It should be hither. I go thither, and there should remain until it is time to depart thence, and return hither, and continue here, and go hence. Though for the present our ships are shut up in our harbours to preserve them from capture, &c. P. 13. To detain our ships in port to be worm eaten, in order to prevent their capture, is about as wise, as if we were to lock up our cloaks in a trunk to be moth eaten, lest by wearing them abroad, they might be stolen from a friend's entry, as it has sometimes happened. Ships and cloaks were designed for use; and if the former are not employed, and the latter worn, the money expended in their purchase is thrown away. To discover the wisdom of the embargo, we must borrow the spectacles of Mr. Jefferson, or those of Mr. Allen, his admirer, who thus proceeds in his panegyrick on our most excellent president. The President of our country has for many years employed his talents in pursuing the public good, has displayed in life many virtues honorable to his char acter. p. 16. ART. 19. By Mad. De Corinna, or Italy. THIS work, though assuming the form of a novel, is of higher rank than most others of that name. The author has interwoven with her fable sketches of history, discussions of literary and moral topics, and pointed discriminating reflections, which raise the work much above the farrago of love, and absurdity, and ignorance, commonly denominated a novel. The fable is indeed, if not a secondary, a partial object of the performance, as the title seems to imply: It is therefore not greatly diversified with incidents. Oswald, Lord Nelvil, a nobleman of Scotland, is the hero. signed as an example of the true He is de national British character. Possessed of sensibility, taste, and nobleness seclusion of manners, heightened by of mind, but veiled by a reserve and the influence of unfortunate circumstances. In his travels in France, in the early period of his life, he had artful and designing woman, contracted an acquaintance with an character is depicted with much nicewhose ness of observation. This connexion, though exceedingly disagreeable to the father of Oswald, by the artcontinued for some time in spite of ful management of the lady, was his disapprobation. A further developement of circumstances at length totally dissolved it, but not till the death of his father had ensued, hastened by his anxiety for the conseIn this situation then we quences. story, his health impaired and his see Oswald, at the opening of the feelings lacerated by remorse, on a journey to Italy for the benefit of the climate. On his arrival at Rome, the first object he sees is the coronation of Corinna, at the capital; a ceremony, which in Italy has often been the reward of pre-eminent genius, and which is honoured by the names of Petrarch and of Tasso.Her beauty, her grace, and the genius her performances displayed, captivated the heart of Oswald.— Corinna was then living at Rome in the full blaze of literary glory, her birth, her origin and even her name a profound secret. She had fixed her residence there about five years before, and by her talents alone acquired her celebrity. Oswald is soon acquainted with her, and a-similar sensibility of disposition renders their affection mutual. No small part of the work is employed in describing the visits they paid in company to the palaces, the ruins, the antiquities, the statues, the pictures and the monuments of Rome. Corinna refuses for a long time to satisfy his curiosity respecting her name and quality. At length she informs him that she is the daughter of Lord Edgermond, the sister of Lucilia Edgermond, who had been designed by his father as the wife of Oswald. She relates her birth in Italy, her residence there for the first fifteen years of her life, and her passionate fondness for that country: that after the death of her mother, her father removed again to England, and married a second wife, the mother of Lucilia. She describes the disagreeable contrast between the manners of Italy and England: heightened by the uncom mon reserve and rigidity of their family economy. After the death of her father and her arrival at the age of independence, this contrast became insupportable, and she resolved to quit her stepmother and settle in Italy. In the course of the narrative Vol. V. No. VI. 2 S she mentions the intimacy of the families of Edgermond and Nelvil, and that she had herself been designed by the elder Lord Nelvil, for the wife of Oswald; but that he had altered his determination in favour of her sister. In consequence of this information, Oswald, to whom his father's wishes are a law, resolves to go to England, and examine the reasons of this determination; previously pledging his affections, and his hand if possible, to Corinna. On his arrival in England, he finds the objections of his father to have arisen from the eccentrick and elevated genius of the lady, which he thought unsuitable to his son's retired and domestick taste. This staggers his resolution, the beauty and modesty of Lucilia entice his affections, accidental circumstances prevent his hearing from Corinna, and he thinks her feelings altered. At this time Corinna, tortured by passion, had sailed to England, but finding the state of circumstances, without discovering herself or her journey, releases Oswald by letter from his engagements to her. He marries Lucilia, and Corinna returns to Italy, to expire in sorrow and despair; her genius faded, her imagination withered, and her spirit broken. Poetical justice is thus not strictly adhered to in the denouement of the fable, but even this may inculcate a lesson of respect for the mild intercourse and the gentle and un-. obtrusive virtues of social life; for it exhibits the misfortunes of genius and the curse of sensibility indulged. Delineations of national character are executed with the nice touches and the discriminating penetration of a master. Among many other characteristick remarks on the Italians, these may serve as an example. There is somewhat mysterious in the Italian character and imagination. You may perceive in it alternately the most unexpected traits of generosity and friendship, and the most gloomy and fearful projects of hatred and vengeance. in Italy there is no object of emulation. Life is there little more than a crowded dream, under a celestial sky: but give these people a substantial object and you would see in six months that all would learn and all understand. This remark certainly includes the women: but why instruct these, since the greater part of the men know nothing. They may perhaps isolate their hearts while cultivating their understandings; but these women would speedily become worthy of supeperiour men, did such become the object of their tenderness. To all of the least classical taste or information, descriptions of the scenes of Italy have an irresistible charm. We are delighted to recognize those objects, which are connected with the most pleasing remembrances of childhood, with the pleasantest excursions of fancy, and the purest amusements of life. Hence this work cannot but entertain by its descriptions of the antiquities of It. aly. When reading it, we seem to have returned home to those elegant temples and groves, where we walked in childhood. Every thing is familiar, and yet so illustrated either by beautiful reflection, or by lights drawn from the study of antiquity, that the patience is never wearied. The talent of extemporaneous poetical composition, of which considerable notice is taken in the course of the book, is a distinguishing peculiarity of the Italians, owing principally to the melodious character of their language. With them, common conversation is musick; and an eminent degree of feeling and imagination fits its possessor for an improvisatrice. The exertion of this talent is by no means a fiction, nor is it unfrequently displayed. Metastasio the poet of love, as he is called by Madam de Stael, relates in his posthumous letters, that about the age of sixteen he was continually called on to produce verses extempore. That on these occasions, he was wrought up by the power of his feeling and the enthusiasm of poetry in« to a temporary inspiration, his eyes sparkled and his cheeks grew inflamed, that at last a regard for his health occasioned his friends to prohibit the exercise of this talent. The principal objection against the value of the book, is the comparative insignificance, at which are rated the enjoyments of sober and rational society. Genius is a noble quality, and the pleasures it affords are transcendant and sublime ; but for that very reason they are not calculated for continualuse. They soon exhaust and fatigue the mind, which finds refuge joyfully in social intercourse. It is a fault then to speak lightly of the enjoyments of domes tick life. It is the medium through which only the delights of genius and talent can be felt; and real goodness and suavity of temper are no small counterbalance for the want of brilliant and imposing accomplishments. Such a caricature of domestick society, asthat in Corinna's relation of her early life, is therefore unpleasing to a correct mind. It cannot, however, have a very bad effect, for solitude, however we may reason upon it, while enjoying society, is immediately felt on the transition; like the air, we scarcely perceive that we use, though we cannot live in its absence Allowing however for the characters in whose mouths they are put, these sentiments are not very obnoxious, and the ultimate impression is somewhat removed by the catastrophe. We have said nothing of the style of this work, as we have viewed it only through the medium of a trans 1808.] The Embarge. woes, From whose dark womb unreckon'd mis- lation. Of this we can only observe Curse of our nation, source of countless We take this opportunity to correct from good authority a mistake which has found its way into the publick prints, respecting the author of this work. Madame de Stael was not banished from Paris for contained in obnoxious passages any Corinna. Her crime was that she made her house a place of rendezvous for a society of disaffected citizens. The officer of police informed her, that she must abolish this plan, or submit to leave Paris. She chose the latter, and is now resident in one of the provinces. ART. 20. The Embargo, or Sketches of the Times, a Satire. By a youth of Thirteen. Boston, printed for the purchasers. 1808. 12mo. pp. 12. IF this poem be really written by. a youth of thirteen, it must be acknowledged an extraordinary performance. We have never met with a boy at that age, who had attained to such command of language and to so much poetick phraseology. Though the poem unequal, and there are some flat and prosaick passages, yet is there no small portion is of fire and some excellent lines. The Much injur'd Commerce! 'tis thy fall ing cause, Thy dastard foes his keen reproach Fear low'rs before, and famine stalks be What words, oh, Muse! can paint the The saddening street,the desolated green; And sorrow droops in each desponding We regret that the young poet When shall this land, some courteous angel say, Oh ne'er consent, obsequious, to advance shame! Poor servile thing! derision of the brave! lectures on subjects generally acknowledged important, nor does the of episcopacy, or the validity of Doctor meddle with the divine right presbyterian ordination. We regret that this ridiculous controversy has been revived at New York by the 'puny whipsters' of modern theology, in which the great ecclesiastical gladiators of former times, left the victory undecided. Great and good men have adopted different modes of faith and worship, nor can the mere forms of religion be of much importance. We abhor bigotry, whether in an episcopalian, or a dissenter, in a trinitarian or an unitarian. If revelation were clear on these subjects, there could be no dispute. But since they are involved in obscuwhich he thinks on the whole most rity, let every one adopt that system, eligible, nor presume to censure the creed of others, who may be as sincerely pious, and as learned as himself. The man who first attacks the mode of worship adopted by another, is in fact the bigot, and will be avoided by all prudent men. Hic niger est, hunc tu Romane caveto For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right. RETROSPECTIVE NOTICE OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. ARTICLE 3. M. T. Cicero's Cato Major, or his Discourse of Old Age, with Explanatory Notes. Philadelphia, printed by Benjamin Franklin. 1744. 4to. pp. 159. (Continued.) THIS treatise of Cicero affords little to exercise the sagacity of a critick, or to interrupt the progress of a translator. Like all his writselves, it hardly presents a difficult ings on subjects not obscure in thempassage to delay the reader; and therefore from this translation of Mr. Logan it is not very easy to ascertain the accuracy of his knowledge of Latin. The notes are en |