Scattering their deepening horrors o'er the skies; There on the deck the trembling Jonah stood, E'en Mercy seem'd to spurn him; Vengeance came Hurl'd the red bolt, and dash'd him to the deep. His guard commission'd by divine command, To bear the wanderer to his destin'd strand.' pp. 7, 8. This may suffice for a specimen of the performance. We cannot dismiss Mr. Bellamy, however, to whom, as devoted to the Christian ministry, poetical fame must be a very subordinate object, without one word of severer animadversion, in reference to the passage beginning, • Ye cheerless blossoms fade, that coldly spread.' These lines appear to be a palpable, but indifferent, imitation of some of the finest lines in the "Pleasures of Hope," but they have this further disadvantage; that the total negation of all peculiarly Christian sentiment, the omission of any reference to the dictates of Revelation on the subject of the world to come, is, in a poem professedly founded on Old Testament history, particularly offensive and reprehensible. It indicates, what is obvious from the extract given above, that the poet neither felt nor properly understood his subject. Jonah was indeed a Jew, but if, as our Author has properly represented him, though he makes no use of the reference, he was a type of * Israel's King', it is not to be supposed that he was unacquainted with the Christian doctrine of immortality, as brought to 'light' by the Gospel. Such lines as the following are destitute of all propriety in a poem on a sacred subject. 'No-beneath Heaven's firm shield, in peril's hour We are much better pleased with Mr. Smedley's performance. Not half of his poem, indeed, is occupied with the subject of Jonah; and he must therefore be considered as having eluded, rather than surmounted, its difficulty as a theme for poetry. Still, in the brief and rapid narrative which he gives of the history, more of the circumstances recorded in Scripture, are included, than in Mr. Bellamy's diffuse description. The poem commences with the destruction of Nineveh, as predicted by Nahum, Zephaniah, and Jonah; and a very judicious use is made of the bold and vivid language of prophecy. The transition is then made to the story of Jonah, in the following lines: "Yea! Nineveh is fallen !-but not before The Lord had shewed her that his wrath was sore: By which the vengeance quiver'd o'er her head. Of man, yet fearless to endure the wrath The hand of God was with them, and they knew · 'Strange was the mystery which the Lord prepar'd Three days, alive, and yet as in the grave, He died new death each moment; and the wave Depth above depth, encompassing his soul. Wrapped its green folds, like shroud upon the dead. The flood-springs, and the eternal roots which bound Three days in bitterness of death he lay, The fourth the monster yielded up his prey.' pp. 5-7. The remainder of the poem is devoted to the death and entombment of "a greater than Jonah," of which the prophet's story is considered as a typical representation. This part of Mr. Smedley's production is entitled to no ordinary praise: it is every way worthy of a Christian poet. The portraits of the Mother of our Lord, the Magdalene, and the beloved disciple, are very finely conceived, and in strict harmony with the Gospel narrative. On perusing these lines, we felt no disposition to retract what we have remarked respecting the difficulty of treating scriptural subjects, but they convinced us still more strongly, that they are, after all, the finest which can employ the imagination, when no attempt is made, by the injudicious addition of poetical ornaments, to fill up the outline of inspired history, at the expense of its truth and severe simplicity. We must make room for the concluding lines in the poem. So they but he for whom they mourn'd had gain'd In that unknown, which never mortal eye Sees till it closes on mortality. Three days his body slept, and the cold tomb When death began, his body ceas'd to die; The third day comes-Oh! not within the Won is the Paradise to sin refus'd; The bruised heel the venom'd head has bruis'd; To us the living and the dead are one. grave Art. X. 1. Report together with the Minutes of Evidence, and an Appendix of Papers, from the Committee appointed to consider of Provision being made for the better Regulation of Madhouses in England. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 11th July, 1815. Each Subject of Evidence arranged under its distinct Head, by J. B. Sharpe, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. Reprinted for Baldwin and Co. 47, Paternoster-Row 8vo. pp. 399. Price 13s. 1815. 2. A Letter addressed to the Chairman of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to enquire into the State of Madhouses; to which is subjoined Remarks on the Nature, Causes, and Cure of Mental Derangement By Thomas Bakewell, Author of" A Domestic Guide in Cases of Insanity," and Keeper of Spring Vale Asylum, near Stone, Staffordshire. pp. 100 Stafford. 1815. 3. Practical Hints on the Construction and Economy of Pauper Lunatic Asylums. Including Instructions to the Architects who offered Plans for the Wakefield Asylum, and a Sketch of the most approved Design, By Samuel Tuke. pp. 55. York, 1815. 4. Observations on the Laws relating to Private Lunatic Asylums, and particularly on a Bill for their alteration which passed the House of Commons in the Year 1814. 8vo. pp. 112. price 3s. 6d. Conder, London. 1816. AFTER a sanguinary conflict, especially when it has been of unusual and unexpected severity, as in the case of the victory of Waterloo, we hear with horror of numbers, who, although not the immediate victims of death on the field where they had fought and bled, nevertheless, subsequently lose their limbs and their lives for want of timely medicinal aid, and in consequence of that pressure and hurry in the business of healing, which directly succeed to the business of slaying. But the feelings which are excited by this consideration, must sink very low in comparison of those which are occasioned by the reflection, that mental soundness, and mental life, if we may so express it, are frequently lost for want of opportunity and of pecuniary resources, to preserve them. How many wretched beings do the wards of a public lunatic asylum enclose, who, having been once as we are, are now reduced to a state of worse than brutal ferocity, uttering horrid blasphemies, and denouncing malignant menaces on all who pass by; but who, had their circumstances been such as to command the exercise of tenderness and skill equal to the exigencies of their cases, might now have been taking their places in the social circle formed by sympathy and affection, thinking, and feeling, and acting, like ourselves! In the great round of human misery and wo, there cannot surely be found any case that comes at all near to this in dreadful and heart-appalling interest. That this statement is not a figment of the imagination, but a recital of facts, has been repeatedly asserted with all the confidence of conviction; and if such be the shocking state of things, in reference to lunatic hospitals, no wonder that in this age of reformation and of public spirit, the attention of the legislature should have been called to the consideration of this momentous inquiry.— Whether the circumstances and treat'ment of lunacy are susceptible of melioration and amend'ment.' This question has indeed been recently agitated in the British Senate, with an earnestness and interest which will command the admiration of posterity. The labours of Mr. Rose and his associates,' (as is well observed in one of the pamphlets before us) were labours of simple humanity and benevolence unmixed with party feeling, and of too partial an influence to produce them fame. While the unhappy objects of their compassion are shut out, perhaps for ever, from the world, and generally unable to express or even to feel gratitude. May they live (adds the writer) to receive the only reward they appear to aim at or desire, in the certainty that their completed deliberations and exertions have removed all the evils which occasioned them.' Before we proceed to a more detailed account of this investigation and its results, we shall say a few words on the recently much agitated inquiry, which immediately and obviously arises out of the preceding one, and which was repeatedly urged by the members of the Committee of investigation in the course of their individual examinations. It is this-Whether is insanity under the control of remedial agents, in the same manner as are those maladies which are more properly and strictly regarded affections of the bodily frame? Is madness to be cured by medicine? The remarkable discrepancy which was displayed before the Committee, in reference to this very important question, must have necessarily excited some degree of scepticism, or at least of uncertainty, in the minds of those who entered upon the inquiry with anxious but unprejudiced minds. We e are told by one person, a man of unquestioned talents and extensive experience, that he considers vomiting rather injurious than beneficial in cases of insanity; another, of equal experience, and of great name, stated his dependence upon the medicinal power of emetics; and in this opinion he is countenanced by a recent writer of great merit on the subject of mental affections. One physician, who has directed his knowledge and attention principally to these unhappy affections, approves generally of venesection; a second, similarly circumstanced, describes this practice, as fraught with extreme danger. Purgatives are the sole dependence of some, alteratives and |