tering the "lone-house," when he wished to deceive her into fleep?" Aye, aye. Wont you come in, "damfel? This is a rude lodging; but the guests fel"dom complain. They are fcurvily treated, 'tis true; "but then they fleep very quietly." However, it is but juftice to add, that Spalatro is acquainted with better words; and, when alone with Ellena, that he too has a fmatter of verfification.

The impropriety of the fentiment, when contrafted with the fituation in which it is delivered, glares upon us almoft throughout the piece. For our part, we feel ftrongly difpofed to believe, that no lover, fituate as is Vivaldi, when at the altar of the Carmelites, would enter into these fine imaginations by way of chiding the prieft for his delay :

"Forgive me, father, that I thought you long.

Ah! could your feet keep pace with youthful fancy,
You had anticipated fun-rife-hurried

From fleepless midnight to the altar's foot,
And counted every pulse of yonder clock,
That circulates the creeping blood of time;
Gaz'd on the dial, doubted every minute
That accident had fetter'd down his hand,
And mock'd meridian day with morning hours."

This, however, is probability to what follows. In that most afflicting interview betwixt Vivaldi, Ellena, and Schedoni, towards the denouement of the plot; Vivaldi, finding that in Schedoni he had criminated or accufed the father of Ellena, exclaims

"O fatal rashness!

Thus proftrate at your feet behold me, father:
In mercy take the life which has destroyed you.
While yet death's counterfeit fits on her brow,
And veils the glance that kills with its reproach,
Let me expire; nor ever view those beams
That I have ftrangled in a sea of blood.”

Will the reader comprehend the full fublimity of the following stanza, fung by the chorus of nuns? We feel ourfelves too earthy for the afcenfion

"Fancy exerting her airy dominion,

Roufes the nun at the breaking of day;
Sleep flies difpers'd by the rustling pinion,

The wing of the seraph who flutter'd away."

We fee little in "the exquifite ballad of Poor Mary," but a trivial alteration; and a confiderable abridgment of another, by Mr. Southey.

The foliloquy of Schedoni, on his entrance into the room adjoining the chamber of Ellena, with a view to finish her exiftence, has a marked resemblance to the foliloquy of Macbeth, as he proceeds to the murder of Duncan nor will the poetical reader be long in difcovering this pelf

"And, by confeffion of my crimes, difmifs

The frigid toil of flow and creeping proof.".

Has not one Shakespeare fomething like it? We think that he has but, in the following lines, Mr. Boaden has, indeed, "tipped him the go-by;" fince Shake、 fpeare, with all his fancies and paffion, never mounted fo high as Schedoni in fearch of fuch phrafes as thefe, to exprefs the feverest agony of spirit

"By heaven

I could as foon clafp Etna in his rage,

And think his flaming fountain were the foft
Defcending shower that dews the breast of earth,
As feel the mifery that rages in me,

And hear of mercy."

The delicacy of this fimile is not the most refined in the world:

"A tranfport greater than even love can give!
Or rather, it is love fublim'd and purg'd
From all its fenfual earthly properties."

Have we faid, that there was not any thing to commend in the Italian Monk?

Schedoni, on parting with Vivaldi, has fome appropriate and admirable fentiments; and there is fome humour in the farcafms of Paullo. Granting this, we muft now add--that Mr. Boaden is not infenfible to his merits, though by no means confcious of his defects. And we most affuredly do not think that the Italian Monk, either in reprefentation or reading, "is the best piece which has been produced on the ftage, for the five laft years;" we are of opinion, on the contrary, that it is among the worst which have been feen during that period, and that it will never be read twice by the fame perfon.

ART. IV. Clara Dupleffis, and Clairant: the Hiftory of a Family of French Emigrants. Tranflated from the German. 3 vols. 10s. 6d. bds. Longman. THE fimplicity of this narrative is beft expreffed in the editor's own words" If any one flatter him"felf with finding here romantic events, if he look 66 upon the little details of a private life which love and "friendship have rendered fo moving, as infipid and "uninterefting, let him close the book; it is not for "him that I have written it."-It is true, this novel is but a family picture; it contains little more than the

* We have to crave Mr. Boaden's patience, that we did not hear this allufion to the Marchefa, when prefent at the reprefentation of the play

Schedoni. "Now go we on to Naples. There lives one Who must partake our joy, and my regrets."

This we take as an allufion to that lady; which the whispers of the audience, who were more engaged with each other, than with the play, could alone have prevented us from hearing.

affecting

affecting ftruggles of two youthful hearts, divided by birth, but united by affection. The ftory is as natural as it is touching; and though the incidents which conftitute it are few, they feize upon the heart with irrefiftible ftrength. The three volumes are a fort of analyfis of love; they trace that paffion from its first faint fentiment, to that powerful one which animates the human heart to fuch romantic energies. The delineation of thefe lovers' feelings, of the feveral extinctions and revivals of their early tendernefs, is ably as well as ufefully perfected; and if delicacy of thought, grace of ftyle, and moderation in politics, can charm, this work must be read and admired.

Many paffages offer themselves to our wishes more pathetic than the following; but there are none of equal or fuperior merit, that come fo well within the limits of our Magazine. Clariant is a peasant, and, though the friend of the young Dupleffis, was not at this time the lover of his fifter

"Duplefis wanted to fhew them a bed of flowers; they followed him very innocently, and with a good deal of indifference, but at the turn of an alley they met the Viscount, precifely at the moment when Clara, walking quickly, and entangling her foot in her gown, was ready to fall, if Clairant had not hastened to fupport her. "Clara," faid the Viscount, with a loud voice, and in a fevere tone, "return to your chamber inftantly; I forbid you to be ever with Clairant; a young lady ought not to forget what she is." They blushed all three. Clara, quite confounded, retired, cafting a look upon Clairant, which fhewed plainly the part she took in his humiliation; and three times as the went, the turned round to renew the condoling affurance of it. The young man tood crushed with the blow, which enlightened him as it ftruck him. He had never reflected upon that distance of ranks, which all at once prefented itself before him like an abyfs. Plunged in the bitterness of these reflections, he put his hand, with despair, before his eyes, flooded with tears, and remained motionlefs. Prefently letting his hand fall, he perceived his young friend near him, fixed in commiferation.

"Ah,

"Ah, my lord Viscount," cried, he with a voice interrupted with fighs, and retiring a few paces with refpect. "O my friend, my dear Clairant," cried young Duplefiis, throwing himself upon his neck, "call me not fo, you offend me; is this the eternal friendship you have fworn to me? Go-you are my brother! you are my friend."

ART. V. The Beggar Girl and her Benefactors. By Mrs. Bennet. 1 vols. boards. Lane. THE extreme length and intricate incident of this

work, preclude the poffibility of fketching it; yet it is conducted with much eafe, much perfpicuity, and infinite interest. Indeed the latter is almoft incredible, as attention never once flags, during the long journey through feven volumes; but to effect this Mrs. Bennet has facrificed a great deal. She has introduced fituations highly improbable, and events completely fo. The idea of making both her hero and her ine, for a long time, deceived in their parents, and rifing from poverty to titles, is almost abfurd: yet while we cenfure fome part of the plan, we admire the manner in which it is executed, and regret, while we give fuch a judgment of a book from which we have received fo much pleafure. The follies and vices of fashionable life are certainly fair game, as they must ever influence the circles beneath them; and in the earl and countess of Gauntlet, Mrs. Bennet has admirably pourtraved a diftinguished couple in high life. The characters of colonel Buhanun, Dr. Cameron, John and Betty, are inimitable: they are genuine pictures of nature, and drawn in the true fpirit of philanthropic obfervation.

ART.

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VOL. II