The green earth roll in light, and folitude First hear the voice of man, while hills and woods His dwelling, and all living Nature fmiled The defeription then proceeds, and with a beauty and richnefs very uncommon. "Mark again the various view "Some city's far-off fpires and domes appear, The general idea of the picture cannot better be conveyed than in these words; and the poet has throughout evinced the frongest and most accurate feeling of the merits of the piece defcribed. Excellent, however, as this compofition is, we fhould not perhaps have fpoken of it fo much at large, but for the fake of the following paffage, which, at this moment, s of public intereft and importance. Such animating effuons cannot too much be praised or circulated. Let us oberve alfo, that the whole paffage is full of the richest and highefl poetry. "See where the morning light, through the dark wood, Hail! LIFE and HOPE; but thou, great work of art, That, mid this populous and bufy fwarm Of men, doft fmile ferene, as with the hues Of fweeteft, grandeft nature; may'it thou fpeak That Nature yields. The manlieft heart, that fwells And voice has energy, the brave arm, ftrength, ENGLAND, THOU SHALT NOT FALL! The day shall come, And woe to him, who fets upon thy fhores His hoftile foot! proud victor though he be, His bloody march fhall never foil a flow'r That That hangs its fweet head in the morning dew Of thy green village banks! HIS MUSTER'D HOSTS SHALL BE ROLL'D BACK IN THOUSANDS, AND THE SURGE My country, thy green nooks and inmoit vales, It will be fweet amidst the foreft-glens To ftray, and think upon the distant form, Commendations lavifhed upon a paffage like this would be utterly fuperfluous; no Englishman can read it without feeling the animation it is intended to convey, the beauty of the images, the force of the language. May it be as prophetic as it is poctical! This beautiful poem has, to our tafle, no material blemish, except the fong of a milkmaid, introduced rather abruptly, and not in much accordance with the flyle and feeling of the complition, or worthy to compare, in point of conception, with the reft. We do not quite agree with the poet, that he has a right to coin fuch words as bluey, because bluish does not quite pleafe him. It is the bufinefs of a writer to use his language as he finds it, and a great part of his fkill lies in giving effect to that which in other hands might appear to difadvantage. If one expreffion is objectionable, it is his talk to find another that is not fo, to fill his own idea, yet not depart from the language he employs. There is not, however, enough of that licence, or of any other fault, in the prefent compofition, materially to detract from its merit, which we pronounce without fcruple to be of high and very uncommon elevation. ART. XIII. Facts and Obfervations, relative to the Origin, Progrefs, and Nature of the Fever which prevailed in certain Parts of the City and Districts of Philadelphia, in the Summer and Autumn of the prefent Year. (1802). By William Currie and Ifaac Cathrall." To which is added, a Summary of the Rife and Progrefs of the Dif eafe in Wilmington, communicated by Dr. E. A. Smith and Dr. John Vaughan, of that Borough. 8vo. 58 pp. Woodward, Philadelphia. 1802. IT T has lately been maintained by phyficians of great respec ability, that the peftilence which has been dreadfully fatek in Philadelphia, and many other fea-port towns of America, at various times, from 1793 till 1802, is not produced by any imported poison; that it is not contagious; but that it arifes from local caufes, or fome morbid conftitution of the atmosphere. This is a queftion of the highest importance to mankind. The publication before us, of which we have obtained at fingle copy from America, appears thoroughly to refute thefe very pernicious and fatal doctrines by plain and well authenticated facts. We are defirous, therefore, to make it known in this country as foon as poffible. On the 28th of June, 1802, a veffel, called the St. Domingo Packet, arrived from that ifland at Philadelphia. Before her departure from Cape François, two of her crew had died of a malignant fever, one died on the voyage, two more who had intercourfe with the packet as the came up the river Delaware, and another at the Lazaretto, in all fix.' (P. 45.) Between the 4th and the 13th of July, thirty citizens of Philadelphia were attacked with unequivocal fymptoms of this petilence, as black vomiting, &c. Of thefe fixteen died, one in forty-feven hours, and many of the others on the third, fourth, fifth, and fixth day of the fever. "The difeafe was originally confined to a very fmali number of perfons, and every one of thefe perfous had either been on board, or very near the St. Domingo packet, or had intercourfe with fome of the earliest fick. No fuch difeafe had appeared in that, or any other part of the city, before the arrival of the veffel." P. 6, 7, 8, 19. All these cafes are accurately related, with the names of the patients and dates of the events. Taking thefe facts as clearly established beyond all reasonable doubt, fuch a body of evidence proves, in the moft fatisfactory manner, that the peftilence was imported into Philadelphia in 1802; that it fpread by contagion, and that confequently fuch dreadful calamities might be prevented by eafy and practicable regulations. While fuch inftructive facts are recent, and can be clearly afcertained, a medical committee of intelligent, candid, and impartial men, ought to be appointed by Government, or by the College of Phyficians at Philadelphia, to determine what was the origin of this epidemic. Great benefits might be derived from the enquiries of fuch a committee, if judicioufly directed, to afcertain thefe and other interefting queflions relative to the nature of the peftilential, as has been already accomplished in England, in regard to the variolous. and typhous contagions; as, firft, What proportion of perfons is liable to the attack of this peftilence, if exposed to the poifon in a small, clofe, and crowded room? 2d, At what diflance from the patient is the diftemper communicated; what proportion of perfons escapes infection in clear, airy, and 5 fpacious fpacious apartments? Are the adjoining houfes conftantly infected? 3d, What is the period of time between expofure to infection and commencement of the fever? From the facts here flated, this period (during which infection remains in a latent flate) appears to be thorter in this peftilence than in the typhous. If thefe points were distinctly underflood, the citizens of America need not be expofed to the deftructive calamities which they have lately fuffered, nor even to the alarm and confufion produced by deferting their habitations. This publication of Dr. William Currie contains the hil tory of cafes fo numerous, fo well authenticated, and so circumftantially related, to prove that the American peftilence of 1802 was imported from the Weft Indies, and that it fpread by contagion, as to give full conviction to the mind of every impartial and intelligent reader. The oppofers of these opinions cannot poffibly deny the conclufions, if they allow that the narration is true. If the facts are not accurately and faithfully reported, they all lie fairly open to refutation. They will be closely and keenly fcrutinized in America by phyficians of the greateft ability. The fermentation of contrary opinions will generate truth. The question before us does not exclufively concern America. This peftilence was imported by the fhip Dolphin, from Charleston, into Cadiz, where it deftroyed 102,000 of the neighbouring inhabitants. During a warm fummer, England cannot be thought fafe from all danger of fo dreadful a vifitation. If this peftilence fpread by contagion in America, when brought from the Weft Indies, it is reafonable to apprehend that it is the chief caufe of the great mortality of thofe islands, which wife regulations might prevent. The Appendix contains the fulleft evidence that this peftilential fever was communicated to Wilmington by persons who brought it from Philadelphia. In the former town it infected many perfons, fome of them in high and open fituations. The deaths from this peftilence were feventy-two. BRITISH BRITISH CATALOGUE. POETRY. ART. 14. War Elegies. By Jofeph Fawcett, Author of civilized War, a Poem, and other Poems. Crown 8vo. 79 FP. 35. 6d. Johnfon. 1801. Twice already has Mr. J. Fawcett been before us as a poet, and In the former character we always once as a writer of fermons*. gave him credit for good talents, and in the latter, we had only to complain that his profe was too poetical. But he is one of those whofe powers and induftry were employed during the laft war, to ferve the purposes of faction by rendering all war odious, and throwing the blame of the laft upon the English Government; and for the fame laudable purpose were thefe War Elegies written, which, thought dated 1801 in the title-page, were not publifhed till April or May, 1802. The publication was therefore anticipated by the conclufion of peace, and the author hefitated whether it thould not be withheld, but was determined to the contrary measure by the judgment of his friends. The author pretends, it is true, to be moved by univerfal benevolence alone; but whoever reads his apoftrophe, p. 68, begin ning, "O ye cold cabinetted authors of this voluminous calamity, this univerfe of ill," and many fuch effufions (fee p. 55, &c.) will not doubt which way his politics inclined. There is no doubt, after all, that the horrors of war are fuch as, when painted in detail, muft give deep regret to every feeling heart; and the fentiments of thefe Poems are generally founded in truth, though mifapplied to the purpofes of falfehood. We fhall infert a fhort fpecimen to exemplify, once more, the poetical powers of the writer, from the fecond Elegy, termed the Siege. "Lo yon proud town, high-fet on haughtiest ground Munition vaft, again't man's puny form! * Vol. vi. p. 420, xii. 541, and viii. 227. With |