Again, how truly poetical is "The Lark," of which we give an unrhymed, undecorated version, though it is not possible to express in English that tone of gentleness and endearment which the diminutive conveys, in the Malitký Skřivánče—beloved larklet.

One more specimen and we have done. It will speak eloquently and touchingly for itself; it would not be easy to give a more striking picture of tenderness and passion.

THE STRAWBERRIES.

To the green grove my maiden went
To gather strawberries red :

And her white foot a bramble rent,

And her white foot-it bled-
Sweet love! the wound is smarting so―
That the dear girl can hardly go.

O why thou most perfidious thorn
Hast thou my gentle maiden torn-
Thou from thy stem shall now be riven
And flung upon the winds of heaven,

Now linger, lov'd one! in the shade
Beneath the waving pine;

I'll hasten to the sunny glade

On this white steed of mine.

My steed shall wander at his ease

And the green grass his feast shall be-
So tarry maiden! midst the trees—
Wait in the shade for me.

I heard my love's unconscious lay;
In the fir-grove, she said :—
"And O! what would my mother say
To me, unhappy maid?

My mother always said, take care!
Beware of flattering youth-
And yet I know not why beware-
They please me well in truth."

Swift flew I o'er the flowery mead

On my snow-horse, as swift could be-
Sprung from my horse-and tied the steed
With silver curblet to a tree.

I seiz'd the maid-with passion hot

I press'd her to my eager heart—
Kiss'd her sweet lips-she soon forgot

The bramble and the bramble's smart.

And so we sat delighted there

The gathering of the eve forgetting: "Now-must we hasten home my dear! For see the sun is setting."

And swift upon my steed I

sprung
My steed as snow-heaps white;
Upon mine arm my maiden hung
We reached her home at night.

ART. III.-An Inquiry into the Place and Quality of the Gentlemen of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Chamber. By Nicholas Carlisle, F. R. S. M. R. I. A. Fellow and Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and One of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber. 8vo. 1829. pp. 366. Payne and Foss.

IT is at all times dangerous to adopt the opinions of others without first examining for ourselves. To have done so with respect to this volume, would at once have been to fling it aside as a very dull and a very ridiculous, compilation. A careful perusal however convinced us that it is a work pregnant with ability; and one of the most admirable satires it has been our fortune to read. The difference between our judgment and that of others arises from this simple cause, that they have actually deemed the author in earnest.

Mr. Nicholas Carlisle is universally known for the erratic but brilliant qualities of his wit; and like other luminaries who have adorned our country, he sometimes evinces it in poignant sarcasm. It is true that neither his public appointments, nor the various works with which he has favoured the world appear calculated for the display of genius, yet with the peculiar property which belongs to it, every production of his pen bears striking marks of an original mind; and he has established a reputation which is the envy of his fellow Antiquaries, and, to judge from a passage in one of his own books, a subject of honest exultation to himself.*

In the volume before us, this accomplished gentleman has proposed to himself a task not more remarkable for its concep

The passage to which we allude occurs in the rarest and most valuable of Mr. Carlisle's productions, "the History of the Carlisle family" p. 264, in which an account is given of every person who ever flourished of the name, excepting Mr. Carlisle of Fleet Street. Though deeply impressed with a sense of Mr. Nicholas Carlisle's modesty, we cannot resist the pleasure of citing that paragraph, not so much to shew the affecting filial piety of the writer, as from its being the most beautiful apostrophe in our language. After mentioning his venerable parents, and stating that before their decease, they gave him birth, he thus pathetically invokes their shades:

"Blessed Spirits! with what rapture and satisfaction, would you have beheld the present situation, and the literary productions, of your beloved child! But I have done !"

tion than for the successful manner in which it is executed; and though we fear the example of the reverend Mr. Dillon, who undertook to ridicule books of travels by writing those of the lord mayor and aldermen of London to Oxford, deprives Mr. Carlisle of the claim to the invention, yet there is much praise due to him for applying the plan to a totally different subject, even had he not far excelled his prototype; and the author of this work will henceforward be deemed a master of burlesque, and this volume his master-piece. It was doubtless often painful to such a mind as Mr. Carlisle's to contemplate the folly which authors of Antiquarian works are in the habit of committing, by writing volumes on the most insignificant questions, and running wild in the investigation of points for which no person on this side of Bedlam cares one straw; whilst, to render the absurdity complete, they use language more inflated than that of Gibbon; and compliment all who furnish a word on the subject of their lucubrations, as if they had contributed to the discovery of a new science, forcibly reminding us of the Messieurs Trissotin and Vadius of Molière.

In one of the few intervals of leisure which his numerous official avocations allowed him, Mr. Carlisle conceived the laudable design of writing a work which should be so remarkable for all these follies, and for the omissions and errors that usually characterize the productions of those elaborate triflers, as could not fail to produce a signal reformation in the pursuits of Antiquaries. It appears to have been his object too, to satirize book-makers in general; and, with a truly philosophic spirit, to hold up to the scorn of mankind persons who lament the extinction of privileges that once shielded rogues and cheats from the vengeance of the law. To say that this learned person has eminently succeeded, is not to say half of what he deserves; for this single book has done more to produce a reform in the Society of which the author is the most distinguished member, than if, in their recent "agitations," he had joined those radicals of the fraternity, whom he then completely overwhelmed by his eloquence.

A subject suited to his purpose fortunately presented itself last year in his appointment, as one of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber. By writing the history of that office he was sure his motive would not be suspected, even if people could be so illiberal as to suppose that he merely wished to inform the world of his promotion; and no one can doubt that such a theme is as fair a burlesque on many antiquarian books as could have been chosen. That every department of the art of book-making might be hit at, this "Inquiry" properly com

mences with a "dedication" to the Lord Chamberlain, he being the "author and disposer" of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber. The "introduction" contains a brief outline of the state of the court in former ages, which is followed by an attempt to shew that the courts of justice are not competent to decide upon so important a question as the "rights and privileges" of his Majesty's servants, from the Lord Steward to the scullion, including of course Gentlemen of the Privy "These sentiments," the author says, Chamber. 66 ' are introduced with a view to prepare the reader for that surprise which will naturally be felt on finding how much the rights and privileges of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber have been invaded, and how seldom their services are now required: and it may therefore admit of reasonable inquiry, why that well-deserved respect has been suffered to become dormant, which our kings and princes and the national councils always showed to those gentlemen."-p. xix.

After stating that he has been indebted to the labours of Pegge, and Fabian Philipps, Mr. Carlisle proceeds to burlesque the way in which authors acknowledge literary assistance from their friends, and more particularly the permission of persons in office for access to documents in their custody, by imitating, though we are aware with some exaggeration, the usual fulsome style of these addresses. Mr. Peel is thanked for" his politeness. and remarkable kindness" in having allowed him to examine some documents in the State Paper Office," which high favour I esteem it a pleasing duty to acknowledge, not only as a respectful tribute of profound gratitude to his love of literature [!] but as it affords me an opportunity of publicly expressing my sincere obligations to that intelligent, faithful and complaisant officer" the Deputy Keeper. To Mr. Mash, he says, he owes all the gratitude which is so eminently due" for leave to examine the records of the Lord Chamberlain's office, a favour he describes as "an indulgence, flowing from a natural affability of disposition, which could only have been expected in a friendship of many years growth." Having been aided by another gentleman in that department Mr. Carlisle happily observes, "We look for complaisance about the court, but in no department of the household could it have been more pleasingly expressed than by those two gentlemen." To Sir George Nayler, Garter King of Arms, he offers "all the respect that either friendship can suggest or kindness dictate," nor "can he suffer the opportunity to pass without recording his warmest thanks to his steady friend" the Norfolk Herald, "whose courtesy-the emblem of his profession-was displayed