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children of the brave men who fell on that memorable day of victory, a Song of the Battle of the Nile. This lyrical compofition will in no degree derogate from the reputation which its author has long fince enjoyed; it is a wild, irregular poem, the verfification is harmonious, and the imagery fometimes fublime. Mr. Sotheby's Battle of the Nile is a poem which does credit to his mufe; it were fuperfluous to praise it as a compofition; and if many of the fentiments be very repugnant to our feelings, as we have no room for difcuffion, we fhall not take upon us to condemn them.

The extravagant and indifcriminate panegyric in Mr. HARRAL'S Monody on the Death of Mr. John Palmer the Comedian, makes it ridiculous; Mr. H. has prefixed to this piece of Pindaric a review of his theatrical powers, with obfervations on the most eminent performers on the London stage. It is fuch a review as, we are afraid, will gain him more enemies than friends.

Mifs DAYE's Poems on various Subjects evince much taste, feeling, and imagination they have a still stronger claim to our approbation, as having a moral and benevolent tendency: Mifs D. has been introduced to us before, and we hope to cultivate the acquaintance ftill fur

ther.

Theodora, or the Gamefter's Progress, is the production of fome one, who, in all probability, would have made the tale a very interefting and ufeful one, had he contented himself with writing it in profe: its intereft is entirely deftroyed, and its utility, in confequence, in a great measure fo, by the unfortunate attempt of the author to verify.

Mrs. Moody's Poetic Trifles, as fhe diffidently calls them, are many of them extremely beautiful and delicate; they difplay ftrong fenfe and feeling: Mrs. M. however, is very unfuccefsful in her attempts to write blank verfe.

Sidney, a Monody, occafioned by the Lofs of the Viceroy Packet, in her Paffage from Liverpool to Dublin, in December, 1793. There is fo much mechanical forrow in thefe lines, as to render them ridicu lous.

The first part is published of The Patrons of Genius, a jatirical Poem, with Anecdotes of their Dependants, Votaries, and Toad-Eaters. This is executed with great ability: the author, however, feems to have one of th fe cauftic, acrimonious tempers, which nothing can delight. He fights with a two-edged fword; the fore.

ftroke cuts a whig, and the back-stroke a torv.

Henry and Acafto is a moral tale, in three parts, by the Rev. BRIAN HILL, exhibiting the various temptations to which young men are incident, and folicitoufly warning them to withstand them. The object and tendency of this tale are excellent, nor is the execution of it defpicable; the fame remark is precifely applicable to the Irish Boy, a ballad, dedicated to thofe, who, without any distinction of party, fubfcribe for the relief of the widows and orphans whom the calamities of Ireland have reduced to poverty.

Mr. RoscoE, whofe cultivated tafte and fine imagination have often delighted us, has tranflated The Nurfe, a poem, from the Italian of Luigi Tanfillo. The original, as a preceptive poem on one of the most important of fubjects, is recommended by the utility of its advice: the tranflation, to this folid excellence, has fuperadded all the beauty which poetry, on fuch a fubject, could beftow. Mr. R. with great propriety, has infcribed this work, in an elegant and affectionate fonnet, to Mrs. Roscoe, from whom eight babes have drawn their earliest nourish

ment.

Mr. ANDERSON's Poems on various Subjects rife but little above mediocrity: there are no pretenfions, however, to sublimity; there are no pompous words and high-flown metaphors; there is nothing, in fhort, which is in any degree offenfive: on the contrary, the eafe and fimplicity which distinguish them excite our intereft.

Mr. CHEETHAM, in the pamphlet of Poems which he has just published, has attempted a fpecies of compofition to which he is very unequal, namely, the ode; his fonnets and Anacreontics are pleafing and spirited.

Mr. RALPH was a clergyman in Cumberland here he refided, furrounded by the moft romantic fcenery of which England has to boaft. The inftruction of youth was his ferious employment, and the cultivation of a poetic genius was his amufement. The volume, which has just appeared, of his Poems, was certainly not intended by the author for publication; the MSS. were left in the hands of a lady at his death (which was upwards of half a century fince), who printed a few copies of them; and the prefent editor was induced to republish them, by the earnest defire of feveral perfons who venerated the memory of the author, to whom they were indebted for inftruction in their

youth.

youth. The poems are written in the Cumberland dialect, defcriptive, generally, of the manners and fcenery of the country: they have that fimplicity, and those delicate touches of nature, which never fail to intereft the heart. From Poetry, we proceed to

THE DRAMA.

Mr. WALKER, a member of the Arcadian Academy at Rome, has published, in one quarto volume, an Hiftorical Memoir on Italian Tragedy, from the earliest Period to the prefent Time; illuftrated with Specimens and Anolyfes of the most celebrated Tragedies; and interfperfed with occafional Obfervations on the Italian Theatre, and brographical Notices of the principal tragic Writers of Italy. This work will be truly acceptable to the lovers of Italian literature; and we doubt not but the labours of Mr. Walker, Mr. Rofcoe, and Sir Richard Clayton, will direct the attention of their countrymen to the treafures of learning, which are fo abundantly fcattered through

that claffic climate.

The Battle of the Nile is a dramatic poem, written on the model of the Greek tragedy; the idea is profeffedly taken from the Perfe of Efchylus, and the author has been fomewhat more fuccefsful in his imitation than most who have aimed at it before him.

The Captive of Spilburg, altered from the French drama, Le Souterrain, is published, with a neat preface by the tranflator.

Every now and then we hear a charge brought against the managers of our national theatres, of having detained the manufcripts of authors who fend them their plays for approbation; afterwards of returning them, with a polite refufal to have any farther concern with them, and, almoft immediately, of bringing on the ftage fome drama, immaterially altered, perhaps, from the rejected manufcript. More than one inftance of this kind have Jately been made public; and the managers have not condefcended to vindicate themfelves (at least their vindication has not reached us) from the difagreeable and ignominious charge.

Mr. REYNOLDS's Cheap Living is faid to have been pirated in this manner from The School for Ingratitude, a comedy in five acts, which has lately been published. The author infinuates, in no equivocal terms, that unfair ufe has been made of his manufcript by the managers of Drurylane; he ftates, that the coincidence of character, fentiment, and expreffion, between his own comedy and that which is attributed to Mr. Reynolds," are

as

much beyond the power of chance, as is the fyftem of the univerfe." There certainly is not much in the School for Ingratitude that, in our eftimation, would be at all worth borrowing; but this does not alter the nature of the grievance; and we are "decidedly of opinion, that any unfair use which managers make of any manufcript fent for their approbation, is an infringement of copy-right, and an actionable offence.

Falfe and True is a play in three acts, which was performed at the Hay-market theatre with fome applaufe: there are a few good fcenes in it, but the characters are extravagant, and overcharged.

Mr. BoADEN is already known as a writer for the ftage; he dramatifed Mrs. RADCLIFFE's Italian with fome little fuccefs: he has attempted the fame with Mr. LEWIS's Monk, and has spoiled it. The play is called Aurelio and Miranda ; the characters, in his original, are Ambrofio and Matilda.

The poverty of our own dramas continues to prompt our activity in tranflating : KOTZEBUE, one of the most popular dramatists in Germany, has alfo established his popularity in England. We noticed feveral of his plays on a former occafion ; to the number we are now enabled to add others, none of which will derogate from the celebrity of the author.

Mr. THOMPSON has tranflated Adelaide of Wulfingen, a tragedy in four acts, exemplifying the barbarity which prevailed during the thirteenth century; and Mifs PLUMPTRE has tranflated, with much fpirit and accuracy, The Count of Burgundy. The plot of the former of these plays is complex and horrible in the last degree; on both which accounts, it is not likely to be fo favourite a compofition in this country as the latter, where the fable is remarkably fimple, and where the excellence of the piece confifts in delicate delineation of character.

The Reconciliation is the the name of one of Kotzebue's plays, drawn from the catastrophe: two brothers, through the amiable interference of benevolent phyfician, Dr. Blum, are reconciled to each other, after a law-fuit of fifteen years. Thefe domeftic ftories are thofe whofe intereft is most permanent: Kotzebue, therefore, in making them the foundation of his dramas, is erecting a reputation, which cannot be short-lived.

Mifs Plumptre and Mr. Thompson have both employed themselves in tranflating, from the original German of the fame author, The Virgin of the Sun. Here

Kotzebue

Kotzebue has widely deviated from,domeftic manners. The scene lies in Peru I the time of action, the era of the Spanish conqueft! Notwithstanding the incidents and characters are fo very remote from thofe which occur in the prefent times, yet has the author, by the interefting fituations in which his chief characters are placed, by a rapid fucceffion of events, and a delineation of undifguifed and artlefs love, contrived to render The Virgin of the Sun as generally admired as any of his productions. The tranflations are both of them executed with fpirit, and, from their coincidence with each other, we may add, with fidelity.

The Noble Lie is a counterpart of the Stranger: it feems that in Germany, as in England, fome fqueamish moralifts objected to the reconciliation between Mrs. Haller and her husband; they thought that it would be impoffible to place any fecurity in her repentance, and, of courfe, that the future happiness of the couple would be destroyed. Kotzebue, in the prefent play, has reprefented the reconciled pair in the enjoyment of confidence and repofe as the hufband, however, perceives that the recollection of her former error difturbs the ferenity of his wife's mind, he invents a "noble lie," in order to reduce himself, in her estimation, to her own level. The Stranger tries to make his wife believe that he had feduced a peafant girl, and thus endeavours to put himfelf upon a par with her. This is but a very poor trick; for, if the be a woman of fuch feeling and fine understanding as fhe is reprefented, far from enjoying a triumph over the degradation of her hufband's character, this degradation would inflict additional forrow on herfelf. If those who objected to the immorality of the Stranger are fatisfied with this filly manoeuvre, Kotzebue will have fucceeded in his intention: and that is enough for him. Two tranflations have appeared of this piece.

It is truly aftonishing, that, after the detection which has taken place, the author of Vortigern fhould ftill infift upon its being the production of Shakspeare. This play is published, together with Henry the Second, an biftorical Drama, fuppofed to be written by the Author of Vortigern. We have no patience to make any comments on fuch foolish forgeries.

A tragedy, On the Death of Major André has been imported from America. Many circumstances attend the melancholy ftory of Major André, which are fo admirably calculated for dramatic effect,

that we were never more difappointed, than in the perufal of this cold and infipid piece: fubjoined to it, however, are Major André's fatirical poem of The CowChace, with the proceedings of the courtmartial, and other authentic documents concerning him. These appendices give a value to the pamphlet.

Mifs HANNAH BRAND'S Plays and Poems have that tameness and infipidity, which, in fcreening them from notice, will fecure them from criticism.

VOYAGES, TRAVELS, AND TOURS.

We here find many interefting and very valuable volumes: we fhall therefore pay them all the attention which the nature of our article will admit.

Mr. SAMUEL HULL WILCOCKE has tranflated from the original Dutch, in three octavo volumes, illuftrated with maps, the Voyages to the Eaft Indies, by the late Splinter Stavorinus, Efq. Rear-Admiral in the Service of the States General. Thefe volumes, now become exceedingly interefting from the circumstance that almoft all the Dutch fettlements in the Eaft have been taken poffeffion of by the Englifh, are curious, moreover, because of the very fcanty knowledge which, from the former commercial jealousy of the Dutch, we poffefs refpecting many of thofe fettlements. We have a curious account of the king of Bantam's houfehold: his majesty's body-guard, and indeed all fuch fervants as are admirted within the palace, are of the female fex! Captain STAVORINUS was prefent at a grand enter tainment given by his majefty to the com pany's fervants: behind his chair stood one of his life-guards, armed with a large gold kris, which the continually kept raised on high: two female flaves were feated next to him on the ground, one holding his tobacco-box and betel-box, either of which, when he wanted it, was handed to him wrapped up in a filk handkerchief; and the other holding in her hand a gold spitting-pot for the occafional accommodation of his majefty! The tranflator of this work, which comprises a full and accurate account of all the present and late poffeffions of the Dutch in India and at the Cape of Good Hope, has executed his tafk with fidelity and diligence. To thofe objects of natural hiftory which Stavorinus has described, he has supplied the Linnean names, and has illuftrated the text with many very valuable and interesting notes.

Captain CROKER's Travels through feveral Provinces of Spain and Portugal afford more entertainment and information,

than

than could poffibly have been anticipated from a prifoner of war, who was prohi bited from entering into either of the provinces, Cadiz or Seville. It was in the year 1780 that Captain Croker, with his regiment, failed for Jamaica on board the Morant, a merchant fhip, with fixty or feventy other veffels, efcorted by his ma jefty's fhip the Ramillies, and was taken, together with nearly the whole convoy, by the combined fleets of France and Spain. The governor of Cadiz, the Conde O'Reilly, would not suffer any of the officers to enter that city: they were conducted to Xeres, and thence to Arcos, a town in the interior of Andalusia, where lodgings were provided for them among the inhabitants, who are reprefented as particularly hofpitable and kind.-Arcos was felected by the Condè as the place of refidence for the English, left the officers fhould injure themselves by extravagance; and Captain Croker fays, that the governor fhowed infinite judgment in his felection, for if any fpot in Spain could inculcate temperance, it certainly must be Arços: here are neither taverns, coffeehouses, nor places of public entertainment of any kind. Beef, fays he, is the colour of mahogany, not quite fo hard; but as the bullock has nothing to feed on but ftraw and barley, the meat is incredibly tough. It will not excite furprife that the English were confidered as a luxurious people, when Captain Croker tells us that he never faw a Spaniard drink more than a fingle glass of wine, and that the common beverage of the natives is water, cooled with ice from the Ronda, a lofty range of mountains between Arcos and Gibraltar. The Condè O'Reilly is faid to have declared that the Englith in Andalufia, about one hundred perfons, ate more beef, and drank more wine, than the camp at San Roque; and I verily believe, fays Captain Croker, it is true!

Captain COLNETT has published a narrative of his Voyage to the South Atlantic, and round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, for the Purpose of extending the Spermaceti Whale-Fibery, and other Objects of Commerce," &c. &c. Captain Colnett, in confequence of a nomination for that purpose by the admiralty, failed on the 4th of January 1793 in the Rattler, a floop of war of 374 tons burthen, having a crew of 25 perfons, men and boys, and a whaling-mafter, on board. He doubled Cape Horn on the 11th of April, and is of opinion that the beginning of winter, or winter itself, is the best seafon for paffing the Cape. There is an island

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to the eaft of it, Staten-land, where he thinks that a fettlement would enable us to carry on the black whale fishery in the higheft fouthern latitudes; he recommends Staten-land as a rendezvous both for men of war and merchant fhips. On the 10th of July, fpermaceti whales were seen in the ifland La Plata: towards the end of Auguft, in latitude 16° 13', he faw feve ral more, and killed three of them: "These whales were very poor, having "fcarce blubber enough to float them on "the furface of the water; and when finched, that is, deprived of their fat, "their carcafes funk like a stone. They "yielded altogether but fifteen barrels of "oil." Captain C. was drfappointed in his expectation of meeting with spermaceti whales off the fouthern parts of California; he fell in with feveral, and killed four between Cape Dolce and Quito, at which latter place he touched, and found ftill the huts ftanding which are mentioned in Ludlinfon's voyage. The general rendezvous for thefe whales he conceives to be off Albemarle ifle (one of the Galapagos), where he faw great numbers of them, and killed four. Captain Colnet fuppofes that they come hither from the coafts of Mexico and Peru, and the gulf of Panama, in order to calve; and he advifes all whalers to cruife between the fouthend of Narborough ifle and the rock Rodondo. Captain Colnet was twenty-two months on his voyage, during which period he loft but one man, and that man by an accident, out of his whole crew, notwithstanding every individual, at one time, was more or lefs affected with that dreadful diforder, the yellow fever: a circumftance which is in the highest degree prefumptive of the captain's care and attention. This work is, in many refpects, a valuable publication; and it is with regret we mention that it is dif graced with numerous grammatical inaccuracies. In the journal of a fea-officer we do not look for the precifion of a philologift; but inaccuracies, which any literary friend would have corrected, are justly confidered by the public as an af front.

Mr. MUNGO PARK, the abftract of whofe travels into Africa, printed by the African Affociation, we mentioned at fome length in our laft Retrofpect, has now publifhed thofe Travels in a fingle quarto volume. The editor of that abftract, however, made fo very judicious a felection from the original minutes of Mr. Park, that but little additional matter is to be found in the prefent publication. . It

is anxiously to be hoped, however, that this circumstance will not prevent thofe who are enabled to purchase this volume, from contributing their mite towards the encouragement of fo fagacious, intrepid, and indefatigable a traveller.

Major TAYLOR has published, in two octavo volumes, Travels from England to India in the Year 1789, by the Way of Tyrol, Venice, Scandaroon, Aleppo, and over the great Defert to Bufora. Major T. is of the Bombay establishment, and is already known as the author of fome useful Confiderations on a more speedy Communication between Great Britain and her Eastern Dependencies. The prefent is by no means a fcientific work, but will be very useful to travellers who confult it, as affording an account of the expenfe of travelling, and as giving them various inftructions, from which they may derive advantage.

We have accompanied Mr. WARNER in his Second Walk through Wales with great pleasure; he retains all his good humour and vivacity; he is equally obfervant of every thing which is entitled to the obfervation of an antiquarian, a philofopher, and a naturalift, and is in every refpect the fame agreeable and communicative companion that he was before.

The honourable Mrs. MURRAY's Companion and ufeful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland, to the Lakes of Westmoreland, Cumberland and Lancashire, &c. is a work, which, in point of utility, convenience, and entertainment, has been furpaffed by many others of a fimilar nature. NOVELS AND ROMANCES. MADAME DE GENLIS, whofe fafcinating pen has so often been employed in the caufe of virtue and morality, has written a novel which has just been tranflated into English: Rah Vows, or the Effects of Enthufiafm. The defign of the prefent work is to fhow" the dangerous confequences of exceffive delicacy and extreme fenfibility:" to point out the necef fity of governing the paffions, and of making our fineft feelings, and moft amiable affections, fubfervient to the mandates of reafon. There is fo much inanity, or, perhaps, mischief, in many of our modern novels, that it is highly grateful when fuch a one as the prefent comes before us, which we can recommend to the attention both of mothers and daughters, with confidence of their approbation.

Helen Sinclair has merit: although it affords no striking display of character or variety of incident, yet it has the fterling merit of being favourable to the interefts of morality and religion.

MONTHLY MAG, XLVIL

The Caftle of St. Donats, evinces its author to be a man of talents and obfervation: we cannot fay that we have mech reafon to think fo of the author of an hiftorical romance, entitled, The Castle of Beefton; who in jumbling together fiction and fact, has produced a very motley and inconfiftent story.

Mr. SURR has felected for the subject of a novel the ftory of George Barnwell: it is fcarcely poffible for a writer to do himself much credit in working up thefe hackneyed ftories; whether a celebrated novel is converted into a drama, or a drama into a novel, in either cafe it is not in the author's power to excite his reader's intereft and attention by the charm of novelty. Mr. Surr feems capable of writing an original ftory, and we should, in all probability, read it with pleasure.

Norman Banditti, or the Fortress of Conflance, by FELIX ELLIE, is a tale in which there is too much reafon to believe that the author has delineated the forrows of his own life: it difplays tafte, genius, and talents, and warmly excites the affec tions.

Mrs. HANWAY's Ellinor, or the World as it goes, is, on the whole, a refpectable production; the ftyle is eafy, though fomewhat elaborate, and the narrative is fimple but not deftitute of incident.

Mr. CHARLES LAMB's Tale of Rofamond Gray and old blind Margaret is one of thofe tender and pathetic stories which infinuate themselves into the most obdurate bofom, and for the moment excite its reluctant fenfibility: it evinces a most pious and benevolent difpofition, and if put into the hands of children, whom it will certainly delight, it cannot but be attended with advantage.

Mrs. ROBINSON's Falfe Friend, as a novel, has moft of the faults which belong to her Walsingham: the characters are extravagant, the incidents crowded and perplexing, and the ftyle diffuse: as a domeftic ftory, in which the author tells the tale of her own woes, it excites our fincereft fympathy.

Mr. D'ISRAELI, whose satirical novel, Vaurien, deservedly gained him the reputation of a lively and acute writer, has lately published a volume of Romances; they display a rich and luxuriant imagination; and the only fault we have to find with them is the style in which they are writ ten. There are many grammatical errors, but thefe do not half fo much disgust us, as the affected and pedantic phrafes which occur in almost every page: we had much rather fee Mr. D'Ifraeli in a plain genteel 4 A

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