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

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-