tails of battles and warlike achievements, which would prove neither instructive nor entertaining; but he has contrived to recapitulate, in a brief but clear and satisfactory summary of seventysix pages, the chief military operations and political events of the reign of Charlemagne. To the religion, laws, literature, and manners, of that important epoch, his labours are more usefully devoted, and of these he has supplied many valuable and interesting specimens and anecdotes. We shall close this article with the character which he draws of our countryman, Alcuin, one of the most celebrated scholar's of the age, and who had been invited by Charlemagne to his court, for the purpose of carrying into execution the liberal plans he had formed for the propagation of letters throughout his dominions.

"Alcuin may, indeed, be justly regarded as a phenomenon for his age. If he had not sounded the depths, he had at least stepped into most paths of learning, and therefore was eminently qualified, from the versatility of his genius and the penetration of his judgment, to form and develope the taste of Charlemagne for the arts and sciences. In the study of logic, rhetoric, and astronomy, subjects that have such a peculiar tendency to sharpen, enlarge, and elevate the human capacity, Alcuin found a pupil whose high birth and almost invariable attention to the affairs of state, did not, however, prevent him from feeling and displaying an enthusiastic admiration of them. Had the preceptor been enflamed with ambition, from the great ascendency that he had gained over Charlemagne, he might safely have aspired to the rank of his minister. But far from employing his influence with him to promote his own interest and grandeur, it should be recorded, to the praise of this recluse student, that he solely used it in directing his attention towards objects of utility and benevolence." P. 138–140.

Mr. Card quotes a few passages of a letter, addressed by Alcuin to Charlemagne, upon the impolicy of subjecting, to the payment of tythes the Saxons and Huns, who had become Christians. They are peculiarly worthy of notice, as they impart the most favourable idea of the enlightened and humane sentiments of the writer.

"After having congratulated the monarch upon the success of his arms, he then proceeds as follows: 'But let thy wisdom and conscience dictate to thee the immediate necessity of procuring for these converted people preachers, whose exterior should announce purity of manners, an acquaintance with the doctrines of their belief, a rever. ence for the precepts of the gospel, and, lastly, an unaffected desire to propose the lives of the holy apostles as the guides of their future

conduct. Select men of that description to present milk to their auditors, or in other words, to lead them to the paths of eternal happiness. After these considerations, I would suggest to your love for the christian religion, to weigh well the expediency of imposing the yoke of tythes upon people so little organized, so recently compelled to embrace the faith. Permit me also to ask, if you have reflected that the apostles, though instructed by God himself, and sent by Jesus Christ to preach the gospel, never exacted tythes, nor insisted upon their payment." P. 154.

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The notes, which are numerous, are illustrative of the subject, and, in general, display extensive knowledge and a correct judgment. At one of them, however, we cannot help expressing no inconsiderable surprise. Having stated, that the Teutonic was the language of the Franks, and of the other German people then spread over the French empire, Mr. Card treats as a glaring absurdity, an expression, used by some French writers, that Charlemagne entendait encore l'Allemand, since," he adds, "German was his vernacular tongue, and it continued to be so of all the French nation, until the commencement of the fourteenth century, when in the reign of King Robert it ceased to be spoken at court." We know not how Mr. Card will prove, that German continued to be spoken throughout France until the commencement of the fourteenth century. He gives, as his authority, Duclos' Memoires sur l'origine et sur les Revolutions de la langue Française, but that writer must be mistaken. The Normans, who established themselves in France, in the eighth century, completely lost their Teutonic dialect long prior to their invasion of England. How then came the Franks, who settled in Gaul more than three centuries earlier, to retain their original Teutonic after it ceased to be spoken by the Normans? Or does Mr. Card mean to say, that French was spoken at the court of London nearly three centuries sooner than at that of Paris?

All the Blocks; or, an Antidote to All the Tulents. Poem, in three Dialogues. By Flagellum. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Mathews and Leigh. 1807.

A satirical

pp. 76.

To celebrate all the blocks, was an arduous undertaking; and to whip blocks, perhaps not one of much use. Flagellum has closely imitated Polypus, in "All the Talents." His pop-gun is of the same calibre; his wit, his verse, and his style, all equally brilliant--par nobile. They resemble each other in every thing

but that Flagellum has the advantage of speaking more truth.→ These lines are in the happiest vein of Polypus. Lord Mulgrave First Lord of the Admiralty

"Whose wits should be refitted for the post:

Who merely knows a ship's a ship at most.
Nay, soft, my Muse his erudition mocks-
His lordship surely knows such things as blocks;
At least there's plenty in our barge of state:

None more complete than his own pond'rous pate.

Here his friend, with an inconceivable stretch of politeness;

says,

"Have mercy! nor allow thy wit such scope." P. 14.

The best of the joke is, that the whole concludes with an address to the author of "All the Talents," stating that Flagellum "being of good verse a judge," he finds the other's "style often turgid-often poor"-his notes heavy, and his rhymes bad.Fully convinced of the propriety of good rhyme and good reason, he himself acts, occasionally, with the utmost caution, viz.

"Rhyme without reason makes the Muse a fool,

Therefore, I briefly say, a fool's a fool." P. 51.

Polypus and Flagellum seem both to have a great dislike to fools-the dislike is unnatural, but no matter. We can only say with Boileau, that the world is full of fools, and if they wish not to see any, we advise each "se renfermer seul, et casser son miroir."

Gr-lle Agonistes; a dramatic Poem. 800. pp. 24. 1s. 6d. Hatchard. 1807.

THIS parody of Milton has some merit; and though we do not think entirely with the author, we agree with him in certain points. Scene Dropmore. Grenville beneath an oak:

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Why was I gifted thus with eloquence,

Nice in my nouns, exact in mood and tense,

Unskill'd in men, and wanting common sense." P. 5.

Wanting common sense indeed! It was well put by Sheridan, talking of their going out on the Catholic question, that he had often heard of men running their heads against a wall, but never before of their building one to run their heads against. It is not badly said, that—

"In Grenville's breast, Ambition eats up all the rest;

Jealous alone of doing good,

Grenville would save his country if he could,

But see it damn'd, before another should."

Chorus, p, 9.

Lord Howick, at p. 13, characteristically exclaims to him,-.

Who, but ourselves, have―

"Borne all your sulky fits with so much patience,

And truck!'d to your insolent relations?

What deference have not had the Grenville's from us,
From Lord and Lady Buckingham to Thomas?"

Some of the rhymes are melancholy;-keys-conscience's, p. 4; and when Aristotle and Horace are quoted, it would be well that the quoter should understand Latin and Greek,

Politics of the Georgium Sidus; or, Advice how to become great Senators and Statesmen. Interspersed with characteristic Sketches, and Hints on various Subjects in modern Politics. By a late Member of Parliament. 18mo, pp. 178. 5s. 6d. Oddy.

1807.

In a pleasant strain of irony and satire, this writer points out what is a proper education, from the cradle, for a senator and statesman of the present day. A taste of his quality will be no little recommendation. In acquiring eloquence, he derides the action of Demosthenes, and the logic and rhetoric of our schools, for

"In the result," says he, "I have clearly ascertained, that bold promptitude, glib volubility, inexhaustible perseverence, periods of fifty miles, a generous negligence of excessive accuracy of definition, or clearness and regularity of argument, the fortitude to resist a general hum, lungs of strength to overpower the spread of a forced cough, spirit to make the most of a friendly "Hear him!" an affected, or, still better, a natural confusion of ideas, mincing and mangling popular facts and arguments, without absolutely omitting them, a turbid stream of speech overwhelming all purity of phrase, correctness of grammar, or consistency of metaphor, the power to hold out for five hours at a breath, self-complacency to feel animated by the sound of one's own voice as a perpetual cheerer, and just common sense enough not to think of cutting blocks with a razor, are the ONLY GENUINE CONSTITUENTS OF EFFECTIVE ELOQUENCE." P. 5—6.

He then comes to Public Schools for his embryo senators.

"To Eton or Westminster the stripling must at length be sent. The adventure is hazardous, but unavoidable. I am far from wishing

to be understood, as directing you to send him there, to have his head stuffed with Greek and Latin, or to acquire the sheepishness and the awkward pedantry of a classical scholar. The common opinion of that which constitutes the fitness of sending boys to either of these great seminaries, is perfectly correct. They go-to gain connexions which may be of use to their interests in future life,-to learn the morals and manners of those boys who are to be, afterwards, the first men in their country,-if possible, to distinguish themselves as leaders in the sports, pleasures, wild mischief, and premature dissipation of their school-fellows: certainly, for no other purpose that can deserve a moment's thought. There is a noble way' to classical fame at those seminaries: the aid of a tutor, the kindness of a master, the boldness of the boy himself, may crown him with the fame of being a good scholar, without subjecting him to any dull toil over his tasks." P. 13-14.

Now Universities.

"The next move is to the university. Adieu, from this hour, to study, to restraint, to confinement, to pedantic exercises of any kind! I have no choice to recommend between Oxford and Cambridge. Let circumstances of private humour or connexion determine you. The society of the fellows in the common-room, will be of admirable benefit to form our young gentleman-commoner,--if he can be persuaded to endure it, to that humdrum soaking seriousness,-faintly enlivened, now and then, with a sober joke, a thread-bare classical pun, or a smutty tale, which is of very good use in parliamentary committees, or over a beef-steak and a glass of port in Bellamy's, and upon all those occasions when members are obliged to hang on in waiting, hour after hour, merely that they may be in readiness to give their votes if the house shall divide. There is, perhaps, also, another reason of no small consequence, on account of which the destined senator may do well to attach himself, at least occasionally, to the society in the common-room. The Lacedæmonians are said to have exhibited their slaves, drunk, to their children, to deter the latter from drunkenness. And I don't know that there is any thing more likely to disgust a young man, for ever, with all that is slovenly, sneaking, coarse, and pedantic in the speech, habits, and manners, of gownsmen, than such displays as he must witness in the grand scenes of snug academical lounging and conviviality." P. 22-24.

"The exercises for degrees he may buy ready made." P. 25.

"To be an orator," says our author, "he must be a wit." His wit he is to learn from the Morning Post.

"Pun, smut, conundrum, or whatever else pedants may chuse to term it, is absolutely wit." P. 20.