verses to ideal mistresses, obviates the difficulties started by Mri C. against the supposition that the Sonnets were composed for a lady beneath the regal dignity.-The love of hypothesis has led him to attempt an explanation of the 20th Sonnet, in a manner which is not consistent with sound criticism:

"A woman's face, with nature's own hand painted,
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change, as is false women's fashion;
An eye, more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,
Gilding the object, whereupon it gazeth;

A man in hue, all heus in his [the hues] controuling
Which [hue] steals mens eyes, and womens souls amazeth.
And, for a woman wert thou first created,

Till nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,

And, by addition, me of thee defeated,

By adding one thing, to my purpose, nothing:

But, since she [nature] prickt thee out for women's pleasure;
Mine, be thy love, and thy love's use their treasure *."

"Such

‹ * The master mistress, which has given such offence, and raised such prejudices, only means, Chiefest: Minsheu says, Maister, in: one sense, signifies Chief; so, Johnson says it signifies Chief, head; as Master-gunner from Shakspear, Master-piece, masterful: in the, Menæchmi, 1595, it is said, "Young Women are so masterful" [Capel's Notes, 3 v. p. 466.] Hew, as I have already shown, was the appropriate word for mien, in that age; a man in hue, or mien, is the same thought, as Spenser's just description of Elizabeth's Air,her lofty pride: she was a man, in bue: in the Princely Pleasures of Kenelworth Castle, it is said;

"But tydings of our English Queene,

Whom heaven hath deck'd with hewes."

The Creation of woman is thus described in Silvester's Dubartas: "Source of all joys! Sweet he-she-coupled-one!

Thy sacred birth, I never think upon,

But, ravis'd, I admire how God did, then,
Make two of one, and one of two again."

The thought of the doting of Nature, Shakspeare borrowed from. Sydney's Arcadia, 439:

"O nature! doting old; O blind, dead Nature!"

To prick is often used by Shakspeare for to mark, as indeed the word is used sometimes at present: the King, every year, pricks the List of Sheriffs, with a golden bodkin. But, since nature marked thee out for the pleasure, which belongs to woman; let mine be thy love, "That love, which virtue begs, and virtue grants;" and thy love's use the treasure of other women; now chastity is the appropriate treasure of women.-It will, after all, be asked, what additional circum

stance

"Such another proof would make" Shakspeare « cry baa!".

This process would deduce any conclusion from any premises, to the utter confusion of reason and fact.

We observe the same unfortunate distortion of a very plain passage, in p. 71.

"For where is she so fair, whose unear'd womb
Disdain the tillage of thy husbandry?

Or, who is he, so fond, will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity?""

This husbandry, Mr. Chalmers explains to be Queen Elizabeth's celibacy; a construction which the words will not bear. If any explanation of the phrase be wanting, it may be found in Measure for Measure;

"As those that feed, grow full; as blossoming Time
That from the seedness, the bare fallow brings

To teeming foyson, so her plenteous womb
Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry."

Thus the authority of Shakspeare himself completely overthrows Mr. C.'s conjecture concerning this Sonnet.

It is the misfortune of system, that it perceives no improbabilities. When a writer has once determined that all Shakspeare's Sonnets must relate to the same subject, and must be addressed to the same person, he will violate every rule of language in order to maintain his position. It would be much better to admit that there are obscurities in these Pieces,

stance was it, which nature, in her doting, superadded, and which de-
feated the poet from possessing his master-mistress? I will not shrink
from the question, whatever may be its difficulty. In the mythology
of Spenser, and Shakspeare, Elizabeth was sprung of heavenly race;
"Of fair Eliza, be your silver song
That blessed wight;

The flower of virgins, may she flourish long,
In princely plight:

For she is Syrix daughter, without pot;

Which Pan, the Shepherds God, of her begot:

So sprung her Grace

Of heavenly race,

No mortal blemish may her blot."

'Now; the no mortal blemish of Spenser, and the one thing of Shakspeare, when properly compared with the context, convey the same meaning; and lead the intelligent inquirer to infer, that it was the divine origin, or high birth, of his master-mistress, which was the addi tional circumstance, that dashed all his hopes: for, she was only a man in hue; and she was more than a woman, by addition.'

which

which cannot be fairly explained, in consequence of their allu sion to some private circumstances long since forgotten.-Few persons of good taste will regret those obscurities, in poems so greatly inferior to the other productions of Shakspeare; and for which his name alone can now procure a single reader.

In p.107, we perceive that Mr. Chaalmers has quoted a passage from Anton, to prove the existence of balloons in the age of Elizabeth; this interpretation has excited our surprize; because the original words are certainly expressive of a game at ball; the modern term, balloon, was taken from the French word ballon, which means simply a ball for pastime.

Much curious information is given respecting the history of the Stage, and the office of the Master of the Revels: but it is weakened by the Johnsonian affectation with which it is imparted. The following account of the opening of the Theatres, after the plague of London, in 1636, is certainly too much calculated to eleváte and surprize:

But, they were only opened to be shut, ere long, by a power, which was full as destructive as pestilence. The Ruler of the Revels could exert little authority, when his subjects were dispersed and his realms annihilated. Anarchy is sure to enfeeble, if it do not destroy authority. The re-establishment of his ancient jurisdiction, did not re-establish his power, even after the restoration had recalled the sove. reign, and given energy to the laws. The Master of the Revels, while his power was opposed, felt himself unsupported: and he was thus induced to retire to the quiet of the country, and the enjoyment of his domain, from a scene, which he could neither rule, nor influence. Advanced to a mellow age, Sir Henry Herbert died, in 1673; having governed, almost half a century, with sound discretion, a

46

Calm region once,

And full of peace, now tost and turbulent.”

The chronology of Shakspeare's plays is discussed at considerable length, and light is certainly thrown upon the subject: but we cannot agree with Mr. C. in the application of all the passages, which he has indicated as alluding to some political events of the times. Throughout this portion of the volume, so many attacks on his adversaries are intermingled, that a perpetual skirmish is supported; to the annoyance of the reader, who cannot receive his information in peace and quietness.

The Postscript of this Miscellany contains an attack on a gentleman, whom Mr. C. considers as the author of the Pursuits of Literature. On this question we deem it unnecessary to give any opinion.

We have dismissed this volume with a cursory criticism, be cause it relates chiefly to Mr. Chalmers's literary enmities, with which we have nothing to do; and which the public would scarcely thank us for discussing, if we had taken any interest in them.

ART.

ART. XVI. Modern Infidelity considered with respect to its Influence on Society in a Sermon preached at the Baptist Meeting, Cambridge. By Robert Hall, A. M. 8vo. pp. 81. 28. Button, &c. 1800.

SING

INGLE sermons are seldom of such importance as to require long or laborious criticisms:-but their extraordinary merit, or the peculiar circumstances of their publication, or the great reputation of their authors, may sometimes entitle them to much more notice than voluminous works. The reputation of the author of the discourse before us is not yet perhaps such as will confer, importance on his sermon, though, if he proceeds in the course which he has here so honourably begun, his name will, in our opinion, one day occupy no mean rank among the writers of the present age: but, as far as philosophy and eloquence can make a publication important, and as far as very peculiar circumstances can render it interesting, certainly no sermon of our times merits a more elaborate criticism than that of Mr. Hall.

A new sect of infidels has arisen in this age, who, with a boldness unknown to their predecessors, not only reject religion as false, but condemn it as pernicious. The great majority of former unbelievers were so far from denying its usefulness, that they represented it as an invention of statesmen for the very purpose of giving aid to morality, and efficacy to the laws: -but some of our modern infidels declare open war against every principle and form of religion, natural as well as revealed, as hostile to morality, and therefore destructive of the happiness of the human race. This extravagant and detestable paradox, which long lay neglected in the forgotten volumes of Cardan and Spinoza, is now revived and disseminated by men who possess the dangerous art of making paradoxes popular. Notwithstanding its evident and monstrous absurdity, it has gained many proselytes on the Continent of Europe; and a few, we fear, even in this fortunate island: which, as it was the first country that was seized with the disease of infidelity, was the first also which was completely cured of that pestilential malady. Against this new sect a most vigorous and formidable attack is made in the sermon before us, by Mr. Hall, the pastor of a dissenting congregation at Cambridge; who, in his preface, most earnestly deprecates all contentions. between different sects of Christians, in the presence of the common enemy; and who speaks of his being a dissenter only as a motive for generous emulation, and for vying with the church in zeal and vigour in defence of our common Christianity, in imitation of the example of the ablest and most virtuous dissenters of former times.

• When

When at the distance of more than half a century, Christianity was assaulted by a Woolston, a Tindal, and a Morgan, it was ably supported both by clergymen of the established church, and writers among protestant dissenters; the labours of a Clarke and a Butler, were associated with those of a Doddridge, a Leland, and a Lardner, with such equal reputation and success, as to make it evident that the intrinsic excellence of religion needs not the aid of external appendages; but that, with or without a dowry, her charms are of equal force to fix and engage the heart."

Happy will it be if this passage shall produce its proper effects, both on the dissenters, and on the clergy of the establishment; if it shall animate the former to a noble rivalship of exertion' in the general cause of religion; and if it shall dispose the latter to view dissenters no longer with suspicion on account of theological differences of inferior moment, and of supposed political differences, but to regard them with the affection. which is due to fellow Christians, and fellow soldiers in the army of religion and of truth. Unfortunate animosities and fatal suspicions have arisen between them, from causes which were perhaps irresistible. Neither party, probably, is entirely blameless.If the dissenters, following the example of Mr. Hall, will sacrifice the pride of a sect to the cause of religion, they will at least have the merit of making a fair experiment on the temper of the church; and it will be ascertained whether' the established clergy of our days will receive the successors' of Leland and Lardner, as these illustrious men were received by the most distinguished prelates of their times. We have no doubt that the experiment would be successful, and that the result of such an amicable struggle would be a new triumph for Christianity, both in the defeat of her enemies, and in the closer union of all her children; in the establishment of Christian truth, and in the diffusion of Christian charity: so that infidelity may at length not only be exposed, but shamed and silenced, and those sects which continue to differ in inferior questions of opinion and discipline may at least agree in forbearance and mutual kindness. Mr. Hall has shewn the example to his brethren, and held out the invitation to those from whom he dissents. He has done his duty to his country and to his religion, and he has done it nobly. Let us hope that he has not sown his seed in a barren soil.

The object of this discourse will be best understood from the words of the author:

Animated by numbers and emboldened by success, the infidels of the present day have given a new direction to their efforts, and impressed a new character on the ever growing mass of their impious speculations.

By uniting more closely with each other, by giving a sprinkling of irreligion to all their literary productions, they aim to engross the formation