terpofitions of a fuperintending Providence. He doubted, but did not deny, the truth of the calculations of the planetary distances, and fome other parts of modern aftronomy. Natural hiftory was a field in which he walked at every opportunity, and contemplated with infinite pleafure, the wifdom, the power, and the goodness of God, in the ftructure of natural bodies, and in the various inftincts and habits of the animal creation. But he was obliged to view thefe wonderful works of God, in the labours and records of others; his various and continual employments of a higher nature, not permitting him to make experiments and obfervations for himself.

"As a writer, he certainly poffeffed talents, both from nature and education, fufficient to procure him confiderable reputation." But Mr. Wefley did not write for fame; his object was to inftruct and benefit that numerous clafs of people, who have a plain understanding with plain common fenfe, little learning, little money, and but little time to fpare for reading. In all his writings he conflantly kept thefe circumftances in view. Content with doing good, he ufed no trappings merely to pleafe, or to gain applaufe. The diftinguishing cha racter of his ftyle is, brevity and perfpicuity. He never loft fight of the rule which Horace gives,

Eft brevitate opus, ut currat fententia, neu fe
Impediat verbis laffas onerantibus aures.
Concife your diction, let your fenfe be clear,
Nor with a weight of words fatigue the ear.

In many of his works we may obferve, his words are well-chofen, being pure, proper to his fubject, and precife in their meaning. His fentences commonly have clearnefs, unity, and ftrength: yet he fometimes clofes a fentence in a manner which deftroys its harmony, and fubtracts much from its beauty. But whenever he took time, and gave the neceffary attention to his fubject, both his manner of treating it, and his ftyle, fhew the hand of a master." P. 463.

They who are friendly to the caufe of Methodifm will rejoice to hear of its fuccefsful progrefs within the laft thirty years. In 1767, according to this writer, the number of itinerant preachers was 104, and the people in the focieties 25,911. In 1795 the number of itinerant preachers was 357, and of the people in the focieties 83.368. Dr. Whitehead is certainly entitled to the grateful acknowledgments of all those to whom Mr. Wefley's memory is dear; and his work is of general importance to literature, as containing the best and moft regular history of a fect, which, however erroneous in a few points, has produced a beneficial operation upon the minds of many individuals; and may fafely boaft of feveral within its pale, diftinguished by their blamelefs manners and useful accomplishments.

ART.

ART. XII. The Poetical Works of the Reverend Samuel Bishop, A. M.

(Concluded from our laft, p. 465.)

THE HE dramatic interlude, which we noticed in our last number, is fucceeded in the volume by a very large collection of fhort compofitions, entitled, Poems on occafional Subjects. Thefe, the editor informs us, are poems recited before the governors of Merchant Taylor's fchool on public occafions, and are selected from a much greater number written by Mr. Bithop, in the long interval between the years 1756 and 1795. The fpirit, originality, and variety of thefe occafional copies of verfes, certainly do the highest honour to the genius and taste of the author. They are various in ftyle; fome fome grave, gay, fome inftructive, fome witty, but all evincing great fertility of fancy and skill in writing. The fubjects frequently promife little, yet produce much; and the author completely dif plays the talent of adorning the most barren, and raising the moft humble topic. We cannot, perhaps, adduce a better proof of this affertion than the following poem, the fubject of which is as low, and the poetry and morality as excellent, as can well be imagined.

THE LEADING-STRING.

"Guide of my wayward fteps, when young defire
Caught the firft fpark of Emulation's fire,
(Whofe genial power, enkindling as it ran,
Rais'd Life to Senfe, to Reafon, and to Man,)
Still, fill my foul in memory's inmost cell,
Where images moft dear, moft facred dwell,
With willing gratitude retains, reveres,
Thy faithful fervice to my weakest years!
Oft as my thoughts recall thofe early days,
Thy gentle aid demands my warmeft praife;
By thee at once directed, and fuftain'd,
Unhurt I rov'd, where countless dangers reign'd;
Where else, each petty pebble had o'erthrown
An helpleis wanderer, in a world unknown.
Beneath a thousand forms reflection shows
Combining perils, hardships, pains, and woes:
O! baneful influence, every moment spread
In varied terrors o'er an infant's head';
Whom ftill, alike unconscious, unalarm'd,
The plain invited, and the defert charm'd ;'

Whofe

Whofe heedles foot, with equal hafte, had trod
The fatal precipice, and flowery road:
Who fondly rafh, no other object knew,
Than what each changing trifle set to view;
Tir'd of the prefent, fond of that which flies;
Sill prone to fall, and impotent to rife.

Ev'n now I tremble at th' afflicting (cene-
-Be firm my Soul!-What can this transport mean?
Hark! on mine ear fome found more awful breaks!
'Tis no illufion!-'tis the Muse that speaks.

66

My fon!" fhe fays, "if thus, thine heart, aghaft,
Starts at the little fnares thy childhood paft,

Think, think, what dangers wait thee now!-for know
Thou art ftill an infant, in a world of woe:
Still in thy way, Vice, Vanity, Difgrace,
Spread the broad net, that will obftru&t thy race;
Conceal the rock, that tempts with fpecious fhow
Thy foot, to plunge thee in th' abyss below;
Hafte thee; prepare thee, for th' unequal ftrife,
And take from me, the Leading-ftrings of Life.
Be Virtue first thy care, thy wish, thine aim;
Her rules thy ftandard, her applause thy fame:
To her thy steps let fair Difcretion lead;

Let Truth infpire thy thought, and crown thy deed;
Let fage Experience guide thy hand and voice;
Be flow to choofe; but conftant in thy choice;
To Mercy's dictates open all thy breaft.-

Be Good-and Heaven will teach thee to be Bleft."

Vol. i. p. 111.

Among the remainder of thefe poems many are of equal fpirit with this, which will, doubtlefs, be fufficient inducement to fuch of our readers as delight in poetry, to make the examination for themselves. This volume concludes with fome Latin epigrams, a few of which are given in English alfo. Hardly any of them are deficient in poignancy, but the archness of the farcasm in that which we shall cite, gives it peculiar merit.

"Brevis effe Laboro.

Ars longa eft, fed vita brevis; fic fcripferat olim
Illuftris medicâ calliditate fenex *.

Dicite nunc medici, colitis fi longius artem,

An brevior nobis vita futura fiet ?" P. 315.

The fame talent of giving new and elegant ornaments to very trivial fubjects, and drawing from them unexpected and

* Hippocrates.

happy

happy allufion, which appears fo abundantly in the occafional poems for the fchool, is exhibited alfo in thofe written for other occafions, among which are the annual copies addreffed to Mrs. Bishop. Of thefe a few have ftolen into print before, and have been, as they deserved, very generally admired. We fhail infert one, which, to us, is new, and has all the merits that have been acknowledged in the more known copies.

TO MRS. BISHOP,

On another Anniversary of her Wedding-Day, with his own Profile in fhadow.

"In many an emblem's better part,
I've pictur'd oft, your head and heart;
Permit me now to let you fee,

A fhadow, that should look like me;
The fhadow of a man obfcure,
In all, but one dear treasure, poor;
Yet more than wealthy, happy too,
To call that one dear treafure-You!
The fhadow of a man, whofe eye
Could Worth in Beauty's form defcry:
Mark'd where the worthieft charm the moft;
And faw in You, all each could boast;
And feeing, lov'd; and loving, thought,
The more he lov'd, the more he ought.
The shadow of a man, who knows
How likeness from affection grows;
And his own Virtue beft fecures,
When moft he feels, and honours Yours.

In fhort, mere fhadow, as it is,
Queer copy of as queer a phiz,
This mimic bawble of a face,

place,

Affumes a ftyle, and claims
All other pride and praise above-

THE SHADOW OF THE MAN YOU LOVE!"

Vol. ii. p. 40.

It is very evident that we cannot proceed to gratify our readers or ourselves by these extracts, to the extent that the occafion might tempt us to with. The chief part of this latter volume is occupied by English epigrams, of which it must fuffice to fay, that there are among them many more good, and much fewer bad than is ufual in fuch collections. Two, in different styles, we fhall infert. May the fentiment with which the former concludes, affilt the patriotic emulation to maintain its truth!

"QUERE PEREGRINUM. Virtues and fashions jointly fhare

All England's pride, all England's care:

From

From foreign fops, and coxcomb courts,
Fafhions, by wholefale, fhe imports;
But let it, to her praise be known,

Old England's VIRTUES are her own!" P. 184.
QUALIS AB INCEPTO.

First, in the bunch, the grape's red hue,

Then in the bottle glows;

But laft, and moft, and longeft too,

O Cotta, in thy nofe." P. 196.

So very new a turn, given to fo very old a fubject, has peculiar merit. One circumftance in Mr. Bishop's plan of verfification we can by no means approve. He frequently drops a fyllable, in a way that is unufual and very inharmonious. Thus adverfity, in his laft copy of verfes, ftands as three fyllables. Similar licences occur frequently, and ought not to be imitated. To fum up our account briefly. So much variety, fo much novelty, fo much poetical fpirit as are difplayed in thefe volumes, we have feldom feen in a modern publication; and, of their fuccefs with the public, we can hardly entertain

a doubt.

ART. XIII. An hiftorical Effay on the Principles of political Affociations in a State; chiefly deduced from the French, Englifh, and Jewish Hiflories: with an Application of thofe Principles, in a comparative View of the Affociations of the Year 1792, and that recently inflituted by the Whig Club. By the Reverend John Brand, MI. A. 8vo. 138 pp. 35. Longman. 1796.

IN

N proportion as a juncture is critical and alarming, it is expedient to confult the page of Hiftory, that we may be enabled, if poffible, by taking advantage of the dear-bought experience of others, to avoid that enormous expence which muft attend the purchase, if made by ourselves. It cannot be denied that the prefent juncture calls, in the most urgent manner, for fuch a reference: for never, in the hiftory of the world, was there a period teeming with dangers fo universal in their extent, fo fatal in their tendency, and, at the fame time, fo difficult to be averted, as thofe which difturb the prefent quiet, and threaten the future fafety, of mankind. At fuch a time it is perhaps impoffible to render a more valuable fervice to fociety, than by felecting, from the immenfe mafs of historical records, thofe leffons which are more immediately appli

cable