Quarterly Review
VOLUME 14 , NUMBER 27 (October 1815)

NOTES

• This Number was published 12 Mar. 1816 [Courier advertisement, 12 Mar. 1816; originally announced for 9 Mar. in Courier advertisement, 6 Mar.]
  
  
• An editor's note prefaces #236:

We were about to enter upon the 'Appendix,' which contains a variety of documents relative to the loss of the journals and drawings to which we alluded in a former page; when the appearance of some publications on the subject by Lord Elgin and Dr. Hunt determined us to devote a separate Article to the consideration of this much agitated affair.

• News of the great Tambora volcanic eruption in Indonesia that occurred in April 1815 reached London via a report in The Times in November. Fallout from the eruption exacerbated already difficult climate conditions in Europe that had begun in 1814; the winter of 1814-15 was severe; 1816 came to be known as the 'year without a summer.' The cold wet weather is said to have indirectly inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; the startling sunsets caused by volcanic dust in the upper atmosphere are pictured in Turner's landscapes. Useful Internet links include a page on nineteenth-century weather records and a page on the Tambora volcano
  
  
• Items for 1816 from Jack Lynch's literary resources page, slightly modified and with additions:
  
  
• • Industrial depression worsens in England. Luddite riots continue. A new tax on the importation of grains results in rising prices. Labor unrest grows. There is a riot in Spa Fields, London. Reform societies are established with working-men's meetings at Manchester, Littleport, Nottingham, and London (see QR #385, #409, and especially #419). 
    
  • Opening of the first Savings Bank in London (see QR #404).
    
  • The Elgin Marbles are exhibited in the British Museum collection (see QR #363, #365, #377).
    
  • Austen publishes Emma (see QR #361); Byron publishes The Siege of Corinth, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage III (see QR #407), The Prisoner of Chillon (see QR #407); and Prometheus; Coleridge publishes Christabel and Other Poems; Leigh Hunt publishes Rimini (see QR #374); John Loudon Macadam publishes Remarks on the Present System of Road-Making (see QR #537); Scott publishes Old Mortality (see QR #417); Mary Godwin begins Frankenstein (see QR #458).
    
    
• Important or otherwise interesting articles in this Number include: #355 and #359 (articles on Napoleon–the battle of Waterloo having occurred on 15 June 1815), #358 (an article by Southey on poverty), #361 (Scott's review of Jane Austen's Emma), #362, #363 and #365 (articles on the Elgin marbles)
  
  
• Number of definite attributions for this issue: 11
  
  
• Number of probable or possible attributions for this issue: 2

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CONTENTS, IDENTIFICATION OF CONTRIBUTORS, AND HISTORICAL NOTES

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353 Article 1. Perceval, An Account of the Island of Ceylon, containing its History, Geography, Natural History, with the Manners and Customs of its various Inhabitants &c.; Cordiner, A Description of Ceylon, containing an Account of the Country, Inhabitants, and Natural Productions; with Narratives of a Tour round the Island in 1800, the Campaign in Candy in 1803, and a Journey to Ramissoram in 1804; [William Tolfrey,] A Narrative of Events which have recently occurred in the Island Ceylon. Written by a Gentleman on the spot, 1-38. Author: John Barrow.

Running Title: Ceylon.

Notes: In attributing the article to Barrow, Shine cites only JM III's Register. 

The following evidence and information is published here for the first time. Murray MS., Book Loans Register: the books reviewed were sent to 'John Barrow' on 16 Aug. 1815 and were returned 2 Dec. 1815. The author promises to review Beckman's History of Inventions (cf. #370, by Barrow). Note the author's criticism of Brahmanism (p.11). Note criticism of East India Company (p.32). Note author's adoption of Claudius Buchanan's arguments in favour of an Anglo-Indian church establishment (p.37). These positions are consistent with Barrow's opinions expressed elsewhere. 

Cordiner was Chaplain to the Garrison at Colombo from 1799 to 1804. [Abbey 409; Goonetileke 13] 

Cordiner's volume was reviewed much earlier, in ER #402, Apr. 1808, by Sydney Smith. Tolfrey's volume was reviewed in ER #761, June 1815, by an unidentified author.

JM III's Register: attribution to Barrow, but without evidence.

354 Article 2. William Howley, Bishop of London, A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of London, at the primary Visitation of that Diocese, in the Year 1814; Belsham, Letters addressed to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London, in Vindication of the Unitarians from the Allegations of his Lordship in the Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of London, at his Lordship's primary Visitation, 39-53. Author: George D'Oyly.

Running Title: The Bishop of London—Mr. Belsham.

Notes: In attributing the article to D'Oyly, Shine cites JM III's Register and Murray MS., WG to JM, [6 Sept. 1815]: '...I send...something from D'Oyly on Belsham ....'

JM III's Register: attribution to D'Oyly, but without evidence.

355 Article 3. Count Trucheses-Waldbourg, Narrative of Napoleon Buonaparte's Journey from Fontainebleau to Frejus, in April, 1814. Second Edition.; de Pradt, Histoire de l'Ambassade dans le Grand Duché de Varsovie en 1812; Histoire du Cabinet des Tuileries depuis le 20 Mars, 1815, et de la Conspiration qui a remené Buonaparte en France; Histoire des Quinze Semaines, ou le dernier Règne de Buonaparte; Martillière, Conspiration de Buonaparte contre Louis XVIII. Roi de France; Haye, Le Portefeuille de Buonaparte; Bowerbank, Extract of a Journal kept on-board H. M. S. Bellerophon, from July 15 to August 7, the Period during which Napoleon Buonaparte was on-board that Ship; Williams, A Narrative of the Events which have taken place in France from the Landing of Buonaparte to the Restoration of Louis XVIII. &c. Second Edition, 53-96. Author: John Wilson Croker.

Running Title: Buonaparte.

Notes: In attributing the article to Croker, Shine cites JM III's Register; Gentleman's Magazine XXI 140; Jennings I 52; and Brightfield 454. Shine also quotes from Iowa MS., JM to John Wilson Croker, n.d.: 'Will you like to do any more with the article on Buonaparte previous to my setting it up in the regular pages and sheets of the Rev. Do you think you will make any more use of Miss Williams in it, for instance. I will at any rate put both copies of your proof in my packet on Monday.' 

The following evidence is published here for the first time. The article's author refers the reader to #321, which is also by Croker. Claimed by Croker in four of his Clements Library MS. lists and included in the Cambridge University bound volumes of Croker's articles.

JM II's marked QR: 'Croker'.

JM III's Register: attribution to Croker, but without evidence.

356 Article 4. Jamieson, Hermes Scythicus: or the Radical Affinities of the Greek and Latin Languages to the Gothic: to which is prefixed a Dissertation on the Historical Proofs of the Scythian Origin of the Greeks; Townsend, The Character of Moses established for Veracity as a Historian recording Events subsequent to the Deluge, 96-112. Author: Thomas Young.

Running Title: Jamieson and Townsend on Ancient Languages.

Notes: In attributing the article to Young, Shine cites JM III's Register; Brande XXVIII 157; Gentleman's Magazine XXI 140; Pettigrew IV 21; and Young 241, 251. 

The following evidence is published here for the first time. The article is in Young's definitive MS. list of his QR articles published in Gurney. The article's author refers back to #271,which is also by Young. 

JM III's Register: attribution to Young, but without evidence.

357 Article 5. Lord Blayney, Narrative of a forced Journey through Spain and France, as a Prisoner of War, in the Years 1810 to 1814, 112-20. Author: John Wilson Croker.

Running Title: Lord Blayney's forced Journey through Spain, &c.

Notes: In attributing the article to Croker, Shine cites JM III's Register and Brightfield 454. 

The following evidence is published here for the first time. Claimed by Croker in four of his Clements Library MS. lists and included in the Cambridge University bound volumes of Croker's articles. See #384, Croker's review of Blayney's sequel.

JM II's marked QR: 'Croker'. 

JM III's Register: attribution to Croker, but without evidence.

358 Article 6. Minutes of the Evidence taken before the Committee appointed by the House of Commons to inquire into the State of Mendicity and Vagrancy in the Metropolis and its Neighbourhood—Ordered to be printed July 11th, 1815, 120-45. Author: John Barrow, possibly.

Running Title: Mendicity.

Notes: In attributing the article to Barrow, Shine cites JM III's Register. In suggesting Robert Southey as an alternative attribution, Shine cites Gentleman's Magazine XXI 140 and says to see also Southey 309. 

The following evidence was first published in VPR 28; additional discussion is published here for the first time. This is Southey's topic (cf.# 224, 385, 454, 469). The article, however, is not in Southey's definitive MS. list of his QR articles. Murray MS., Robert Southey to JM, 19 July 1816: 'The Reports upon ... Mendicity were in my possession when the last paper was written.' 

The evidence is too slight to attribute this article definitely to any one author to the exclusion of all other possible authors. JM III does not substantiate his assertion that the article is by Barrow. The article's style and strategies do not suggest Barrow. As it was Barrow's signature practice in his QR articles to refer to his own works, it is perhaps significant that there are no references in #359 to other articles by Barrow, nor is this article referred to any later article of Barrow's. The article is almost certainly not by Southey. Not only does the article not appear in the MS. list published in Curry et al. WC, but his 19 July 1816 letter quoted above is a complaint that #358 anticipated or usurped his own efforts. During the period January to March 1816, Southey was busy composing a poem on Waterloo. In that period there is no mention in his correspondence with Grosvenor Bedford preserved in the Bodleian of articles he is working on for the QR.

JM III's Register: attribution to Barrow, but without evidence. 

359 Article 7. Beatson, Tracts relative to the Island of St. Helena; written during a Residence of five Years, 146-52. Author:  John Wilson Croker.

Running Title: St. Helena.

Notes: In attributing the article to Croker, Shine cites JM III's Register and Brightfield 454.

The following evidence is published here for the first time. Claimed by Croker in four of his Clements Library MS. lists and included in the Cambridge University bound volumes of Croker's articles.

JM III's Register: attribution to Croker, but without evidence. 

360 Article 8. Elphinstone, Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, 152-88. Author: John Barrow and William Gifford.

Running Title: Elphinstone's Account of the Kingdom of Caubul.

Notes: In co-attributing the article to Barrow and Gifford, Shine cites JM III's Register and says to see also Smiles I 287. Shine quotes from Murray MS., WG to JM, [24 Feb. 1816]: 'I was not aware that the first part of Cabul was printed off ... I should ... have softened it a little more ... I have really had a good deal to do with this Art. ... our Friend has been rather careless in his style.' 

The following evidence is published here for the first time. This article is referred to in #435, which is also by Barrow. It was Barrow's signature practice in his QR articles to refer to his own works. Note the discussion of the Himalayas (pp.184-85), a topic that is Barrow's preserve. NLS MS. 3886 (ff.261-62), JM to Walter Scott, 25 Dec. 1815: 'Elphinstons Cabul has been in the hands of Mr Barrow whose article upon it is in progress and will appear in our next Number.—I hope therefore Lord Meadowbank will not feel disappointed but allow us to hope for the favour of his valuable assistance on some other works in which we would prefer to anticipate rather than follow the Edinb. Journal.'  

JM III's Register: attribution to Barrow, but without evidence. 

361 Article 9. Austen, Emma, 188-201. Author: Walter Scott.

Running Title: Emma.

Notes: In attributing the article to Scott, Shine cites JM III's Register; Lockhart VI 187n; Gentleman's Magazine XXI 140; Douglas I 336; Smiles I 289n; Grierson IV 167, 167n; QR CCX 740-41, 741n; Bonnell 370-71, 371n; CHEL XII 166; Graham 41-42; Graham in PMLA XLV 1264-65; Ball 162-64; Keynes 245; Paston 10; Clark 231; and CBEL III 383. Shine says to see also Smiles I 287-90; Grierson IV 168; Whately iii-iv, 282, 282n; and Reitzel in PMLA XLIV 310. In suggesting Richard Whately as an alternative attribution, Shine cites Reitzel in PMLA XLIII 492-93 and Levy 81-82, 82n. 

The following evidence is published here for the first time. NLS MS. 3886 (ff. 261-62), JM to Walter Scott, 25 Dec. 1815: 'Have you any fancy to dash off an article on Emma?—it wants incident and romance & imagination—does it not—none of the author's other Novels have been noticed & surely Pride & Prejudice merits high consideration.' Murray MS., Scott to JM, 19 Jan. 1816: 'Enclosed is the article upon Emma.' NLS MS. 3887 (f.17), WG to Walter Scott, 6 Mar. 1816: 'It is with feelings of peculiar pleasure that I see you once more in the lists. You contributed mainly to our first success in the field .... I willingly granted you leave of absence ... I hail your return most cordially .... I thank you for both the Arts.' (See #366.) John Murray published the volume under review.

JM II's marked QR: [pencil] 'Scott'.

JM III's Register: attribution to Scott, but without evidence. 

362 Article 10. Wordsworth, Poems by William Wordsworth; including Lyrical Ballads, and the Miscellaneous Pieces of the Author, with additional Poems, a new Preface, and a Supplementary Essay; Wordsworth, White Doe, 201-25. Author: William Rowe Lyall, probably, and possibly with Thomas Dunham Whitaker.

Running Title: Wordsworth's White Doe.

Notes: In attributing the article to Lyall, Shine cites JM III's Register and Graham 41. Shine says to see also Smiles I 284 and Pfeiffer in PQ 107 n44 . In suggesting Thomas Dunham Whitaker as an alternative attribution, Shine cites Nichols xxix. In suggesting William Gifford as a third alternative, Shine cites Gentleman's Magazine XXI 140. 

The following evidence is published here for the first time. Murray MS., WG to John Taylor Coleridge, 3 Mar. 1816, says that in this Number 'Wordsworth ... fell into inadequate hands. The writer was not of my choice; but Southey's—who did not consult me.' (WG would not have said this had Keble—see below—Coleridge's close friend, been the author of the review. Indeed it is more likely that WG was defending himself against Coleridge's complaint that his friend Keble might have produced a better review.) Bodleian MS. Eng. lett. d.134 (f.39), John Keble to John Taylor Coleridge, 4 March 1815, states that he is preparing a review of Wordsworth for Rennell (editor of the British Critic). Bodleian MS. Eng. lett. d.134 (f.40) Keble to Coleridge, [11 Apr. 1815], says 'Wordsworth' is ready and that he will show it to Davison who 'attacked me to contribute to the QR.' This last letter is misinterpreted by John R. Griffin in ‘John Keble and the Quarterly Review,' Review of English Studies 29 (Nov. 1978), 454-55 and in John Keble, Saint of Anglicanism (1987) as demonstrating that Keble was the author #362. (Griffin also misattributes #371 and #393 to Keble.) In the letter, written a full year before #362 appeared, Keble is making two points here, first that he has finished his review of Wordsworth for submission to the British Critic and second that he will show it to Davison who, by the way, had been asking Keble to contribute an article to the QR. Keble's article is probably 'Wordsworth's Excursion' British Critic (May 1815) NS III, 452-63. Davison continued to press Keble to contribute to the QR, but Keble complained that he did not feel able to meet the QR's higher standard (see Bodleian MS. Eng. lett. d.134 f.64, Keble to Coleridge, 27 Mar. 1817). Griffin appears to have been misled in part by QR Number 27's October 1815 title page date. 

Murray MS., Barron Field to JM, 31 May 1815: 'I send you the materials for a review of Wordsworth's new poems, which I promised you, with a view of handing them over to your reviewer. You will remember that the condition of my assistance is that the review is to be favourable; and if my facts and analysis of the new poems be used, I shall not refuse any remuneration you may think my papers worth; for in fact I took up the task under an idea that I should be in time for your Review.' If these materials were used in the article, Gifford held onto them for a long time. Mr. Ronald Solomon of Sydney, Australia, in private correspondence with the present writer argues that Field had no involvement in the article. Solomon points out that Field's letter to JM is dated 31 May 1815, two days before the publication of White Doe and therefore likely irrelevant to a discussion of that poem. Solomon also points to Field's condition that the review be favourable, whereas the article 'is not, but in part, hostile, critical, at odds with his expressed reverence for Wordsworth.' Solomon draws attention to the absence of any mention of the article by Field in his Memoir. 'That suggests,' Solomon concludes, 'the "materials" were very slight, for he usually brought out any contribution he made to literary discussion.'

Wordsworth's White Doe was reviewed by Francis Jeffrey in ER #735, Oct. 1815. 

Murray MS., WG to JM, [16 Feb. 1816]: '...I marked the remd'r of Dr. Whitaker's Art to send him.' This may refer to #364. Note #362 p. 211 reference to a legend given in Whitaker's History of Craven. 

Murray MS., WG to Octavius Gilchrist, n.d., asks if he is making progress on his article.

Note this interesting passage at p.205n: 'Language, as every body knows, consists merely of arbitrary signs which stand for whatever it may have pleased custom to enact; and whatever changes may happen among them, are occasioned not by "rational causes" but by accidental associations of one sort and another, of which, in general, we defy the most profound metaphysician to give any philosophical account.'

JM II's marked QR: [pencil] 'Archdn Lyell'. 

JM III's Register: attribution to Lyall, but without evidence.

363 Article 11. Robert Tweddell, Remains of the late John Tweddell, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, being a Selection of his Letters, written from various parts of the Continent, together with a Republication of his Prolusiones Juveniles; to which is adjoined an Appendix, containing some account of the Author's Journals, MS. Collections, Drawings, &c. and of their extraordinary disappearance. Prefixed is a brief Biographical Memoir by the Editor, 225-36. Author: Charles James Blomfield, with Robert William Hay and probably with Lord Elgin.

Running Title: Tweddell's Remains.

Notes: In attributing the article to Blomfield, Shine cites JM III's Register. Shine also quotes from the following letters. Murray MS., WG to JM, [6 Sept. 1815]: Pray forward the enclosed to Mr Blomfield ....' Murray MS., WG to JM, [13 Feb. 1816]: 'I have put up Twedell for Rowarth [the printer]. I rec'd it from Mr Blomfield with the enclosed letter. ... I want Elgin having promised Blomfield, as is but just, that he should see it & decide on the appearance of his own art.' Murray MS., WG to JM, [24 Feb. 1816]: 'I am glad that Twedell is gone ... there is very little to be altered.' Iowa MS., JM to John Wilson Croker, Sunday [Feb. 1816]: see #365. Iowa MS., JM to John Wilson Croker, Sunday [n.d.]: see #365. 

The following evidence is published here for the first time. Murray MS., WG to Robert William Hay, 29 Dec. 1815, asks Hay to get additional information for this article because 'Lord Elgin's notice of the Edin. Revw. changes the state of the question; and I will immediately write to Mr B.' Murray MS., WG to Hay, n.d.: 'I return Lord E[lgin]'s letter .... Tweddell is in hand—Blomfield (but this is a secret) has it—& I expect his M.S. this No. I know not his opinion as to the Lord E. but it is expedient that this nobleman shall do something, & I rejoice that he is in your hands & my friends. If he <been> wise [sic], he will give you all the documents which he can find, & his case may then appear with every possible advantage in our journal. Lord E. has many enemies, & active ones among Tweddell's admirers....' 

[Bookseller's note, from Blackmer 1690, modified, and with additions: 'This is a curious work, part memorial to the unfortunate Tweddell, and part vicious attack on Elgin, who was trying to arrange the sale of his Marbles to the nation. John Tweddell spent four months in Athens in 1795, keeping detailed journals of his observations of every temple, archway, stone and inscription he saw, but died suddenly of fever in 1799. He sent letters home of which this work largely consists, but a mystery surrounds the fate of his journals and drawings that had been entrusted to Lord Elgin. Byron was instrumental in erecting a memorial to Tweddell.'] 

The subject of this article was reviewed in ER #735, Oct. 1815, probably by Francis Jeffrey.

JM III's Register: attribution to Blomfield, but without evidence.

364 Article 12. Cox, Life of Philip Melancthon, comprising an Account of the most important Transactions of the Reformation; Bonney's Life of the Right Rev. Father in God, Jeremy Taylor, 236-57. Author: Thomas Dunham Whitaker.

Running Title: Lives of Melanchton and Taylor.

Notes: In attributing the article to Whitaker, Shine cites JM III's Register and Nichols xxix. Shine also quotes from Murray MS., WG to JM, [16 Feb. 1816]: '...I marked the remd'r of Dr. Whitaker's Art to send him....Melanchton, I have not rec'd from the Dr though I sent it off at once.' 

The following evidence is published here for the first time. Murray MS., Book Loans Register: one of the books reviewed, Bonney's Taylor, was sent to 'Revd. Dr Whitaker' on 12 Apr. 1815; it was returned by Whitaker 15 Nov. 1820. Murray MS., Thomas Dunham Whitaker to JM, 30 Dec. 1815, says he will review this work. Note general comments on biography (p.236). Note anti-Calvinism and recommendation of meliorism (p.238), characteristic of Whitaker.

JM III's Register: attribution to Whitaker, but without evidence.

365 Article 13. Robert Tweddell, Appendix to the Remains of John Tweddell; Lord Elgin, Letter to the Editor of the Edinburgh Review, on the Subject of an Article in No. L. of the Journal, on the Remains of John Tweddell; Lord Elgin, Postscript to a Letter to the Editor of the Edinburgh Review; Hunt, Narrative of what is known respecting the Literary Remains of the late John Tweddell, 257-73. Author: John Wilson Croker, with Robert William Hay and probably with Lord Elgin.

Running Title: Elgin.

Notes: In attributing the article to Croker, Shine cites JM III's Register and Brightfield 454. Shine also quotes from the following letters. Iowa MS., JM to John Wilson Croker, Sunday [Feb. 1816]: 'You have been so bothered with the variety of unexpected documents & obtrusive remarks upon the Elgin Subject that I am almost afraid of forcing any thing more upon your attention—as however what I now send will be the last—I hope your patience will endure it. / Mr G[ifford] sent Mr B[lomfield] a copy of the last proof & it is inclosed with his remarks on and upon it—he is a truly confidential man—with a sound logical head—though he has certainly drawn all his prejudices from information collected in the enemy's camp.' Iowa MS., JM to John Wilson Croker, Sunday night, n.d.: 'I entreat you not to view this matter in the way you do—Mr Blomfield is a particular friend of Mr Gifford & a perfectly confidential Man—but on either side the articles are only shown in confidence to each & his[,] although written three months ago at least[,] is only this moment put in proof—& your article was shewn to him only because he had agreed to cut out from his[—]so long ago sent in[—]the very favourable view wh[ich] he had written upon the controversy—these things are done often secretly & no harm comes of them....' [Quarterly Review Archive editor's note: in the last quoted letter, Murray defends to Croker the propriety of Gifford's having shown Blomfield Croker's manuscript of #365 and Croker, Blomfield's of #363.]

The following evidence is published here for the first time. Murray MS., WG to Robert William Hay, 29 Dec. 1815: 'It is absolutely necessary that Lord Elgin should read Tweddell's book—his continuing in ignorance of it so long has been of serious injury to his character.' For Hay and Elgin, see evidence at #363. Claimed by Croker in three of his Clements Library MS. lists and included in the Cambridge University bound volumes of Croker's articles.

[Bookseller's note, modified: Hunt's work answers allusions made by Dr. E. D. Clarke in his travels in Greece. Included is speculation on what became of Tweddell's water colours of the Greeks.]

The subject of this article was reviewed in ER #735, Oct. 1815, probably by Francis Jeffrey.

JM III's Register: attribution to Croker, but without evidence.