Imatges de pàgina
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numerous abfurdities. It is a picture of cool reafon, following and correcting the wild eccentric flights of a madman, who fcatters his firebrands, feemingly telling the world that he is but in fport, or correcting inveterate, abfurd, prejudices. The author has, however, fuffered feveral cenfurable paffages to escape unnoticed.

An Addrefs from the General Committee of Roman Catholics, to their Proteftant Fellow Subjes, and to the Public in general, respecting the Calumnies and Mifrepresentations now fo induftriously circulated with regard to their Principles and Conduct. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Debrett.

1792.

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

SLA VE TRADE.

An Addrefs to the Right Rev. the Prelates of England and Wales, on the Subject of the Slave Trade. Svo. 3d. Parfons. 1792.

The advocates for the abolition of the flave-trade affume every varied form, exhauft every mode of argument, expoftulation, and appeal, to carry their caufe. Surely they must be fincere. This Addrefs contains no new arguments.

Thoughts on Civilization, and the gradual Abolition of Slavery in Africa and the Weft Indies. 12mo. 2d. Johnson. 1792.

We know not whether the first edition of this little tract oc

curred in our ufual routine. It is enough to fay, that this author retails fome of the popular arguments against the abolition. His principal pofition, that the ftate of fociety is not fufficiently mature for the abolition of slavery, is a gratuitous one, and by no means established.

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Modern Britons. A Poem. 4to. 2s. 6d. Egertons. 1792. The fuppofed degeneracy of mankind has been a favourite topic with the moralifing philofopher and querulous fatirift almost ever fince men began to think and write; and to many minds it affords a gloomy or an ill-natured fatisfaction. The pofition has been commonly taken for granted, but few are more difputable. At prefent, however, we have neither leifure nor inclination to enter into the queftion. It is neceffary to obferve, that our author is a laudator temporis acti; and we fhould have no objection to his opinions, if he always made fo poetical a ufe of them as in the following lines:

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Then liv'd they fay, a nymph of afpect bold,
Who fear'd nor fcorching fun nor pinching cold;

Her

Her bufkin'd leg fhe bath'd in morning dew,
And on her bofom bare the bleak winds blew ;
Wild through the British land fhe took her way,
And caroll'd, as fhe went, a ruftic lay.

They call'd her Freedom; and their frugal feaft
The hinds fhar'd, joyous, with the lovely gueft.
Was the alarm'd? Alarm'd throughout the land
Uprofe, with biting falchion in his hand,
The sturdy fwain his fond regard to prove,

And die, or triumph, with his blooming love.'

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

• The ven❜fon-loving cit, in greafy hall,

Puffs till he eats the buck up, horns and all:
And prays (if Heaven he e'er affails with prayer)
"Groan ftill our flaves, left turtle prove too dear."
Thinks he could bear the horrid thought-to die,
Yet with fome 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 fufpect the author to be a young adventurer in the poetic regions, we hope he will avail himself of our obfervations. We would not wish him to ftrengthen the doctrine of a general progreffive decline, by an exhibition of declining abilities, and giving us, poeticè

Progeniem vitiofiorem

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 fhine the first fine day in happier strains;
The Mufe now flagging refts upon her wing,
And on new pinions hopes to greet the fpring."

Abelard to Eloifa: a Poem. By Mr. Jerningham. 4:0. 1s. 6d.
Robfon. 1792.

We are forry to learn that, with this poem, Mr. Jerningham means to conclude his poetical labours. In the mild pathetic ftrain he is often unrivaled; and has, perhaps, never failed, but by feeling too acutely, and expreffing his feelings with fometimes. a difproportioned 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, Eloifa to Abelard,' by Pope, fome of the principal

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facts

facts are taken from the Letters; like its rival too, it is tender, pathetic, and interefting. The following paffage, we mean net to lead to an injurious comparison, is certainly defigned as an imitation of one part of Mr. Pope's Epistle, and is not an unfuc cessful one.

• Ye fullen gates, within whofe bound confin'd
The wretch who enters flings his joys behind!
Emerging from the dome, ye crowding fpires,
Which fun-robed glitter like afcending fires!
That funeral fpot with many a cyprus fpread,
Where fhriek the fpirits of the guilty dead!
Yon moping foreft, whofe extenfive fway
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,
Wath'd by the paffing tributary flood,
Whofe cafy waves, foft-murm'ring as they roll,
Lull the ftrong goadings of the feeling foul:
Ye tow'ring rocks, to wonder's eye addrefs'd,
Mishapen piles by terror's hand imprefs'd!
Ah, not thefe fcenes magnificently rude
To virtue's lore have Abelard fubdued.'

Perhaps the ardor in those which are fubjoined is not very confiftent with Abelard's fituation at the æra of writing the letter. When late my fteps drew near the peopled choir,

What erring wishes did my heart inspire ?
To the deep myfteries as I advanced,
Still in thy. prefence was my foul entranced:
While, bending to the earth, the choral throng
Paufe, 'ere they usher the emphatic fong;
While kneeling feraphs, 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 fhudder'd at th' approaching God!-
'Midit thefe auguft, terrific rites unmov'd,
My guilty thoughts to other altars rav'd:
In love enchas'd, a dearer image bleft
That living chapel, my impaffion'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 Pafquin, Elg. ¿vo. 25. 6d. Boards. Ridgway. 1791.

Poor man! the fit begins to fhow itself very early, in incohe

rent

rent rhapfody and incongruent metaphor. We fhall tranfcribe the first paragraph from the dedication to Ifaac Swainfon, efq.

'Dear Sir,

As the following mock-heroic effusion wars on the fide of Humanity, I know not at whofe 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 era 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 ftream of Ruin -the higher philofophy is triumphing over focial impofition-the black cloud of Defpotifm is burft, and now vanishing before the gales of Philanthropy; its thunder and its lightening injured the bloffoms 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, ftrange 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 fatirise the national affembly! This is too much either for Bedlam or the Mint.'

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Poems on feveral Oscafions. By the Rev. Jofeph Good. 800. 35. Baldwin. 1794.

Mr. Good's is not a Mufe of fire, but she is a good-humoured pleafing companion; without nonfenfe, ribaldry, or profaneness. To the Poems is prefixed a little Fable, entitled the C Concert of the Birds,' where the Blackbird is cenfured because she is inferior to the Nightingale. The modeft bird replies, that he is confcious of not meriting fuch diftinguished fame:

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

What is fo modeftly asked, who can sefuse?

The Pardoner's Tale. From Chaucer. 8vo, 15.

Cadell. 1792.

The Tale, which Mr. Lipfcomb has modernised, is neither fo good, nor so bad as fome of the other productions of Chaucer: it is tefs interefting and lefs licentious. This is, howeves, a pretty good fpecimen of the talents which he poffeffes for his undertaking, that of modernifing thofe Canterbury tales which have not yet experienced the effects of modern polishing, and publishing the whole together.

The Confpiracy of Kings; a Poem. By J. Barlow, Efq. 4to. 1s. 6d. Johnfon. 1792.

The bold energetic elegance of our author's language com

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penfates

penfates for fome defects; but thefe defects are not in his politi cal opinions. This, though we have been called the tools of monarchy, we dare affert, for a confpiracy of kings to change a form of government, which a great nation (whether properly or abfurdly 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 Epiftles, from Harry Homer, to his Brother Peter PinWilliams. 1792.

dar. 4to.

15.

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

The Owl, the Peacock, and the Dove; a Fable, addressed to the Rev. Dr. Tatham and the Right Hon. E. Burke, &c. &c. &c. 410. Is. Johnson.

Pretty doves* !

1792.

MORAL:

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

NOVEL S.

Delineations of the Heart; or, the Hiftory of Henry Bennet, a Tragi Comic-Satyric Effay, attempted in the Manner of Fielding. 3 Vol. 12mo. 9s. Hookham. 1792.

It is the form of Fielding, and occafionally his femblance will rife for a moment, and the eyes are made the fools of the other fenfes.' But we want his fpirit, his wit, that clue which leads to the inmost recesses of the heart, and which he almoft exclufively poffeffed. The heroes will not bear a comparison: the Foundling was gentle, generous, compaffionate, and faulty only from the momentary impulfe of paffion, from paffions, drowning in their vortex, reflection. Henry Bennet is the cool, defigning, deliberate villain, never right but from accident, or when it affifts his vicious purfuits. The moral too is wholly indefensible. The libertine will follow the plans of Bennet in hopes of better fortune; and, in fpite of fome humour and a few interefling 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 fay nothing about it this time.

Frederica; or, the Memoirs of a Young Lady, a Novel. By a Lady. 3 Vols. izmo. 9s. Ridgway. 1792.

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

and

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