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Of converfe gentle, and of placid mien,
Great in the focial, in the hostile scene:
Oh! may all honours on thy fteps attend,
Thou Patriot Chief, and Corfica's beft friend :
Oh! ever live rever'd thy hero-name

Deep in thy country's heart, enroll'd by fame ;~
Thou, whom in mercy Heaven all bounteous gave,
And pre-ordain'd thy native ifle to fave

From Genefe cruelty, and with liberal hand
To scatter arts and science thro' the land;

To cultivate and civilize thine ifle,

On which fair commerce fcarce had deign'd to smile;
Violence restrain, and keep in proper awe

Thy countrymen, by fix'd and wholesome law;
Law, not the dictate of a tyrant will;
Law, the refult of policy and skill,

Let fome describe, or others try to raise
The virtue, valour, worth of antient days;
Unto no age these virtues are confin'd,
But are as free, as lib'ral as the wind:
Worth, virtue, valour, are of every clime,
From fartheft Ganges to European Rhine.
In modern times, behold, the period come,
Paoli rivals chiefs of Greece, and Rome.'
We will give one more exaract: because we do not every day meet
with poetry like this!

But lo! mid clouds, where awful thunders roll,
And shake the northern and the fouthern pole,
Midft dreadful lightnings and their gleaming light,
Midft fhrouded darknefs and the fable night;
High on her adamantine throne uprear'd,
Thy genius, Cyrnus, now at length appear'd;
Bland were her robes, fhe held a fanguine fword,
While thus fhe fpake the joy enlivening word:
Rife, Cyrneans, rife! &c.'

It is poffible that the author, in the heat of compofition, might conceive this paflage to be fublime: but few of his readers, we fufpect, will be of the fame opinion.

Art. 31. The Farmer's Daughter. A Poetical Tale. By Chriftopher Anftey, Efq. 4to. is. 6d. Cadell, jun. and Davies. 1795... The wit and genius of the author of the BATH GUIDE have been long and univerfally acknowleged; and if any thing could add to the literary fame which Mr. A. has fo juftly acquired, it is the motive that gave rife to the prefent publication: which, to ufe his own expreffion, is to fet innocence on its guard, and to promote the caufe of virtue. The hiftory of the Farmer's Daughter is fhort and fimple, but, according to our author's account, founded on fact. She is fe duced by a military officer, and afterward deferted by him; filled

*The antient name of Corfica.
6

with

with anguifh, fhame, and remorfe, not without fome remains of love for the deftroyer of her innocence, the leaves her father's houfe, in fearch of her perfidious lover, and perishes through fatigue and cold, in one of the inclement nights of the last severe winter.

The verfification of this little piece is eafy and elegant: but we fear that the united labours of our Poets, Moralifts, and Divines, will avail but little towards leffening the number of feductions, unless the virtuous part of the FEMALE SEX, instead of encouraging and careffing rakes and libertines, will fhew a decided and marked contempt and abhorrence of the violators of female honour, and the infringers of the most facred rights of society.

Art. 32. The Gamiad: a Poem. Addreffed to T.W. C. Efq. M. P. To which are added, fome Poetical Sketches, the Virgin Offspring of an Infant Mufe. By Candour. 4to. 15. Boag. 1794. The object of this rhyming complaint-for a poetical fatire we cannot call it,-is fome great landholder, who, if we are to credit the complainant, has exercifed his power in a very arbitrary and oppreffive manner for the protection of his game.-The complaint, whether juft or otherwife, does not come before our court. All that it is neceffary for us to fay is, that the brief is not drawn up in a manner very likely to intereft the court either in favour of the plaintiff or his cause. With respect to the rest of the pieces, we do not well know what to make of the virgin offspring of an infant mafe: but the fcraps of verfe, to which the writer has prefixed this character, are too infignificant to merit notice, even as the first chirpings of an unfledged bird of Parnaffus.

Art. 33.

A Poetical Epifle to a Prince. 4to. 1s. Parfons, &c.

1795.

The first part of this performance contains a " biting" fatire on past indifcretions: but, towards the end, the angry bard grows more lenient, and promises (on reformation,) to drop the rod, and to affume the weapon of panegyric:

Then will I join to hail the aufpicious day,

That fhall thy virtues to the fight difplay;
When with a pleasure unattain'd before,

Each tongue fhall bless thee, and each heart adore.'

We hope and trust that this time will come, which the writer feems to anticipate with a degree of pleasure that may, perhaps, animate him to excel the prefent fpecimen of his poetic abilities, in refpe& to correctness and elegance.

Art. 34. Touchstone; or, the Analyfis of Peter Pindar: with Curfory Remarks on fome modern Painters, &c. 8vo. Is. 6d. Crosby. 1795

Various writers, by no means fuperior in poetic ability to Peter Pindar, are perpetually aiming their angry fhafts at him. Some of them, years ago, setting up for prophets as well as poets, ventured to

* On internal evidence, every reader of this epiftle will fill up the fuperfcription to the R Inhabitant of C-It-n House.

foretell

foretell his fpeedy confignment to oblivion: but, if they really deemed this a just fentence, in regard to his literary existence and fame, why do they, by means of their own performances and public attacks on his writings, endeavour to keep him out of the gulph? Why thus abfurdly act in oppofition to their own predictions?

The leaft exceptionable part of this fatiric production (next to the handfome printing,) is, in our apprehenfion, that which contains the author's obfervations on most of the principal painters of the prefent age, who have figured in this country; in which he fharply cenfures the very free criticisms on fome of them, [particularly on Wright and Weft] which have been occafionally thrown out by P. P.- who is himself an artist, and frequently finds amusement in the exercise of the pencil; and here our author embraces the opportunity of retaliating on the modern Pindar, by a severe attack on his favourite, Mr. Opie *.

Art. 35. Poems on feveral Occafions. By Mrs. Darwall, formerly Mifs Whately. 8vo. 2 Vols. 6s. Boards. Lowndes. 1794.. The character of these pleafing little volumes may be expreffed in a few words. Without any uncommon flights of genius, and fancy, the author expreffes natural fentiments, chiefly of the tender kind, in fmooth and easy verfe. If the reader's feelings fhould not be fired into rapture by " words that burn," they will be agreeably foothed into fympathy by the harmonious ftrains of a gentle mufe. The foft beauties of nature, and the tender fentiments of the heart, are the writer's favourite themes; and the poetical ftrings which accord with thefe the touches very agreeably. The general air of thefe pieces is fo uniform, that, in prefenting our readers with one fhort extract, we fhall give them a tolerably correct idea of the writer's talents. We fhall felect the following lines:

ON HEARING A BLACKBIRD SING EARLY IN MARCH.

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Welcome sweet harbinger of spring!

Thou fofteft warbler of the grove!

Thou bid't the dreary woodlands ring
With trains of mufic, joy and love.
Tho' scarce a fwelling bud is feen
To deck the hedge-row, fhrub or tree;
Tho' nature boafts no vivid green,
Yet is gay fpring announc'd by thee.
When, rifing from th' unbloffom'd spray,
Thy footy fav'rite meets thine eye,
How quick thou wing'ft thy liquid way,
Regardless of the ftormy fky!

True love, and well-try'd faith, can bear,
Uamov'd, the chilling wintry blast,
Sing o'er the fcanty hard-earn'd fare,
Nor e'er regret the funshine past.'

Most of our readers have probably heard that this ingenious artift, who very early mounted to confiderable eminence, was first introduced' to public notice by his friend and conftant patron P. P. Efq.

Except a pretty dramatic paftoral entitled Valentine's Day, thefe pieces are all short and detached, in the form of epiftles, odes, fonnets, fongs, and elegies. A few fonnets in the ftyle of elgant fim. plicity, written by two young friends of the author, are added at the clofe of the fecond volume.

Art. 36. Attica: or the Advantages and Difadvantages of a Popular Government. Adapted to the prefent Posture of Public Affairs. 8vo. IS. Lowndes. 1795.

In former times, when we were young, we remember it was the fashion to admire the ardent spirit of liberty which animated the Grecian Republicans. Athens was a name, at the mention of which every youthful bofom glowed with delight, contemplating it as

"The pride of fmiling Greece and human kind."

In the prefent more enlightened day, this juvenile paffion for liberty is difcovered to be founded in vulgar error; and Attica muft now be regarded by our youth as an object, not of admiration, but of averfion. This is the fpirit of the prefent poem. The author, in rhymes not altogether defpicable, inconfiftently endeavours to do credit to the British Conftitution by placing it in contraft with the free ftates of antient Greece; as if the former were the more valuable, the lefs it refembled the latter in their characteristic features of liberty. Art. 37. Difcord: an Epic Poem. Occafioned by obferving the prefent Troubles in France. By Henry Fisher. 4to. pp. 36. 25. Printed at Doncafter. Rivingtons, London. 1794.

Never was the auguft title of epic poem more difgraced than by its application to these verfes. They are, in truth, nothing better than the bombastic rant of political phrenzy against anarchifts and reformers. Art. 38. A Poem written towards the Clofe of the Year 1794, on the Profpect of the Marriage of the Prince of Wales. By the Rev. J. Hurdis, B. D. Profeffor of Poetry in the University of Oxford. * 4to.

Is. 6d. Johnson. 1795:

We have hitherto given, with fincerity, our hearty commendations" of the poetry of Mr. Hurdis,-If, on this occafion, we must be more niggardly of our plaudits, we hope it will not be ascribed to any decrease of our favourable difpofition towards this ingenious writer, but rather to his improper mode (as we conceive) of treating a delicate fabject; in which, ftrange as it may feem on fuch a theme, the angry politics of the times have taken place of that fimplicity and affectionate tendernefs for which his gentle mufe had been diftinguished. We can have no objection to his warmeft effufions of loyalty, and zealous attachment to the caufe of his country, in oppofition to every foreign and domeftic foe: but we cannot approve the introduction of fo many of the terrible Graces, into a poem wearing fo feftive an afpect; and in which no unpleasant imagery ought to have been admitted. His wild invocation to the "Great God of Battles," P. 5, and all the fubfequent pourtraiture of the "wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds," might well have been spared.

Art. 39. Private Life; a moral Rhapfody. Written at a Gentleman's
Country Refidence. By Henry Moore. 4to. pp. 20.
Law.

Is 6d.

This is one of thofe moderate performances of which the mediocrity, while it screens them from fevere cenfure, denies them the tribute of warm commendation. Thus much, however, we may say in its favour, -that, without entire originality, the fentiments are juft and moral; the imagery, though fparingly fcattered, is pleafing; the diation is fomewhat raised above fimple profe; and the numbers are not in

harmonious.

Art. 40. Fabion, a Poem. 4to. 25. Cadell jun. and Davies. 1795That the prefent fashionable manners are in many respects very cenfurable, and a proper object of satire, must be allowed by every man of obfervation and reflection: but the poet, when he fits down to write, ought to confider that other qualifications are necessary to insure him fuccefs, befides a judicious choice of a fubject; and critics may be fo unreasonable as to expect, in a fatirical poem, acuteness of observation, an extensive knowlege of human life and manners, and a quick perception of impropriety and indecorum, illumined by wit, or embellished by humour. In the poem before us, we fee nothing to applaud befides the goodness of the author's intentions. The verfification is infipid, languid, and fometimes incorrect; and the observations are trite. After having laboured through the 34 pages of which the work confifts, we have not met with a fingle paffage which can charm by elegance, please by fprightliness, or even arrelt our attention by novelty. The following fober addrefs to the ladies of Great Britain will, we fancy, confirm the judgment which we have paffed, in respect of this author's poetical talents:

⚫ Daughters of Britain, take a friend's advice,
Be not in trifles fcrupulously nice.

It fetters down the foul to cares minute,
And oft retards fome more belov'd pursuit:
It facrifices joys of nobleft kind,

To fordid things, beneath a well-taught mind,
That knows her mortal partner, fprung from earth,
Should ne'er make her forget her higher birth.
One rule, meanwhile, to heed, Oh, do not fail:
O'er filthy modes let cleanliness prevail.

What do I fee! that once attractive mouth,

Whose radiant fmiles erft charm'd each wond'ring youth,

Is now alas! by pungent duft difgrac'd,

Vile fnuff its loveliness has quite defac'd.

The rofeate tints are vanish'd; brown fucceeds,

Of deepest hue, and beauty captive leads,
Befmear'd, inflam'd, difarm'd of all her power,

I fcarce can recognize the wither'd flower.'

Art. 41. England preferved: an Hiftorical Play in Five Acts, as performed at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden. Written by George Watfon, Efq. 8vo. 25. Longman.

One of the most frequent mistakes, and the greateft, of the writers of tragedy of the prefent century, has been in the choice of their fubjects. Many of them have indeed involved the fate of princes, and what are called heroes: but few have underfood or developed (VolRav. SEPT. 1795.

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