must be considered as exotics, trans- end of every argument of his antagoplanted to a foreign climate, and reared nist. In this manner Petrarch solves in an unfavourable situation; and it an immense variety of cases. Indeed, would be unreasonable to expect from I doubt whether it would be possible them the health and the vigour which to name any pleasure or any calamity we find in the indigenous plants which does not find a place in this around them, or which they might dissertation. He gives excellent advice themselves have possessed in their na- to a man who is in expectation of distive soil. He has but very imperfectly covering the philosopher's stone;-to imitated the style of the Latin authors, another, who has formed a fine aviary; and has not compensated for the defi--to a third, who is delighted with the ciency by enriching the ancient lan- tricks of a favourite monkey. His lecguage with the graces of modern poetry. tures to the unfortunate are equally The splendour and ingenuity, which singular. He seems to imagine that a we admire, even when we condemn it, precedent in point is a sufficient conin his Italian works, is almost totally solation for every form of sufferwanting, and only illuminates with ing. "Our town is taken," says rare and occasional glimpses the dreary one complainant; "So was Troy," reobscurity of the Africa. The eclogues plies his comforter. 'My wife has have more animation; but they can eloped," says another; "If it has haponly be called poems by courtesy. pened to you once, it happened to They have nothing in common with his Menelaus twice." One poor fellow is writings in his native language, except in great distress at having discovered the eternal pun about Laura and that his wife's son is none of his. Daphne. None of these works would is hard," says he,“ that should have have placed him on a level with Vida had the expense of bringing up one or Buchanan. Yet, when we compare who is indifferent to me." him with those who preceded him, a man," returns his monitor, quoting when we consider that he went on the the famous line of Terence; " and noforlorn hope of literature, that he was thing that belongs to any other man the first who perceived, and the first ought to be indifferent to you." The who attempted to revive, the finer ele- physical calamities of life are not omitgancies of the ancient language of the ted; and there is in particular a disworld, we shall perhaps think more quisition on the advantages of having highly of him than of those who could the itch, which, if not convincing, is never have surpassed his beauties if certainly very amusing. they had not inherited them.

It

"You are

The invectives on an unfortunate physician, orrather upon the medical science, have more spirit. Petrarch was thoroughly in earnest on this subject. And the bitterness of his feelings occasionally produces, in the midst of his classical and scholastic pedantry, a sentence worthy of the second Philippic. Swift himself might have envied the chapter on the causes of the paleness of physicians.

He has aspired to emulate the philosophical eloquence of Cicero, as well as the poetical majesty of Virgil. His essay on the Remedies of Good and Evil Fortune is a singular work in a colloquial form, and a most scholastic style. It seems to be framed upon the model of the Tusculan Questions, with what success those who have read it may easily determine. It consists of Of his Latin works the Epistles are a series of dialogues: in each of these the most generally known and admired. a person is introduced who has expe- As compositions they are certainly surienced some happy or some adverse perior to his essays. But their excelevent: he gravely states his case; and lence is only comparative. From so a reasoner, or rather Reason personi- large a collection of letters, written by fied, confutes him; a task not very so eminent a man, during so varied and difficult, since the disciple defends his eventful a life, we should have exposition only by pertinaciously repeat-pected a complete and spirited view of ing it, in almost the same words, at the the literature, the manners, and the

politics of the age. A traveller-a

poet a scholar-a lover-a courtier- SOME ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT

LAWSUIT BETWEEN THE
PARISHES OF ST. DENNIS
AND ST. GEORGE IN THE
WATER. (APRIL 1824.)

PART I.

THE parish of St. Dennis is one of the most pleasant parts of the county in which it is situated. It is fertile, well wooded, well watered, and of an excel

manor had been holden in tail-male by a worshipful family, who have always taken precedence of their neighbours at the races and the sessions.

In ancient times the affairs of this parish were administered by a CourtBaron, in which the freeholders were judges; and the rates were levied by select vestries of the inhabitant houseBut at length these good

à recluse he might have perpetuated, in an imperishable record, the form and pressure of the age and body of the time. Those who read his correspondence, in the hope of finding such information as this, will be utterly disappointed. It contains nothing characteristic of the period or of the individual. It is a series, not of letters, but of themes; and, as it is not generally known, might be very safely em-lent air. For many generations the ployed at public schools as a magazine of common-places. Whether he write on politics to the Emperor and the Doge, or send advice and consolation to a private friend, every line is crowded with examples and quotations, and sounds big with Anaxagoras and Scipio. Such was the interest excited by the character of Petrarch, and such the admiration which was felt for his epis-holders. tolary style, that it was with difficulty customs fell into disuse. The Lords that his letters reached the place of of the Manor, indeed, still held courts their destination. The poet describes, for form's sake; but they or their with pretended regret and real complacency, the importunity of the curious, who often opened, and sometimes stole, these favourite compositions. It is a remarkable fact that, of all his epistles, the least affected are those which are addressed to the dead and the unborn. Nothing can be more absurd than his whim of composing grave letters of expostulation and commendation to Cicero and Seneca; yet these strange performances are written in a far more natural manner than his communications to his living correspondents. But of all his Latin works the preference must be given to the Epistle to Posterity; a simple, noble, and pathetic composition, most honourable both to his taste and his heart. If we can make allowance for some of the affected humility of an author, we shall perhaps think that no literary man has left a more pleasing memorial of himself.

stewards had the whole management of affairs. They demanded services, duties, and customs to which they had no just title. Nay, they would often bring actions against their neighbours for their own private advantage, and then send in the bill to the parish. No objection was made, during many years, to these proceedings, so that the rates became heavier and heavier: nor was any person exempted from these demands, except the footmen and gamekeepers of the squire and the rector of the parish. They indeed were never checked in any excess. They would come to an honest labourer's cottage, eat his pancakes, tuck his fowls into their pockets, and cane the poor man himself. If he went up to the great house to complain, it was hard to get the speech of Sir Lewis; and, indeed, his only chance of being righted was to coax the squire's pretty housekeeper, In conclusion, we may pronounce who could do what she pleased with that the works of Petrarch were below her master. If he ventured to intrude both his genius and his celebrity; and upon the Lord of the Manor without that the circumstances under which he this precaution, he gained nothing by wrote were as adverse to the develop- his pains. Sir Lewis, indeed, would at ment of his powers as they were favour-first receive him with a civil face; for, able to the extension of his fame. to give him his due, he could be a fine

The Jews

gentleman when he pleased. Good In the mean time the squire was day, my friend," he would say, "what pressed more and more for money. The situation have you in my family?" parish could pay no more. The rector "Bless your honour!" says the poor refused to lend a farthing. fellow, "I am not one of your honour's were clamorous for their money; and servants; I rent a small piece of ground, the landlord had no other resource your honour." "Then, you dog," quoth than to call together the inhabitants of the squire, "what do you mean by the parish, and to request their assistcoming here? Has a gentleman nc-ance. They now attacked him furithing to do but to hear the complaints ously about their grievances, and of clowns? Here! Philip, James, Dick, insisted that he should relinquish his toss this fellow in a blanket; or duck oppressive powers. They insisted that him, and set him in the stocks to dry." his footmen should be kept in order, One of these precious Lords of the that the parson should pay his share Manor enclosed a deer-park; and, in of the rates, that the children of the order to stock it, he seized all the parish should be allowed to fish in the pretty pet fawns that his tenants had trout-stream, and to gather blackberbrought up, without paying them a ries in the hedges. They at last went farthing, or asking their leave. It was so far as to demand that he should aca sad day for the parish of St. Dennis. knowledge that he held his estate only Indeed, I do not believe that all his op- in trust for them. His distress compressive exactions and long bills en-pelled him to submit. They, in return, raged the poor tenants so much as this cruel measure.

agreed to set him free from his pecuniary difficulties, and to suffer him to inhabit the manor-house; and only annoyed him from time to time by singing impudent ballads under his window.

The neighbouring gentlefolks did not look on these proceedings with much complacency. It is true that Sir Lewis and his ancestors had plagued them with law-suits, and affronted them at county-meetings. Still they preferred the insolence of a gentleman to that of the rabble, and felt some uneasiness lest the example should infect their own tenants.

Yet for a long time, in spite of all these inconveniences, St. Dennis's was a very pleasant place. The people could not refrain from capering if they heard the sound of a fiddle. And, if they were inclined to be riotous, Sir Lewis had only to send for Punch, or the dancing dogs, and all was quiet again. But this could not last for ever; they began to think more and more of their condition; and, at last, a club of foul-mouthed, good-for-nothing rascals was held at the sign of the Devil, for the purpose of abusing the squire and the parson. The doctor, to own the truth, was old and indolent, extremely fat and greedy. He had not preached a tolerable sermon for a long time. The squire was still worse: so that, partly by truth and partly by falsehood, the club set the whole parish against their superiors. The boys scrawled caricatures of the clergyman upon the church-door, and shot at the landlord with pop-guns as he rode a hunting. It was even whispered about that the Lord of the Manor had no right to his estate, and that, if he were compelled to produce the original title-perty, who was not so rich as he had deeds, it would be found that he only held the estate in trust for the inhabitants of the parish.

A large party of them met at the house of Lord Cæsar Germain. Lord Cæsar was the proudest man in the county. His family was very ancient and illustrious, though not particularly opulent. He had invited most of his wealthy neighbours. There was Mrs. Kitty North, the relict of poor Squire Peter, respecting whom the coroner's jury had found a verdict of accidental death, but whose fate had nevertheless excited strange whispers in the neighbourhood. There was Squire Don, the owner of the great West Indian pro

formerly been, but still retained his pride, and kept up his customary pomp; so that he had plenty of plate but no

breeches. There was Squire Von his impudence. They then seized the Blunderbussen, who had succeeded to squire, hooted at him, pelted him, the estates of his uncle, old Colonel Frederic Von Blunderbussen, of the hussars. The colonel was a very singular old fellow; he used to learn a page of Chambaud's grammar, and to translate Télémaque, every morning, and he kept six French masters to teach him to parleyvoo. Nevertheless, he was a shrewd clever man, and improved his estate with so much care, sometimes by honest and sometimes by dishonest means, that he left a very pretty property to his nephew.

Lord Cæsar poured out a glass of Tokay for Mrs. Kitty. "Your health, my dear madam, I never saw you look more charming. Pray, what think you of these doings at St. Dennis's?"

"Fine doings! indeed?" interrupted Von Blunderbussen; "I wish that we had my old uncle alive, he would have had some of them up to the halberts. He knew how to use a cat-o'-nine-tails. If things go on in this way, a gentleman will not be able to horsewhip an impudent farmer, or to say a civil word to a milk-maid."

ducked him, and carried him to the watch-house. They turned the rector into the street, burnt his wig and band, and sold the church-plate by auction. They put up a painted Jezebel in the pulpit to preach. They scratched out the texts which were written round the church, and scribbled profane scraps of songs and plays in their place. They set the organ playing to pot-house tunes. Instead of being decently asked in church, they were married over a broomstick. But, of all their whims, the use of the new patent steel-traps was the most remarkable.

This trap was constructed on a completely new principle. It consisted of a cleaver hung in a frame like a window; when any poor wretch got in, down it came with a tremendous din, and took off his head in a twinkling. They got the squire into one of these machines. In order to prevent any of his partisans from getting footing in the parish, they placed traps at every corner. It was impossible to walk through the highway at broad noon "Indeed, it's very true, Sir," said without tumbling into one or other of Mrs. Kitty; "their insolence is into- them. No man could go about his bulerable. Look at me, for instance :-siness in security. Yet so great was a poor lone woman!-My dear Peter dead! I loved him :-so I did; and, when he died, I was so hysterical you cannot think. And now I cannot lean on the arm of a decent footman, or take a walk with a tall grenadier behind me, just to protect me from audacious vagabonds, but they must have their nauseous suspicions; - odious creatures!"

"This must be stopped," replied Lord Cæsar. "We ought to contribute to support my poor brother-in-law against these rascals. I will write to Squire Guelf on this subject by this night's post. His name is always at the head of our county subscriptions." If the people of St. Dennis's had been angry before, they were well-nigh mad when they heard of this conversation. The whole parish ran to the manorhouse. Sir Lewis's Swiss porter shut the door against them; but they broke in and knocked him on the head for

the hatred which the inhabitants entertained for the old family, that a few decent honest people, who begged them to take down the steel-traps, and to put up humane man-traps in their room, were very roughly handled for their good nature.

In the mean time the neighbouring gentry undertook a suit against the parish on the behalf of Sir Lewis's heir, and applied to Squire Guelf for his assistance.

Everybody knows that Squire Guelf is more closely tied up than any gentleman in the shire. He could, therefore, lend them no help; but he referred them to the Vestry of the Parish of St. George in the Water. These good people had long borne a grudge against their neighbours on the other side of the stream; and some mutual trespasses had lately occurred which increased their hostility.

There was an honest Irishman, a

hood.

"My boys," said Charley, "this is exceedingly well for Madam North ;not that I would speak uncivilly of her; she put up my picture in her best room, bless her for it! But, I say, this is very well for her, and for Lord Cæsar, and Squire Don, and Colonel Von ;-but what affair is it of yours or mine? It is not to be wondered at, that gentlemen should wish to keep poor people out of their own. But it is strange, indeed, that they should expect the poor themselves to combine against their own interests. If the folks at St. Dennis's should attack us we have the law and our cudgels to protect us. But why, in the name of wonder, are we to attack them? When old Sir Charles, who was Lord of the Manor formerly, and the parson, who was presented by him to the living, tried to bully the vestry, did not we knock their heads together, and go to meeting to hear Jeremiah Ringletub preach? And did the Squire Don, or the great Sir Lewis, that lived at that time, or the Germains, say a word against us for it? Mind your own business, my lads: law is not to be had for nothing; and we, you may be sure, shall have to pay the whole bill."

great favourite among them, who used and chuck-farthing, would have been to entertain them with raree-shows, the best fellow in the neighbourand to exhibit a magic lantern to the children on winter evenings. He had gone quite mad upon this subject. Sometimes he would call out in the middle of the street-"Take care of that corner, neighbours; for the love of Heaven, keep clear of that post, there is a patent steel-trap concealed thereabouts." Sometimes he would be disturbed by frightful dreams; then he would get up at dead of night, open his window and cry "fire," till the parish was roused, and the engines sent for. The pulpit of the Parish of St. George seemed likely to fall; I believe that the only reason was that the parson had grown too fat and heavy; but nothing would persuade this honest man but that it was a scheme of the people at St. Dennis's, and that they had sawed through the pillars in order to break the rector's neck. Once he went about with a knife in his pocket, and told all the persons whom he met that it had been sharpened by the knife-grinder of the next parish to cut their throats. These extravagancies had a great effect on the people; and the more so because they were espoused by Squire Guelf's steward, who was the most influential person in the parish. He was a very fair-spoken man, very attentive to the main chance, and the idol of the old women, because he never played at skittles or danced with the girls; and, indeed, never took any recreation but that of drinking on Saturday nights with his friend Harry, the Scotch pedlar. His supporters called him Sweet William; his enemies the Bottomless Pit.

Nevertheless the people of St. George's were resolved on law. They cried out most lustily, "Squire Guelf for ever! Sweet William for ever! No steel traps!" Squire Guelf took all the rascally footmen who had worn old Sir Lewis's livery into his service. They were fed in the kitchen on the very best of everything, though they had no settlement. Many people, and the paupers in particular, grumbled at these proceedings. The steward, however, devised a way to keep them quiet.

The people of St. Dennis's, however, had their advocates. There was Frank, the richest farmer in the parish, whose great grandfather had been knocked on the head many years before, in a squabble between the parish and a There had lived in this parish for former landlord. There was Dick, the many years an old gentleman, named merry-andrew, rather light-fingered Sir Habeas Corpus. He was said by and riotous, but a clever droll fellow. some to be of Saxon, by some of NorAbove all, there was Charley, the pub-man, extraction. Some maintain that lican, a jolly, fat, honest lad, a great he was not born till after the time of favourite with the women, who, if he Sir Charles, to whom we have before had not been rather too fond of ale alluded. Others are of opinion that