Before taking leave of Mr. FESSENDEN's interesting history, we should just state that the flattering reception of this performance, among men of letters in England, emboldened him to comply with the advice of a friend, (the only person indeed, in England, who knew him to be the Author of the book) to commit to press a volume of original Poems. The merits of " TERRIBLE TRACTORATION" having called forth the high encomiums of Mr. GIFFORD, the very celebrated Author of the " Baviad and Maviad," the " Translator of Juvenal," &c. the friend above adverted to introduced them to each other, which has pro-' duced for Mr. FESSENDEN a very intimate and useful acquaintance. The volume of " ORIGINAL POEMS" are by this period probably out of the Press, and we shall venture to express our conviction that we shall find them, on the arrival of a copy in this country, of sufficient merit to induce us to lay them also soon before the American public. To that work his name will be attached as the author of "TERRIBLE TRACTORATION,” and necessarily make him known to the inhabitants of Great Britain. It was this circumstance which the publisher conceived would warrant him in the liberty he has taken to announce Mr. FESSENDEN in America, as the author of the work before us, which he has hitherto appeared solicitous to conceal.

The METALLIC TRACTORS, which, from the Title Page, one might be led to suppose, consti

a

tuted the entire subject of the present work, will be found, in reality, not to be the prime object of the Poet. Mr. FESSENDEN seems to have conceived that, while dwelling on the treatment PERKINISM had received from a few characters of rather illiberal propensities, there was presented a good opportunity to extend his wings and occasionally perch on

"Every idle thing

"Which Fancy finds in her excursive flights."

In these flights he finds instances, where the man who discovers an extra joint in the tail of a tadpole, is immortalized by many popular wri ters for the discovery, whilst, by the same class of writers, other men who give relief to thousands on the bed of sickness are represented as empirics, and unworthy of countenance and protection.

But without expatiating on the merits of the Poem, which, in the Publisher, would be indecorous and unnecessary, he may perhaps be permitted just to state, that it has been ascribed, by various critics in England, to the pens of Mr. GIFFORD, Dr. WALCOT, (alias PETER PINDAR), Mr. HUDDERSFORD, &c; but, to the great honor of American genius, and to that Bard in particular, who never before was beyond the atmosphere of the Green Mountains, it was generally remarked, that the writings of neither of those three gentlemen had evinced so much science as this author displays.

The comments of the English Reviewers, which it has been thought proper to subjoin, will best enable the reader to judge of its reception among professional critics.

How far the present American Edition may claim a preference to that of London, will be imagined from the statement, that it is printed from a copy, which, the Publisher was so fortunate as to procure, of the last London Edition, corrected and very considerably improved by the Author; and that it possesses the advantage of several additional NOTES, introduced at the end of the book, to explain many allusions, which, from their locality, would have otherwise been unintelligible in this country. The three first engravings, it will be seen, are also added to embellish this Ameri. can Edition.

EXTRACTS FROM THE REVIEWS.

"In the first Canto, the author, in an inimitable strain of irony, ridicules those pretended discoveries and inventions of certain pseudo-philosophers, both of the natural and moral class, which have no tendency to meliorate the condition of man"after many extracts from the work and similar encomiums on each of the four Cantos, the Reviewers conclude-" Whatever may be the merits of the Metallic Tractors or the demerits of their opponents, we have no hesitation to pronounce this performance to be far superior to the ephemeral productions of ordinary dealers in rhyme. The notes, which constitute more than half of the book, are not behind the verse in spirit. Who the author can be, we have not the least conception; but from the intimate acquaintance he discovers with the different branchcs of medical science, we should imagine him to be some jolly son of Galen, who, not choosing to bestow all his art upon his PATIENTS, has humanely applied a few ESCAROTICS for the benefit of his BRETHREN

Gentleman's Magazine for January, 1804.

The author deals his blows around with such causticity, sparing neither friend nor foe, from the " indelible ink" of Dr. Lettsome, and the kindred "jangle of Matilda's lyre," to Dr. Darwin, tracing organized molecules from slaughtered armies to tribes of insects, and thence again to nobler animals, through the profoundest parts of the bathos, and the sublimest of the hypsos, that his real object cannot be always ascertained. We think him, however, the friend to the Tractors. His knowledge seems to be extensive; and he is by no means sparing of his communications. His descriptions are animated and poetical After these remarks, which appeared on the first edition, in their number for November, 1803, the Reviewers proceed upon the present one.

"

"In the second edition of this work, the object of the author is more conspicuous: indeed it blazes with a lustre that leaves not the smallest foundation for doubt; and, not confining himself to the Tractors, he aims his blows at many absurdities in the philosophy of medicine. Such in fact there are; and ridicule is perhaps the only weapon with which they can be attacked. Our author applies his flagellation with no sparing hand." Critical Review for January, 1804.

"These four Cantos of Hudibrastic Verse and the copious Notes contain much pointed satire and sarcastic animadversion, in the form and guise of ironical compliment, on the medical opposers of the Metallic Tractors." After a quotation from the work, they continue-" The attack on some of the cruel and indecent experiments of certain modern naturalists, which seem limited to the gratification of licentious curiosity, having for their object the attainment of no one possible practical good, is just and commendable: and indeed, the author has not merely rhyme, but very frequently reason also on his side, in

his satirical reflections

Anti-Jacobin Review for April, 1803.

"These Hudibrastic lines have afforded us amusement. It is not too much to say, that the author is a legitimate branch of the Hudibras family, and possesses a vein of humour which will not be easily exhausted."

Literary Review for September, 1803.

In the last number of the PORT FOLIO, the following notice is taken of this Work.

« TERRIBLE TRACTORATION," &c. a highly humourous Poem, by T. G. Fessenden, Esq. will be noticed as soon as possible; we shall also add some particulars relating to the witty author, whom the editor long since cherished as a COMPANION, and admired as a Man of Letters."

THE demand for a second edition of CAUSTIC'S PETITION, within the short period of two months from the publication of the first, has excited so much vanity in the author as to induce him to be. lieve that his efforts have not been altogether unacceptable, and to hope that his objects may ultimately prove not to have been altogether unaccomplished. With such a reward for former exertions, and such an incitement for future, it will be thought natural in him to have used his endeavour for a continuance of public favour.

The present edition, which contains more than double the quantity of matter that composed the last, will plead the virtue of industry, even should the merit of the new matter not justly lay claim to that indulgence with which the former was ho

noured.

Besides enlargement, this edition will be found, especially in the first Canto, to be materially altered.

The aim of the alterations has been to avoid, as much as the subjects necessarily enlarged upon would admit, every sentiment and expression,

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