tions were obliged to succumb, an honourable treaty for herself, with an acknowledgment of her individual personal independence. Mahomet, Confucius, Homer, Cadigia, the wife of the Arabian prophet, are afterwards introduced, as enjoying the pleasures of Elysium; and the scene between Homer and Mahomet, may be cited as one of the most agreeable of the comic stage. In the mean time, Mercury, convinced of the incapacity and imbecility of the infernal tribunal, returns with his complaint to Olympus. The further progress of the plot is developed in the following scene, from which the comedy receives its name :

Minos.

Rad.

No joking matter, Radamanthus, this;
You saw in what a rage God Mercury
Perked up his wings, and not a single word
Of leave-taking, set out upon his flight
Back to Olympus.

And I never thought

At first of any mischief, but to say

The truth I do not feel so easy now.

Minos. And when he comes again, I pledge my word
We shall not feel the better. I expect

Rad.

To see him every moment.

There it is!

That Eacus will be the ruin of me:

If e'er I get another chance, you'll see me,

I promise you, another kind of man.

Here Mercury enters, bearing Mahomet in the air; his wife Cadigia clinging to his feet.

Mer.

I come to judge ye judges! you have made me
Wear out the road to heaven, but I shall chance
To pay a Roland for your Oliver.

Here's our acquaintance Mahomet! come, stir
And let us have him tried a second time;
Remember that his fate decides your own!
Mahom. This violence is altogether new ;
And let me tell you, Mr. Mercury,

Mer.

Cad.

Mer.

Cad.

Mer.

Minos.

That even I, who nothing did by rule
And precedent, I never made a man
Submit to trial twice for one offence.

What, you, you knave, who massacred and slaughtered
So many innocent, and that without

A single hearing too!

I tremble for him.

Rad.

Mer.

Not often, say: But never, my dear Minos,
Is saying over much.

Come, come, begin!
But where is goodman Eacus the while?
Minos. Hoa officer! call Eacus, and say

[Enter Eacus.

The court and Mercury are waiting for him!
Mer. Albeit, we well might spare the gentleman.
Minos. How so! If chance we two should disagree,
We're at a stand without his casting vote,
And then we go together by the ears.
Eacus. Welcome a second time great Maia's son.
Mer. Not quite so fast, but try this fellow first,
You'll find it time enough to give me then
A welcome.

acus.

Mer.

Has he any thing to say
We did not hear upon his former trial?
Whether he have or not I look to see
A little more discretion in your judgment.
Mahom. I've nothing more to say! Whate'er I knew
About my deeds I told; the means I used,
To compass my designs, were various; these
I did not say, because I was not asked.

And had I been, what then? The whole is summed
In this, the end has justified the means;

And fly your Godship back to heaven, or come
Again to Tartarus, by post, sea, air;

Do what you will, I still am Mahomet;
And in the world have left behind me, too,
My votaries by millions; men who swear
By me, and in my name; and for my sake
Are ready to lay down their lives, or spend,

For me, their blood; and now my shrift is over.

Eacus declares that Mahomet should be reinstated in Elysium, as nothing could be alleged against his report and confession; Minos, inasmuch as his intentions were personal and interested, refuses to restore him. Eacus replies, that it is not their duty to investigate the motives of those examined, and a warm dispute commences between them, which Mercury terminates abruptly in the following manner.

Mer.

Mahom.

Mer.

all

Mer.

I'll put an end to this judicial wrangling!
A crafty set! what! think you I shall stay
To hear his answers to your questioning!
Approve, but Jupiter, I'll give you, now,
A taste of my quality! Stand forward here
You fellow Mahomet and bare your breast.
On the left side, by the heart; I mean to say,
If you have such a thing, and let me open
A window there with my caduceus.

Oh! Oh!

He's open now, you judges fix the eyes
Of your foreheads, since your minds' eyes would not see,
Upon the culprit !

Monstrous! wonderful!

Well, pray what see you? Was there ever, think you,
More pestilent a spleen? This very wife

To whom he owes his fortune, for her wealth

He poisons, to enjoy a little sooner

His spunged inheritance!

Cad.

Mer.

Rad.

Mer.

Rad.

Mer.

Rad.

Mer.

Eacus.

Minos.
Rad.

The wretch, the traitor!
And here, prepare your eyes and stop your noses,
For such a stench I never smelt before!
The friends who helped along his mystery
Assassinated!-

And he takes their money too!
By Jove, though horrible, there's something here
To make one laugh! His epilepsy here
Twisted into a heavenly inspiration!

And here the millet stuffed into his ears
That called his pidgeon messenger from heaven,
Placed there, before his bellowing fit came on,
To lay him like a bull upon his back.
Forsooth, the heavenly pidgeon, that the Gods
Despatched, to bear his prophetship their will!
I vow the trick's so natural and shrewd,
I do believe it might have cheated me.
And here, to bring his trial to a close

See from his heart the slaughter, rapine, blood-
The monster has no match!

Joking apart,
He certainly behaved extremely ill!
And yet you sent him to the Elysian fields !
For my part, though I do not justify,
Exactly, all his doings, I must say,

We did not know his heart! and, after all,
There are, no doubt, as bad, or worse than he,
Enjoying their Elysian happiness.

Wherefore, I think, that we must send him back,
Or turn the present tenants out of doors.

Why Cerberus himself would scout the thought.
To say the truth, I do not think myself

We ought to send him back amongst the good!
It goes against the conscience.

The ordeal is then, on motion of Eacus, applied to Cadigia, who is found to have been, to say the least, no better than she should be; the Saturnian king is discovered for a vain and arbitrary tyrant, and Confucius for a hypocrite. The lady from the moon, however, resists the application, and the other shades, under her guidance, rebel. Mercury, himself, is obliged to promise a full pardon, with oblivion of the past; to restore the shades to Elysium, and undertake that the application of the Finestrini shall be entirely dispensed with, except in the case of any one who shall venture to propose its introduction.

The character of Alfieri is truly developed in his comedies. No reader of his tragedies can, for a moment, conceive, that he would have written other comedies than these. They are writings which make us laugh with bitterness, and seem to have been designed in illustration of the sardonic philosophy of Democritus. In reading them, we understand and appreciate the feelings of his heart, and charge him no longer with the levity of soul with which we charged him before. Without extracting a tear, but exciting, on the contrary, continual laughter, that wants but mirth to make it natural, they are more serious and

painful than tragedy, to him who reads with the requisite information; and they offer a deeper lesson upon human nature and the human heart-we say it advisedly, than the history of Thucydides or the drama of Shakspeare. They are not liked in Italy; but where the satirized are the only readers of the satire, such a result is not to be wondered at; and their not being liked in Italy is not a sufficient reason why they should not be known in foreign countries. Alfieri was not the austerest of moralists in his practice, but he was sufficiently so to regard the violation of moral law with indignation, and his own deviations from the strict letter of its commandment were just enough to make him sensible of its value. Since his death, nothing has been added to Italian comedy, though many plays have been added to the catalogue of comedies written in Italy; and for the reasons assigned in another part of this article, we have no hope of any important improvement in this department of her literature.

ART. IV.-A Journal of a residence during several months in London; including excursions through various parts of England, and a short tour in France and Scotland, in the years 1823 and 1824. By NATHANIEL S. WHEATON, A. M. Rector of Christ Church, Hartford. Hartford: H. & F. J. Huntington. 1830. 1 vol. 8vo.

It would be entirely unnecessary for the readers of this volume to turn to the title, in order to know that the author is a clergyman, and a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. Every page teems with proofs of the first of these facts, and there are repeated evidences of his admiration of the forms, not to say the creed, of the respectable religious society we have named, as well as occasional remarks on the backslidings and errors of those who profess the Christian faith, under less orthodox forms. Certainly Mr. Wheaton has displayed an incredible, and, in his vocation, most praiseworthy zeal, in visiting churches and hearing preachers. Struck with the reiterated record of his attendance three times a day; with his untiring rambles from church to church in every quarter of London; with his critical analysis of preacher after preacher, known and unknown, good and bad, evangelical and lukewarm; we were disposed to note down the actual amount of his labours, as a matter of curiosity to those of our readers who may be ignorant of what is to be done, in this way, during a tour of a few months, and as a useful encouragement to those who are disposed, on slight grounds, to

neglect such duties, even with the convenience of churches close at hand, and preachers whose orthodoxy is undoubted. Though we confined ourselves to the statement which Mr. Wheaton has himself made, not of course having any extrinsic means of adding to what he has thought it necessary to record, we yet found the task soon too tedious, and we must content ourselves with informing our readers, that if they be desirous of ascertaining who were the morning, afternoon, and evening preachers in the churches of the famed metropolis of Britain, between the month of October 1823, and the month of October 1824, they will best learn it, so far as we know, in the volume which we now call to their notice.

The professional traits of our author's character are, indeed, very soon developed, for we find him, on the passage to England, displeased with the charming letters of the poet Gray, because he does not "make revelation the sole foundation of our hopes"-a doctrine which we cannot believe to be that, even of the learned and intelligent of his own profession. Surely we may ask, without irreligion or irreverence, what can be more cheering, than to trace by other means and from other sources, the same great truths, the same exciting hopes, which are positively revealed-from the workings of that intelligence, which has been imparted by the same Deity who can impart also, when deemed best for his creatures, a revelation more explicit, to discover truths, or hopes, or dreams of future blessings, which, if not thus ascertained with a sureness which leaves no doubt, are yet strong enough to fill us with a happy confidence?—to see in the powers of our own minds, in the sentiments of our own hearts, aspirations and emotions unsatisfied here, and only to be satisfied in a state purer and more exalted? and to watch, in the breathing world around us, the fleeting traces of an unfinished or yet undeveloped existence? Where was the broad expanse of the heavens, in which glittered the guides of his trackless course, (stellarum gratissimus aspectus)-where was the unfathomable depth of the ocean over which he was rolling? that they excited no emotions, taught no lessons of infinite and eternal power, inspired no hopes of a more extended being than the fleeting moment of human life—summum rerum Authorem et Opificem-they are the eloquent words of one who wore the mitre of our author's own sect-summum rerum Authorem et Opificem INDE facile contuemur et admiramur, mentemque nostram, quæ cùm voluptate res magnas contemplatur, non esse rem parvam cum gaudio recognoscimus.

With such sentiments, we are not surprised to find Mr. Wheaton viewing with reprobation the gay scenes of fashion and pleasure, which he met with in the European cities, and the observances of religion differing from his own. He censures "the