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would surely puzzle the Pope to add any thing to his canonization." Newton in fact did soon after preach upon this subject, and in a striking manner, though not one of which good taste would approve. He supposes a number of condemned criminals getting up a play on the subject of their own trial and condemnation, and enacting the "dreadful farce" in the interval before their execution. But it may be well to introduce here Cowper's own words, in a letter dated July 19, 1784: " My dear friend, Notwithstanding the justness of the comparison by which you illustrate the folly and wickedness of a congregation assembled to pay divine honours to the memory of Handel, I could not help laughing at the picture you have drawn of the musical convicts. The subject, indeed, is awful, and your manner of representing it is perfectly just; yet I laughed, and must have laughed had I been one of your hearers. But the ridicule lies in the preposterous conduct which you reprove, and not in your reproof of it. A people so musically mad as to make not only their future trial the subject of a concert, but even the message of mercy from their King, and the only one he will ever send them, must excuse me if I am merry where there is more cause to be sad; for melancholy as their condition is, their behaviour under it is too ludicrous not to be felt as such, and would conquer even a more settled gravity than mine. Yours, my dear friend, W. C." Handel was born at Halle in Saxony; entered the service of George I. while elector of Hanover; came to England with his royal patron, and died in London, 1759, aged seventy-six. The commemoration took place in Westminster Abbey, being celebrated, in presence of some thousands of spectators, by five hundred and twenty-five voices and instruments. What would Cowper now say, if he read, as we have very lately done, in one and the same newspaper, that while the British Parliament were recommending a better observance of the Sabbath, the Sunday evening amusements of royalty consisted in listening to foreign and maimed musicians performing heathen dramas ! It is in vain to hope by legitimate enactments to urge men to duties of religion and conscience; but a little more consistency would have been decorous.

NOTE 9.-Page 297, line 6 from bottom.

So in the chapel of old Ely house,

When wanderiny Charles, who meant to be the third.

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The news of the Battle of Culloden reached Ely House on Sunday morning, while the bishop, and his household and immediate flock, were at prayers in the chapel. The clerk, either by order or from his own assurance of doing something acceptable, gave out" the intelligence, and struck up to the praise and glory of King George!" William Duke of Cumberland, whose clemency so well became his bravery, was shamefully beaten in every other engagement where he had the command, save at Culloden; witness Fontenoy, Lanfeldt, Hastembeck, and Closter Seben!

NOTE 10.- Page 300, line 15.

The conclusion of the Task, from

O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true,

is grand, solemn, and affecting. Virgil's Pollio, and other passages in the classics with which it might be, and in some lights has been compared,

it almost as far surpasses, as the sources whence Cowper drew his inspiration excel the turbid fountains of heathen knowledge. In sublimity, even Pope's Messiah is not superior, while in the practical observations there is a pathos-a bosom-searching truth—which the plan of that exquisite performance did not perhaps admit, but which it certainly does not possess. As the Christianity of Cowper was personal, so his poetry, above all other verse, has the power of rendering religion a matter of personal concern with his readers. His works, from Table Talk to this magnificent close of the Task, form one grand epic, whose inspiration is the glory of God, and its object to teach man, with trembling gratitude, to acknowledge His hand from redemption downward to the humblest blessing-to fix upon the human heart a sentiment coeval with time and lasting as eternity—that we, meriting nothing, have received all.

Θεος που σοι τόν ἔδωκεν !

NOTES TO TIROCINIUM.

NOTE 1.- Page 322, line 5.

There is more of practical truth in these remarks than generally obtains in this poem. To excite a vulgar emulation is an easy matter; but to restrain the excitement within the limits of a generous endeavour, and to render youthful ambition a means of moral culture, demand no common share of skill and watchfulness in a teacher. We are not prepared to say that emulation should be prohibited in the business of education; but of this we are certain, that it is always a dangerous instrument save under the control of one who is perfectly master of his profession.

NOTE 2.- Page 323, line 7.

Oh, 'tis a sight to be with joy perused.

The line is imitated from the Task, but not happily-a sight is not perused. The preceding paragraph exhibits the very essence of misjudgment and illiberality.

THE END.

EDINBURGH:

Printed by ANDREW SHORTREDE, Thistle Lane.

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