this our answer. It is to be hoped that his visionary faculties will in the mean time have acquired a little more judgment, properly so called: otherwise he will get himself into new dilemmas. These apostate jacobins furnish rich rejoinders. Let him take a specimen. Mr. Southey laudeth grievously "one Mr. Landor," who cultivates much private renown in the shape of Latin verses; and not long ago, the poet laureate dedicated to him, it appeareth, one of his fugitive lyrics, upon the strength of a poem called Gebir. Who could suppose, that in this same Gebir the aforesaid Savage Landor (for such is his grim cognomen) putteth into the infernal regions no less a person than the hero of his friend Mr. Southey's heaven, yea, even George the Third ! See also how personal Savage becometh, when he hath a mind. The following is his portrait of our late gracious sovereign :

(Prince Gebir having descended into the infernal regions, the shades of his royal ancestors are, at his request, called up to his view; and he exclaims to his ghostly guide)— "Aroar, what wretch that nearest us? what wretch Is that with eyebrows white and slanting brow? Listen! him yonder, who, bound down supine, Shrinks yelling from that sword there, engine-hung. He too amongst my ancestors! I hate The despot, but the dastard I despise. Was he our countryman?"

"Alas, O king!

SAINT PETER sat by the celestial gate:
His keys were rusty, and the lock was dull,
So little trouble had been given of late;

Not that the place by any means was full, But since the Gallic era "eighty-eight"

The devils had ta'en a longer, stronger pull,
And a pull altogether," as they say
At sea-which drew most souls another way.
II.

The angels all were singing out of tune,
And hoarse with having little else to do,
Excepting to wind up the sun and moon,
Or curb a runaway young star or two,

[Walter Savage Landor, Esq., author of "Count Julian, a tragedy"-" Imaginary Conversations," in three seriesand various other works, was an early friend of Mr. Southey, and difference of politics has never disturbed their personal feelings towards each other. Mr. Landor has long resided in Italy]

[George III. died the 29th of January, 1820, — a year in

What angels shrink from: even the very devil
On this occasion his own work abhorr'd,
So surfeited with the infernal revel:
Though he himself had sharpen'd every sword,
It almost quench'd his innate thirst of evil.
(Here Satan's sole good work deserves insertion—
"Tis, that he has both generals in reversion.)
VII.

Let's skip a few short years of hollow peace,
Which peopled earth no better, hell as wont,
And heaven none-they form the tyrant's lease,
With nothing but new names subscribed upon 't:
'Twill one day finish: meantime they increase,

"With seven heads and ten horns," and all in front, Like Saint John's foretold beast; but ours are born Less formidable in the head than horn.

VIII.

In the first year of freedom's second dawn 2

Died George the Third 3; although no tyrant, one
Who shielded tyrants, till each sense withdrawn
Left him nor mental nor external sun :

A better farmer ne'er brush'd dew from lawn,
A worse king never left a realm undone !
He died—but left his subjects still behind,
One half as mad-and 't other no less blind.

which the revolutionary spirit broke out all over the south of Europe.]

3 [Here, perhaps, the reader will thank us for transcribing a few of Mr. Southey's hexameters : —

"Pensive, though not in thought, I stood at the window, beholding Mountain, and lake, and vale; the valley disrobed of its verdure:

Thus as I stood, the bell, which awhile from its warning had rested,
Sent forth its note again, Tom! TOLL! through the silence of evening.
'Tis a deep dull sound, that is heavy and mournful at all times,
For it tells of mortality always. But heavier this day
Fell on the conscious car its deeper and mournfuller import,
Yea, in the heart it sunk; for this was the day when the herald,
Breaking his wand, should proclaim, that George our King was de-
parted.

Thou art released! I cried: thy soul is deliver'd from bondage!
Thou, who hast lain so long in mental and visual darkness,
Thou art in yonder heaven! thy place is in light and in glory.
Come, and behold! - methought a startling voice from the twilight
Answer'd; and therewithal I felt a stroke as of lightning,
With a sound like the rushing of winds, or the roaring of waters.
If from without it came, I knew not, so sudden the seizure;
Or if the brain itself in that strong flash had expended
All its electric stores. Of strength and of thought it bereft me;
Hearing, and sight, and sense were gone."
SOUTHRY's Vision of Judgment.]
"So by the unseen comforted, raised I my head in obedience,
And in a vault I found myself placed, arch'd over on all sides.
Narrow and low was that house of the dead. Around it were coffins,

With the best doctrines till we quite o'erflow;

I know that all save England's church have sharm'd,
And that the other twice two hundred churches
And synagogues have made a damn'd bad purchase.
XV.

God help us all! God help me too! I am,
God knows, as helpless as the devil can wish,
And not a whit more difficult to damn,
Than is to bring to land a late-hook'd fish,
Or to the butcher to purvey the lamb;
Not that I'm fit for such a noble dish,
As one day will be that immortal fry
Of almost every body born to die.
XVI.

Saint Peter sat by the celestial gate,

And nodded o'er his keys; when, lo! there came A wondrous noise he had not heard of late

A rushing sound of wind, and stream, and flame; In short, a roar of things extremely great,

Which would have made aught save a saint exclaim; But he, with first a start and then a wink, Said, "There's another star gone out, I think!"

Each in its niche, and palls, and urns, and funeral hatchments,
Velvets of Tyrian dye, retaining their hues unfaded;
Blazonry vivid still, as if fresh from the touch of the limmer;
Nor was the golden fringe, nor the golden broidery, tarnish'd
Whence came the light whereby that place of death was discovero e
For there was no lamp," &c. - Soruny.]

2 ["O'er the adamantine gates an angel stood on the summit.
Ho! he exclaim'd, King George of England cometh to judgment!
Hear heaven! Ye Angels hear! Souls of the Good and the b
Whom it concerns, attend Thou Hell, bring forth his accusers!
As the sonorous summons was utter'd, the Winds, who were wading.
Bore it abroad thro' Heaven; and Hell, in her nethermost corners,
Heard and obey'd in dismay.

A multitudinous army

Came at the awful call. In semicircle inclining,
Tier over tier they took their place: aloft, in the distance,
Far as the sight could pierce, that glorious company glisten'd.
From the skirts of the shining assembly, a slippery vapour
Rose in the blue serene, and moving onward it deepen'd,
Taking a denser form."— Ibid.]

3 [Louis XVI., guillotined in January, 1793.]

"But had it come up here upon its shoulders, There would have been a different tale to tell: The fellow-feeling in the saints beholders

Seems to have acted on them like a spell;
And so this very foolish head heaven solders
Back on its trunk: it may be very well,
And seems the custom here to overthrow
Whatever has been wisely done below."
XXII.

The angel answer'd, "Peter! do not pout:
The king who comes has head and all entire,
And never knew much what it was about-

He did as doth the puppet-by its wire, And will be judged like all the rest, no doubt: My business and your own is not to inquire Into such matters, but to mind our cueWhich is to act as we are bid to do."

XXIII.

While thus they spake, the angelic caravan,
Arriving like a rush of mighty wind,
Cleaving the fields of space, as doth the swan

Some silver stream (say Ganges, Nile, or Inde,

Or Thames, or Tweed), and 'midst them an old man
With an old soul, and both extremely blind,
Halted before the gate, and in his shroud
Scated their fellow-traveller on a cloud. 1

XXIV.

But bringing up the rear of this bright host
A Spirit of a different aspect waved
His wings, like thunder-clouds above some coast
Whose barren beach with frequent wrecks is paved;
His brow was like the deep when tempest-toss'd;
Fierce and unfathomable thoughts engraved
Eternal wrath on his immortal face,
And where he gazed a gloom pervaded space.

XXV.

As he drew near, he gazed upon the gate

Ne'er to be enter'd more by him or Sin,

1 [* Then I beheld the King. From a cloud which cover'd the pavement
Ira reverend form uprose: heavenward his face was directed,' ¡tended.
Heavenward his eyes were raised, and heavenward his arms were ex-
Presently one approach'd to greet him with joyful obeisance;
He of whore, in an hour of woe, the assassin bereaved us
When his counsels rost, and his resolute virtue, were needed. [me? -
Tires! sawl the Monarch, here? Thou, PERCEVAL, summon'd before
Then, as his waken'u mind to the weal of the country reverted,
What of his Son, he ask'd, what course by the Prince had been follow'd?
Right to his Father's steps hath the Regent trod, was the answer!
Firm hath be proval and wise, at a tline when weakness or eTTOP
Would have sunk us in shame, and to ruin have hurled us headlong. -
l'e xets obtand then at last, with safety and honour the Monarch
Cord, and Ive clasp'd his hands, I thank thee, O merciful Father!-
Peace both been won by the sword, the faithful minister answer'd.
Pares hath, &c. - SOUTHEY.]

* See Captain Sir Edward Parry's Voyage, in 1819-20, for the Discovery of a North-west passage. I believe it is almost impossible for words to give an idea of the beauty and variety which this magnificent phenomenon displayed. The luminous arch had broken into irregular masses, streaming with much rapidity in different directions, varying continually in shape and interest, and extending themselves from north, by the east, to north. At one time a part of the arch near the zenith was bent into convolutions resembling those of a snake

in motion, and undulating rapidly, an appearance which we had not before observed. The end towards the north was also bent like a shepherd's crook. The usual pale light of the aurora strongly resembled that produced by the combustion of phosphorus; a very slight tinge of red was noticed on this occasion, when the aurora was most vivid, but no other colours were visible." P. 135.]

3 [" Thus as he spake, methought the surrounding space dilated;
Over head I beheld the infinite ether; beneath us

Lay the solid expanse of the firmament spread like a pavement;
Wheresoever I look'd, there was light and glory around me;
Brightest it seem'd in the East, where the New Jerusalcın glitter'd.
Eminent on a hill, there stood the Celestial City;
Beaming afar it shone; its towers and cupolas rising
High in the air serene, with the brightness of d in the furnace,
Where on their breadth the splendour lay intense and quiescent.
Part with a fierier glow, and a short quick tremulous motion,
Like the burning propus; and turrets and pinnaclet sparkled,
Playing in jets of light, with a diamond-like glory coruscant.
Drawing near, I beheld what over the portal was written:
This is the Gate," &c. - SOUTHEY.]

[Johanna Southcote, the aged lunatic, who fancied herself, and was believed by many thousand followers, to be with child of a new Messiah, died in 1815. There is a full account of her in the Quarterly Review, vol. xxiv. p. 496.]

(I say young, begging to be understood

By looks, not years; and should be very sorry To state, they were not older than St. Peter, But merely that they seem'd a little sweeter). XXXI.

The cherubs and the saints bow'd down before
That arch-angelic hierarch, the first

Of essences angelical, who wore

The aspect of a god; but this ne'er nursed Pride in his heavenly bosom, in whose core

No thought, save for his Maker's service, durst Intrude, however glorified and high;

He knew him but the viceroy of the sky.

But here they were in neutral space: we know
From Job, that Satan hath the power to pay
A heavenly visit thrice a year or so;

And that "the sons of God," like those of clay,
Must keep him company; and we might show
From the same book, in how polite a way
The dialogue is held between the Powers

Of Good and Evil-but 't would take up hours, XXXIV.

And this is not a theologic tract,

To prove with Hebrew and with Arabic,

If Job be allegory or a fact,

But a true narrative; and thus I pick

From out the whole but such and such an act,
As sets aside the slightest thought of trick.
'Tis every tittle true, beyond suspicion,
And accurate as any other vision.

XXXV.

The spirits were in neutral space, before

The gate of heaven; like eastern thresholds is The place where Death's grand cause is argued o'er, And souls despatch'd to that world or to this; And therefore Michael and the other wore

A civil aspect: though they did not kiss,
Yet still between his Darkness and his Brightness
There pass'd a mutual glance of great politeness.
XXXVI.

The Archangel bow'd, not like a modern beau,
But with a graceful oriental bend,
Pressing one radiant arm just where below

The heart in good men is supposed to tend.
He turn'd as to an equal, not too low,

But kindly; Satan met his ancient friend With more hauteur, as might an old Castilian Poor noble meet a mushroom rich civilian. XXXVII.

He merely bent his diabolic brow

An instant; and then raising it, he stood

1"No saint in the course of his religious warfare was more sensible of the unhappy failure of pious resolves than Dr. Johnson: he said one day, talking to an acquaintance on

"Look to our earth, or rather mine; it was,
Once, more thy master's: but I triumph not
In this poor planet's conquest; nor, alas !
Need he thou servest envy me my lot:
With all the myriads of bright worlds which pass
In worship round him, he may have forgot
Yon weak creation of such paltry things:

I think few worth damnation save their kings, -
XLI.

"And these but as a kind of quit-rent, to
Assert my right as lord; and even had

I such an inclination, 't were (as you

Well know) superfluous; they are grown so bad, That hell has nothing better left to do

Than leave them to themselves: so much more mad And evil by their own internal curse, Heaven cannot make them better, nor I worse.

XLII.

"Look to the earth, I said, and say again :

When this old, blind, mad, helpless, weak, poor

worm

Began in youth's first bloom and flush to reign,
The world and he both wore a different form,
And much of earth and all the watery plain

Of ocean call'd him king: through many a storm
His isles had floated on the abyss of time;
For the rough virtues chose them for their clime.

XLIII.

"He came to his sceptre young; he leaves it old. Look to the state in which he found his realm, And left it; and his annals too behold,

How to a minion first he gave the helm ; How grew upon his heart a thirst for gold,

The beggar's vice, which can but overwhelm The meanest hearts; and for the rest, but glance Thine eye along America and France.

this subject, Sir, hell is paved with good intentions.' "*. Boswell, vol. v. p. 305. ed. 1835.]

XLIV.

"T is true, he was a tool from first to last (I have the workmen safe); but as a tool So let him be consumed. From out the past

Of ages, since mankind have known the rule Of monarchs-from the bloody rolls amass'd

Of sin and slaughter-from the Cæsars' school, Take the worst pupil; and produce a reign [slain. More drench'd with gore, more cumber'd with the XLV.

"He ever warr'd with freedom and the free:

Nations as men, home subjects, foreign foes, So that they utter'd the word Liberty!' [Whose Found George the Third their first opponent. History was ever stain'd as his will be

With national and individual woes?

I grant his household abstinence; I grant

His neutral virtues, which most monarchs want;

"True he allow'd them to pray God but as
A consequence of prayer, refused the law
Which would have placed them upon the same base
With those who did not hold the saints in awe."
But here Saint Peter started from his place,

And cried, "You may the prisoner withdraw
Ere heaven shall ope her portals to this Guelph,
While I am guard, may I be damn'd myself!
L.

"Sooner will I with Cerberus exchange
My office (and his is no sinecure)

[George III.'s determination against the Catholic claims.]
"From the opposite region,

Heavy and sulphurous clouds ro l'd on, and completed the circle.
There with the Spirits accurst, in congenial darkness enveloped
With the Soul of the Wicked, who, wilful in guilt and error,
Chrome the service of sin, and now were abiding its wages.
Change of place to them brought no reprieval from anguish;
They in their evil thoughts and desires of impotent malice,
Enry, and hate, and blasphemous rage, and remorse unavailing,
Carried a he within, to which all outer affliction,

it aintzated the anse, might be deem'd a remission of torment.

Than see this royal Bedlam bigot range

The azure fields of heaven, of that be sure ! " "Saint!" replied Satan, " you do well to avenge The wrongs he made your satellites endure; 1 And if to this exchange you should be given, I'll try to coax our Cerberus up to heaven."

LI.

Here Michael interposed: "Good saint! and devil! Pray, not so fast; you both outrun discretion. Saint Peter! you were wont to be more civil: Satan! excuse this warmth of his expression, And condescension to the vulgar's level:

Even saints sometimes forget themselves in session. Have you got more to say?"—" No.”—“If you please, I'll trouble you to call your witnesses."

LII.

Then Satan turn'd and waved his swarthy hand,
Which stirr'd with its electric qualities
Clouds farther off than we can understand,
Although we find him sometimes in our skies ;
Infernal thunder shook both sea and land
In all the planets, and hell's batteries
Let off the artillery, which Milton mentions
As one of Satan's most sublime inventions. 2
LIII.

This was a signal unto such damn'd souls
As have the privilege of their damnation
Extended far beyond the mere controls

Of worlds past, present, or to come; no station Is theirs particularly in the rolls

Of hell assign'd; but where their inclination Or business carries them in search of game, They may range freely — being damn'd the same.

LIV.

They are proud of this-as very well they may,
It being a sort of knighthood, or gilt key
Stuck in their loins 3; or like to an "entré"
Up the back stairs, or such free-masonry.

I borrow my comparisons from clay,

Being clay myself. Let not those spirits be Offended with such base low likenesses;

We know their posts are nobler far than these.

LV.

When the great signal ran from heaven to hell-
About ten million times the distance reckon'd
From our sun to its earth, as we can tell

How much time it takes up, even to a second,

For every ray that travels to dispel

The fogs of London, through which, dimly beacon'd, The weathercocks are gilt some thrice a year,

If that the summer is not too severe : ✦ —

LVI.

I say that I can tell- 't was half a minute:
I know the solar beams take up more time
Ere, pack'd up for their journey, they begin it;
But then their telegraph is less sublime,

At the edge of the cloud, the Princes of Darkness were marshall'd;
Dimly descried within were wings and truculent face;
And in the thick obscure there struggled a rutinous uproar,
Railing, and fury, and strife, that the whole deep body of darkness
Roll'd like a troubled sea, with a wide and a manifold notion."
SOUTHEY.]

3 [A gold or gilt key, peeping from below the skirts of the coat, marks a lord chamberlain.]

◄ [An allusion to Horace Walpole's expression in a letter — "The summer has set in with its usual severity.”]