responsive rhyme; and partly to the mastery he seems to have over the metrical capabilities of the language. This must be the result of long practice as a versifier. Some of the rhymes are so unexpected and fantastical as to border upon wit; for instance, when Amarynthus exclaims,

O earth, or air, speak for the love of mercy,'

Enone replies,

Nature was dumb even to th' enchantress Circe.'

This reminds us too strongly of the ingenuity displayed by the authors of the "Rejected Addresses," in some of their burlesque ¡mitations: e. g. ' apotheosis' and 'tea-houses;' and again, Who a durable grave meant

To dig in the pavement.'

In serious poetry, any thing approaching to a trick of art, has an effect positively unpleasing. Upon the whole, however, we must confess ourselves to be much pleased with the versification of the poem, as well as with the management of the tale.

We regret that we cannot speak with equal approbation of the remaining contents of this volume. 'Lucy Milford' is said to be founded on a circumstance related to the Author, as having actually occurred, some years ago, upon the coast of 'Norfolk. We venture to affirm that the circumstances, as related, could not have occurred. We do not, of course, allude to the loss of the ship, or to the distraction of Lucy on the death of her lover such tragic incidents are but too natural. But the conduct of the imaginary itinerant, and the metamorphosis described as taking place in Milford, are so utterly unnatural and improbable, that we have no hesitation in saying that the Author's credulity has been imposed upon. But even had such an occurrence really taken place, can he seriously imagine that a poem on the subject is likely to have the effect of an exorcism on the illiberal spirit he deprecates? Does he even expect that his poetry will circulate among the supposed sect of religionists? We will tell him the only effect it will have: it will tend to aggravate the malignity of the ignorant prejudices entertained by a large class of poetical readers, against every form of Dissent, and every doctrine of Scriptural piety: it will do nothing more. The choice of subjects so unpleasing, putting aside their deviation from the truth of nature, is, we think, open to strong objections on the score of taste, similar to those which Fuseli has so well expressed in reference to painting:* it shews a great deficiency either of judgement or of sensibility.

We have done justice to the Author as a poet: we must do

* Vide page 131 of the present Number.

justice to our readers. It is bad policy, at this time of day, for an author to send out his poetry with the stamp of wanton impiety upon it. In the minor poems, the Author has thought proper to obtrude upon our notice, in no unequivocal language, the intimations of his utter contempt for the doctrines of revealed religion. Is it that he might with impunity insult the faith of his readers, that he has concealed his name? Is he conscious that the fame he may earn by his talents, would scarcely compensate him for the unenviable notoriety attaching to him as the panegyrist of Bysshe Shelley and the fellow-labourer with Leigh Hunt and Carlile? That his irreligion vents itself only in a few inuendos, as in the reference to the Trinity in the first sonnet, more distinctly in the sonnet to a Rose, and again, in that written in the porch of Binsted church,-might be admitted as some excuse, if these had the appearance of inadvertencies. If such they are, the Author will, for his own sake, expunge them in a new edition.

We must make room for the following poem, with the exception of the eleventh stanza, in which the Writer has been betrayed into what is no better than a conceit pointed with a pun: it is very simple and touching.

• THE CONTRAST;

Written under Windsor Terrace the day after the funeral
of George the Third.

I saw him last on this terrace proud,
Walking in health and gladness,

Begirt with his court; and in all the crowd,

Not a single look of sadness.

Bright was the sun, and the leaves were green,
Blithely the birds were singing,

The cymbal replied to the tambourine,

And the bells were merrily ringing.

I have stood with the crowd beside his bier,
When not a word was spoken;

But every eye was dimmed with a tear,
And the silence by sobs was broken.

I have heard the earth on his coffin pour,
To the muffled drums deep rolling;
While the minute gun with its solemn roar,
Drown'd the death-bell's tolling.

The time since he walk'd in his glory thus,
To the grave till I saw him carried,
Was an age of the mightiest change to us,
But to him a night unvaried.

We have fought the fight ;-from his lofty throne
The foe of our land we have tumbled;

And it gladden'd each eye, save his alone
For whom that foe we humbled.

A daughter beloved-a queen-a son-
And a son's sole child have perish'd;
And sad was each heart, save the only one
By which they were fondest cherish'd.

For his eyes were seal'd, and his mind was dark,
And he sat in his age's lateness,

Like a vision throned, as a solemn mark

Of the frailty of human greatness.
His silver beard o'er a bosom spread
Unvex'd by life's commotion,
Like a yearly-lengthening snow-drift shed
On the calm of a frozen ocean.
'O'er him oblivion's waters boom'd,

As the stream of time kept flowing;

And we only heard of our King when doom'd
To know that his strength was going.

He is gone at length; he is laid in dust;
Death's hand his slumbers breaking;
For the coffin'd sleep of the good and just
Is a sure and blissful waking.

His people's heart is his funeral urn,
And should sculptur'd stone be denied him,
There will his name be found, when, in turn,
We lay our heads beside him.'--

pp. 227.-30.

Art. VII. The Apocryphal New Testament; being all the Gospels, Epistles, and other l'ieces now extant, attributed in the first four Centuries to Jesus Christ, his Apostles, and their Companions, and not included in the New Testament by its Compilers. Translated from the original tongues, and now first collected into one volume. 8vo. pp. 251. Price 6s. London. (Hone.) 1820.

WE

E are not a little surprised by the declaration of the Editor of this volume, that, in publishing it, he has rendered an acceptable service to the theological student, and the ecclesiastical antiquary.' For these two classes of readers, it could not surely be necessary to provide the present publication, which neither announces any literary discovery, nor supplies any means of information otherwise inaccessible. The entire contents of this volume have long been familiar to 'ec'clesiastical antiquaries.' Theological students who have had to wait for its appearance before they could acquaint themselves with the various tracts which it comprises, must have been strangely unfortunate. Not to speak of such works as are rare and costly, but which are to be found in the library of every ecclesiastical antiquary,-the "Epistles of the Apostolical Fa

"thers," Barnabas, Ignatius, Clement, Polycarp, and Hermas, have long been in circulation among English readers in the translation of Archbishop Wake; and the remaining portions of this "Apocryphal New Testament," are all, without exception, to be found in Jones's valuable work on the Canonical, authority of the New Testament.

But if, indeed, the Editor intended an acceptable service to theological students,' we should imagine that he would have been anxious to render that service as complete and valuable as possible. How then, we should be glad to know, has it happened, that he has never once referred this class of readers to means of information on the subjects brought under their attention, more copious and more satisfactory than the brief notices prefixed to the respective tracts? The translation of the spurious Gospels in this volume, is verbatim the translation of Jeremiah Jones, copied from the second volume of his work on the Canon. No advertisement appears of this fact, though, with respect to the version of the Apostolical Epistles, which is that of Wake, the obligations of the Editor are properly acknowledged. In Jones's celebrated work, a full and particular account is given of each of the productions referred to, and its merits and pretensions are freely, fairly, and satisfactorily examined. Now to the theological student, nothing could be more desirable than to be furnished with a publication so replete with all the requisite means of examining and comprehending the entire subject as the "New and full Method of settling the canonical authority of the New Testament." Why the Editor has so carefully suppressed all mention of this important book, from which so large a portion of his own volume has been merely transcribed, it is not for us to assign reasons; but we should have, at least, had occasion to remark, if the omitted reference had been fairly made, that there was no appearance of disingenuous proceeding in his discharge of the duty of an Editor. It is true that the Rev. 'Jeremiah Jones' is more than once named in the prefaces to the first series of the tracts; but his work is never once mentioned; it never appears as the subject of one single reference throughout the volume. And this is the more reprehensible, inasmuch as to every reader of this collection of tracts, who may not happen to be previously acquainted with the real state of the case, the translation must appear to be the work of the present Editor. Thus, of one book we are told, that it is to be found in the works of Jerome from whence the present translation ' is made;' of another, that the original in Greek, from 'which this translation is made, will be found printed by Cote'lerius, in his notes on the constitution of the Apostles.' The reader should have been told, that the work of Jones on the VOL. XV. N. S.

Q

Canon had supplied the versions of these spurious Gospels and
Epistles.

The Editor commences his preface with the following query:
After the writings contained in the New Testament were se-
'lected from the numerous Gospels and Epistles then in exist-
ence, what became of the Books that were rejected by the
'compilers?' Would this Preface-writer then wish us to un-
derstand that, previously to the existence of the New Testa-
ment in its present form, some company or other of Christians,
duly assembled, gathered together all the written documents
circulating in their time, purporting to be Histories of the Sa-
viour, Gospels, Epistles, &c. from which such a selection was
made by them, as should on their authority be received and pass
current as the genuine writings of Evangelists and Apostles?
If such be the meaning of the introductory sentence of the
Preface which we have just quoted, it might have been as well
if some evidence, or, at least, some presumption, had been ad-
duced in its support. We are indeed told, that it has been sup-
posed by many that the volume was compiled by the first
council of Nice.' A supposition this which is purely gratui-
tous and not a little extravagant. It is, however, subsequently
stated by the Writer, that although it is uncertain whether the
books of the New Testament were declared canonical by the
Nicene Council, or by some other, or when or by whom they
were collected into a volume, it is certain that they were con-
⚫sidered genuine and authentic (with a few variations of opi-
nion as to some of them) by the most early Christian writers.'
It would seem, then, that the proper question to be asked in
relation to the Gospels, Epistles, and other Pieces, not in-
'cluded in the New Testament by its compilers,' should be,-
Why were these productions not received as being entitled to
admission in the collection of authoritative Christian documents?
And to this inquiry it might be considered as a sufficient reply,
Because they were not accounted genuine and authentic by
the most early Christian writers.' They were not considered
as genuine by them; that is to say, they were not regarded as
the writings of the persons to whom they were attributed. They
were not regarded as authentic; that is, they were not consi-
dered as possessing the claims to authority which a narrative
acquires from the veracity of its author and the credibility of its
relations. And these are sufficient reasons, we apprehend, for
not receiving many books which men of weak minds, or the
contrivers and abettors of fraud, have put into circulation; and
they apply in numerous other cases besides that of the legends
which had their birth in the early ages of Christianity. For all
the documents necessary to support the religion of Christ, to
prove its divinity, to establish its doctrines, and to declare its