criminal who visit him in his confinement. His mind becomes thus prepared for the commission of those crimes which feed his fellowprisoner. The internal regulation of bridewells, with an indiscri minate mixture of prisoners, is so notoriously bad that the poor man who enters within their walls as an unfortunate debtor must possess more resolution and fortitude than can be expected from persons in his rank of life, if he be not dismissed with those habits of vice and idleness about him which may soon return him to his dreary abode as a formidable felon, charged with the commission of crimes that subject man's life to the offended laws of his country.' If the reader's curiosity is excited by the foregoing remarks, (which he will do well to consider not as an effect of fancy, but as the result of the author's personal observation,) and if he be desir ous of pursuing the subject, he may find it but too faithfully delineated by that admirable writer Henry Fielding, in his "Enquiry into the Causes of the Increase of Robbers," a most authentic and interesting narrative of the hideous scenes of vice which there take place; a detail of the alarming consequences that result to society from the permission of such abominable practices against good order and morality, and of which (subject to little or no modification) the author cannot hesitate in opinion that they actually and fully exist at the present day in all their horrid enormity.' Wherever we open Mr. Nield's book, fresh passages of importance strike our eye, and make us desirous of inserting them. In some, dreadful privations are described that arise from the abuse of withholding the king's allowance from prisoners who are condemned to transportation: in others, we see that in some gaols, though they have court-yards, the prisoners are not permitted to make use of them; and in others, we read the sickening account of the intolerably offensive state in which the prisons are kept, by a neglect which Mr. Nield considers as a principal cause of unhealthiness in many of our gaols, and of which he describes the effect as suffocating. (Page 282.)-We have not, however, room for more extracts; and, indeed, if those which we have already given do not interest our readers sufficiently to induce them to examine the volume for themselves, we may conclude that no description of human ills would have that power. The bad consequences resulting from want of employment, and from the indiscriminate mixture of prisoners in many gaols, will be more striking when contrasted with the admirable effects which are produced by an opposite system in some of them. We select the Dorchester gaol as a laudable example: Page 166.The exemplary distribution of persons here established is such that not only the male prisoners are separated from the female, and the felons from the debtors' fines, &c., but those of each description are subdivided into classes. Employment is found for prisoners of all descriptions: the prisoner has half the produce. Upon enquiry made made into the characters of all the Dorsetshire prisoners on charges of felony during a period of fourteen years, it has appeared that out of three hundred and ninety-three persons of both sexes, no less than two hundred and forty-two have been so well reclaimed as to maintain themselves by honest industry.-The county, with a liberality that reflects upon it the highest honour, rewards those former prisoners who twelve months after their discharge can produce certificates of their having faithfully, honestly, soberly, and industriously served those who kindly afforded them employment. A perusal of these remarks will amply manifest the great good which may be produced by constant employment and salutary regulations, and it is hoped that the example of the visiting magistrates of the county of Dorset, in restoring so many prisoners to usefulness in society, will raise a spirit of emulation throughout the whole kingdom.' The matters of fact, brought forwards by Mr. Nield, have principally attracted our attention, as forming the main purport of his publication; and we have only cursorily referred to some of his introductory observations on Civil Imprisonment, Courts of Conscience, and Crimes and Punishments. In these remarks, however, many useful suggestions and well founded representations occur; and, though we cannot farther dilate on them at present, we solicit for them the attentive perusal of all benevolent and intelligent members of the community. We cannot conclude without earnestly recommending the whole subject to all readers; and to those numerous and respectable persons who interest themselves in the education of the poor, and in the distribution of Bibles, we surely cannot recommend in vain that part of it which concerns the morals of the prisoners. While they anxiously endeavour to improve the condition of the lower orders by instructing the young, and by spreading the knowlege of the word of God, will they, unmoved, and without making an effort to remove the evil, see all around them schools in which profligacy and vice are taught as diligently as they have taught virtue and religion? MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For DECEMBER, 1814 NOVELS. Art. 9. Corasmin, or the Minister; a Romance. By the Author of the Swiss Emigrants. 12mo. 3 Vols. 159. Boards. Longman and Co. 1814. A perfect monster, which the world ne'er saw," seems not calculated to please even in the delineations of the novelist, We seldom meet with persons who are admirers of Sir Charles Grandison, especially (we are sorry to say it) among the ladies, to whom the unprin cipled Lovelace is always most agreeable; yet a more perfect cha REV. DEC. 1814. char racter racter than Sir Charles cannot easily be drawn. For a similar reason, we apprehend that the virtuous minister, Corasmin, will be coldly received as an Utopian personage; and, among politicians, as a man who, to say the least, knows nothing of the world, though the assertion is the severest satire on the world. We, however, still retain some old fashioned predilections in favour of integrity and purity of principle, both in morals and in politics; and Sir Charles as a pattern in the former science and Corasmin in the latter shall always receive our tribute of applause. It would give us much pleasure if the example of this upright statesman, as displayed in the present volumes, were likely to become extensively operative; and the author of them is intitled to our commendation for the feelings which induced him to draw the portrait, as well as for the general ability with which he has accomplished his design: while his use of the term Romance indicates his too just appreciation of the character of his hero. He is evidently not a common writer of novels, either in intention or in talents. His language occasionally intimates that it comes from the northern side of the Tweed. The tale of the Swiss Emigrants was commended in our xlivth Vol. N. S. p. 304. Art. 10. Read and give it a Name. By Mrs. Llewellyn. 4 Vols. 12mo. 11. 2s. Boards. Newman and Co. 1813. A good name, or a bad name? We certainly will not give it one of the latter description; since, though this novel is apparently the production of a very young writer, the incidents are few, the dénouement is common, and the style is in many parts defective, yet the interest excited by it affords a sufficient proof that the epithet of common, which we have applied to the result of the story, cannot be extended to the spirit and sentiments which characterize the work. A strong sense of religion, a capacity for moral discrimination, and a lively taste for the works of nature and of art, are conspicuous throughout. The developement, and the description, of the passion of love seem to be more particularly the aim of this fair author than they generally are with the higher class of our present female novelists; and some of Mrs. Llewellyn's readers may remark that her love-scenes are too frequent, and too descriptive: we must, however, do her the justice to admit that her colours are not less chaste than glowing; and that they are so disposed as to bespeak, in the painter, that genuine purity of mind which has nothing to conceal. In the second volume occur some very well intended, but, in our opinion, rather inefficient, strictures on the custom of duelling. An author who expects to be useful, in stemming the tide of public opinion, which has for ages supported this most unchristian practice, should evince a due apprehension of all the possible circumstances which would constitute the difficulty of refusing a challenge; and also a minute sympathy for those warring emotions, in the mind of a man at once susceptible and religious, which such circumstances must naturally induce. In both these points, we think that the present writer has failed. Louisa Clifford, her heroine, says that it would be impossible for a man, whom she could love, to accept a challenge on any consideration whatsoever. We suspect that Mrs. Llewellyn Llewellyn herself is scarcely aware of the ordeal which a lover, acceding to such a declaration, might be required to pass; and, attractive as the heroine is represented to be, she probably might long have "withered on the virgin thorn," 'ere Hymen claimed her in the form of a champion who had sustained the severe trial. A little affectation of the phrases of old novels and romances seems to be visible in Mrs. L.'s frequent use of the terms the Lord de Courcy,' the Lady Louisa,' &c. POETRY, AND THE DRAMA. Art. 11. The Queen's Wake; a Legendary Poem. By James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd. 8vo. 12s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1813. Scotish legends, and Scotish ghost-stories, Scotish fairy tales; Scotish versification, and for the most part Scotish language, render this a truly national poem. Mary, Queen of Scots, is supposed to hold her court at Holyrood House; and for a period of three nights to be kept awake (which we consider as quite miraculous if she listened, but quite natural if she was merely disturbed) by the successive songs, of all sorts and sizes, of seventeen Scotish minstrels! Whatever John Knox may have said about the pleasure which the Queen received from the national music, on her arrival in Scotland, we confess ourselves to be rather more disposed to believe the account of one of her French companions; (both authorities are quoted by Mr. Hogg in his notes, which notes, by the way, are amusing and well written enough;) who, after a description of these mighty concerts, misnamed serenades, feelingly exclaims, "Alas! what music, and what a night's rest!"-To this remark, 'Mr. Hogg subjoins the following: The Frenchman has had no taste for Scotish music: - such another concert' (i.e. of wretched violins and little rebecks' played by five or six hundred natives!!!) is certainly not in record but such a concert, in point of dissonance, bad taste, and every fault of idle and "low thoughted" composition, we are obliged to record, is pre sented by The Queen's Wake.' We must speak out on this point. Too long forbearance, on the part of the reader, begets, as we have somewhere heard, a most wanton insolence on the part of the writer. In this age, as in that of Horace, the public taste is much too tolerant : "Non quivis videt immodulata poemata judex, Et data Romanis venia est indigna poetis.' A few specimens will convince the unprejudiced that the present is so glaring an instance of the violation of every principle and rule of poetry, that it must not be passed over in silence, nor, if noticed, be forgiven. Unless wild extravagance and the rudest barbarism are to be confounded with genius, the following passages will be sufficient to condemn their author. Well and truly does he confess, So strange a lay was never sung!' The Thirteenth Bard's Song. Nor Nor the rozy munke of the isle to see, And lang, lang greite or Kilmeny come heme." Here is the favourite, we had almost said the solitary, image in this description of Old Ballad : Oh lang may our Lady look o'er the castle down, Ere she hear the Earl of Murray come sounding through the town!' &c. &c. We shall probably be told, this song is professedly Scctish, and intended as a specimen. Take some ENGLISH then : — Earl Walter's grey was borne aside, Again,and this is in the very finest style: • Like glimpse of the moon through the storm of the night, Would that he had taken all, characters, bards, clansmen, all, all, with him! Yes, even Malcolm - although "Macgregor! Macgregor !" he bitterly cried "Macgregor! Macgregor !" the echoes replied.'— Without any farther remark, we shall quote a passage in which the opening lines have considerable vigour, but are debased at the conclusion by an admixture (as is the case throughout) of the poorest non sense: • December came; his aspect stern Not stern December's fierce controul |