power, which is only an outward he made a large fortune, but without grandeur, dazzling indeed, but false offending either the state or indiviand transitory. duals. Whereas, Cæsar, in acqun ng To judge, accurately, of the dif ference between this great conqueror and this great merchant, let it only I will imagine, in the time of Cæsar, more wealth, more power than the a wealthy merchant in Rome, who, merchant, overthrew the government to enrich his family, exposed himself of his country, and, by civil wars, to great perils and surmounted great caused it to suffer a number of serious obstacles, as well by the force of his evils. mind as by his courage, and finally amassed a large fortune without doing injustice to any one. We should not class this man either among the great be remembered, that no good citizen men or among the illustrious men would have wished the death of the of the republic, because he did not merchant, whereas, every good citi procure any distinguished advantages zen must have strongly desired the to his fellow-citizens, but merely to death of Cæsar, or that he had never his family. But he has, at least, this been. Now, can we esteem him to recommendation, he did no harm in be a great man, whom neither manthe course of his life: he had nothing kind in general, nor his country, nor to reproach himself with: he did individuals of worth, would regret the largely, what the generality of good loss of? merchants do upon a smaller scale; CRITICISM. [To be continued.] "Nulli negabimus, nulli differemus justitiam." THE MAID OF RENMORE; Or, PLA- His chief attack is against the letter TONIC LOVE; a Mock Heroic Romance, in Verse, with burlesque Notes in humble Imitation of modern Annotators. 1 vol. 1810. on Platonic love; and though he has not chosen those passages which were most susceptible of misrepresentation, yet, he has been sometimes successful in his satire. He does not seem to have matured his plan. There are some tolerable passages, but it concludes badly. It is preceded by an address to Amanda, of which we cannot say much in commendation. The following was the first passage that arrested our attention: T O wield the pen of satire with due effect, is a power that is granted but to few. Many have attempted it, and of that many the greater part have failed. A man may have sagacity to detect what is erroneous or ludicrous, but he may not have wit or humour to render it ridiculous or contemptible. Of mock heroic poems there are but three which have stood the test of time, Prompted by curiosity and love; "Oft did Lorenzo's steps retrace the grove, and are still read with undiminished Oft did he watch the day amid the shade pleasure: the Lutrin of Boileau; But ne'er beheld the Sylphids or the maid. the Rape of the Lock of Pope; and In vain he forms the spell of magic flame;) the Dispensary of Garth. We omit In vain invokes the guardian of the dame: the Secchia Rapita of Tassoni, be- No spirit answer'd to the guardian's name cause, though it is asserted to have In vain the magic pentacle extends, been the first of this species of com- To which the haughtiest spirit tamely bends, position, it is now considered rather In vain, he, thund'ring, knocks at ev'ry gate, as a curiosity than a treasure. No one had seen a Goddess there of late: And, if he ask'd the Strephons near the place, With regard to the present poem, the professed object of it seems to be to ridicule certain notions which are contained in Nubilia. The author has copiously selected from that work, both in the notes and in the poem. They gap'd, and grinn'd, and squinted ia his face. Now mark what evil from mad passion flows, And here; if fortune had not proved his So one,* who long in pop'lous London A scentless hedge-rose met Lorenzo's glance: He sprung with ardour to embrace a bough, And plung'd, unweeting, in a muddy slough, And there he stuck, till, like a common elf, He cursed the bog, the rose-tree, and himself! So when some Whip essays, with four-inhand, To turn a post, while crowds admiring stand; Just as he gains his glory's utmost verge, And jockey-notes the well-match'd geldings urge, A stone arrests the wheel, aloft he flies, And spluttering curses, in a mud cart lies: Yet fame has told, though shame forbids the tale, A park he enter'd, o'er a broken pale; Induc'd by scent of flow'rs, and shade of "Trees," And call'd by fancy, murmuring in the "breeze;" Here, as through order'd shrubberies he stray'd, A lattic'd bow'er disclos'd a sleeping maid, pent, Where smoke and various scents have little vent, Goes forth to taste, on Sunday morn, the cbarm Of Primrose Hill, or fields around Chalk Farm; From every thing, he sees, conceives delight, And dandelions please his smell and sight: Each rural sound, and rural view bewitches; Hoarse frogs, or banks of weeds, or putrid ditches. But if, with creaking pails a milkmaid pass, He feels new rapture and accosts the lass. So fared Lorenzo; while the waking dame, In white and red, declar'd her fear and shame; Th' intrusive shape in silent horror ey'd, And deem'd it impudence personified: Then, shrieking, fled, with many a vig'rous cry, And "murder!" "thieves !" and "robbers!" rent the sky! In vain Lorenzo strove, with tender pray'rs, To gain attention, and dispel her fears; Swift o'er the flow'r-edg'd gravel walks she Alew, And vanish'd through a closing door from view; "O, Sylphs! O,. pow'rs!" the mournful. hero cried, "Shall purest passion thus be gratified? Shall the lov'd dame, so long in vain adored, So vainly found, depart without a word? To momentary sight a while display'd, Then rapt, as lightning, into envious shade." Thus, while he fumed, the intermingled cry Of dogs and men approaching, rent the sky; And who are you?" a voice of thunder said, By hopes of plunder, or of poaching, led? How did you enter, fear ye no mishap, Within these premises, from gun, or trap?? * As one, who long in pop'ious city pent, Where houses thick, and sewers annoy the air, Forth issuing, on a summer's morn, to breathe, Among the pleasant villages and farins Adjoin'd; from each thing met conceives delight, (!)"That as a rose to mighty love," &c. Cupid was supposed, in a Greek allegory, to be the son of Zephyr and the rose, implying that love is the offspring of a sigh The smell of grain, or tedded grass, or kine, and a blush. Even now the Easterns de- Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound; signate the rose as the type of love, and If chance, with nymph-like step, fair vir consider the acceptance of the first as a tacit gin, pass, assent to the latter. The loves of Zephyr What pleasing seem'd for her, now pleases and the rose, and of the nightingale and the more, same flower are common subjects of Per- She most and in her look seems all delight. sian poetry. Milton's Paradise Lost, 66 "Ye, *that my entrance thus invidious So shall my soul contemn your servile band, It turns not back when boobies give command. view," He cried, "may think or wish my tale un true; Ye, that the setting sun invidious mark, "Here, Jowler, seize him!" was the leader's cry, And deem me vile because its growing And "seize him! seize him!" all the rest (2) "Why then did Cato live and nobly die?"-Cato was a stoic, but the disciples of Zeno and Plato coincided in the superiority of mind over matter. His addiction to the doctrines of Plato is well known, and it was by their influence that he prepared himself for death. The fact of the loan of his wife to a friend, is recorded in Plutarch. This adoration of mind, and contempt of body, uniformly produces a contempt of the usages of society. reply. Nor Jowler only, but a num'rous pack What shall I fear? "th' immortal soul "Dares the drawn dagger," with con- And shall it tremble at a mastiff's jaws, (3) Is sense; and how imaginary pain. Aloud he groan'd, nor dared he strike a blow, At length, exhausted in th’unequal fight, If mind can spring, no less can body too." Johnson endeavoured to convince Berke ley, in nearly the same way, by striking him with all his strength. A fond and mutual love, says Hodgson, in his notes on Juvenal, is a feeling which, if it ever could be justly represented (exquisite sceptic!) would be expressed by Heliodorus in these words: True and perfect love cares nothing for external at cidents, but is insensible to all pleasure and all pain, except that which arises from seeing and conversing with its object, or from being debarred that sight and conversation. This is followed by a commentation of Platonic refinement." + The latter Platonists were rather fol lowers of Pythagoras and Zoroaster than Plato. (3) "Is sense; and how imaginary pain The doctrine of Hume and Berkely was perfectly Platonic; Plato expressly says, that the present, is a word of verisimilitude only: that the beings in this world are only shadows, and that the substances themselves are in the ideas. This is a favourable specimen of the author's manner; and, as a further illustration of it, we will subjoin the following: "(8) Father of Plato!' with a zealot's fire, Burst forth Lorenzo, as he kiss'd the lyre, Corporeal sign of that harmonie soul,(9) Whence, social life, her silver rivets stole, Accept this homage from a votive heart, That feels thy vital breath in ev'ry part; Pow'r of attraction, whose embraces hurl'd, Round mind and matter, gird each dancing world; 'Press drop to drop, to atom, atom bind,' Thought join with thought, and mingle mind with mind: O! fill my bosom, this eventful hour, This panting spirit shall its mate rejoin ; Though friends exclaim Lorenzo, cease! for here Your rambling passion ends its short career: (10)Gift of the Sylph! the coarse contempt disprove, And be my pilot to the shore of love; (8) "Father of Plato," &c.-Plato was believed, by the common Greeks, to be the offspring of the sound of the lyre, an opinion which originated in his grand doctrine of the harmony of all created things. (9) "Corporeal sign of that harmonic soul." The Platonists, in common with the Pythagoreans, asserted that the organic as well as the individual soul of harmony; that virtue, and, in short, every thing in the universe, was harmony. Pythagoras, no doubt, by the harmony of the spheres had a view to their gravitation. In this sense it meant nothing more than the nicely balanced power of attraction and repulsion, which Hudibras whimsically terms love and fighting:: "And swore the world, as he could prove, Was made of fighting and of love. Just like Romances," as he adds. The latter Platonists carried this doctrine, of the music or the harmony of the spheres, to a most extravagant extent; asserting that the stars performed a most admirable concert, with all the nonchalance of men who had tickets of admission. (10) "Gift of the Sylph," &c.-Among the Romans the gift of a ring was a Welcome, thrice welcome, as the gleam s of day, To those who wander on the stormy way.' Then, on his finger, with connubial haste, The self-adapting Ring* Lorenzo plac'd ; The gift of a ring was, among the Romans, a pledge of liberation from slavery. Married people can best tell whether it is so among the moderns. The Author of Nubilia in Search of a Husband, asks if the ring is a magic circle, potent enough to confound all feeling, to hood-wink the mind, to corrupt the natural feelings of the bosom? Is there, in the name of wife and; husband, some invisible spirit that pierces through our nature, and curdles the genial current of human affection? Is the wide extended love, the sweet play of the heart, the natural emotion of the soul, are all these to vanish before the magic incantation of the altar? It is a vulgar and debasing idea, and degrading to the heart of If any one wishes to enjoy Platonic rhapsodies in perfection, æreal spirits, angelic shapes, viewless harps, &c. they cannot do better than peruse the search of Na bilia. The above extract may give a specimen of the pure nature of Platonism. men. "And some were for abolishing I have already extracted some observa- Not on the finger, where the Goths (11) of considered in relation with the con esteem and affection of, and will strive so to do." The following passage is a defence of purity, and of course too bad to extract. (11) "Goths of yore, "And Vandals, rings of gold and iron wore." The antient inhabitants of England used to wear their rings, like the Goths, on the middle finger. Macrobius, in his Saturnalia, Appius, in his Egyptiacs, and after him Gellius, says that there is a small nerve, according to the opinions of the Egyptians, which proceeds from the heart to the finger, next the small one. Writers on the virtues of precious stones, remark that the collet of the ring should be always drilled at the bottom, so that the jewel may touch the finger, to prevent its talismanic virtues from becoming ineffectual. SCRIPTURE GEOGRAPHY. In Twa Parts. Containing a Description of the most distinguished Countries and Places noticed in the HOLY SCRI PTURES; with a brief Account of the remarkable Historial Events connected with the Subject; intend ed to facilitate the Study of the Holy Bible to Young Persons. For the Use of Schools and Families, and illustrated with Maps. By JOHN Toy, Private Teacher of Writing, Arithmetic, and Geography. 1810. To all works which have, for their object, the facilitation of instruction, and the extension of knowledge among youth, we shall always be found to award our approbation. So highly do we deem the importance of giving, to the rising generation, the means of virtue and respectability, that we are always glad to see well. directed attempts to attain this end: and we sometimes regret that these attempts are so few. The pride of learning may be gratified by produc tions of a more specious quality; but let no man be ashamed that he has helped to open the path for the progress of active and ingenious youth. With regard to the present work, the want of such a one, simply and perspicuously arranged, must have been long felt by those who superintend the process of education; for though, as Mr. Toy observes, modern geography is a thing well studied, very little, if any thing, has been produced towards bringing into a small compass that geographical knowledge, which is calculated to throw a light upon the sacred volumes of Scripture, so as to render the mat |