glorious Revolution," caused and flung back with excellent effect in the hireling's teeth? An appeal to a court of law may be justifiable in case of private libel, where the justified, not by oppression goading to madness, but by arbitrary principles and religious bigotry! It has been shown too by a contem injured party has no other means (because the public are not interested porary (the Globe and Traveller) that if any conditional threat could in his individual concerns) of obtaining publicity equivalent to the be construed into sedition, Mr. PLUNKETT himself is a much greater publicity of the charge; but a prosecution of a public journalist, for i offender than the Orator he is now prosecuting. In the House of comments and assertions respecting a public college, would come with Commons, on the 23d of January 1799, speaking of the then projected a special ill grace from an Assembly possessing the power of most Union, the Right Hon. Gentleman said— extensive publicity. The very debate in which the matter was brought forward, proved the needlessness of a prosecution. Mr. O'CONNELL triumphantly answered the Courier's statement, in a speech which will be read in every corner of the kingdom-which will have far wider circulation than the misrepresentation it exposes. What harm then has the Courier done the Catholic clergy, that it should be prosecuted! None, but on the contrary great good. The opportunity of exposing the malice and injustice of the enemies of the Catholics in one strong instance, is extremely valuable: it tends to weaken the effect of more insidious and mischievous articles which are put forth by the Courier, and to throw a general discredit on the intolerant cant of the AntiCatholics. To refute a calumny, instead of to prosecute the calumniator, would be the more dignified, liberal, and judicious course, even if the law were all that it ought to be; but when its bad principles, its uncertainty, and its inconsistency (especially in what relates to libel) form the subject of constant and just complaint from the people, it This strong language, we should recollect, was used in relation to a does seem a strange contradiction that a popular Body, associated for measure which the speaker knew was likely to be adopted, and which redress of grievances, should think of invoking that same law against the Government maintained to be a just and wise measure;-a case an adversary whom they can defeat and overwhelm by the more effecwidely differing from that of Mr. O'CONNELL, who merely hinted at tual and respectable weapons of discussion and the press. But granta vague contingency, which the Government of course assert to being that a prosecution is unnecessary to vindicate Maynooth College scarcely within the limits of possibility—namely, that it should by tyranny goad the Irish people to rebellion.

"For my own part, I shall resist it to the last gasp of my existence, " and with the last drop of my blood; and when I feel the hour of my "dissolution approaching, I will, like the father of HANNIBAL, take my "children to the altar, and swear them to eternal hostility against the "invaders of their country's freedom."

Again, on the 15th of May 1799, he says—

"I warn the Ministers of this country against persevering in their | "present system; let them not proceed to offer further violence to the settled principles, or to shake the settled loyalty of the country. Let them not persist in the wicked and desperate doctrine which places “British connexion in contradiction to Irish prudence (quære, freedom). "I revere them both; for myself, I have no hesitation in saying, that IF “the wanton ambition of a Minister should assault the freedom of Ireland, “and compel me to the alternative between it and British connexion, “1 would fling that connexion to the winds, and I would clasp the inde→pendence of my country to my heart."

Th may be said to be only an argumentum ad hominem after all, and to prove no more than that Mr. PLUNKETT should not be the prosecutor of Mr. O'CONNELL, Unluckily for the apologists of the Law Officer, however, there is a recent case which convicts him of the most flagrant partiality. Just before the proceeding against the Catholic leader, that outrageous member of the Church Militant, the Reverend Sir HARCOURT LEES, published in the journals a letter, from which the following is an extract:

(it may be said) is it not desirable and proper, that the Courier should be punished? Oh no! Not for assailing a body well able to defend itself-not for the folly of uttering slanders which give the accused party an opportunity of refuting them, to the discomfiture and depre ciation of the libeller; and above all, not in violation of the great principle on which the Liberty of the Press depends-namely, that public comments on public men or institutions should be licensed without limitation, because public discussion itself provides ample remedy for all the temporary evil it may cause, and because falsehood and slander of all kinds are sure to be abundantly punished, with a "In the event of the Irish Government not being permitted by the free press, by exposure and the consequent loss of character and coninfatuated and ignorant Cabal in his MAJESTY'S Cabinet (who have de-fidence. Of all the facts established by reason and experiment, none graded the British Empire, and nearly lost Ireland by their temporizing is more certain than this-that no journalist, in a country where the policy) to adopt such immediate measures for the preservation of this discussion of public matters is entirely unshackled, can sin against country as the pressing exigency of the times requires; I will, at every risk, take the responsibility on myself of protecting this Island for my venerated Sovereign; and I will instantly recommend to the Protestants of Ulster to form a great Military Confederation. Should this despicable Cabinet System be persevered in two months longer, I will consider it to be my duty as your acknowledged Protector, to pass in review the entire Protestant force of Ulster early in March, by which period I shall arrange such a military organization for the Province as shall render it a matter of perfect indifference to me whether Mr. George Canning and the Popish Grenvilles choose to protect us or to join the

Priests."

All the attendant circumstances contribute to show the folly and speration of this extraordinary proceeding. "Mr. O'CONNELL,"

If the following paragraph from the Dublin Star be correct, Mr. PLUNKETT is the reluctant instrument of a faction in power, a supposition however, not very creditable to a man of his rank and intellect:"It is rumoured that some difference exists among the Law-officers of the Crown respecting the late arrest of the Great Popish Advocate; and there are some who affirm that the prosecution will be totally abandoned, on account of a want of evidence. It may not be generally known that, the evening of the day on which Mr. O'CONNELL used the seditious expressions for which he was afterwards arrested, he was entertained at dinner by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL. This latter personage did all in his power to prevent what has taken place-but, as the fact shows, unsuc cessfully. A superior authority opposed him. Who can this be?”

2

truth and social propriety without incurring inevitable and severe
retribution.

The Courier is delighted, as might have been expected, at the idea
of being prosecuted by the Catholic Association; and if it were only
that it gave the corruptionist an opportunity to use such excellent
arguments as he now brings forward, that should have prevented the
agitation of such a measure. It is to no purpose, that the Courier has
no right to use the arguments alluded to: we all know that the Treasury
tool looks only to present objects, and will turn everything it can lay
hold of to account, however inconsistent and out of character. And
good arguments will and ought to have effect, no matter by whom
uttered.

We cannot help being amused nevertheless to see the thick-and-thin advocate of everything legal and official of every stretch of arbitrary power, and every abuse that happens to be "established"assuming an air of patriotic resolution, and availing himself of the very reasoning which he has so often attacked and ridiculed, when used by Liberal writers. Our readers cannot fail to be amused by a specimen

or two

"We shall not stop to illustrate the singular, yet instructive, anomaly, of a public body, held together for the avowed purpose of seeking liberty, using, or attempting to use, the means it fancies itself to possess, to crush that favourite liberty of all-the liberty of the press. The thing is neither new nor strange."

No, indeed, most consistent politician! There is (or was) the Constitutional Association, which you lauded grievously, the express object of which was to take the part of the strong against the weak, and to cru sh that "favourite liberty of all" in a much more wholesale mode than the Catholics can ever be guilty of. Again

Why does this blustering Association talk of prosecution? Because it would fain silence, by, foul, antagonists whom it cannot overcome by fair, mea' as."

What foul means," most loyal disputant? Why the law, the result of all the wisdom of our ancestors," the "envy of surrounding nations!" Ah rogue! Can you ever talk again about calumniating the a Iministration of justice, of libelling the purity of our legal institutions?-you who denounce an action at law as a "foul means" of sile acing an antagonist? Or may we reckon on your aid in reprobar ing the next prosecution that his Majesty's ATTORNEY-GENERAL Or e Vice Society may undertake with a view to silence a new disciple cfCARLILE? The power it dreads, it would gladly intimidate. The hope is vain: the experiment ridiculous: the principle detestable."

th

Most true and still more applicable to official and aristocratical prosecutions than to private ones. (Public Opinion)"it"-(the Government)—" dreads, it would gladly As for example: "the power"intimidate." No doubt,-it does intimidate; and it richly deserves the reproof of the Treasury scribe: for though the experiment is unfortunately not ridiculous, when made by government, the "principle is" certainly "detestable."

"It is the last refuge of a baffled faction, to invoke the ambiguous aid of the law, in order to get rid, if possible, of a too formidable antagonist." Excellent! "A Daniel come to judgment !"

"Public questions should stand or fall by public discussion; and it might have been thought that the Catholic Association with its weekly debates, and its untired orators-its Irish Catholic, and its English radical, papers-its polluted floods of abuse in the one-its indefatigable support in the other-its stipendiary advocate in the person of Mr. ENEAS M-DONNELL and, lastly, its disinterested one in the person of Mr. O'CONNELL'S pet-client-would have contributed an array of strength quite sufficient to overwhelm one poor journalist, without attempting to frighten him by

the mock terrors of the law."*

with a vengeance.

organ

Oh that the Catholic Association should have enabled the of the Boroughmongers to talk thus! Yet such language cuts double, On every occasion when a Reformer has been prosecuted for alleged libels on the Parliament or Executive, how truly could it have been said—" It might have been thought, that the British Government, with its enormous revenue, and its extensive influence-with its myriads of civil servants, its thousands of zealous alerical advocates its great and even dangerous command of the press itself its regular official scribes, and its ultra-Tory and blackguard assailants of the private reputations of its adversaries-with its ATTORNEY and SOLICITOR-GENERAL, its special juries, its crown-appointed judges, (not to mention the stock-purse prosecuting combinations of Dowagers and tricky Attornies) its fines, its gaols, its banishings, its tremendous exaction of sureties for possible future offences,-it might

have been thought, we say, that all this influence and terrorism to-
overwhelm one poor journalist, without attempting to frighten him by
the mock terrors of the law!
gether would have contributed an array of strength quite sufficient to

any minister is arbitrary enough to attack a poor journalist with an
ex-officio for "tending to bring into batred and contempt" the high
More of this, we beseech thee, good Master COURIER, when next
and mighty of the realm! But, in the name of all that is enlightened,
dignified, and precious as principle, forbear-Friends and countrymen
of the Catholic Association-forbear to indulge a rash impulse of
anger, when by so doing you enlist Reason and Justice on the side of
your cruel and insidious enemies!

THE WISHING-CAP.

No. XXII. FICTION AND MATTER-OF-FACT.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
"Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”—SHAKSPEARE.

is certainly not so; and the supposition is founded on an ignorance of
the nature of the human mind, and the very sympathies of the two
A passion for these two things is supposed to be incompatible. It
strangers. Mathematical truth is not the only truth in the world. An
for fiction: he thought Blackmore as great a genius as Homer; but
this was a conclusion he would never have come to, if he had known
unpoetical logician is not the only philosopher. Locke had no taste
his premises. Newton considered poetry as upon a par with "in-
genious nonsense;" which was an error as great as if he had ranked
base of it. Newton has had good for evil returned him by "a greater
than himself:" for the eye of imagination sees farther than the glasses
himself with Tom D'Urfey, or made the apex of a triangle equal to the
too much, illustrious as he is, if it were not delightful to see that there
is at least one faculty in the world which knows how to do justice to
of astronomy. I should say that the poets had praised their scorner
all the rest. Of all the universal privileges of poetry, this is one of the
most peculiar, and marks her for what she is. The mathematician,
the schoolman, the wit, the statesman, and the soldier, may all be blind
to the merits of poetry and of one another; but the poet, by the pri-
vilege which he possesses of recognizing every species of truth, is
aware of the merits of mathematics, of learning, of wit, of politics, and
preciation of that of others. And this is most remarkable, in pro-
of generalship. He is great in his own art, and he is great in the ap-
the visible and the invisible together" on the top of Fiesole," to pay
portion as he is a poetical poet,- —a high lover of fiction. Milton brought
into the world of imagination. I cannot but fancy the shade of New-
ton blushing to reflect that among the many things which he professed
homage to Galileo; and the Tusean deserved it, for he had an insight
as he was, he indeed saw nothing in the face of Nature but it's lines
to know not, poetry was omitted, of which he knew nothing. Great
cluded, but only squares and their distances, and the anatomy of the
and colours; not the lines and colours of passion and sentiment in-
rainbow. He thought the earth a glorious planet; he knew it better
the beauty of them all, that which sympathy bestows and imagination
than any one else, in its connexion with other planets; and yet half
colours, was to him a blank. He took space to be the sensorium of
the Deity (so noble a fancy could be struck out of the involuntary
encounter between his intense sense of a mystery and the imagination
he despised!) and yet this very fancy was but an escape from the
horror of a vacuum, and a substitution of the mere consciousness of
existence for the thoughts and images with which a poet would have
accompanied it. He imagined the form of the houses, and the pre-
imagery, and the music, the loves and the joys, the whole riches of the
sence of the builder; but the life and the variety, the paintings, the
place, the whole riches in the distance, the creations heaped upon
creation, and the particular as well as aggregate consciousness of all
this in the great mind of whose presence he was conscious, to all this
his want of imagination rendered him insensible. The Fairy Queen
But courts were something, and so were the fashions there.
the name of the Deity was mentioned, he used to take off his hat !*
was to him a trifle; the dreams of Shakspeare" ingenious nonsense."
There are two worlds; the world that we can measure with line

When

could not reconcile it to his arithmetic. The French Prophets, not
being cognizable by the mathematics, were very near having him for a
⚫ Sir Isaac Newton rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, because he
proselyte. His strength and his weakness were hardly equal in this dis-
tional his understanding was inclined to be, when taken out of it's only
faculty. Wonderful indeed was that faculty; and I do not presume to
tinction; but one of them at least serves to show how more than conven-
think that any criticism of mine can be thought even invidious against it.
the universe. I am writing upon Matter-of-Fact now myself; and Matter-
I do not deny the sun, because I deny that the sun has a right to deny

It is easy to see the object of the Ministerial tool in all this declamation: he is labouring to cover his own disgrace by a diversion. Mr. O'Connell exposes several distinct falsehoods in the Courier of a very base deseription, and recommends a prosecution: the journalist writes columns about the prosecution, but says not one word in answer to the charge of Talsehood! Yet this same shuffler is always crying out against the Jesuits!of-Fact will have me say what I do,

the

and rule, and the world that we feel with our hearts and imaginations. To be sensible of the truth of only one of these, is to know truth but by halves. Milton said, that he dared be known to think Spenser a better teacher than Scotus or Aquinas. He did not say than Plato or Pythagoras, who understood the two spheres within our reach. Both of these, and Milton himself, were as great lovers of physical and political truth as any men; but they knew it was not all; they felt much beyond, and they made experiments upon more. It is doubtful with the critics, whether Chaucer's delight in the handling of fictions, or in the detection and scrutiny of a piece of truth, was the greater. Chaucer was a conscientious Reformer, which is a man who has a passion for truth; and so was Milton. So, in his way, was Ariosto himself, and indeed all the great poets, part of the very perfection of their art, which is veri-similitude, being closely connected with their sense of truth in all things. But it is not necessary to be great in order to possess a reasonable variety of perception. That nobody may despair of being able to indulge the two passions together, I can answer for them by my own experience. I can pass with as much pleasure as ever, from the reading of one of Hume's Essays to that of the Arabian Nights, and vice versa; and I think, the longer I live, the closer, if possible, will the union grow. The roads are found to approach nearer, in proportion as we advance upon either; and they both terminate in the same prospect.

I am far from meaning that there is nothing real in either road. The path of Matter-of-fact is as solid as ever; but they who do not see the reality of the other, keep but a blind and prone beating upon their own surface. To drop the metaphor, Matter-of-fact is our perception of the grosser and more external shapes of truth; fiction represents the residuum and the mystery. To love Matter-of-fact is to have a lively sense of the visible and immediate; to love fiction is to have as lively a sense of the possible and the remote. Now these two senses, if they exist at all, are of necessity as real, the one as the other. The only proof of either is in our perception. To a blind man, the most visible colours no more exist, than the hues of a fairy tale to a man destitute of fancy. To a man of fancy, who sheds tears over a tale, the chair in which he sits has no truer existence in its way, than the story that moves him. His being touched is his proof in both instances.

But, says the mechanical understanding, modern discoveries have acquainted us with the cause of lightning and thunder, of the nature of optical delusions, and fifty other apparent wonders; and therefore there is no more to be feigned about them. Fancy has done with them, at least with their causes; and witches and will-o'-the-wisps being abolished, poetry is at a stand. The strong glass of science has put an end to the charms of fiction.

This is a favourite remark with a pretty numerous set of writers; and it is a very desperate one. It looks like reasoning on the face of it; and by a singular exercise of the very faculty which it asserts the death of, many persons take the look of an argument for the proof of it. Certainly, no observation can militate more strongly against existing matter-of-fact; and this is the reason why it is made. The mechanical writers of verse find that it is no longer so easy to be taken for poets, because fancy and imagination are more than usually in request: so they would have their revenge, by asserting, that poetry is no longer

¡to be written.

and more primitive use of the old Pagan Mythology, so long and so mechanically abused by the Chloes and Venuses of the French? Politics may be thought a very unlikely cause of poetry, and it is so with Ministers and Gazetteers; yet politics, pushed further than common, have been the cause of the new and greater impetus given to the sympathies of imagination; and the more we know of any other science, the farther we see into the dominions of intellect, if we are not mere slaves of the soil. A little philosophy, says Bacon, takes men away from religion; a greater brings them round to it. This is the case with the reasoning faculty and poetry. We reason to a certain point, and are content with the discovery of second causes. We reason farther, and find ourselves in the same airy depths as of old. The ima gination recognizes its ancient field, and begins ranging again at will, doubly bent upon liberty, because of the trammels with which it has been threatened.

Take the following APOLOGUE:—

During a wonderful period of the world, the kings of the earth leagued themselves together to destroy all opposition, to root out, if they could, the very thoughts of mankind. Inquisition was made for blood. The ears of the grovelling lay in wait for every murmur. On a sudden, during this great hour of danger, there arose in a hundred parts of the world, a cry, to which the cry of the Blatant Beast was as a whisper. It proceeded from the wonderful multiplication of an extraordinary Creature, which had already turned the cheeks of the tyrants pallid. It groaned and it grew loud: it spoke with a hundred tongues: it grew fervidly on the ear, like the noise of a million of wheels. And the sound of a million of wheels was in it, together with other marvellous and awful voices. There was the sharpening of swords, the braying of trumpets, the neighing of warhorses, the laughter of solemn voices, the rushing by of lights, the movement of impatient feet, a tread as if the world were coming. And ever and anon there were pauses with "a still small voice," which made a trembling in the night-time; but still the glowing sound of the wheels renewed itself; gathering early towards the morning. And when you came up to one of these creatures, you saw, with fear and reverence, it's mighty conformation, being like wheels indeed, and a great vapour. And ever and anon the vapour boiled, and the wheels went rolling, and the creature threw out of its mouth visible words, that fell into the air by millions, and spoke to the uttermost parts of the earth. And the nations (for it was a loving though a fearful Creature) fed upon its words like the air they breathed: and the Monarchs paused, for they knew their masters.

This is PRINTING BY STEAM. It will be said that this is an allegory, and that all allegories are but poor fictions. I am far from producing it as a specimen of the poetical power now in existence. Allegory itself is out of fashion, though a favourite exercise of our old poets, when the public were familiar with shows and spectacles. But allegory is the readiest shape into which imagination can turn a thing mechanical; and in the one before us is contained the mechanical truth and the spiritual truth of that very matter-of-fact thing, called a Printing Press: each of them as true as the other, or neither could take place. A business of screws and iron wheels is, or appears to be, a very common-place matter; but not so the will of the hand that sets them in motion, not so the operations of the mind that directs them what to utter. We are satisfied respecting the one by science. But what renders us sensible of the wonders of the other, and their connection with the great and hidden mysteries of nature? Thought city, and suction, and gravitation, and alembics, and fifty other me-Fancy-Imagination. What signifies to her the talk about electrichanical operations of the marvellous? This is but the bone and muscle of wonder. Soul, and not body, is her pursuit; the first cause, not the second; the whole effect, not a part of it; the will, the fancies what agents for it she pleases. The science of atmospherical intention, the marvel itself. As long as this lies hidden, she still phenomena hinders not her angels from "playing in the plighted from "taking the wings of the Morning, and remaining in the utterclouds." The analysis of a bottle of salt water does not prevent her most parts of the sea." You must prove to her first, that you stand the simple elements, when decomposed; the reason that brings them together; the power that puts them in action; the relations which they have to a thousand things besides ourselves and our wants; the necessity of all this perpetual motion; the understanding that looks out of the eye; love, joy, sorrow, death and life, the future, the It is, in fact, remarkable, that the growth of science, and the reappearance of a more poetical kind of poetry, have accompanied one universe, the whole invisible abyss. Till you know all this, and can another. Whatever may be the difference of opinion as to the extent plant the dry sticks of your reason, as trophies of possession, in every to which our modern poets have carried their success, their inclina-quarter of space, how shall you oust her from her dominion? tions cannot be doubted. How is it, that poetical impulse has taken this turn in a generation described to be so mechanical? Whence has ansen among us this exceeding fondness for the fictions of the East, for solitary and fanciful reveries for the wild taste of the Germans

When an understanding of this description is told, that thunder is caused by a collision of clouds, and that lightning is a well known result of electricity, there may be an end, if he pleases, of his poetry with him. He may, if he thinks fit, or if he cannot help it, no longer see anything in the lightning, but the escape of a subtle fluid, nor hear anything more noble in the thunder than the crack of a bladder of water. Much good may his accomplished ignorance do him. But it is not so with understandings of a loftier or a more popular kind. The wonder of a child, and the lofty speculations of wisdom, meet alike on a point, higher than he can attain to, and look over the threshold of the world. Mechanical knowledge is a great and a glorious tool in the hands of man, and will change the globe. But it will still leave untouched the invisible sphere above and about us; still leave us all the great and all the gentle objects of poetry,—the heavens and the human heart, the regions of Genii and Fairies, the fanciful or passionate images that come to us from the seas, and the flowers, and all that we behold.

Landing of Mentor

FINE ARTS.

under

and Telemachus in the Island of Calunia.

the Pantomime advances the usual claims to approbation, on a general score, without supplying much of particular attraction. Transformations and tricks at this house are seldom at home, nor are they so in the present instance; but there are a few hits which tell, one of the best of which is a Haunted Kitchen, in which the casting of the bullets in Der Friechütz is pleasantly enough burlesqued by the frying of seven pancakes, attended with all sorts of horrible and Germanic consequences, We must repeat, that some of the scenery is very beautiful, and we may particularly select the mountain abode of an Enchanter, and Auld Reekie, by STANFIELD, and the Enchanted Aviary by ROBERTS. HOWELL and Miss BARNETT are the Harlequin and Columbine, and KIRBY the Clown, all of whom were active and respectable. Some disapprobation was expressed during the course of the evening, principally produced by mishaps and failures; but upon the whole the piece went off tolerably. Rapid stage transition and scenic management are certainly however not in their element at this house, and in order to domesticate them, we recommend Mr. ELLISTON to renew his St. Paul's School acquaintanceship with Ovid's Metamorphoses. That, or a drill of the household corps, is absolutely necessary.

COVENT-GARDEN.

es fully competent to the production of first-rate Landscape Enavings of a WOOLLET size, we have never, since the days of that extraordinary Engraver, had the pleasure of seeing above three or four published with superior workmanship, and of that large size, such as MIDDIMAN'S Melancholy Jaques and MILTON's Windsor Castle, and none where the united talents of the Painter and Engraver have given such conjoint importance as those noble Landscape and Figure Prints, of which WILSON and MORTIMER were the Painters, and WOOLLET was the Engraver. We are therefore very agreeably surprised at the publication of such, or almost such-a Print, by the veteran MIDDIMAN and Mr. ROBINSON, from a Painting by the late President WEST, and in the performance of which that excellent Painter has evidently caught a kindred feeling and the glowing power of portraying personal charms, mental emotion, aud natural scenery, with the amiable and animated FENELON, in his Telemachus, where he describes the shipwreck and the first interview of Telemachus and Mentor with Calypso and her Nymphs. The waves are heaving and surging, and the cliff-mantling grove gracefully nodding to the wind, which moves also with winding grace the dresses of the beautiful Nymphs and their majestic Queen. The umbrageous shore indicates an island of sylvan scenery, and the charms of its possessors promise the bland delights of female society. Some of Calypso's train are circling in a dance; some eye the approaching strangers timidly and with surprise, others with admiration; altogether presenting a charming exhibition of feminine beauty and delicacy of feeling, having for its climax the elevated air, the courteously inviting, and superior grace of Calypso. To these, with the frank but respectful address of Telemachus, is contrasted the sage and suspicious look of the venerable Mentor. In fine, the adventure of the shipwreck, and the landing of Telemachus, and Mentor in Calypso's romantic island, and their reception, are perspicuously exhibited in a fine graphic version by Mr. WEST, which is vividly translated into the interesting language of Engraving, by Mr. WOOLLETT and Mr. MIDDIMAN in the Landscape, and by Mr. F. W. ROBINSON in the Figures. The solid but neat style of line of this artist produces a brightness and simplicity seldom obtained, and worthy of the hand which has lately delighted the admirers of Engraving with his faultless Etching from Mr. MULREADY's impassioned picture of The Wolf and the Lamb. The Print is rendered more interesting from its being worked from an Etching by the celebrated WOOLLET. The style of the Landscape is clear, open, and characteristic, and has merit sufficiently solid to render it, in conjunction with the Figures, and the beauties of Mr. WEST'S design, expression, and composition, an Historical Landscape and Figure Engraving of superior claims upon the patronage of the Public. ENGRAVED PRINT OF LORD BYRON.-Though Mezzotinto Engraving cannot give that granular texture with which Line and Chalk Engraving so beautifully characterises the various surfaces of things, it is capable of most of the other important powers of the Engraver's Art, and especially of the charms of correct and spirited, of sharp and soft outlines, by which are produced expression of mind, and grace and energy of action, the prime qualities of Painting and Engraving. Of this we have a very satisfactory example in Mr. Lupton's Print of Byron, from a Painting by the Academician PHILLIPS, who, in the lively and elegant turn of the head, the earnest countenance, the bold and handsome features, shows us the outward and interior man, the analogous mind and body, the beautiful, the impassioned, and the poetical of which capital Painting the Print is a decided and luminous translation. It is the noble aspect of the Genius of Feeling kindling into magnanimity and philanthropy, and verging upon enthusiasm; but without that baser mixture of vanity, undue scorn and capriciousness, which occasionally dimmed the brightness of his character, and which is so visible in some of his portraits. No Line Engraving could have rendered the outlines more.properly crisp, the breadths of light on the head, hand, and drapery, and the full sha-land Gardens. The perspective of this exhibition, especially in regard to dows on the elegantly-placed robe, more effectual. For sharpness, finishing, and efficiency, this Print has rarely been equalled as a Mezzotint, since the celebrated Flower and Fruit Prints of the late Mr. EARLOM.

THEATRICAL EXAMINER.

R. H.

DRURY-LANE. On Monday, as usual, a new Pantomime was produced at this house we were going to say for the holiday folks, but to be honest, it is quite evident that this intellectual species of entertainment possesses attractions to a large portion of his Majesty's lieges, who would demur exceedingly to that appellation. We are not about to afflict our readers with lamentations upon the degeneracy of these predilections, or with common places on the subject of the legitimate Drama; with establishments and houses so large, food must be supplied for all degrees of refinement, and after all, the vulgar are the majority in every rank of life. In the present instance, the exertions of his Majesty of Drury and coadjutors have been exerted in the production of an Harlequinade, intitled Harlequin and the Talking Birds, or the Singing Trees and Golden Waters; being a very free appropriation of the adventures of our old friend, the Princess Parizade in the Arabian Nights. In the Drury-lane version, the Princess herself is enchanted instead of her brothers, and is delivered by the Prince of Persia, the royal pair of course being subsequently ti-tum-ti'd by a Genius into Harlequin and Columbine. We perspire under the description already, and shall therefore satisfy ourselves with observing, that with a portion of very fine scenery, and more than the usual exhibition of activity, especially in the Pantaloon of BLANCHARD,

He who is unacquainted with the humourous old ballad, entitled The Dragon of Wantley," has to lament his ignorance; because it equally implies a want of knowledge of the burlesque operatical use of it made by the noted HARRY CAREY. The legend of this monstrous Dragon, to which houses and churches were but as geese and turkies," and which finally yielded to the prowess of a brave Yorkshire knight, one More of More Hall, has with genuine Attic discrimination been selected by Mr. FARLEY for the ground-work of the new Covent-garden Pantomime. Solicited by the lovely Mayflower, the blossom of the village of Wantley, at the head of a deputation of peasantry, the magnanimous More determines to encounter the Dragon, which in fact is a magic contrivance of the Fire-King to imprison the Fairy Christallo in a fountain, in order that he or she, we scarcely know which, may not prove, as the lawyers say, any lett, molestation, or hindrance to his amorous designs on the aforesaid Mayflower, whom he has bought of her father-no absolutely unprecedented matter even in these days. The result may be readily anticipated; the Knight slays the Dragon, which becomes the Clown; More of More Hall, and Mayflower, forthwith change into Harlequin and Columbine; the old father into Pantaloon, et voila, as Foppington says in the play, l'affaire est faite. Descending to more pantomimical particulars, the piece is lively and bustling, without exhibiting much of that genuine drollery which possibly is as rare as genius of any other kind, and as irresistible in its claim-in short, there was no JOE GRIMALDI. In other respects, nothing was wanted that could be supplied by grimace and agility. The Harlequin of ELLAR needs no praise, and Miss ROMER is an active and graceful, if not finished Columbine, while GRIMALDI the Younger and BARNES illustrate the laws of motion, and of repulsion especially, with extraordinary ardour. Of tricks and transformation there is no lack; steam conveyances are prepared on the stage, a waggon in danger of inundation is transformed into a sailing boat, and above all, a stage-coach with passengers at an inn-door at York, are suddenly changed into the front of the White Horse in Fetterlane, with the aforesaid passengers looking out of the windows. The principal attraction, however, consists in the more formal and elaborate scenery, which is for the most part admirable. Among these, the grand panoramic exhibition of the banks of the Thames, as they are to be when Col. TRENCH's plan is carried into execution, takes the lead. The audience assume the part of spectators viewing and accompanying a sailing match from the Surrey shore; and in consequence, the bridges are apparently passed in succession, until the arrival of the winners at Cumberthe bridges, is admirably managed. Of the more picturesque scenery Rotheram Green, with two views of York, claim most attention; while of the purely fanciful, we have a copper mine, with a representation of the fire-damp, a magic fountain, and a fairy palace. Epsom Race Course was good, but rather for bustle and activity in scenic movement, than for pictorial execution. The real pony race might have been made more of particularly in the exhibition of betting sportsmanship; but light and shade appertain to all things. A few failures took place the first night. but upon the whole, the audience was in high good humour; and from every subsequent indication, there is reason to believe that the treasury of this concern will profit as usual by Mr. FARLEY'S ingenuity.

On Thursday evening we attended the representation of the Merchan of Venice, in which Mr. J. RUSSELL, not unknown to a London audience assumed the character of Shylock. The performance was by no means discreditable; but it was evident that certain powers on the part of the actor were wanting, without which no Shylock can exceed mediocrity we allude more especially to a voice capable of earnest utterance withou apparent exertion, and of a display of vigorous emotion without the con comitancy of rage. The Shylock of Mr. J. RUSSELL was too irascible from beginning to end, though the trial scene was certainly ably marked spoiled, as it was, by the dreadful puddering of the gods, impatient fo the pantomime, and still more by a stage blunder (not his own) which marred the Jew's exit; but we still doubt the propriety of repeating the part. The Portia of Mrs. SLOMAN was respectable, if not highly discri minative; the aforesaid gods marred her delivery of the fine definition o Mercy, but in her explanation of and delivery of the law of Venice, ther existed a force and acuteness which very agreeably surprised COOPER's Bassanio was very good, nor was the Gratiano of YATES amis althought dashed with too much of Count Carmine. Gratiano is light

beaded and light-hearted, but not an absolute coxcomb. The Old Gobbo being particularly distinctive. The accompanying Essay, however, of BLANCHARD was good; his son Lancelot, in the hands of MEADOWS, like that on Fable, is essentially in the manner of Lessing,-subtle, 50, 50. DURUSSET and Miss HAMMERSLEY, as Lorenzo and Jessica, sang refined, and analytical. The chain of associations by which he conpleasingly, and might have recited equally so; but the audience wouldnects the identity of the simple Greek inscription with the modern not hear a word of poetry, and scarcely of anything else.