tious bibliographer, shall conclude the

present article.

To the Editor of the Director.

SIR,

YOUR Correspondent, who signs herself Biblietta, is, I presume, a female : she seems to have a grandmother as strangely devoted to antique English books as is my own father-and I should like to introduce these characters to each other.

I was absolutely astonished the other day, on seeing one of Mr. Oakley's patent satin-wood tables, covered with a black letter Ship of Fools, by one Barclay, and Tom Watson's Passionate Centurie of Love, lying upon the first edition of Fox's Book of Martyrs! You will allow, Sir, that this was a strange jumble. My father has an invincible attachment to these pursuits, and has, I think, fairly embarked in the first article just enume

X

rated. But whether he will sail to the 'Purple Island,' or join 'Purchas's Pilgrimes and Pilgrimage' is at present doubtful.

FOR my own part, Sir, I profess to be a plain, limited-intellect man: contented with the roman letter, as I see it in Shakspeare and Milton, in Rapin, Robertson, or Hume..

I am, Sir,

With respect, yours,

BIB.

Royal Institution.

ON Saturday, February 7, Mr. Davy delivered his second lecture on the chemical phenomena of nature; it was principally devoted to the consideration of the laws of chemical attraction and to experimental elucidations of the phenomena they produce. Many common and

familiar instances were added to the scientific examples, and it was stated that the greater number of those changes in which the order and harmony existing in' the arrangements of our globe depend, have for their prime cause the agency of the corpuscular affinity.

THE REV. MR. DIBDIN, in his fifth lecture on English literature, dwelt on the poetry of Gower, Barbour, Blind Harry, and Hoccleve: he also particularly noticed the prose works of John Trevisa; of whom it appeared that very little was known with accuracy, The French poetry of Gower was said to be greatly superior to his English compositions; and, in the opinion of Mr. G. Ellis, 'not to suffer by a comparison with the best contemporary sonnets written by professed French poets.' The principal work of Gower was said to be his Confession of a Lover'-written at the instigation of Richard II; who, meeting with our poet rowing on the Thames, invited him into the royal barge, and after much conversa

tion, requested him to boke some new thinge.' The poem was said not to be destitute of incidents, from which Shakspeare, and other earlier English poets, had borrowed with considerable success.

BARBOUR'S poem of The Bruce,' was next discussed, and Mr. Pinkerton's edition of it strongly recommended. It was said to be faithfully printed from a MS. of the date of 1489, in the Advocate's library at Edinburgh, which was copied from a still earlier MS. of equal antiquity with that of Wyntown's Chronicle.

THE poetry of Blind Harry was said to be an English translation from a Latin poem composed by Robert Blare, chaplain to the famous Sir W. Wallace, describing the exploits of that hero. Mr. D. gave a few specimens of the descriptive beauties of the poem, and observed that the latest edition of it, of any repute, was that of 1758. The first edition was printed in 1601.

HOCCLEVE's poetry formed the next subject of discussion, particularly Mr. Ma

son's edition (1796) of some select poems never before published. This edition, although severely attacked by Ritson, was said to be of value, inasmuch as it gave us information of some particulars in Hoccleve's life, which had escaped the researches of Warton and others.

THE prose works of Trevisa were then minutely examined, and various specimens given of his style. His translation of Higden's Polychronicon was said to be first printed by Caxton in 1482; the question of his having translated the Bible was particularly discussed. From the private information of a friend, Mr. D. observed, that there was recently preserved in the Vatican at Rome, a work translated by Trevisa, given by some of Lord Berkeley's ancestors to Charles I, when Prince of Wales, and resident at the papal court. It was supposed to be a translation of the Bible into English.

THE 6th and last lecture of Mr. D's second course on English literature, was devoted exclusively to the works, lives, and characters of Wicliffe and Wm. of Wyke