pears to be a ftrong inftance of the truth of the affertion. We thall only add our general regret, that no defence can be perfectly effectual againit fo broad and bold an accufation; and complete as this anfwer of Dr. Vincent's is, we fear there will be many fill who will fortify their unjuft prejudices against public fchools, by the authority of the writers whom he has, as far as he is concerned, refuted.

BRITISH CATALOGUE.

POETRY.

ART. 14. Poems, chiefly Sonnets. By the Author of Tranflations from the Italian of Petrarch, Metaftafio, and Zappi. 8vo. 35. Riving

tons. 1799.

There is a great deal of true claffical tafte and poetic feeling in thefe compofitions. The Stanzas on leaving Winchester College, on removing from Oxford to the Inns of Court, and on returning to Oxford, cannot poffibly be read without exciting a confiderable degree of intereft. We exhibit two fpecimens, which we hope will promote the more earnest attention of the lovers of poetry.

SONNET XIII.

She faw the ftruggling figh my bofom tear,
Nor would the fend me on my way unbleffed,
And her dear check in love and pity dreffed,
Told me each pang of abfence the would fhare:
Her coy referve had yielded to her care,

But that more pow'rful hope that care reprefs'd;
Yet ftill her eyes each rifing with confeffed,
And melting foft forbad me to defpair;
And gently op'ning as a look fhe stole,

They feemed my filence to reprove, and fay,
"Have I not yet enough my heart betray'd?"
Yet deem'd I right, or only dreams my foul
Of blifs unreal, foon in forrowing lay
Its own too fond prefumption to upbraid ?"
"SONNET XIX.

She who unmoved could hear her lover mourn,
When, from his redd'ning eye-balls, the big tear
Of anguish started, and with tremulous fear
Convuls'd his bofom heav'd; when pale and

worn

And

And half-depriv'd of breath, the wretch forlorn
Hung fuppliant; the who then refus'd to hear,
Or with the fcanty boon of pity cheer,

Love fhall avenge the crime with tea-fold fcorn:
For her each bloffom, of her fpring the pride,
Joylefs fhall wither, and our ev'ry wrong
Remembrance with its fting fevere repay:
Yet ah! meanwhile triumphant does the ride,
And mocks our forrows:-Why, ah why fo long,
Too flothful boy, the vengeance due delay ?"

ART. 15. The Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in Leo, on the 29th of
September, 1801. A happy Prelude to a propitious Peace. A Poem.
Mercury's Apology for the Curate's Blunder, an Impromptu, addressed to
the Earl of Yarmouth; and other poetical Pieces. By the Rev. Joba
Black. 8vo. 23 PP. IS. Robinfons. 1801.

What concern Jupiter or Venus had in these Poems, we will not pretend to fay; but they decidedly appear to us to have been written invitâ Minerva. However, though we do not exactly fee how this conjunction of planets applies to the Preliminaries of Peace, an Invocation to Sleep was certainly a proper exordium for any of thefe Poems, confidering their quality; but we think not one of the author's readers will join in the following complaint:

"Sweet, gentle Sleep, why art thou fled?
Wilt thou no more thy poppies fhed?
No more my aching eye lids clofe,

And lull my cares in foft repofe?"

Thefe are among the best lines in the book. We are not fond of quoting, where we cannot give fuch specimens of a work as will produce a favourable opinion of it.

ART. 16. Peace, a Poem, infcribed to the Right Honourable Henry Addington. By Thomas Dermody. 4to. Is. 6d. Hatchard. 1801.

We paid a tribute of refpect to the poetical abilities of this author in our feventeenth volume, p. 79; and the occafion, at leaft, of the prefent publication would of icfelt excite in us a fpirit of complacency, without any other incidental recommendation. Mr. Dermody has moft undoubtedly a great deal of tafte and feeling, and his Poem commences with a degree of animation highly refpectable. The compo fition nevertheless bears too many marks of hafle, and fome expreffions have found their way among fome indifferent lines, which a little more reflection would have prevented. Who knows what is meant by flooding Infidelity"? (p. 12). Or who will approve of the new term "God-abandoned"? Or the rhimes,

Again encouraged by thy halcyon fway,

Wealth's merchant fons fhall crowd the bufy quay ?

Yet many lines might be quoted, which are very chaste, correct, and harmonious.

ART.

ART. 17. Alonzo and Cora, with other Original Poems, principally Elegiac. By Elizabeth Scot, a Native of Edinburgh. To which are added, Letters in Verfe, by Blacklock and Burns. 8vo. 168 pp. 10s. 6d. Rivingtons. 1801.

The Preface to this volume informs us, that Elizabeth Scot, the author of thefe Poems, was the daughter of David Rutherford, Efq. Counsellor at Edinburgh; that he was born there in 1729, was admired for her genius and acquirements, and intimately acquainted with Allan Ramfay, with Blacklock, and with Burns; that the death of a youth, whom the tenderly loved, and had engaged to marry, clouded her mind with forrow; that, at rather an advanced period of life, fhe married a Mr. Walter Scot; and, that he died in 1789.

Tenderness of fentiment, and fluency of verfification, appear to form the general character of these Poems, rather than fertility of fancy, or a very nice felection of expreffion. Alonzo and Cora" is much the longest Poem in the collection, but, whether from the fubject being fince grown trite, or not, we cannot fav, did not pleafe us moft. Perhaps the mournful Elegy, called "Solitude and Sadness," which Dr. Blacklock is faid to have praifed, is, upon the whole, the most interefting compofition in the book. It is too long to be given entire, and a partial extract would not do juftice to its merit. We prefer therefore extracting the lines entitled, improperly perhaps, "The Confolation," as they convey an adequate idea of the author's ftyle and manner of writing.

THE CONSOLATION.

Bleft is the maid, and truly bleft alone,

Who peaceful lives, unknowing and unknown.
For her the world difplays no winning charms,
No love of conqueft her fair bofom warms;
Within her breaft no warring paffion glows;
No anxious with disturbs her fix'd repose;
No faithlefs lover fills her eyes with tears;
No haughty rival's fatal charms she fears;
No love neglected finks her foul with fhame;
She fecret mourns no ill-requited flame.
Unmindful of her charms, however fair,
Unknown the pride of beauty or the care;
Hid from the world, the fhuns the public eye
Like roles, that in deferts bloom and die.
In peace and cafe fhe spends her happy days,
And fears no envy, as the courts no praife."

The Poem on the ftory of Leander and Hero is imitated, we are told in a note, from that which bears the name of Mufæus, or rather from Fawkes's tranflation of that Poem; but it has little refemblance to the fuppofed original. We were pleafed with the cafe and good humour of the complimentary Epiftle, in the Scotch dialect, to Burns, and the answer of that diftinguifhed poet. Upon the whole, thefe Poems, though they now and then exhibit a weak line, or an inaccurate expreffion, and difplay no great originality of genius, may be read with pleasure by the lovers of tender and harmonious poetry.

ART'

By Edward Atkyns Bray. Smail
Rivingtons. 1800.

ART. 18. Idyls: in Two Parts. 8vo. 133 pp. 4s. 6d. Paftoral poetry, once perhaps the eafieft, is now become one of the moft difficult paths to poetical diftinction and eminence. So changed are all our manners and cuftoms, fo apt are we, at least in this country, to estimate the merit even of poetry by the flandard of common sense, that Arcadian shepherds and fhepherdeffes, their crooks and their lambs, their quarrels and their reconciliations, can scarcely be preserved from ridicule by the greateft beauty of language and harmony of verification. Even Pope thought it neceflary, in his more advanced age, to apologize for his Paftorals, as a facrifice of fenfe to found. The volume before us confifts of what the author calls Arcadian Idyls; the fecond Part (which is to confift of English Idyls) not being yet publifhed. Thefe little Poems, he informs us, are written in the plan of Geffner's Idyls; but they are far from difplaying the richness of imagination, or fottnefs of defcription, which diftinguish that writer. On the whole, however, they are not unpleafing, and, if not entitled to very high praife, may be read by thofe who are fatisfied with tolerably fmooth and flowing verfification. We would gladly extract the third Idyl, as founded on circumftances more ftriking than most of the others, but that it is too long for infertion. In the firft Idyl, the following apology of a capricious lover for his conduct, whatever we may think of its morality, is not bad poetry.

"AMYNTAS.

On you I call, Immortals! to atteft

How once young Glicera fway'd my fubject breaft!
Seek you what motives could my heart eft range?
Look round; for Nature's felf is prone to change.
Not Heav'n itself each day the fame appears;
For now it fmiles, and now diffolves in tears.
The fifter Seafons, when they quit the sky,
With varied gifts the regal Year fupply.
This holds a vafe, and pours the fruitful showers,
That from her basket flings the fcented flowers;
One clothes the funny earth with golden grain,
The other, clad in tempefts, fcours the plain.
Think you 'twas ordered by the voice of Fate,
For man t'enjoy the fame unalter'd ftate?" P. 4.

Mr. Bray published June-vile Poems in the year 1799; and appears undoubtedly to be an improving writer.

ART. 19. The Valley of Llanherne, and other Pieces, in Verfe. By John Fisher, A. B. 12mo. 5s. 6d. Hatchard. 1801.

Llanherne is,a village on the north-weft coaft of Cornwall, and by the plate annexed to this elegant little volume must be a most interesting and beautiful fpot. This place, now the refidence of fome Carmelite Nuns, is celebrated by the author in smooth and agreeable verse; but

the

the Poem of moft merit and intereft in the collection is the Shipwreck, a fcene with which the inhabitants of this part of our inland are too familiar. The ridiculous Parody of the thirteenth Book of Ovid's Metamorphofis, night as well have been omitted; as alfo might the tale of the Prieft and his Neighbour, in which we meet with fuch abfurd phrafes as "beery looks," for a man feemingly drunk with beer; "unabandoned drift"-" more decence", &c. &c. There is fome merit in the first part of the work; but, to eke it out, the author has inferted fome pieces, from which he cannot poffibly derive any credit.

Wil

ART. 20. Nautical Odes, or Poetical Sketches, defigned to commemorate the Archievements of the British Navy. 40. 160 pp. 125. liams. 1801.

There is much more of patristic than of poetical spirit in thefe Odes; in which almost all the diftinguifhed naval actions, during the American and the late war (as we trult it may now be termed) are celebrated. When we fo much approve a writer's defign, we are concerned not to be able to commend his execution of it. But there is fcarcely an Ode in this collection that does not abound with ludicrous paflages; fuch as the following in the Ode on Lord Rodney's Victory over Don Juan de Langara.

“'Tis now a dismal filence all,

As if the foes his fire diflike;

While Rodney's loudly heard to call,

Why this dull filence? do you ftrike?"

Shrill from the fhrouds a feeble cry

Trembling attempts a faint reply:

Yes, mercy on our wayward luck!

We poor trounc'd Spaniards long have ftruck."

Yet this Ode, and that which follows it (on the victory of the 12th of April, 1779) begin with a fpirit that feemed to announce better things. Nor is the Ode on Lord Howe's action of June 1, 1794. wholly deficient in vigour. Yet in general the familiar and (furely without defign) the ludicrous prevails, more efpecially in the Ode on the fucceffes of the flying fquadrons under Sir J. Warren, Sir Edward Pellew, &c. &c. performances which would difgrace the bellman. Some moral tales, for the ufe of feamen, are fubjoined: and they certainly would be useful, if feamen could be perfuaded to read them.

DRAMATIC.

ART. 21. Mary Stuart. A Tragedy. By Frederick Schiller. Tranf lated into English, by J. C. M. Efq. 8vo. 224 PP. 4s. 6d.

Efcher. 1801.

The hiftory of the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots is too well known to be repeated here. The outlines of it are, we think, fuffi

* Printed fo by mistake for 1782.

ciently