The principal rights of supremacy, which seem to belong to each individual canton, but which in fact extend over the whole collectively, are: The exercise of a strict superintendence and control over all religious establishments by the supreme secular power; the right of examining into the mode of acquiring and disposing of all ecclesiastical and monastic property: the liability of all such property to all burdens imposed by the state on secular possessions; and the subjection of all Papal bulls, pastoral letters, &c. to the placet or exsequatur of government, prior to their publication.

Only three bishoprics exist at present in the country: viz. those of Lausanne or Friburg, of Sion, and of Coire; but it is in contemplation to establish two in addition, at Lucern and at Soleure. Besides these, the foreign sees of Milan, Como, and Annecy extend their jurisdictions over several parts of the country.

Notwithstanding a few restrictive inhibitions in some of the Catholic cantons, such as Lucern, Friburg, &c., a general spirit of toleration seems to predominate throughout the republic; and how far the Papal power has dwindled may be gathered from the instance of the abbey of St. Gallen, the abbot of which, by his arbitrary proceedings, occasioned an insurrection in the year 1798, which drove him to seek refuge in a neighbouring state, and in the end brought on the secularization of that venerable foundation. The sovereign Pontiff exerted all the means in his power to bring about the re-establishment of the chapter; but neither his dictates nor his intercessions could avail, the cantonal Diet firmly adhering to their decision.

It appears from the acts of several Diets, especially those of the Protestant cantons, that the ancient practice of providing for the clergy by the levy of tithes was generally abrogated, and that regular stipends were substituted to these remunerations, which being too often the inevitable causes of contentions between the pastor and his flock, must render the pious exhortations of the former of less effect.'

With all the respect which we entertain for the character of the Swiss, for the simplicity of their manners, for their love of country, and for their devotion to liberty, we cannot forget that one trait is recorded in the long annals of history, and stamped in the very heart of their antient laws, which can never be contemplated without regret. Since, however, the congress of sovereigns at Vienna recognized the perpetual independence and neutrality of the Swiss republic, and guaranteed the integrity and inviolability of its territories, within its present determined limits; declaring, also, that this inviolability and independence from all foreign influence are conformable to the true interests of the politics of Europe; we trust that the Swiss will preserve strictly this neutrality and independ

ence

ence from all foreign influence: for ever abandoning their former custom of letting out their mercenary troops to any potentate who will hire them to cut the throats of his enemies. Robertson, the historian, eulogizes a law established among the cantons as not less political than humane, which prohibited them from letting out their troops by public authority, to both the contending parties in the same war:- but what a tale of horror does this law tell! A law was necessary to prevent the Swiss from marching, under the public banners of their common country, and turning their arms against each other, for mere hire! Still, the mercenary feeling prevailed; and, although the public authorities might shrink from the infamy of selling their subjects to fight against one another, private persons were yet allowed to enlist in any service that they pleased; not, indeed, under the public banners, but under those of their particular officers, though in opposite armies. Thus was the law eluded, and the disgrace preserved.

By the new federal compact, the cantons engage to support each other against all attacks from without and all disturbance within; and the second article provides that

"In order to enforce this guarantee, and to uphold effectually the neutrality of Swisserland, a quota of troops shall be selected from among the individuals qualified for military service in each. canton, in the proportion of two soldiers from every hundred men. These troops shall be furnished by the cantons in the manner following:

We have copied this article to shew the arrangement and denominations of the cantons, as they now stand, and the relative as well as the aggregate military force which they can provide.

A very neat map of the 22 cantons accompanies this little volume.

MONTHLY

MONTHLY CATALOGUE,

FOR MAY, 1822.

BIOGRAPHY.

Art. 12. Lives of eminent Scotsmen, Poets, by the Society of Ancient Scots. Part the Sixth. 12mo. 2s. 6d. Boys. 1822. This number, which completes the Lives of the Scotch Poets, contains notices of the Earl of Ancram, Richard Lord Maitland, the Earl of Haddington, Lord Binning, Bruce, Blacklock, Logan, Macdonald, and Mercer; with an Appendix, a Supplement, and an Index. Of" the noble authors," the very names are now forgotten by the readers of poetry of the others, Blacklock and Logan are the most generally known; and it is here justly observed that Blacklock's personal character gave a celebrity to his productions, which they could never have claimed from any intrinsic merit. We think that Logan's fame also, both as a poet and as a prose-writer, stands much higher with his countrymen than with others. As a specimen of Bruce's poetry, his biographer very judiciously selects his Elegy on the Return of Spring, written under the certain approach of an early death. The lines have always affected us as coming from the heart of an unfortunate sufferer, doomed to pine away in a lingering decline when only in the 21st year of his age.

Now spring returns, but not to me returns

The vernal joy my better years have known;
Dim in my breast life's dying taper burns,

And all the joys of life with health are flown:
t Starting and shiv'ring in th' inconstant wind,
Meagre and pale, the ghost of what I was,
Beneath some blasted tree I lie reclin'd,

And count the silent moments as they pass.
The winged moments, whose unstaying speed
No art can stop, or in their course arrest;
Whose flight shall shortly count me with the dead,
And lay me down in peace with them that rest.
Oft morning dreams presage approaching fate,
And morning dreams, as poets tell, are true:
Led by pale ghosts, I enter death's dark gate,
And bid the realms of light and life adieu!
< Farewell, ye blooming fields! ye cheerful plains!
Enough for me the churchyard's lonely mound,
Where melancholy with still silence reigns,

And the rank grass waves o'er the cheerless ground;

There let me wander at the close of eve,

When sleep sits dewy on the labourer's eyes,

The world and all its busy follies leave,

And talk with wisdom where my Daphnis lies.

• There

'There let me sleep forgotten in the clay,

When death shall shut these weary aching eyes,

Rest in the hopes of an eternal day,

Till the long night is gone and the last morn arise."

NOVELS.

Art. 13. Langreath, a Tale. By Mrs. Nathan, Authoress of "Elvington." 12mo. 3 Vols. 17. 1s. sewed. Whittakers.

1822.

The plot of this novel is less new than extraordinary, and the style is pert and bombastic; abounding with grammatical errors, and with other mistakes which evince a very limited stock of information. For instances, in vol. i. p. 89., Lady Templeton should not have been given as the title of a Duke's unmarried sister ; in vol. ii. p. 25. we read of the Chevalier de Saint Grammont a name which has not hitherto appeared in the Romish Kalendar, and to which, from the associations connected with the celebrated Mémoires de Grammont,' any other honorable title might have been affixed with less incongruity than the saintly one bestowed by Mrs. Nathan. In p. 43. of the same volume, a French lady is described as leaving Languedoc, and coming to Paris, that she might economize and live in retirement; a circumstance in direct contradiction to French habits, and at variance with the comparative scale of expence between the metropolis and the provinces.

6

Art. 14. The Woman of Genius.

12mo. 3 Vols. 16s. 6d. Boards. Longman and Co. 1821.

The heroine of this tale is, to us, one of its least attractive personages; her harangues being misplaced and bombastic, and her difficulties such as would have vanished before a little common sense, "like chaff before the wind." The characters of Ann and Jane, though not pleasing, are far more natural; and those of Rashleigh and Sir Adelmar may be deemed interesting. We do not understand the writer's meaning when he speaks, vol. i. p. 42., of the celestial ichor of genius,' nor the French expressions which he has chosen to introduce; such as, p. 105., 'it has saved you all the fade of an introductory visit.' P. 146., there was nothing to be seen there but a few demis.' Vol. ii. p. 160., ‘I have been doing the honours of a proneuse by your mansion.' Several passages are grammatically incorrect: as, p. 121., She found no consolation in the possibility of his having a good heart, many people would have done.' P. 155., Did you not discover who was his father? I should have done."' Vol. iii. p. 132., this is a question which we must ask at Lady Athol,' &c. This last comes "frae the north."

Art. 15. The Renegade; translated from the French of M. le Vicomte d'Arlincourt. 12mo. 2 Vols. 12s. Boards. Robins and Co.

1822.

Considerable attention appears to have been excited by the French romances which M. d'Arlincourt has lately published, under the titles of "The Solitary," and The Renegade;' and the French journalists insinuate that some ruses de guerre have REV. MAY, 1822.

H

been

been adopted to heighten their popularity, such as the publishing a first and second edition in the same day, &c. Be that as it may, these works certainly possess sufficient interest and animation to ensure an ephemeral success: but The Renegade,' which appeared last, exhibits even more exaggeration and false taste than its predecessor. M. d'Arlincourt's affected inversions of language must remind his readers of the "Bourgeois Gentilhomme's" loveletter; "d'amour me font, belle Marquise, mourir vos beaux yeux ; and some of the incidents are puerile; such as Ezilda's discovery of Nalrassan's plot, in vol. i. p. 93.: while the circumstances of Agobar's conversion and death appear to have been suggested by the closing scenes in the life of Malek Adhel, depicted in Madame Cottin's "Mathilde." As usual in translations, we have an occasional exchange of tameness for turgidity: but, on the whole, the English is respectably written, if we except the poetry; for which the translator himself apologizes, and which he ought to have put into other hands.

Art. 16. The Priest. 3 Vols. 12mo. Baldwin and Co. 1821. In this novel we have to deal with a production altogether different from the usual run of imitations of the Waverley school: but it is rather an offshoot of the worn out and decayed stock which flourished under the warm auspices and romantic hand of Mrs. Radcliffe; afterward fostered by the more daring and luxuriant culture of such naturalists as Mr. Monk Lewis. Though guiltless of some of the exceptionable descriptions of the latter, it contains enough of their luxurious spirit, exaggeration, and absurdities, to deserve critical reprobation. The story, however, is by no means ill imagined, or badly told; the language is attractive and eloquent, and the characters are rather distinctly and powerfully drawn. That of the bold, wary, and ambitious priest, Father Valerius, we can conceive to be a tolerably correct picture of Catholic discipline and superstition; with its influence over the highest orders in society, its political intrigues, its private animosities, and its anti-social if not demoralizing effects, some centuries since. It is, however, the only one that gives interest to the volumes; the others, when not mere common-place, being extravagant, and out of nature; and each making its exit with the most tragi-comic air imaginable. We have a heroine in the thread-bare disguise of a page, pleading long and unsuccessful love to a handsome but hard-hearted young monk, who proves to be an earl's son, stolen away in his cradle by the priest: then the earl himself, full of melancholy musings; and the countess, haunted by the terrific presence and spiritual ascendancy of her father-confessor. Under his withering frown, the maternal duties and affections are all blighted, and by his bigoted prohibition cast away. On the return of this lady's daughter, whom she has not seen for fifteen years, the earl makes an attempt to recall her to more natural feelings, but in vain: for Father Valerius, in his cold, haughty, and imperturbable ascendancy, stands near, ready to snatch the countess from her husband's and her daughter's arms. In this scene the chief merit of the work resides, and it is indeed well conceived, and skilfully wrought up.

POETRY,