Ah, Léonore! in that tremendous hour, Thy lover fleeping on th' untimely bier ? With trembling hand fhe now the veil withdrew, At length her thoughts in murmurs broke away: See from thofe lips the living colour fled! And where bright eloquence had pour'd her store, Yet ere the worm, fince this is doom'd its prey, Thou, who art ev'n at this dread moment dear, I come" And now, emerging from her woes, We must do Mr. Jerningham the juftice to obferve that there are finer lines, and more beautiful paffages in his poem, than thofe we have quoted. Art. 12. An original Efay on Woman; in four Epiftles. Written 2 s. 6 d. Swan. by a Lady. 4to. We pay What if the farmer's wife, to fhew her taste, Or fhould her joys upon a monkey fix, Admire his grin, and doat upon his tricks; The Author's preface fo figned; a stale trick of prefixing names of quality to works of trafh Rev. June 1771. Kk Or Or fome fine countess in the laundry's floods, Involv'd in fteam, and spatter'd o'er with fuds. Would the Reader know more concerning this original performance-it is Pope's Effay on Man, turned into an Effay on Woman. Art. 13. Cautions to a Lady; a Poem. By the Author of Scarborough. 4to. I s. Dodfley. 1771. The precepts in this poem are good, and the language is not bad. Inftructions for guarding against the common dangers to which youth and beauty are expofed, and which await the very important decifion of the matrimonial choice, fill ten thousand volumes, and cry aloud from the fhelves of every circulating library. The ftill, fmall voice in which they speak, from this little pamphlet, may not be difagreeable to our fair Readers, and we shall therefore ven ture to recommend it to them; as they will here and there meet with a verse that is new, and a thought that is not old: fuch, for inftance, is the following couplet: Coxcombs, like cancers, on the vitals prey; Coxcombs, like cancers, kill, when cut away. Art. 14. The Merchant, a naval Lyric, written in Imitation of Pindar's Spirit, on the British Trade and Navigation. By E. Young, LL. D. 4to. 2 s. 6d. Swan. The late Dr. Young was unfortunate in his idea of the fublime in lyric poetry. He imagined it beft expreffed by the gig-like air of fhort quick rhymes, and thought it loft nothing of its dignity by the admiffion of familiar expreffions, vernacular terms, and, in fhort, all the dominantia nomina rerum. Hence his odes are the idleft of all his compofitions. In fact, he was not fufficiently skilled in numbers to fuftain the variety of the ode. There is a monotony in his stanzas, in the last degree mortifying and tirefome. His mufe was too antithetical, his tafte too low, for the dignity of the lyre. Stanza III. By George and Jove it is decreed From thee alone derives its birth; By thee the ploughfhare and its mafter fhine. This is quite in the style of Sir William Browne. George thus addreff'd his brother gods. George and Jove thus affociated make a ridiculous figure. In the above ftanza the earth is called the daughter of Industry; and the conceit in the last line is infufferably low. From thee, maft, cable, anchor, oar; From thee, the cannon and his roar ! Not the cannon only, but his roar. Let us add So Noah of old, in his good ark, ; When he would roufe the languishing fpirit of Trade, he has the air and manner of a waterman who calls on his wife to wake his fleeping 'prentice, Wake, fting her up. Trade! Another inftance of low conceit is the following line: Her pilot into fervice lifts the stars. Notwithstanding these ftrange faults, the poem is not without marks of genius; but it is genius mifémployed, exerting itself on a fubject to which it is unequal; in measures ill varied and ill fustained, and in language fometimes low, and frequently obfcure. Upon the whole, we cannot but condemn the motives from which the poem was reprinted, and brought out of that obfcurity where it ought to have remained. We have, however, no doubt that this noble pindaric,' as the Editor ftyles it, is really the production of the juftly admired Author of the NIGHT THOUGHTS. Art. 15. Poems, from a Manufcript written in the Time of Oliver Cromwell. 4to. 1 s. 6d. Murray. 1771. These poems bear not only certain marks of originality, but fome marks of genius. There is fomething uncommon in the idea of the extortioner's epitaph: Who, without horror can that house behold; Though ne'er fo fair, that is with tombstones made, Though fuch tranflated church-yards fhine with gold, And the wrong'd ghofts, there haunting uncontroul'd, But they that by the poor man's downfall rife, Who fees their wealth their avarice detefts! The last verse but one of the last stanza is pointed with extraordinary force, and we do not remember to have feen any thing like either that or indeed the whole epitaph. The pamphlet contains fome other curious pieces. Art. 16. The Inundation; or, the Life of a Fenman; a Poem: With Notes critical and explanatory. By a Fen Parfon. 4to. I s. Baldwin. In thofe melancholy tracts of this island, where, fecluded from the fociety of mankind, in miferable huts conftructed of clay and rushes, exposed to the impetuofity of winds and waters, obliged to delve their wretched way from place to place with toil and difficulty, like a man who tempers clay for bricks with his feet, chilled through The previous advertisement afcribes thefe poems to one Ca. rey, a man of whom we know nothing, and whofe reputation, poffibly in his own time, never went beyond the circle of private friendship.' Kk 2 the the whole current of life with damp abforbing air, with fallow febrile countenances, unknown to cheerfulness, and unvifited by charityIn thofe regions, where people thus circumftanced fpend their pitiable days, is it not strange that any thing like the voice of poetry fhould be heard? Fair befal thee, thou kind and adventurous man of God! Right wife and learned clerk fair befall thee and thy children nine! Seeing thou, like another Ovid in Pontus, like another Orpheus in the infernal regions, or, rather, like Arion on the back of a dolphin, furrounded by the inhospitable main, haft introduced founds of humanity to an amphibious race of men! For this courteous deed, when, in the depth of winter, thy palfrey plunges deeper than his tail,-may't thou, may he emerge to day-light! May thy geefe, if geefe thou haft, when divefted of their plumage to fwell the couch of luxury, what time the general fcream runs from fen to fen, and the aftonished traveller apprehends that the race of geefe have rebelled against the race of men, and ftripped themfelves for battle, may thine at that critical juncture, when like a rat without a tail,' they fwim in ragged deformity, and fhew their nakedness to hide thy own, efcape the peftilent hail-ftorm that would quickly lay them low! For thou, though not the sweetest finger of Ifrael, haft fung one of the fongs of Sion in a strange land, yet hadft thou not one hofpitable willow whereon to hang thy harp. Art. 17. A poetical Effay on the Attributes of God. Part II. By the Rev. W. H. Roberts, Fellow of Eton College. 4to. I S. Wilkie. 1771. In our Review for March, we took notice of the first part of this poetical work, and obferved that though the Author's fentiments were common, his poetry did him no difcredit. The fame may be faid of the prefent performance, with this additional obfervation, that it contains more poetry than philofophy, and more orthodoxy than either. Whether Mr. Roberts has rightly thought it would contribute to the honour of the attributes, to reprefent the Supreme Being punishing the breach of one focial duty with an horrid dungeon, drear, and dark, Whence peftilential vapours taint the air, and to defcribe the wretch condemned to this abode, we fhall leave our Readers to determine. POLITICAL. Art. 18. Freedom of the Prefs, and Privileges of the Commons, confidered: In a Letter to a Country Friend. 8vo. 1 s. 6 d. Bell. 1771. In this very contemptible performance, the Author would fupport the conduct of the Houfe of Commons in their late transactions against the printers; but he feems to be equally a stranger to the nature of the English government, and to the rules of good compofition Page 261. Art. Art. 19. Tw Speeches of an Honourable Gentleman on the late Negociation and Convention with Spain. 8vo. 1771. I s. 6 d. Alnon. The fubject of the fpeeches before us is canvaffed in them at confiderable length, and with equal candour and ability. They prove, in the most irrefragable manner, that Spain, in the affair of Falkland s Ifland, offered a wanton and ignominious infult to the British flag; and that the conduct of our negociators, with regard to it, juftified fufficiently the difcontent and clamour which attended it. To fpread among all ranks of men a high sense of our national dignity and importance, has been efteemed no impolitic measure under fome adminiftrations; and to tarnish our national glory by tame and daftardly fubmiffions muft lead certainly to the most dangerous con fequences. How far, in tranfactions of this kind, our, rulers have fully difcharged the duties of their offices, or whether they have directed themfelves by motives pernicious to the freedom, the honour, and the fecurity of their fellow citizens, may hereafter be more clearly feen than at prefent. Art. 20. The Debate in the House of Commons, February 27, 1771, on the Bill to repeal a Claufe in the Act for quieting the Poffeflion of the Subject, commonly called the Nallum Tempus Act. 8vo. I s. 6 d. Almon. On the principle that nullum tempus occurrit regi, an estate, which had been above feventy years in the poffeffion of the Duke of Portland's family, was given to Sir James Lowther. The purpose of this grant feems to have been to carry an election, and to fupport the crown: a proceeding which has been cenfured as violent, tyrannical, and unjuft. It is curious to observe, in the publication be fore us, what arguments the friends of government employed to defend it. Art. 21. A Defence of fome Proceedings lately depending in Parliament, to render more effectual the Act for quieting the Poffeffion of the Subject, commonly called the Nullum Tempus A. With an Appendix, containing an Affidavit in the Court of Exchequer, concerning a Spoliation which has happened among the public Records relative to the Title of certain Eftates belonging to the Duke of Portland, lately granted by the Lords of the Treasury to Sir James Lowther. 8vo. I's. Almon. Strongly fupports the Duke of Portland's claim to the eftates of which Sir James Lowther obtained the grant. The above-mentioned affidavit is annexed to it, in order to prove that a fpoliation had been committed in the record relating to thefe eftates, and that men of rank, and of office, are capable of committing acts of the utmolt injuftice and oppreffion. Art. 22. The Philofopher; in three Coverfations. Part II. With a fecond Dedication to Lord Mansfield. 12mo. I s. 6d. Becket. 1771. That becaufe a man has once done well he must always do so, is by no means an eftablished maxim. In Authorifm, particularly, it rarely holds good; and of fecond parts, in general, we may fay as Cæfar faid of the fecond fegion, that they follow the first only na Kk 3 merically. |