away

mo

keeps the parchment within the lining of his coat. Would a fraudu
lent attorney act so like a fool?-The same attorney employs his ne-
phew, Rostrum, an auctioneer, and gives him money, with directions
to assume the manner of a town-rake. Rostrum goes into Bond-
street, and there meets Egerton, who appears to be no better than a
beggar in distress. Would an auctioneer in real life shovel
ney on such an object? Would he make love to a young lady in the
style of a mere country looby-Egerton quarrels with Greville, to
vindicate his sister's honour, in the moment when the poet wants
Greville to acknowlege his marriage. This occasions fresh confusion,
which at last is cleared up by the happy invention of making Nicholas
take off his coat to let Plethora (another extraordinary character)
bleed him for an illness that seized him opportunely, when the poet
stood in need of some expedient to bring about a discovery. Accord-
ingly, April (a man so named to give occasion to the wit of calling
him an April-fool) finds the last will of Greville's father in the lining
of Nicholas's coat. This discovers the fraud of Undermine the attor-
ney; and this is “The Secret Worth Knowing."—Quodcunquè ostendis
mihi sic, incredulus odi.

Art. 33. Miltonis Poema Lycidas, Gracè redditum. 4to. Faulder,

&c. 1797.

In this Greek version of the Lycidas of Milton, we find little that calls for praise. To enter on a discussion of the errors, however, would occupy more space and time than we can at present allow to so short a performance. The mixture of styles is one of the prominent faults: the composition should have been broad Doric: but the dialectic distinctions are not accurately preserved.

We are not so much surprised that the translator should have failed in his version, as that he should have hazarded so bold an attempt. Our opinion on these modern Greek poetical productions has been frequently stated; and it has not been in the slightest degree shaken by this publication of Lycidas.

To the work is prefixed an inscription to the Right Hon. Fre-
derick Montague: which is signed, we suppose, by the author's
initials, J. P.

Art. 34
The Vision; a Poem on the Union of Russia and Prussia
against Poland: with other Pieces, the Effusions of a Young
Mind. 8vo. pp. 134. 45. Boards. Dilly. 1797.

Every opportunity of fostering the effusions of youthful minds,
as far as it lies in our power, occurs to us with pleasure; and
we think that the author of The Vision' will justify terms of praise
and encouragement. We select, as a favourable specimen of the
author's talents for poetry and observation, the panegyric on that
eminent patriot General Washington.

"Thus from the shades which hid his rising worth,

Great WASHINGTON arose to bless the earth:

As in the eastern quarter of the sky,

When clouds high piled in sable masses lie,

*Rev. Mr. Plumptre, we apprehend.

Mur..y.

Beneath

D.C.B....y.

Beneath their gloom, o'erwhelm'd in second night,
The struggling Sun lies hid, whose dawning light
Scarce tips at first the clouds with roseate ray,
Or spreads abroad by fits the doubtful day;
Till all at once the full-orb'd radiance glows,
And slumbering nature wakes from her repose;
In vain the envious vapours rush between,
Loud laugh the hills, and smile the vallies green;
They in loose mists around th' horizon driven,
Disperse, the sport of every wind of heaven.
Thus to the regions of the silent dead,
Before his dawning glories, Envy fled;
And lo! where once deserted and forlorn,
Mid wastes and wilds o'ergrown with pointed thorn,
he western Genius sat, and mourn'd to see
The temple sacred to fair Liberty,

Robb'd by those hands which taught its frame to rise,
And bade its radiant pile ascend the skies;

Hands, which had torn the laurel wreaths that blow
On the bleak height of Andes' topmost brow;
And though in earth they fix'd the fertile root,

Withheld that moisture which should nurse the shoot,
And when its infant blossoms budded forth,
Nipt the fair promise in its opening birth;
The Genius there no more laments his fate,
With broken spear, the emblem of his state,
But bids his suffering sons again be free:

And their deliverer hails, OWASHINGTON! in thee."

Art. 35. Poems, by the Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald, D.D. S. F. T.C.D. and Professor of Hebrew in the University of Dublin.

pp. 100.

3s. 6d. Boards. Johnson, &c. 1797.

8vo.

Though the general character of these poems appears to us not to rise above mediocrity, yet there are, in the piece entitled The Islanders,' some lines that brought Goldsmith to our recollection, in a light favourable to the imitative powers of Dr. Fitzgerald. We will present our readers with a passage in the poem; in which Oberca, to induce Captain Wallis to return to Otaheite, describes the country. and its inhabitants:

Say thou, whose judgment diff'rent nations boast,
From cultur'd BRITAIN to this friendly coast,
What lovelier climes more pleasing fruits afford
Than this, of all thy piercing eye explor'd?
Where can the bread-fruit sweeter pulp produce?
Where richer cocoas more delicious juice?
Where finer robes of mulb'ry rinds are worn?
Where fairer virgins than these robes adorn ?—
Where smiles the land, where fewer ills assail?
Where fewer fears, or passions can prevail?
No serpents here their poison'd volumes wreath,
No tainted gales with fell diseases breathe,

Smyth

Na

No varying arts, to multiply desires,
No av'rice chills, and no ambition fires,
Each blessing granted, as our wishes rise,
We live, and love-the fav'rites of the skies,
While kind ETUAS watchful still preside,
And nature's tasks th' aerial bands divide,
Some o'er the sea control the tempest's roar,
Impel the tides, or shove them from the shore;
Some o'er the land exert their genial pow'rs,
Deck the bright year, or guide the fleeting hours,
With lib'ral hand, dispense profusion round,
With fragrant breath, perfume the fertile ground,
Gild the gay groves, with fruits' refreshing cheer,
Nor ask from toil the products of the year,

And pleas'd, or anger'd, as the work they find,
In rain-bows smile, or murmur in the wind.'

We were surprised at many harsh and difficult lines in this poem, which is altogether much superior to the other pieces of which this miscellany is composed. The following lines seem to us defective in elegance and perspicuity:

Where dew dropp'd shrubs breathe fragrance as I stray,
That lures the breeze which bears their sweets away,' &c.

The purple streamers wave by wave appear.'
Bereft of pow'r, and destitute of train.'

p. 28, 1. 17.

P. 30, 1. 59.
Ibid. 1. 67.

If sudden shook (shaken) by autumn's angry storm.' p. 32, 1.97.

Do these, alas! thy country's danger speak?
Corruption sap it, and contention break?
Yet oft resigns, sublimer thoughts to raise,
Lost in reflection's solitary maze.'

Art. 35. Ode on the Fluctuations of Civil Society.

P. 33, 1. 129.

P. 36, L. 181.
To which is added,
Debrett.

An Ode to Fortune. 8vo. IS. We have more than once observed that our modern poets seem to think obscurity an essential property in an ode: but, amid the dark. ness of involved expressions, inverted sentences, and a general confusion of ideas, we have fancied that we have discovered, in the au... thors who have passed under our notice, something like meaning or design. In the ode before us, however, we own ourselves incapable of comprehending what, perhaps, is not to be understood. Our readers, on perusing the following extract, may probably excuse our dullness:

Smyth.

There

There in mazy course meand'ring
Two broad-swelling streams*
Side by side, unmingled, wand'ring:

to meet,

Turbid-dark! and crystal sweet!
Herculean task! of that the bed to drain,
Of this the genial course to cherish fair,
(Wafting its dews aperient o'er the plain,
A grateful paradise expanding there:)

Be these the bloodless toils of man!
The heav'n-taught, all-embracing plan!

Till, spent foul Luxury's flood, Life's sphere may prove
The smiling soil of truth, of liberty, and love"

POLITICAL, &c.

Art. 37. A Letter to the Right Hon. William Pitt, shewing the Ne-
cessity and Facility of continuing the War; with a few seasonable
Hints to Mr. Fox and his Friends. By a Clergyman of the
Church of England. 8vo. Is. Rivingtons, &c. 1797.

If Mr. Fox be not quite unteachable, he must ere now have become one of the wisest men in England; for no man certainly has received more hints, warnings, and advice. He seems indeed to enjoy these advantages almost exclusively: we seldom perceive advice bestowed on the Minister.

This author, however, does not confine his salutary admonitions to Mr. Fox. Though he professes to entertain the most profound respect for the courage, the wisdom, and the virtue of Mr. Pitt, he yet thinks it not unbecoming a person of his station' to advise him. He does accordingly advise him, 1st, to keep his place, 2d, to per severe in the war, and 3d, to persist in a strong government. It must be highly gratifying to this gentleman to learn that Mr. Pitt follows so closely this good counsel.

may

Of the metaphoric beauties and sage reflections with which this pamphlet abounds, the following is a sample: In a vessel, on a high and tempestuous tide, you must go with the stream, or, leap overboard and be drowned. In either case, the odds be that you perish.' Art. 38. Address, of great Importance, (at least in the Opinion of the Writert,) to the Natives of England, the Emigrants from France, and the Rulers of both Countries. By a Plain Englishman. 8vo. Is. 6d. Longman. 1798.

Patriotic addresses to our countrymen, suitable to the present situation of our public affairs, have lately abounded among us; recommending, on just grounds, the abandonment of our political distinctions and animosities, and a firm union of all parties, in the support of Government against every daring effort of the enemy. Among the numerous publications of this kind, the tract which we have just perused merits particular attention, on account of the good * Luxury. Science.

The title-page has this parenthesis.

Ban

Wall..

discretion

discretion and salutary counsels of the public-spirited writer. His manly exhortations, and seasonable remarks, are given in French and English, (the former being a translation from the latter); and they are directed, especially, to the emigrants from France who have taken refuge in this country, to avoid the distractions and calamities which have too long prevailed in their native land. The author's notices to these unfortunate sojourners among us seem justly applicable to their present situation and circumstances.

Art. 39. Pepper and Salt; or, a Letter to the Armed Associations of
Great Britain. 8vo. pp. 41. (No Price.) Downes. 1798.
The writer of this letter tells the public that the human mind is à
most extraordinary engine,' and he himself gives the strongest proof of
the position; for it is not easy to conceive any thing more strange
than that a human mind, in the present advanced state of mental im-
provement, should produce for public perusal so gross and so silly a
composition as this. It is a farrago of most sottish abuse, and of
the most crude, unconnected, and absurd remarks, on all the topics
of which it treats.

Art. 40. Three IVarnings to John Bull before he dies. By an Old
Acquaintance, &c. 8vo. Is. Faulder. 1798.

This is a clerical pamphlet. It might perhaps not improperly be called a sermon, of which the text is the old story of Death and Farmer Dobson. The object of the writer is to prove that Britain, like the farmer, has had the three successive warnings which were to precede her ruin. If the farmer's story be applicable, therefore, her ruin must now be inevitable:-but the writer, who has made this trite tale the ground-work of thirty-nine pages, does not carry the allegory so far. He thinks, if we will be good, if, although late, we will at length be warned, and will lend unanimous assistance to our government; by which he means giving an unqualified and implicit support to all the measures of the Minister, renouncing all hope of reform, and looking on the assessed taxes as a measure deserving more praise than all the wisdom and virtue of antient Greece; if we will also resume a just and manly regard for our established religion,' which, he complains, has been successively assailed ever since the year 1760 by Gibbon, by the French, and even by the women, who have been enlisted as seducers to bring us over to those cursed opinions; and if, finally, we immediately amend our manners,' which he charges with effeminacy in the men and boldness and immodesty in the women;-then, he thinks, we may still be saved; the enemy may, like Pharaoh, follow our heaven-defended fleets into the water, but they will perish there as he did.'

To every attempt at reforming the manners of an age, we wish well: but we entertain little hope that much will be done in that way by a writer whose principal argument against adultery is a numerical calculation of its increase. From 1760 to the present day, he tells us, adultery-causes have increased in England in the ratio of 60 to 16! Art. 41. Earl Moira. By a Son of St. Patrick. Harding. 1798.

The object of this little work is

12mo. 2s. 6d.

Wall..e.

to give the public a portrait of

that

Do