issue (which he trusts on every account will be a speedy one) of the crisis now depending shall admit of your Majesty's more easily forming a new arrangement; and that he will then receive your Majesty's permission to carry with him into a private situation, that affectionate and grateful attachment, which your Majesty's goodness for a long course of years has impressed on his mind-and that unabated zeal for the ease and honour of your Majesty's government, and for the public service, which he trusts will always govern his conduct.

'He has only to entreat your Majesty's pardon for troubling you on one other point, and taking the liberty of most respectfully, but explicitly, submitting to your Majesty the indispensible necessity of effectually discountenancing, in the whole of the interval, all attempts to make use of your Majesty's name, or to influence the opinion of any individual, or descriptions of men, on any part of this subject.'

THE KING'S ANSWER.

Queen-House, Feb. 1, 1801. 'I should not do justice to the warm impulse of my heart, if I entered on the subject most unpleasant to my mind, without first expressing, that the cordial affection I have for Mr. Pitt, as well as high opinion of his talents and integrity, greatly add to my uneasiness on this occasion; but a sense of religious, as well as political duty, has made me, from the moment I mounted the throne, consider the oath that the wisdom of our forefathers has enjoined the kings of this realm to take at their coronation, and enforced by the obligation of instantly following it in the course of the ceremony with taking the sacrament, as so binding a religious obligation on me to maintain the fundamental maxims on which our Constitution is placed, namely, the Church of England being the established one, and that those who hold employments in the State, must be members of it, and consequently obliged not only to take oaths against popery, but to receive the holy communion agreeably to the rites of the Church of England.

This principle of duty must, therefore, prevent me from discussing any proposition tending to destroy this ground-work of our happy Constitution, and much more so that now mentioned by Mr. Pitt, which is no less than the complete overthrow of the whole fabric.

When the Irish propositions were transmitted to me by a joint message from both houses of the British parliament, I told the lords and gentlemen sent on that occasion, that I would with pleasure and without delay forward them to Ireland; but that, as individuals, I could not help acquainting them, that my inclination to an Union with Ireland was principally founded on a trust, that the uniting the Established Churches of the two kingdoms, would for ever shut the door to any further measures with respect to the Roman Catholics.

"These two instances must shew Mr. Pitt, that my opinions are not those formed on the moment, but such as I have imbibed for forty years, and from which I never can depart; but Mr. Pitt, once acquainted with my sentiments, his assuring me that he will stave off the only question whereon, I fear, from his letter, we can never agree,-for the advantage and comfort of continuing to have his advice and exertions in public affairs, I will certainly abstain from talking on this subject, which is the one nearest my heart. I cannot help if others pretend to guess at my opinions,

which I have never disguised; but if those who unfortunately differ with me will keep this subject at rest, I will, on my part, most correctly on my part, be silent also; but this restraint I shall put on myself from affection to Mr. Pitt, but further I cannot go, for I cannot sacrifice my duty to any consideration.

T

Though I do not pretend to have the power of changing Mr. Pitt's opinion, when thus unfortunately fixed, yet I shall hope his sense of duty will prevent his retiring from his present situation to the end of my life, for I can with great truth assert, that I shall, from public and private considerations, feel great regret, if I shall ever find myself obliged, at any time, from a sense of religious and political duty, to yield to his entreaties of retiring from his seat at the Board of Treasury.'

MR. PITT, IN REPLY.

'Downing-Street, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1801. 'Mr. Pitt cannot help entreating your Majesty's permission to express how very sincerely he is penetrated with the affecting expressions of your Majesty kindness and goodness to himself, on the occasion of the communication with which he has been under the necessity of troubling your Majesty. It is, therefore, with additional pain he feels himself bound to state, that the final decision which your Majesty has formed on the great subject in question (the motives to which he respects and honours), and his own unalterable sense of the line which public duty requires from him, must make him consider the moment as now arrived, when, on the principles which he has already explained, it must be his first wish to be released as soon as possible from his present situation. He certainly retains the same anxious desire, in the time and mode of quitting it, to consult as much as possible your Majesty's ease and convenience, and to avoid embarrassment. But he must frankly confess to your Majesty, that the difficulty even of his temporary continuance must necessarily be increased, and may very shortly become insuperable, from what he conceives to be the import of one passage in your Majesty's note, which hardly leaves him room to hope, that your Majesty thinks those steps can be taken for effectually discountenancing all attempts to make use of your Majesty's name, or to influence opinions on this subject, which he has ventured to represent as indispensibly necessary during any interval in which he might remain in office. He has, however, the less anxiety in laying this sentiment before your Majesty, because, independent of it, he is more and more convinced, that your Majesty's final decision being once taken, the sooner he is allowed to -act upon it, the better it will be for your Majesty's service. He trusts, and sincerely believes, that your Majesty cannot find any long delay necessary for forming an arrangement for conducting your service with credit and advantage; and that, on the other hand, the feebleness and uncertainty, which is almost inseparable from a temporary government, must soon produce an effect, both at home and abroad, which might lead to serious inconvenience. Mr. Pitt trusts your Majesty will believe, that a sincere anxiety for the future ease and strength of your government, is one strong motive for his presuming thus to press this consideration.'

It has been frequently declared by public writers, that those persons who assemble annually to celebrate the memory of Mr.

Pitt, and to uphold his principles, have, in their latter years, very generally libelled the one, by coupling it with sentiments of intolerance, and misrepresented the other, by insisting that Catholic emancipation had really never entered into his plans for the government and conciliation of Ireland. The clubs, clamorously, and sometimes, when warm in their cups, intemperately answered, that they were the true depositories of the principles of Mr. Pitt, and that no other persons could even pretend to guess at them. These letters must convince the world, that the clubs were in point of fact wholly ignorant of Mr. Pitt's true policy; and if ever they open their mouths again on the subject, except for the purpose of solemnly retracting all that they have ever written and spoken concerning it, they must be the most besotted, or the most ignorant of mankind. It can never henceforth be disputed, that Mr. Pitt and a majority of his cabinet, in 1801, were of opinion that the admission of Catholics to parliament, would, under certain conditions, be highly advisable; that such a measure would be attended with no danger to the established church; that the grounds of the laws of exclusion had been removed; and that the certain conditions,' above referred to, are actually enumerated in Mr. Pitt's letter, though lord Eldon never could get his illustrious friend to state them. It is further evident, that Mr. Pitt held that the measure of Catholic emancipation, instead of being injurious to the church establishment, would really be productive of a new security for the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of this country, more applicable to the present circumstances, more free from objection, and more effectual in itself, than any which now exists.' It is clear, also, that the object of the union with Ireland, was not to subdue that country by the sword, as the Duke of Wellington and others have imagined, but to tranquillise and attach it to this country.' Upon these grounds did Mr. Pitt warmly recommend the measure to His Majesty; and when he saw His Majesty opposed to it, he gave the last proof of his sincerity, by withdrawing from the service of the crown. We need scarcely add that the king reluctantly accepted his resignation. His Majesty's letter on this subject, is to be found in the correspondence, and also, a short note, written by the late Duke of York, declaring his coincidence in opinion upon the whole matter with his royal father.

Upon the authenticity of these letters, there can be, we think, no doubt whatever. Dr. Phillpots, in a short preface states, that he received them from the present lord Kenyon, and that they are printed with fidelity from the manuscripts entrusted to him.

402

ART X. Ancient Scottish Ballads, recovered from Tradition, and never before published; with Notes, Historical and Explanatory: and an Appendix, containing the Airs of several of the Ballads. 8vo. pp. 233. 7s. 6d. Longman and Co. 1827.

THAT the poetic genius of Scotland is essentially lyrical, cannot rationally be denied: it would scarcely be saying too much, if we should add, that it is exclusively so. The observation will apply to the examples of the modern, as well as of the olden times. The long cherished existence of a national music, familiar to their hills, and to the ears of their very peasantry, as it is perhaps the source of this bias of the poetic faculty of the country, has been also the cause of the traditionary preservation of many of their ancient lays and ballads, which might otherwise, in all probability, have had but an ephemeral popularity. To this traditionary minstrelsy may perhaps be attributed, in a considerable degree, the general literate character of the Scottish nation-for though we may smile at the vanity which arrogates to Edinburgh the name of the modern Athens, prejudice and ignorance can alone deny the much more extended aspiration to some degree at least of literary attainment among the Scottish, than has ever yet appeared among our English population, and consequently, a much larger proportion of what may be called, scholars by profession, among the better conditioned the secondary and upper grades of society. That these circumstances should have fed and characterised the national pride, in which our northern brethren are proverbially not deficient, was in the nature of things; and of such a feeling it was also a natural consequence, that the literary industry (another characteristic, that is national also), which employs itself in the profitable trade of book-making, should plentifully supply the general market of the united nation, and indeed of the reading world, with the treasures, and relics, of that legendary lore which long tradition had (perfectly or imperfectly) preserved and handed down from generation to generation. That national egotism may not sometimes have over estimated the value of this species of literature, we shall not very resolutely affirm. But cynical insensibility to the simple charms of national feeling, and the wild, sweet strains of a heart-touching melody, can alone deny that to this direction of the editorial industry of the north, we are indebted for an accumulated store of lyrical literature, delightful alike to the poet and the antiquary to the taste that luxuriates in the pleasures of imagination, and to the curiosity that would explore the habits and characteristics of former generations.

It ought to be observed, however, that the collections of northern minstrelsy, are not as exclusively national, in the contracted sense of the word, as the Scottish literati in general would wish them to be supposed; and that the admission of an immeasurably superior

claim of the "northern" over the southern " countrie," to a successful devotion to the lyrical muse, must not be too strictly taken as exclusively applicable to that portion of our isle, which bears the name of Scotland: for many of the ballads, &c., embodied in the collections of Scottish songs, were not originally of Scottish growth, nor could so have been-as internal evidence would sufficiently evince, and as the volume before us bears irrefragable proof. In fact, the national music of Scotland, has not only preserved its own ballad lore; it has adopted and preserved some portion, also, of our own; and, though the bagpipe, and the minstrel habitudes it encouraged, have disappeared from the English portion of the North, it is evident, that where the mountainous region began, began also, in older times, the region of popular, or ballad minstrelsy. Perhaps, a glance over the literary and musical history of the world, might justify the opinion, that there is some principle of association in the very nature of things-or between the external phenomena of the material world, and the interior operations and propensities of our intellectual being, that would sufficiently account for this circumstance, and make the mountain, the native region of brief and simple, and energic songsuch as may trill from every voice, and have a charm for every ear. Does not a wild and mountainous country, with all its rude sublimities and diversified phenomena of mists and hues, necessarily foster a certain wildness of imagination? Does not the very physique of such a country, longer preserve the simplicity of habits favourable to the ballad and minstrel tone of thought and feeling? Do not the habitudes of life, necessary to the state of society most conformable to the romantic diversity of rock and heath, and glen and rapid stream, naturally dispose the mind to those brief excursions of vivid thought and solace, which characterise the species of compositions to which we are referring? Could the genius of Burns have manifested itself in those shapes, which so justly command our peculiar admiration, had he been nurtured in those flat and fertile districts, over which (while they present so little excitement to the excursions of the imaginative faculty), a more levelling artificial species of civilization so easily and almost spontaneously diffuses itself. In short, dispose of the problem as we may, in our systems of speculative philosophy, the fact, at least, is beyond all question, that to the mountainous regions of this, our isle, we are indebted for that accumulation of lyrical traditionary lore, which bas of late been presented to us in so many collections of Scottish songs, Scottish ballads, minstrelsy of the borders, &c. &c.; which have afforded so much profit to editors and booksellers, and so much amusement to the reading public; and which, we confess, have been to us, in many instances, highly interesting.

But, be a subject every so copious, it may be exhausted; or ever so interesting, it may lose its zest by repetition. That this is, in some degree, the case with respect to the traditionary ancient