The Press.
London, England, 1856-06-07 00:00:00

We fancy that Sir Philip Francis (a friend
of Tooke), also, knew that poem well. In
his celebnited contiast between the talents of
Pitt and Fox, Francis writes, taking trees for
his metaphorical illustration :

Mr. Fox's powerful understanding grew like a forest oak
.—not by cultivation but by neglect. Mr. Pitt was a plant
of an inferior order, though marvellous in its kind, a
smooth bark, with the deceduons pomp and decoration of
a rich foliage, and blossoms, and flowers, whioh drop off
of themselves, leaving the tree naked at last to be judged
of by its fruits.
There is much coarseness in many parts cf
these minor poems, and finical people, who
cannot make allowance for change of manners,
will often be offended. But there is an Eng-
lish stamp upon them all, and we feel in read-
ing them that Jonson might have excelled in
any intellectual pursuit to which he applied
himself. In his introduction, Mr. Bell has
skilfully used the materials of Aubrey and
others for giving us a distinct picture of the
brave old poet. Mr. Bell freely acknowledges
the labours of other explorers, and particu
prises some biographical discoveries of Mr
Collier and Mr. Peter Cunningham. His
example ought to be copied in that respect, as
some of the book editors in our time are not
sufficiently liberal towards the toils of their
c mtemporaries. We observe two or three
minor slips. Thus, at page 48, the note
states on the epigram to Sir Henry Cary,
" The first Lord Falkland, son of Sir Edward
"Cary, and father of the gallant Henry, Lord
" Falkland." For " Henry " it should be
`Lucius." The mistake is set tight at page
240 in the "Underwoods," when the note
mentions "Sir Lucius Cary, better known as
" the gallant Lord Falkland." We must observe,
also, that Mr. Bell has omitted to supply a
table of contents, which is much wanted, for
convenience.

The general character of the annotation
does high credit to the editor. We think that
Mr. Bell has, beyond question, taken a higher
degree in letters by this serial publication. He
may be excelled in minute learning by some of
his contemporaries (though there is no defi-
ciency in that respect), but few unite so much
vigour of dissertation with such variety of
knowledge, There is no symptom of flagging
on his part ; and we think that this publica-
tion of " the Annotated Poets " improves as
it advances. It is remarkably cheap ; the
type and paper are excellent, and the literary
illustration is distinguished by scholarship
and manly sense.

Bacon's Essays. With Annotations by Richard
Whately, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin.
London : J. W. Parker and Son.

Da. WHATELY is still a busy man, and he has
such happy confidence in his powers that no
subject comes amiss to his hand. With his
reputation a very moderate amount of labour
will go a long way. His intellect is of the
confident bustling class which he eulogises
in one of his commentaries here—the class
which is tolerably sure of success through
having no dread of failure. The character is
not uncommon in our day ; it is well fitted for
the hard, rough work of professional life, and
of course attains far greater success than the
more gifted, but more sensitive and scrupu
lons, class of mind A good parallel might be
drawn bstween the Archbishop of Dublin and
the Lord Chief Justice ; and numerous other
persons who in our ago have worked their wity
to high station, might not unaptly be classed
with them. Such men originate nothing ;
though sometimes they have the perception,
and so far the merit, to discern the value of
ideas before they become common, and
to discern in them germs of power and
popularity. Usually the fame of such men
expires before their life. The higher intelli-
gence which their audacity dominates for a
time, asserts its superiority, and leaps before
them. They are mechanical workers, not
masters in their path of pursuit.
In Dr. Whatelv's rationalism there is nothing
original. It is but the rationalism of such
w. titers as Paley, carried to the point at which
sure to break down. Tho Archbishop's
mind is acute, but not inventive, and still less
profound. His ideas run in a mould of formal-
unu• Compared with such theological writers