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branch of fcience removed beyond the frict bounds of mathematical inquiry is perhaps its only fault; but in an age when every art has become fyftematifed, and every aid afforded to elicit perfection, we are happy to fee the foundation of any one laid in the correct and demonstrable authority of mathematical philofophy, and we venture to recommend the prefent treatife to the attention of every one who wishes to arrive at perfection in that department of his art, without which, however nicely his colours may be foftened, or however delicate the touch of his pencil, his productions, as they must be unnatural, muft instead of pleafure excite difguft in the fpectator, and inftead of the immortal fame of an Apelles or a Titian, confign the artist

with his canvafs to merited oblivion..

BRITISH CATALOGUE.

POETRY.

ART. 13. Original Sonnets and other Poems, by Mary F. Johnson. 12mo. 5s. Longman. 1810.

We were not a little impreffed with favourable sentiments of this author, from the unaffected modefty of her introduction, but we were much more fo as we proceeded in the perufal of her elegant volume. These verses indicate a great deal of genuine taste and poetical feeling, and though perhaps fome might as well have been omitted, the greater part will be read by the lovers of poetry with real gratification. We infert a specimen.

"TO A CHILD.

While you bleft Child with cares unburthened wend,
Chaunting wild ditties through the woodland bowers ;
Why cull to caft away the flaunting flowers,

And gathering more, your arms and veftments rend.
Are thofe unpluck'd more fragrant or more gay
Than were the blooms now lying at your feet?
Ah no! they were as lovely fresh and sweet,
But gained with ease with fcorn were thrown away.
The tempter of your more mature pursuit

I now behold in its expanding germ,
The object prized for expectations term,
For diftant flowers forfaken prefent fruit.
Your life in queft of future goods employed,
And of the goods poffeffed not one enjoyed."

G

BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXXVIII. JULY, 1811.

In

In tranfcribing the above we have rather confidered our limits. than the merit of this particular piece. Many pieces of greater claims to the praife of poetical tafte and fpirit, might have been eafily found, and among them the Invocation to the Spirit faid to haunt Wroxall Down, the verfes to Sleep, "Do you forget S." Toa Sigh, &c. Bleft the Ode, p. 145, and indeed many others have confiderable excellence. The complimentary verfes to Mifs Owenfon, p. 66. as far as we have been able to judge of the taste and talents of that lively lady, feem to us much overcharged.

ART. 14. Milancor, or the Mifanthrope, a Poem. 12mo. 25. Jones. 1811.

This is the production of no ordinary pen, though the poem in fome places wants perfpicuity, and it may be prefumed that the character of Milancor, exifts in imagination only. But that this author is capable of the higher orders of compofition the following picture will demonstrate.

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"Not long fince

A wan and tatter'd beggar-girl he faw,
Not the mere mendicant from childhood taught
To prey on weak credulity, but one-

Foriorn and, prais'd be public bounty, rare.
She lean'd deprefs'd against a cold ftone-wall-
No other eye encounter'd her's: his fought
To catch it 'twas a languid glimpfe, indeed,
That the allow'd him, and it seem'd a foft
Electric flash upon the face of night

That beauty veil'd: for dark affliction fat,
Sweet as her vifage was, on every trait

Her smile had juft illum'd. Vile fhreds were hung,

Scantily pendent from her virgin zone,

Adown her form. Her right hand on her heart
Enjoy'd no reft, her left was rais'd to where
Half off her heaving bofom had been burft
A rag; and through her parted fingers rofe
A white, rebelling, mellow breast that show'd
Their gentle preffure, and her modest wish
Moft wantonly deceiv'd. Her feet were bare

But delicate; and the full azure veins

That ftole along what of her limbs he faw

Seem'd melting where they blended with her flesh,
Which look'd as if it had been bath'd in streams
Of lufcious milk and honey. He approach'd,
And with apparent interest ask'd her tale:
She told in it griefs undeferv'd-her own-
For every word, nay breath, he feign'd a throb
Of wounded nerves, and fhe believ'd'indeed
He would be her preferver. But he look'd

When

When she had clos'd the story, in her face,

And with a demon's fmile-then walk'd away." P. 36.

POLITICS.

ART. 15. The Copenhagen Expedition traced to other Caufes than the Treaty of Tilfit; with Obfervations on the Hiftory and prefent State of Denmark. By a Dane. 8vo. pp. 118. Wyatt, Picketftreet. 1811.

It may feem perhaps extraordinary, and hardly credible, that a Dane fhould undertake to juftify, in any degree, our feizure of the navy of his country; but fuch is literally the fact. Mr. Jorgenfen, a native Dane, but long connected with our naval fervice, and now by a fingular train of circumftances, held as a prisoner here * is the author of this publication; and as no man can better know the fituation of both countries, he may furely obtain credit when he explains to the world the neceffity by which we were driven to a measure so strong, and, as fome perfons have maintained, fo un. warrantable. The imperfections of ftyle, which mark this tract as the work of a foreigner, will therefore not be criticized; but regarded as a strong internal proof of its real origin. The reafon ings will be estimated according to their weight.

Mr. J. begins by fhowing how entirely unprotected Copenhagen and all Sealand [fo he writes it] were left, at the time of our invafion. The army was stationed in Holstein, and though the Crown Prince returned to the capital for a fhort time, when the purpose of our expedition was understood, he took no effectual measures for its defence. The fuccefs of our enterprise followed of course, and Mr. J. gives a ludicrous picture of the attempt made to defend the place by a few raw troops without arms. He does juftice to the care of our officers, in preventing all military exceffes, and to the good faith of our commanders, whofe orders evidently were not to diftrefs Denmark further than was abfolutely necessary to prevent the fleet from being used against Great Britian."

After feveral obfervations not fo ftrictly relative to his fubject, when Mr. J. comes to speak of the neceffity of the measure, he explicitly denies that it was owing to any fecret article in the treaty of Tilfit, but he maintains that there was reafon enough for knowing that it was the intention of France to employ the Danish fleet against England. He then mentions a moft remarkable fact, that in 1806, it was actually propofed in Denmark, and there debated, to fell the whole Danish fleet: the reafon of which was, that France had even then made fuch demands as could not be complied with, without incurring a war with England, and that this was thought to be the best way to "ged rid of the bufinefs." This fact he defies any one to deny. He gives ftrong proofs that,

* Releafed fince this article was written.

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after

after this period, it was clearly the defign of the Danish govern ment to let their fleet be feized by France. The anecdotes which he then relates, of the devotion of a party in Denmark to Bonaparte, almoft exceed belief; and yet he fays that he fuppreffes more than he tells, for fear of not obtaining credit. He shows alfo the causes which had confpired to make Denmark unfriendly to Britain, and introduces fome very found and just remarks upon the famous "Armed Neutrality."

The latter part of the tract, from page 66, is very different from the former, but ftill more interefting. It confifts of an hif torical account of Denmark, giving a sketch of its original conftitution and character, and tracing the decline and lofs of the true fpirit of the nation from the furrender of its liberties to an abfolute monarch in 1660. An affecting account is alfo given of the confpiracy against the innocent Caroline Matilda, queen of Denmark, and fifter to our beloved king, which ended in the judicial murder of Struenfee, and the imprisonment, and broken heart of the injured queen. The whole is written with the fpirit of a man who knows and values the English Conftitution; who loves his country alfo, could he fee it bleffed with freedom, under a limited monarchy like this. Nor do we see the flightest reason to doubt of the honesty of his principles or the fincerity of his declarations, though the peculiarity of his fituation has fometimes thrown him into fufpicious circumftances as to both countries. He concludes his tract thus.

"Let us therefore look forward with confidence, and hope that the wisdom, valour, and courage of Britons, governed by a juff, pious, and good king, may be able, under his guidance, to relieve the rest of Europe from flavery, and to restore that independence, which is moft confiftent with the dignity of human nature, and without which life itself is mifery.”

ART. 16. Journal of a Regimental Officer during the recent
Campaign in Portugal and Spain, under Lord Viscount Wellington,
with a correct Plan of the Battle of Talavera. 8vo.
Murray. 1811.

4s. 6d.

We did not fee the firft edition of this narrative, but we are very happy to give our teftimony of approbation to the fecond. Indeed we are always pleased to see these detached memorials of perfonal fervice and experience, which often throw a light on circumstances of a campaign, which cannot be expected in the public documents. This officer gives a fpirited account of the battle of Talavera, where he was prefent, and received a wound; but he neither fpeaks favourably of the English Commiffariat, nor of the fteadiness or indeed hofpitality of our Allies. It is with pain that we read the following extract:

"About an hour before the clofe of the laft engagement, it

was my chance to receive a wound; in confequence I was carried to Talavera, and on my arrival, the Spaniards refused to let me come within their thresholds. Thus was I left bleeding in the ftreet, furrounded by the moft pitiable and horrid objects that can be imagined, who were lying on the pavement fcreaming and groaning, without the foothings of compaffion or fuccour of any kind."

This is a horrid picture; but it is confolatory to hear from all quarters, that the Spaniards are now difpofed and eager to cooperate with the British troops on every fervice, and to confider them as brethren and fellow-foldiers.

The plan gives a diftinct idea of the field of battle; a battle in which the gallantry and exertions of our army, although fuc cefsful, were followed by no permanent advantages.

ART. 17. Hints to the Public and the Legislature, on the Prevalence of Vice, and on the Dangerous Effects of Seduction. 2s. 6d. Wilfon. 1810.

12mo.

The author of this tract, after many obfervations, alike creditable to his benevolence and good sense, urges the expediency of the magiftrates putting fyftematically in force the laws actually exift. ing against houfes of ill fame, and proftitutes. What is faid in this little and well-written tract feen's highly to deferve praise, and ferious confideration. The evil has rifen to an alarming height, and feems yet in fome refpects progreffively to increase. The ftreets might, in our opinion, be regularly kept clear of prostitutes by the activity of the police; and houfes of ill fame, which muft neceffarily be a nuifance, and a very intolerable nuisance too, to the neighbourhoods in which they are found, might, by that proper zeal which ought to characterize parish officers, be speedily fuppreffed. We are alfo of opinion, with this author, with refpect to the punishment of another vice, too abominable to be named; and think the pillory both inadequate and exceptionable. It leads to difgufting fpectacles, and ftill more disgusting conversation,

TOPOGRAPHY,

ART. 18. An Englishman's defcriptive Account of Dublin, and the Road from Bangor Ferry to Holyhead. Aljo, of the Road from Dublin, by Belfast, to Donaghadee, and from Portpatrick to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by Way of Dumfries, Carlisle, and Gillf land. With Obfervations on the Society, Manners, and Customs of the Places defcribed; interfperfed with hiftorical and biogra phical Anecdotes of eminent Perfons: partly compiled from various Authorities. To which is prefixed an accurate Plan of Dublin.

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