in England but poor Leofric who could write a song?" &c. All this is very safe, very easy, and very trenchant criticism, though certainly much more distinguished by its ingenuity than by its ingenuousness.

One of the translators of the Bible, named Bedwell, ascribed "the Turnament of Tottenham" to a Gilbert Pilkington, whose name he found subscribed to another song in the MS. and who had been, "as some have thought," rector of Tottenham. This seemed to me reasonable enough; but the reviewer, "with all due respect to Mr. Guest, conceives that it has been long ago shown (namely by Mr. W. himself, in one of our Magazines) that we have the identical MS. which Bedwell used, and that MS. shows pretty clearly that the whole of Bedwell's tradition was a simple dream of his own," &c. I fear Mr. W.'s memory is full as treacherous as his judgment, for an examination of the MS. has convinced me, not only that Mr. W. has altogether mistaken its date, but also that there are no circumstances connected with it, which warrant this inference- no circumstances which contradict, or throw even the shade of a suspicion upon Bedwell's statement.

A song was found in one of the Harleian MSS. introduced by a stanza, which may be thus modernised,

He that will of wisdom hear,
From wise Hending may he learn

(That was Marcolf's son)
Good principles and fair manners-
Them to teach to many a shreward,
For such was ever his wont;

and, on the strength of this, I ventured to rank Hending as an English poet. Now there is, I am given to understand, a collection of AngloSaxon proverbs, in which the name of Marcolf occurs; and I am told that Mr. Kemble has (with a view to publication) traced these proverbs in the French and German. Whether Marcolf then be "the devil that flyted with King Solomon," as the reviewer asserts, or merely an old author, whose name has gathered fable and mystery around it, may be best set

tled when the labours of Mr. Kemble are laid before the public. I would, however, observe, that Esop and Homer, who were spiritualised away some few years back, are now fast recovering their humanity; and I suspect the "imaginary beings" which haunt the reviewer will prove after all to be mere flesh and blood. If Marcolf be

a non-entity, the phrase "Marcolf's son" will of course mean only, that Hending succeeded to his reputation. The phrase vilain, which is substituted for Hending in the French version (the reviewer styles it the original!) shows us the rank he filled in society.

Who

The reader may now see how genuine was the reviewer's astonishment, that " any one, who had dipped into middle-age literature, should have been ignorant of a legend, which was popular in all shapes and in almost every language in Europe." would suppose that the writer of this sentence gleaned all his knowledge of Marcolf and his sayings from a friend, whose researches on this obscure subject are still in manuscript? What will be said, if he never saw or heard of Hending's name till he opened the work, which he thus ventures to criticise?

Had I a better opinion of the reviewer's scholarship, I might feel some little pride when I view the result of his criticism. But I must not measure my success by his failure. I cannot disguise from myself, that in a work, which ranges over thirteen centuries, and embraces subjects so varied and novel and difficult, there must be numerous errors of detail, and in all probability some errors of principle. I can only hope that the scholarship, which is necessary to detect, may be accompanied with a candour not unwilling to excuse them.

If this discussion be continued, I would recommend it to the controversialist, both as a more satisfactory and a more manly part, to subscribe his initials. The number of those who are interested in these inquiries is so limited, that all hope of remaining anonymous must be vain.

Yours, &c. E. G.

The

"And why will intellect refuse to learn humility from her own annals? chemist promises with exulting confidence to apply his knowledge for the benefit of the navigator, and to give him a new ocean-triumph. The vessel, covered with the combinations of zinc and copper, whose galvanic action is to defeat the corrosive properties by which the metal is consumed, sails gaily from the port, and returns heavy as a drifting log; the keel a mass of zoophytes, scarcely able to drag through the waves. Planned according to the strictest deductions of science, the safety lamp is held up as the proud trophy of philosophy rendered subservient to practical utility. It constistutes the theme of the essay and the subject of the speech, and is flung aside by the workman, who finds he dares not trust its uncertain aid. Such are the results of the reasoning powers as applied for the purpose of discovery by him, who was among the most gifted of our generation, and who finally earned no other meed from the world's friendship, except the cold sympathy of funereal praise, when, a disappointed exile, he wast

ed into the tomb."

What authority is there in the history of Sir Humphry Davy's Life for the assertion that closes the quotation? With regard to the experiments of applying zinc to the bottom of ships to prevent the corrosion of the copper, though highly ingenious, it must be allowed to have failed; but the disuse of the safety lamp, I have always understood to have arisen rather from the carelessness and indifference of the workmen, than from any distrust of its affording security. But how can it be said, that Sir H. Davy "earned no meed of the world's friendship, except the cold sympathy of funereal praise;" when his life was one continued career of

good fortune and prosperity and honour; when he rose from the obscurity of a little remote village of Cornwall to be the leading man of science in the country; when he was the friend equally of the illustrious by birth and fortune as by talents; when he received from his own sovereign the honour of a baronetcy, and from another, the privilege (on account of his high station in the walks of science) of seeing the Continent of Europe open to him alone, when all his countrymen were forbidden to set a foot beyond their own shores; when he was elected President of the Royal Society at home, and received with open arms, and grateful and friendly attentions by the members of the Foreign Institutes? Surely these are "marks of the world's friendship" of the most honourable and gratifying kind, and in comparison of which all gifts of fortune must be considered as of no account. With regard to the concluding words -"when, a disappointed exile, he wasted into the tomb," they appear to me as little correct as the former. A man who takes a summer tour for the sake of fishing in the Lakes of Styria, and examining its natural history, cannot well be called an exile; and Sir Humphry Davy was never absent from home for a longer period than a few months, except in his Italian tour with Lady Davy. So far from being a "disappointed exile," he speaks with delight

of the band of friends whom he always found ready to welcome him on his return to London; and with regard to "wasting into the tomb," his biographers have shown that the proximate cause of his death was obscure; but that his health was injured by the effects of the laboratory and his chemical researches and experiments. Certainly there are no marks in his biography of any sorrows or disappointments connected with the opinion which society had formed of his high abilities; nor of the discoveries he had made in science, not meeting their reward. He had honours, such as his country does not always bestow even on men of high genius. He had fortune, as he confesses, equal to all his desires; and he had friends in the

best and foremost classes of society. On the whole, his life appears to me to have been one of unusual prosperity; and 1 do not find Sir Francis Palgrave's surmises at all supported by the authority of the biographers of this illustrious person.

Yours, &c. M.

Mr. URBAN, Chelsea, April 5. THE ornamental Garden at Kensington mentioned by your correspondent J. M. (see Gent. Mag. June, p. 338.) was situate on the north-west of the great Green-house, and immediately next to the Palace on the north; its site is now occupied by the large and beautiful promenade called Yewtree Walk,' and in some older plans, Brazen-face Walk. The plot and arrangement of this part of the garden is shown in the accompanying woodcut, extracted from John Rocque's "Plan of the Royal Palace and Gardens of Kensington,' engraved in 1736, in which by a figure of reference it is designated as the "Old Gravil Pit." In a drawn plan of Kensington Gardens, in the royal collection in the British Museum, about the middle of the last century, this garden is cleared away, but it is still represented as "The Pitt."

In

The whole extent of the Gardens of Kensington when first inclosed and planted by King William, was about twenty-six acres; they were laid out in the prevalent formal style. Kip's Views of the Seats of the Nobility and Gentry, are many representations of the tiresome uniformity of the gardens at that period, long and straight gravel walks, with clipped hedges extended throughout, only varied by giants, animals, and monsters in yew or holly. The hollow bason and mount, and plantations which excited the admiration of Addison, were all filled up and levelled by Queen Caroline, who altered this and many other parts of the gardens to the state in which we now see them. The great open masses of trees on the east of the palace are said to have been originally planted by command of George the Second to represent an army in marching order; on a fine summer's evening, when enlivened by the

rays of the setting sun, they present to the admirers of forest scenery, by their lively and countless tints, a most majestic and beautiful appearance, not to be equalled in the vicinity of the Metropolis. Many particulars of the gradual extension and improvement of these gardens will be found recorded in my History of Kensington.

Yours, &c. THOMAS FAulkner.

On the Prayer and Homily Society, and the Modern Greeks.

THE critical accuracy of the modern Greeks may be judged of by the following circumstance:

"The Prayer and Homily Society sent me some polyglot Liturgies of the Church of England to present copies to the dignitaries of the Greek Church. My object was to give them some ideas of the prayers and doctrines of our Church, with which they were entirely unacquainted; and so better dispose them to form translations of the Scriptures, to which some opposition had been shown. I called, among others, on Chrypanto, Bishop of Seres, who was afterwards elected Patriarch, and presented him with one in Ancient Greek. His critical eye at once detected many errors. The first was in the Rubric of the general confession. 'Here,' said he, 'are two faults: the first is Xaov.' I recollected that this was a literal δει όλον τον ὁμιλον, it should be όλον τον translation of our Rubric-'the whole congregation,' and told him so. 'Then,' said he,ólov is superfluous, for it is contained in ὁμιλον. 'Again,' said he, μεταξύ τιθέντων is not Greek. I said μεταξύ 80verned a genitive case. 'Yes,' said he,' but TevTwv is the genitive absolute, and has the form of μedagu.' I now happened to open at the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, which he ran his eye over, and said

Here is another error, χαρισομενος should be xapitoμevos, not the future, but the present tense.' I said, I believed the first was the word of St. Chrysostom himself.

"The bishop took up his own Liturgy, and referred to the prayer; it was χαριζόμενοs. It should thus appear that the modern Greeks study their ancient language with the same care and still re

tain some of the critical acumen for which their ancestors were distinguished." Walsh's Constantinople, ii. 401.

OH! let me go!—I cannot bear

To dwell amid this cruel scene, Where Sin and Misery and Despair, The enemies of God, have been. Oh! let me go!-Earth's phantoms here [wild; They wear an aspect strange and I know not-but all fills with fear The bosom of a little child.

Where are they whom in heaven I knew? Alas! the angels dwell not here! But ghastly fiends of mortal hue

Rule o'er the earth-Hate, Shame, and Fear.

From scenes like these of pain and woe, Oh! let me, Father, pass away;

I cannot, must not dwell below,

Amid these children of the clay.What means this sky so stern and cold, These restless winds that ever blow; Trees that no glittering foliage hold, And earth beneath her pall of snow? Does Nature for her children grieve,

And mourn the eternal death within; Or is she too without reprieve,

Closed in the fatal curse of sin? Each form the spectre Misery wears,

Of crime and folly, guilt and care; And each the varying vulture tears,

Disease in some-in some despair. And woes there are that never speak, Yet bear the silent spirit down, Like hers, that flower so pale and meek, Who fades beneath a tyrant's frown. And who is he, whose care-worn brow And cruel eye and visage cold, Now in delight, in terror now,

Hangs o'erhis heaps of hoarded gold? And one there lives, whose hand is red With blood of Christian brethren

slain;

Whose throne is built upon the dead :Oh! take me back to heaven again.

Why linger here? perpetual tears

Are all this ruin'd earth can show, Delusive hopes, and cruel fears,

And every varying shape of woe.

I hear no voice cherubic breathe
In whispers to my waking ear;
I see no hands angelic wreathe
Celestial roses round my hair.
I hear no hymns of glory rise,

No harps their voice symphonious
join;

No duteous hearts, no grateful eyes;

Ah! this can be no world of mine. Then let me go!-My heart would break,

Imprison'd in this dungeon-gloom; Mid these, the wretched ones who wake To witness in their life, their doom. Oh! Father! let me leave this race Of earthly hearts estranged from thee;

And let thy child again embrace

His little brethren pure and free.-
"Tis heard!-Methinks I seem to hear
The rustling of angelic wings;
I catch from yonder sunlit sphere
The echoes, as a seraph sings.

I hear their voice-their forms I know,
The shining-ones in bright array;
They glide adown the emerald bow
To bear me in their arms away.

Children of Beauty! from their birth

Each with his star of radiance

crown'd; They come while o'er the enamour'd earth

Celestial fragrance breathes around. And tens of thousands spirits pure,

With roseate lips that breathe of love, Will hail their lost one now secure

Amid the guardian thrones above. And when of earth they hear-and all Man's sufferings there for wealth

and fame; Tears from those cherub eyes will fall, And every brow be red with shame, And every little hand be raised

In prayer for them the unforgiven; Oh! Lord of Mercy! thou art praised By every sainted child of heaven! B-ll, May 1838.

J. M.

Calvin's Life and Theology, selected by Samuel Dunn. With a Life of the Author. 1837.

IF there is a disadvantage attending abridgments, and other means of facilitating a certain knowledge of subjects which, in their full extent, require learning and patient application, by affording only a partial and imperfect view, as well as by encouraging too discursive methods of reading;— by flattering a vague curiosity and indulging that indolence which is sure to be ready, when we relax aught of the severe and painful study which can alone enable us to acquire the knowledge beneficial to ourselves and others; yet, on the other hand, it may be said, that they serve as it were to open the gates of knowledge, leaving us to our own option to extend our progress,—that they stimulate us by provoking curiosity to the investigation of what we otherwise should have relinquished in ignorance of its value, or in despair of our powers of mastering it,-that, well used, they may serve as grammars and introductions of elemental knowledge, and lastly, that because it is impossible for the mind to acquire a mastery over every science and every branch of knowledge, it does not follow that it ought to remain content in its entire darkness; that what is not sufficient to enable us to teach, may yet be beneficial to learn, that a variety of attainment will give richness of illustration and variety of allusion, that it will feed the fancy with diversified images, and supply the reason with new analogies: so that when we have once selected that branch of study most congenial to our faculties, penetrated into its recesses, and mastered its principles, we may safely and profitably indulge ourselves in extending the frontier of our knowledge; and follow the bent of our minds without danger, and, as curiosity may prompt, into inquiries perhaps remote from our own. Now, for such purposes, we shall feel the benefit of those who will act like pioneers in smoothing the way before us, who GENT. MAG. VOL. X.

will give us views and vistas of the extensive landscape which we cannot hope to travel, and select for us out of a large repository of intellectual wealth, what is most striking for its beauty, most estimable for its value, or most convenient for its use. Some of these observations will apply to the work before us, of which, for the reasons we have given, we entertain a favourable opinion. And we think a two-fold advantage may be derived from Mr. Dunn's volume; it may either lead those to the study of Calvin's works, who but for it would never have had courage or curiosity to open their pages, or it may to others present a certain knowledge of the opinions of that very learned and acute man on the great cardinal points of disputed theology. In both cases an useful purpose will be answered. Dead to all curiosity must he be, who is content to have heard the name of Calvin without any wish to know upon what foundation of piety and learning his universal fame is built; nor can he show any laudable anxiety to comprehend the great fundamentals of his religious faith, who would remain ignorant of the sentiments of one who brought to the study of them at once as acute and subtle an intellect, as wide and as profound an erudition, as firm and deep-seated a faith, and as laborious and patient an application as ever conjointly threw their light on the most important of all subjects. And yet, where are the students of modern days who would not shrink from the toil of investigating truth through fourteen volumes, folio, of Latin theology? Surely, therefore, one ought to be grateful to Mr. Dunn for presenting us with a few shining apples from this spacious orchard, and giving us the opinions of this wise and good man upon subjects where an opinion of some kind or another must be formed by us. To this he has prefixed a very judicious and well written Life of Calvin, and a chronological list of his works. We observe, under the head of Humility, p. 245, a curious passage

X