placed in a ftrong point of view; though (as is remarked by the author) the Veto itfelf is conceded, would have afforded little real fecurity to the crown or to the established church. The author failly confiders, what probability there is of fatisfying the Roman Catholic body by granting what they now afk; or of freeing Ireland from difcontent by fuch a meafure? The admiflion of perfons of their religion to feats in Parliament, and to all offices of power and truft, would not, he contends, fatisfy them, while they are without an establishment for their clergy, and re compelled to pay tythes to a proteftant eftablishment. Thefe, and in fhort the protellant afcendency, were, he fhows, the real grievances complained of at the time of the late rebellion; the object of which was to diffolve the connection with Great Britain. The pro. teflants of Ireland, he well obferves, have the first claim to our favour and protection, and he ftrongly infifts, that the protellant church in that kingdom would eventually be deftroyed, and even the church establishment in England materially endangered, thould the favours fo imperiouily demanded by the Roman Catholics, be granted. The limits of toleration have, in his opinion, been extended to the utmost bounds which public fecurity will permit, and privileges, fuch as the elective franchife, have been granted to Irifh Roman Catholics, which have materially tended to endanger the conflitution of that country. Thefe, however, as being part of the union, he would hold facred and invio able. "It will appear alfo, from a reference to the feveral acts of parliament refpecting the revolution, the union with Scotland, and the title and fucceffion of the Houfe of Brunfwick to the throne, that the intention and fpirit, as well as the letter, of all these feveral acts, whether taken feparately, or confidered as one legiflative whole, forbid any farther conceffion; and that the coronation oath, whether interpreted literally, or with reference to the history of times in which it was fettled, and to its fubfequent alterations at he union with Scotland, and to the principles of all the acts of parliament exifting when it was thus framed, requires, confcientiously and conttitutionally, an unalterable determination in the crown to refift any farther conceffion; and that the conftitutional principle on which the right to the throne is founded would be abandoned by granting the prefent claims of the Roman Catholic petitioners. I am alfo convinced, by referring to the principles acknowledged in every age, both paft and prefent, that the doctrines and tenets of the Roman Catholic church are emphatically femper eadem, at all times dangerous to a Proteftant establishment, particularly if thofe profeffing them are to be admitted to ftations of influence and power in the legislature or or government, which is clearly exemplified in the late Irish re bellion. I am alfo juftified in concluding, that no hopes can reafonably be entertained that the minds of the Irish Roman Catholics can be fatisfied with any thing fhort of the entire poffeffion of the church-establishment in Ireland; nor do I conceive that even that poffeffion would entirely fatisfy them. "I muft alfo profefs it to be my decided opinion, that the Proteftants of Ireland have the first claim to favour and protection, that all the beft intereft of the nation, every religious, civil, and focial obligation require that the Proteftant caufe fhould be fostered and encouraged and that, if the large and important privileges, already extended to the Roman Catholics, will not preferve their loyalty to the king and conftitution, it would be most im politic to grant them any more power, as even their advocates muft allow that any farther conceffion would only produce farther demand, and that it would in no wife tend to produce quiet and content; but, on the contrary, that it would aggravate the evil.” P. 67: Such is the fubftance of arguments brought forward with Angular modefty, but enforced with no fmall ability, and, generally fpeaking, cloathed in energetic, but temperate fanguage. They cannot indeed be expected to be wholly new ; fince the fubject to which they relate has already been fo frequently and fo fully difcuffed. Yet on a queftion of fuch vital importance to the country, on the decifion of which the peace and happiness of futufe ages may depend, thofe reafonings which (to us at least) appear founded on the most conftitutional principles, and tending to the wifeft determination, cannot, we think, be too often repeated or too ftrenuously enforced. The noble author therefore has our best thanks, and is entitled to our warmeft recommendations of his able, perfpicuous, and (in our opinion) unanfwerable work. BRITISH CATALOGUE. POETRY. ART. 12. The Genius of the Thames: a Lyrical Poem, in twe Parts. By Thomas Love Peacock. 8vo. 147 PP. 756 Hookham, Jun, 1810. Some former poems of this writer have already been noticed by us with approbation: the prefent claims, in our opinion, very See Brit. Crit. vol. xxxI. p. 82. BRIT, CRIT, VOL. XXXVI, AUG, 1810: high high and almost unqualified applaufe. The beauties of the river Thames, and the interefting fcenes it prefents to us, have been celebrated incidentally by our moft diftinguished poets, but we do not recollect an entire poem in its praife, that has attracted much attention. The writer before us has rather dilated the fubject beyond its natural extent, and towards the end of the first part, introduced the needlefs, and to us, uninterefting Episode of a Druid flain by a Roman youth, and predicting, in his dying moments, the downfall of the Roman empire. In a few paf fages alfo, the warmth of his imagination has betrayed him into expreffions that will not bear the test of found criticifm. With thefe exceptions, the poem appears to us one of the most fpirited, and, of its kind, one of the beft that have lately fallen under our notice. One or two fpecimens will, we think, juftify this opinion, and induce our readers to perufe the whole. The first part of this poem confifts chiefly of a comparison be tween the Thames and other rivers, both of our own and foreign countries. All thefe are admirably, and in general, accurately defcribed. The author's motive for preferring the Thames to thofe rivers which flow in more genial climes, and amidft more romantic fcenery, is given in the following energetic lines. "Along thy courfe no pinc-clad fteep, No alpine fummits proudly tower; The charms Italian meadows fhower; Where beauty refts at noontide hour; The orange grove, whofe blooms exhale Which happier climes than thine difplay?" A filver ftream o'er fands of gold, And deck'd the plain, and rear'd the grove, *This expreffion is perhaps hardly juftifiable. Rev. If man defile the beauteous fcene, There are many paffages equal, and fome perhaps fuperior to this in originality and poetical merit: but we have felected it as peculiarly interefting. In the fecond part, the course of the Thames is traced from its fource near Kemble in Gloucestershire, till it joins the Medway, and opens into the fea. The moft diftinguished fpots near which it paffes, (fuch as Oxford, Windfor, Twickenham, Richmond, Greenwich,) are poetically and feelingly defcribed. Our limits will not permit us to dwell on thefe paffages; amongft which we peculiarly noticed the characters of the poets, Pope and Thomfon. But we cannot refift the temptation of laying before our readers the patriotic and ener getic paffage which concludes the poem. "Oh Britain! oh my native land! N 2 Ah! Ah! fure, if skill and courage true ART. 13. The Caledonian Comet. 8vo. 32 pp. 1s. 6d. Dwyer, 1810. The author of this little poem combats with fome spirit the taste for the "old ballad ftyle of poetry," as he terms it, which has been rendered popular by the talents and fuccefs of Mr. Walter Scott. We certainly are not partial to that ftyle, and would rather fee a man of genius employed in the compofition of works more claffical in their conftruction, and more beneficial in their general tendency. Yet poets are almoft invariably moft fuccefsful in thofe compofitions to which they are led by their inclination and tafte; and the writer in queftion has, in one of his prefatory epiftles, fairly told us that he must indulge the bent of his genius to poetical romances. Thefe romances will, in all probability, maintain their popularity till fome equal or fuperior genius fhall adopt a different tyle of poetry. The prefent proteft against the prevailing tafte is not, however, devoid of talent, as the following lines, which conclude the poem, will testify: "Spirits of poefy fublime, Of elder and of later time, Who fweetly ftruck the plaintive string, To guard your heav'n-defcended art! |