Our principal reason, however, for wishing Mr. Crabbe a more effective patron and better preferment, is, that he would then have been under no temptation to court those advantages. It might be difficult to persuade some of our readers, that a benefice was an infallible cure for a servile or illiberal disposition. Yet it is evident there are stronger motives in the lower ranks of the sacred order than in the higher, to draw up flattering dedications, and lampoon the sectaries. With all our partiality for Mr. Crabbe we must own, that his present volume will unhappily confirm the disapprobation already excited against him, among men of an independent and catholic spirit. And if there be any room for supposing that his humble rank in the church has laid him under peculiar temptation to offend, we not only call upon our readers to share in our regret, but beseech them to moderate their resentment.

We, for our part, indeed, who are well known to possess a peculiar degree of candour in virtue of our office, superadded to the ordinary portion we enjoy in common with readers in general, are willing to excuse the soft tones and cringing attitudes which have offended us in Mr Crabbe's addresses to his patron and the public, by attributing them to timidity rather than design. The effect, however, is extremely unfortunate. Nothing can be more impolitic, in any writer, than to appear before the public with the Bastile in his face.' In dedications, it is almost a matter of course to be frothy; and of this prescriptive privilege we think Mr. C. has amply availed himself. He begins by telling the Duke of Rutland, that his poem was composed in a situa near to Belvoir Castle, that the author had all the advantage to be derived from prospects extensive and beautiful, and from works of grandeur and sublimity." What

tion so

a vast advantage this was, and how it should intitle the noble duke to an effusion of dedicatory gratitude, may be conjec-. tured from Mr. Crabbe's concession in the same sentence, that his subjects do not assimilate with such views. Still, however, he thinks it natural for him to indulge a wish, that he might inscribe his labours to the Lord of a scene which perpetually excited his admiration'; and still he would plead the propriety of placing the titles of the House of Rutland at the entrance of a volume written in the Vale of Belvoir.' The unmanly tone of the Dedication is also maintained with little intermission in the Preface. This preface is a tissue of explanations and apologies to the extent of nearly, thirty pages; and is altogether most singularly tiresome, unnecessary, and injudicious. Such, we are to understand, are the blemishes of his performance, that no trouble can be too great to palliate them; and

such the keenness of his wit and the asperity of his sarcasms, that fatal consequences, might ensue, were he not to provide a remedy in his prose, for the wounds that might be inflicted by his poetry. It will be scarcely believed to what extent Mr. Crabbe's solicitude is carried, without a specimen or two from this very singular preface.

In the first letter is nothing which particularly calls for remark, except possibly the last line-giving a promise to the reader that he should both smile and sigh in the perusal of the following letters. This may appear vain, and more than an author ought to promise; but let it be considered that the character assumed is that of a friend, who gives an account of objects, persons and events to his correspondent, and who was therefore at liberty, without any imputation of this kind, to suppose in what manner he would be affected by such descriptions.' p. xvii.

In the second letter, Mr. Crabbe hazards some strictures on the imitation of weather-stains' on edifices; but nothing of this sort, he trusts, will seem to any invidious or offen.. sive.'

• I wished to make a comparison between those minute and curious bodies which cover the surface of some edifices, and those kinds of stain which are formed of boles and ochres, and laid on with a brush. Now, as the work of time cannot be anticipated in such cases, it may be very judicious to have recourse to such expedients as will give to a recent structure the venerable appearance of antiquity; and in this case, though I might still observe the vast difference between the living varieties of nature, and the distant imitation of the artist, yet I would not forbear to make use of his dexterity, because he could not clothe my free-stone with mucor, lichen and byssus.' pp. xvii, xviii.

The lines alluded to are these.

And wouldst thou, Artist! with thy Tints and Brush,
Form Shades like these? Pretender, where thy Blush?
In three short Hours shall thy presuming Hand

Th' effect of three slow Centuries command ? P. 19. As a specific apology for the last line, Mr. C.judiciously adds the following note.

• If it should be objected that Centuries are not slower than Hours, because the speed of time must be uniform, I would answer, that I understand so much, and mean that they are slower in no other sense, than because they are not finished so soon.

Then, again, his satire upon young physicians is so caustic, that he thinks it advisable to apply a digestive.

• When I observe, under the article Physic, that the young and less experienced physician will write rather with a view of making himself known, than to investigate and publish some useful fact, I would not be thought to extend this remark to all the publications of such men.' p.

XXVII.

In the same strain, Mr. C. hopes the solicitors will not be angry with his sarcasms on some of their fraternity: he trusts

that his strictures on card-parties and strolling players will not be thought too severe; he is anxious to point out the dif ference between two of the characters he describes ; he is solicitous to justify his remarks on Prisons, Poorhouses, and the advantages of Education; and he is greatly concerned lest the reader should tax him with plagiarism for certain apparent imitations, or with pedantry for his numerous mottos. After this, we scarcely need remark, that though the term Borough can hardly be pronounced by an independent Englishman without emotions of contempt and indignation, Mr. C. has carefully abstained from saying a syllable, even in the chapter upon Elections, which could displease a single individual, whether buyer or seller, among the crowds who traffic in political corruption. Indeed he expresses no little alarm, lest the very title of his poem should sound Jacobinical. It is far from being necessary, we admit, for a clergyman or a poet to embark in politics. But we had a right to expect, that the describer of a 'borough' should give some particular information as to the political constitution and condition which ascertain its genus and differentia, which essentially distinguish it from other towns and other boroughs. And it would seem inevitable, too, for a man of integrity a teacher of religion-who undertook the delineation of its moral aspect, to give due prominence to the most important and characteristic of its features. Nor could he be deterred from the discharge of this duty, by any deformity he might have had to represent. On the contrary, it could only have been some very powerful restraint, that prevented a poet, who delights in squalid subjects and gloomy colours, from exposing to public view the filthy haunts and slimy forms of corruption. We have yet to learn that the breach of moral and civil duties is then only unfit to be reprobated, when its occurrence is most frequent, and its consequences most fatal.

Having noticed a few of the symptoms of that timid and servile spirit with which by some means or other Mr. Crabbe is infected, we must proceed to mention his illiberality toward the enthusiasts.' We certainly intend to set up no defence of a sectarian or fanatical spirit,—of religious craft, hypocrisy, or enthusiasm. We despise them, wherever they exist, as much as Mr. Crabbe; and that they do exist, in particular instances, we as firmly believe, and perhaps more deeply lament. It appears to us, however, that the truth of his representations is not so exact, nor their tendency so harmless as we could wish, when we reflect what office he sustains. The following view is given of the religion taught by the Calvinists. We are persuaded it is greatly distorted, even allowing that it applies only to an individual: if in

tended to characterize a whole body, we pronounce it the grossest and most abominable caricature.

"Canst thou, good Sir, by thy superior Skill,
"Inform my Judgment and direct my
Will?
"Ah! give thy Cordial; let my Soul have rest,
"And be the outward Man alone distress'd;
"For at my state I tremble.'- Tremble more,'
"Said the good Man, and then rejoice therefore;
'Tis good to tremble, Prospects then are fair,
"When the lost soul is plung'd in deep Despair:
"Once thou wert simply honest, just and pure,
"Whole as thou thought'st and never wish'd a Cure;
"Now thou hast plung'd in Folly, Shame, Disgrace;
"Now! thou'rt an Object meet for healing Grace:
"No Merit thine, no Virtue, Hope, Belief,
"Nothing hast thou, but Misery, Sin, and Grief,
"The best, the only titles to Relief.'

"What must I do,' I said, my Soul to free?'
"Do nothing, Man; it will be done for thee.'-
"But must I not, my reverend Guide, believe?'
"If thou art call'd, thou wilt the Faith receive :'
"But I repent not :-Angry he replied,

"If thou art call'd, thou needest nought beside :
"Attend on us, and if 'tis Heaven's Decree,
"The Call will come,-if not, ah! woe for thee.'
"To me no Tokens of the Call would come,

"I felt my sentence and receiv'd my Doom ;

But I complain'd Let thy Repinings cease,
"Oh! Man of Sin, for they thy Guilt increase;
"It bloweth where it listeth-die in peace.'
"In peace, and perish?" I replied; impart
"Some better Comfort to a burthen'd Heart.'
Alas!' the Priest return'd, can I direct
"The heavenly Call? Do I proclaim th' Elect?
"Raise not thy Voice against th' Eternal Will,

}

}

"But take thy part with Sinners and be still.' pp. 294–296. The same kind of representation is given in another place, where the disciple is said to have become insane and committed suicide. Mr. Crabbe has made several attempts fn this and his former writings, to confirm the popular prejudice that religion is apt to turn the brain. Perhaps he will tell us that it is not the tendency of religion, but of Calvinism, that he is so anxious to expose. We doubt if he can bring one instance, in which even Calvinism has had this effect, except upon a mind already in a morbid condition, or tainted with hereditary disease. It is not, however, Calvinism in particular, but Christianity in its simplest form, that is perverted by a disordered mind into the occasion of its lapses, and the aliment of its extravagant reveries. The only conceivable cause of error, is the apprehension of fu

ture punishment arising from despair of the divine clemency but the dread of future punishment is inculcated in every part of Revelation; and a despair of the divine clemency, instead of springing from a belief in the system of Calvin, is neither more nor less than disbelief of the gospel he taught. Without resting here, however, we put it to Mr. Crabbe, whether the popular notion he seems anxious to encourage, that Calvinism produces melancholy and madness, fastens exclusively upon the tenets of any particular school; whether it does not attach itself to the decided profession and resolute practice of piety, in every denomination. The vulgar are very far from being proficients in theological distinctions; but if they see a profligate abandon the haunts of vice, and scrupulously conform to the precepts of Reve lation, they at once pronounce him a methodist, and declare or predict his insanity. This dangerous error, this hardening, this blinding prejudice, but too many religious teachers are careless to remove, or even assiduous to confirm ; and the awful responsibility in which they are involved, lies peculiarly heavy on Mr. Crabbe. The sort of narrative which this reverend gentleman ought to have been most willing to impress on the public mind, is a very authentic one, published a year or two ago, of a young man who was actually pronounced insane and confined in a private madhouse by his profligate connexions, because he discovered feelings of penitence and afterwards of peace, which they unhappily had never felt. But we forget ourselves; it is not every clergyman that has courage and self-denial enough to do his duty, at the risk of being stigmatized as a saint.

The Arminian methodists, we should observe, afford Mr. C. as much amusement as the Calvinists. Having taken the precaution, no doubt, to ascertain exactly how much of the leading notions and peculiarities' of the methodists in the early times of this spiritual influenza' is founded in fact and scripture, he makes no scruple of turning their internal conflicts, as well as the tenor and infiuence of their leader's preaching, into general and unqualified ridicule. The birth divine' is not secured from his satire, by the supreme authority of that Teacher who thought proper to illustrate the spiritual change by this striking figure; and the evil spirit, solemnly described by an apostle as "a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour," is ludicrously exhibited in Mr. Crabbe's verse, as a dragon of romance,

Whom sainted knights' [i. e. the methodists] attack in sinners' cause,

And force the wounded victim from his paws.'

His representation of the methodists in general-those among them who do not venture to become preachers'—as ‘address