make man feel an interest in man, and opened the eyes of thousands to those traditional abuses, which are detested as soon as the attention of the world is directed full upon them; and in a literary point of view, it gladdened the hearts of all who felt an interest in English poetry, by reviving its old glories at the moment when the last beam of inspiration seemed to have faded from the sky.

Those who take their impression of Cowper's translation of Homer from tradition may perhaps think it an entire failure. A failure the critical world has pronounced it; but it may be well to inquire whether it would be possible to satisfy the public expectation, and whether any one could possibly have succeeded better? We think it evident that the failure arose from the nature of the undertaking: it was an attempt to convey an idea to English readers of writings which are called inimitable, and therefore untranslatable. There is something undefined and obscurely great in the idea which the world has of the Homeric inspiration; and, unless the translator could give his work the same antiquity, and surround it with the same glory of classical associations, it might present a perfect image of the simple greatness of the original, without awakening any similar feeling. An English Homer,-a Homer of the eighteenth century,-was condemned beforehand. Every critic could feel safe in pronouncing it wholly unworthy of the original; and the public, discouraged by their blind guides, felt no interest in proceeding to inquire whether their judgment was just. Had they expected anything like what they were likely to find; had they exacted nothing more than talent and industry were able to do; had they, in a word, looked for a translation, instead of a new original, their reasonable expectations would have been fully answered. We recommend to our readers, who feel an interest in the reputation of Cowper, and lament his failure in this great undertaking, to consider what they may reasonably look for, and having thus given some distinctness to their views, to read the work. This will be doing justice to the translator, and, if we may trust our own experience, they will find their candour amply repaid. At the same time, we do not think Cowper's versification remarkably happy. It was wrought with infinite pains, and corrected and revised, till the music satisfied his ear; but in the 'Task,' and in the translation, he pleases more by expressive and eloquent language than by any peculiar sweetness in the sound. But whatever gratification the work may afford will be counterbalanced by the reflection, that it consumed time and labour that might have been better spent upon original writings: these would have been far less exhausting to his mind and spirits, while they brought infinitely greater returns of fame.

Many of Cowper's smaller pieces, in which he followed the suggestions of his own feelings without waiting for others to prescribe his subject, and urge him to write, are among the most beautiful exhibitions of his power. The lines addressed to Mary, his faithful and devoted friend, who made so generous a sacrifice of all other enjoyments to the single one of securing his comfort, of guarding him against the assaults of disease, and sustaining him when the blow had fallen, are one of the most affecting tributes which genius ever paid to virtue. And the lines addressed to his mother, on receiving her picture from a friend, are equally touching and sweet. Nothing could exceed the sacredness with which every thing connected with her was treasured in the sanctuary of his soul; early as he lost her guidance, he had felt the loss in after

VI.

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life as the beginning of all his sorrows; he had felt as if, had Providence spared her a little longer, she might have given a direction to his feelings that would have saved him from some of those trials which had almost broken his heart; she was the angel of his visions, the bright spirit which always stood before him in his imaginations of heaven. He remembered her as young, beautiful, and holding a relation to him which inspired the deepest reverence and affection. So firmly was her image set in his remembrance that not a day ever passed without his thinking of her, and calling up those recollections of his childhood connected with her which no time could wear away; and now, when he stands in the valley of departing years, and, on looking back, sees the light of the sun, which is set to him, still shining on the hills of youth, from which he came down so long ago, he writes with a sensibility and pathetic earnestness, which fills every heart with sympathy, and we had almost said, every eye with tears.

86

But in these days, when living poets are but little read and the dead forgotten lie," we are taking up more time than many of our readers will think necessary, in speaking of the life and genius of Cowper. But he claims our notice, as a man remarkable both for his intellectual history and power, the former being extraordinary almost without example, and the latter such as is not often exceeded. As respects an interest in poetry, also, we live in such times as usually follow a period of great intellectual excitement,-times, when the public taste grows indifferent, and gentle harps are struck altogether in vain. We want some one to come forward in the spirit and power of Cowper, who shall speak in a voice which shall compel the world to listen,-and in a voice, too, which religion and virtue, as well as literary taste, can hear with applause. We are confident that such a one will appear; whatever may be said of new directions given to the mind in this self-complacent age, so long as the mind exists, it will treasure poetry as an art which does much to exalt it; there never will be a time when cultivated minds will cast this pearl away. It may be valued at some periods more than at others; it may be less regarded now than it has been in former times; but these are only transient and passing changes,-it will survive them all, and will last as long as the world endures.1

We are indebted for the greater part of this interesting notice of our popular and truly English poet to an article on Taylor's Life of Cowper,' which appeared in the 'North American Review' for January, 1834. We had nothing to offer our readers approaching in excellence to this able and delightful piece of critical biography; and our only regret is, that our limits precluded us from transferring the entire article to our pages.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

TO NINTH PERIOD,

EXTENDING

FROM THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO THE ACCESSION OF WILLIAM IV.

WITH

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES

OF

Eminent Englishmen

WHO FLOURISHED DURING THAT PERIOD.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

ΤΟ

NINTH PERIOD.

French Revolution-Sketch of the General European system previous to the breaking out of the Revolution-Political results of the Revolution-Leading political characters of Great Britain contemporary with that event-Pitt-Fox-Sheridan-Burke -Erskine-Military names-Ecclesiastical names-Review of English literatureIts present aspect.

No event since the emigration of the tribes who overturned the Roman occidental empire—with the single exception of the Reformationhas produced consequences so important to the entire political and literary system of Europe and its dependencies as the French revolution. The equilibrium of the political system, it is true, had been threatened more than once in the course of the three foregoing centuries, by various individual princes, and particular occurrences; but never before had it been so shaken to its very foundations, or supplanted by a totally new order of things. Before the year 1789, when the French revolution burst forth and drew the attention of all the nations and sovereigns in Europe, none either of the larger or smaller States which, subsequent to the Middle ages, had grown up into a fixed political form, had entirely disappeared from the political system of Europe, though several of them had been reduced in power and extent of territory.

The first impulse towards a new modification of the existing order of things throughout Europe was undoubtedly communicated by the American revolution. Dr Von Schmidt has drawn the following rapid sketch of the situation and prospects of the old governments of Europe at the formation of the North American confederacy.

"Germany presented nothing more than the shadow of a political body united in one common confederacy; the imperial governments, as also the administration of the federal laws, were without energy, and united efforts to repel invasions from abroad had not been witnessed since the fear of Turkish power had ceased to operate. The larger states had outgrown their obedience, and often ranged themselves in opposition to the head, which was scarcely able to protect either itself or the weaker states against injuries. The internal affairs of the individual vassal states were exclusively conducted according to the will of