The inadvertencies to which I allude are,

Firstly, in speaking of Anstey, whom he accuses of having taken <his leading characters from Smollett.» Anstey's Bath Guide was published in 1766. Smollett's Humphry Clinker (the only work of Smollett's from which Tabitha, etc. etc. could have been taken) was written during Smollett's last residence at Leghorn in 1770.—« Argal,» if there has been any borrowing, Anstey must be the creditor, and not the debtor. I refer Mr Campbell to his own data in his lives of Smollett and Anstey.

Secondly, Mr Campbell says in the Life of Cowper (note to page 358, vol. 7) that he knows not to whom Cowper alludes in these lines:

« Nor he who, for the bane of thousands born,

Built God a church, and laugh'd his word to scorn.

The Calvinist meant Voltaire, and the church of Ferney, with its inscription, « Deo erexit Voltaire. »

Thirdly, in the Life of Burns, Mr C. quotes Shakspeare thus,—

This version by no means improves the original, which is as follows:

"

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,» etc.

King John.

A great poet quoting another should be correct; he should also be accurate, when he accuses a Parnassian brother of that dangerous charge borrowing: a poet had better borrow any thing (excepting money) than the thoughts of another-they are always sure to be reclaimed; but it is very hard, having been the lender, to be denounced as the debtor, as is the case of Anstey versus Smollett.

As there is « honour amongst thieves,» let there be some amongst poets, and give each his due,- -none can afford to give it more than Mr Campbell himself, who, with a high reputation for originality, and a fame which cannot be shaken, is the only poet of the times (except Rogers) who can be reproached (and in him it is indeed a reproach) with having written too little.

PREFACE

TO

CANTOS VI.-VII-VIII.

Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?—Yes, by St Anne; and ginger shall be hot i' the mouth too!»-Twelfth Night; or What you Will.

SHAKSPEARE.

THE details of the siege of Ismail in two of the following cantos (i. e. the 7th and 8th) are taken from a French work entitled « Histoire de la Nouvelle Russie. » Some of the incidents attributed to Don Juan really occurred, particularly the circumstance of his saving the infant, which was the actual case of the late Duc de Richelieu, then a young volunteer in the Russian service, and afterwards the founder and benefactor of Odessa, where his name and memory can never cease to be regarded with reverence. In the course of these cantos a stanza or two will be found relative to the late Marquis of Lon

donderry, but written some time before his decease. Had that person's oligarchy died with him, they would have been suppressed; as it is, I am aware of nothing in the manner of his death or of his life to prevent the free expression of the opinions of all whom his whole existence was consumed in endeavouring to enslave. That he was an amiable man in private life, may or may not be true; but with this the public have nothing to do; and as to lamenting his death, it will be time enough when Ireland has ceased to mourn for his birth. As a minister, I, for one of millions, looked upon him as the most despotic in intention and the weakest in intellect that ever tyrannised over a country. It is the first time indeed since the Normans, that England has been insulted by a minister (at least) who could not speak English, and that parliament permitted itself to be dictated to in the language of Mrs Malaprop.

Of the manner of his death little need be said, except that if a poor radical, such as Waddington or Watson, had cut his throat, he would have been buried in a cross-road, with the usual appurtenances of the stake and mallet. But the minister was an elegant lunatic-a sentimental suicide-he merely cut the «< carotid artery» (blessings on their learning), and lo! the pageant, and the abbey! and « the syllables of dolour yelled forth by the newspapers-and the

harangue of the coroner in an eulogy over the bleeding body of the deceased-(an Anthony worthy of such a Cæsar) and the nauseous and atrocious cant of a degraded crew of conspirators against all that is sincere or honourable. In his death he was necessarily one of two things by the law-a felon or a madman-and in either case no great subject for panegyric. In his life he was what all the world knows, and half of it will feel for years to come, unless his death prove a « moral lesson>> to the surviving Sejani' of Europe. It may at least serve as some consolation to the nations, that their oppressors are not happy, and in some instances judge so justly of their own actions as to anticipate the sentence of mankind.-Let us hear no more of this man, and let Ireland remove the ashes of her Grattan from the sanctuary of Westminster. Shall the patriot of humanity repose by the Werther of politics!!!

With regard to the objections which have been made on another score to the already published cantos of

'I say by the law of the land—the laws of humanity judge more gently; but as the legitimates have always the law in their mouths, let them here make the most of it.

'From this number must be excepted Canning: Canning is a genius, almost an universal one, an orator, a wit, a poet, a statesman, and no man of talent can long pursue the path of his late predecessor Lord C. If ever man saved his country Canning can; but will he? I for one hope so.

this poem,

I shall content myself with two quotations from Voltaire:

« La pudeur s'est enfuie des cœurs, et s'est refugiée sur les lèvres.

« Plus les mœurs sont dépravées, plus les expressions deviennent mesurées; on croit regagner en langage ce qu'on a perdu en vertu.»

This is the real fact, as applicable to the degraded and hypocritical mass which leavens the present English generation, and is the only answer they deserve. The hackneyed and lavished title of blasphemer— which, with radical, liberal, jacobin, reformer, etc. are the changes which the hirelings are daily ringing in the ears of those who will listen-should be welcome to all who recollect on whom it was originally bestowed. Socrates and Jesus Christ were put to death publicly as blasphemers, and so have been and may be many who dare to oppose the most notorious abuses of the name of God and the mind of man. But persecution is not refutation, nor even triumph: the «< wretched infidel," as he is called, is probably happier in his prison than the proudest of his assailants. With his opinions I have nothing to do-they may be right or wrong-but he has suffered