ments fo copious, that the spirit of Perfius is extinguished in the dulnefs of the rhapfodift. The execution is likewife not more weak and unpoetical than the defign is inconfiftent with morality. It is neither folly nor vice, but wifdom and virtue, that undergo this author's reprehenfion. He delineates youth, as a crime against the state; and tranfcendent abilities, as unconnected with perfonal merit. In fhort, he has mistaken both the shafts and the object of genuine fatire; and of this it is our duty to inform him, even at the hazard of his refentment, fo directly intimated in the following line. Beware, Reviewers! leaft I break your pates.' The Voluntary Exile. A Poetical Effay. 4to. Is. 6d. Scott. This is faid to be an allufion to Juvenal's third Satire; but as unlike that author, as the preceding article is to Perfius. From thefe two productions, one would be inclined to think, that fome school-boys, in a ramble to Parnaffus, have got intoxicated with the fprings of Helicon, and are now disgorging their debauch upon the public. The Political Remembrancer. A Poem in Hudibraftic Verfe. 25. Maclew. A more despicable piece of doggrel than this Remembrancer, never was configned to oblivion. A Monody upon the Death of Lord Ashburton. 4to. 1s. 6d. Becket. A tribute of gratitude or esteem; but not dictated by the elegiac Mufe. Peace, a Poem; humbly addressed to his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, on his taking his Seat in Parliament. 4to. Stockdale. 15. 6d. May it please your royal highnefs, not with more perfonal refpect and becoming humility than real regard, I beg leave to exprefs my most grateful fenfe of your royal highness's great condefcenfion in the acceptance of the following poem. Like the ancient Perfian habit, plain, fimple, and unadorned, it will fhew itself how unequal to this honour; yet the greater will appear your princely encouragement to fcience and literature, in patronizing fo inferior a work, which has nothing but its fincerity to recommend it.' Thus begins the Dedication to this curious poem, the concluding part of which seems to intimate, that his royal highnefs's encouragement of literature will appear evident from his patronifing a performance unworthy his attention and as the author with great modefty chooses to compare it to the ancient Perfian habit, a comparison which we do not much like, we hope his candour will excufe our addreffing him in the words of Lear to the ill-apparelled Edgar: I do not like the fashion of your garments; you fay they are Perfian attire, but let them be changed.'-Verbum fat fapienti. On On the next fection, where our author talks of truly unvariable unity,' we shall pafs no comment. We know not indeed well what he means; but unity, whether domestic oF civil, is now a topic too ferious to be jefted with. Though the Dedication is fufficiently obfcure, it falls infinitely fhort of the poem itself in that refpect; witness the following lines: Ere long, fome good, fome lovely fair While the light pinions quiv'ring play.' The prediction is extremely kind, but unfortunately the last lines are totally inexplicable. No lefs fo is the ensuing prophecy : Thou too fhalt mark the modeft vi'lets bloom, Which fcents the zephyrs wings, yet hides its head; Oft from the foaming fteed fhalt placid come, T'inhale its fweetnefs with delighted tread.' We allow that to be placid after a very hard ride is a grand idea, and fit only to be applied to one of royal birth; but how the bloom of a violet can fcent the air, and that bloom be perceived where its head is concealed; or how even the feet of royalty itself can obtain delight by inhaling its sweetness, we cannot poffibly conjecture. As the quotations we have given fhew to what a height fublimity is carried in fome paffages, we can affure the reader fimplicity is no lefs confpicuous in others. -quantum vertice ad altum, Tantum radice ad Tartara tendit. For instance; fome infants introduced to celebrate the prince's beneficence, • Stretching their little arms, lifp-is'nt that he? Yes, my dear babes, 'tis him, fhe cries.' This is founding the very base-ftring of humility!' Can any thing be more fimple? more confonant to the Doric idiom? or can any farther extract be required to justify our opinion? The following paffage from Horace is fubjoined to the dedication. 'Satis fuperque me benignitas tua Ditavit.' Whether it is inferted as a teftimony of the author's claffical knowlege, or as an acknowlegement for favours received, we know not: if the latter, as the dedication feems to intimate, we fuppofe the man, though not the poet, was entitled to protection. Otherwise we think he had reafon to expect a fimilar anfwer to that which Jehu gave the meffengers of Joram: What haft thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me!' * Spen Spenser's Fairy Queen, attempted in Blank Verfe. With Notes, critical and explanatory. 8vo. 15. Egerton. Readers of different complexions will pafs a very different judgment on this performance. These who are fond of perfpicuity, and a modern ftyle; who cannot bear the impediments thrown in their way by obfolete words and obfcure phrafes, will probably approve the undertaking; but those who are charmed with the magic numbers of Spenfer, and think the Gothic ftructure of his rhythm adapted to the fubject, will certainly object to the attempt. This publication con tains only the first four cantos. Fashion; an Ode. With other Poems. 4to. This publication confifts of odes, a little elegiac poem excepted. The firft is written after the Greek model; and as regularly divided into frope, antiftrophe, and epode, as any of Pindar's. The mode of compofition, and the fubject, which feverely arraigns modern follies, are of courfe oddly contrafed. We find in it a few reprehenfible expreffions, which might eafily have been avoided; but, on the whole, the poem is entitled to approbation for its numbers, fpirit, and imagery. The fecond, which confiders the viciffitude of pleasure and pain as congenial to the state of man, is of inferior merit; though the forcible recollection of the beautiful ode began by Gray, and completed by. Mafon, on the fame fubject, may make us too faftidious. A mock turtle, introduced at the table of a Bristol alderman, juft after he had featted on a real one, would probably be pronounced an infipid difh; though at another time, it might have acquired a different appellation. The third, to Retro pection, bears likewife fome refemblance to Gray's ode on a diftant view of Eton College. The pleafing melancholy which poffeffes the mind on recalling thofe fcenes which delighted us in our infant years, is feelingly defcribed in the following lines: In vain with aching fight I try The future to pervade; No ftraggling beam of Hope is nigh Ah! then permit me to review The peace my youthful moments knew ; The peace I ne'er must know again; The peace, which too refin'd to cloy, And Mem'ry joyful pain.' To Retrofpection's piercing eyes, In funfhine painted gay, The fcenes of former times now rife, And now in mifts decay. * The first Canto was published in 1774, and reviewed in December. See Crit. Rev. vol. xxxviii. p. 469. My My native cottage there I fee, My guiltless childhood flept or play'd. Ah! happy view of happy years! The laft ode, addreffed to Beneficence, is likewise not desti tute of merit, though fcarcely equal to the preceding. None of them are defective in point of harmony and animation; and the author, though not a first-rate poet, foars far beyond me'diocrity. Summer Amufements, or Mifcellaneous Poems. By William Burnby, 8vo. 25. 6d. Dodley. Amidst the fashionable infipidity of a watering-place, this farrago may deferve the name of Amusement; but in the clofet, we only find the femblance of poetry and of humour. The fubftance feems to have been far removed from our modern Ixion, who hath grafped a cloud inftead of a goddess. We may be again told Be dull no more, let juftice, candour plead, Affent for once to an impartial deed.' Really, Mr. Burnby, we never felt advice more forcibly; and, whatever faults may be laid to our charge, we are convinced that, in the prefent cafe, we deserve due credit for our impartiality. MEDICA L. A ferious and friendly Addrefs to the Public, on the dangerous Confequences of neglecting common Colds and Coughs, fo frequent in this Climate: containing a fimple, efficacious, and domeftic Method of Cure, neceffary for all Families. By a Gentleman of the Faculty. 8vo. Is. 6d. Murray. The appearance of the title was queftionable, as it seemed a prelude to a quack medicine; but the pamphlet is really the production of a fenfible and benevolent man, anxiously wishing to warn mankind against a dangerous and delufive enemy. He mentions the different methods of relieving a common cold; and the only peculiarities which we have remarked are, an exuberant complaifance to every author he has quoted; and a 7 timid caution in the ufe of almost all the different remedies recommended. We fufpect that the author is rather a valetudinarian than a Gentleman of the Faculty." An Enquiry into the Nature and Caufe of that Swelling in one or both of the lower Extremities, which fometimes happens to Lyingin Women. By Charles White, Efq. F.R.S. &c. 8vo. in Boards. Dilly. 25. 6d. The author, in this fenfible little tract, describes a disease, which, though not dangerous, is painful and troublesome. He fuppofes it owing to the ftagnation of the lymph, and the retention of that fluid in the abforbing veffels. We think this opinion highly probable, but the remote caufe is obfcure and uncertain. It feems to arife, he obferves, from a rupture of the lymphatics in the time of labour, in confequence of the preffure of the child; for when the wound is again healed, the cicatrix may contract, or entirely deftroy the diameter of the tube, and occafion a ftagnation in the parts below. Mr. White is certainly mistaken in this account; for if it was true, the attack would not be fudden, the fwelling would begin in the lower part of the limb, and the pain occur in the fecond, rather than in the first stage. This fubject is illuftrated by fome cafes, which fully evince that the disease is not owing to a metaftafis of the milk, to the depofition of any acrid matter, or the obftruction of the lochia. The remedies are rather more numerous than a diforder fo fafe feems to require; but they are well adapted to it; and the whole is illuftrated by three plates of the lymphatic fyftem, taken from Mr. Hewfon. In the fubfequent part of the work, our author disapproves of the custom of drawing the breafts, when the mother does not purpose to fuckle her child. It is very certain that this practice is always unneceffary, and frequently hurtful; and we can add our own teftimony to that of Mr. White, that it may be fafely omitted. On the whole, this pamphlet will by no means diminish the author's reputation: we wish that he had not fo carefully endeavoured to fupport it by a long lift of titles added to his name. We may be allowed to fuggeft, that many of the inftitutions derive more honour from Mr. White than they confer on him; and to accumulate every trifling distinction, muft at least show, that trifles will make fome impreffion on the mind. DIVINITY. The Clergyman's Companion in vifiting the Sick. A new Edition, corrected and enlarged. 8vo. 35. Faulder. This collection has been fo much efteemed, that it has paffed through eight editions. It was now become fcarce; and therefore it was thought proper to re-print it. The rules for vifiting the fick, are extracted chiefly from the works of bishop Taylor. The occafional prayers are taken from the devotional tracts of bishop Patrick, Mr. Kettlewell, and other pious divines. In this edition, the antiquated ftyle of those writers is cor |