Judicrous pieces as in the present volume, a circumstance not to be wondered at, since the editor, so well known as the author of Salmagundy, acknowledges that he has mingled some productions of his own. No particular signature distinguishes Mr. Huddesford's pieces, but we imagine our sagacity would run little hazard of impeachment, should we point out the following ludicrous tale, as one of his literary offspring. "Volumes of historic lore Read, and you'll find that heretofore Flourish'd a brood of strapping dogs, Now deep the sexton burrows to explore The sepulchre that these old worhies hid ; Something at last that seen'd an huge bard door, But was no other than a coffia-lid, Oppos'd his efforts; long it spread and wide, As of some sullen slumb'rer half awoke, "Raw head and bloody bones ne'er yet af frighted me." To whom the present race of men are frogs: A thund'ring voice replies, “What miscreant Ajax a rock in's arms could take And hurl it at your pericrane, Which half a dozen folks of modern make, With force combin'd, would strive to lift in vain. By gallant Guy of Warwick slain Was Colbrand, that gigantic Dane; Nor could this desp'rate champion daunt A dun cow bigger than an elephant: But he, to prove his courage sterling, His whyniard in her blood imbrued; He cut from her enormous side a surloin, And in his porridge-pot her brisket stew'd : Then butcher'd a wild boar and ate him barbecu'd. When Pantagruel ate salt pork To shovel mustard into's chops.-. But we, their progeny, are mere milksops: They drank whole tuns at a sup to wet their throttles, But we're a race of starv'lings-I'll be shot elsc Begotten with the rincings of the bottles. 'Twas so the sage Monboddo wrote; And many a learned clod of note You'll see come forward and advance Positions every whit as wise: And that they tell their friends no lies I'll shew you by collateral circumstance. There liv'd-'tho' that is somewhat wide O' the purpose-I should say, there died A squire, and Wyschard was his name ; Pictish and Saxon ancestry Illustrated his pedigree, And many a noble imp of fame: Yet these renowned ancestors, As if they had been vulgar sons of whores, Were long, long since, by all the world forgot Save by himself: he knew the very spot Where they had each been coffin'd up to rot; And in his will directions gave exact Amongst those venerable dads to have his carcase pack'd. And he wasn the right, For at a single bite, Old Wyschard snapt it off clean as a whistle. "Hence, lying varlet, bear "Your pigmy corpse elsewhere, "Twould Wyschard's grave disgrace! "In the stoutest of your race, "There's no more substance than a BIT of GRISTLE." “Well a day Jack,” and the "Cape Hunt," are very amusing ballads, probaly from the same hand. Under the itle of a Monumental Inscription, we ere not a little surprised to meet with he lines: "Hosanna! to the Prince of Peace ines which have been known among ODE TO THE CROW. Say, weary bird, whose level flight, The wren within her mossy nest ach twittering bill and busy wing, ste, bird, and nurse thy callow brood, Under the head of Nuge Poetice, nothing pleased us so much as a parody on the first Ode of Anacreon. "The story of king Arthur old, "The charms of beauteous Florimel." To teach this lesson to the wise and brave, That 'tis much better, overthrown and broke In Freedom's cause, to sink into the grave, Than, in submission to a tyrant's yoke, Like the vile reed, to bow and be a slave." But it is time to close our extracts, of which we should not have been so profuse, had we not been well satisfied that enough would remain to compensate the trouble of the reader in a selection which bears the stamp of taste so forcibly im pressed. -XVII. The Shipwreck, a Poem, by WILLIAM FALCONER, a Sailor. The Book CLARKE. F. R. S. 8vo. pp. 220. artist to the author which has disgraced the editions of Shakespeare and Milton, instead of any vain rivalry between the arts, we have the skill of the painter employed here exactly as it should be to illustrate the poet, on a subject equally within the reach of his art, and with which he is as intimately acquainted. Much praise is due to Mr. Clarke for his very beautiful edition of a popular work. He is indeed peculiarly fitted for the undertaking by his own nautical knowledge, and has been fortunate in obtaining the valuable assistance of Mr. Bowles, Mr. Pococke, and of his brother whose travels are so eagerly expected by the literary world. Each of these gentlemen has supplied him with annotations. Mr. Gell's drawings have given the actual scenery. The biographical memoir has been collected with care, and its deficiencies are not to be imputed to any want of industry in the author. William Falconer was the son of a poor barber at Edinburgh; the children of whom, with this single exception, were all either deaf or dumb; and two, in consequence of being thus incapacitated, died in the poor-house. Falconer himself was fortunate enough to become servant to Campbell, the author of Lexiphanes, then purser of a ship, who discovered his talents and delighted in cultivating them; his own industry must have been considerable, as he could readily understand French, Spanish, Italian and German. His first poem upon the death of Frederic Prince of Wales, was published at an early age in 1751; between this time and the publication of the Shipwreck in 1762, Mr. Clarke has discovered that he inserted one poem in the Gentleman's Magazine, and conjectures two others to be his with sufficient probability. It is also his opinion, and that of many other persons, that the famous song "Cease, rude Boreas" was either written by Falconer or by Captain Thomson. The Shipwreck was dedicated to the Duke of York, who immediately noticed the author, and advised him to quit the merchant service for the navy; he was accordingly rated a midshipman in the Royal George; but Falconer was too old for this situation to benefit him, and by the advice of his friends gave up the military for the civil line in the navy, and was appointed purser of the Glory frigate. When the Glory was laid up in ordinary at Chatham, commissioner Hanway, brother to the good Jonas Hanway, interested himself for the poet, and the captain's cabin was ordered to be fitted up for him with a stove, and with every addition of comfort that could be procured. In this hermitage, as his editor calls it, he finished his Universal Dictionary of the Marine. While he held this situation also it was that he disgraced himself by his satire on Wilkes, Churchill, and Lord Chatham, which served as a powerful antidote to the Rosciad, says Mr. Clarke, forgetting that the Rosciad has nothing to do with po litics. Falconer was not equal to the service in which he volunteered; political satire was above his strength; it requires all the sterling sense and sterling genius of Churchill to preserve such poems from the oblivion to which their subjects drag them down. He had now to struggle with narrow circumstances, being obliged to take up his abode in a London garret; but he had an affec tionate wife, and a good spirit, and some old messmates helped him on. Some thing he got by writing under Mallet in the Critical Review; in which, if we un derstand Mr. Clarke's note properly, be wrote a severe critique upon one of his own poems. At this time, Murray the bookseller being about to take Sand by's business, proposed to Falconer to become a partner with him; this pro posal he unhappily rejected, obtained the appointment of purser to the Aurora fri gate then bound for India, reached the Cape in her, and on the remainder of the passage was lost-it has never been cer tainly known how. There is. however, reason to believe that the ship foundered in the Mozambique channel, a course which the captain had obstinately deter mined to take, though ignorant of the navigation. The technical excellency of his great poem has always been acknowledged. "The poem of the SHIPWRECK is of ine tiinable value to this country, since it eas tains within itself the rudiments of navig tion: if not sufficient to form a complete seaman, it may certainly be considered as the grammar of his professional science. 1 hast heard many experienced officers declare, that the rules and maxims delivered in this poem. for the conduct of a ship in the most perilou emergency, form the best, indeed the ani opinions which a skilful mariner should adopt We possess, therefore, a poem not only eminent for its sublimity and pathos, but for an har monious poetic assemblage of technical terms and maxims used in navigation; which a young sailor may easily commit to memory; and also, with these, such scientific principles, as will enable him to lay a sound foundation for his future professional skill and judgment. We should, therefore, as Britons, respect this poem as the coinposition of a naval sibyl." Its poetical merit is also considerable, but the editor's admiration goes too far when he calls Falconer a second Homer. Mr. Clarke has with good judgment printed the introductory lines separate from the poem. Whether he has acted with equal propriety in so often reject ing the text of the last edition, may be doubted. He is induced to think, he says, that Falconer, in the agitation of his mind on being appointed purser to the Aurora, with the promise of being private secretary to the commissioners who went out in her, neglected this edition, and left the last alterations to Mallet, the inferiority of many passages being strikingly evident. I have endeavoured, says Mr. Clarke, with the assistance of the first and second editions, to make our author correct himself, and thus to restore the purity of the original text, which had become strangely impaired ; at the same time being careful to preserve all the beauties of the third edition. To this we must reply that there is no proof that the alterations were Mallet's, and that Mr. Clarke has no rule for rejecting one passage and retaining another but his own opinion. For instance, there are eight lines in the introduction in which Falconer complains of Eis evil fortune; these Mr. Clarke has omitted, because, he says, they strongly savour of fatalism, and are unworthy of a British mariner. There would have been no impropriety in entering such a protest against the passage in a note, but inless editors be entitled to more defeence than their authors, not only poets ut the public in general are interested n reprobating such mutilations. Bentey made wild work with Milton, but what work would Johnson have made with him had he cut him down to the tandard of his own miserable politics nd more miserable religion? Mr. Clarke should have adhered to the text f the last edition as that which the et himself approved, and the vari. ions might have been inserted in the tes.-The chart of the ship's path we ink should not have been omitted. The notes are for the most part very good. Mr. Pococke's indeed are not less scientific than those of Falconer himself: the following will exhibit the editor in a very favourable light. "And cheerless Night o'er Heaven her reign extends. "This is a most correct, and awful descrip tion of a Sun-set, preceding a storm, or rather an heavy gale of wind, and was some years since selected by Mr. Pococke as the subject of a large oil painting; in which this artist with a bold originality of genius represented only the sea and sky. No vessel whatever was introduced: the effect was admirable; and may be recommended to the notice of such persons as are fond of marine scenery. The spectator in this beautiful picture is supposed to be standing in a ship, and the view that lies before him is the expanse of ocean rolling in all its grandeur, without any object. to intercept the sight: whilst the sickening orb of the setting sun is enveloped in the crimson scud that tingesthe dusk of the horizon. scenes, that remind me of my lost and ever to "I have a melancholy pleasure in retracing be lamented friend, Admiral Payne; and, as it serves to illustrate a passage in the poem, I trust that such remembrance will not be deemed irrelevant by the reader, "We were cruising off Ushant, in the Im petueux, during an evening at the close of October, and the dreary coast so continually present to our view, created a painful unifor inity, which could only be relieved by observing the variations of the expanse that was before us-The sun had just given its parting rays, and the last shades of day lingered on the distant waves; when a sky most sublime, and threatening, attracted all our attention, and was inmediately provided against by the vigilant officers of the watch. To the verge of the horizon, except where the sun had left lowering, blue firmament presented itself: on some portion of its departing rays, a hard, this floated light yellow clouds, tinged with various hues of crimson, the never-failing harbingers of a gale. A strong vivid tint was reflected from them, on the sails and rigging of the ship, which rendered the scene more dreadful. The very calm that prevailed was portentous-the sea-bird shrieked as it passed! As the tempest gradually approached, and the thick darkness of an autumnal night closed the whole in horrid uncertainty: winds issued from the treasuries of God, the "It was a dismal and a fearful night; And on my soul hung the dull weight Of some intolerable fate!" COWLEY. "It is to be lamented that in our navy no mathematical instruments are sent on board by the Admiralty. Even the master is obliged to purchase the mout of his pay; and, as that cheapest that can be obtained. One set at is but moderate, he naturally procures the least of the very best that the metropolis can produce, should be sent from The Board to each ship; having previously been examined by the royal astronomer at Greenwich. The institution of an hydrographer at the Admiralty, in order to furnish our ships with correct charts, will, probably, in time lead to the above mentioned desideratum. It is painful to observe the wretched instruments that are now in use on board; nor can the exception of a few ships, whose captains are men of independent fortunes, weaken this assertion." "It can never be sufficiently lamented that the crews of our ships are not supplied with cheap editions of such books as Robinson Crusoe, Sinbad's Narrative, Roderic Random, and some of the most interesting voyages: the perusal of such works would often tend to allay the ferment of an irritated and harassed mind. So persuaded was I from experience, of the beneficial effect likely to result from an adoption of this idea, that I mentioned it to Lord Spencer when he presided at the Board: by whom it was approved." The only worthless notes are some that bear the signature of Mr. Bowles: for instance-"How very beautiful and affecting is this natural transition." "How clearly is every circumstance set before us in this description." Such impertinences would make us suspect that Mr. Bowles had been studying criticism in the school of Capel Lofft. Two poems by this gentleman are inserted, the one is entitled "The Dirge of poor Arion. "What pale and bleeding youth (while the fell blast Howls o'er the wreck, and fainter sinks the cry Of struggling wretches ere o'erwhelmed they die) Yet floats upborne upon the driving mast? The other concludes the volume. Mr. Clarke would render an essential service to English literature by faithfully editing the works of our early voyagers. Such a collection, illustrated by the learning and genius of Mr. Pococke, as it would be a national honour might reasonably expect national patronage. On a book so beautiful as this we may be permitted to offer a typographical criticism. The custom of breaking a disfigures the page; it might often be verse on account of its length greatly avoided by packing and pressing the words a little closer, or always by using a wider form. XVIII. The Poctical Works of Charles Churchill, with explanatory Notes, and an authentia Account of his Life, now first published. 8vo. 2 vols. "THE difficulty experienced by the editor in understanding many of the allusions contained in the following poems, gave rise to the present work. In the attempt to obviate this difficulty, he was obliged to wade through some hundred volumes, mostly of a local or political nature, and consequently at this time, either very scarce of quite neglected and forgotten: from these and other works in more general circulation, he principally extracted and compiled the notes he now offers to the public: for some of them, however, consisting of original anecdotes, he is indebted to oral tradition, and to an intimate acquaintance with several of the friends and contemporaries of the poet. "His authorities the editor has not often given; they are generally of a nature not calculated intrinsically to convey an impression of authenticity. In gleaning from the magazines, pamphlets, and newspapers of the day, the editor could only be induced from concurrent testimonies to select such anecdotes asserted best entitled to credibility, and to submit them to the judgment of the public. "Long before the press teemed with new editions of inferior poets, the present iter undertook the illustration of his Hercules author; his materials had lain by several years when the publication of his work was a cle rated by the obliging kindness of Mr. Flyney, the original publisher of Charcha!"; works, who being in possession of serers MSS. relating to the life and writings of the satirist, in the hand-writing of the Rev. Wi liam Churchill, his brother, communicated them to the editor. The spirit of party not subsided at the time they were written, and they were unfortunately too strongly im bued with that spirit, to render them of much utility." had |