THE STAR CHAMBER,

VOL. I. PART I.

FOR APRIL 19—JUNE 7,

1826.

“He would diverse times goe into the Star Chamber, as occasion would serve: there he spared neither high nor lowe, but judged every estate according to his merits and desertes.”

CAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY.

LONDON:

WILLIAM MARSH, 145, OXFORD STREET.

iv

CONTENTS.

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>Page</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>The Dunciad of To-day, continued</td><td>91</td></tr><tr><td>Parliamentary Jobs. No. II. The Famine Job</td><td>101</td></tr><tr><td>Hazlitt's Plain Speaker</td><td>105</td></tr><tr><td>Croker's Fairy Legends</td><td>105</td></tr><tr><td>De Vavasour</td><td>106</td></tr><tr><td>Society of Antiquaries</td><td>106</td></tr><tr><td>Vindiciæ Judiciales; the Authority of the Great Tribunal asserted</td><td>111</td></tr><tr><td>A Key to Vivian Grey</td><td>114</td></tr><tr><td>Distress in Spital-Fields</td><td>117</td></tr><tr><td>The Modern Æsop. No. I.</td><td>118</td></tr><tr><td>Managerial Illustrations of Falstaff</td><td>121</td></tr><tr><td>Museum Criticum, or Cambridge Classical Researches</td><td>122</td></tr><tr><td>The Fielding MSS.</td><td>127</td></tr><tr><td>The Modern Æsop. No. II.</td><td>135</td></tr><tr><td>Impudence and Idiotism, or the Rival Insurance Companies</td><td>136</td></tr><tr><td>Charles Butler's Reply to the Quarterly</td><td>137</td></tr><tr><td>Missolonghi</td><td>138</td></tr><tr><td>A Description of 1826, written one hundred years ago</td><td>143</td></tr><tr><td>MS. Notes on the Police, by the celebrated Sir John Fielding</td><td>144</td></tr><tr><td>Poor Mrs. Goulding of Clapham, a Romance</td><td>145</td></tr><tr><td>Dissolution of Parliament, and Adjournment of the Star Chamber</td><td>149</td></tr></tbody></table>

THE STAR CHAMBER.

No. 1.] WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19th, 1826. [Price 6d.

SCENE.—An apartment in No. 112, Pall-Mall, the residence of Hilary Dart, Esquire. The room is thirty feet by twenty-eight. The walls are covered with a purple paper, studded with golden stars. At the end of the room is a portrait of his Majesty, painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and presented by the King to Mr. Dart.

On each side of the royal portrait are suspended those of

Sir Walter Scott, Bart. John Wilson Croker, Esq. M. P.

The Chevalier Von Weber. The Duke of Wellington.

William Cobbett, Esq. N. M. Rothschild, Esq.

Baron Goethe. President Bolivar.

Prince Talleyrand. Prince Metternich.

On each of the pier slabs is a marble bust; one of Lord Byron, by Bertolini, and the other of Napoleon, by Canova, both presented to Mr. Dart by the illustrious deceased. Engraved portraits of Grimaldi, Portier, Kean, and Liston, adorn the mantel-piece. Mr. Fitz-Eldon, Mr. Babel, and Mr. Hilary Dart, are seated at a table, which, besides anchovy-toast, olives, and Lafitte, bears two massy volumes, one of them bound in black calf, with bronze clasps, and the other in red morocco, with golden clasps. A file of letters is placed between the two volumes.

MR. HILARY DART.

And so, Mr. Fitz-Eldon, you have determined on not having a prospectus?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Decidedly: it is not, however, from any inability to prepare or to procure one; for, to say no more, here is a most magnificent performance of Horrid Twist's, which, if I approved of the prospectus system at all, would, I feel confident, produce a great sensation. It begins with "Man in a savage state," and ends with "the liberal spirit of this enlightened age," taking in the Crusades, Columbus, and the French revolution *en passant*.

MR. HILARY DART.

Very kind of Twist—I shall put him down in the Red Book with a single cross.

MR. BABEL.

Yes! as a well-wisher, whose articles are not to be admitted.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Be kind enough, Dart, to give me that file of letters. It is time that we should proceed to business.

MR. HILARY DART.

Certainly. Let us, however, first fill our glasses to our gracious and ever-beloved Sovereign, who, I assure you, takes a most

2 THE STAR CHAMBER.

particular interest in our success. His portrait is quite an addition to my collection.

MR. BABEL.

Are they all by Lawrence?

MR. HILARY DART.

All. I intend that they shall be open to the public twice a week; and, of course, leave them after my death to the National Gallery.

MR. BABEL.

On condition, I suppose, that it inhabits a fashionable situation.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

What trash is the tattle now in vogue about the unfashionable situation of our public buildings! Suppose they build a new Museum in Pall-Mall; what security have they, that in a quarter of a century the court end of the town may not be the vicinity of the Regent's Park?

MR. HILARY DART.

To be sure; instead of being, as it now is, the Calcutta of London, so dead and solitary, that as you walk down Portland-place, it looks as if all the inhabitants were at the Burmese war.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Our first answer is from Canning, and I confess to you I'm disappointed. I hardly know what the Secretary is driving at —cold and diplomatic—and my request so trifling!

MR. HILARY DART.

What might it be?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

A bagatelle! I merely asked him for a first-rate "Dissertation on the past, present, and future foreign Policy of Great Britain," and he scarcely promises it! I'm afraid he's spoilt! He has kept too much company of late with the political economists, and other uneducated people.

MR. HILARY DART.

Nay! nay! I should be sorry to say that of any man! The truth is, Canning's situation is peculiar, and he has grown timid. But Charles Ellis was with me this morning, and I have no doubt —it's a delicate subject to speak about—I don't wish to commit myself—but I repeat, I have little doubt, that the glories of the Anti-Jacobin will be revived. The greatest men must have their hours of relief; and surely on Saturday nights, freed from the tainted atmosphere of St. Stephen's, a great man must find a glorious relaxation—in dashing off a comic song.

MR. BABEL.

Our pages are open to all; I hope you impressed that.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

"Open to all, and influenced by none," as the newspapers say, when they wish to be bribed.

3

THE STAR CHAMBER.

MR. HILARY DART.

By the bye, while we remember it, Charles Ellis is a most admirable fellow; put him down in the Red Book with three stars against his name. The West Indies must not be forgotten.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

A polite letter from Peel. He'll do any thing.

MR. HILARY DART.

Let him have prepared immediately a luminous resumé of his "Consolidation Career." His private secretary, or one of his working barristers, can draw it up, and he can afterwards throw his eye over it. The public want it, and we'll insert it in an early number.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

It's singular! but it's the very thing he has offered. Here is an angry letter from Huskisson; I almost regret that I took the course I did, but I was determined that he should not complain of being addressed unprepared. After the manner of mankind, he grumbles instead of being grateful.

MR. BABEL.

Has Wilmot Horton answered?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

I see no letter of his. What can he mean by this conduct? I'm extremely offended. Open the black-book.

Mr. Babel opens the black-book, and enters a minute as dictated by Mr. Fitz-Eldon:—

Mr. Wilmot Horton, three crosses. See Canada Company, p. 1. See interview with Lord Bathurst, p. 2. Mr. Galt to be recommended to adopt Mr. Wilmot Horton as the hero of his next novel, and to print the letters received by him, in three volumes quarto, under the title of "The Wilmot Papers."

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Unless we receive a letter from Mr. Horton immediately, satisfactorily explaining the reason of his not answering, I will thank you, Babel, to draw up an article on the mode of transacting business in the Colonial Office for one of our earliest numbers.

MR. BABEL.

These are excellent anchovies. Where do you get them?

MR. HILARY DART.

I generally get my Italian stuff from Morel's. These anchovies, however, were given me by Prince Baccioli of Lucca, who married one of the Buonapartes. They came from Marseilles in glass bottles, with a guard of cavalry to the coast. There never was any thing like them in this country before. I sent a dozen bottles to the Duke of York, who has half promised to try them with this Lafitte some night. Suppose we drink his health?

AMBO.

Most certainly. Here's to the noble York!

4

THE STAR CHAMBER.

MR. HILARY DART.

The noble York! The fish we generally purchase in this
country for anchovies, are Sardinias. The way to detect the
imposition is by boiling them. The Sardinia will not melt,
whereas the very bones of these Baccioli anchovies, are liquid in
five minutes.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Another toast, and to business; if you'll allow me I'll take
that brown one. A kind letter from the Bishop of Chester.

MR. HILARY DART.

He, I trust, agrees to conduct our ecclesiastical department.
He can do it at the same time with the sacred caution of a priest
and the bold policy of a statesman. He's the only churchman,
however, who can.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

The late episcopal appointments have been very satisfactory.
The death of Shute Barrington was a great loss to the Church:
there was no man who infused more spirit into its members.
His patronage of Philpotts, Townsend, Gilly, with many others,
demonstrated, at the same time, his discrimination and his
disinterestedness.

MR. BABEL.

Have you seen a curious pamphlet by the Bishop of Salisbury,
written to prove that Milton was not the author of the *Idea
Theologia*?

MR. HILARY DART.

No, I never heard of it; but I can easily fancy what kind of
thing it is. His lordship is the boldest promulgator of para-
doxes, and the weakest supporter of them, that I ever was ac-
quainted with—-a Warburton with a tertian age!

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

He is, however, a pious and learned gentleman, although a
sceptic as to the digamma, and superstitious as to the 1 John,
v. 7.

MR. BABEL.

Any letter from Copleston?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Yes; and very satisfactory. He wishes to review Brougham's
inaugural discourse, on his installation as Lord Rector of the Lon-
don University. I sent it him in confidence. I hardly think,
however, taking every thing into consideration—the kindness of
Brougham, and the readiness with which he confided it to us—
that we should allow any one to review it except the Lord Rector
himself—that, I believe, is the way they treat him in the Edin-
burgh; and when people have their ways you know—

MR. HILARY DART.

Certainly; when men have once got into a habit of reviewing
their own works, it is astonishing what a disinclination they
evince to having their works reviewed by others.

THE STAR CHAMBER.

5

MR. BABEL.

Very astonishing! I wish you'd pass the bottle. The file
is still thick, Fitz-Eldon.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Sir Walter! not what I expected. The Baronet seems to imagine that improvising a dozen octavos per annum, and editing and writing prefaces to fifty more, is enough employment for his grey goose quill. Sadly changed must he be, since last I breathed in his fair castle of Abbotsford! I remember when we wrote Quentin Durward, which was the last that I assisted him in, he did two volumes to my one, and wrote the lives of all the English novelists, and half a hundred chansons to boot within the fortnight, although I never saw him touch a pen the whole time.

MR. HILARY DART.

The next is Mr. Southey—*Doctor Southey*, as the ideots call
him, thinking themselves extremely accurate and knowing. He
is *not* Dr. Southey, inasmuch as he does not choose to assume
the title. He is *not* Dr. Southey one jot more than the thousand
D. C. L.'s who are about the kingdom. I suppose we shall
have Dr. Heber and Dr. Croker next. Dr. Croker! it would
sound very respectable.

MR. BABEL.

What says Southey?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Here it is, a long letter in his usual small, accurate hand-
writing, without a blot; full of himself—his honourable self, all
must confess—elegant and egotistical.

MR. BABEL.

I think a review of his "Peninsular War," by Colonel Napier,
or Major Hamilton Smith, would be desirable.

MR. HILARY DART.

Unfortunately "The Peninsular War, by Robert Southey,"
is not the Peninsular War, by Arthur Duke of Wellington.
Depend upon it, the *militaires* would cut up his tactics most
terribly.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Moore writes, and wishes us to revive the old, wholesome taste
for epigrams. He promises us a speedy contribution, and ad-
vises us, if we approve of his idea, not to neglect Rogers.

MR. BABEL.

Rogers is a first-rate poet. Write him to that effect. Praise
"Italy," and ask him for some two-liners.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Hallam is so full of his quartos, that I suppose we must take
that as an excuse for his not answering. I shall, therefore, post-
pone my opinion of their merits until next Tuesday night. In
the meantime, we shall, most probably, hear from him. Have

6

THE STAR CHAMBER.

you seen by any chance a work, by a Mr. Spence, of the Chancery
bar, "On the Origin of Legal Institutions?"

MR. BABEL.

I have; and a more erudite and masterly production I
have not met with for years. I was particularly pleased with
the calm and simple style in which the book is written. In the
present day, when men seem to have lost the power of writing
as men should always speak—in a manly, straightforward style—
this is something as extraordinary as delightful.

MR. HILARY DART.

Yes; the writers of the present day, both in prose and verse,
are like eunuchs in ecstacies.

MR. BABEL.

Some attention should be paid to the labours of the Sub-commissioners of Records. Would it not be advisable that some of them should be spoken to about preparing a report for us? They are most of them able and enlightened men, and you'd have little difficulty in obtaining their assistance.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

It is a most important department. Petrie, or Palgrave, or
some of that set, should be written to immediately. How came
we to neglect them?

MR. HILARY DART.

Here are letters from Coleridge, Sir Humphrey Davy, D'Is-
raeli, and Dr. Young—all promising every thing!

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Take them at their word—never let men cool. Ask Cole-
ridge for an "Essay on the parallel chain of Eternal Reason in the
Human and Canine Species;" Davy for a "Review of the Rise
and Progress of Experimental Philosophy;" and D'Israeli for
"A third series of Curiosities of Literature." As for Dr. Young,
he's a most excellent man; but they're not going on in the most
satisfactory manner about Psammis and Psammetichus; and
therefore, Babel, I wish you'd take that business into hand
immediately—you'd settle it in a week. Here, by the bye, is a
letter from your friend Mezzofanti. I forget which of you two
is master of most languages?

MR. BABEL.

The Professor has lately completed the Coptic, and is at pre-
sent one a-head; but I am hard at work at the Sandwich Isles,
and, in the course of a week, I've no doubt the odds will be
changed.

MR. HILARY DART.

How is that?

MR. BABEL.

Oh! it's a new language, and a new language goes for two.
Mezzofanti is now master of forty-eight, and can speak twenty-
eight fluently.

7

THE STAR CHAMBER.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

This letter of Chateaubriand really contains such a masterly
exposé of the present state of parties in France, that I think it
should be translated immediately. He's very desirous of our
complying with the request of Madame de Genlis; and to oblige
him, I suppose we must.

MR. BABEL.

What is the title of the work she proposes to transmit us?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

"La Pucelle d'Orleans," pour les Dames.

MR. HILARY DART.

Have it, by all means!—pious and piquant, I’ve no doubt.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Talleyrand agrees to be our Parisian correspondent. Besides
the Prince, Chateaubriand, and the Old Lady, there is scarcely a
single French writer, whose assistance we need trouble ourselves
to obtain. Arlincourt is a miserable *imbecille*, and I’ve no idea
of accepting his offer of a new geological romance, under the
title of "*L'Inconnu, ou Sromfredevi en Suisse.*"

MR. HILARY DART.

Decidedly not; I question, however, whether it would not be
advisable occasionally to give a *Vaudeville*, by Scribe.

MR. BABEL.

Scribe's *Vaudevilles* are not intended to be read. French poetry is of course excommunicated, at least their serious poetry.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Certainly—none of their *oh toïs!* in the Star Chamber, and
therefore we must return a civil refusal to this urgent applica-
tion of La Martine. Not so, however, to this epistle; it is
from a man, whose portrait ought perhaps to have been suspended
on these classic walls.

MR. HILARY DART.

Who is the illustrious one?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

De Beranger !!! (*a loud shout of applause.*) He not only
wishes us success, but encloses a *chanson* for our first number.
Behold!

MR. BABEL.

I immediately enter him in the Red Book, three crosses starred.

MR. HILARY DART.

We need no literary correspondents in Spain, or Portugal, or
Italy. The cleverest men of each of these nations are resident in
this town; and their absence from their native countries does not
in the least incapacitate them from accurately representing their
national literatures: for the features of their national litera-
tures are not variable.

MR. BABEL.

Besides, I imagined it was quite understood, that we were to
leave twaddle about Dante, Petrarch, and Ariosto, to Stewart

8

THE STAR CHAMBER.

Rose and the Lady's Magazine. Germany is a grand fountain-head of erudition and genius, and I think we need not be fearful of any neglect of that mighty land. Ourselves all admirable German scholars, and one of us in familiar correspondence with Augustus Schlegel,—there is, I trust, little chance of the pages of the Star Chamber being accused of inattention to the political and literary progress of this most interesting of countries.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Schlegel leads, however, a retired life.

MR. BABEL.

Yes, at Bonn, which he seldom quits; but he corresponds extensively.

MR. HILARY DART.

Angelo Mai, I think, should be written to, however. It will be interesting to the public to have an accurate and regular report of his voyages of discovery round the Vatican library.

MR. BABEL.

Talking of Mai, I have here a very urgent letter from Victor Cousin, requesting us to insert in our pages a *Catalogue Raisonnée* of the MSS. in the Ambrosian Library at Milan.

MR. HILARY DART.

Write him that it is impossible for us to insert it, but that you will edit and publish it, under our sanction. Put down the Star Chamber for five copies, and dedicate it to his Majesty.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Victor Cousin is a most ingenious Gaul; and if he did not carry on a humbugging correspondence with that bean-avoiding Pythagorean, Tom Taylor, it would really be in my power to speak of him in terms of unqualified praise.

MR. HILARY DART.

Taylor has sent us a MS. of a Doxology to the Demiurgus. I suppose it must not be inserted without having previously been examined by the Bishop of Chester?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Taylor is a miserable enthusiast. My late excellent and deceased friend, the Duke of Norfolk, told me one day after dinner, that the modern Proclus once entrusted him in confidence with a project for reviving the unextinguishable lamp of the ancients; which, however, only burnt ten hours, and went out with a horrid stench of lamp oil, Irish blackguard, and frankincense; leaving my noble friend and the Platonic projector rolling among the bottles, the internal light of their minds having been long extinguished!

MR. BABEL.

But talking of Mai, I have lately made a very curious discovery in the learned Abbate's way, myself. When I was at Rome, some seasons ago, I purchased, with the advice of my late highly-

THE STAR CHAMBER.

9

gifted friend Gonsalvi, the library of a necessitous convent; one of the MSS. which was apparently the "Vision of St. Ulric," a very dull monkish rhapsody, turns out to be a palimpsest of the most rare and curious description—no less than an accurate report of the proceedings of the Roman Senate, from U. C. 326, to U. C. 687. The first and second books are wanting, but I have already deciphered the third, and it shall appear, with some explanatory notes, before the dissolution.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

This is, indeed, a very miraculous discovery! I congratulate you, most learned Babel, upon an event which must surely make your old blood dance again. Are the proceedings interesting?

MR. BABEL.

Extraordinarily so! The one on the question of the expediency of a free trade with Carthage will throw much light upon important questions now in agitation before our own Senate.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Let this book then be prepared immediately. Valpy has courteously offered a treatise on the digamma.

MR. BABEL.

Let him finish his Thesaurus first, and then we'll talk to him. I'll make a memorandum to speak to him accordingly in 1855, when the *magnum opus* may perhaps be completed, being two hundred and fifty years sooner than was originally intended.

MR. HILARY DART.

Has Weber sent us the dirge on Mr. Huskisson, which he promised?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Yes; and I admire it extremely. When transposed into G, and adapted to a full orchestra, it will beat the dead march in Saul hollow.

MR. BABEL.

Did you attend Evans's last sale of Thorpe's books?

MR. HILARY DART.

I did, and bought the illustrated Pennant, which I intend to present to our library.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

I've not yet seen it; but I understand the binding is magnificent.

MR. HILARY DART.

Magnificent! that is a mean word. Lewis has an annuity of three thousand per annum, merely for the blind-tooling.

MR. BABEL.

Have you a poetess, Fitz-Eldon?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Not yet; but I'm in expectation of forming an engagement of a very interesting description. At present, however, I am not

10

THE STAR CHAMBER.

suited. Is there any love-sick young lady in the vicinity of London, any Sappho of a suburb, whom you can recommend?

MR. HILARY DART.

There is a young lady, but I am not at liberty to mention her name: she will contribute under the initials of A. B. C. Here, indeed, is a very beautiful composition of hers—"The Lovesick Leviathan." Shall I recite it?

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

For Heaven's sake, spare me!—I never was in a more prosaic humour in my life. I must be off to the Opera.

MR. HILARY DART.

And I shall to *Lady Mary's*.

MR. BABEL.

Alas! Dart, have you not given up that terrible practice yet? Bring us all the scandal you can.

MR. FITZ-ELDON.

Not, however, for the Star-chamber; *(addressing the reader, and pressing his hand to his heart)* we will never court your patronage by dwelling on the failings of our feebler fellow-creatures !

AMBO.

Bravo! Bravo!

*(exeunt omnes.)*

De Beranger has forwarded us the following Chanson. Its application to our own Subscription-mania, makes us doubly grateful for his kindness :—

LA SOUSCRIPTION.

I.

Ah ! vive la bienfaisance,
C'est la vertu de nos jours,
On n'entend parler en France,
Que de donner des secours.
Perdez-vous votre maison,
Vite une souscription :
Certain pauvre de Clichy-
S'en trouve bien Dieu merci ;
Si son caissier ne le triche,
Encore un pareil malheur,
Et le pauvre sera riche
Plus que certain souscripteur.

II.

Pour nos guerriers mutilés
En Amérique exilés,
Je me suis fait souscripteur,
C'est une dette d'honneur ;
Des effets de l'arbitraire,
Victimes, redoutez moins ;
Souscription volontaire
Doit veiller à vos besoins ;
De cette souscription,
Nationale est le nom ;
Moi je me suis caché, car
Je n'en prendrai pas ma part.

III.

Un fanatique en furie,
Par un horrible attentat
De Berry trancha la vie,
Au sortir de l'Opéra.
Etant mort, je croyais bien
Qu'il n'aurait besoin de rien ;
Je me trompe, puisqu'il faut
Souscrire pour un tombeau ;
Ses parens fort à leur aise
Auraient bien pu cependant,
Seuls faire, ne leur deplaise,
Tous les frais du monument.

IV.

Mais rien n'est beau, rien n'est bon,
Que par la souscription.
Et moins on en a besoin,
Plus on y porte de soin ;
Partout le projet est mince
Pour ne pas dire honteux,
De demander pour un prince
Les deniers du malheureux ;
Au père il faut un tombeau,
Au fils il faut un château,
Souscrivant et par raison
En gros j'ai tracé mon nom.

THE STAR CHAMBER.

11

V.

J'ai souscrit pour les chaumières ;
J'ai souscrit pour le château ;
J'ai souscrit pour le Voltaire ;
J'ai souscrit pour le Rousseau ;
J'ai souscrit pour les incendiés :
Pour les Grecs, et pour les blessés ;

Pour les grands, morts et vivans,
Je souscris depuis long-temps ;
Bref, je suis dans la misère,
Tant j'ai souscrit et je crois
Que l'on ne pourrait mieux faire
Que de souscrire pour moi.

On a celebrated architect assuming an additional monosyllable to his former title.

What means, Mr. Wyatt, this premature zeal?
Why add to your old name the new one of Ville?
Wait patiently, friend, till you're laid in your bed,
For you know every calf becomes veal when it's dead.

On an unknown lady being *encore* in the character of Puck, on the first representation of Weber's Oberon.

Oh favour unbounded! to grant an *encore*
To a lady who never was heard of before!
Pray tell me her name;—*my astonishment's check'd,—
No wonder that *Cawse* should produce an *effect*!

T. M.

NOTES ON THE QUARTERLY REVIEW,
BY THE ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTORS.

It is not difficult to perceive, to whose pen we are indebted for the article on Pepys' *Memoirs*, which graces the commencement of No. LXVI. of the Quarterly Review. It is a production worthy of the Author of Waverley, and may compensate in a great degree for the procrastinated appearance of the much desired "Woodstock." Pepys' *Memoirs* have now been before the public for a considerable period, and have been noticed, we believe, in every periodical, from the Edinburgh Review down to the Literary Chronicle. Their most piquant passages have been quoted and requoted; their peculiarities of style, and thought, and feeling, have been dwelt upon by a thousand writers, and have alike amused us at our dinner-tables, and in our libraries yet such is the power of a mind like Sir Walter Scott's, that, even at this late hour, he has actually produced a review, which, if possible, is more interesting than the work itself: we do not hesitate to say, that to the general reader it must prove infinitely more instructive.

Nothing is, in general, more delightful than the perusal of contemporary *Memoirs*; but nothing is in general more difficult than to ascertain in what degree that perusal is instructive. The light which such publications throw upon our national history,

12

THE STAR CHAMBER.

the illustrations which they present of our manners, and the
origins which they adduce of our modes of thinking, the various
branches of knowledge and curiosity in which they afford novel
information—all these are points which it is difficult for the
general reader to collect, as he wades through the mighty pages
of modern quartos, though they will be read but to little pur-
pose if he leaves them unascertained. Now all this is ascer-
tained and pointed out to us by the article in the Quarterly, in a
manner, which, for luminous and logical arrangement, has per-
haps rarely been equalled. You close it with a grand result in
your mind. The philosophy of the work is developed; and, had
this article in the Quarterly been, as it should have been, the In-
troductory Preface of my Lord Braybrooke, the sale of Pepys'
Memoirs would have been immense.

Article 2 on "Waterton's Wanderings" is done in Barrow's most workmanlike manner. Waterton is the modern Munchausen. The Reviewer's lecture, however, on the enormity of the prefixed portrait of "a Nondescript" is blundering beyond conception. This portrait is one of Waterton himself; and is illustrative of the effects produced on a portly Yorkshire squire, by sojourning in the woods of Guiana, being sucked nightly by vampires, riding caymen, wrestling with Coulacanaras, and drinking a pint of Wourali regularly every morning before breakfast.

On Waterton's last return, he was very full of an invention or
discovery, for preserving furs, and the present Duke of Northum-
berland introduced him one day to Schneiders, the furrier.

"This, Mr. Schneiders, is my friend, Mr. Waterton!" Schneiders bowed to the ground, with his usual unmeaning phrase—"Don't mention it, your Grace, don't mention it!"

"I introduce him to you, Mr. Schneiders," continued his
Grace, "because he has recently made a discovery, which cannot
fail to be interesting to gentlemen of your craft; and I shall feel
much pleased if it prove of service to you."

"Don't mention it, your Grace; don't mention it," said Mr.
Schneiders, with glistening eyes.

"My friend, Mr. Waterton, has ascertained beyond doubt,
that by a most simple process, furs may be made—to last for
ever!"

"Don't mention it, your Grace; don't mention it!" shrieked
the furrier in despair.

The article on Greek Courts is of course by Mitchell, and
if he would only incorporate his notes in the text, in place of
his very dull jokes and most elaborate witticisms, we should
perhaps have been able to read it:—as it is, we really are quite
wearied of the scrapings of the common-place book of the
translator of Aristophanes; and if we are again to have the mis-
fortune of meeting him in the Q. R., we trust that he will be able

THE STAR CHAMBER.

13

to treat grave subjects in a grave spirit. Had Mr. Mitchell flou-
rished in the city of the Violet Crown, he may rest assured that
he never would have become a comic writer, and therefore in
future—spare us, oh! late Fellow of Sidney-Sussex,—spare us
your fun!

The article on Reason and Revelation should not have been
admitted. Unless a master-spirit will write on such a subject, a
journal like the Quarterly Review had better leave it alone.

The next essay, by Southey, is a good supplement to the Book
of the Church. It is, as usual, pleasantly written, and the poli-
tical point is well worked out. The Laureate appears to have
a sincere affection for Milner, although his antagonist. As the
Magazines say, "this is as it should be."

THE POLITICAL IMPORTANCE OF OUR AMERICAN COLOMINES
is ably demonstrated in a most masterly article. We have not
been able to procure Haliburton's pamphlet;—it should be re-
printed in this country instantly. Why is not something done
about the Canada Company?

The attack on that creature M'Culloch is well managed; but
what is the use of striking at these small deer? Such things as
this M'Culloch, or the Political Economy Club—the dullest
charlatans that ever palmed fatuity on a slumbering public—are
not the causes, as some think, but only the natural consequences
of our present most unnatural state. When is merry England
to be freed from the cursed embrace of prating sciolists? We
must strike high, not wreak our vengeance on an itinerant lec-
turer.

We do not allude to the Chancellor of our Exchequer: Mr.
Robinson is the most good-natured man that ever presumed to
be ambitious. Far be it from us to withhold from him the
boon of our contemptuous lenity! Let him resign, and be for-
gotten.

In the remarks on the Poor-laws, it is proved that they did not
originate in the dissolution of the monasteries; regulations for
the support of the poor having been found necessary so early as
the 12th of Richard the Second. The increase of pauperism is
here attributed to the abolition of feudal retainers, and the ab-
sorption of small estates into larger ones, increased, in some
degree, by the dissolution of monasteries. Many other matters
relating to certain abuses connected with, and springing out of,
the poor laws, are ably handled. We cannot, however, agree
with the writer, in his ideas concerning the principles of popula-
tion; for if we were to calculate on the average he has quoted,
the result would be, that the population of England had de-
creased since the year 1550, in a proportion of nearly three-tenths.

14

THE STAR CHAMBER.

The article on IRISH ABSENTEES is unanswerable. The account which is given of the progressive improvement of the great Sutherland estate is in the highest degree interesting.

Art. 9. is on what the Reviewer terms, " Novels of Fashionable Life."

The publication of Tremaine created a great sensation. It required but little observation to perceive that it was the work of an elegant, matured, original, and philosophical mind. It was evidently the result of deep reflection. The public immediately understood it, and appreciated it as a classical production. And now, when the work has seized on the attentions of many far beyond the giddy circles of the novel-reading world, when the moral principles of which it treats, and religious opinions which it developes, are subjects of doubt and dispute,—steps in the Quarterly, forsooth, neither to share in the discussion nor to decide it, but gravely to inform us, that the volumes contain two French blunders, and one English one!

Tremaine is also classed, and unfavourably compared with two works called "Matilda," and "Granby." "Matilda" is a little book, by Lord Normanby, modestly entitled "A Tale of the Day:" it might with more propriety have been christened "A Tale of the Hour." There is no particular harm in it. It is much the sort of thing which any young man of fashion and average acquirement would have written on a spring morning after luncheon, and which, next season, he would have been particularly ashamed of: his shame, however, being perfectly unnecessary, the little sin being utterly forgotten by every one—except his bookseller. Matilda is assuredly just the style of production, to compare with a work written to assert a Providence, and vindicate Heaven's ways to man!

"Granby" is, we understand, from the pen of Thomas Cosnett, the author of "The Butler's Remembrancer, and the Footman's Directory," and is a production much inferior to this latter most useful and popular publication. But the first work of men of genius is generally the favourite!

There is a quantity of "small criticism" ("I thank you, Jew, for teaching me that word!") in this article of the Quarterly, of the most contemptible description. This word-snapping is scarcely endurable, even where there is some foundation for the captiousness. In the present case, the Reviewer, in spite of his snarling, is generally himself in error. Thus one of the great sins of the author of Tremaine, is his use of the word "crapulence." The Reviewer "marvels where he found this term." We marvel at the ignorant insolence that penned this wondering paragraph, without previously consulting the great authority of our language. We recommend the reviewer immediately to open

THE STAR CHAMBER.

15

his Johnson, and he will find in goodly characters, and backed by greater authority than himself, the very word which he conceitedly conceived was the coinage of a modern novelist.

There are also some random observations in this article on the very capital scene in Tremaine of the public day in Yorkshire. The Reviewer is evidently some fellow who wishes to convey the idea that he has been tolerated in good society; and, to prove his audacious pretensions, he unblushingly descants upon "the vulgarity" of addressing a lady as "Mrs. High Sheriff." Had the Reviewer really been a guest at the Lord Lieutenant's table, he would not have hazarded this unfortunate observation, and might have been cited as a witness to the spirited truth of the delineations which the author of Tremaine has given us of county manners. The flippant ignorance for which this article in the Quarterly is conspicuous, would have induced us to suppose that the author was a young man; but there is a senile feebleness mixed up with its crude frivolity, which forces us to believe, that, however the critic's mind may be benefited by reflection or "calomel," there is little chance of its being matured by age.

Art. 10.—The West India Question is at length delivered from the blundering scribe who has so long done his best for the destruction of the Colonies whose cause he has advocated. The present writer is unknown to us, but he may congratulate himself on having performed a right good work—unanswerable arguments, clothed in a masterly style, must infallibly succeed.

Barrow always saves us the trouble of reading quarto travels, and his review of Denham is particularly good.

The communications from a high quarter, which enrich the article on Sheridan, will tend to keep up the character of the Quarterly.

On the whole, this is the best number of the Quarterly Review which has appeared since we have ceased to write for it; and we congratulate Mr. Lockhart very heartily on his triumphant *debát*. If it will give him any satisfaction, we can tell him one thing; he need fear little from a thing called the Quarterly Theological Review, which (will the public credit it?) was established by some fanatics in opposition to the Quarterly; because, forsooth, the interests of the Church were not sufficiently supported in that Journal. In God's name, who are the spawners of this periodical imbecility?—destitute alike of the erudition of scholars, the urbanity of gentlemen, and the charity of Christians.

De Vavasour, the romance of the fourteenth century, is by Lord Blesinton. We shall take an early opportunity of reviewing the collected works of the noble family of Mountjoy, which now exceed in quantity the volumes of the Great Unknown.

We trust that Gaston de Blondeville is not merely a fragment. Mrs. Radcliffe was a woman of great genius: a numberless host

16

THE STAR CHAMBER.

of disgusting imitators caused the public mind to cool towards a great original; this was not very fair; we cannot understand why the sorrows of Santo Sebastiano, or similar trash, should have produced a more injurious effect on the reputation of Mrs. Radcliffe, than the vile drivelling now vomited forth under the title of historical novels, does on the fame of the author of Waverley.

We are unable to give any accurate information as to the new work called Vivian Grey, which that energetic publisher, Mr. Colburn, is about shortly to introduce to our notice. One account states that it is a spiritual production, a kind of supplement to Tremaine; by another we are informed, that it is extremely satirical, with portraits of living characters, sufficient to constitute a *National Gallery*. Last week it was whispered in the New Monthly that it was a second Don Juan, and that "the hero is to become acquainted with every literary and fashionable character in existence." As the New Monthly is Mr. Colburn's oracle, we suppose that this account must be considered as *official*; if so, we think that Mr. Vivian Grey will have sufficiently hard work.

Denham's work has been pre-eminently successful; we understand that it is very probable that a new edition will be called for. The *getting up* of this interesting and beautiful volume reflects infinite credit on Mr. Murray.

We understand that the account of Lord Byron's voyage to the Sandwich Isles, which is about to be published by Mr. Murray, is full of most interesting and curious particulars, and will be illustrated by some very singular plates. The dagger by which Captain Cook was slain has been brought over, as well as many relics of the great navigator.

Mr. Murray has shown great tact in republishing Mr. Sotheby's Oberon. The translation is a most masterly one. We wish that Mr. Sotheby would attempt Goethe's Faust.

We were not unmindful of the proceedings of the Royal Society on Thursday last. We shall immediately take that body into hand. Their brothers, the Antiquaries, are, we fear, past redemption. The imbecility which, under the title of a paper on beards, was produced and perused at their last meeting, exceeds belief.

We rejoice to find that the Royal Institution is again flourishing. It is, as a place of resort, infinitely preferable to any of the clubs. By the bye, we perceive that some gentlemen who have been black-balled at the Athenæum, have had the audacity again to place their names upon the books: unless they are immediately withdrawn, we shall publish them, with a circumstantial narrative of the whole black-balling process; and we will thank all members of clubs to communicate with us upon this and all other grievances. After our heavy subscriptions, and with our splendid establishments, it will be sufficiently mortifying if the society cannot be kept *select*. Any thing else it is vanity to suppose that the society of London clubs can aspire to be.

THE STAR CHAMBER.

17

A long and grievous account has been transmitted to us of the infamous hoax, which, under the name of the British Annuity Company, appears to have involved many poor sufferers. It is not our wish, at present, to dilate upon those schemes which compromised the characters of some, who ought to have remained the most respectable persons in the country; but we are informed that the prime agent in the above project has had the heartless impudence to threaten the public with his intention of becoming a member of the British Senate. Let him beware!

We shall keep a very strict eye upon all matters connected with the General Election; and we request communications from all quarters upon this important subject.

## EXHIBITIONS OF ART AT PRESENT OPEN.

EDINBURGH and MEXICO are the two most beautiful cities in the world; and the panoramic views of them at present exhibiting in the metropolis, are the two most beautiful ones that we have long beheld.

The PÆCILORAMA combines the excellencies of the Cosmorama and the Diorama. We should have been better pleased, however, if the proprietor had given us four instead of seven views. The exhibition might have been equally cheap, and more licence allowed to the magic pencil of Stanfield. Stanfield is one of the most splendid artists extant. He has revolutionized the art of scene-painting, one of the most delightful arts existing. He is worthy of the grand days of masques and regal revelry, and would have done as much justice to Ben Jonson's gorgeous creations, as Ingo Jones himself. As it is, with a thousand disadvantages, the scenery at Drury-Lane is unequalled by that of any theatre in the world, not even excepting the all perfect Opera at Darmstadt, where a grand duke is the director, and the first artists in Germany, the painters.

DIORAMA, REGENT'S PARK.—The interior of the chapel of Rosslyn, painted by M. Daguerre, is a masterly performance. The clustered columns of red granite, tinted with the mouldy green of age and by exposure to the air, are excellently relieved. The conical ceiling is enriched with carved bosses; and in the recess of each of the windows, is an exquisite Gothic niche, with a canopy. The look-out into the garden, through a door at the further end, is admirably managed, and the light-green tints, caused by the sun on the trees, are contrasted with the sombre and faded colour of the stone in the interior. On the right-hand side of the picture, an old door is thrown open, and the sun bursting through it, casts a strong light on the adjoining pillar. The branches of trees are seen creeping in at the open window. The attention of the spectator is drawn to the Apprentice's Pillar, a beautiful twisted Gothic column at the further end of the chapel, to which there is attached a tradition that a model of it having been sent from some foreign country, the master mason refused to execute the copy till he had seen the original. In his absence, his apprentice finished this pillar, and the master-mason, on his return, slew him in a fit of envy. A similar tale is attached to the beautiful rose-window in the north transept of St. Ouen, at Rouen, which was executed by an apprentice of the master of the works, in so superior a style, that he sacrificed him to jealousy, though some say that he actually hung himself, and left his more fortunate pupil to succeed him. In the view of Rouen, by M. Bouton, very little of what we may term the Dioramic effect is produced. That part of the painting which represents

18

THE STAR CHAMBER.

the town, is the best executed. The strong lights thrown on the barracks of the Champ de Mars, and the beautiful Gothic church of St. Maclou, are very well managed. The cathedral is kept in shade, in order that its lofty steeple (which is represented as it was before the fire in 1822) may stand out more perspicuously against the watery sunshine on the hill immediately behind it. Of the scenery to the left hand of the picture we do not think much. It is a task of great difficulty to represent happily the vast plain which is encircled by the hills in the neighbourhood of Rouen. Although it is magnificent in nature, like all other plains in Italy, Germany, or Poland, it must be managed with great ability to constitute a good picture.

### EXHIBITION OF THE SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS, SUFFOLK-STREET.—
No. 193. Manfred, by J. Martin. The wild glen, in which this scene is laid, is surrounded by dark rocks, with shrubs and trees scattered among the precipices. A torrent rushes down the mountain into the pool from which Manfred is seen evoking the witch of the Alps. She rises underneath an iris, which illuminates and gives a fairy brilliancy to that part of the picture. Mr. Martin has shown in his recent works, that his talent is not confined to the stupendous scenes of architectural magnificence of his Belshazzar. He is equally successful in aerial perspective, and represents vast space with as much effect in scenes of nature, as of architecture. His painting of the Deluge, now exhibiting at the British Institution, conveys a large portion of the horrors of the scene. Benjamin West's Deluge was merely a dull expanse of water, with a groupe which, like that in N. Poussin's Murder of the Innocents, was intended to stand for the whole. But Mr. Martin has not flinched from the subject. He has gone into the detail, and in the multitudes of figures, and variety of scene, has represented the different workings of the passions, and divers kinds of deaths. In the Manfred the scene is simple, but highly romantic, and adapted to the mysterious spell which calls forth from the still lake, "the Beautiful Spirit, with the hair of light, and dazzling eyes of glory."

There are several good pictures by J. Wilson. The most remarkable one of these, No. 182, the Morning after a Storm, deserves notice, more especially as it has been much abused. We recollect when Danby's picture of the Sunset after a Storm was exhibited at Somerset House, it was pronounced by half the amateur-connoisseurs of London, to be unnatural and ridiculous. The judgment, however, of Sir Thomas Lawrence, induced him to purchase it for himself. And a testimony was borne to the truth of the effect by Captain Lyon; who, in describing a sunset in the Northern regions, actually referred to that very picture, as an illustration of his recollections. Any one who has studied nature, may have seen effects similar to the one in this painting of Wilson's; and we think the execution of it, and the arrangement of the parts, extremely well managed. Perhaps the sky would bear a little more lighting up, but the whole is a very clever performance.

No. 130. A city of Ancient Greece. The return of a victorious army. W. Linton. Parts of this picture are extremely good; but we prefer Linton in his scenes of nature. His figures are bad, and his architectural visions being too gorgeous for reality, and moreover not very well executed, might as well be left to Soane or Nash, or some one with whom such fantasies better comport. No. 84. Cologne, by E. Stanfield, is a beautiful picture, very much after the style of Turner. The square-built Dutch vessels moored in the foreground, along the quays and the river, are beautifully put in. The stately, but unfinished cathedral, rises in the background above the houses immediately on the banks of the river.

No. 103, Interior of the Pantheon at Paris, 153, the Rue du Change, Rouen, and 284, the Church of St. Jacques at Dieppe, by D. Roberts, are in his best style. Roberts is unequalled in his pictures of the old houses, with their fantastic gable ends and carved ornaments, and streets swarming with the picturesque costume of a French town. The architecture of St. Jacques, with its rose-window and Gothic tower, forms a beautiful subject. In the view of Rouen, the gorgeous tower of the Abbey Church of St. Ouen is seen

THE STAR CHAMBER.

19

rising above the houses. The Pantheon, although in a different style of architecture, is equally well executed, and the massy columns and round domes are enlivened by the crowds of people represented in the body of the church.

### BRITTON'S CATHEDRAL ANTIQUITIES.—
The third number of Exeter Cathedral contains a view of the North Tower, engraved by Le Keux, and a view of the Cathedral, taken from the South-east, by Sands, from drawings by Rayner. The latter, if compared with a view of Wells, taken from a similar point, will show the difference between these two engravers. This is not said with any view to disparage the performances of Mr. Sands. He has executed many engravings which do him infinite credit; but there is a feeling as well as accuracy, which distinguishes the burin of Le Keux, unrivalled by any engraver in his line.—The monument of Bishop Bronescomb, by Le Keux, from a drawing by Gandy, is a fine specimen of the enriched Gothic altar tomb with an arched canopy. It bears the date of 1281, though from the style of the architecture we should be inclined to ascribe it to a later period.—Two other plates contain a series of the different varieties of tracery in the windows, for which this Cathedral is so eminent, and two compartments of the nave, in one of which is introduced the celebrated minstrels' gallery.—The cover is occupied with Mr. Britton's usual apollogies for delay, although we confess we think them absolutely unnecessary. Such delays are a matter of such common occurrence as to excite no astonishment; and we perfectly agree with Mr. Britton, that it is better to wait with patience, than to hurry the artist to execute a bad plate.—When we reflect on the multiplicity and variety of Mr. Britton's works, we are tempted to think that he must be indebted for some of them to the ingenious machine invented by the celebrated professor of the university of Lagado.

*The following Interesting and Important Works will shortly appear in the Star Chamber.*

1.

### THE DUNCIAD OF TO-DAY.

The following Authors, their executors, administrators and assigns, are requested to prepare themselves:—

Homer, Hemans, Byron, Barry Cornwall, Anacreon, Alaric Watts, Callimachus, Croly, Bishop Tomline, Leigh Hunt, Lady Morgan, Counsellor Phillips, Archdeacon Coxe, Lord Thurlow, Mrs. Shelley, The Ettrick Shepherd, Mr. Tennant, George Colman, Mr. Hazlitt, Wedderburne Webster, Mr. Milman, Dr. Dibdin, Bernard Barton, Mrs. Tighe, Barry O'Meara, Chandos Leigh, Dr. Valpy, The Northamptonshire Peasant, Miss Benger, Archdeacon Wrangham, William Lisle Bowles, Allan Cunningham, Mr. Heber, Lord Strangford, Mr. Wyatville, Horace Smith, Esq., James Smith, Esq., Mr. Colburn, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Galt, L. E. L., and the initial school, Ugo Foscolo, Mr. J. H. Wiffen, Dr. Lyall, Granville Penn, Lord John Russell, Horace Twiss, Mr. Haydon, Shergold Boone, Mr. Brougham, Major Maxwell, Lord Porchester, T. K. Hervey, Captain Medwin, Sir Aubrey de Vere Hunt, Mrs. H. Rolls, Lord Gower, Madame de Genlis, Rebecca Edridge, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. F. H. Bayly, Guy Penseval,