Some fignal of diftrefs, fome mark hung out,
To call forth aid, whilst the dread minute guns
Like meffengers of death affail my ear.
Why ftart I at the found? if dreadful here
How muft yon weary feaman ftand appall'd,
Amidst the howlings of the tempeft's rage?
Long has he fearlets plough'd the briny deep,
And weather'd oft the cruel wintry blaft;
And muft he perifh now? perith in fight
Of Albion's cliffs, nor ever gain the port,
Though full in view, where all his wishes tend.
What wreck'd upon the fhore? the long fought coast ?
So many dangers paft-Ill-fated bark!"
No-fill the lives, and O! propitious heav'n!
Amid this tumult; this conflicting jar

Of elements, avert the threaten'd stroke,

Bid thefe fubfide, or her outride the ftorm." P. 27.

We should make an article of very confiderable length, were we to extract even a fmall proportion of the parts that have pleafed us in it. The three firit Boks have their fhare of defcription; but the fourth is almott wholly occupied by an imagined picture of the Day of Judgment, in which arduous subject the author is by no means unfuccefsful; even after Young. A few Poems are fubjoined, in couplet or ftanza. In these the author is not fo practifed, apparently, as in blank verfe, yet far from deficient. The Eulogy on Britain, highly commendable for its patriotifm, is by no means unworthy of the subject, and concludes with a fentiment well deferving of recollection. After extolling Religion and Liberty as the great fupporters of the country, the poet, adverting to our prefent fituation, recals to mind the deftruction of the famous Armada, and thus winds up the whole:

"Such was the fafety of thy ftate, in days

When God was honor'd, and his works met praife;
And shall be ftill, if ftill Omnipotence

Be own'd thy fafeguard and thy fure defence.

While ye obey, your guardian is divine,
His pow'r protects you, and his arms enshrine.
But if regardless of his might, ye rise
And lift your heads rebellious to the skies;
Ye fall-and falling fpread this truth abroad,

That nation finks which dares depart from God." P. 108.

Some few improvements might be fuggefted to particular lines; but the places which require them will probably catch the author's own eye in a future perufal.

ART. 13. The Inquiry. Part I.

Small 8vo. 44 PP. chard, Piccadilly. 1803.

18. Hat

If we deviate from our general plan, it must be in favour of diftinguished merit. So it is with refpect to this little tract, which, as imperfect, would otherwife have been fuffered to wait for its completion. A cafual infpection, however, fhowed us powers of writing and of reafoning,

Pp

reafoning, which ought by no means to remain in obfcurity. The Enquiry here undertaken, is into the immortality of the human foul: the fcene is placed in a venerable church, at the time of an evening funeral. The opening is therefore descriptive, and the description is very animated.

"How faint the tapers wav'ring on the wall!
What awful fhades from thefe dark pillars fall!
Here only reigns, at noon's full blazing height,
A dim, difcolour'd, vifionary light;

Through vifta'd aifles, or o'er the martyr's tomb,
The deep-ftain'd arches fhed religious gloom,
Till from the weft, through ev'ry fainted row,
Rich evening pours a tranfitory glow,
And o'er the dufky columns wand'ring run
Hues fleep'd in fire, and colours of the fun:
But now the murm'ring roof's o'erarching height
Darknefs ufurps, and undisturbed night.
The time-worn banner, pendent from on high,
Half loft in gloom, with melancholy figh,
Whispers of death. In ev'ry low-brow'd cell
Prophetic fear and filent horror dwell,

Chilling the mortal's heart, whofe steps invade,
With foot profane, the confecrated shade.

Dark tombs and fhrines I pafs; and foftly tread
On echoes that feem utter'd by the dead;
Mourn o'er the faithful monument that weeps,
Where many a talent, many a virtue fleeps;
Or mark the filent wreck of ages past,

The mould'ring tomb with fpiry fret-work grac'd,
Recumbent chiefs that pious hands uphold,

Sword, gauntlets, helm, emblazon'd fhields, and gold:
Stain'd with green damps, I view the beauty's butt,
Like her, returning to the formlefs duft;
Or, on the pavement, mitred faints explore,
And brazen legends, legible no more.

Ah, fleeting man! ah, fruftrate thirst of fame!

And fruitless toil t'immortalize a name!" P. 3.

It is evident that the poet has ftudied with care Hawkins Brown's fine Poem, "De Animi immortalitate," and he has done wifely. The following paffage almoft proves his intimacy with it.

"Or were this being fure with life to close,
And perish in the gulf from whence it rose,
Then fhould Nera to my heart be prefs'd,
Sooth ev'ry pang, and lull my cares to reft;
On Beauty's bosom should my head recline,

And one fhort hour of blifs on earth be mine!” P.6,

Compare this with Brown's,

OF Quare

"Quare age, vina liques: epulæ, convivia, lufus, Pfallere docta Chloe, citharæque perita Neera,

Non abfint, volucris rape lætus dona diei;

Quærere nec cures quid craftina proferat hora."

The following queftion gives a good fpecimen of the nature of the
enquiry and beyond it we cannot at prefent allow ourselves to extract.
"Hath he, whofe works magnificently shine
With pow'r, benevolence, and high defign,
On his prime fabric all his fkill employ'd
To bid it fink amid a fenfeless void?
Shall this unbounded godlike foul of man,
That grafos infinitude, but fill a span?

Thoughts that through endless worlds delight to run,
Perish in what they fcorn, this earthly one?

And Genius, Wifdom, Virtue, all decay,

To fill up pits with intellectual clay?

Are Newton's energies in duft confin'd,

And fruftrate every hope of Johnfon's mind?" P. 8.

Some intelligent notes are fubjoined, chiefly directed against Hume and Voltaire. We fhall be very defirous to fee the continuation of this Poem.

ART. 14. Poems. By Mrs. G. Sewell, Relic of the Rev. George Sewell, Rector of Byfleet, Surry. 12mo. 3s. 6d. Longman and Rees. 1803.

Thefe Poems appear with a very forcible claim to our respect and attention. They are the production of a clergyman's widow, and were not originally intended to be published by fubfcription; the neceffary inference will be drawn by every benevolent reader. But they poffefs ftill other pretenfions; they are elegant, interefting, and often highly poetical; they evince refined feelings and correct tafte, and may on this account be recommended to every friend of the Mufes. We give one short specimen, and would willingly give more if we could.

" VERSES ON A PARTICULAR OCCASION.

"When Royalty its gracious ray extends,
And princely power with condefcenfion blends,
All hearts must then the heaven-born light adore,
The fmile that cheers when Fortune fmiles no more;
By forrows and by fear the heart depreft,
Shall feel its warmth more grateful than the reft:
And long the memory of that love retain,
When cold oblivion fpreads its fhade in vain.
Thus, mighty Prince, the fun's refplendent beam,
The poor man's cordial, and the poet's theme;
Whilft o'er the noblest scene it casts its ray,
And throws the fplendour of unclouded day;

O'er

O'er the pale ruin ftill it fhines as bright,

And gilds the humbleft cottage with its light."

The volume is infcribed to her Royal Highnefs the Dutchefs of York; and a numerous lift of most respectable fubfcribers is prefixed. ART. 15. The Suicide, with other Poems. By the Rev. Charles Wick Aed Ethelton, M. A. Rector of Worthenbury. 8vo. 55. Cadell and Davies. 1803.

Some of thefe Poems, the author informs us in his Advertisement, are the offspring of a juvenile fancy, and appeared, though not exactly in the fame drefs, many years ago, in a periodical work. The principal Poem in the collection was occafioned by reading that prepofterous and mifchievous work, the Sorrows of Werter. This is in blank verfe, and has fome vigorous lines. The next is Howard, a Poem, in rhyme, which we think far preferable to the former. The Story of Ivan the Third, is introduced at the end of the Poem, to the extent of twenty pages, we believe almoft verbatim from Mr. Tooke's Life of Catharine the Second of Ruffia. This looks too much like book-making. The other compofitions are of a mifcellaneous kind, chiefly however grave and melancholy; the beft of the whole is the laft, which is an Ode to the Genius of Britain, which has certainly a great share of animation, and patriotic feeling.

ART. 16. Society. A Poem, in Tavo Parts; with other Poems. By James Kenfey. 12mo. 38. Longman and Rees. 1803.

We cannot bestow on thefe Poems a greater praife than that of mediocrity; which, we fear, will hardly fatisfy the author's wishes. They co mence with a very long didactic Poem, in two Parts, called Society; and conclude with fome lighter mifcellaneous pieces. We prefer the latter. The two laft Sonnets are humorous enough; and the Difcontented Rabbit is not without merit, both in its defign and execution.

DRAMATIC.

ART. 17. The Maid of Briftal. A Play, in Three A&ts, as performed at the Theatre Royal in the Haymarket. By James Boaden. With the Addrefs to the Patriotism of the English People, as an Epilogue, by George Colman the Younger, 8vo. 25. Longman and Rees. 1803.

This piece was reprefented with fuccefs at the Haymarket Theatre, and probably pleafed better on the ftage than it can reasonably be expected to do in the perufal, The Epilogue has confiderable fpirit. Mr. Boaden has written other and better things before, and doubtlefs will do fo again.

NOVELS.

NOVELS.

ART. 18. Barbara Markham, or the Profligate requited. A Novel, Two Volumes. 8vo. 7s. Vernor and Hood. 1803.

This is a strange inconfiftent tale, in which a young woman of modefty and virtue is made to affume the dress of a man, and affociate with fharpers, blacklegs, and profligates. Yet the moral is good; for the prevailing follies and vices are condemned and punished, and the practice of morality and virtue enforced and recommended.

ART. 19. Human Frailties. A Novel, in Three Volumes. Interspersed with Poetry. By the Author of the Obfervant Pedestrian,” "Montrofe," s Myftic Cottager," &c. Three Volumes. 12mo. Ios. 6d. Dutton. 1803.

We acknowledge that we muft labour under the imputation, difgraceful as it may be, of never having either feen or heard of the Obfervant Pedestrian, Montrofe, or the Myftical Cottager; and, if "Human Frailties" had not fallen in our way, we fhould have had no great occafion to repine. Thefe three volumes poffefs the common ingredient to be found in all novels of the kind. Take of fine names, intrigues, hair-breadth escapes, love, and marriage, equal quantities; fiat mixtura, repe atur hauftus, as the patient's ftomach may be able to bear it. Where it excites fick nefs or loathing, it will of courfe be difcontinued; and this we think very likely to happen.

ART. 20.

MEDICINE.

Account of the Introduction of the Cow Pox into India. By George Keir, M. D. 12mo. 112 pp. Printed at Bombay.

1803.

The public are much indebted to Dr. Keir, for the interesting account he has given of the introduction and progrefs of vaccine inoculation in various parts of the Eaft Indies. As the matter or virus could only be procured from Europe, confiderable difficulty occurred, and many fruitless experiments were made, before it was obtained in an active (tate. It is pleafing here to obferve the zeal with which the endeavours of the phyficians and furgeons of Bombay, Ceylon, and other fettlements, were feconded by the Governors and civil officers in the different places. Among thefe, the Honourable Jonathan Duncan, Governor of Bombay, the Marquis of Wellefley, and Lord Elgin, at that time his Majefty's Ambaffador at Conftantinople, are particularly eminent. The fmall-pox, taken by effluvia, or in the natural way, as it is called, is much more fatal, as well as frequent and general, in India than in Europe; at fome feafons, deftroying one third or one fourth of all who are affected with it; and even when communicated by inoculation, deftroying one in forty of the patients; and not unfrequently entailing fcrofula, or other fevere diseases, on

thofe