Titus. And didft thou ftill proceed? Didst thou not find Thy bofom mov❜d ?

Sextus. I did, but with defire.

For fear, had from her every other thought
Remov'd; her hair difhevel'd, hid but loosely
Her blaze of beauties, as the kneeling strove
To clafp my knees; I rais'd her and embraced;
She fhriek'd aloud; fearing the might awake
The menial train, I had but one resource :
I rush'd forth to the door, where I had placed
My trufty flave, and dragging him by 's locks,
Swore I would flay them both upon her bed,
And publish to the world, I caught them there
I'th' act of fhame: the found resistance vain ;
The conflict 'twixt the dread of public infamy
And private crime, inwrapp'd her in despair;
I mark'd the ftrugglings of her foul, and feiz'd
The joy fhe would, but dared not to refuse.

Our readers will here readily recollect the beautiful defcription of a scene of a fimilar, though not of fo ravishing a nature, that of Lothario's nocturnal intercourfe with Califta. We doubt not, alfo, that the greater' part will give the preference to the language of Rowe; it must not be denied, however, that our author's, though not so poetical, is more truly colloquial and dramatic. We cannot help thinking, indeed, that we trace, through the whole of this production, fomething of that nervous, mafculine, and at the fame time familiar, vein of poetical diction, which diftinguifh the pen of Maffinger, and the other manly playwrights of his age. In commending the language of this piece, however, we can give little praise to it as a dramatic compofition, even though not calculated for reprefentation. As the ftile of our modern tragic writers, therefore, is dwindled fo very low, as it appears to be in our author's eftimation, and he thinks it fo easy a matter for a " even of a middling genius to contrive a regular plot," we cannot help wishing Dr. Downman would fet about a picce fit for theatrical reprefentation. It is poffible that he may fucceed better than those whofe productions have fuffered fo much by the curtailing of lord chamberlains, and the correction and metamorphofing of managers. Worfe he cannot fucceed than most of them, and we give him frankly our opinion, that he might fucceed much better.

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The

The Injured Iflanders; or the Influence of Art upon the Happiness of Nature. 4to. 2s. Murray.

New-difcovered countries do not occupy the navigator, the politician, the naturalift, and the moral philofopher only: the poet too claims his fhare in them. Every novelty in cuftoms, manners, and fituation, is to him a treasure, which he employs in winning over to his fide either the imagination or the heart.

The playful mufe has already made free with the inhabitants of the fouthern hemisphere, and had her laugh at those children of Nature. The author of the Injured Iflanders prefents them in a more refpectable point of view. The fimplicity of Nature is advantageously contrafted with thefi tuation they are now in, fince we have made them acquainted with wants before unknown, and confequently introduced amongst them new defires. We feel for them the fame re

gret, as when we behold a young perfon ftepping from the ftate of childhood to that of youth; exchanging the innocence and unimpaffioned calm of the former ftate, for the dangerous turbulency of the latter.

Though the Injured Iflanders be a defcriptive poem, yet the author has wifely confidered, that mere defcription, without paffion or ftory, would be like ftill-life painting, which, however excellent the execution, affords little pleasure, except to a small number of connoiffeurs. For this reason, he himself does not appear, but Queen Oberea is prefented in his ftead; while her paffion for Captain Wallis contributes to give intereft to the poem. She pleads the cause of Nature againft a high degree of civilization, with a characteristic fimplicity of eloquence. She is, judicioufly, made to speak from feeling, from objects that ftrike the fenfes. She does not reafon too much; and fhe appears, in her fallen eftate, more interefting than when furrounded with all the pomp of Otaheitean grandeur.

From the fubject, a fimilarity naturally arifes between "the Injured Iflanders," and Goldfmith's Deferted Village." The fame love for fimple nature, the fame averfion to commerce, and the confequences arifing from a high ftate of civilization, are feen in both. If the former, can in any degree, ftand the comparifon, it is furely poffeffed of no fmall fhare of merit. We fhall give an extract from each, and leave the public to judge.

"" Sweet

"Sweet Auburn, lovelieft village of the plain," Where health and plenty cheared the labouring fwain, Where fmiling Spring its earliest vifit paid,

And parting fummer's lingering blooms delay'd;
Dear, lovely bowers of innocence and ease,
Seats of my youth, when every sport could please;
How often have I loitered o'er thy green,
Where humble happiness endeared each scene,
How often have I paused on every charm,
The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm,
The never-failing brook, the bufy mill,
The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill,
The hawthorn bush, with feats beneath the shade,
For talking age, and whispering lovers made;
How often have I bleft the coming day,
When toil remitting lent its turn to play,
And all the village train, from labour free,
Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree;
While many a pastime circled in the shade,
The young contending, while the old furveyed;
And many a gambol frolick'd o'er the ground,
And flights of art, and feats of strength went round;
And still as each repeated pleasure tired,

Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired.”—

-"Thefe were thy charms, fweet village; fports like these

With sweet fucceffion, taught e'en toil to please ;

These round thy bower their chearful influence fhed,

These were thy charms--but all these charms are fled.
Sweet fmiling village, lovelieft of the lawn,

Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn:
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen,
And defolation faddens all the green."-

"Along the lawn where scatter'd hamlets rose,
Unweildly wealth, and cumbrous pomp repofe;
And every want to opulence allied,

And every pang that folly pays to pride.
Thofe gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom,
Thofe calm defires that afked but little room,

Those heathful sports that graced the peaceful scene,
Lived in each look, and brightened all the green,
Thefe, far departing, feek a kinder shore,

And rural mirth and manners are no more."

Deferted Village.

"Say to what tend these forward views that raise
Prefumptuous mortals to their Maker's ways?
To what can arts or industry afpire?
What proud ambition's utmost aims defire,
But cheerful ease, that wants nor toil, nor fkill?
The fun can give it, and the cooling rill,

Prolific

Prolific earth the balmy bleffing fhews
In fruit-clad hills, and valleys of repose,
Such as in pomp of varied dies difplay
This beauteous ifland to the beams of day:
Such as perennial charm the loitering fwain
On Matvai's banks, or fweet Paparra's plain.
Ah, blifsful feats of innocence and eafe!

E're pride-born commerce taught its power to please,
E're wants created, kindled new defires,
E're tendereft paffions felt confuming fires."-
"Hence, favoured man, with every good fupplied,
Health in his look, and plenty at his fide;
His only toil amidft the forrefts free,

To point the pearl-hook, fell the stubborn tree;
Or watch the swift Bonetas as they glide,
Launch the canoe, and chase them with the tide.
His manly mirth too, on the beach retir'd
Oft haft thou feen, and feeing ftill admir'd.
Lo! now he mounts as furf-fwollen billows heave,
Now finks beneath, and wantons with the wave.
Or ftrains the bow-ftring, confcious of his might,
And smiling views the distant arrow's flight;
*No obvious mark allures his level aim,
To practife murder for perpetual fame."

"The British treasures pafs from hand to hand;
The crimfon plumes, the beads of brightest die,
The mirrours, faithful to the gazer's eye;
The precious gifts, whose boafted aid we feel,
Of pointed iron, and of polish'd steel,

Boaft though we may, to judge them by the paft,
Thefe gifts may prove our fatal foes at laft.
By piercing steel though proudest forefts fall,
And take new forms at man's imperial call,
By fteel too man his fellow man annoys,
It tempts as plunder, and as death destroys.
The dangerous wealth exotic wants infpires,
Where equal Nature levell'd all defires:
And, focial freedom, fapp'd by envious strife,
We risk at once, our morals and our life."

"Ah! fhall this Ifle, fo late admir'd by thee,
To plenty facred, and to pleafure free,

This land where peace diffus'd its hallow'd power,
Where focial virtue cheer'd each paffing hour
A barren waste, a lifeless scene appear,
By rapine plunder'd, or enflav'd by fear;

"Their bows and arrows are used only for diverfion; a diftance, not a mark,

is the object of emulation." See Hawksworth, vol. II.

Some

Some tyrant's conqueft, or fome pirate's fpoil
Its native bleffings banish'd from the foil?
Ah! fhall its fons, to feek fictitious wealth,
For lordly masters lose their florid health?
For glitt'ring ore, that ever useless fhines,
Shun the bright day, and fiuk in dismal mines?
Or bent to burdens, on the furface go,
Inur'd to all the difcipline of woe?
Forbid it, thou great Tané, ever bleft!
If e'er my wishes reach'd thy pitying breast,
If e'er a fuppliant won thy friendly care,
Oh, fpare my country! might Tané spare!
Ere ills like thefe o'er native rights prevail,
Dart the keen light'ning at each daring fail,
Bid the loud tempest roufe the whelming wave,
And not a foe the furging fury fave.
Or, far remov'd, if vengeance be forgot,
Thefe injur'd ifles to fome fequefter'd spot,
Some placid corner of the boundless main,
Unmark'd by science, unexplor'd by gain,
Where Nature still her empire fafe may hold
From foreign commerce, confidence and gold,
From foreign arts-from all that's foreign free,
Save Wallis only-if approv'd by thee.'

The Injured Ilanders.

The Hiftory of the Origin of Medicine: an Oration, delivered at the Anniversary Meeting of the Medical Society of London, January 19, 1778, and printed at their Requeft. To which are fince added, various Hiftorical Illuftrations. By John Coakley Lettfom, M. D. Member of the Royal College of Phyficians, and Fellow of the Royal and Antiquary Societies in London. 4to. 5s. Dilly.

This publication forming but a small part of the author's very extenfive defign, we fhall give our readers a sketch of his whole project, as he hath laid it down in his introduction.

"So intimate is the connection of medicine with arts and fciences in general, that the hiftory of its origin and progreís muft neceffarily include the progreffive improvement of mankind in useful and liberal knowledge. In tracing and afcertaining this progreffion, those eminent perfons fhould be introduced, whofe important difco veries have rendered them benefactors to community; and, conse-, quently, all investigations, that have peculiarly contributed to enlarge the knowledge of medicine, would become an effential of its history.

part

"In order to exhibit more distinctly fuch a variety of objects as plan of this kind must comprehend, it would be proper to divide a VOL IX.

A a

it