word of the Moft High, by nations of great importance to the poli tical and commercial interefts of Europe, and particularly by many millions of Hindu fubjects, whofe well directed induftry would add largely to the wealth of Britain, and who afk no more in return than protection for their perfons and places of abode, juftice in their temporal concerns, indulgence to the prejudices of their old religion, and the benefit of thofe laws, which they have been taught to believe facred, and which alone they can poffibly comprehend." To this general criticifm, by fo masterly a hand, we shall, in our next, and a few more obfervations, which may ferve to make our readers more intimately acquainted with a compofition of fuch remote antiquity, and fo much calculated to gratify curiofity, and excite various and important reflections. (To be concluded in our next.) BRITISH CATALOGUE. POETRY. ART. 16. An Epifle, in Verfe, to the Rev. Dr. Randolph, Englif Preceptor to Her Royal Highn fs the Princess of Wales; occafioned by the Publication of the Correspondence between the Earl and Countess of Jerfey, and the Doctor; upon the Subject of fome Letters belonging to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. Enriched and illustrated with Notes from the original Correspondence. 8vo. IS. Parfons. 1796. Ecce iterum!-Once more our facetious friend, who fcatters rhymes and notes about him with furprifing alacrity; drawing into his poetical or annotative net all kinds of fish, literary, or political. As we have little inclination to make ourselves parties in the feverities which this fatirift thinks it wholesome to adminifter to various perfonages (and particularly to the gentleman addreffed in this epiflle) we are glad to be able to quote lines fo well written, and fo unexceptionable as the following. Eagerly do we feize the omen they contain. "But yet, oh, confcious of your charge, impart Before Before the eye of youth, though meteors run, The morn has dews, when fhadowy vapours gleam, In high-vic'd courts, and on the fea's lone shore, ART. 17. Poems, by Lady Tuite. 12mo. 10s. 6d. Cadell and Davies. 1796. Thefe poems are diftinguished rather by a correct and polished tafte, than by any particular degree of poetical vigour. In other words, they do more honour to the writer's fenfibility of heart, than to her powers of imagination or of genius. ART. 18. Mifcellaneous Poems, by Mrs. J. Pilkington; dedicated, by Permiffion, to her Grace the Dutchess of Marlborough. In Two Volumes. 12mo. Ios. 6d. Cadell and Davies. 1796. What we have faid above of Lady Tuite's Poems, will, in like manner, apply to this fair author. The following specimen is not without fpirit. "TO A YOUNG LADY, Who painted beautifully, but appeared rather vain of the art. The flow'rs, Lucinda, which I trace, Will bear a close inspection; For Art to Nature gives a grace, And calls the work' Perfection. Tho' much as I admire thy art, A felf-applause expand thy heart, Remember Ovid tells, of old, In fhort the goddefs fhe defied, To weave a web befide her, Henceforth become a Spider. You oft declare I love to preach, And at my preaching grumble, And now I mean my tale fhould teach ART. 19. Poems, by G. D. Harley, of the Theatre-Royal, Covente Garden. 8vo. 295 pp. 6s. Martin and Bain. 1796, No fpecies of compofition is more grofsly mistaken than that of Poetry. The arrangement of fentences into lines, and of lines into ftanzas, with the fubftitution of forced and uncouth, for familiar and natural expreffions, too frequently pafs upon the judgment of an author, for the real inftruments of poetic compofition. They are not, however, equally fuccefsful with the public tafte, which is moved to palpable difguft by fuch infipid effufions. Mr. Harley has acquired, in a dramatic department, a very honourable proportion of respect and applaufe; but we must be allowed to fay, that his reputation will acquire no fort of increafe by the efforts of his pen. The thoughts upon which his verfes are founded, are almoft wholly profaic, his images are ordinary, and his language deftitute of every claim to the beauty and energy of real poetry. We are unwilling to be minute or fevere; and thall therefore extract a fhort fpecimen, for the fatisfaction of those who may wish to decide for themfelves. The following lines occur in " the Legacy of Love," addressed to his fon. 'Mong many an incident and many a trait Let who will therefore credit-I declare What, young one! thou no doubt wilt long confirm, Some two months fince-(five years had o'er thy head The thick black cloud, collecting all his beams! With looks and geftures more imploring far; • You will not beat me?-that is cruel now; Oh, I fhall be a dunce!-I know I fhall Yet you'll not beat me-why! what can you mean? • You will not let me be a blockhead fure?' P. 241. In making this extract, we have by no means fought to infer an unfavourable judgment, excepting fo far as the general tenor of the volume appears to deferve it. But we must recommend to the author to feek glory rather in his proper fphere, than in the unknown, and not always hofpitable regions of Parnaffus. ART. 20. Fables, by John Gay, illustrated with Notes, and the Life of the Author. By William Coxe, Rector of Bemerton. Cadell and Co. 1796. 12mo. 45. per The Fables of Gay being a book ufually put into the hands of children, Mr. Coxe has undertaken to render them ftill more intelligible and inftructive, by fubjoining fuch illuftrations as the claffical, or other allufions, may require or admit. This humble, though ufeful talk, affumed by an author, who already ftands high both in formance and expectation, must be confidered as a relaxation from more ferious ftudies and laborious application. To make himfelf fome amends for the drynefs of this occupation, Mr. Coxe has drawn up a life of Gay, in which he manifefts at leaft fufficient partiality for his author. What there is of any novelty in the life, is dra.vn from the writings and letters of Gay and his contemporaries; which have been confulted with more diligence by the present than by his former biographers. ART. 21. The poetical Monitor; confifting of Pieces, felect and original, for the Improvement of the young in Virtue and Piety; intended to fucceed Dr. Watts's divine and moral Songs. Publifhed for the Benefit of the Shakspeare's Walk Female Charity-School. Small 8vo. 154 PP 28. bound. Longman, &c. 1796. The poetical merit of thefe little pieces is various, but few of them rife above mediocrity. The merit of good intention, however, is difplayed in them to a high degree; and the hope of the editor is well founded, that " amid the daily labour, in future life [of young females in a charity-fchool] fome verfes may be dwelt upon, which may tend to ftrengthen virtuous refolutions, fortify their minds againft temptations, excite them to a love of goodness, and prepare them for a future ftate of purity and blifs.” ART. 22. DRAMATIC. The modern Arria; a Tragedy in Five Acts. Tranflated from the German of F. M. Klinger. 8vo. 92 pp. 25. Boofey. 1795. The tranflation before us prefents a tragedy in profe, and the tranflator confiders it among its merits, that neither rhyme nor blank verfe are admitted into its conftruction. We fhall not undertake to dictate to the German muse, but we cannot deny that we confider our own language as totally inadequate to fupport the dignity of tragic compofition, without the aid of poetical measures. The deviation from nature which verfe may exhibit, if a fault, is certainly less injurious to the effect of a drama, than the deviations from common sense, which too frequently refult from the laboured affectation of poetical profe. We cannot but impute it, in great measure, to this cause, that our admiration of Mr. Klinger's performance falls fo much short of that which the tranflator appears to have expected; and we must see much better proofs of Mr. Klinger's ability, before we can affent to his tranflator's judgment, that" moft of the volumes of Melpomene, as well ancient as modern, are far his inferior." The story is Italian, and the characters marked by the manners of that country, fomewhat extravagantly heightened and coloured. The dialogue wants nature, without wanting brilliancy; and the procefs of the fable, though fufficiently connected, does not, in the drefs under which it appears, either forcibly strike or intereft the reader. ART. 23. Bannian Day. A mufical Entertainment, in two Alts Performed at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Written by George Brewer. 8vo. 35 pp. 15. Longman. 1796. There is confiderable humour in this little piece, and much characteristic drawing in the different perfons of the drama. We fhall hot, however, reftrain our cenfure of the many damning clauses which are introduced into the dialogue. The effect of ridiculous oaths, in fome cafes, and full-mouthed imprecations in others, from an English failor, cught not to be confidered as a warrant for habituating the ear to what it ought never to hear but with abhorrence: nor do we confider it as any compliment, or even as juftice, to the British navy, that Mr. Brewer should fupppofe himfelf obliged, in order to finish the portrait of an honeft failor, to render him a reprobate. NOVELS. ART. 24. The Myfterious Warning, a German Tale, in Four Volumes, by Mrs. Parfons, Author of Voluntary Exile, &c. 12mo. 128+ Lane. 1796. The object of thefe volumes feem to be to prove the injuftice, as well as impolicy, of compulfory marriages. To effect this, an agree able, |