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If Mr. Du Bois meant to deny that English blank verse is poetry, he ought to have spoken more explicitly: Mr, Cowper evidently designed only to shew his preference of this measure to the restraints of rhyme.-The original assertion is far from unquestionable. To speak of poems similar to those before us; Cowley's Translations of Anacreon; his Acmè and Septimius from Catullus; Hammond's Translations of Tibullus, in his LoveElegies, for they ought not to be classed as original poems; and many other small pieces of our own writers; appear to us to convey a very complete idea of the antient poet from whom they are taken.

A prose-translation of these charming productions is worse than a separation of the limbs of the poet : it reminds us rather of the orEwy AuberTwv. When we review our old favourites, the objects of our first poetical admiration, under such forms, we feel like Menippus in Lucian, who expresses his astonishment on seeing Helen and Nireus equally devoid of grace and beauty, in the infernal regions.

The impracticability of translating well in rhyme has been -maintained by the French critics; and it may be true with regard to their language, to a certain extent. Yet, in the lighter kinds of poetry, even the French writers have produced happy versions of the antients. Their Epigrams are not inferior to any thing in the Anthology; and their translations of Martial are sometimes more exquisite than the original.Ouf language does not appear, in the works of our great poets, to be deficient in any power of expression; and if Milton had translated the Iliad, which he is said to have once designed, Homer would have been completely our own. The imperfections of the two fine translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, which we now possess, might be easily traced to the different genius of the translators; neither of whom was fully qualified to write epic poetry: but this research would lead us too far from our subject.

Mr. Du Bois appears to be well acquainted with the Greek language; and he has in general succeeded in rendering his authors correctly into fluent English :-but we must own that, in our opinion, no very adequate feeling of the original pieces can be excited by his translations. We shall give, as a specimen, his version of Sappho's Ode to Venus.

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O IMMORTAL Venus, possessing various thrones, artful daughter of Jove, afflict not my soul, I beseech thee, O goddess, with wrengs, nor with anguish.

But hither come, if ever thou didst listen kindly to my strains, which oft thou hast well heard, and come, leaving thy father's golden dome.

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Having yoked them to the car, thy swift sparrows drew thee all beautiful from heaven, oft wheeling round on their black wings through the midst of ether.

Instantly they came away. But thou, O blessed, smiling with à divine countenance, didst enquire what was my suffering, and wherefore I summoned thee here.

And what in my raving mind I most desired; whom again I would conquer? and whose loves ensnare? Who wrongs thee, Sappho ?

For if he flies, soon he shall pursue; though he does not take thy gifts, yet shall he give; if he loves not, soon he shall love, and do whatever thou art willing.

Now, O come to me, and free me from vexatious cares. Order it so, that whatever my soul desires may be fulfilled to me, and be thou thyself my ally in the wars of love.'

To our ears, this species of prose conveys the idea of one of King David's psalms, rather than of the strains of the volup tuous Lesbian. There is an unfortunate construction in the second stanza, and come, leaving thy father's golden dome; the poetess, and we suppose Mr. Du Bois also, meant to say that Venus had formerly come to Sappho: but, as the version now runs, it might be mistaken for a present invocation. It may be said that we are severe on the translator, in selecting his version of a composition which is itself acknowleged to approach perfection. We shall therefore add a part of another, from Moschus:

'CUPID, A FUGITIVE.

• Venus called her son, Cupid, with a loud voice, saying, If any one sees Love wandering in the public ways, he is my fugitive: the discoverer shall have a gift. Thy reward shall be a kiss from Venus: but if thou bring'st him, not a mere kiss, but thou, O friend, shalt have something more.

Remarkable is the boy; amongst full twenty thou may'st know him. His body, indeed, is not white, but like fire: his eyes are somewhat fierce and flaming. The disposition of his nature is evil, sweet his talk; for what he says he does not think. His voice is as honey; but when he is angry, his mind is savage, deceitful, saying nothing truly treacherous boy, cruelly he sports. His head is beautifully covered with hair, but his face is saucy and froward,' &c. &c.

The remarks on Shakspeare consist of coincidences and imitations, which Mr. Du Bois thinks he has discovered, between our poet and some of the Greek writers. Some of them appear to be only those general resemblances, which must take place among writers who describe human nature. Dr. Farmer, we remember, has shewn how far this may be carried, by indicating a passage in one of the Greek philosophers, exactly cor responding with one in Dodsley's Farce of the Toy-shop.-The Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare, particularly in the remarks on the use which the poet made of North's translation of REV. DEC. 1799. Plutarch,

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Plutarch, renders any farther observations on that subject un

necessary.

Mr. Du Bois is of opinion that Lucian has taken many passages from Horace; and he prodnces several parallel thoughts from the Essay on Writing History, and the Art of Poetry: but to us they do not appear convincing. The resemblance is too general, and consists in things of which two men of abilities cannot speak differently. Lucian must have been acquainted with the writings of Horace, though he has never quoted nor even referred to him: but he probably knew from what sources the Roman lyrist drew many passages, which to us seem original. It does not appear, from any part of Lucian's writings, that Roman literature engaged much of his attention.

In perusing this volume, we have been sometimes struck with expressions which are scarcely English: for example, (p. 99,) we shall confer a few passages,' instead of compare. In a work of taste, such language should have been avoided; as should also those typographical inaccuracies which here compose a short table of Corrigenda.

The volume is elegantly printed, is decorated with a handsome frontispiece, and altogether reflects credit on the writer's talents.

Fer...r.

ART. IV. Sermons preached before the University of Oxford, in the
Year 1798, at the I.ecture founded by the Rev. John Bampton,
M. A. By the Rev. Charles Henry Hall, B. D. 8vo. pp.
277. 58. Boards. Rivingtons. 1799.

DROVIDENCE and Revelation proceeding from the same eternal

source, and having the same object in view, viz. the happiness of God's rational offspring, their history ought certainly to be contemplated in connection; not, as is often done, as detached measures of Divine wisdom and mercy. In the publication of the will of God to man, there can be nothing fortuitous; and in the dispensation of the Gospel, the purpose of which was in the highest degree magnificent and glorious, it may very reasonably be presumed that he who knoweth the times and the seasons, and who ruleth among the kingdoms of the earth, would so arrange the ways of his providence, as to give the greatest efficacy to this spiritual blessing, and to introduce it to the knowlege and acceptance of mankind at the properest period. Such is the fact; and it is curious and satisfactory to trace and compare with each other the history of revealed religion, and the history of God's providence in the government of the world. Scripture invites us to do this; and by so doing many learned Christians have elucidated and established their faith.

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In the Lectures here published, Mr. Hall proceeds on this plan. He does not profess to have discovered any new road, but to conduct his hearers and readers through an interesting country, previously occupied and described. A short and mo dest preface thus explains his design:

It is the purpose of the following discourses to consider, at large, what is meant by the scriptural expression, "Fullness of Time," or in other words, to point out the previous steps, by which God Almighty gradually prepared the way for the introduction and promulgation of the Gospel. In such a design, there is little to awaken the attention of the learned theologian; and, in fact, the author has only attempted to bring under one view, and to render generally intelligible, topics and arguments, which in the writings of our best and ablest divines have long ago been separately and thoroughly investigated.'

In the first sermon, Mr. Hall still more clearly explains his object, in the following words: I shall attempt to shew, that the whole of God's moral government of the world, and all the complicated events in the history of mankind, were, in fact, nothing more than a preparation, under the guidance and control of his providence, for the introduction of the Christian Religion; "the mystery ordained before the world,” “hidden from ages and generations," and by the mercy of God made manifest at last. In prosecuting this design, Mr. Hall takes a view of the history of the Jewish people, explaining the reasons of their being preserved separate from the nations of the earth, and the uses of their religion as preparatory to that which was to be "the fullness of grace and truth." He discourses also on the testimony of prophecy, and maintains that the preservation of the Jews as a distinct race, through all their fortunes and revolutions, is a standing evidence in favour of revealed religion? He does not forget to notice the state of the world without the limits of Judea, and particularly the series of events under the four great antient monarchies, by which the world was brought into that particular situation which was most likely to facilitate the dissemination of the Gospel. He distinctly shews, as Dr. Robertson had admirably done before him, that there was a peculiar fitness in the period at which our Saviour entered on his public ministry; and he concludes this course of sermons with descanting on the universality and perpetuity of the Christian religion,

If in these lectures the preacher has thrown nó new light on the evidences of revealed religion, he has discovered a commendable knowlege of his subject, with considerable judgment in arranging and ability in managing the argument.

We shall extract a short specimen of the author's manner, from the Discourse on Christianity as an universal religion. • Compare

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Compare the Gospel of Christ with the Law of Moses, with the Koran of Mahomet, or with the multifarious superstitions of the Heathen; and then you will confess the decided superiority of the Christian Law. The moral precepts of the Gospel are adapted to every possible variety of climates, of situation and of employment: they all flow from the source of universal charity, that charity which teaches us that, as the children of one common parent, as subject to the same vicissitudes of misery and happiness here, and heirs of the same immortality hereafter, we are to commiserate and relieve each other, to live for others more than for ourselves, and to "do unto all men, as we would they should do unto us." The duty of prayer, the secret unostentatious worship of the heart, which God, under a former dispensation, had declared to be more valuable and more pleasing to him than all the incense of sacrifice and burnt-offering, and which Christ enjoined by his precepts and sanctioned by his prac tice-this great duty is as universally practicable, as it is universally obligatory.

The Christian is not called upon like the Jews of old, or the Maho metan of our days, to quit his usual residence, and his ordinary occupation, to traverse distant and inhospitable countries, and to prostrate himself before the altar of his God at a stated season and in a particular place; he is not burdened with a yoke of particular ceremonies, of periodical ablutions, which purify the body, but not the heart; or of minute and trifling observances, which vex and harass the mind, instead of relieving and consoling it. The two simple sacraments, which mark the profession of his faith, interfere with no local duty, and interrupt none of the necessary occupations of civil life: and his first and earliest lesson, to love his God, to believe in him, to serve him, and to pray to him in secret, it is easy for him to practise at all times, and in all circumstances, in the place of his customary residence, in the bosom of his family, or in the private recesses of his closet.

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Thus, while the moral precepts and the religious exercises of Christianity are adapted to the circumstances of every individual, the religion itself, as a system, is compatible with every form of political society. While it is indeed the only basis upon which any government can exist with stability and firmness, it neither prescribes to man any particular form of government, nor refuses to connect itself with any. It gives the outline, the great and fundamental principles, upon which the very existence of civil society depends, moderation, good order, and submission to established authority: but it leaves to the wisdom of man to determine in what way those principles are to be applied; and what form of public institution is most congenial to his character and his circumstances, and most likely to ensure his happiness. (p. 254-6.)

The sermons are nine in number; and it is from the last that we have selected the specimen here given, which may probably excite in some of our readers a curiosity that our limits cannot conveniently, at this time, farther gratify.

Moo.y. ART.

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