Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

After a variety of laurel-crowns, garlands, and triumphal arches, prepared for the victorious Alexander, here comes a little chaplet of Parnassian weeds. Surely this offering might have been spared, since it is not creditable to the hand that presents it, nor worthy of the august brow for which it is intended. On joyful occasions, the bard who gives his improvisatore effusion is pardoned some faults: but a printed ode in the following style cannot pass muster:

Scarce had thy youthful brow

The regal round engirt, in happy hour,
When feeling for thy fellows trampled low

(Earth's monarchs once!) by Gaul's prevailing pow'r,
Germania's fields thou sought,

And aiding Asia, hosted Europe brought.'

For the reputation of the British muse, we hope that this ode has little chance of meeting the eye of the Emperor Alexander. Art. 15. Ode to Wellington. By the Author of the "Ode to the Emperor Alexander." 8vo. Is. 6d. Cadell and Davies. "Who would not sing" for Wellington? and though we cannot add, "He knew himself to sing and build the lofty rhime," he has achieved fame so truly towering that every muse is ready to build for him the lofty rhime, and, conceiving that more honour is received than conveyed in this service, will adopt the humble language of Pope,

"Say shall my little bark attendant sail,

Pursue the triumph, and partake the gale?"

The minstrel before us, notwithstanding the improved dexterity with which he here strikes his lyre, feels himself unequal to the grandeur of his subject, which ought to "call another Grecian from the skies," and in the introduction humbly mentions his 'weaker wing.' It is unfortunate for the bard that many others have preceded him in the same track; and that the victories of the deliverer of Spain have been so often recounted, that it requires genius of the highest order to invest this favourite topic with any air of novelty. One rule, however, should be observed even by the lyric muse, who in her wildest flights ought not to lose her memory, viz. the order of events; and therefore the victory of Busaco should not be mentioned before that of Talavera.

This short ode opens with welcoming the hero to his home, and concludes with wishing that, as a reward for the toils of war, he may long enjoy peace:

• Wake the voice of peace and pleasure!
Lead the dance to Lydian measure!

Now retreating, now advancing,

Jocund see the happy swain,

Beauty's smile the bliss enhancing,

Featly foot the daisied plain !

Land of my heart! may singing shepherd tend,
Long on thy slopes, in peace, his fleecy care;

And

And peaceful long the whistling plowman wend

His homeward way, nor dream of rampant war!
And long may he who bade the storm to cease,

Crown'd with a people's love, bask in the sun of peace! !'

On the cover of this pamphlet, the public is informed that the whole proceeds of the two odes (free of expence) will be applied in aid of the fund for the relief of the sufferers by war in Germany.'

Art. 16. Midnight Dreams; or prophetic Visions of the R-1 Blood. A Poem, by Peter Pindar, Esq. 8vo. 2s. Johnston. "Beware of counterfeits," is a hint as necessary in Pater-nosterrow as in Cheapside. To fight under false colours is a common ruse de guerre with authors; and we more than suspect that, in the present instance, some artful fox has put on the skin of the old lion: but alas! it is the skin without the muscle. In this and the two recent productions which bore the name of our old facetious friend, an uniformity of stanza prevails which is unlike the sportive and lyric muse of the original Peter. He, we fear, has done with wit, and his self-made namesake follows him haud passibus aquis, These Midnight Dreams contain satirical sketches of the r- brothers, and are meant in some instances "to speak daggers," but form on the whole a heavy detail, running through 152 stanzas. The recitations of the r-l dreamers, viz. the Pe R -t and the Dukes of Y-k, Cl

e,

and Cd, disclose facts which conscience, in the visions of the night, is apt to display. To the last, the ghost of S-s, with a razor in his hand, makes his appearance; and many stanzas are employed to aid our recollection of this melancholy story. The subject is indeed too serious for satire; and the stanzas which are meant to hold the Pe up to ridicule are too coarse and low.

Art. 17. The Poet's Disaster; or a Peep at Parnassus. Humbly inscribed to certain candid Reviewers. 8vo. 18. 6d. Riving

tons.

It seemed that in a horse-pond foul,
Most impiously cast!

I had, as you have lately seen,

All but breathed out my last.'

A set of odd-like fellows in masquerade' are accused of having given the author this foul ducking, and by these odd-like fellows he means Reviewers; who, in his partial judgment, have treated his muse too roughly on some former occasion. An application is then made to Criticism, by way of finale, who is required to be candid, though sternly just." The author, however, does not know what he asks; for were critics, with the very soul of candour, to be strictly just in their strictures on this poem, he would dream a second time of being soused in a horse-pond.

Art. 18. The Poetical Works of Richard Hatt, Author of the "Hermit," &c. including Supplementary Poems; with a Letter to the Rev. John Sim, A.B. Second Edition. Crown 8vo.

5s. 6d. Boards. Westley and Co. 1814.

[ocr errors]

As

As no writers are more vain and more irritable than poets, none are more hurt by the strictures of criticism. Mr. Hatt was probably offended by our notice of his "Hermit," in Vol. lxiv. N. S. p. 102.; and we should augment his displeasure if we delivered our real opinion of the poems now before us: but, as he appears to be unfortunate, and as the lyre fell unenjoyed from his hand at the sixth sheet,' we shall abstain from remarks.

Art. 19. The Russian Chiefs: an Ode. By George Hardinge, Esq. Second Edition. 4to. Booth. 1814. We again mention this ode, which we introduced to our readers in the Review for August last, in order to apprize them of the name of its distinguished author, who now avows the production; and to inform them that it has not only undergone a very minute and extensive revision, but has received several additions, in the text and in the notes. The punctuation has been throughout much amended, the obscurities have been removed, and some of the names of the eulogized chiefs are introduced. For all these and other attentions to our former remarks, our best bow of acknowlegement is due. Our hint of the parallel between the boat of Xerxes and the sledge of Napoleon has also been adopted, and has occasioned the introduction of thirtysix new lines, which have considerable felicity. A Preface, moreover, has been added; in which the author speaks of the unexpected glorious changes that have occurred since he wrote the ode, and compli ments the magnanimous conduct of Alexander with merited force." Art. 20. The Tyrant's Downfall; Napoleonics; and the White Cockade. By William-Thomas Fitz-Gerald, Esq. 8vo. 2s. Longman and Co, &c. 1814.

1

For a series of years, Mr. Fitz-Gerald has poetically recorded his detestation of Bonaparte, whom he terms the monster of our times. To shew how uniform his sentiments have been respecting the fallen tyrant, he has reprinted various extracts from his Addresses to the Literary Fund, from the period of the French Revolution in 1799 to the year 1813; in which the blood nurs'd Corsican' is painted in the most abhorrent colours, and his fate is foretold. In the Address called The White Cockade,' first published Jan. 13. 1814, so indignant is the poet against Napoleon, that he calls on the

assassin

To rid the world, by one avenging deed,

Of Him who made devoted millions bleed!'

Better advice follows, which exhorts the French to be again themselves,'' to break their chains,' and welcome home the White Cockade.'The Tyrant's Downfall is an address which was recited by the author to the Literary Fund at Freemasons' Hall, May 5, 1814. Here, with undiminished if not with increasing energy, Mr. Fitz-Gerald pursues his subject, applauds the part which our statesmen and heroes have taken in the war, compliments England as the head and heart of the league, eulogizes our confederates, and exults in the completion of his former predictions by the downfall of Bonaparte.

REV. JULY, 1814:

The

The World's Oppressor triumph'd in our times,
And upon crimes accumulated crimes!

Still on his steps did desolation wait,

And trembling nations thought his frown was fate!
But Heaven resolv'd that France should rue the hour
That gave the Corsican imperial power;
And those who made his hated cause their care,
Humbled in dust the retribution share!
The tyrant's hopes of universal sway,
Perish'd in blood on Leipsic's awful day!
Baffled and beaten the Usurper flies
Before the veteran Blücher's eagle eyes!
Th' invaded Russians, in their turn, invade
Tavenge their burning towns in ashes laid;
Like rolling billows on the raging main,

The flames of Moscow reach the banks of Seine;
And France has learn'd, in bitterness of woe,
"What fatal ills from mad ambition flow:
Compell'd, while vengeance laid her cities waste,
The poison cup she drugg'd

to more than taste!
For all the tears that mourning nations shed,
Have been aveng'd upon her guilty head.
Though, from the battles rage, the German glows
To visit years of sufferings on his foes,

Though loud for vengeance every Russian cries,
The Kremlin's flames still glaring in his eyes!
From northern climes th' Imperial hero came,
To join the Christian's to the conqueror's name!
Mercy, inherent in the truly brave,

Taught Alexander in his strength to save-
And prostrate Paris in the Victor found

A hand to raise-not spurn her to the ground:
Slowly she rose; she heard the monarch's sigh,
And saw compassion beaming in his eye;
'Twas pity's drop divine! to mortals dear,
The liquid di'mond of an angel's tear !
Above all price! it shines the brightest gem

In glorious Alexander's diadem!""

The line marked with italics is beautiful; and we may say, on the whole, that Mr. F.'s verse is superior to most of the poetis effusions on the present occasion.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 21. Substates of the Speeches of William Wilberforce, Esq. on the Clause in the East-India Bill for promoting the religious Instruction and Moral Improvement of the Natives of the British Dominions in India, 22d June and 1st and 12th July 1813.

* 8vo. Hatchard, &c.

When the moral and religious state of the Hindoos is con

sidered, every true Christian must wish that their gross superstitions and abject depravity could be cured by introducing among them the knowlege of the Gospel: but the disproportion between the

native

native population of our Eastern dominions (60,000,000) and that of their European governors, (say 40,000,) with the consequent precarious tenure by which we hold them, have led very intelligent and respectable men to be apprehensive of the result of openly attempting to convert them. Mr. Wilberforce, however, endea vours to obviate all arguments which have been employed by those who would discourage the Missionary-scheme from assuming the shape of a system sanctioned by Parliament, and with much ela. quence advocates his side of the question. If he does not speak from actual observation and a personal acquaintance with the East, he has employed every means within his reach for obtaining accurate information, and adduces abundant evidence in support of his statements. He takes a view of the gross immorality of the native inhabitants of India, and of their indecent and sanguinary superstitions; contending that Christianity is the only remedy for these enormous evils. His amiable mind is shocked at the thought of sixty millions of the Asiatic subjects of the British empire, who are stated to have all the vices of savage life, without any of its virtues' and he rejects the notions of those who have maintained the impracticability of converting them. He urges Parliament to sanction a prudent attempt of this kind; and delivers it as his opinion that we are impelled to the step by the strongest obligations of duty. From some striking facts, he argues that it is not so difficult to persuade the Hindoos to part with their errors as we are taught to imaginé: but, however important these facts may be in themselves, and however instructive they may prove in the contemplation of the moral and religious improvement of the natives. of India, we cannot think that they establish the point for which Mr. W. is so strenuous. It appears from the evidence of Colonel Walker, that he had the address to induce a seat to discontinue a cruel rite which superstition had long sanctioned: but it does not follow that the suspicions of the Hindoos would not be generally roused by a systematic attempt on our part to change the religion of the East. Mr. W. admits that we hold our Asiatic empire by a very precarious tenure; and ought we not to reflect that, by attempting too much in the way of conversion, we may lose our civil power in India, and with it the very possi bility of affording any religious instruction? Caution is inculcated by Mr. W.: but, if it be generally known among the Hindoos that nothing short of making them Christians will content us, may they not revolt? By well-meant premature measures, we may retard the march of revealed truth. The Lord will hasten it in his own time.

By

Art. 22. Bookeeping no Bugbear, or Double Entry simplified, in opposition to the insufficiency of the present Practice. Michael Power. 8vo. pp. 202. 158. Boards. Rivingtons. While we fully agree with Mr. Power as to the difficulty, of which he appears perfectly aware, that is attendant on the introduc tion of any innovation in mercantile counting-houses, we must take the liberty of adding that he has not been careful to adopt the course most likely to obviate this difficulty. Engaging to point out the advantages

[ocr errors]
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »