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    Mrs . Opie ' s verses are the more in * teresting from the tinge of mysticism which her mind has lately received : her paper , " The Last Voyage , a true Story , " is an example of the power of a good writer to make much of very scanty materials . The reference to this tale leads

    us to remark , that the prose pages of the Amulet outnumber the poetical — this gives the volume a heavy look , especially as some of the papers are , by their subject and their length , suited to any volume rather than an •« Amulet , " which loses its character when it ceases

    to charm . More than thirty pages are taken up by " A Brief notice of some ancient Coins and Medals , " by Dr . Walsh , designed , though we cannot explain in what manner , to " illustrate the progress of Christianity . " There is also an original " History of the Gunpowder Plot , " the most doleful and disgusting

    story in the British annals : but , then , there is a page of Autographs of the principal conspirators . Following this , is another page of Autographs of Officers employed against the Spanish Armada . This is too antiquarian for our taste ; let it not be forgotten , however , that the second title of the Amulet is " Christian

    and Literary Remembrancer . But from dulness and heaviness we ought to except several of the prose compositions before us ; all Miss Mitford ' s , for instance ; and above all , Miss Porter ' s spirited and striking sketch , " Peter the Great and the Shipwreck . " The Plates of the Amulet are fourteen

    in number , and the proprietors are entitled to commendation for the industry and liberality which appear in this part of the work . The frontispiece is , " The Morning Walk , " a pleasing print by l \ tr . C . Rolls , from a picture of Sir Thomas Lawrence ' s . Mr . Rolls has yet to learn the art of truly representing in so small a compass the lightness and elegance

    that distinguish this master . We know not whom we are to praise for the beautiful vignette title ; it is worthy of a name . " The Last Man , " by Wallis , after Jones , is accompanied by the immortal poem of Mr . Campbell ' s , so entitled , which is republished for the sake of the print , in which , however , we do

    not find all the sublimity that the verses lead us to expect . We cannot speak well of " The Shepherd Boy /* by C . Rolls , from Pickersgill ; the subject is common-place and ill-chosen , and the print is altogether heavy . The next plate is engraved by a very clever artist , Mr . W . Finden , all whose works bear the stamp of excellence j it is , " The Gipsey Girl , "

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    from a painting of Howard ' s . The figure is too large for the size of the plate , or we should have called this , in the most unqualified sense of the terms , an exquisitely beautiful print . We think that "The Earl of Strafford and his Secretary , " from Vandyke , is neither well chosen nor well engraved . Mr . Thomson has given us a charming print in , " The Lady

    of Ilkdale , " from Jackson ; this is in the dotted manner . We are compelled to say of the next plate , " The Mouse Trap " from Ward , that it is very poor : there is a coarseness and poverty of line in the engraving . From this we turn to a very neat and careful print , Mr . Portbury ' a " Dead Fawn , " from a painting of Smirke ' s : the figures here would have

    been more complete if there had not been a want of effect in the back-ground . Neither of the Landseers appears to advantage in " The Falconer , " painted by E . L ., and engraved by T . L . ; we are sorry to make this remark upon so very eminent a young painter . Why did Mr . Armstrong throw away his fine

    talents upon such a subject as ' * Peter the Great Shipwrecked , " 6 y Stroehling ? AfteT all our remarks , we cannot dismiss the "Amulet" without saying that it is an elegant and interesting volume . The tasteful binding in rich watered silk tempts both the eye and the hand . The same may be said of the last annual in our

    list—The "Pledge of Friendship . " This work succeeds one of the same title , last year ; though in fact it now takes rank , for the first time , with the " annuals , " as original publications . We congratulate the Editor on his success in forming such a respectable corps of contributors , at the head of whom , shining in all the rich but chaste attire of fancy , is our favourite Mrs . Hemans . Her " Memory of

    the Dead , " is a poem never to be forgotten . In her " Faith of Love , " there is a holy moral . By the side of this lovely writer , we see here many of the authors whom we have already named and quoted , though few of the very first class . Miss Mitford is in many a pleasing page of both prose and verse . Mrs . Opie relates a " True Anecdote , " entitled ' Rejected Addresses , " which we commend , as preachers are wont to say , " to the serious attention" of satirical

    young ladies , who put a sister ' s lover out of countenance an ^ l out of heart . Some of Mrs . Cornwall Baron Wilson ' s verses are pathetic ; but do they not relate to sorrows which scarcely admit of exposure ? We might point out many contributions to the volume which will

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    Critical Notice * . 925

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1827, page 925, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1803/page/69/