guage of his heart. Much as I differed from him in opinion, it was impossible not to be delighted with his eloquence: and though I wish most heartily that the Hindoos might be left to their own Trinity, yet I felt disposed to agree with him, that some good must arise to the human mind by being engaged in a controversy which will exercise most of its faculties. Mr. Wilberforce is now verging towards age, and speaks but seldom: he, however, never speaks without exciting a wish that he would say more: he maintains like Mr. Grattan, though not with quite the same consistency, a considerable respectability of character by disdaining to mix in the daily paltry squabbles of party: he is no hunter after place, though he is a little too much haunted with a passion for which he may quote the authority of St. Paul, of pleasing all men and of being all to all. I was sorry when, no longer able to retain the dignity of representing the greatest county in the kingdom, he condescended to sit as member of a petty borough. But something must be forgiven to an old man whose habits are formed. Parliament has been to him the scene of all his active exertions, of his pleasures and of his glory. We can pardon the old dramatist who goes every night to take his unviolated seat in the pit: we sympathize with the old soldier who would hobble a whole day's march to see a review: and shall less indulgence be given to the man who shows a rather extravagant fondness to cling to the place ennobled by the memory of great men, now no more, and endeared by the recollections of his own triumphs? I confess I always look with equal respect and pleasure on this eloquent veteran, lingering among his bustling but far inferior posterity; and well has he a right to linger on the spot where he achieved one of the greenest laurels that ever brightened in the wreath of fame: a laurel better than that of the hero, as it is not stained with blood or tears: better even than that of the statesman who improves the civlization of his country, inasmuch as to create is more glorious than to improve. And the man whose labours abolished the slave trade, at one blow struck away the barbarism of a hundred nations, and elevated myriads of human beings, degraded to the brute, into all the dignified capacities of civilized man. To have done this is the most noble, as it is the most useful work which any individual could accomplish: and in the contemplation of this great achievement, Mr. Wilberforce and his friends may find full consolation for all the minor weaknesses and failings of his character.' pp.

70-74.

A country that has given birth to a Milton, a Newton, and a Locke, might surely be supposed to contain materials from which there might have been framed a Demosthenes. Whence arises, then, the alleged inferiority of modern eloquence? We think it is in part accounted for, by the circumstances on which we remarked in a former article, that the state of society at an advanced period of civilization, renders men less passive subjects of the impressions made by poetry and eloquence, and multiplies at once the requisites and the difficulties of the orator. What our author assigns as the characteristic difference of the English and of the Irish nations, that the latter" feel till they think, while their neighbour nation thinks till it feels,"-will illustrate still more forcibly the difference between ancient and modern society. In proportion as wealth and knowledge become more generally diffused, and the interests of all classes of the community become

interwoven with each other, the stronger feelings are less easily excited, and calculation supersedes the operation of impulse. Were Demosthenes himself to arise from the dust, endued with the power of breathing into the English language all the sonorous majesty and vehement expression of his native Greek, he would find himself in far other circumstances than those in which he assailed the power of Philip; and he would have in his audience, far less pliant and impressible materials to work upon. When the pride of the understanding must first be beguiled, before access can be obtained to the feelings, when an audience must be charmed into the fatigue of sustained thought, and the attention be held captive till thought generates feeling, the task of the orator becomes indefinitely more arduous. He must condescend to be greatly indebted to superior knowledge, and to the power of imparting with lucid clearness his own perceptions, for the effect of his eloquence. The range of his acquisitions must be proportionally extended. The learning of a Cicero would be inadequate without some acquaintance with legal and financial details, and all the complicated subjects of political economy. The habits favourable to these acquisitions would by no means form part of the training of the orator for the public application of them. We have specimens of written eloquence that may bear comparison with the noblest relics of antiquity; but they differ from forensic oratory, or they would obviously be inferior to it. With all these acquisitions a man may still fall short of attaining eloquence, which though comprehending in itself so high and so numerous attainments, is not necessarily the result of the sum of all. He must have the power of utterance; he must have invulnerable self-possession; and yet, though seemingly opposed to this, he must have enthusiasm, for unless he at least appear to speak from the vehemence of feeling, the glow of honest enthusiasm, his most elegant orations will be unimpressive. This enthusiasm can be justified only by sufficient occasion: and in fact it is occasion which both excites and develops the powers of genuine eloquence. Orators, like generals must be formed in the field: they attain greatness only under the influence of that necessity which stimulates the faculties to their highest pitch of exertion. Unfortunately, the House of Commons is too well calculated to awaken common and degrading associations in connexion with all that is elevated or affecting in occasion, and to lower down the noblest enthusiasm to apathy. Lastly, to retain ascendancy over the minds of an enlightened audience, to give reiterated impressions the effect of permanency, to make the thoughts no less than the feelings obey the force of sympathy, and to impart to the arts of persuasion the power of authority,—this one more essential is wanting, the cloquence of character. We do not mean to say that eloquence is never adapted to succeed irrespectively of character: there have been instances in which by dint of mere intellectual

energy, a strong and biassing impression has been made on the feelings of an audience. Sincerity and consistency with regard to the particular subjects of debate, will sometimes stand instead of the influence of general character. But as to the greater part of those topics which come within the range of animated discussion, there is no doubt that within the House of Commons, but especially out of the House, a reliance on the integrity, a confidence in the motives and designs of the speaker, are indispensably requisite to insure the success of the most brilliant eloquence. How many circumstances, then, conspire to prevent the rise of a modern Demosthenes! In vain on either bench of party, among the plausible advocates for predetermined measures, or the hostile assailants of all proposed measures, shall we expect to see a truly great orator arise. The littleness of party forbids it, and the circumscribed views of those who are merely political men are equally fatal to the expansion of the faculties to the height of moral grandeur. What might not an individual achieve who should realize in his own person the splendid combination of the fearless independence, the unwearied energy, and the commanding plain sense of Whitbread, with all that is conciliatory of deference and veneration in the character of Wilberforce! us imagine for a moment such an individual, persevering in a course of undeviating consistency and inviolate virtue,-attached to no party, the firm assertor of principles to which his own life should exhibit a practical subjection, the inflexible assailant of corruptions of which his own character would furnish the strongest ground for confidence that himself was incapable;-the people of England wou d have in such a man a champion of their rights and liberties which should still make the most corrupt or daring intriguer tremble.

Let

We think the present publication is on the whole likely to do good. It will tend to promote a more discriminating appreciation of public men and to moderate the bigotry of party estimates. The author writes like a man accustomed to think soundly and to speak freely. There prevails, we must confess, a tone somewhat too dogmatic-an assumption of superiority which too nearly borders upon flippancy; and the language, though for the most part forcible and idiomatic, is not free from that affectation of careless originality which marks the writings of Mr. Leigh Hunt. The portraits are however drawn in a style far above the level of ordinary newspaper criticism; and without venturing to pronounce upon their uniform fidelity, we should imagine that in no instance is the author chargeable with palpable injustice. He gives Lord Castlereagh credit for sincerity in most of his opinions, and for being " more free from uncaudid evasions than most of the political aspirants of the day.' Mr Canning is less respectfully characterized as a gentleman whom fortune, in a joke, has pushed above his natural elevation, to be pointed at as the quintessence of

wit and statesmanship,' but who would altogether have made an excellent first master of Eton.' Mr. Grattan is classed, though not as an equal compeer, with Burke and Sheridan-poor Sheridan! whose moral character contrasted with his superlative genius, furnishes another striking illustration of the truth, that with the talents of an angel, a man may be a fool.' There is, we must however remark, offensive personality in the attack upon Mr. Croker. Mr Tierney's political conduct is satirized with much more justness of severity. A very high panegyric is passed on sir William Scott, as well as on sir Samuel Romilly. The author speaks also in terms of warm applause of lord Morpeth, as possessing equal claims with lord Milton, to our regard on the score of virtue, and being very superior in point of talent, in fact as being obscured only by his own diffidence. The author loses no opportunity of testifying his dislike to the whig-phalanx.' His lordship is accordingly characterized as the least haughty and repulsive of that very disagreeable body of men.' In another place he wishes to distinguish the principles of whiggism from its professors; a distinction most just and salutary, could it be impressed on the public mind, which is always too prone to judge of the principles exclusively by the men. Speaking of Mr. Fox, he exclaims,

'Let not this illustrious name be confounded with those dull and pompous aristocrats, who, assuming a popular character for private purposes, despise equally popular feelings and popular sentiments; who bolstered up with heaps of wealth, and stiffened into one compact mass by family alliance, with cold selfishness turn their backs at once on the monarch and the nation, and never think or speak of the people, except perhaps once a session to point a sentence, or build a climax. Are such men constitutional advocates of a people's rights? Are they even a healthy part of the body politic of England? No! they are indolent and indurated tumours, equally dangerous by their stay or their removal, but which it is the interest both of the king and people to soften or disperse as much as possible by their united skill and energy. They are the powerful obstacle in the way of all reform, yet dare to retain a name which throws shame and inconsistency on all their actions and all their sentiments. Let me except one eminent character "who bears no token of these sable streams," though sometimes ingulfed in their general vortex. For lord Holland it is impossible not to feel the deepest respect: his open disposition and honest feelings remind one every moment of his great relative; while his fine good sense, enlarged and liberalized into philosophy, shows that if his talents are not prodigious as those of his uncle, they are at least of the same sterling nature.' pp. 25,26.

Mr. Horner is highly and yet perhaps inadequately appreciated; but the author puts forth all his strength on the character which is reserved for the concluding portrait, Mr. Whitbread. Since the author's sketch was written, that truly independent and faithful representative of the people, has fallen a victim to his own overwrought energies; and his encomium has been most emphatically pronounced by fellow senators, to whom in his parliamentary

career, he was a sincere and formidable opponent. The loss which the nation has suffered in his death, we do not pretend to estimate.

The Descent of Liberty, a Mask; by Leigh Hunt. To which is prefixed, an Essay on the origin and nature of masks, and a memoir of the author. Philadelphia. Harrison Hall, 18mo. pp. 142. bds. 75 cents.

(Partly from the Eclectic Review.)

MR. Hunt is not inclined to fetter so lively and airy a composition in the bonds of a too strict definition; he considers it as "A mixed drama, allowing of natural incidents as of every thing else that is dramatic, but more essentially given up to the fancy, and abounding in machinery and personification, generally with a particular allusion." p. xxiv.

Milton's Comus he considers as the best, indeed, but, at the same time, the least specific work of its kind. Perhaps, common readers will have their idea of a mask best formed by being referred to that in Shakspeare's Tempest.

Mr. Hunt's piece is of a much more extensive and varied nature; extremely gorgeous in its pageants, rich in its imagination, and delightfully romantic and fanciful in its diction. To some readers, indeed, the diction may appear as too much an imitation of our old poets; but to us, any thing that brings them to recollection is charming. Neither can Mr. Hunt be called, properly, an imitator; he has embued himself richly with the wild fancies and picturesque language of those good old bards, but he has, at the same time, his own manner.

The subject, as the reader will guess by the title, is the return of Liberty and Peace to the earth, after the downfal of Bonaparte; and we think the political purport now and then peeps rather too broadly through the fancy of the piece. Shepherds are introduced as having heard, for some days, sweet music in the air, a

Hence, they augur some glad change at hand, some relief from the enchanter who has so long been the curse of the "weary land."

"I know not why,

But there is such a sweetness in the touch

Of this mysterious pipe that's come among us→→
Something so full of trilling gladsomeness,

As if the heart were at the lip that fill'd it,

Or went a rippling to the fingers' ends,

That it forebodes, to me, some blessed change."-p. 8.