Auribus atque oculis lucent, et navibus ignes Iste tyrannus agit, tanquam perfringere coelum P. 263. Mr. D'Israeli, on the subject of "The Ancient Writers in Modern Verse," says, "Had this project of versification become popular, it would necessarily have ended in a species of poetry, not referring so much to the natural ear affected by the melody of emotion, as to a mechanical and severe succession. To this Milton seems to allude in a sonnet to Lawes, the musician "Harry, whose tuneful and well-measur'd song With Midas' ears, committing short and long," &c. ز Now we cannot agree in the opinion that Milton's lines contain any allusion to these hexameters and sapphics, and other ancient measures, which were for a short time in vogue a century before Milton wrote but he alludes to that closer union between music and poetry effected by Lawes; and to the emphasis of the musical notes falling on those syllables or words suited to their time and expression, a point always considered by the great masters of music; and thus only could the poetry and music be in harmony. Milton adds, "To after age thou shalt be writ the man That with smooth air couldst humour best our tongue." that is, could overcome the difficulty (for a great one it has always been acknowledged) of uniting the music and poetry in smooth harmony, and of adapting the musical notes to the accented force of the words it accompanied. Thus Tatham, in his verses to John Gamble, the composer, says, "Here thou hast played the cunning chymist, fixt and another writer in the same volume has expressed his approbation of the composer's skill on the same "Here's no disordering the fair mind, Until the too much forced zones No crowded words in huddle meet That shuffle on uneven feet, And struggling labour in their pains account. The very syllables as clear Passed as their ayres now through the ear; Cannot distinguish which is soule, * In looking into Todd's Milton, vi. 484, we perceive that this passage in Palingenius has escaped all the commentators, and therefore we shall claim the discovery. We may just add, that Scaliger said, " Palingenius Poeta non spernendus," vide Scaligeriana, p. 133. + See Ayres and Dialogues, to be sung to the theorbo, lute, or bass viol. By John Gamble. fol. 1657. P. 303. In the chapter on the Discourses of Witchcraft, the author says, "Another not less celebrated divine, Dr. Bentley, infers, that no English priest need affirm the existence of sorcery or witchcraft, since they now have a public law which they neither enacted nor procured, declaring these practices to be felony.' Did the Doctor know that churchmen had no influence in creating that belief, or in enacting that statute ?" Undoubtedly Dr. Bentley knew this; but his knowledge of it was not called upon to act upon the point he had in view, which was to show to the clergy, that they need not, in their zeal to protect the instances of sorcery or witchcraft in scripture, support that doctrine voluntarily, least they should be considered as incredulous; for there is a law now which they had no hand in making, and which, therefore, was not meant specially for their protection, absolutely declaring the exercise of witchcraft to be felony. Churchmen" are the persons, who being professionally defenders of the true religion, would be especially appealed to on disputed points of scripture. To deny the existence of witchcraft might previously have been dangerous, as drawing with it a denial of an historic portion of scripture; but now a denial may safely be given, as it would be supported by the law of the land. P. 395. Mr. D'Israeli says, when speaking of Spenser, Twining was a scholar deeply versed in classical lore, which he has shown to great advantage in his version of and commentary on Aristotle's Treatise of Poetry. In his Dissertation on Poetical and Musical Imitation prefixed to his work, our critic is quite at home with Pope and Goldsmith, but he seems wholly shut out from Spenser. In a note to his first Dissertation he tells us, 'the following stanza of Spenser has been much admired. Our critic observes that "Dr. Warton says of these lines, 'that they are of themselves a complete concert of the most delicious music.' Indeed, this very stanza of Spenser has been celebrated long before Joseph Warton wrote, and often since: now listen to our learned Twining:-" It is unwillingly that I differ from a person of so much taste. I cannot consider as music, much less as delicious music, a mixture of incompatible sounds-of sounds musical with sounds uumusical. The singing of birds cannot possibly be attached to the notes of a human voice. The mixture is and must be disagreeable. Two persons listening to a concert of voices and instruments, the interruption of singing birds, woods and waterfalls, would be little better than the torment of Hogarth's Enraged Musician. Further, the description itself is like too many of Spenser's, coldly elaborate, and indiscriminately minute. Of the expressions, some are fecble, and without effect, as 'joyous birds,' -some evidently improper, as "The joyous birds, shrouded in cheerful shade, [sweet; Their notes with the voice attempered Th' angelical soft trembling voices made To th' instruments divine respondence meet; The silver sounding instruments did meet 'trembling voices' and 'cheerful shades; ' for there cannot be a greater fault in a voice than to be tremulous, and cheerful is surely an unhappy epithet applied to shade some cold and laboured, and such as betray too plainly the necessities of rhyme. Such is "The waters fall with difference discreet." Vide Twining's Translation. Such is the anti-poetical and technical criticism. Imagine a music master, who had never read a line of poetry, attempting to perform the delicious music of our poet, or a singing master who had never heard a joyous bird, tuning up some fair pupil's trembling voice,' and we might have expected this criticism from such enraged musicians. Would our critic insist on having a Philharmonic concert, or a simple sonata? He who will not suffer birds to be joyous, nor the shade cheerful, which their notes make S0 "Th' angelical soft trembling voices made To the instruments divine respondence meet.' The softness trembling' with the verse. Had our critic forgotten Strada's famed contest of the nightingale with the lyre of the poet; when her trembling voice overcame in the rivalry, and she fell on the strings to die? And what shall we think of the classical critic who has pronounced that the descriptions of Spenser are coldly elaborate ?'-the most vivid and splendid of our poetry! But the most curious part remains to be told:this fine stanza of Spenser is one of his fine borrowings, being a translation of a stanza in Tasso, excepting the introduction of the silver-sounding instruments.' The Æolian harp played on by the musical winds, was a happiness reserved for Thomson. The felicitous copy of Spenser attracted Fairfax, who, when he came to the passage in Tasso* kept his eye on Spenser, and has carefully retained the joyous birds' for the 'vezzosi angelli' of the original. It is certain that without poetic sensibility, the most learned critic will ever find that the utmost force of his logic in these matters will not lead to but to unreason imagination only can decide on imagination." reason, rr Now we cannot agree in this censure on Mr. Twining's criticism, nor consider, with Mr. D'Israeli, that it is altogether erroneous; though we may think that he has not looked on Spenser's descriptions through the right medium; but Dr. Warton's declaration that," the lines are of themselves a complete concert of the most delicious music," is most unguarded and inappropriate it being obvious, that sounds which do not fall within the compass of the musical scale, could not form a concert at all, much less a complete or delicious one; but when Twining says that Spenser's descriptions are " elaborate," we think him fully supported by the fact. The structure of Spenser's poem, the subject, the example of the older writers of romance, and the taste of the age in which it was written, all favoured this minute finishing and elaboration of the separate parts, in all descriptions, as of person, character, of ceremonies, pageants, battles, as well as of natural objects; and, whatever is so elaborate as to leave little or nothing for the imagination of the reader to supply, may be subject to the charge of coldness: and though the vividness and splendour of which Mr. D'Israeli speaks, may be seen in each particular and separate portion, yet the effect of the whole may not be of correspondent effect. Compare the descriptions of Spenser with those that most nearly approach to them in subject in the Paradise Lost, and the difference between the minute handling and delicate finish of the one, and the free touch and bolder delineations of the other, will be acknowledged. With respect to the passage immediately before us, we do not think that Mr. Twining sufficiently kept in view how much poetical descriptions of sounds speak, as it were, through the medium of words, to the eye, and not to the ear; that these different sounds come to us successively in the poetical numbers, and are not mixed up together in the mind, as they would be to the ear; acting on the imagination by their separate beauties, and though if analysed, they would be musically incorrect, yet if submitted to the poetical faculty through the conception of the mind, they are unobjectionable and true. But to judge with fairness of the propriety of his description, the character of the poem itself must also be taken into view. In a poem the scenery of which was laid in modern days, say, such as Thomson's Seasons, or Cowper's Task, this description, so appropriate to the antique cast and the artificial character of the Fairy Queen, would be justly condemned as not in keeping with the other parts, as departing too much from the simple truth of nature, and as too much * Gierusal. Liber. c. xvi. st. 12. The stanza in Spenser was from the Faerie Queene, book 11, c. xii. st. 71, dependant on associations drawn from an age and manners and character of composition so different from our own. The whole of Spenser's poem is fairy land; nature, there, has an atmosphere and colours of her own: the enchanter's wand is over all: and we readily surrender ourselves to his power in producing a delicious harmony from all those various instruments of sound, which we should refuse to any modern composer. Who can read these lines without seeing that they form part of a subject which lies within the realm of fancy, and is removed from ordinary nature ? They are not true to the laws of musical composition.-Agreed! but are the enchanted castles true to the laws of architecture? Are the adventures, and sufferings, and exploits of the knights, agreeable to reason and experience, and the powers of humanity? is not the whole structure of the poem marvellous? Is not this one portion of the picture highly in character with the remainder? nay, we will say, that, considering the scene, the characters, the time, the events, and the other descriptive parts, the effect produced by this grand symphonious orchestra of nature, is far more effective and even more appropriate, than any one that would have been correct to the musician's ear, or which would have been suitable as the accompaniment to a picture describing later times more closely adhering to common nature, and more immediately founded on the realities of life. MR. URBAN, B.S.G.S. Feb. 22, A RECENT perusal of the "Anecdotes of William Hogarth written by himself; with Essays on his Life and Genius, and Criticisms on his Works, &c." [8vo. 1833], induced me to refer to some marginal notes, which I made, when reading many years ago, with much delight, the well-known "Biographical Anecdotes of William Hogarth" [1785]. My notes referred principally to the persons caricatured in one of the prints, satirizing the celebrated imposture of Mary Tofts, the Godalming Rabbit Breeder. One or two names were mentioned as belonging to these caricatures, the correctness of which I much doubted, and a revision of my notes has convinced me that my opinion was well formed. It is perhaps a matter of too little importance at the present time to rectify these errors, but, as the names of the individuals are still occasionally referred to, it may not be without its use to identify, correctly, the caricatured with the caricature. The print in question is denominated "Cunicularii, or the Wise Men of Godliman in Consultation," and it caricatures several of the principal actors in the Rabbit-Breeding farce; the inscription at the bottom of the plate explains the subject thus,"A. The Dancing Master, or Præter natural Anatomist. B. An occult philosopher searching into the depth of things. C. The Sooterkin Doctor astonish'd," and some minor persons of no consequence. Respecting these characters, the " Biographical Anec dotes," p. 147, gives as the names of those depicted;"A. St. André.B. Sir Richard Manningham.-C. Mr. Sainthill, a celebrated surgeon in London.-D. Howard, the surgeon at Guildford; "—and the "Anecdotes of William Hogarth," on the authority of a "MS. in the King's Library," makes the same representation of the actors, except that C. is said to re. present Cyriacus Ahlers, a German surgeon, who was sent to Godalming, by the King, to make inquiries into the affair. As respects St. André and Howard, and all the minor personages, no question of identity can arise; but as regards Sir Richard Manningham and Sainthill or Ahlers, inuch doubt may be entertained; since none of the histories or accounts of the transaction exhibit them as fit objects of these burlesque caricatures, though we find much to shew that the Hon. Mr. Molyneux and Dr. John Maubray, or as he afterwards wrote his name, Mowbray, were the parties intended. Among the numerous squibs and pasquinades to which this ridiculous affair gave rise one, attributed to the pen of Dean Swift, was published, called, "Much Ado about Nothing, &c." [1722]. This professes to proceed from Mary Tofts herself, and to contain "A full and impartial confession from her own mouth, and under her own hand, of the whole affair from the beginning to the end.” In this "Confession" Mary Tofts is made to utter in a very vulgar style various sarcastic remarks on those who were prominent in giving credit to, or detecting the imposture. Of Manningham she says, " After this, an ugly old gentilman in a grate blak wig cam to me- "it is true the figure supposed to represent Manningham is dressed in a flowing black wig, and this is the only point in which it agrees with Manningham, but every thing else is inappropriate. The inscription on the print says, "B. an occult philosopher searching into the depths of things." Does this apply to Manningham ? though a F.R.S. he made no pretensions, as far as I recollect, to much of philosophical knowledge; whereas Molyneux appears to have prided himself upon his philosophical investigations, and was the inventor or improver of a Telescope, of which he probably boasted not a little. What says thing?" "Then thay brote a purblynd gentilman, hoo was for survayin me with his telluskop,-," and of this telescope we hear more in "The Discovery, or the squire turned ferret, an excellent new ballad.' [1727]. "Much Ado about No "But M-1-n-x who heard this told, fits exactly "the occult philosopher searching into the depth of things." But it may be alleged, that the figure in question is represented as actually engaged in obstetric duties, with which, though Manningham was expert in them, Molyneux was unacquainted, and the performance of which duties would be derogatory to his rank and station in life. The fact, however, seems to be that Molyneux on this occasion did thus employ himself, for the ballad goes on, through several more verses, not all exactly fit to be placed before " eyes polite," till verse 21, where we find a wish, that 46 Molly had ne'er a midwife been," which implies at least as much actual performance of the duty as the print exhibits. If these extracts do not conclusively prove that by B, Molyneux was intended, further evidence may be gained from the account given by the Rev. William Whiston,* thus: "Nay Mr. Molyneux, the Prince's secretary, a very ingenious person, and my very worthy friend, assured me he had so great a diffidence in the truth of the fact, and was so little biassed by other believers, even by the King himself, that he would not be satisfied till he was permitted both to see and feel the rabbit in that very passage whence we all come into this world, out of our mother's womb." The exclamations "it pouts, it swells, it spreads, it comes," issuing from the mouth of the "occult philosopher," are not at all in character with the more sedate bearing of Sir Richard Manningham; but quite in accordance with what might be expected from a novice or experimentseeker. Upon the whole, I think Molyneux must be the person caricatured by this figure. That by "C. The Sooterkin Doctor astonished," Maubray is intended, will hardly admit of a doubt. In 1724, Maubray published his strange pedantic book, "The Female Physician," in which he tells several very extraordinary stories, one of which is the history of a case of parturition on *The opinion of the Rev. William Whiston concerning the affair of Mary Toft, ascribing it to be the completion of a prophecy of Esdras; in the memoirs of his life written by himself. |