felf under which he appears to have undertaken this poetical detail of Edward's woes : And thou whose verse a brother's woes would tell, From thy faint heart thofe reftlefs thoughts expel, Juft fhewed fair learning's book, and bad thee read no more.' But if Mr. Hoole's nerves of fight be decayed, the faculties of his mind are strong and vigorous, and he appears to poffefs a power not only of amufing himself, but also of entertaining others. Art. 18. Jekyll: a Political Eclogue. 4to. 1s. 6d. Debrett. 1788. On the death of Alderman Townshend, which happened in the course of the laft fummer, Mr. Jekyll fucceeded to the vacant feat in Parliament for the borough of Calne in Wiltshire, where it is fuppofed that a noble Marquis has confiderable influence. By daring to represent a body of electors, who have a right to fend their deputy to the great council of the nation, it feems that he, who never gave umbrage before, is now guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor. To place him and his patron in a ridiculous light, is the fcope of this poem. To wait till Mr. Jekyll had taken a decided part in the House of Commons, would have been an act of forbearance, to which the impatient fpirits of the time would not fubmit. A laugh was to be raised as foon as poffible, in order to prepare the new member for the miferies of a maiden Speech. In point of compofition, it must be allowed, that this political fquib has fomewhat higher than every-day merit: but we think it has met with more than its due measure of praife. To him, who writes for a party, the cafe is not uncommon; and the party, which at prefent tries all its efforts, feems to understand the art of puffing, beyond any that we remember in this country. To the Rolliad, and the Probationary Odes, nothing must be compared. A knot of critics and minor poets clubbed their talents to produce thofe wonderful pieces, and the authors are determined to crown themfelves with laurel. All genius is centered with them: they are a faction in poetry, as well as politics. The editor of Bellenden us writes better Latin than Cicero ; and Prior is furpaffed by every fcribbler of a tale or a ballad. We do not find that the miniftry have as yet formed a board of poetafters. Should they be driven by felf-defence to adopt the measure, we shall have a nation of libellers: Bella per Emathios plufquam civilia campos. The poetical war is waged, at prefent, by one fide only. With the fmall fhot of Odes, Paftorals, and Elegies, they have peppered` their adverfaries for fome time paft; but their powder is of the fort complained of in the last war; it fpends its force in a little time, and never carries home to the enemy. We have faid that the lampoon, now before us, has its degree of merit: the falt is fometimes Attic: we have here and there a fprightly thought; the verfification is always fmooth, and now and then Sz rifes rifes to vigour. The honour of this production is now generally given to a perfon of rank, deservedly admired in the circle of his acquaintance for his agreeable qualities; but to us it feems a piece of Mofaic work, inlaid by different hands. It puts us in mind of the old batchelor's child in the play: "It has the air, and turn, and manner of Lord when the devil and the politician knows, it is a little compound of a whole junto of wits." Mr. Jekyll, however, needs not die of his wounds: - as Dryden says, 19. Half wits are fleas, fo little and fo light, We fcarce fhould know they live, but that they bite. Art. In olentem Bellendeni Editorem Carmen Antamabæum. With an Epiftle Dedicatory to the free Tranflator of the celebrated Preface to Bellendenus. 4to. Is. Bell. An English preface to a copy of Latin verfes is not very common; but that is not the only unufual exhibition displayed in this Carmen Antamabæum: for it is ftyled a Cento, though it has not the flightest pretenfions to the title. It is called a Carmen, though it has lines which defy fanfion. It is meaned to be Latin, though it offends against grammar. The Preface to Bellendenus is faid to be the production of a man, whofe profeffion obliges him to correct the errors of ftupidity; to his care, therefore, we earnestly recommend the Author of thefe lines, which may prevent future difgrace in fature publications. At prefent, the critical rod is not the only one, from the lash of which he ought to receive the reward of his deferts. Art. 20. The Parriad, addressed to the Editor of Bellendene, upon his elegant, but illiberal Preface. By William Chapman, A.M. 4to. Is. 6d. Bew. 1788. There is a greater deficiency in the decency, than in the poetry of this attack on the Preface to Bellenden us. The charge, however, of want of argument, we do not think juft; and we are certain, that it may be retorted very fairly on the prefent production of Mr. Chapman. Art. 21. Poetical Efforts. By George Saville Carey. 12mo. 2 S. Jamefon. 1787. At page 33 of this collection of poems we meet with- An Ode by Apollo. Whether this piece be really written by Apollo, or not, we cannot take upon us to determine. It is certainly a very trifling performance for the God of Song;-but it might be compofed when he was preparing for fleep. In the fuppofition, therefore, that Mr. Carey's veracity is not to be questioned, and from a perufal of his poetical efforts,' we must obferve,-that he is not a little bold in trying his ftrength with fo powerful a deity: at the fame time expreffing our fears that should he fall into the hands of any critical inhabitant of Delphi, who is lefs inclined to mercy than ourselves, he may chance to undergo the punishment of Marfyas *, who was equally prefumptuous. He challenged Apollo in Mufic; and was flayed for his rafhnefs. Art. Art. 22. Poetical Effays on Moral Subjects: To which is added, A Winter-piece, in Profe. By a Youth. 12mo. 1s. 6d. Buckland. 1787 The pious fpirit, and the good intention, of this young Writer, will not, we are afraid, atone for the want of fancy in his verse, and of fimplicity in his profe. In the former, his muse creeps as much too humbly, as the foars too loftily in the latter. Art. 23. Poems, by Maria and Harriet Falconar. 12mo. 3s. 6d. fewed. Johnfon. 1788. Thefe poetic buds promife fair for a beautiful crop, when the full flowering feafon arrives; if, in the mean time, they are neither nipped by the unkind blights, nor chilled by the cold severity, of criticifm. For the prefent, we are glad to fee their growth and bloom encouraged by a very handsome fubfcription. Art. 24. Ovid's Heroids; or Epiftles from the Heroines of Antiquity, Tranflated into English Verfe, by James Ewen. 8vo. 6s. Dix well. 1787. This adventurer, in the arduous task of poetical tranflation, profeffes to have been early converfant with the writings of Pope: how much he improved his tafte by the ftudy of fo elegant a model, we deave the Reader to judge, by the following extract from the clofe of Dido's Epiftle to Æneas: O that Eneas could behold me write ! Which foon for tears shall drink blood's crimson hue. Cheaply you raife a monument for me. This weapon's not the firft has pierc'd my heart; It feels the wound of cruel Cupid's dart. Ann, my dear Sifter, my dear Sister Ann †, Privy to all my weakness for the man ; "Dido's own hand urg'd home the fatal wound." The tranflation may perhaps be of fome ufe to idle school-boys in the lower forms, but what fatisfaction can it afford to thofe who are capable of admiring the beauties af Ovid P Art. 25. Poem to the Rev. Mefirs. Ramfay and Clarkson, Granville Sharp, Efq. Capt. Smith, and the refpectable Society of Quakers, on their benevolent Exertions for the Suppreffion of the Slave Trade. By J. N. Puddicombe, A. M. 4to. Is. Richardson, &c. 1788. We shall rejoice to find that Mr. P. is a prophet, as well as a poet; for thus he predicts: * The eldest of thefe Parnaffian fifters is fixteen, the other four teen. + Oh! Sophonisba! Sophonifba, oh! Ye perfecuted race, exulting raise Your drooping heads, prepare for happier days; Amen! fo be it!-But many there are, who augur differently. Art. 26. A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave-trade. By Ann Yearsley. 4to. 2S. Robinfons. 1788. The good and ingenious Lactilla, having joined the benevolent band, affociated in the cause of humanity, attacks the flave-trade, and flave-holders, with great fpirit, in a poem which, on the whole, does not difgrace her former works, though it is by no means free from faults. In particular, we think, that, in the heat of invective, The mingles too many curfes and execrations with her arguments; fo that her poetry is apt to degenerate into fomething like fcolding.In exploding the pleas drawn from our commercial interefts, fhe thus flies out: Curfes fall On the destructive fyftem that shall need Again, after expatiating on the cruelties exercifed on the flaves, by their mafters, and reciting a very affecting tale of a poor negroe, inhumanly butchered under the forms of law, fhe exclaims, Gracious God! Why thus in mercy let thy whirlwinds fleep Thy glorious attribute? Sweep them from the earth!' But let us proceed to the production of another female pen, employed in the fame good caufe: Art. 27. Slavery, a Poem. By Hannah More. 4to. I s. 6 d. Cadell. 1788. Mifs More's performance breathes a more philofophic spirit, and appears in a more elegant garb, than that which is the fubject of the preceding article. She is equally warmed by the facred fire of L1BERTY, and the pleads the caufe of the enflaved negroes in ftrains not lefs perfuafive, though perhaps lefs vigorous and energetic than thofe of the animated Lactilla. The chief excellence of this poem confifts in its pathetic appeals to our feelings, in behalf of our fable fellow-creatures: From heads to hearts lies Nature's plain appeal, Though polish'd manners may fresh wants invent, Though Though wounds there are which reafon's force may heal, The nerve, howe'er untutor'd, can sustain As where unequal fate a fceptre gave.' The poem concludes with a juft tribute of praise to the memory of Captain Cook, whofe difcoveries tended only to enlarge the boundaries of human happiness; and we have alfo an eulogium on the * peaceful PENN,' with that of the meek-fpirited fect to which the. great Founder of Pennfylvania belonged; and who have fo laudably. exerted themselves for the fuppreffion of flavery; at whofe pious beheft (as our Poetefs happily expreffes it, in the following line), The chain untouch'd, drops off; the fetter falls!' Art. 28. Aura; or the Slave. A Poem, in two Cantos. 4to. 2s. 6d. Kearfley. 1788. By Tho. Geo. Street. We are by no means surprised, that verse-men, as well as profemen, fhould take up their pens to reprobate the flave-trade, and to plead with the public in behalf of the poor negroes. The Mufes are by nature the friends of freedom, and never are we more enamoured of them than when they efpoufe the caufe of humanity. In a work directed to this object, a fmall portion of their influence is fufficient to render it interefting. Though the fram be not altogether. pure from the Heliconian fpring, we can drink of it with pleasure if it flows combined with the milk of human kindness. AURA, therefore, is a poem which cannot fail of being read with fome degree of approbation, though it has many imperfections. In numbers generally flowing with eafe, it relates a most affecting ftory, chiefly founded (as the Author tells us) on a true one, which he had, when in Jamaica, from an old negroe woman. Chriftians have reafon to blush at the recital; for it proves that if we have not the black complexion of the Africans, we have, at least some of us, the blackest hearts, and can requite the greatest good with the worst of evils. As a fpecimen, we fhall extract the Poet's account of the manner in which a party of Europeans, preferved from deftruction by the interpofition of fome humane negroes, rewarded their benefactors: 'Ofwego's hofpitable manfion gain'd, Conceal'd behind fome trees a few remain'd; But drag them to their boat in chains away.'. |