The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction | Page 3

born November 23, 1773, succeeded to the
title in 1774; married, 1797, Elizabeth, a daughter of Richard Vassal,
Esq.
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CHARACTER OF A GOOD ALBUM.
(_For the Mirror._)
--"Here's a gem of beauty! It sparkles with a pure and virgin lustre, And
many prize it much."
OLD POET.
There is something very interesting associated with a well-arranged and
elegant album, embodying passages of delicate taste and superior talent,
and containing the diversified, playful, pointed, eloquent, and original
papers, of a number of intellectual and distinguished contributors.
I had, a short time ago, one of these beautiful albums placed in my
hand, which was characterized by marked and pre-eminent excellencies.
In addition to its being bound in the most splendid manner, and
containing the most tasteful embellishments, on paper exquisitely
embossed, it was adorned with appropriate contributions, from the
vigorous mind of Mrs. Hannah Moore--from the pure and classic taste

of the eloquent Robert Hall--from the fervid and poetic imagination of
James Montgomery--and many an elegant and beauteous production,
communicated by our superior and ingenious writers. It was deeply
interesting to mark the specimens of penmanship which the various
contributors furnished: the bold hand of one--the neat style of
another--the careless and dashing strokes of another--and the stiff,
awkward, and almost illegible writing of another. I was much struck,
also, with the variety of mind which the album exhibited: on one page,
there was the comic strain of Hood; on another, the pure and exquisite
taste of Campbell; on another, the fire and vividness of Scott; on
another, the minute and graphic painting of Crabbe; and on another, the
bold, condensed, and impassioned style, in which Byron so peculiarly
excelled.
Now, if all albums could be of this character, their value would be
intrinsic and superior, and they would be permanently interesting,
because to them we could frequently recur with refreshing and peculiar
enjoyment. I regret, however, to say, that the majority of albums are
comparatively valueless: they are written with so much negligence;
many of the pieces are of so light and frivolous a character; there is so
much childish and mawkish sentimentality in numbers of the effusions
poured forth; and there is so great a destitution of solid, original, and
striking thought, that, in my unpretending, yet honest estimation, the
majority of albums are worth comparatively nothing. A good album
should contain pieces of genuine talent; should be marked by no
frivolity or childishness; should be concise, pointed, and powerful in its
contributions; and should embody valuable moral principle; and, to
secure these excellencies, the possessor of an elegant album should not
place it in the hand of any, accompanied with the request that a
contribution be inserted, without ascertaining, in the first instance, that
the person solicited is of genuine taste and talent, and real principle;
because, if these qualifications be not developed, an album will be
merely filled with trifling, crude, unconnected, and worthless
pieces--marked by no beauty, exhibiting no taste, characterized by no
originality, and inculcating no valuable sentiment.
T. W.
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POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.

(_For the Mirror._)
No man will be found in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes
tyrannize and force him to hope or fear beyond the limits of sober
probability.--JOHNSON.
The superstitions of nations must always be interesting, since they
afford a criterion of the progress that knowledge and reason have made.
To trace the origin of the belief that departed spirits revisit the earth, a
belief apparently so repugnant to reason and revelation, must ever
attract the attention of the curious. For it is a question of importance to
religion, even although the existence of apparitions would not in the
slightest degree invalidate those sacred writings on which the bases of
religion are founded; on the contrary, if the reality of apparitions (that
is of the existence of apparitions) could be ascertained, another proof
would be added to an immense weight of testimony of the ability
possessed by the Deity to arrest or alter what appears the ordinary
course of nature.
The existence of apparitions has been acknowledged by many, and a
tendency towards a belief of them is to be remarked in many more.
Ardent, and what is stranger still, since directly opposed to ardent,
morbid minds are too ready to embrace "the pleasing dreadful thought,"
and to this may be attributed the prevalence of this kind of superstition
among the poets, and all indeed of an enthusiastic temperament.[3]
Some of the tales urged in defence of apparitions are upon a _primâ
facié_ observation to be traced to an exuberance[4] of imagination on
the part of the ghost, others that are plainly false, and others that as they
cannot be authenticated, are not worthy of notice. I shall here give what
I consider an