smiss these May gambols without some observations.

In the first place, Mr. M. seems to have higher notions of the antiquity
of the May Pole than we have been accustomed to attach to it. Or perhaps
he sought to shelter the equivocal nature of this affair under that
sanction. To us, however, who can hardly subscribe to the doctrine that
"Vice loses half its evil by losing all its grossness"; neither the
remoteness of time, nor the gaiety of the season, furnishes a sufficient
palliation. "Violets blue" and "fresh-blown roses" are, to be sure, more
agreeable objects of the Imagination than a gin shop in Wapping or a
booth in Bartholomew Fair; but, in point of morality, these are
distinctions without a difference: or it may be the cultivation of mind
(which teaches us to reject and nauseate these latter objects) aggravates
the case, if our improvement in taste be not accompanied by a
proportionate improvement of morals.

If the Reader can reconcile himself to this latitude of principle, the
anachronism will not long stand in his way. Much indeed may be said in
favour of this union of ancient Mythology with modern notions and
manners. It is a sort of chronological metaphor--an artificial analogy,
by which ideas, widely remote and heterogeneous, are brought into
contact; and the mind is delighted by this unexpected assemblage, as it
is by the combinations of figurative language.

Thus in that elegant Interlude, which the pen of BEN JONSON has
transmitted to us, of the loves of HERO and LEANDER:

Gentles, that no longer your expectations may wander,
Behold our chief actor, amorous LEANDER!
With a great deal of cloth, lapped about him like a scarf:
For he yet serves his father, a Dyer in Puddle Wharf:
Which place we'll make bold with, to call it our Abydus;
As the Bankside is our Sestos, and _let it not be denied us_.

And far be it from us to deny the use of so reasonable a liberty;
especially if the request be backed (as it is in the case of Mr. M.) by
the craving and imperious necessities of rhyme. What man who has ever
bestrode Pegasus for an hour, will be insensible to such a claim?

_Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco_.

We are next favoured with an enumeration of the Attendants of this
"debonair" Nymph, in all the minuteness of a German _Dramatis Personae_,
or a Ropedancer's Handbill.

Haste thee, Nymph; and bring with thee
Jest and youthful Jollity,
Quips and cran