We advert to the subject merely because several letters of his lordship have been placed in our hands, with unlimited power of publication-but we refrain from so doing, through delicate motives, until it be legally ascertained, whether this new doctrine, so unexpectedly advanced by Mr. Hobhouse's lawyers, be correct or not. In the mean time we may as well mention, for the benefit of those concerned, that some of them go back so far as 1816, when his lordship was in his seventeenth year, and continue till about 1815, the period of his marriage. There are some very strange domestic scenes narrated, and some still stranger adverted to, the nature of which we do not feel ourselves at liberty, for the present, to disclose. SIR, The critical reader may be pleased to know, that from them much light may be thrown upon some of his lordship's poems-Manfred, for instance; one of the ablest of the critics of that powerful composition, complains that "a sense of imperfection, incompleteness, and confusion, accompanies the mind throughout the perusal of the poem, owing either to some failure on the part of the poet, or to the inherent mystery of the subject;" and, of course, the admirers of Lord Byron's genius would be quite pleased at having every effort made to remedy such defects. Next month, it is probable-we shall not say certain - that we may speak more largely on this interesting subject. TO THE EDITOR OF THE JOHN BULL MAGAZINE. IN the first number of your entertaining Magazine, you quote a verse, composed as you say, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, on Lord Glenbervie, extempore. I know this is a common version of the story, but it is, nevertheless, incorrect. That verse occurs in a long poem by the deceased wit, written just before the opening of the Union Parliament, in 1801. I am not sure that it was ever published-indeed, I rather think it was not-in either case it is at your service. I possess a copy in Sherry's own writing, from which I inclose the transcript. I am, Sir, unusually treacherous to give a correct copy of the words-but we have the melody still floating in our ears. It ran-something thus: Of all the speakers on the floor, Or lounging in the lobby O There's none so great a standing bore As little John Cam Hobby O. Not e'en Lord Viscount Castlereagh, We do not vouch for our specimen being correct, but we certainly shall be answerable for its likeness. If any of our correspondents, as we have already said, possess a copy, by forwarding it to us, he may be sure of its speedy appearance. In so saying, we disclaim any dislike to Hobhouse, who is a very fair public man indeed, and very deservedly respected by all who know him; but we have always had a great affection for preserving the little effusions of men of genius, which, nobis judicibus, tend to mark the author's character even more than studied and formal compositions. *Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, June 1817. +Right Hon. Henry Dundas, now better known as Lord Melville. He bad been seven or eight years married to his second lady at the date of this jeu d'esprit, but had no children. by her; there seems to be some allusion to this in the text. Wilberforce! Wilberforce!$ While your venom alone is thought vital; While your venom alone is thought vital. Then follow verses on Hawkins Brown, Thornton, Dr. Lawrence, or, as he is here called, Dear Lumber, the Attorney-General, the Master of the Rolls, and old George Rose, which we may safely skip. Next is the verse on Lord Glenbervie, more accurately, than we from memory quoted it. Now Earl Grosvenor. In his first speech in parliament, being hot from college, he quoted a long Greek passage, which is here alluded to. It was long a subject of joke to the newspapers, but his lordship is panegyrized for it in the notes of the Pursuits of Literature. + Now Lord Liverpool. His celebrated speech about marching to Paris, is here laughed at. Later events have proved that such an occurrence was not so impossible as then imagined. The case of governor Aris is too well known to need a note. Sheridan had always a great spleen against Mr. Wilberforce. Every body knows the story of his giving Mr. W.'s name to the watchman who picked him up, when he had fallen in a drunken fit in the street. The late Lord Liverpool, whose figure was rather cadaverous. About this time there was a scarcity of corn, and his lordship was very active in legislating about it. Lord Grenville. Hal. and Billy, are Dundas and Pitt, who, it is needless to say, were bon vivants of the first-any thing but water. On their convivial propensities, the opposition wits vented epigrams, sans cesse, of which the following is, perhaps, worth remembering: Dialogue between Messrs. P. and D. in the House of Commons. P. I cannot see the speaker, Hal; can you? DNot see the speaker, damme! I see two! G 2 MR. W. FARREN, AND THE LONDON MAGAZINE. "The satirical rogue says here, that old men have grey beards: that their faces are wrinkled: that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams: all which, though I do most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus HAMLET. set down." MR. WILLIAM FARREN is an actor, of Covent Garden Theatre, who has acquired some celebrity by his personation (on the stage) of very old and weak gentlemen: but not content with showing us how they walk and speak, he has, we understand, contrived to get himself engaged by Messrs. Taylor and Hessey, at a salary of 37. per month, to shew the cockney public how they write. His first appearance upon "The London" stage, was in an Essay on the Madness of Hamlet, about which, he is not quite clear: but he ends most safely in the conclusion, that if Hamlet really was mad, his madness, as far as it went, was just like any other madness. In the May number, he has inflicted on the unfortunate readers of this magazine, an article upon the madness of Ophelia; in which he makes it quite clear to the most sceptical, that Shakspeare meant, in the latter part of the play, to represent Ophelia as mad. But he says a great many other new and curious things,--all smelling of the taste of the silly old gentleman, in whose character Mr. F. writes; and whose imbecility, shortness of memory, contradictions, and repetitions of himself,clothed in an insipid, hobbling, gouty, toothless style, he has even more happily imitated, than he does Lord Ogleby or Sir Peter 'Teazle. Any silly old gentleman, who should bethink himself of writing at this time of day, upon the madness of Ophelia, would, very naturally, set out from a truism: accordingly Mr. Farren, in a happy vein of imitation, thus commenceth: "The mental distemper of Ophelia is that of distraction." And again: "The conflicts of duty and affection, hope and fear, which successively agitated Ophelia's gentle bosom, were sufficient to dissever the delicate coherence of a woman's reason. The fair and gentle Ophelia, confiding in the sincerity of Hamlet, has listened to his addresses, sufficiently to imbibe the contagion of love." From this we learn, among other points, that every young lady, who listens to addresses, necessarily falls in love immediately. "Laertes, 66 aware of the state of her affection, cautions her." In this sentence there is a palpable mistake of the press, arising, no doubt, from Mr. F.'s too faithful imitation of the palsy-stricken hand-writing of the old gentleman: for as he talks in the sentence preceding, about "the contagion of love," he must have written, "Laertes, aware of the state of her infection." Old men, from their extreme shortness of memory, are very apt to forget, in one sentence, what they had asserted in another. This characteristic of their style of writing, is delicately copied by Mr. F. "Polonius peremptorily charges her not to give words, or talk with the Lord Hamlet." "Her feelings are on every occasion made subservient to the views of Polonius, who bids her walk alone, that she may have an interview with Hamlet." Ophelia, with affectionate duty, promises to obey his commands," though it is clearly impossible that she could obey both. 'Ophelia's answer (to the queen) shows, that her love had not been diminished by the wholesome lessons of Laertes, or the harsh control of her father." Sometimes this extreme shortness of memory leads them not only into inconsistencies, but into flat contradictions of themselves-as thus: "Ophelia is made to feel that her hopes of reciprocal affection are for ever blighted." (p. 485.) "Doating on Hamlet, whose affection for her does not appear to have suffered the slightest diminution, (p. 486.) "Ophelia still having confidence in her lover's affection." (p. 486.) "Her lover's ardent passion seemed to her to have subsided into cold indifference." (p. 487.) Sometimes, in cases of extreme, silliness, the same sentence would contain the assertion and the contradiction. "In the madness of Ophelia, there are no intervals of reason: for, the poet has contrived, with exquisite skill, to dart through the cloud that obscures her reason, occasional gleams of recollection." (p. 487.) An old beau, in writing about Ophelia, would be very likely to talk about her in sweet phrases; calling her (as Mr. F. does,) "the fair and gentle Ophelia," 66 "the lovely maniac,” “the beautiful and dutiful Ophelia," 'an exquisite creature," &c. &c. and to praise her in this style: "She is decked with all the gentleness and modesty which distinguish an affectionate sister, and a virtuous woman." But, unless he had been under the powerful influence of his third glass of wine, the old bachelor would never have given so bad an account of the young lady, as is contained in this sentence: "The songs she warbles contain allusions strongly indicative of feelings of an erotic, (from gws, amor) tendency; and are such as, under the chaster guard of reason, she would not have selected." (p. 487.) He would not have said that " Ophelia was incapable of deceit," yet, in the same page, have asserted, that she was guilty of meanness and falsehood, involving at once the sacrifice of delicacy and truth in the most senseless coquetry.' But he would soon relapse again into a maudlin tenderness, and whimper over the sorrows of Ophelia. "That reader is little to be envied, who could smile at Ophelia's distraction; which, from gentle breasts, must extort tears, and sobs, and sighs-those attributes that ennoble our natures." His metaphors would be all borrowed from the Apothecary's shop, and would smack of the draught he had just swallowed. "There is something so exquisitely affecting in this draught of sorrow, that it is impossible not to drain the cup to the very dregs.' He would probably think it necessary to patronize Shakspeare, and would talk of his "exquisite creations," the " quisite tragedy," its "exquisite contrivances," and the "exquisite specimens❞ to be found in it. He would send for. his physician, "who is familiar with cases of insanity," and after consulting him, would thus write: "It is impossible to conceive any thing more perfect than the picture of disease, given by CROWFLOWERS. NETTLES: ex Shakspeare, in this scene of Ophelia's. Every medical professor, who is familiar with cases of insanity, will freely acknowledge its truth. The slight withdrawing of the veil, without disgusting by its entire removal, displays at once the pathological correctness, and the exquisite delicacy of the poet." (p. 487.) Hereafter, let nobody pretend to admire Shakspeare without being able to produce his diploma from Warwicklane. The old gentleman would attempt a weak antithesis: "If any thing could heighten our admiration of the immortal bard, after a careful examination of the life of Ophelia, it would be the exquisite contrivance of her death." (p. 488.) Thinking of the days of his youth, when Lady M. W. Montagu taught him the language of flowers, the ancient bachelor would think Shakspeare must have had emblems in his head when he described Ophelia's garland as woven of "crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long-purples:" and that he "alluded to particular varieties" of them.* He would therefore suggest an alteration in Shakspeare's verses to explain all this, and would have us read: Therewith fantastic garlands she did make Of crowflowers, named in Drayton's Polyolbion; The lychnis flos cuculi of Linnæus; The double lychnis is by Parkinson Called "the fayre mayde of France," because 'tis found there. The daisy (or day's-eye,) imports virginity, &c. He would say that Shakspeare meant to perpetrate a kind of sentimental pun by choosing "wild flowers, to denote "the bewildered state of the beautiful "Ophelia's own faculties: and the or"der runs thus, with the meaning of "each term beneath : DAISIES. LONG-PURPLES. Fayre mayde. Stung to the quick. | Her virgin bloom. Under the cold hand of death. "A fair maid stung to the quick, her virgin bloom under the cold hand of death." (p. 488.) • As our readers might have some doubts whether the force of folly could go so far, we subjoin Mr. F.'s precise words: "There ought to be no question that Shakspeare intended them all to have an emblematic meaning. The crowflower,' is a species of lychnis, al"luded to by Drayton, in his Polyolbion. It is the lychnis flos cuculi of Linnæus; it is of con"siderable antiquity, and is described by Pliny under the name of odontitis. We are told by "Parkinson, it was called The fayre Mayde of France.' It is to this name and to this variety that Shakspeare alludes in the present instance. The daisey' (or day's-eye) imports "the pure virginity,' &c. (p. 488.) The old gentleman, delighted with his own ingenuity, would then cry out "It would be difficult to fancy a more emblematic wreath for this interesting victim;" then, because he loves to quote appropriately, he would say something about" disappointed love and filial sorrow-sweets to the sweet, farewell!"and at last, getting quite frisky and wanton, would conclude as Mr. F. does "I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid, "And not have strew'd thy grave.” WILLIAM FARREN. In the number to which we allude, there are half-a-dozen mortal pages on a certain new-discovered passage in Shak speare, beginning To be, or not to be, that is the question. This celebrated soliloquy has been highly extolled as a fine specimen of right reasoning proceeding from a vigorous and virtuous mind; but I regard it (quoth Mr. Farren) as an incongruous assemblage of intruding thoughts, proceeding from an author whom I hold in the highest veneration. Mr. F. admits candidly, that his former articles are a great outrage against popular opinion-an opinion in which all his readers (if he has any) will readily concur: and he very properly characterizes the present article, which consists only of six pages, as a minor offence. At the time Hamlet thus moralized (says Mr. F. in allusion to the passage beginning "Oh that this too too solid flesh would melt," &c.) the theory which ultimately produced mental alienation had not entered his mind :" yet, in the next sentence, he says that "Hamlet merely assumed madness, the better to gratify his revenge." He says, that "when Hamlet delivered the soliloquy he was of sound mind," yet in the following page he asserts, that "Shakspeare has given an unconnected train of reasoning to Hamlet, on purpose to display the unsoundness of his intellect." Let our readers make what they ean of the following contradictory nonsense. "When Hamlet is left alone, he displays a disrelish of life How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable, Seem to me all the uses of this world!" &c. Hamlet has a strong motive for which to live. Indeed, there is no circumstance affecting Hamlet that should prompt him to entertain a thought of self-destruction: on the contrary, all concurred to render life desirable. The following interpretation of the first words of the soliloquy is quite admirable-though rather more difficult to be understood than the original. "The question is TO BE, that is, to exist; or NOT TO BE, that is, to cease to exist." (p. 650.) This is a good example of what may be called the alphabetical, or A. B. C. method of reasoning, and is clearly superior_to_the Q. E. D. mode. To B, that is to Band not to B. that is not to C. for a man must B. before he can C. The following chain of what Mr. F. calls reasoning, is, he says, "in Hamlet's own way;" though he calls him, in the same breath, insane christian." (p. 651.) 66 an "To die" is no more" than to sleep, and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache, a consummation devoutly to be wished." Now Hamlet knew well that "sleep would not always end the heart-ache, as we frequently dream in our sleep of that which oppresses us when awake." (p. 650.) Does Mr. F. mean to say that dreaming about a thing is as bad as suffering it awake? Let any body try the experiment with Mr. F.'s Essays— and when they are fairly reduced by them to a state of inaction, let them dream they are still reading them, and try which state of suffering is the easiest to bear. Mr. F. is very anxious, in some parts of his essay, to prove Hamlet an orthodox, high-church believer-though, in other passages, he calls him " an insane christian"-which would lead one rather to suppose he belonged to the sect of the methodists. Here is a specimen of the logic which "the insane christian" of the London, employs to prove Hamlet 66 a man impressed with the truths of revealed religion." (p. 647.) "Christians believe that a good conscience makes a man brave Hamlet says, that conscience makes cowards of us all-therefore Hamlet is a man impressed with the truths of revealed religion." (p. 651.) Mr. F. |