edly admired; but we do not think the parodies in them, however ingenious or ludicrous, are to be compared with those in the "Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin," and some of the very best of these are by Mr Canning. Among others are, we believe, the German Play, and the imitation of Mr Southey's Sapphics. Much as we admire, we do not wonder at Mr Canning's excellence in this department. Real, original wit, he has none; for that implies sense and feeling, and an insight into the real differences of things; but from a want of sympathy with any thing but forms. and common-places, he can easily let down the sense of others so as to make nonsense of it. He has no enthusiasm or sensibility to make him overlook the meanness of a subject, or a little irregularity in the treatment of it, from the interest it excites: to a mind like his, the serious and affecting is a kind of natural burlesque. It is a matter of course for him to be struck with the absurdity of the romantic or singular in any way, to whom everything out of the beaten track is absurd; and "to turn what is serious into farce" by transferring the same expressions to perfectly indifferent and therefore contemptible subjects. To make any description or sentiment ludicrous, it is only necessary to take away all feeling from it: the ludicrous is ready-made to Mr Canning's hands. The poetry, the heart-felt interest of every

thing escapes through his apprehension, like a snake out of its skin, and leaves the slough of parody behind it. Anything more light or worthless cannot well be imagined.*

We have said nothing here of the impiety of Mr Canning's parodies, though a great deal has been said of the impiety of Mr Hone's, which unfortunately happen to be on the other side of the question. It is true that "one man may steal a horse sooner than another can look over a hedge." Mr Hone is not a Cabinet Minister, and therefore is not allowed to take liberties with the Liturgy. It is to no purpose to urge that Mr Hone is a very goodnatured man, that he is mild and inoffensive in his manners, that he is utterly void of guile, with a great deal of sincere piety, and that his greatest vice is that he is fond of a joke, and given to black-letter reading. The answer is-" But he has written parodies"-and it is to no purpose to reply-So has Mr Canning! He is a Cabinet Minister, and therefore incapable of any thing vulgar or profane. One would think that the triumphant question put by Mr Hone to his Jury, "Whether Mr Jekyll's Parody on Black-eyed Susan was meant to ridicule Sir William Curtis or the ballad of Black-eyed Susan?" would have put an end for ever to the cant of this subject, if reason could put an end to cant on any subject. The fate of different men is curious. Mr Canning, who has all his life been defending the most odious and mischievous men and measures, passes, on that very account, for a most amiable character and an accomplished statesman. Mr Hone, who defended himself against a charge of blasphemy for a parody on the Church Service, of which Mr Canning had furnished him with the precedent, rose from the attack by the force of good-nature, and by that noble spirit of freedom and honesty, in which to be unjustly accused is to be superior to all fear, and to speak truth is to be

eloquent-but that he did not suffer himself to be crushed to atoms, and made a willing sacrifice to the prejudice, talent, and authority arrayed against him, is a resistance to the opinions of the world and the insolence of power, that can never be overlooked or forgiven.

"A wit's a feather, and a chief's a rod :

An honest man's the noblest work of God!"

SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH.

THE subject of the present article is one of the ablest and most accomplished men of the age, both as a writer, a speaker, and a converser. He is, in fact, master of almost every known topic, whether of a passing or of a more recondite nature. He has lived much in society, and is deeply conversant with books. He is a man of the world and a scholar; but the scholar gives the tone to all his other acquirements and pursuits. Sir James is by education and habit, and we were going to add, by the original turn of his mind, a college-man; and perhaps he would have passed his time most happily and respectably, had he devoted himself entirely to that kind of life. The strength of his faculties would have been best developed, his ambition would have met its proudest reward, in the accumulation and elaborate display of grave and useful knowledge. As it is, it may be said, that in

company he talks well, but too much; that in writing he overlays the original subject and spirit of the composition, by an appeal to authorities and by too formal a method; that in public speaking the logician takes place of the orator, and that he fails to give effect to a particular point or to urge an immediate advantage home upon his adversary from the enlarged scope of his mind, and the wide career he takes in the field of argument.

To consider him in the last point of view, first. As a political partisan, he is rather the lecturer than the advocate. He is able to instruct and delight an impartial and disinterested audience by the extent of his information, by his acquaintance with general principles, by the clearness and aptitude of his illustrations, by vigour and copiousness of style; but where he has a prejudiced or unfair antagonist to contend with, he is just as likely to put weapons into his enemy's hands as to wrest them from him, and his object seems to be rather to deserve than to obtain success. The characteristics of his mind are retentiveness and comprehension, with facility of production but he is not equally remarkable for originality of view, or warmth of feeling, or liveliness of fancy. His eloquence is a little rhetorical; his reasoning chiefly logical: he can bring down the account of knowledge on a vast variety of subjects to the present mo

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