Mr. Southey announces a new work, under this name— a Series of Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, 2 vols. octavo.

SIR THOMAS MORE.

The singularity of Sir Thomas More was not only conspicuous in his writings, but in his conversation, his professional exertions, and even in his devotion. Born to inherit a genius, far, far indeed, elevated above the common cast of mankind, he was yet very frequently so mentally dazzled by the brilliancy and velocity of his own ideas, that when he was placed in situations where they could not burst into corruscations of wit and humour, they, in their clash with gravity, became oppressive, and created a verbal confusion which did not always meet with the tenderest interpretation. To this he probably alludes, when, speaking of the different tastes of men, he says, in his epistle to Peter Giles, "Many know nothing of learning, others despise it. A man that is accustomed to a coarse and harsh style thinks every thing is smooth that is not barbarous. Our trifling pretenders to learning think that all is slight that is not dressed up in words that are worn out of use. Some love only odd things, and many like nothing but what is their own. Some are so sour that they can allow no jests, and others so dull that they can endure nothing that is sharp; and some are as much afraid of any thing that is quick or lively as a man bit with a mad dog is of water."

While I am upon the subject of Utopia, I cannot help hinting an idea that strikes me, which is, that the grave kind of allegory which pervades this work, seems to have been impressed upon the mind of Swift, and, although in that vehicle it obtained a more humorous tincture, to have been the basis upon which he founded his description of Laputa. It is, we think, easy to trace the same cast of reflection, the same kind of political illusion through the means of serious fiction, and, in some instances, the same turn of thought, in both. If in the latter production there is more humour, it is because Swift meant his piece as a satire upon solemn, though local and individual absurdities; and Sir Thomas More his as upon a more general plan, blending extensive observation with almost universal reflection.

This great, this little man, (for in his professional conduct, in his writings, and in his colloquial observations, he was certainly

on his own account, I much doubt, sagacious as he was, if he would ever have made the remark upon the flexibility of the courtiers.

great, while in his superstitious observances, in scourging heretic with his own hand, and in his singing in a surplice with the choris ters, he was surely little,) has left many apophthegms; most o' which appear to be the emanations of an experienced, though, i some instances, an irregular mind. Tracing the chaff of human ideas as it has floated down the stream of time, they are extremely similar to many that are termed laconic, which are to be found in the Morals of Plutarch.

With the apophthegms of Sir Thomas More I could, were I o inclined, easily crowd my pages; but they are, generally speakig, too well known to answer any new purposes, either of instructin or entertainment; the same observation will apply to the anecdoes of him, which are already very numerous. He seems, in a very peculiar manner, to have been the object of the caprice of a mnarch, who was, perhaps, the strangest compound of luxury, luidinousness, hypocrisy, cruelty, credulity, and superstition, that e'er the Almighty stamped with the image of man, or fortune blazoned with the title of sovereign.

In the year 1520, Sir Thomas settled with his family at Chelea, having purchased an estate there. He had resided in Chanceylane, probably at the house termed "the Chancery Mansion." At Chelsea, it is said, Henry the Eighth would sometimes, uninvited, dine with the man whom he afterwards, upon the most frivolous pretence, consigned to the block. The account which Irasmus gives of the manner of Sir Thomas More's living at Chelse, exhibits a picture of domestic happiness. "His house," he says " was situate near the water-side," neither so mean as to be entled to contempt, nor so magnificent as to become the subject & envy. "There he converseth with his wife, his son, his daugter-inlaw, his three daughters and their three husbands, with eleven grandchildren. There is not any man living so affectionat to his children as he; and he loveth his old wife as well as if he was a young maid."

In the play of the Life and Death of Thomas, Lord Craiwell, (which though not written by Shakspeare, was of his af, and therefore performed at the period when the memory of Sir 'homas More was more recent, and his sayings common in colloquil conversation,) there is a scene wherein Cardinal Wolsey and fr Thomas More dine with Sir Christopher Hales, (then said to be the Master of the Rolls ;) where the propensity of Sir Thomas apophthegmatize appears in several instances, which, however poor the language, however flimsey the texture of the scene, and w do not

nean to defend either, were unquestionably characteristic, and, as sich, no doubt highly relished by the audience: e. g.

"Hales. My Lords! with welcome I present your Lordships a

solemn bealth.

"More. I love healths well, but when as healths do bring

Pain to the head, and body's surfeiting,

Then cease I healths: Nay, spill not, friend! for tho' the drops be small,

Yet have they force to force men to the wall."

"More. My Lord Cardinal you are a royal winner,

Have got a man, besides your bounteous dinner.

Vell, my good Knight, pray that we come no more;

Iwe come often, thou mays't shut thy door."

This piece is only valuable, as, in the life, &c. of Cromwell, the beo of the tale, while it exhibits another instance of the cruelty and caprice of the monarch, shows us also the state of the English press, which seems, in the promulgation of the vices of the father duing the reign of the daughter, to have enjoyed very considerabe liberty.

AIDISON. The Works of Addison, edited by Bishop Hurd, with a portrait, 6 volumes, octavo, 31 12s.

Of Addison Dr. Dibdin observes, he not only brought a good philologial taste into fashion, but gave a pleasing and popular turn to religias studies and duties, and placed Milton upon a pedestal from which e never can be pulled down.+

BUR'ON. The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert

Burton. This book was first published in a small thek quarto, in 1621, and now reprinted in 2 vols.

• Thre was, by-the-bye, but one lord present, namely, Cardinal Wolsey; or Gardiner, his secretary, as appears by the chorus to Act IV, (and was the fact,) was not created Bishop of Winchester till after Wolse's death.

+ Mny of the Spectators he wrote very fast, and often sent them to the pres as soon as written. It seems best for him not to have had too much the to correct. Old Jacob Tonson, the bookseller, did not like Addison he had quarrelled with him, and after quitting the secretaryship, used frequently to say of him," One day or other you will see that man a bishop" He latterly had an eye towards the lawn, and it was then he began h; Essay on Christianity, and had a design of translating all the Psalms fe the use of churches. Pope.

FITZOSBORNE. Letters on several subjects, under the name of Fitzosborne, by W. Melmoth, octavo, 9s.

These are models of graceful and elegant composition.

GREGORY. Letters on Polite Literature, by Dr. Olinthus Gregory, 2 vols. duodecimo, 9s.

A work of considerable merit.

GOLDSMITH. The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Oliver Goldsmith, in 4 octavo vols. Il 12s.

When poor Goldsmith had wrought his way up to fame, some friends wishing to introduce him into more and higher society, advised him to give an evening entertainment at his chambers. Ladies and Gentlemen were accordingly invited, and the titled and untitled came. Goldsmith, in a pea-green coat, and other parts of his dress appropriately gay, received his guests with due politeness, and the party amused themselves very agreeably. After tea, &c. cards were proposed, and Loo, the fashionable game of that day, soon engaged the attention of its votaries, Goldsmith attending, and enjoying the vicissitudes of their speculations. At length, however, he was observed to become exceedingly agitated; he walked round the table and up and down with a disordered step and disturbed air. Mr. Bunbury, one of the gamesters, had a run of ill luck, and had lost several pounds. This so distressed his host that he could endure it no longer, but shocked to see any one plundered of so immense a sum in his house, he called him out of the room, and slipping a guinea into his hand, begged him for heaven's sake to play no more. The diversion occasioned by this sally was not the least amusing part of the mistakes of that night: and we can vouch for the truth of it, as an original anecdote of him who was indeed, in simplicity, a child. Sir Walter Scott.

ELEGANT EXTRACTS. Prose, Verse, and Epistles,

3 volumes, octavo, 20s each, and in eighteen volumes miniature edition.

BROWN. A new edition of the Works of Sir Tho

mas Brown is shortly to appear, in four octavo volumes, edited by Mr. Wilkins of Norwich, the birth place of Sir Thomas,

Many are disposed to think Dr. Johnson formed his latinized style upon the model of Brown.

T

BRITISH PROSE WRITERS. A series of the most popular productions of the past and present age, parts one to fifty, with portraits, at 2s 6d each part, very elegantly printed under the tasteful superintendance of Mr. Sharpe.

BRITISH ESSAYISTS. They are ably edited by Mr. Chalmers, to which is now added the Looker-on, in 38 duodecimo volumes, 81 8s, portraits.

COWPER. Private Correspondence of W. Cowper, Esq. arranged by his kinsman, Dr. Johnson, 2 vols. 28s.

A very delightful book.

DRYDEN. The Works of Dryden, edited by Sir

Walter Scott, in eighteen handsome well printed volumes, 97 9s.

DRAKE. Evenings in Autumn, a series of Essays, by Nathan Drake, M. D. 2 vols. post octavo, 17 ls,

-Winter Nights, 2 vols. post octavo, 18s.

-Literary Hours,3 vols. post octavo, lẻ 11s 6d. Mornings in Spring will soon appear, from the pen of the same elegant writer.

BEATTIE. An Essay on Truth, by Dr. Beattie, 5s.

Dr. Beattie, for this masterly production, which cost him four years labour, got fifty guineas. Forbes's Life.

BURKE. The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, 14 vols. 67 15s.

-An Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful.

ALISON. Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste, by A. Alison, 2 vols. octavo, 21s.