Rational Amusements, being a Collection of Original Mifcellanies, 8vo. 15. 6d.

Earle.

This is one of thofe milk and water productions of which little can be faid, either good or bad: we meet with nothing ftrikingly defective, much lefs particularly beautiful. Being confequently very ill calculated to afford food for criticifm, we shall dismiss it without farther notice.

The Paphiad; or, Kenfington-Gardens. 4to. 1s. 6d. Harlowe. The principal defign of this poem is to praise the duchess of Devonshire, to whom it is dedicated. The author firft introduces us to the aerial attendants of Venus, who are fummoned to appear before their mistress at the Paphian court. The following defcription of the bower, the goddess, and those attendants will, we apprehend, please the reader, notwithstanding the conftruction of the verbs in fome of the concluding lines is not strictly grammatical...

In the fweet fhade of Paphos' fragrant wood,
A fecret bower of clufter'd myrtles flood:
Across the dome two breathing woodbines twine
The rofe, the jeffamine, their effence join
To feaft the fenfe; here, fpringing ever new,
The modeft lily, and the violet blew :
All Flora's beauties grac'd the facred grove,
Where gentle Venus held the court of Love.

High on a throne, of beaten rofes made,
The fmiling queen her airy troops furvey'd :
Clofe by her fide the blooming Graces flood,
Her form with wonder, and with envy view'd;
Though fair each maid, her beauty, beaming far,
Flash'd like a planet o'er each meaner star.
A flowery wreath her golden ringlets grac'd,
The myftic ceftus bound her taper waist;
Each charm, just shaded by the purple veft,
Through the thin veil tranfparent flood confeft;
And fo contriv'd, that what might feem conceal'd,
Shone till the more luxuriantly reveal'd.

Beneath a fhade her iv'ry chariot ftood;

With pureft gold the burnish'd axle glow'd ;
Loofe, and unharnefs'd, flew the milk-white doves,
Sport in the air, or wanton with the Loves.

The little archer by his mother fat:

His guards attend in all the pomp of state;
Gay on the vines their golden quivers hung,
Untipt their arrows, and their bows unftrung."

Venus informs her court, that fince the time when Paris beftowed on her the golden apple, her votaries had confidered het in a very improper light, as the tutelary divinity of luft, not of virtuous love; that, to vindicate her character, and convince

them

them of the contrary, he was determined to depute a LIVING belle as her vicegerent below.

She shall prefide o'er every mortal scene,
And fix her standard as the Paphian queen :
Let her my graces, pleafures, fmiles retain ;'
The humble virtues too fhall fwell her train.
She must have rank; be noble in her birth;
(The world, we know, contemns untitled worth :)
She fhall affuage this rage of luft below;

Each, to be fair, muit then be virtuous too.'

To execute this defign the propofes an expedition to Kenfington-gardens. She and her fuite accordingly take their invifible ftand under a large tree, and Venus defcribes the character of the British beauties as they pafs in review before them. Some are cenfured, but the generality highly, and the duchefs, fuperabundantly praised. Venus declares, that her charms, had she made her appearance on mount Ida, would have exceeded thofe of all the three contending goddeffes united; and that her virtues would have reclaimed Paris, and ⚫ faved the fate of Troy.' The prize is accordingly bestowed on her, and the celeftial powers fummoned to attend the new-made deity,' of whom we are just afterwards told that immortality is not her own.'

The conclufion, indeed, of this poem is not equal to its beginning, which, though not always correct, is elegant and pleafingly fanciful. When the Graces and Loves affemble round the duchess, the image, instead of being beautiful, is truly ludicrous.

None want a place for each a beauty found;
Fearless they circle, and adhere around.
A fmile in rapture plays about her face,
Whilft to her bofom fteals a tempting grace:
She gathers numbers as the moves along,
And in herself becomes a moving throng.
(All this unfeen by every mortal

Sye•

For Paphian acts are all a mystery.)'

The following vindication of the duchefs against the toothlefs prudes,' who are supposed to have arraigned her conduct, ftands in the fame predicament.

Know then, ye fputtering, spiteful, cattish race,

That envy ever brings its own difgrace:

lf from her height the ftoop'd in freedom's cause,
Her patriot zeal deferv'd a world's applause;
Nor meanly dare her character to scan:
Know-Liberty the lov'd-not Carlo Chan."

The introduction of the burlefque title Carlo Chan, turns to jeft the defence that feems to have been very feriously intended.

Picturefque Poetry. Confifting of Poems, Odes, and Elegies, on various Subjects. By the rev. J. Teafdale. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Ro

binfon.

These poems are chiefly defcriptive. The images, though feldom new, are delineated in a pleafing manner; and the reflections, though fometimes trite, are in general juft, and well applied. A performance entitled DAY, confifting of three parts, MORNING, NOON, and EVENING, pleafes us as well as any in the collection, of which the concluding fection may ferve as a fpecimen. There is, however, one impropriety in it; the defcribing flowers as expanding, and erecting themfelves at the approach of night, when the reverse is a wellknown fact.

Now, when ev'ning's fober ray
Gradual marks the parting day;
And when long and length'ning fhades
Croud the landscape, as it fades:
Let the Muse, with fteady eye
Catch the objects, as they fly;
Objects, yet fo fair and bright,
Haft'ning to impervious night!

As the fun, that fmiles inveft,
Slopes to the remotest west,
Living ftreaks the fkies enfold,
Streaming purple, fring'd with gold;
Silver, and æthereal blue,

Mildly beaming to the view.

Now again the eddying breeze

Gently waves the leafy trees,
Stealing fragrance, as it goes,
From each op'ning bud that blows;
And imparting pillag'd sweets
To each travelling cloud it meets.
'Low its cadence, fmooth its tides,
Soft the murm'ring riv'let glides,
Winding, with its limping flood,
By the fkirts of yonder wood;
Where the fylvan fongfters meet,
Chirping, chaunting vefpers sweet;
And, in many an untaught lay,
Chorufing from spray to spray.

Now the flow'rs, that fweets exhale,

Wide expanding to the gale,
Rife erect, in rival rows,

And their varying tints disclose.

All the bloffom'd furze is gay,
Where the wanton kidlings play;

VOL. LX. Aug. 1785.

L

And

And in yonder peopled mead,
Hark! the fhepherd tunes his reed;
While the village troops advance,
And begin their ev'ning dance.

Let us join the mirthful throng,
Skimming now fo light along ;
Till the night, on footy wings,
Groupes of thick-wrought fhadows brings,
And the vap'ry legions, all,

Take their stations, at her call.'

Johnfon's Laurel, or Contest of the Poets. 4to. 15. Hooper.
Johnfon no more! each bard attunes his lays,

To grieve his exit, and to fing his praife.
All writers write, and fome who scarce can read;
To poems poems, lives to lives fucceed,

The theme alike, yet diff'rent is their aim;
As fome for pudding, others write for fame.'

We allow this paffage to be a little hyperbolical, but have found to our forrow too much truth in it. The panegyrists of Dr. Johnson have been exceedingly numerous ;-peace to his manes! we truft their doleful elegies will never wound his ears, nor that of pofterity. Whether pudding or fame was held in view, of the generality we speak, the objects have furely been equally unattainable.

The prefent author informs us that,

All bards GREAT Johnson's wreath (the laurel) claim, and they accordingly repair to Parnaffus to affert their refpective rights. Surely, confidered merely as a poet, Johnfon's merit is not of fo fuper-eminent a nature as to entitle him to this high compliment.

First Pratt began, in accents meek and mild,
Soft as the whispers of a pukeing child !'

As pukeing gives no idea of meeknefs or mildness, we would fubítitute puling for it, which, fignifying to whimper in a gentle manner, is more analogous to fome of Mr. Pratt's writings. PUKEING conveys an indelicate idea, ungenial to his ftyle and fentiment.

Next Whitehead came, his worth - a pinch of snuff,
But, for a laureat, he was well enough.'

This is too fevere on a very decent author; for to write birthday odes with fuccefs, is evidently no eafy task. We no lefs difapprove of the following character.

• And Mafon now, whofe numbers nice by art,
Play in the ear, but never reach the heart.
Tho' fimilies he crams in ev'ry line,

And metaphors in 'ev'ry couplet fhine,

Still in his verfe there's fomething of divine.

7

}

Though

Though fome of Mr. Mafon's poems are too highly ornamented, whoever has read his Elfrida and Caraftacus mult have felt that his numbers will reach the heart. He fhould not have been represented as a candidate for Johnfon's laurel, whofe own is of fo fuperior a verdure.

The Pious Incendiaries: or, Fanaticifm Difplayed, a Poem. By a Lady. 4to. 55. Hooper.

We doubt not of the good intentions of the fair author, in this performance, and cannot but approve the diffidence fhe expreffes, and feems to feel in offering it to the public. The poem is written in the ftyle and manner of Hudibras. A well known, we may add, a too well known character, is the principal object of the fatire it contains. To imitate Hudibras is an arduous undertaking; and if the public fhould decide that this lady has not fucceeded in her attempt, fhe may juftly confole herself with the reflection, that he has only failed in an enterprize where few would have come off with honour.-Magnis excidit aufis !

The Adventures of Telemachus, the Son of Ulyffes. In English Verfe. 8vo. 35. 6d. Jerved. Becket.

The encomiums bestowed on the French Telemachus are in general juft: towards the conclufion our author obferves that,

Notwithstanding the indifputable merit of Monf. Fene-lon's performance in the original (to which the numerous tranf lations in our own tongue are fufficient vouchers) a poetical verfion feems still wanting, to accommodate the taste of an Englifh reader with one of its ufual gratifications in an Epic Poem, which title juftly belongs to thefe volumes, though devoid of an ornament not fufceptible of dignity in the French language.'

We will allow that French verfe is ill-adapted to an epic compofition; and that in many effential points, verfe excepted, Telemachus is entitled to that appellation; yet ftill we cannot fee the utility of its being verfified in our language. The fuccefs of numerous profe-tranflators vouch for the propriety of that method. The original, even when literally rendered, ftrikes naturally into our language in periods eafy and harmonious. What more have we to expect? The time of an able writer would furely be mifpent, in endeavouring to improve. by rhyme what appears to the utmost advantage in flowing profe; and the labours of an inferior one would undoubtedly be excelled by the most literal verfion. The style of the prefent author in his advertisement is, though fometimes a little inclining to the bombaft, eafy and fpirited; had he attempted the original in that manner, we do not think he would have proved unfuccefsful; but his poetry is flat, diffufe, and fonetimes ridiculous. In a ftorm, raifed by Neptune to fink Telemachus's veffel, he gives the following account of Mentor's be-,

haviour.