should receive: sometimes there is a larger accession of literary notices, sometimes the antiquarian subjects preponderate: the balance, however, if at all defective in one month, is restored in another. Besides, the Proprietors endeavour to set apart, at all times, a space for the older Literature of the country, either by reviews or extracts, so as to make their two separate subjects reflect light on each other, and act by combination. A relic of antiquity often enables us to clear up a dubious passage of an author, which may have defied previous interpretation; and in the same way the works of our older authors are storehouses of valuable information, which the Antiquary may take as his faithful and intelligent companion and guide. To these are added accounts of some of the more interesting parts of modern Literature; so that in an extended Series like ours, its progression will be marked and preserved; while in another department, many little notices and fragments, of themselves apparently of small significance, will acquire importance, and gradually unite themselves to the larger masses from which they have been separated by time and accident. Such has been our design, it is a duty we owe to the Public to see the execution as perfect as we can make it; so we trust that we shall not fall under the censure,-Quod tempore antiquum videtur, id incongruitate est maxim novum. Dec. 31, 1836. GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. PAGE NOTES ON BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON Morhoff, 18.-Robertson the Historian, 19.-Letter of Columbus.. Verses by Thomas Taylor the Platonist. Ancient Tombs at Dewsbury, co. York, and at Fordwich, Kent NEW RECORD COMMISSION, No. V.-Rotuli Selecti, &c. RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW.-Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.... Bakewell's Natural Evidences of a Future Life, 49.-Nicolas on Adulterine Bastardy, 53.-Walker's Exercises for Ladies, 56.—Streatfeild's Excerpta Cantiana, 57.-Nichols's Notices of Fonthill Abbey, 58-Brewer's Life of John Carpenter, 59.- Horsfield's History of Sussex, 61.-Hamilton's FINE ARTS.-Exhibition at the Royal Academy, 70.-Designs for the New Houses of Parliament, 74.-New Publications 76-81 OBITUARY; with Memoirs of the Duke of Gordon; the Duchess of Bucking- 108 2 MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. P. C. S. S. remarks: "At page 3 of the Loseley Manuscripts,' the learned Editor appears to have fallen into singular and rather amusing error. In describing the meeting at Rochester between Henry VIII. and Anne of Cleves, it is said that the King and eight gentlemen of his Privy Chamber were attired in 'marble coats;' which the Editor ingeniously conjectures to mean, 'coats perhaps of a plain stone-colour: If Mr. Kempe had taken the trouble to refer to Ducange, he would have found the true meaning of this expression: Vol. iv. p. 501. MARBRINUS PANNUS: Qui ex filis diversi at varii coloris textus. Statutum pro Draperiis Trecens: an: 1360, tom. 3. Ordinal. Reg. Franc. p. 414. Et si ne peult on tiltre en estain qu'il soit près, Camelin ou MARBRE, &c. Melius ibidem, p. 416. art. 17.-Et tous draps tixus de diverses laines, comme MARBREZ ou Camelins.' In the Glossarium Novum, tom. II. p. 1169, there are no fewer than nine different quotations from works of the middle ages, shewing the real sense of this not very uncommon term. And in a book of yet more ordinary occurrence, the Dictionnaire de l'Academie, it is thus explained: Etoffes Marbrés-Des étoffes où il y a des soies ou des laines de diffèrentes couleurs, mêleés ensemble." S. X. (a constant customer of 60 years standing) remarks: "I have read with much pleasure in your Magazine, the remarks of your learned and ingenious reviewer on the lately-published numbers of Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum;' but their author is certainly mistaken in supposing that' Arboretum is not a classical word, and that there is no authority for it,' since we find in the Noctes Atticæ, book 17, c. 2, the following quotation from Q. Claudius Quadrigarius, an an. cient Roman annalist of high repute: 'Convalles et arboreta magna erant:' immediately succeeded, indeed, by this remark of Agellius, arboreta ignobilius verbum est, arbusta celebratius.' But then it is to be observed that arbustum, often as we find it in the best Roman writers both of prose and poetry, is rarely if ever employed by them except in the limited sense of a nursery or plantation of elms, poplars, and other tall trees requisite for the culture of the vine according to the Italian method; which consists in training the vine-plants, creeperwise, along the stems of such trees up to their summits; from whence their branches are interwoven from tree to tree in festoons, so as to form a continuous shade, and beautiful ornament, especially in the fruiting season. Arbustum is, in fact, synonymous to vineyard: Qui vineam vel arbustum constituere volet, seminaria prius facere debebit.' Columella, lib. 1. 'Arbustum est cùm vites ulmis, populis, et similibus arboribus applicantur.' Cato de Re Rustica. On the other hand, Arboretum plainly denotes a plantation of all kinds of trees, according to its derivation from Arbor; and conformably also to the genius of the Latin tongue, as in the instance of Esculetum from Esculus. I am therefore much inclined to think that in any future edition of Mr. Loudon's work, instead of substituting Arbustum for Arboretum, he will do well to retain its present title. At any rate, I confidently hope that he will soon have an opportunity of making his choice between the two opinions; agreeing in this respect most sincerely with the friendly wishes of your reviewer." Mr. BOND should supply us with a better drawing of the golden rod; his sketch looks not unlike a tobacco pipe. In answer to CHRISTOPHER EASEL,the shops in front of the Royal Exchange have been partly removed, and we understood at the time of the improvements that the others will follow when the leases shall be expired. A new Edition of the Works of Bishop Hall is preparing for the Press. Any Notice of works omitted in former Editions, or of particulars tending to elucidate the Biography of that author, will be thankfully received by the Editor. G. L. F. desires to be satisfied as to the true author of the well-known " Vindiciæ contrà a Tyrannos." My copy, Amstelod. ad Egidium Valckenier, 1660.) has on the title-page-" S. J. Bruto Celta, sive, ut putatur, Theodoro Bezá, auctore." Some former owner has drawn a pen through the latter name, and superscribed Hoffomanno." In the Chronological Tables appended by Macclaine to his paraphrase of Mosheim, among the literary men of France in the 16th century, occurs the name of "Hub. Languet, author of the Vindicia c. Tyrannos." Now, who is the actual author? We much regret that some serious misprints occurred in the quotations from Mr. Maude's "Schoolboy" in our last number. In the seventh line quoted, for— In a sweet spot to running waters clear,' in the original it is In a sweet spot to nursing Nature dear.' For 'rightly endowed,' read 'richly endowed;' and for 'sweetest rapture,' read 'purest rapture.' GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. DRAMAS. BY JOANNA BAILLIE. 3 VOLS. 1836. MANY years have passed since Joanna Baillie first gave to an admiring public those productions of her muse, which at once placed her at the head of the dramatists of the day. From causes, some of them perhaps not difficult to state, while all other poetry, epic, lyric, romantic, has flourished even to luxuriance, that of the serious drama has of late years been but little cultivated, and, even at best, with a dubious and moderate success. There are some few exceptions, such as Mr. Milman's Fazio, Miss Mitford's Rienzi, Mr. Coleridge's Remorse; but these are but single efforts, not leading to a future expansion of the dramatic talent. The two great Minstrels of the North and of the South-Scott and Byronboth failed. Mr. Coleridge never followed up the success of his first play; and Miss Baillie, while she witnessed the downfall of many a previously splendid reputation, kept the field without a rival. We do not wonder at the manifold failures which occurred, considering from what previous discipline the aspirants to the tragic laurel came to the combat. Some who had been successful in the looser style, and the more contemplative and varied feeling of the epic; some fresh from the splendid descriptions, the brilliant episodes, and rich galleries of the romantic fable; some who had distinguished themselves alone in the soft luxury of pastoral description; others emerged from the walk of satire and wit; and all aspired to success in a province of poetry the most difficult of all to subdue; requiring, and jealously requiring, the most concentrated powers of thought and language, the widest knowledge of life, the command of the various passions of the human heart, great experimental and practical familiarity with the different ranks of society, cleverness in combining and weaving incidents, and, lastly, great and attentive examination of the technical management of scenic illusion. We do not say that Miss Baillie has altogether succeeded where others have failed, but that she has decidedly shown a more completely dramatic talent. Perhaps among all her plays there is not one that is so pleasing in representation as Rienzi; but then again, that one is certainly not to be put in comparison with her many various and fine productions. Amidst all the elegance and beauty of the poetry of the present day-impressed as it is with the varied character of its different authors, and extending, as it does, through almost all the provinces of the art-there is one distinguishing characteristic belonging to it, which separates it from the poetic style of the preceding age, and which would be a mark easily recognized by future critics, which is, its tendency to a luxuriant and overflowing fulness of description.* This has its beauties, as well as its defects; though overcharged, it may not be in some cases very objectionable, and when it is employed in delineating the forms of nature, it brings with it a charm in images, in description, nay even in language, words, and sounds, which * See a memorable instance of misplaced description in the play of Rayner,' p. 127, where the messenger, who is hastening with a pardon for a criminal, and who is already belated, takes a whole page to describe a river. more than compensates for its critical defects- quamvis perfida, cara tamen:-but we cannot be blind to the fact, that this habit of thought and this style of composition are much at variance with the very essence of dramatic poetry, which has but little room to exhibit its various powers of excitement, which, despising all that is trifling, and dismissing all that is irrelevant, deals only with the important and the interesting; which must act strongly on the feelings, the affections, the passions; which must skilfully conduct an important plot through a few short scenes to a natural and necessary termination; which must bind up in a short compass the long tissue of life; which must clothe the philosophy of passion in the absolute garb of real and individual character, preserve a constantly progressing dramatic movement, make the most of every word, action, and thought, and which must, as it were, follow and gather up all the floating wrecks of man's disastrous and erring will, as they are drifting across the dark tide of destiny, and collect them on the shore to build a forlorn memorial to his fame. It is given but to few to excel in various ways. Great strength refuses to be joined to great flexibility; where we attempt a variety of attainment and pursuit, there is much danger of becoming superficial and weak. The old tragedians of Greece were tragedians and nothing else. Sophocles wrote more than a century of plays, but he wrote neither epics, cyclics, nor pastorals. It is seldom that a poet can avoid carrying one favourite style of composition into another. Thus Gray owned that he was so accustomed to the high finish, the rich elaboration, the beautiful miniature-painting of his lyrical style, that he could not satisfy himself with the plainer and more varied character of the didactic poem. So it was with many of our dramatic aspirants; they brought to the stage their offerings, costly and beautiful indeed, but of a kind that was totally unknown to it before: they described when they should have felt; they reasoned when they should have suffered; they were eloquent when they should have been energetic; they were curious in words, when the audience wanted thoughts; they pleased when they should have moved; they had studied books not men; they had all the learning of the closet, but not the knowledge of the living world: their's was no quivering of the sensitive nerve; no throbbing of the sympathetic heart; the sacred fountain of tears, the yn dakpówv, remained tranquil and undisturbed, and Melpomene listened with surprise, but indifference, to a language she had never heard before. This tendency to an analytic minuteness of description, whether of inward feeling or external nature, is certainly found in Miss Baillie, as in her contemporaries; but then it is accompanied with excellencies of many kinds which they did not possess. None can deny her the possession of original powers; there are no plays like her's in the history of the drama; her language and verse is her own-her characters are her own-they do not resemble those of her predecessors—they have some likeness to the character of the Elizabethan plays, but they are not servile imitations; in short, with their beauties and their defects, their general vigour and their occasional greatness, their excellent parts and their defective whole, they are by right her own. In point of beauty and gracefulness of design and elegance of execution, Basil stood in her first series, to our belief, pre-eminent. There was a beautiful and poetical contrast throughout. The character of the intrepid and experienced soldier, high in military fame, bred in camps, and inured to battle, the favourite son of Bellona, held in the soft and gentle chains of female beauty; the |