ORIGINAL POETRY. A LETTER TO MY COUSIN. 'Tis thus that time flies on, sweet coz, Is strew'd upon manhood's path; Truth flings its pebble at Fancy, coz, And she falls like Goliah of Gath. The skies wore the purple of summer, coz, Of that golden voice of thine, And now we have nothing but winter, coz, Through a forest of stones and bricks. And then there are evening parties, coz, Dance in a style that would make you smile, And through the apartment strut. And, of course, there are ices and negus, coz, And cheese-cakes and dried fruit ; Good Lord! is this society, coz? Are these the delights of life? I wish from my heart I was buried, coz, With a garden, a cow, and a pig, With a Bible and Sunday wig. O! better by far to have tranquil thoughts, And wishes of narrow range, Better to look on your own green glen, And never to wish for change,→→→ Than to feel the poverty of wealth, The littleness of state, And to turn with a smile of bitter scorn From the nothings of which men prate. Alas! there is many an hour, dear coz, To have no one to feel with me; LITERARY CHIT-CHAT AND VARIETIES. WE understand that James Ferguson, Esq. P.C.S. is at present busy with a work on the Law of Entail, in which he has taken many new and excellent views of the subject. Besides making his book a complete treatise of the law of entail, as it now stands, Mr Ferguson intends to add a full index of all the registered entails of Scotland. This he proposes to follow up by periodical reports of all the entails that shall be in future registered. A work of this kind will be a great acquisition, for we have at present no index even of the already registered entails, except the very imperfect one of Shaw. The importance of publicity being given to every entail is known to all men of business, and has been increased by the discussions respecting the ne cessity of a change in the entail laws. There is in preparation a new edition, with additions, of the Life of Mary Queen of Scots, by Henry G. Bell. Upwards of six thousand copies of this work have already been sold. Two remaining volumes of Burckhardt's Travels, which, in addition to the three already published, will complete his works, are about to appear. The one will contain the result of his residence among those extraordinary people the Bedouins and Wahabys of Arabia;-the other an account of the remarkable customs, manners, and opinions of the modern Egyptians, derived from their own proverbial sayings current at Cairo, where the author died. Frederick von Schlegel's Philosophy of History, with an historical and critical notice of the author, and of German literature generally, by Francis Shulte, is in the press. Partings and Meetings, a Tale, founded on facts, is announced. Letters on the Physical History of the Earth, addressed to Pro fessor Blumenbach, by the the late J. A. de Luc, F.R.S. Professor of Philosophy and Geology at Gottingen, translated from the French, with a vindication of the author's claims to original views in regard to some fundamental points in Geology, by the Rev. Henry de la Fite, M.A., is in the press. It appears that the new President of the Royal Academy, Mr Shee, is not only a poet and a painter, but also a novelist, and one who, although hitherto anonymously, has taken a respectable rank among that class of writers. The production we allude to is a novel called Oldcourt; which has excited some attention for the last few months in literary circles. Nothing but "Memoirs," whether forged or real, will at present sell in Paris. In addition to the quantity of trash of this description lately published in that city, there has just been announced, Memoirs relating to the Emperor Napoleon, from the notes of M. Constant, his first valet de chambre (!), who was absent only for a space of eight days during sixteen years' personal attendance. M. de Bourrienne has portrayed the Emperor at the council-board and in the field ;M. Constant will introduce him in his night-gown and slippers, and will doubtless afford us an opportunity of judging whether the old adage is true, that "no one is a hero to his valet de chambre." It is somewhat singular that the Netherlands should possess but one publication-and that one edited at uncertain periods-which is devoted to the fine arts and sciences. It is called the Messager de Gand, conducted by De Bast and the members of the Society of Arts at Ghent. What is become of taste and vertu at Brussels, the capital ? ORIENTAL PAINTING.-Our fair readers need not be told that this is a pleasing and elegant accomplishment, and has of late been finding much favour in their eyes. We have this week had an opportunity of examining a variety of birds, fruits, flowers, and butterflies, executed in this style by Miss Hepple, who has recently visited Edinburgh, and we are not aware that we ever saw the art carried to higher perfection than in the works of this lady. They are spoken of by an artist of some experience in the following terms:-" They are altogether unlike any thing I have seen done in this way, and I certainly had not before an idea that the art could be carried to such perfection: they are most beautiful." We hope Miss Hepple will meet with the encouragement she deserves. JAMES SHERIDAN KOWLES.-We would direct the attention of our readers to an advertisement in another page, intimating Mr Knowles's intention of speedily delivering a Course of Lectures on Dramatic Literature in this city. We feel confident they will attract that notice which the talents of the Lecturer so well entitle him to expect. NEW MUSIC. We have just received from Glasgow two new Songs of much merit," Ye're my ain," the words by J. S. Knowles, Esq. from the Literary Journal, arranged with symphonies and accompaniments by J.T.May,—and "Anna, where art thou, my love?" the words by Thomas Atkinson, adapted with symphonies and accompaniments to an Irish Melody by R. Webster. This song is to form a portion of "The Shamrock," a collection of Irish Songs, and words to Irish Melodies, edited by Mr Weekes of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, which will speedily appear. SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE'S WILL.-Sir Thomas Lawrence states In his will, that his collection of drawings by the Old Masters are, he confidently believes, the finest in Europe, and worth twenty thousand pounds; but he directs them to be offered to "his most gracious Majesty for eighteen thousand pounds." In case of his declining to take them, they are to be offered to the British Museum, Mr Peel, and Lord Dudley, in succession; and if not purchased by either of those parties, are to be advertised in "all the capitals and principal cities in Europe, for twenty thousand pounds, and afterwards sold by publie auction." A FLOURISHING CONCERN.-A subscriber to a journal once remon. strated with the editor on the lateness of the hour at which his paper was sent to him. "Sir," said the latter, "you are the only subscriber who complains."—" Indeed !”—"Yes, sir-you are the only subscriber we have!" There SOCIETY FOR RELIEF OF THE DESTITUTE SICK.-There is no benevolent Institution in this city more entitled to public support than this. Its "Report" for the year 1829 has just been published, by which it appears that its expenditure has amounted to £1513, 5s. 11 d., whilst its receipts have only been £1156, 6s. 44d. is every reason, therefore, especially during the prevalence of the present distress, to call upon its friends for the exercise of an increased liberality, else the resources of the Society will be more than exhausted. CHIT-CHAT FROM LONDON.*-It is reported that Miss Landon is writing a novel. This young lady is rather under the middle size; her figure is slight, and her complexion very delicate. Though her features are not regular, they are expressive and pleasing. She has a fine brow, and quick sparkling eyes. She is fond of dancing, and excels in that accomplishment.-The second number of Fraser's new Magazine is considered superior to the first.-Excellent Dioramas, Cosmoramas, and Panoramas, are now open, all of which are well attended.-Tam O'Shanter and the Souter still continue to attract numerous visitors.-The Concerts and Oratorios have now commenced, at which Miss Paton and Donzelli seem to take the lead.A Masquerade was lately perpetrated in the Opera-House, which, though the papers say it went off with "prodigious eclat," was neither more nor less than a scene of riot and licentiousness.-Haydon has recently finished two large paintings, both of which he is now exhibiting. The first is from a subject suggested by Plutarch, who says that a certain Athenian, called Eucles, rushing from the battle of Marathon, as soon as the victory was decided, ran, wounded and exhausted as he was, to the city, and shouting, "Hail! we triumph!" dropped instantly dead. The other is a comic piece, illustrating the peculiarities of "Punch and Judy," and their motley group of spectators.-Mr Westmacott is delivering a course of Lectures on Sculpture, at the Royal Academy, which are received with much satisfaction.-The London University is at present in the very worst possible condition. The only classes which have at all succeeded are the Medical, while the rest, including those for Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Greek, and Latin, are almost at a stand. The general opinion is, that the funds have not been properly economized; but have been too prematurely squandered on an expensive building, and in costly salaries.-A Monsieur Dupont is delivering! a course of French Dramatic Readings, which are favourably received. -Mr Buchanan has recently opened a small Gallery of Paintings in Regent Street, many of which are from the celebrated collection of Danoot at Brussels. Among other artists, the collection contains works by Rubens, Teniers, Rembrandt, Titian, Wouvermans, Vandyck, Albert Cuyp, and Richard Wilson. THINGS WORTH KNOWING.-China was full of books before there was a man in Europe who could either read or write.-One of Mahoinet's rules for securing happiness in the married state was this:"Wives, behave to your husbands in the same manner that your husbands behave to you."-Some of the bridges of London are built, and some of the streets paved, with Scotch stone; there are excellent freestone quarries near Bath, but the expense of conveyance to London by land is greater than from Scotland by sea.-The Athenians allowed no unmarried men to hold any public office.-The custom of breaking a cake over the bride's head, when she enters her hus band's house, is borrowed from the Greeks, who, as an emblem of future plenty, poured figs and other fruits over the heads of both bride and bridegroom.-The Greeks shaved their heads when they wished to show respect to the memory of a great man.-A fluent speaker will pronounce 7200 words in an hour, 150 in a minute, and two in a moment. Theatrical Gossip.-The substance of Mr Lamb's bill for the amelioration of the laws regarding dramatic property is as follows:"That the author of any dramatic writing shall have the sole right of representing it. That he shall preserve that right in any such production which shall be printed and published, or his assignees, for 28 years, or, should the author survive that period, for the residue of his natural life. Persons offending against these provisions to pay L.10 for each representation, with costs of suit. An action to be com A paragraph with this title will in future appear regularly among the Varieties," season. menced within twelve months after the offence has been committed." It is evident that upon the passing of this bill, the dramatic writer will be able to turn his labours to much better account than has hitherto been the case.-The King's Theatre, Drury Lane, and Covent Garden, continue in statu quo ;—nothing new has taken place at any of these houses. The affairs of Drury Lane are believed to be in any thing but a flourishing condition; and it is generally reported that Mr Price, the present lessee, will retire at the end of the season.—Miss Kemble's Mrs Beverly continues to attract overflowing audiences to Covent Garden. When is this young lady to visit the provinces ? we are anxious to judge her for ourselves, apart from all the ridiculous humbug which has hitherto attended her career.-Elliston, who has made and spent several fortunes, is now doing well at the Surrey Theatre.-Kean has been seriously ill, but is now better; had it not cen for him, Drury Lane would have, ere now, been at a very low pass.-Miss Smithson's benefit in Dublin, a few evenings ago, was very thinly attended. She is to return immediately to Paris. Macready and T. P. Cooke, are still there.-At Paris, Victor Hugo's tragedy, called " Hernani," upon the Shakspearian, not the classical model, has been rapturously received.—Madame Catalani is at present giving concerts at Chalons.-Young took his benefit here on Wednesday last. The entertainments were, "Cymbeline," "Blue Devils," and "Catherine and Petruchio." The house was well attended. On Thursday, a benefit was given in behalf of the unemployed poor. To-night, Vandenhoff appears for the last time this On Monday, we are to have Miss Fanny Ayton for three nights. She has not yet appeared in English opera in this city, and, being a clever actress and a good singer, ought to attract; but who are the male creatures who are to sing with her? Is Larkins one of them? The new romantic drama, by the authoress of " Aloyse," will be brought out soon after the termination of Miss Ayton's engagement. Miss Jarman is to play the heroine; and there are effeetive parts, we believe, for most of the other members of the company. The scene, we understand, is laid in Russia, and the incidents are of a novel and picturesque description. There is, we think, every reason to believe, that, considering the decided success which attended the first dramatic effort of this authoress, her second will be still superior; and we do not see why she should not ultimately redeem the Edinburgh stage from the change of having no original writers of its own.-The Caledonian Theatre opened on Monday. The house has been repainted, and looks neat and comfortable. The acting, however, though the company has been strengthened, appears, on the whole, mediocre enough; and the dancing indifferent. But there are one or two good singers, especially a Mr Horncastle, and a little fellow of the name of Edmunds, who sings "Black-eyed Susan" better than we ever heard it sung before. The orchestra is also much improved. First impressions are frequently erroneous, but we confess ourselves a good deal surprised at the very strong terms of commendation in which this establishment is spoken of by a respectable contemporary of Wednesday last, to the evident detri ment of the Theatre-Royal. We request the attention of OLD CEEBERUS to this subject next Saturday. TO OUR CORRESPONDENTS. We have received, but have not yet had time to read, the packet from "A. L. M." of Aberdeen.-The same notice must do for the author of "Reminiscences of School-days," till next Saturday.-An article, of which we have not availed ourselves, lies for "Proteus" at the Publishers'.-W. T." will observe the poem, a copy of which he sent us, in to-day's Journal;-we are acquainted with the author's name, but are not at liberty to mention it.-We cannot give a place to the communication of "Observer," upon anonymous authority.-Our angry friend at Belfast will cool, we hope, by and by. "Andrew the Packman," by the Ettrick Shepherd, in our next.The following poems will not suit us :-"Spring,"-"The Desert Isle,"—" Lines addressed to my Heart," and Verses by "P. R. S." Notwithstanding the crowded state of our advertising columns, we are unavoidably obliged to postpone, till next week, the favours of several of our friends. LITERARY CRITICISM. THE BANNATYNE CLUB. Memorials of George Bannatyne. 1545-1608. The Bannatyne Club, founded and constituted as already From this pretty full abstract of the regulations of the Club, the reader will easily perceive that it has had its PRICE 6d. rise in that mixed spirit of jest and earnest, which is the Let us not, however, deny for a moment that an es- Nor let it be supposed that, when we speak of the transactions of the Bannatyne Club, as affording a relaxation to its members, we mean to represent them as the mere trifling of men of literary habits. Their catalogue of publications contains many valuable fragments of Scottish History. Take, for example, their publications connected with the second half of the sixteenth century. There is, in the first place, a "Discours particulier d'Escosse, ecrit par Jacques Makgil et Jean Bellenden, 1559." This work contains an interesting account of the civil and judicial institutions of Scotland at that period, drawn up for the use of Queen Mary, and her husband the Dauphin. Then there is Mr Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, a work published under the auspices of the Club, which we have already noticed with approbation more than once. Next We see, comes "The Historie and Life of King James the Sext, from 1566 to 1596;" and close upon that, " Memoirs of Sir James Melville of Halhil, written by himself;" " Les Affaires du Conte de Boduel: l'an 1568;" and "Papers relative to the marriage of King James the Sixth of Scotland, with the Princess Anna of Denmark, A. D. 1589; and the form and manner of her Majesty's Coronation at Holyroodhouse, A. D. 1590." These are documents relating to the history of the nation, and those who wielded its destinies; and in addition to these, "The Diary of Mr James Melville (minister of Kilrenny), 1556-1601," shows us the condition and principles of those who moved in the private ranks of life; while another work, "Descrittione del Regno di Scotia, di Petruccio Ubaldini, (1588,)" lets us into the secret of the impression made upon a foreigner by our ancestors' mode of life. moreover, that the Club has in the press, "Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, from 1577 to 1603; by David Moysie." Be it remembered, too, that these interesting and instructive documents, have been all of them effectively secured from perishing, and several of them brought into public circulation by what was nothing more than the employment of the leisure hours of a few gentlemen, in the short space of three years. And this, moreover, is but a small portion of their labours. They have already printed thirty-eight separate works, and seven more are now in the press. We are not aware that the Roxburgh Club, which was the first institution of the kind in Great Britain, (vide Dibdin's Bibliograph. Decameron,) and whose object was to give reprints of rare tracts, and literary nuga, has yet printed any valuable book. It is time that we now turn to the "Memorials of George Bannatyne" himself, a work which must be to the members of the Club one of the most interesting they have yet published. Old George, a beatified collector of black-letter and ancient MSS., is the patron saint of the Club, and, that all honour might be done him, his Life has been written by Sir Walter Scott himself, the founder and Grand Master of the Order of St Bannatyne. The book is composed in that grave sportive style, which we have ventured to set down as the characteristic of all the transactions of the Club; and shows old George to have been well worthy of the honour which his antiquarian successors have done him. afford of his poetical powers. The verses are a string of extravagant conceits, setting forth his lady's beauties and his own despair in a tone of frigid extravagance, which must have astonished Isobel Mawchan, (his wife,) if to her they are addressed. We are somewhat startled to hear that the lady's locks altogether resembled a bush burning in red flames, but without smoke; and scarcely less so, at finding our Patriarch demanding for himself, as dead, an instant and hasty funeral, because Acteon had been slain by his own fell dogs;' since the position that George Bannatyne should forthwith be buried, because Acteon was dead, seems to approach to what the learned Partridge called a non œPatron's head, for we find him next remonstrating with the quitur. Acteon, we suppose, brought Adonis into our boar for not slaying him, and calling as loudly for death as he had done for burial in the preceding stanza: 'O, thundering Boar, in thy most awful rage, Why wilt thou not me with thy tuskis rive?' But our Members will probably themselves apprehend an invasion of the thundering boar, if we proceed any farther in this subject." Bannatyne's claim to our respect, and the worship of his sons, does not, however, rest upon his own productions, but upon his manuscript collection of Scottish poetry -a work, to which we owe the preservation of much valuable matter that must otherwise have perished. It contains upwards of eight hundred folio pages, neatly and closely written, and is said to have occupied the transcriber only three months; "an assertion," Sir Walter justly observes, "which we should have scrupled to receive upon any other authority than his own." A complete index of its contents is appended to the Narrative, and portions of them continue to be printed at intervals by the Club. Sir Walter Scott thus speaks concerning it: "The labour of compiling so rich a collection was undertaken by the author during the time of pestilence in the year 1568, when the dread of infection compelled men to forsake their usual employments, which could not be conducted without admitting the ordinary promiscuous intercourse between man and his fellow-men. In this dreadful period, when hundreds, finding themselves surrounded by danger and death, renounced all care for their safety, and all thoughts save apprehensions of infection, George Bannatyne had the courageous energy to form and execute the plan of saving the literature of a whole nation; and, undisturbed by the universal mourning for the dead, and general fears of the living, to devote himself to recording the triumphs of human genius; thus, amid the wreck of all that was mortal, employing himself in preserving the lays by which immortality is at once given to others, and obtained for the writer himself. His task, he informs us, had its diffi George Bannatyne, who is ascertained to have been somehow or other connected with the ancient family of Bennauchtyne of Camys, in the Isle of Bute, was the seventh child of his parents, and was born on the 22d day of Fe-culties; for he complains that he had, even in his time, to bruary, 1545. He does not seem to have entered upon active business before his twenty-seventh year. Sir Walter is shrewdly inclined to suspect that his hero acquired a fortune by usurious practices, and labours hard to prove, that, in the circumstances of the times, this infers nothing against his character. But surely this was a work of supererogation, for is it not established by a thousand legends, that every saint worth a farthing must have been a rogue at one period of his life? Be this as it George Bannatyne died sometime between August, 1606, and December, 1608. Money-broker as he was, however, there were yet some softer points in old George's character. In illustration of this, we find the following passage in Sir Walter's narrative: may, "That which we love we usually strive to imitate; and we are not surprised to find that George Bannatyne, the preserver of so many valuable poems, was himself acquainted with the art of poetry. Amid the various examples which he has compiled of the talents of others, he has obliged the reader with two poems of his own. They are ballads, tuned to his mistress's eyebrow;' but even we, his children, cannot claim for them a high rank amongst the productions of the Scottish muse, for the power of loving and admiring, with discrimination, the poetry of others, is very far from implying the higher faculties necessary to produce it. The reader will, however, find these two specimens of our father George's amatory poetry in the Appendix; and may probably be of opinion, that our Patron showed himself merciful in the sparing and moderate example which they contend with the disadvantage of copies, old, maimed, and mutilated, and which, long before our day, must, but for labour of procuring the originals of the works which he this faithful transcriber, have perished entirely. The very transcribed must have been attended with much trouble and some risk, at a time when all the usual intercourse of life was suspended; and when we can conceive that even so simple a circumstance as the borrowing or lending a book of ballads was accompanied with some doubt and apprehension, and that probably the suspected volume was subjected to fumigation, and the precautions practised in quarantine. As, therefore, from the contents of the work in general, we may conclude our Patron to have been both a good judge and an energetic admirer of literature, we will not, perhaps, be too fanciful in deeming him a man of calm courage and undaunted perseverance, since he could achieve so heavy a labour at so inauspicious a period." We trust that these extracts are sufficient to give some idea of the character of George Bannatyne, and to show his peculiar claims to reverence at the hands of the members of an institution which we regard as one of the most in the literary coronal of Edinburgh. valuable gems Dialogues on Natural and Revealed Religion; with a Preliminary Enquiry; an Appendix containing Supplemental Discourses; and Notes and Illustrations. By the Rev. Robert Morehead, D. D. F. A. S. E., &c. &c. Edinburgh. Oliver and Boyd. 1830. THIS is in many respects one of the most interesting |