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

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