have been applicable to this fir William Stuart, whose career of life was finished in 1403. The competition between the earl of Galloway and the Stuarts of Castelmilk, for the representation of the Derneley family, will be brought within a narrow compass; for it will depend on this point, which of them shall be able to prove, by the most unquestionable evidence, that he is defcended from fir William Stuart the brother of fir John Stuart of Derneley. The remaining part of this Genealogical History fhall be dedicated to tracing and proving the pedigree of the Stuarts of Caftel milk in the county of Lanark, from fir William Stuart of Caftelmilk, the brother of fir John Stuart of Derneley, down to the prefent time. It is from that fir William Stuart that they claim to be lineally defcended, without connecting their pedigree in any fhape with that of fir William Stuart of Jedworth. As every link in the chain, and the proofs in support of them, will thus be laid before the public, it will not be difficult for a discerning reader to judge of the fufficiency or infufficiency of these proofs. Neither does the author of these sheets grudge the advantages which the earl of Galloway or any future competitor may derive from thus laying open to them by this publication, all the grounds on which the family of the Stuarts of Caftelmilk mean to found their pretenfions to the reprefentation of the Derneley family. In matters of this fort, the only fair and proper object is, that the truth should be ascertained, whether favorable or unfavorable to one family or another; and if any competitor ventures to produce a pedigree or state of facts not qualified to ftand the test of the stricteft examination, he must take the confequences; ill founded pretenfions will justly be fet afide to make way for those of other competitors. In all events, the perfon who, after the strictest investigation of the evidence, shall finally be the fuccefsful competitor for the honor of reprefenting the Derneley family, will at least have one obligation to the author of this Genealogical History, that he will find the history of the Derneley and Lennox families cleared from a great deal of rubbish, by which means every competitor will be affifted in fhaping his courfe with more precision, and with much lefs trouble and hazard than must otherwise have fallen to his share; particularly he will be faved the trouble of refuting many grofs errors and inaccuracies, with which the history of the Derneley and Lennox families had been perplexed by the genealogical writers.' P. 315. Having thus laid before the reader the ftate of this curious controverfy, we fhall close our account of this interesting work with an abstract of the difpenfations for the marriages of Robert II. which have occafioned fuch warm and long disputes among antiquaries and politicians. - The firit difpenfation was granted by pope Clement VI. on the tenth of the kalends of December-that is, by mo dern computation, the 22d of November, 1347, for the marriage of Robert the Steward, as lord of Strathgrif, with Elizabeth More. It states, that Robert and Elizabeth were ignorant of the relation between Ifabella Butler and Elizabeth in the third and fourth degrees of confanguinity; that Robert had firft feduced Ifabella, and afterwards Elizabeth; that he lived long with the latter; that they had a numerous offspring of both fexes; that thefe children being acceptable in the fight of all, and esteemed by king David II. who was coufin to Ro bert, as a fupport to the royal family, therefore, at the requeft of Robert, Philip of France, and David of Scotland, this dif penfation to marry was granted, notwithstanding the confan guinity; and that the children already begotten, or to be bes gotten, were to be confidered as legitimate. Such is this remarkable writing, which, if it had been pub lifhed a century ago, would have faved a great waste of paper and paffion. " As there is no fmoke without fire, it appears that those who afferted the royal family of Stuart to have fprung from a baftard, like that of England, had no fmall foundation for their affertions. For that Robert III. was born before the marriage is evident ;-and it is alfo clear that the fubfequent marriage, by the law of Scotland and the civil law, legitimated the offfpring, independently of the papal difpenfation; which in that age must have removed every doubt on the subject. That the regiam majeftatem does not allow this practice, fo agreeable in itself to nature and good fenfe, feems only to afford an additional proof that it is no code of Scotifh law. The difpenfation for the marriage of Robert with Euphemia Rofs was granted by Innocent VI. on the fixth of the nones of May, (now the tenth day of that month), in the year 1355. It narrates that Robert was defirous of marrying Euphemia, widow of John earl of Murray, to appease feuds between the families; and difpenfes with the confanguinity, declaring the offspring that might be begotten, legitimate. The other difpenfations published in this work are generally curious and important to hiftory; and they evince, the abfurdity of modern notions concerning the chastity of the dames of chivalry. This work, upon the whole, difplays fedulous care, great power of exact ratiocination, and a variety of refearch, which will always render it valuable to the biographer, historian, and antiquary. (11) Literary Hours, or Sketches Critical and Narrative, by Nathan Drake, M. D: 8vo. 10s. 6d. Boards. Cadell and Davies. 1798. THIS is one of those books from which a literary man may derive multifarious amufement. Criticifin is enlivened by quotations; and thefe are ufually well felected: fometimes the author illuftrates his remarks by his own poetry; and, if the reader requires fome more powerful fticaulus, here are tales to roufe him to a more lively intereft. As a critic, as a poet, and as a narrator, Dr. Drake demands our notice. Lucretius is the fubject of the firft effay. The fculptor poet,' as Dr. Warton happily terms him, here receives high and merited praife. Dr. Drake appears to have written on this poem for the purpose of announcing a tranflation of it by his friend Mr. Good. In one paffage which he has, marked as particularly happy, the peculiar beauty of the original is loft. It is in thofe exquifite lines which relate the facrifice of Iphigenia. mæftum fimul ante aras adftare parentem Senfit, et hunc propter ferrum celare miniftros. At her fide She faw her weeping fire; a band of priests Repentant half, and hiding the keen steel. The hunc propter is omitted, and the life and foul of the poetry are thus annihilated. Dr. Drake has fallen into the common error of critics, in affecting to fee an imitation where it was not intended. Who can believe that the lines of Goldfinith, Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long, " or rather the line of Young from which they were palpably taken, could be but a compreffed tranflation of four beautiful ones in Lucretius ?? Corpoream ad naturam pauca videmus Effe opus omninò, quæ demant quemque dolorem, In the effay on fonnet-writing, our author briefly reviews fome of the moft diftinguifhed poets who have attempted this pleafing fpecies of compofition. The remarks on Petrarch are perfectly just. The fonnets of this far-famed Italian have met with more applaufe perhaps than they deferve. Simplicity, that first of all graces in compofition, he has ufually violated, and confidering the multi tude of his productions in this fpecies of poetry, it is aftonishing how few can be felected which have any juft claim to novelty of illustration, or variety in idea. Were twenty culled by the hand of tafte, the refidue would have little, except purity and grace of ftyle, to recommend it. In thefe, however, Petrarch is a model.' P. 63. Of the other Italian fonnet-writers, Dante and Lorenzo de' Medicialone are mentioned. We expected to have feen the name of Filicaia, fome of whofe fonnets are among the fublimeft fpecimens of Italian poetry. Thofe of the chief Portuguese bard are favourably eftimated from the three of which Mr. Hayley published tranflations in the notes to his Effay on Epic Poetry. Better than these might have been felected; and thefe might have been tranflated in a better manner. Tenderness is the characteristic of Camoens; and many beautiful inftances may be adduced from his fonnets: he who is wearied with the uninteresting narration of the Lufiad, and the national vanity that pervades it, may turn to thefe attractive little poems, and attend with pleasure to the lonely breathings of affection, or the recollections of paft joys.-With the Spanish fonnets Dr, Drake feems to be unacquainted. At the end of this effay, he has placed four of his own; we select the best. SONNET TO A FRIEND. 'Ah, cease to grieve! what tho' thy lowly home This be thy lot-hard by yon aged oak, Nigh the green valley and the murm'ring rill, There, fir'd to rapture, fhalt thou fold the fair, We find fome good remarks on infcriptions in a following effay. The Fleece of Dyer, a poem unjustly neglected, and the Calvary of Cumberland, are reviewed at great length by our critic, and receive their due praife. In general we think him not fufficiently difcriminative in his commendations. He mentions Reeve with Walpole and Radcliffe, and the poetry of Lewis with that of Wieland and Burger. Nothing injures an author more than prepofterous praife. In Dr. Drake's eftimate of modern poetry, we find many pieces felected for applaufe which the public have forgotten; but, like the bee, he finds honey in fcentlefs flowers. In his comparison between our early poets and thofe of the prefent day, Dr. Drake criticises the former with more severity than he uses towards his contemporaries. Many critics', he fays, more querulous than juft, have lately employed themselves in depreciating the efforts of the modern muses, and several of our literary and periodical publications have teemed with reflections on the fterility, and want of genius appa rent in the present cultivators of this enchanting art. They infift with rapture on the beauties of our ancient poets, and are willing to believe that the invention and imagery of their contemporaries are puerile and abfurd. Should a fingle poem make its appearance whofe ftyle is tumid and glittering with meretricious ornament, not fatisfied with reprobating the individual attempt, they launch forth into extravagant encomia on the fimplicity of a former age, and pass undiscriminate and unqualified cenfure on what they term the prevailing tafte. Even fome men of acknowledged genius, from an undue bias to antiquity, have inadvertently given into this sweeping mode of criticism, than which nothing can be more futile and abfurd. These laudatores temporis acti, who dwell fo much upon the general and fuperior merit of our poetry in the ages of Elizabeth and the Charles's, would do well to reflect that in those periods the language was extremely incorrect; that beauty of arrangement, propriety of selection, and delicacy of fentiment were, for the most part, unknown, and it may, without any hazard of contradiction, be afferted, that from these boasted eras no one production can be drawn poffeffing an uniform chastity of style and thought. Even our three great poets, Spenfer, Shakspeare, and Milton, are clogged with materials that press heavy on the patience of the critical reader, and certainly abound in quaintneffes, puerilities and conceits which would blaft the reputation of any poet of the prefent day. Not to mention many cantos of Spenfer which, I am afraid, must be pronounced both tedious and difgufting, the Paradife Loft would be greatly diminished were its metaphyfic and abstruse theology, furely no proper ornaments of an epic poem, entirely expunged. The third book, its exquisite invocation, and a few other paffages excepted, is more worthy the genius of Thomas Aquinas than of Milton, and of Shakspeare it may juftly be affirmed that many of his plays are barely tolerated out of deference to the excellencies of his happier productions. The beauties of thefe writers are, however, above all praife, and I am accustomed to approach their works with an admiration almost bordering upon idolatry. But let not their faults, the faults, in a great measure, of the age in which they exifted, be thrown into the fhade for the purpose of enhancing the luftre of their genius when placed in competition with that of their difciples. They want no fuch injudicious aid, nor does the nega |