V.

"There first for thee my passion grew,
Sweet! sweet Matilda Pottingen!
Thou wast the daughter of my tu-
-tor, law professor at the U-
-niversity of Gottingen-
-niversity of Gottingen.

VI.

"Sun, moon, and thou, vain world, adieu,
That kings and priests are plotting in:
Here doomed to starve on water gru-
-el, never shall I see the U-
-niversity of Gottingen-
-niversity of Gottingen."

society published a journal, in which the most honored names of foreign countries were attacked in the most scandalous manner. German literature was at that

For his share in this drama of "The Rovers" the vials of Niebuhr's wrath were emptied upon poor Canning's head. It is amusing to see the great German historian, the reconstructor of Roman time little known in England, and it was history, exhibiting so curious a misap-associated there with the ideas of Jacoprehension of contemporary English history, and of the characters of contemporary English statesmen, as the following passage evinces :

binism and revolution. Canning then published in the Anti-Jacobin the most shameful pasquinade which was ever written against Germany, under the Canning was at that time (1807) at title of 'Matilda Pottingen.' Gottingen the head of foreign affairs in England. is described in it as the sink of all inHistory will not form the same judg-famy; professors and students as a gang ment of him as that formed by his contemporaries. He had great talents, but was not a great statesman; he was one of those persons who distinguish themselves as the squires of political heroes. He was highly accomplished in the two classical languages, but without being a learned scholar. He was especially conversant with the Greek writers; he had likewise poetical talent, but only for sa

At first he had joined the leaders of opposition against Pitt's ministry; Lord Grey, who perceived his ambition, advised him, half in joke, to join the Ministers, as he would make his fortune. He did so, and was employed to write articles for the newspapers and satirical verses, which were often directed against his former benefactors.

66

Through the influence of the Ministers he came into Parliament. So long as the great eloquence of former times lasted, and the great men were alive, his talent was admired; but younger persons had no great pleasure in his petulant epigrammatic eloquence and his jokes, which were often in bad taste. He joined the Society of the Anti-Jacobins, which defended everything connected with existing institutions. This

of miscreants; licentiousness, incest, and atheism as the character of the German people. Such was Canning's beginning. He was at all events useful-a sort of political Cossack." (Geschichte des Zeitalters der Revolution, vol. ii., p. 242.)

There is one of the prose contributions to the Anti-Jacobin which bears the impress of Canning's peculiar humor, and which contains specimens of oratory so well suited to some of the leading speakers of the Reform League that we must not pass it by. It is entitled the "Report of the Meeting of the Friends of Freedom at the Crown and Anchor Tavern." The writer puts into the mouth of Erskine a speech of which the following extract contains the peroration:

Mr. Erskine concluded by recapitulating, in a strain of agonizing and impressive eloquence, the several more prominent heads of his speech. He had been a soldier and a sailor, and had a son at Winchester School; he had been called by special retainers, during the summer, into many different and distant parts of the country, travelling chiefly in post-chaises. He felt himself called upon to declare that his poor fac

ulties were at the service of his country
-of the free and enlightened part of it,
at least. He stood here as a man; he
stood in the eye-indeed, in the hand-of
God, to whom (in the presence of the
company and waiters) he solemnly ap-
pealed. He was of noble, perhaps royal,
blood; he had a house at Hampstead;
was convinced of the necessity of a thor-
ough and radical reform; his pamphlet
had gone through thirty editions, skip-
ping alternately the odd and even num-
bers;
he loved the constitution, to which
he would cling and grapple; and he was
clothed with the infirmities of man's na-
ture. He would apply to the present
French rulers (particularly Barras and
Reubel) the words of the poet :

'Be to their faults a little blind;
Be to their virtues very kind;
Let all their ways be unconfined,
And clap the padlock on their mind!'

And for these reasons, thanking the
gentlemen who had done him the honor
to drink his health, he should propose,
'Merlin, the late Minister of Justice, and
Trial by Jury."

prevail, and this unnatural and execrable contest may yet be prolonged; but the hour is not far distant; persecution will only serve to accelerate it, and the blood of patriotism streaming from the severing axe will call down vengeance on our oppressor in a voice of thunder. I expect the contest, and I am prepared for it. I hope I shall never shrink, nor swerve, nor start aside, wherever duty and inclination may place me. My services, my life itself, are at your disposal-whether to act or to suffer, I am yours-with Hampden in the field, or with Sidney on the scaffold. My example may be more useful to you than my talents; and this head may, perhaps, serve your cause more effectually, if placed on a pole upon Temple Bar, than if it was occupied in organizing your committees, in preparing your revolutionary explosions, and conducting your correspondence."

When Canning was attacked in Parliament for his share in the Anti-Jacobin, he declared that he felt no shame for its character or principles, nor any other sorrow for the share that he had had in it than that which the imperfection of his A lengthy speech is delivered by the pieces was calculated to inspire. Pitt, great Macfungus-by whom is intended however, seems to have thought it better the late Sir James Mackintosh. From to bring the publication to a close, and the ruins of all ancient governments and it accordingly terminated with the numconstitutions he proposes to raise a mag-ber which contained "New Morality." nificent Temple of Freedom, where

"Our infants shall be taught to lisp, in tender accents, the Revolutionary Hymn -where with wreaths of myrtle, and oak, and poplar, and vine, and olive, and cypress, and ivy, with violets, and roses, and daffodils, and dandelions in our hands, we will swear respect to childhood, and manhood, and old age, and virginity, and womanhood, and widowhood; but, above all, to the Supreme Being.

"These prospects, fellow - citizens, may possibly be deferred. The Machiavelism of governments may for the time

A monthly review was, indeed, afterwards started under the same name, but with this Canning seems to have had nothing to do.

During the Addington administration Canning's muse was very prolific, and many of his effusions against that Minister appeared in the columns of a newspaper of that day called The Oracle. Many of them were reprinted in the Spirit of the Public Journals for 1803 and 1804. The following character of Addington is taken from the conclusion of Good Intentions:

"Twere best, no doubt, the truth to tell,
But still, good soul, he means so well!
Others, with necromantic skill,
May bend men's passions to their will,
Raise with dark spells the tardy loan,
To shake the vaunting Consul's throne;
In thee no magic arts surprise,
No tricks to cheat our wondering eyes;
On thee shall no suspicion fall

Of sleight of hand, or cup and ball;
E'en foes must own thy spotless fame,
Unbranded with a conjuror's name!
Ne'er shall thy virtuous thoughts conspire
To wrap majestic Thames in fire!

And if that black and nitrous grain

Which strews the fields with thousands slain,
Slept undiscovered yet in earth,

Thou ne'er hadst caused the monstrous birth,
Nor aided (such thy pure intention)

That diabolical invention!

Hail, then, on whom our state is leaning!

O minister of mildest meaning!

Blest with such virtues to talk big on,
With such a head (to hang a wig on).
Head of wisdom-soul of candor,
Happy Britain's guardian gander,
To rescue from th' invading Gaul
Her 'commerce, credit, capital ! '
While Rome's great goose could save alone
One Capitol of senseless stone."

"I'm like Archimedes for science and skill;
I'm like a young prince going straight up a hill;
I'm like (with respect to the fair be it said)—
I'm like a young lady just bringing to bed.
If you ask why the first of July I remember
More than April, or May, or June, or November,
'Twas on that day, my lords, with truth I assure ye,
My sainted progenitor set up his brewery.

On that day, in the morn, he began brewing beer;
On that day, too, commenced his connubial career;
On that day he renewed and he issued his bills;

On that day he cleared out all the cash from his tills.
On that day, too, he died, having finished his summing,
And the angels all cried, 'Here's old Whitbread a-coming.'

So that day still I hail with a smile and a sigh
For his beer with an e, and his bier with an i.

And still on that day in the hottest of weather,

The whole Whitbread family dine all together.
So long as the beams of this house shall support
The roof which o'ershades this respectable court-
As long as the light shall pour into these windows,
Where Hastings was tried for oppressing the Hindoos,
My name shall shine bright, as my ancestor's shines,
Mine recorded in journals, his blazon'd on signs."

One of the last of Canning's political | liament; written in the year (1824) in squibs was the following, written in the which the Right Honorable Frederick year 1824: Robinson, Chancellor of the Exchequer, "Letter from a Cambridge Tutor to his repealed half the duty on sea-borne coals former Pupil, become a Member of Par-imported into the port of London:

"Yes! fallen on times of wickedness and woe,
We have a Popish ministry, you know!
Prepared to light, I humbly do conceive,

New fires in Smithfield, with Dick Martin's leave.
Canning for this with Robinson conspires-
The victim this provides-and that, the fires.
Already they, with purpose ill-concealed,
The tax on coals have partially repealed;
While Huskisson, with computation keen,
Can tell how many pecks will burn a dean.
Yes! deans shall burn! and at the funeral pyre,
With eyes averted from the unhallowed fire-
Irreverent posture!-Harrowby shall stand,
And hold his coat flaps up with either hand.'"

To him, also, is generally assigned the following parody of Moore's Melody,

"Believe me, if all those endearing young charms :”

"Believe me, if all those ridiculous airs,
Which you practice so pretty to-day,

Should vanish by age, and your well-twisted hairs,
Like my own, be both scanty and gray:

Thou would'st still be a goose, as a goose thou hast been,
Tho' a fop and a fribble no more,

And the world that has laughed at the fool of eighteen,

Would laugh at the fool of three-score.

'Tis not whilst you wear that short coat of light brown,
Tight breeches, and neck-cloth so full,

That the absolute void of a mind can be shown,

Which time will but render more dull.

Oh, the fool that is truly so, never forgets,

But as truly fools on to the close,

As P leaves the debate, when he sits,
Just as dark as it was when he rose."

That Canning's muse could also strike a | admitted by all who read the epitaph deeper and more solemn note must be upon his only son, who died in 1820:

"Though short thy span, God's unimpeached decrees,

Which made that shortened span one long disease,
Yet, merciful in chastening, gave thee scope
For mild, redeeming virtues, faith and hope,
Meek resignation, pious charity:

And since this world was not the world for thee,
Far from thy path removed, with partial care,
Strife, glory, gain, and pleasure's flowery snare,
Bade earth's temptations pass thee harmless by,
And fixed on heaven thine unreverted eye!

"Oh! mark'd from birth, and nurtured for the skies!
In youth, with more than learning's wisdom wise;

As sainted martyrs, patient to endure;
Simple as unwean'd infancy, and pure:
Pure from all stain (save that of human clay,
Which Christ's atoning blood hath washed away),
By mortal sufferings now no more oppressed,
Mount, sinless spirit, to thy destined rest!
While I, reversed our nature's kindlier doom,
Pour forth a father's sorrows on thy tomb."

With these verses we conclude this brief notice of George Canning, than whom a more brilliant star has scarcely ever shone in the parliamentary heavens. He was one of those instances which

show how well the pursuits of literature become a statesman, and how a reputation acquired in such a field may well be looked upon as the Corinthian capital to the column of a statesman's fame.

FLAVIA.*

BY GEORGE SAND.

FLAVIA TO ROBERTINE.

MAY 15th. My dear child, it was decreed that I should make you laugh, and that I should twice make a simpleton of myself. This morning, hearing my little dog cry, I supposed that he was shut up in the library; and there I found M. Emilius, armed with a great magnifying glass, which was pointed at Jimmy's eyes. The poor creature was crying with weariness and fright. I thought, of course, that this devil of a man was abusing him.

"Dissect dead animals," said I, taking up my dog, at the risk of a new encounter with this savage; "leave living ones in peace."

He protested that he should be very sorry to do the least harm to my "little friend ;" and the next moment asked me

to do him a favor which would make him the happiest of men.

Guess what was this distinguished favor which he begged, much to my terror. I feared a repetition of the former ridiculous scene, but I was much mistaken. He only wanted leave to examine my eyes with his glass in the broad sunlight.

How delightful! I consented to it for a moment; I was curious to see what this original would do.

"Ah!" he exclaimed in transport, as he made his examination, "How nearsighted you are! And what a beautiful eye! How limpid! A diamond of the purest water! Why are you not a poor

* Concluded from page 364.

beggar! I would keep you there an hour

"Until I was perfectly blinded by your sun and your glass?

There

"Bah! Victims of science! must be some, but you do not wish to be one of them? I understand that. Thank you! Your eye is one of the most instructive."

On my pressing him with questions which he kept evading, he told me at last that the phenomena of vision was the object of his particular study. It seems that this, simple as it is, has never been explained, and perhaps never will be. However, he is trying for it; and has already made some wonderful discovery, I do not know what, which the greatest oculists have never dreamed of.

He talked to me about crystalline, angles of incidence, mirrors, double lu

minous refraction.

Very likely I am making the greatest blunders in the world, in repeating things which he did not say at all, and which I am arranging in my own way like an omelet of my own invention. Very likely, too, he expressed himself as clearly as usual, but I did not attend to him. I was disposed to pity the lot of a man who needs my pity so little, and who sees in me but the single thing that I am near-sighted and have a transparent pupil.