cessions of this nature, uncompelled, are the best security of a sovereign in times like the present. They tend indeed to secure both him and his posterity; and should a convulsion happen, he at least is certain of handsome treatment; for it was weakness and insincerity that brought both Charles the First and Louis the Sixteenth to the scaffold, and not the better part of their natures.

MRS. RADCLIFFE.-It having been asserted, in one of the Reviews of last month, that this lady had for many years suffered under a "state of mental desolation not to be described," we think it necessary, on the authority of Mr. Radcliffe, to deny the statement, which is merely the repetition of a rumour (often contradicted) about Mrs. Radcliffe's being haunted by her own horrors, in which foolish story Sir Walter Scott, among others, expresses his disbelief, in his essay on her genius prefixed to one of the volumes of" Ballantyne's Novelist." No person in fact, was less likely to lose the equipoise of mind by the operation of ideal terrors than Mrs. Radcliffe. Her works show that, however overpowering the phantoms of her imagination might be to others, they were held by her in entire subjection, crouching, like slaves, to watch and obey the motion of her wand. The exercise of such a power as this, is not only different from the effect of it, but the two things are utterly incompatible; for if the magician were not free from the working of his own spells,-if he could not contemplate them calmly, if they were his masters, and not he their's, how could he raise, employ, and dismiss them at pleasure? Independently of this, the assertion of the Reviewer is contradicted by the tenor of Mrs. Radcliffe's life, which was characterized by the rare union of the literary gentlewoman and the active housewife. Instead of being in confinement in Derbyshire, as has been asserted, she was to be seen, every Sunday, at St. James's Church; almost every fine day in Hyde Park; sometimes at the theatres, and very frequently at the Opera. Nothing, indeed, approaching alienation of mind, temporary or otherwise, was ever observed in her except for a few hours on a day shortly preceding her death, in 1823, when she was afflicted with that kind of delirium which is, in most cases, one of the symptoms of dangerous illness; but which, in her instance, did not last so long as it ordinarily does. It had, moreover, been immediately excited by her reading in a newspaper the account of a murder, which, operating on a dying frame, might well agitate the exhausted faculties beyond bearing.

THE STATESMAN'S BEST TRICK.-Mr. Canning has done himself and his country honour by the straight-forward and candid manner in which he answered the state-paper of M. Zea Bermudez. It was well said by an eminent politician, that if a statesman wished to distance all his contemporaries, and leave them on a wrong scent astonished, he had nothing to do but to go straight-forward to his purpose, and take the fair, open road of truth. The others, he said, would infallibly beat about the cross-roads, expecting to meet him there:-he arrives at his end by the easiest and shortest path, and laughs at them all. This is what Mr. Canning did, when he answered the sophistications of M. Zea Bermudez by a plain statement. The servant of Ferdinand brought forward his lies and his bows as usual, thinking his brother minister would of course be as mendacious and polite. The other scatters his faculties by speaking the truth, and M. Zea is dismissed by

his thankless master to another office. There are points on which we differ with Mr. Canning, as we agree with him in this; but every Englishman who has the character and intellectual progress of his country at heart, must be pleased that we have at length got a minister who has mind enough to afford to do handsome and superior things.

GREECE IN 1825; being the Journals of James Emerson, Esq. Count Pecchio, and W. H. Humphreys, Esq.-This is a very spirited body of information respecting Greece, as its affairs went on during the course of last year. It comprises a description of its affairs in general, and of the manners and customs of the people; and contains various accounts of the romantic position of Ulysses and his friends upon Mount Parnassus, and the attempt to assassinate Mr. Trelawny. The old saying of the poet is still too applicable to the inhabitants of this glorious country:

"Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi."

The chieftains madden, and the Greeks are smote.

The quarrel of Ulysses with his brother chieftains was only one among many. Either in consequence of being more or less honest in his intentions than the others, he stood more apart; and was for some time believed by the English to have sided with the Turks; a charge, from which he is vindicated by the principal writer before us. The others believe in it; but all who mention Mr. Trelawny, exonerate him. Mr. Humphreys, indeed, attributes to our countryman the return of better feelings on the part of Ulysses. The writer of the present article had a sudden and short intimacy with Mr. Trelawny before he went to Greece, but under circumstances which cram the feelings of many years into one, and make a brief acquaintance look old. No man could act a manlier and nobler part than Mr. Trelawny did under those circumstances; and when the writer heard of his alleged defection from the cause of Liberty, he laughed it to scorn. Ulysses was finally betrayed to his angry compatriots; and died, it is not exactly known how, in confinement at Athens. An attempt, under the most infamous circumstances, was made to assassinate Mr. Trelawny, in the cave on Mount Parnassus, by a couple of persons calling themselves natives of Great Britain. He was severely wounded; but has been brought away by Captain Hamilton, of the Cambrian frigate; and when the last intelligence arrived, was slowly recovering in one of the Greek islands. The Greeks remained, at the same period, in much the same condition as is described in the present volumes; their chiefs divided, and with doubtful views; their army wanting order and concentration; their navy, with some excellent officers, yet both officers and crews too independent of one another; and a new armament had proceeded to re-inforce the already formidable and active Egyptians. -Of the three writers of this publication on Greece, Mr. Emerson interests us most. He is also the longest, occupying the whole of the first volume. There is an animal spirit in his book, befitting a young man in the vigour of his faculties (and no mean ones), who has himself taken a part in the contest. He keeps the reader and his hopes alive, and yet blinks none of the difficulties. Mr. Emerson has an eye for description and the picturesque; and lets nothing escape him, not even an army of caterpillars, bound upon a journey of emigration. Count

Pecchio is an amiable writer, and has passages worth attending to; but he is inclined to take things too much upon trust. Mr. Humphreys is more to the purpose; but there is a want of clearness in his movements; and his invectives against Mavrocordato are to be taken cum gruno. There was a difference between them, and the author's services were refused. However, the author candidly gives us this information himself. He does not scruple to call Mavrocordato a coward, and denies him his title of "prince, or princely fellow;" both of which, he says, he once thought him. We observe, that Mr. Emerson looks upon the Fanariot with suspicion. Mavrocordato has a difficult part to perform; and time only can show whether he is to issue out of the fire, glorified or a vapour.

MR. KEAN AND MISS FOOTE.-Mr. Kean has met with a reception violently hostile in America. He is fain to attribute it to some unpopularity he incurred at Boston, when he visited the country five years ago; but the Boston papers tell him he is mistaken, and hint plainly enough at the reason. It was more plainly and disagreeably told at the theatres, and in all the shapes of annoyance; outcries, orange-peel, apples, placards, and a variety of symbolical missiles. Not a word. would be listened to. It was absolutely like worrying a cat; and Kean at last turned round like one, clawed up an apple in contempt, and grinned with rage and desperation. After this he will find it a still harder matter to bear up against the load of obloquy; unless, on his return to this country, John Bull should relent, out of pure spite to Brother Jonathan.

It is often made a subject of astonishment, why the town should have behaved with such tenderness to Miss Foote, and then manifested such bitterness towards Mr. Kean.* We conceive the reasons to be, 1st. That the voice of the town is expressed by the male sex, who are naturally inclined to be tender to any woman, and grateful to one who has interested them:-2d. That a woman wants protection, and that it becomes a part of common gallantry to lean to the side that affords it :-3d. That a young woman's merits are attributed to herself, and her faults to those who have brought her up :-4th. That a girl seduced, or apparently so, and then abandoned by her seducer, is thrown into a situation, in which every means of self-preservation is looked upon as comparatively allowable :-5th. That Mr. Kean violated good taste in his language; and in one instance appeared to be guilty of a gratuitous and outrageous piece of hypocrisy :-6th. That Mr. Kean had always had a party against him, and Miss Foote had none :-7th. That even politics were concerned in this instance :-8th. That his manners are not gracious and popular :-9th. That the fair sex, though they might think it proper to protest against Miss Foote on some accounts, would naturally wish to see her come out of the dilemma victoriously; while, however their charity might wish to find an excuse for Mr. Kean, they could not but leave him to his fate in vindication of their other virtues :

*The Editor cannot enter here into an explanatory discussion with his friend and correspondent. But he desires, as an individual, to record his sentiment of unutterable indignation at the cruelty of the British public towards Kean, and at the still more brutal inhospitality of the Americans.

Last, and perhaps not least, that the question not long ago agitated between an illustrious personage and his consort, startled certain habits of thinking in society; and did certainly dispose the public to turn their consideration to what Fielding has recommended; namely, a little more fair dealing between the sexes; a little less arrogation of licence on the part of the men; or at least a little more charity towards those women, who first or last may trace their misfortunes to the existence of it. There is no getting over this dilemma. Either the liberty permitted should be more equal, (we are merely putting the case logically); or when the greater burden of consequences is laid upon the women, it is a mere abuse of argument, the cant of which is no longer available since the worse the women for so forgetting themselves, the worse their seducers for leading them into the forgetfulness. The former give rise to no more bad consequences than the latter, turn the argument how we may. Nay, they do not give rise to so much; for the only difference is, that the chance of suffering for them is twenty times greater on the part of the woman; which makes the selfishness and responsibility on the other side so much the more striking.

MEMOIRS OF THE MARGRAVINE OF ANSPACH.-Our readers will remember, that up to a late period, there lived at Brandenburgh House, on the banks of the Thames, a lady celebrated for her love of theatricals, and for retaining in advanced years the vivacity and attractions of youth. Some, from her German title, took her for a foreigner; others wondered, that being a Margravine, she was never seen at court. The fashionable world knew her well for having been, in the first instance, the interesting and deserted wife of the late Lord Craven's father, then the companion, and finally the consort of a German Prince, the late Margrave of Anspach. The Margrave sold his territory to the King of Prussia, and came to settle with her in England. In the volumes before us, this celebrated and somewhat mysterious lady has presented us with memoirs written by herself; and it is understood that she has done so in order to forestall representations of a less friendly nature, and at all events put the world in possession of her own state of the case. We apprehend that she need not have been under much alarm. Fairer play is shown to women in disputes of this nature, than there used to be; and the world cares little at any time for the bluster of long-departed lords, and the fuming etiquette of snuff-taking queens. But the chat of a lively woman about herself and her acquaintances will always be amusing, especially if she has travelled, and has something to tell us of foreign courts and celebrated characters. That the charming Lady Craven ever became a princess, we regret for our parts, because she would certainly have omitted divers instructions on music and murder, and reminiscences of the ancient Egyptians, which could have proceeded from nobody but a sovereign lady accustomed to be didactic at the head of her table, and secure of an audience. But we are glad to hear about the Countess of Suffolk, and Marie Antoinette, and Frederick the Second, and the Russians and Catharine, and the Italians, who, when her ladyship rode on a sidesaddle, used to pity her for having but one leg, and the Lilliputian court of Anspach, and all the courts of Europe, and the amusements at Brandenburgh House, and rough old Lord Thurlow, when she "saw tears starting from those eyes, which were supposed never to have

wept." The Margravine (who by the way is now very old, and resides abroad) talks with a pleasant and pardonable self-love of her fascinations in former days. We can readily believe her, for she was the reverse of a spoiled child; her mother, the Countess of Berkeley, having taken a dislike to her; and she grew up, praised, courted, and patient, without knowing well what it was all about. She was healthy from temperance, good-humoured, intelligent, disinterested, affectionate; and with a strong inclination to pleasure, was capable of great sacrifices. These are the elements of more than fascination. The following trait, among many others, will afford a specimen of that habitual regard for the feelings of others, united with a readiness to oblige and be obliged, which is perhaps the most fascinating of all combinations; and not the less so, because it seems little at first sight. "Here (at Constantinople) I met with Sir Richard Worsley, who had a person with him to take views. He showed me a coloured drawing of the Castle of Otranto, which he proposed as a present to Horace Walpole. I then asked him, whether he were an acquaintance of his. Upon his replying in the negative, I did not hesitate to ask him for it, that I might, as a friend of Mr. Walpole's, have the pleasure of giving it to him. He then entreated me to accept some Egyptian pebbles," &c. vol. i. p. 170. This is what we call taking a freedom in a high and cordial style, upon the best grounds in the world, and such as we love to be taken. At the same time, it must be owned that it provokes a grateful wish to take liberties in return, not always so feasible. Fascinating women, as the world goes, are inconvenient.

SPORTING AND ANGLING.-During the past month, the usual number of" shocking accidents" have appeared, resulting from guns and triggers; and the several agonies and disfigurements undergone have been very naturally lamented. We sympathize unaffectedly with these shattered bones, eyes blown out, &c. and with the sorrows of the fair friends and others who lament over them. Yet somehow we cannot help thinking, what heaps of similar and more shocking paragraphs might be written, if bird could write, by partridges and grouse. Take a specimen." DREADFUL OCCURRENCE. Yesterday, in consequence of the extraordinary barbarities committed, as usual at this season of the year, in the neighbourhood of Immington, thirty of the Partridge family were thrown into the most dreadful agonies by wounds of various kinds, too horrible for description. Some had their legs and thighs shattered; others their eyes blown out; others a great part of the face carried away. A few had the good fortune (for such it must be called) to be killed at once: but by far the greater part lingered in excruciating torment for want of proper assistance, and at length died, as usual, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and the additional torments arising from the ground and stubble they were left upon. The horror and grief of the survivors may be better conceived than expressed."

The following is a description of as finished a human otter as we remember to have seen; we should say pelican, from the instinct he had of stowing his property about him; but this would not be so well, considering the family attachments of that humaner biped.

Died, in the course of last week, at Mr. John Rossiter's, of Burkestown, county of Wexford, an old man, known in that neigh