Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/297

 .APRIL is, m] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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nstances are sufficient to show that this con- truction is well established in our literature. ' Compare Mickle's

Yet round the world the blade has been ;
 * nd Keats's

Round many western islands have I been.

KG. C. B. [Many replies are acknowledged.] THE ' GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE.' (9 th 8. iii. 144, 230.) E eighty-seventh volume of the Gentle- man's Magazine, completed at the close of 1817, the same year that Blacjcwood's was in its first volume, deserves notice, as show- ing the enterprise and careful attention to detail with which the older magazine was being conducted. The chief events of that year, which had been so full of anxiety arid of peril to the nation, are fully recorded. " The festal blaze of war had ceased, but the sun of Peace had not attained its meridian."* The 'Miscellaneous Correspondence' and ' Reviews of New Publications ' contain stores of information useful to the architect and the antiquary, while valuable contributions towards county histories the biography in these being especially interesting are given. The contents of ' The Historical Record ' include the Report of the Committee of Secrecy presented on the 19th of February, in which details are given of the operations of the Spencean (or Spencean Philanthro- pists) and Hampden Societies. The evidence disclosed that there was to be a sudden rising in the dead of night ; the soldiers were to be surprised ; the barracks, the Tower, and the Bank to be seized, and London to be fired. The cry was, " No Regent, no Castlereagh ! Off with their heads ! No taxes ! No bishops : they are only useless lumber !" On the same date we have Mr. Grenfell calling attention to the enormous profits made by the Bank of England in twenty years (since 1797) the profits had been not less than twenty-seven millions.

On the 4th of March the royal assent to (the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act is inoted. On the 20th of March we have the Committee of Finance recommending that, after the death of the present possessors, the governorship of the Isle of Wight and the office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports should be abolished ; and those interested in theatrical matters will find in the same

Parliament, Jan. 29th, 1817.
 * Speech of Mr. Canning on the reassembling of

number a report of the meeting of the pro- prietors of Drury Lane Theatre, at which it was stated that the total receipts since its rebuilding had been, for the first year, 79,925/. 14s. ; for the second year, 68,389. 3s. ; the third year, 61,585^. 8s. 5d ; and the fourth, 49,586/. 17s.

The same number contains a report of Southey's application on the 18th of March to the Court of Chancery for an injunction to restrain Messrs. Sherwood, Neely & Jones from the publication of 'Wat Tyler.'* Sir Samuel Romilly resisted on the ground that it was not such a publication as entitled the author to the protection of the Court. He would venture .to say that " a more dangerous, mischievous, and seditious publication had never issued from the press." The Lord Chancellor said he would take the book home to read, arid the next day he refused the in- junction. In the May number the leading passages from Southey's ' Apology ' are given.

On the 5th of April it is reported from Cambridge that the Vice-Chancellor had com- manded the Union to discontinue its discus- sions " as inconsistent with the discipline and objects of academical education."

The June number devotes a supplement to the trial of James Watson the elder, who, with the other State prisoners, Arthur Thistle- wood, Thomas Preston, and John Hooper, had been confined in the Tower. The trial lasted eight days, when, Watson being found not guilty, the Attorney - General declined to proceed against the other prisoners.

On the 19th of June Sir E. Brydges moved for leave to bring in a Bill that would have delighted Mr. Marston, of the firm of Messrs. Low & Marston. It was " to amend the Act of the 43rd of the King relative to copyrights and so far as regards the Act passed prior to Queen Anne's Act, giving eleven copies of books published to the universities, &c., and also as far as regarded limited editions of books." Mr. Peel and Lord Palmerston opposed. Sir S. Romilly, Sir F. Burdett, Mr. Brougham, and Mr. C. Wynn supported the motion, the last named stating that he

"saw no reason why the author of a book should be subjected to a tax of eleven copies of his work to the universities any more than a man who planted timber should be subject to a tax of eleven trees

' Dictionary of National Biography,' states that " ' Wat Tyler,' a drama full of republican sentiment, had been written in 1794, but remained unknown until the publication of a surreptitious edition in
 * Dr. Garnett, in his biography of Southey in the

1817 When Southey became Laureate through

the generosity of Sir Walter Scott, he accepted it on condition that he should be spared the drudgery of composing birthday odes."