The Press. — London, England, 1857-05-16 00:00:00

484 of some of the poetry is given ; and it has, also, genealogical tables at full length. The work is a sort of literary toy, on which the author must have spent enough money and time to set up a popular cycloptedia. Mallet is no literary favourite of ours, and we do not think that Scotchmen can pride themselves on his disposition, which seems to have had some of the worst features of the Scotch character, as described (or rather satirised) by Wilkes and Churchill in the last century. He had all the faults of a hack writer, and he showed no manly independence. Johnson in his coarse way called him " a beg garly Scotehman," who accepted "a half croa n " for discharging Lord Bolingbroke's " popgun " against Christianity ; and on the prosecution of the unfortunate Byn g, the pen of Mallet was employed to turn the odium of the people from the Ministry and against the Admiral. Other personal transactions re dound still more to his disadvantage. _ _ That Mallet had high poetical talents, though never fully developed, is true. He was one of the first Scotch authors who wrote a correct English style ; and it is no mean in tellectual distinction for Mallet's memory that David Hume was anxious to subject his style to the critical eye of Mallet. His ballad of " William and Margaret " is singularly elegant. Its three first stanzas are a perfect specimen of that particular class of writing : 'Tway at the silent, solemn hour, When night and morning meet; In glided Margaret's grimly ghost, And stood at William's feet. Her face was like an April morn, Clad in a wintry cloud : And clay-cold was her lily-hand, That held her sable shroud. So shall the fairest face appear When youth and years are flown : Such is the robe that kings must wear When death has reft their crown. Vincent Bourne's translation of this stanza into Latin verse is one of his best perfor mances. But, after all, Mallet had no Promethean fire. His verses could never bo compared with those of Collins; and ho has himself indicated the original source of "William and Margaret" in Fletcher's comedy, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, where Merrythought repeats the verses— When it was grown to dark midnight, And all were fast asleep, In came Margaret's grimly ghost, And stood at William's feet. Bishop Percy and Ritson supply copies of these verses. Six pages of this volume are occupied with various readings of particular copies of " liam and Margaret," and a large space is filled with citations of the admiring applause of various critics. We aro then treated to parallel passages and imitations, and two pages are consumed with a catalogue of the collections of poetry in which "William and Margaret" has been printed. This is almost burlesquing the part of an annotator ; but every one has a whim, and wo must make allowance for an editor with an admiration for Mallet. The " Edwin and Emma" is another pro duction of Mallet, which, as was remarked by Hazlitt, " everybody reads and nobody for gets." The story of the two lovers is told hero at fall length. Tho traditional power of the ballad is shown in the posthumous in terest attaching to them both. Not ten years since a monument was erected to commemo rate them. Tho inscription runs : Rodger Wrightson Junr. and Martha Railton both of Bowes, Buried in one grave: He died in a fever, and upon tolling his passing Bell, she cry'd out My heart is broke, and in a Few hours Expired, purely thro' Love, March 15, 171 t. Such is the brief and touching Record contained in the parish Register of Burials. It has been handed down by unvarying tradition that the grave was at the West end of the church directly beneath the bells. The sad history of these true end faithful lovers forms the subject of )l allet's pathetic Ballad of " Edwin and Emma." The family history of the Wrightsons and Railtons is dug up by the editor with singular industry. The que4tion whether Thomson or Mallet wrot9 " Rule Britannia," which ap- THE PRESS. peared in Affred (a masque of Thomson's), has always been doubtful, and the case may be argued either way. Dr. Dinsdale ob serves:— In the masque, as altered by Mallet in 1751, three of the six original stanzas were omitted, and three additional stanzas, written by Lord Bolingbroke, wero substituted. The original ode is ascribed to Mallet by a judicious critic an 4 editor of Thomson, "on no slight evidence." The process by which that conclusion is arrived at may be briefly stated. In the advertisement prefixed to Alfred, in the edition of 1751, Mallet thus writes:—" According to the present arrangement of the fable, I was obliged to reject a great deal of what I bad written in the other : neither could I retain, of my friend's part, more than three or four single speeches, and a part of one song." And, in a note in the edition of 1759, he adds :—" The stanzas marked with asterisks were written by the late Lord Bolingbroke, in 1751." Now there are six lyrical pieces in the Alfred of 1740; four of which are expressly called " Songs "; another is called " Stanzas," being, in fact, a duet ; but " When Britain first, &c." is called an Ode. This circumstance alone seems conclusive. The song in edition 1740 beginning From those eternal regions bright— is enlarged into an ode in edition 17M (act iii. se. 5), by the addition of some lines and a chorus, and the first verse only of the song is retained. This, doubtless, is 'he one which is alluded to by Mallet, when he says that he could not retain of his friend's part more than three or four single speeches and a part of one song. If Mallet had alluded to " Rule Britannia," he would probably have said that he could only retain some stanzas, but he says part of one song, the song in question not being in stanzas; and we may presume that if he had had occasion even to allude to " Rule Britannia," he would at the same time have mentioned the fact of three stanzas by Lord Bolingbroke being substituted for three original ones. 'l'hus, then, the external evidence is in favour of Mallet. Moreover, the songs of Thomson carry with them no lyrical rhythm, and seem to have been written rather to be read than sung. Now this is just the reverse in " Rule Britannia," and in some of the undisputed lyrical pieces of Mallet. It is more likely, too, that Lord Bolingbroke should have taken the pains to add to a poem of Mallet's than to one of Thomson's. In favour of Thcmson, it has been observed that " Rule Britannia" is not included in any separate edition of Mallet's poems. The same observation may be made as to Thomson's poems. It has not been published in any separate edition till very recently. The third and fourth stanzas of " Rule Bri tannia" exhibit a peculiar mixture of Thom son's sanguine glow of sentiment, while the turn of the verse is unquestionably like that of Mallet : Still more majestic shalt thou rise, More dreadful from each foreign stroke : As the loud blast that tears the skies Serves but to root thy native oak. Rule, Britannia, rule the waves: Britons never will be slaves. Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame : All their attempts to bend thee down Will but arouse thy generous flame; But work their woe, and thy renown. Rule, Britannia, rule the waves: Britons never will be slaves. The verses added by Lord Bolingbroke in 1751 are not generally known to have pro- ceeded from that famous pen. We cite them : Should war, should faction shake thy isle, And sink to poverty and shame, Heaven still shall on Britannia smile, Restore her wealth, and raise her name. Rule, Britannia, rule the waves: Britons never will be slaves. That is certainly a poor stanza. The repeti tion of the two " shoulds " in the first line, and the cacophany of the sibillant " still shall" in the third line, mar the versification. The other stanzas are better : How blest the prince, reserv'd by fate, In adverse days to mount throne ! Renew thy once triumphant state, And on thy grandeur build his own ! Rule, Britannia, rule the waves : Britons never will be slaves. His race shall long, in times to come, So heaven ordains, thy sceptre wield; Rever'd abroad, belov'd at home ; And be at once, thy sword and shield. Rule, Britannia, rule the waves : Britons never will be slaves. The last of these stanzas may, we hope, be accepted as fulfilled prophecy. It is to be regretted that Mallet did not apply more of his literary time and talents to poetry. Ile had sonic sweet notes on his pipe. A heart mourning over the grave of a beloved relative might Lind something sweetly sad in the tenderness of the following lines, sung by Edith in the Masque of Alfred : SATURDAY, In cooling stream, 0 sweet repose, Those balmy dews distill, That steal the mourner from his woes, And bid despair be still. Prolong the smiling infant's rest, Who yet no sorrow knows ; But, 0, the parent's bleeding breast To softest peace compose ! For her the fairest dreams adorn, That wave on fancy's wing ; The purple of ascending morn, The bloom of opening spring. Let all, that soothes the soul or charms, Her midniuht hour employ; Till blest again, in Alfred's arms, She wakes to real joy. The melody of these verses is very sweet. The unpoetical word " employ," in the last stanza, is a slight blemish in the diction. Of the minuteness and research shown by this editor, we may cite one of his notes, where the text alludes to the " character of Mallet," and Dr. Dinsdale subjoins : See Gentleman's Mag. vol. hi. 1180—vol. lxxv. 56, 219 : European Meg. vol. xliii. 16 ; Monthly Review, vol. x. 344 —col. xxviii. 68 ; Churchill's " Prophecy of Famine," 1763; Letter from Alex. Wedderburn to D. Hume, Paris, 28th Oct., 1761 ; North Briton, No. 31; Annual Register, 1766, vol. ix. 291 ( Note); " The Race," by C. Shaw, 1776 (Whittingham's British Poets, vol. lxiii. 85) ; 13oswell's Life of Johnson," vol. ii. 184 ; Disraeli's " Miscellanies of Literature " (London, 1840), pp. 176, 200.214; Southey's " Specimens of the Later English Poets," vol. ii. 342 ; Hone's " 'fable Book," vol. ii. col. 110 ; Burton's " Life of David Hume," vol. ii. 140.114. We hope to meet Dr. Dinsdale again in literature ; but we should like to see his know ledge and talents applied to the illustration of a more important subject than the life of Mallet. Dark and Fair. By Sir Charles Rockingham, Author of " Rockingham," " Electra," &c. London : Hurst and Blackett. THE author of this novel, whose ?tontine de plume we are not so rude as to disturb, has acted judiciously in publishing at compara tively long intervals. It is rare to find the writer of a truly popular fiction possessed of so much forbearance, and the gentleman who is now once more appealing to the suffrages of the public has reaped the reward of this virtue. " Dark and Fair " is a more marked improvement on his previous stories than we have known to take place in any other popular author of the day. And though we do not predict for it success of the first class, yet we believe that, by combining the powers exhi bited in " Rockingham" with the fresh facul ties developed in his present work, the author may at some future time attain to the head of his profession. In " Rockingham " the events were interesting the characters, as a rule, were not. In " Dark and Fair " the position is exactly reversed. The story of " Dark and Fair " is monoto nous ; and though we have not ourselves found it dull, yet we scarcely anticipate that such will be the verdict of the novel-reading public. Sir Charles Rockingham is a gentle man of some three or four and thirty, whom we should be decidedly sorry to set down as an old man ; but, by retiring to his country estate, brooding over past disappointments, and shunning society, he has brought himself to believe that his youth is past, and that, like Antigone, he is destined to perpetual celibacy —" wifeless, pianoless, polkaless." While in this frame of mind he is invaded by a married cousin, Lady Edward Dieaway, some six or eight years older than himself, with an only daughter, Lavinia, whom she has brought down to this remote corner for the purpose of breaking off an engagement with a wild young cousin, a certain Lord Walter Dieaway. Lavinia sulks, and regards Sir Charles as her gaoler, when the scene is enlivened by the arrival at Rockingham-hall of the said Lord Walter in person, accompanied by another very pretty female cousin, Lady Camilla Dareall. Lavinia and Camilla aro respec tively the " Dark and Fair " heroines of the story. Lady Edward is, of course, intensely in dignant at this inopportune visit ; but the pertinacity with which the young intruders hold their ground, and the cool good humour with which they " chaff" their worthy host, whom they nickname " Calcraft," baffle all