網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

numerous absurdities. It is a picture of cool reason, following and correcting the wild eccentric flights of a madman, who scatters his firebrands, seemingly telling the world that he is but in sport, or correcting inveterate, absurd, prejudices. The author has, however, suffered several cenfurable passages to escape unnoticed.

An Address from the General Committee of Roman Catholics, to their Protestant Fellow Subjets, and to the Public in general, respecting the Calumnies and Misrepresentations now so industriously circulated with regard to their Principles and Conduct. 8vo. 15. 6d. Debrett.

1792.

A candid and judicious defence of the Catholics against some unjust afperfions thrown out against them. We trust it will be of fervice.

SLAVE-TRADE.

An Address to the Right Rev. the Prelates of England and Wales, on the Subject of the Slave Trade. 8vo. 3d. Parsons. 1792. The advocates for the abolition of the slave-trade affume every varied form, exhaust every mode of argument, expoftulation, and appeal, to carry their cause. Surely they must be fincere. This Address contains no new arguments.

Thoughts on Civilization, and the gradual Abolition of Slavery in Africa and the West Indies. 12mo. zd. Johnson. 1792. We know not whether the first edition of this little tract occurred in our usual routine. It is enough to say, that this author retails some of the popular arguments against the abolition. His principal position, that the state of society is not fufficiently mature for the abolition of slavery, is a gratuitous one, and by no means established.

POETICAL.

Modern Britons. A Poem. 410. 25. 6d. Egertons. 1792. The supposed degeneracy of mankind has been a favourite topic with the moralifing philofopher and querulous satirist almost ever fince men began to think and write; and to many minds it affords a gloomy or an ill-natured fatisfaction. The position has been commonly taken for granted, but few are more disputable. At present, however, we have neither leifure nor inclination to enter into the question. It is necessary to observe, that our author is a laudator temporis acti; and we should have no objection to his opinions, if he always made so poetical a use of them as in the following lines:

• Then liv'd they say, a nymph of aspect bold, Who fear'd nor scorching sun nor pinching cold;

Her

Her buskin'd leg she bath'd in morning dew,
And on her bosom bare the bleak winds blew;
Wild through the British land she took her way,
And caroll'd, as she went, a rustic lay.

They call'd her Freedom; and their frugal feaft
The hinds shar'd, joyous, with the lovely guest.
Was the alarm'd? Alarm'd throughout the land
Uprose, with biting falchion in his hand,
The sturdy swain his fond regard to prove,
And die, or triumph, with his blooming love."

He is, however, extremely unequal; frequently obfcure and incorrect.

• The ven'son-loving cit, in greasy hall,
Puffs till he eats the buck up, horns and all:
And prays (if Heaven he e'er assails with prayer)
"Groan ftill our slaves, lest turtle prove too dear."
Thinks he could bear the horrid thought to die,
Yet with some forrow leaves his rabbit-pye.'

This citizen is evidently copied from Pope's Helluo.

• Is there no hope? he cries-then bring the jowl.' Its inferiority to the original need not be pointed out. As we suspect the author to be a young adventurer in the poetic regions, we hope he will avail himself of our observations. We would not wish him to strengthen the doctrine of a general progreffive decline, by an exhibition of declining abilities, and giving us, poeticè

Progeniem vitiofiorem

4

For it appears that we are foon to expect another attack on modern vices and follies, and would have him, on all accounts, to be as good as his word.

• But half my tale, its better baif remains,
To shine the first fine day in happier strains;
The Muse now flagging rests upon her wing,
And on new pinions hopes to greet the spring."

Abelard to Eloisa: a Poem. By Mr. Jerningham. 410.
Robson. 1792.

1s. 6d.

We are sorry to learn that, with this poem, Mr. Jerningham means to conclude his poetical labours. In the mild pathetic strain he is often unrivaled; and has, perhaps, never failed, but by feeling too acutely, and expressing his feelings with sometimes a disproportioned pathos. But, in the folemn moment of taking leave, we must not enumerate even trifling errors. This epiftle, if we recollect rightly, is not wholly the work of invention. Like its rival, Eloisa to Abelard,' by Pope, some of the principal facts are taken from the Letters; like its rival too, it is tender, pathetic, and interesting. The following passage, we mean not to lead to an injurious comparison, is certainly designed as an imitation of one part of Mr. Pope's Epistle, and is not an unfuccefsful one.

facts rent

• Ye sullen gates, within whose bound confin'd
The wretch who enters flings his joys behind!
Emerging from the dome, ye crowding spires,
Which fun-robed glitter like afcending fires!
That funeral spot with many a cyprus spread,
Where shriek the spirits of the guilty dead!
Yon moping forest, whose extensive sway
Admits no lucid interval of day,
No cheering vista with a trail of light
Flies thro' the heavy gloom of lafting night:
Ye hermitages, deep immers'd in wood,
Wash'd by the passing tributary flood,
Whose casy waves, foft-murm'ring as they roll,
Lull the strong goadings of the feeling foul:
Ye tow'ring rocks, to wonder's eye address'd,
Mishapen piles by terror's hand impress'd!
Ah, not these scenes magnificently rude
To virtue's lore have Abelard fubdued,'

Perhaps the ardor in those which are subjoined is not very con-
fitent with Abelard's fituation at the era of writing the letter.
• When late my steps drew near the peopled choir,
What erring wishes did my heart inspire?
To the deep mysteries as I advanced,
Still in thy prefence was my foul entranced:
While, bending to the earth, the choral throng
Pause, 'ere they usher the emphatic song;
While kneeling seraphs, trembling as they glow,
Veil with their radiant wings their bashful brow;
While the deep organ (as by fear controul'd)
Its folemn found like diftant thunder roll'd;
While thick'ning odours dim'd the dread abode,
And th' altar shudder'd at th' approaching God!-
'Midit these august, terrific rites unmov'd,
My guilty thoughts to other altars rov'd:
In love enchas'd, a dearer image blest
That living chapel, my impassion'd breaft!'

On the whole, however, this is a pleasing performance, and we may add, though last not least.'

Shrove Tuesday, a Satiric Rhapsody. By Anthony Pasquin, Esq. १०. 25. 6d. Boards. Ridgway. 1791. Poor man! the fit begins to show itself very early, in incohe

rent rhapsody and incongruent metaphor. We shall transcribe the first paragraph from the dedication to Ifaac Swainfon, efq.

• Dear Sir,

• As the following mock-heroic effusion wars on the fide of Hamanity, I know not at whose feet I can lay it with fo much propriety as thine.-How much, my dear friend, should we rejoice that we have existence in an æra when the frozen feas of Fallacy are thawed by the warm beam of Reason, and, giving way to Demolition, daily separate from their constituent parts, and flit in fragments down the stream of Ruin!-the higher philosophy is triumphing over social impofition-the black cloud of Despotism is burst, and now vanishing before the gales of Philanthropy; its thunder and its lightening injured the blossoms and ramification of the tree of Liberty, but happily could not destroy the trunk, which is immortal.'

As he proceeds, he grows more violent; but, strange to tell ! the fit remits in the poetical part; and he talks very cooly and infipidly. We fear, however, much danger, and can hope only that he will be taken proper care of, for the paroxyfm may return. The lord-chancellor steal from his works! and the premier bribe him to satirise the national affembly! This is too much either

for Bedlam or the Mint.'

Poems on feveral Oscafions. By the Rev. Joseph Good. 8vo. 35. Baldwin. 1794.

Mr. Good's is not a Muse of fire, but she is a good-humoured pleasing companion; without nonfenfe, ribaldry, or profaneness. To the Poems is prefixed a little Fable, entitled the Concert of the Birds,' where the Blackbird is censured because she is inferior to the Nightingale. The modest bird replies, that she is confcious of not meriting such distinguished fame :

• Yielding to her fuperior lays,
I only ask a Blackbird's praise.'

What is so modestly asked, who can refuse

The Pardoner's Tale. From Chaucer. 800. 15. Cadell. 1792.

The Tale, which Mr. Lipscomb has modernised, is neither fo good, nor so bad as fome of the other productions of Chaucer: it is less interesting and less licentious. This is, howeves, a pretty good specimen of the talents which he possesses for his undertaking, that of modernising those Canterbury tales which have not yet experienced the effects of modern polishing, and publishing the whole together.

The Conspiracy of Kings; a Poem. By J. Barlow, Εq. Ato. 15. 64. Johnfon. 1792.

The bold energetic elegance of our author's language compenfates

2

pensates for fome defects; but these defects are not in his politi. cal opinions. This, though we have been called the tools of monarchy, we dare affert, for a conspiracy of kings to change a form of government, which a great nation (whether properly or absurdly is of little importance) has chofen, is a Quixotic at tempt, fuperior in folly to any ever made by the Knight of the Woeful Countenance.

Admonitory Epistles, from Harry Homer, to bis Brother Peter Pindar. 4to.

15. Williams. 1792.

The author admonishes Peter to avoid fome of his more striking errors, such as impropriety, want of decorum, &c. But the medicine is not administered in a pleang form: we fear it will be rejected with disgust.

The Owl, the Peacock, and the Dove; a Fable, addressed to the Rev. Dr. Tatbam and the Right Hon. E. Burke, S. . .

410.

Is. Johnfon. 1792.

Pretty doves *!

MORAL:

• The Owl and the Peacock, the author now ventures To say mean the High Church, the Doves the Diffenters.'

NOVELS.

Delineations of the Heart; or, the History of Henry Bennet, a TragiComic-Satyric Effay, attempted in the Manner of Fielding. 3 Vols. 12mo. 9s. Hookham. 1792.

It is the form of Fielding, and occafionally his semblance will rise for a moment, and the eyes are made the fools of the other senses.' But we want his spirit, his wit, that clue which leads to the inmost recesses of the heart, and which he almost exclusively pofsessed. The heroes will not bear a comparison: the Foundling was gentle, generous, compassionate, and faulty only from the momentary impulse of paffion, from paffions, drowning in their vortex, reflection. Henry Bennet is the cool, designing, deliberate villain, never right but from accident, or when it affifts his vicious pursuits. The moral too is wholly indefenfible. The libertine will follow the plans of Bennet in hopes of better fortune; and, in fpite of some humour and a few interesting scenes, we are compelled to dismiss this work with reprobation.

It is and it is not, a Novel. By Charlotte Palmer. 2 Vols. 12mo. 6s. Hookham. 1792.

No, my dear, It is not a novel: but be a good girl; do fo no more; and we will say nothing about it this time.

Frederica; or, the Memoirs of a Young Lady, a Novel. By a

Lady. 3 Vols.

12mo.

95. Ridgway. 1792.

We cannot approve of this novel: the tale is trite, hackneyed,

and

« 上一頁繼續 »