turn becomingly to the works of its earlier years, and the world thanked Scott for applying himself to the revising and republishing his first novels. But Mr. Reade, we need hardly say, although the author of "Italy," is not the author of " Waverley," and he ought -such were our reflections-to have suffered his " Deluge" to remain " with the years beyond the flood," unless indeed he felt sure of this same " Deluge" overtopping the loftiest of his own or his cotemporaries' productions by as many feet as that of Noah did Parnassus itself.

We read the drama-and felt that Mr. Reade's fate was sealed. He was shut out from the ark, and will now, we fear, escape notice to all eternity, unless some future geologist shall happen to hammer him out of obscurity, as a fossil specimen of that unlucky species which has been included in such countless quantities in the wet clay of obli

vion.

We were willing to pardon-for we throw off the mask-the plagiarisms of Italy." We saw what was good in it, and we are always ready to excuse much when there is merit; but when an author deliberately comes forward with a second work, in plot, style, diction, every thing, familiar already to every reader who has the slightest acquaintance with the works of the modern poets, we at once say, that it is not enough to be told in a few lines on a fly-leaf that it was written before the works it resembles; and he has no more right to expect that the world will notice such a publication, "coming," as it does, "a day after the fair," than that they would attend to him, if he were seriously to assert that his "Italy" had been written before "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." In truth we are vexed to find such a want of common appreciation of public taste in such a man as Mr. Reade. He ought to know better; and, should these wholesome truths ever meet his eye, we counsel him to profit by them, and, since he cannot suppress" "the Deluge," as he did the further wanderings of " Cain" on a similar hint, to take care that the threatened "Catiline" do not find some Cicero ready to destroy his hopes, by exposing similar unpardonable offences against the republic of literature.

It would be a waste of time to give more than a single specimen of the 66 Deluge""—a specimen which will explain the plot better than we could do

ourselves. Astarte and Azoara are two ladies, in love with two angels. In a conversation touching their dull earthly neighbours, the former addresses her enamoured sister pretty much in our friend" Meg Dod's" style=" and what for no?"

"And wherefore not? Do they not life enjoy? And is not happiness life's end and aim? Look at them-day beholds them occupied ; Felt doubly sweet from all their labours done. And evening comes to sanctify their rest, They go forth hand in hand, and they are honoured

Among the people: and when age steals on them,

Their children will grow round them, propping

Of thy weak nature which doth make them so. Do I not glory in my seraph lord?

Or would I change my heavenly destiny
For aught that earth could give? what, if we
hide

From human eyes our meetings?-'tis because
They are too lowly to prize happiness
They cannot judge of, to be proved ere owned.
How can it be an evil to aspire

Towards immortal beings? Is it not
To raise ourselves from human to divine?
Above the jealousies and petty cares,
The apathy, and weariness of life?

If they led us astray from God, their presence
Would be forbidden; but they rather give us
Glimpses of heaven, until our spirits feel
Etherial as their own.
Astarte.

Thou speakest well :
How willingly I listen to thy words?
Even though I feel that something of the truth
Is wanting to them still," &c.

66

Surely this is sufficient to sink a book "deeper than did ever plummet sound;" and yet it is positively as good as any passage in the whole composition. We would fain have viewed it more favourably, for we had good hopes of the author of " Italy;" but we had a duty to perform, and if we avail to rouse this gifted and accomplished gentleman from the state of strange infatuation he seems to be in, and spur him, though it be somewhat roughly, to use his present energies in the production of something original, a labour for which his mental thews and sinews well qualify him, we think that in spite of all that is past, we may yet have to congratulate ourselves and the publicand with hearty good will shall we do it-on the appearance of a phenomenon long unobserved, a good and successful poem.

that period, the proud position which they at present occupy would never have been attained, and a profligate and licentious democracy-the enemies of religion and order, would this moment be riding rough-shod over all that true-hearted Englishmen hold most dear. But Sir Robert Peel saw that even then there were materials, if we only duly availed ourselves of them, by the proper use of which the destructives might still be resisted. And he gave an impetus and direction to Conservative energy, by which almost all its losses have been already retrieved, and which, if it only continue as it has begun, must end in erecting an impregnable bulwark around our monarchical institutions. "Quà minime reris Graià pandetur ab urbe." Sir Robert showed his countrymen that in the very machinery of the reform bill might be found the means of effectually baffling the designs of its pestilent contrivers; that what was intended to act upon Conservative energy, like the shirt of Dejeneira upon Hercules, might be converted into a source of health; and that the very manacles by which they were to be fettered, might be converted into the weapons by which they might be enabled to achieve an easy triumph over their confident and insulting enemies.

"THE battle of the Constitution is to be fought at the registries," were the memorable words of Sir Robert Peel, at a time when many wise men imagined that little head could be made against the impetus toward destructive organic changes which had been communicated by the fatal boon of the reform bill; and they were not spoken in vain. They served to arrest the attention of the disheartened Conservatives, and to fix it upon the only mode in which it is now possible to escape the most tremendous evils. A new class of voters had been created, who were, thenceforth, the responsible depositaries of all political power; and, according as they were of a destructive, or a conservative character, the political horizon would be dark or bright, with national danger, or national safety. The revolutionists, no doubt, imagined, that, in the extensive confiscation of political rights which they had effected, their political adversaries must be so far crippled as no longer to be formidable against them. The rotten boroughs, as they were called, were completely destroyed; except in some favoured cases, where they were still retained in the service of their Whig masters. And society, altogether, was so metamorphosed; the nation seemed to have been seized with such a passion for exhibiting in the farce of high life below stairs, or, rather, low life above stairs, that the radical millennium seemed to have already commenced, and he was a sanguine man who entertained a hope that by any contrivance the Conservatives could be enabled to make any effectual stand in favour of our institutions. Such were the circumstances under which Sir Robert Peel told his countrymen that the battle of the Constitution was to be fought at the registries; and never were words of practical wisdom more seasonably uttered, or more nobly responded to by a confiding people. The present state of the registry in England is, in itself, sufficient to prove the value of the advice which they conveyed, and the necessity which there was for acting with the promptitude which they enjoined as, had despondency or supineness characterised the Conservatives at

We have been drawn into these remarks, by a report which has just been published by the Conservative Registration Committee of the city of Dublin, and which affords a most encouraging example of what may, by proper exertion, be effected for the rest of Ireland. By the labours of these admirable men, the Dublin constituency is now very nearly in a condition to rescue us from the disgrace of being at any future time so grossly misrepresented as we are at present. very nearly, in a spirit of, perhaps, overcaution, as the registration returns already evince that the Conservatives have gained a considerable majority; but we would not have them over sanguine, as our desire is (and by a very little more of perseverance it is sure to be accomplished) that the constitutional forces should be so increased and so arranged, that at the

We say,

"The first remarkable circumstance displayed by the foregoing returns, is the small increase which took place in the constituency of the city of Dublin, between the election in December 1832, and that in January, 1835; the increase in two years and one month amounted only to 212, and yet the numbers polled by the Conservative candidates at the election of 1835, exceeded by one-fourth that of their supporters in 1832. This fact affords a strong proof of the advantage which the Conservative cause derived from the contests carried on by Mr. West, Sir George Rich and Mr. Hamilton, under circumstances at first apparently hopeless. The election of 1835 shewed not only an increase of Conservative voters, but a very remarkable falling off in the number of Mr. O'Connell's supporters, and consequently many reflecting persons were of opinion that the city might be rescued from the hands of the Revolutionists, if a systematic scheme of registration were carried into active operation by the Conservative party. To effect so desirable an object, this committee was established in July, 1835, and therefore must itself be considered as a consequence of Mr. West's and Mr. Hamilton's struggle against Mr. O'Connell in the preceding January.

"This committee had, from its first formation, many difficulties to contend with. Their exertions were viewed with indifference by many Conservatives, with jealousy by some, and from others they experienced an undeserved and active opposition. The progress of time and events has removed all jealousy and opposition, but has not been successful in altogether overcoming apathy and indifference. The committee feel themselves, however, called upon to state, that the latter obstacles to their exertions are every day decreasing, and they unhesitatingly assert, that the Conservative constituency of Dublin yield to none in the British empire in a persevering and steady attachment to principles,-qualities they have exhibited in three contested elections and two expensive petitions, all occurring within the short period of five years.

VOL. XIII.

"The alarm created in the mind of the great Agitator by the early success of the committee, and the spirit engendered throughout Ireland by the force of its example, called into successive existence the Central Independent Club, and the Registry Reform Association, supported by nineteen parochial committees, who sat every night in Dublin (Sunday not excepted) for more that one year, for the avowed purpose of breaking down the Conservative registration.

as

"These having failed to effect O'Connell's object, were in their turn extinguished by their originator. In an angry speech at the Corn Exchange, he denounced the nineteen committees "parochial straws," and proceeded to create and organize the General National Association to support with funds and superintend, through subordinate committees, the registration throughout Ireland. The constituency of Dublin being the object of O'Connell's most anxious care, he confided the management of its registration to the expectant lawyers of his party, and they pressed forward in his service with such zeal, that three or four of them were always in court during the ensuing registry session, which was rendered unusually protracted, and to the Conservatives unusually expensive, on account of the necessity imposed on them of retaining counsel to oppose the frivolous objections the Radical Barristers were constantly bringing forward for the purpose of exhausting the funds of the committee.

"The committee, having fairly beaten the Association and their lawyers out of the field, have had to contend, at the late February registry, with the Precursor Society, its treasury, and an agency composed of poor and needy men, working in earnest hope of the provision and promotion already given to great numbers concerned in the forwarding of Radical registration, or occupied in the formation of societies and rules for their guidance throughout Ireland; the rewards for such exertions varied in value from the office of attorney-general to that of tide-waiter or gauger.

"It is now the duty of the committee 3 E