Page images
PDF
EPUB

"Seiz'd a young lamb, and tore their bleating spoil.
"Urg'd by compassion for my helpless charge,
"I felt a new-born vigour nerve my arm ;
"And, eager, on the foaming monsters rush'd.
"The famish'd lion by his grisly beard,

[ocr errors]

agony;

Enrag'd, I caught, and smote him to the ground. "The panting monster struggling in my gripe, "Shook terribly his bristling mane, and lash'd "His own gaunt, goary sides; fiercely he ground "His gnashing teeth, and roll'd his starting eyes, "Bloodshot with then with a groan, "That wak'd the echoes of the mountain, dy’d. ...Nor did his grim associate 'scape my arm; "Thy servant slew the lion and the bear; "I kill'd them both, and bore their shaggy spoils "In triumph home: And shall I fear to meet "Th' uncircumcis'd Philistine! No: that God. "Who sav'd me from the bear's destructive fang "And hungry lion's jaw, will not he save me "From this idolater?"

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

"Yes, Thou art ever present, Pow'r Supreme! "Not circumscrib'd by time, nor fix'd to space, "Confin'd to altars, nor to temples bound. "In wealth, in want, in freedom, or in chains,

1

"In dungeons or on thrones, the faithful find thee!
"E'en in the burning cauldron thou wast near

"To Shadrach and the holy brotherhood:

"The unhurt martyrs bless'd thee in the flames;

"They sought, and found Thee; call'd, and Thou wast there."

If her best friends can select from her works passages more favourable to her merit, I shall be glad to look at them.

J

Her SEARCH after HAPPINESS she says she wrote in very early youth. Her experience then she acquired very early, for she writes like a matron. Experience, knowledge, innocence, are not attributes of the same person. H. More's experience, therefore, by her own account, was attained in very early youth. She wrote the prologue herself, from which I transcribe

"No husband wrong'd who trusted and believ'd,
"No father cheated, and no friend deceiv'd;"

"No libertine in glowing strains describ'd,

"No lying chambermaid that rake had brib'd.”

Who would wish to see his daughter or his sister speak this prologue, this succedaneum for "less pure" compositions, before a large company? "Whether we learn too well what we describe, "Or fail the Poet's meaning to imbibe;

"In either case your blame we justly raise,

"In either lose, or ought to lose, your praise."

Why the dramatic mode of discussing a didactic or protreptical subject was chosen, no reason can be given; but, as the Dean said,

"Like every cock she must be treading.'

The lady must be a universal genius.

"I sigh'd (says she, p. 296) for fame, I languish'd for

renown,

"I would be flatter'd, prais'd, admir'd, and known.

"To boast each various faculty of mind,

"Thy graces, Pope! with Johnson's learning join'd." An enquiry after happiness, in the form of a pas toral drama, sounds like a sermon in rhyme, or a dramatic homily, or a play in a church. But her genius is not of that gigantic strength which, like

the sun contending with a dark and cloudy atmosphere, at length in its struggles bursts out, dispeling all surrounding vapours, into a clear and perfect day; or that forceth nature, or the rules of art founded in nature, to sink and disappear before her, and that calls into existence a new creation. Her strength consists in the faculty of casting the prose thoughts of others into rhyme, and thus hashed, made up and garnished, and seasoned with the sound of " Virtue and religion," the cook being a female, criticism lost its sting, and dropped her fastidiousness. The fecundity of this prolific lady is multifarious, and her numerous offspring might have passed from the cradle to the grave, had she not been blessed with a pair of good sparkling, wandering eyes, and a censer always smoking in her hand, which when perceived, disarmed the critics. Although it is not meant to deny her some literary merit, it is certain she is not entitled to the praise bestowed. Her literary reputation is principally factitious; and had she not made a noise about religion, merely to have a party, for she thought it was better to reign among them than serve elsewhere, she would have been, as now she is likely soon to be, entirely forgotten.Her popularity was acquired with a very small stock of original genius; and secured and retained by flattery and cunning. But that charm is now dissolved. Circumstances have occurred to be. for ever lamented by her and her friends, which have made the world desirous of knowing more intimately a character which possessed address, with so humble a genius, to attract so much attention,

and to be so often and so long the subject of conversation; and of appreciating her literary talents, as well as her mental character. This I have here attempted, and alas! with too much success; for her writings and her actions, her head and her heart are very discordant.

Bliss and ness, according to her, are rhymes, and so are shade and mead, also er and ar, join'd and mind; but these are the rhymes "of a Bristol pool." Let us make some extracts from this poem.

"Howe'er the conduct of my life might err,

"Still my dramatic plans were regular."

Alas! poor Hannah, both have been irregular. Again

"Not love, but wonder, I aspir'd to raise,

"And miss'd affection, while I grasp'd at praise.

"A fancy'd heroine, an ideal wife;

"I loath'd the offices of real life.

"O happy they for whom, in early age, "Enlight'ning knowledge spreads her letter'd page! "Teaches each headstrong passion to controul, "And pours her lib'ral lesson on the soul! "Ideas grow from books their nat❜ral food, "As aliment is chang'd to vital blood. "Tho' faithless Fortune strip her vot'ry bare, "Tho' Malice haunt him, and tho' Envý tear, "Nor time, nor chance, nor want, can e'er destroy "This soul-felt solace, and this bosom joy!"

ANOTHER.

"Let the proud sex possess their vaunted pow'rs;
"Be other triumphs, other glories, ours!
"The gentler charms which wait on female life,'
"Which grace the daughter and adorn the wife,

"Be these our boast; yet these may well admit
Of various knowledge, and of blameless wit:
"Of sense, resulting from a nurtur'd mind,
"Of polish'd converse, and of taste refin'd."

VOL. III. TRAGEDIES.

IN a long and laboured preface to her tragedies, H. More has exerted her utmost strength, with, probably, some friendly efforts from those who are indeed holy, to purify herself from her youthful follies, indiscretions and sins, in hopes of appearing spotless among the religious; but she makes but an awkward and inconsistent saint. Her endeavours would go to prove the stage, under some ideal, mysterious and non-described regulations, a good school for virtue, yet not a proper spectacle for a person who turns christian. She is ashamed and sorry for having written plays, she wishes it to be forgotten that she ever constructed or launched any; that she ever attended the green room, stood behind the scenes, or waited in agonies the decisions of the gods and the pit. She apologizeth for having done so; she republishes them, however, and apologizeth for the act; she writes for and against the stage; she says, "video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor." In short, she exhibits a knowing, cunning, wicked & weak woman. Her doctrine seems to be "to continue in sin that grace may abound." What was a sin in her youth, she in her old age, when she is likely to be able to sin no more, acknowledgeth; but wisheth the world to

« PreviousContinue »