having amufed himfelf and the circle of his friends is probably fatisfied without afpiring to rank very high in the clafs of modern English poets.

ART. 12.

Drury's Refurrection: or, The Drama verfus the Menagerie. Humbly infcribed to Samuel Whitbread, Efq. 4to. 17 pp: 6d Shade. 1812.

The writer of this fpecimen of good-humoured Satire, is far better acquainted than ourfelves with the plots and myfteries of the Theatres, that he is no contemptible writer the following lines will demonftrate:

"Whence fprung the O. P. war? The direful fpring,
I anfwer'd, Ghoft or Genius, deign to fing:

That war which fent to Bow-Street's drear domain,
Full many a chief who fought and kick'd in vain;
Since great John Bull and great John Kemble ftrove,
Such was the will of Clifford and of Jove.
Look round, with wringing hands, the form replied,
Look round and fee the cause of Kemble's pride,
•Self dubb'd, the fole purveyor of the town,
He bade it fwallow what caprice forced down,
Not fo content, a bolder fcope embraced,
And made it pay a tax for murdering taste,
Till oppofition like a Hampden grew,
The tax refifted and the power o'erthrew -
'That conteft o'er, another task arofe,
To gain the point without employing blows,

To eafe John Bull politely of his cash,

By glittering nonfenfe and equestrian trash." P. 9.

ART. 13. Poems, &c. &c. chiefly Amatory. By Richard Small, Efq. 12mo. 175 PP. 55. Lloyd. 1811.

Richard Small, we prefume, is an imitator of John Little. But Little, with all his faults, is a real poet, and this a moft wretched poetafter. He has all the faults without an approach to any one of the merits of his prototype. He is at once indecent and ftupid, amorous and ridiculous. For Example:

Phillis and me, from tender age,
Have tripped together and been fage,
The one as oft' as t'other:

For e'er we knew young Cupid's power,
Happy we frolick'd in a bow'r,

As Sifter and as Brother." P. 33.

Thus

Thus it is throughout. Me loves Phillis, and Chloe, and Delia and Jane, and who not? and all is kiffes, and bliffes, and nonfenfe; the milk and water of profligacy, contemptible even when vicious.

ART. 14. Babylon; and other Poems. By the Hon. Annabella Hawke. 12mo. 144 pp. 6s. Miller. 1811.

It becomes every day more difficult to diftinguish and characterize the prodigious numbers of moderate poems that are conftantly iffuing from the prefs; poems which fhow an ear for ver. fification, and a tafte for poetry, but not the vigour and originality which give life to poetical compofitions. "Babylon," it feems, had been praised by fome public Critic, and it would be an illnatured Critic who fhould condemn it. But it is not original; and where the inspiration was caught, there alfo fome of the lines have almoft literally been borrowed. "The Jack-daw at home” is a ftill more palpable copy of a well-known and excellent original but an original of that kind which is as easy to copy as it is difficult to invent. Of the remaining poems none appear to be contemptible, yet none are excellent, and we feel it difficult to give an extract which will juftify much commendation. Per. haps the following is one of the beft paffages. It is the conclu fion of a very short poem on Spain.

"Oh! when of late at Freedom's facred call,
Her ftandard way'd on Prague's devoted wall,
Why, faithlefs Vict'ry, on thy crimson'd car,
For bafe affaffins did'st thou crown the war?

Bade [bad'ft] Freedom crouch to Slav'ry's galling chain,
And vainly bath'd in blood Sarmatia's plain?
Oh! then atone, and on Iberia's fhore
Bid ftern oppreffion fink to rife no more,
Steep'd in the blood by murder'd millions fhed
Snatch thy own laurel from the defpot's head,
To bloom untarnish'd on that patriot's brow,
Who laid on Baylen's plain th' invaders low
May then the tyrant to the duft be hurl'd,
The caufe aveng'd of Europe and the world;
Bid glory beam on that degraded name,
And crown Iberia's fons with deathlefs fame.'

P. 68.

The Poetefs is a ftaunch friend to liberty, and "Erin go bragh,' but we are happy to perceive that fhe is no friend to the Oppreffor of Spain, whom, by a ftrange inconfiftency, fome who talk of liberty admire,

« Caftanus."

ART.

ART. 15. Emancipation, or the Complaint answered: a Didacto. Dramatic Poem. Dedicated to the Prince Regent. By John Hinckley, Efq. F. S, A. 4to. 35, 6d. Hatchard. 1812.

It is impoffible that our feelings and judgment fhould not be in strict unison with thofe of this fpirited writer, but we greatly fear that our mutual efforts will not accomplish what we in com. mon defire, viz. that the Catholics fhould be fatisfied and thankful for the indulgences which they at prefent enjoy, and no longer be the dupes of artifice and the flaves of error. The following fpecimen will evince both the candour and the méritorious object of the writer.

"There fpoke the heart-no royal veto-true-
There ftands confeft the pledge, that governs you.
Of Romish flaves no pledge, tho' e'er fo ftrong,
If priests abfolve it, binds the bofom long.
Knowledge is power.-Reafon and Truth agree.
Emancipate thyfelf.-I pant to fee

That day when all, as children of one fire,
Pray for his good, and to that good confpire-
Patriots indeed--whom no base fetters bind,
But union fweet, the union of the mind!

"Thy fons, O Erin, Britons dearly love!
Nature and Truth their warm affections move,
In them nor Policy, nor Intereft, quell
Emotions kind, that in each bofom swell.
In loved fociety, as in the field,

To none their generous, manly, virtues yields,
If Duty call, to certain death they go,
And fall to fave a friend, or crush the foe,
Feeling enlivens every act, each word,
Flows at the feaft, directs the patriot fword.

Their heart the king's-their kindred dear they love-
Failehood and Bafenefs warm refentment move:
Yet oft, too oft, imagined wrongs they prove,
And, tho' Refentment fometimes rage too keen,
Honor, truth, manhood, e'en in these are seen.
E'en in the excefs we love the exuberant soul,
Deeply regret, fuch virtues need control.
Loyal and good, if priests permit-they rave,
And become fiends, their fouls from fiends to fave,
When artful prietts caufe bigot rage to grow,
From the beft virtues changed worst vices flow.
For learn--no woes fo keen e'er fcourged mankind,
As thofe from Prieftcraft's empire o'er the mind.
This overthrows all right-all truft-all faith-
Nor even quenches Difcord's torch in death;
Reigns, hoping Heaven's reward for blackest deeds;
By hellborn arts, in every crime fucceeds." P. 7.
NOVELS.

NOVELS,

ART. 16. "One Night," which was begun " One Day," and is now brought to a Conclufion without being finished, yet containing fome Things worth beginning, which like Eternity, will have no End. Amongst others, the fingular Opinions of the Author Himfelf; and laft not least a Practical Illustration of the Art of Procraftination. 12mo. 212 PP. 4s. 6d. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones. 1812.

If critics were obliged to enquire into the motives and expectations of every author that appeared before them, it is hardly to be expected that their labours would ever arrive at a conclufion. In the present inftance, however, this talk would not be very difficult, as the only motives here evinced are the wishes of levelling with himfelf the juftly popular work of Thinks-Ito-Myfelf, and the only expectation muft be, that readers have as little wit or decency as the author.

ART. 17. The Adventures of Dick Diftich, in Three Volumes. Izmo. 16s. 6d. Wilfon. 1812.

There must be viands of different flavour for the different pa. lates of readers, but it is by no means eafy to fay what tafte this compofition will fuit. It is intended to be humorous and alfo moral. There may be fome pretenfions to the firft and the dignity of the latter is not much offended. But we cannot fay that the reading of it altogether will produce much fatisfaction or im provement.

ART. 18. Says She to her Neighbour What? in Four Volumes. By an old-fashioned Englishman. 12mo. 4 vois. 11. 8s. Newman. i812.

If we are indebted to the ingenious and amiable author of Thinks-I-to-Myfelf for much amufement, which indeed we acknowledge ourselves to be, we can hardly acquit him for having, by his vivacious powers, given birth to a large fry of the most monftrous and heterogeneous kind. The above, however, feems one of the most refpeétable among them all, and is not ill written, nor without fome pretenfions to ingenuity of contrivance.

MORALITY.

ART. 19. An Anfer to the British Critic, being a Defence of the Effay on Morality. 12mo. 92 pp. Cadell and Co. 1812. This author has made a bold attack upon his reviewer, and has accufed him of feveral high crimes and mifdemeanors, of

which, however, he certainly was not guilty. The truth is, that, disgusted by the nonfenfical appearance of the chief part of the work, the reviewer did not give it a very ferious confideration. Who could expect any good to arife from this perpetual oppofition of fhould and should not? "A man should be decent, and bould not be obscene he should be prudent and wife, and bould not be guilty of levity and folly,-he bould be frugal, and not profligate," &c. Or, "Women Should have referve, and should not be hold and impudent, and should avoid temptations." Of fuch affertions one half at leaft might be fpared, as implied in the other; and after all they are mere affertions. It is not proved that they are connected with the welfare of man, which is the bafis of the fyftem. It is only afferted.

:

That the author has juftified himfelf from the accufation of difregarding religion, his reviewer is as happy to acknowledge, as to obferve and he willingly confeffes that the conclufion was too haftily drawn from the formidable words, that "his [man's] only object in raifing the idea of eternity and God is for his good, human welfare:

The difpute about Paley is very little to the purpose. His im mediate principle of morality is "general expediency," (i. e. human welfare,) and on this he was ably attacked by Mr.. Gisborne. That the foundation of this expediency was placed by him in the Will of God" is another part of the queftion, and not at the time required to be confidered. That the author of the Effay meant well, we are perfectly ready to allow; but that his book is calculated to produce the good which he intended, we sannot be perfuaded.

POLITICS.

ART. 20. Obfervations on the Refolutions paffed by certain Friends of Parliamentary Reform, at Bodmin, on the 8th of July, 1811.7 By F. Gregor. 8vo. 70 pp. IS. Truro; printed by F. Flindall, and fold by all the bookfellers. 1812.

To Francis Gregor of Trewarthenick, Efq. late Member for the County of Cornwall, are we indebted for thefe excellent Obfervations. "The meeting at Bodmin in July, 1811, (fays Mr. G.) does not only prove fyftem, but alfo a pretty ftrong fympathetic feeling, (I do not fay co-operation, for I cannot prove it) with the Reformers in London. I will ask any man, can it be expected that this fyftem, which I have defcribed, will ftop here? Let no man deceive himfelf; it certainly will not ftop where it now refts. Let him look to the hiftory of mankind in all ages, and especially during the Revolution in France, and fee whether a rage for innovation has any limits, and whether it will not gradually and infenfibly turn its views to every thing efta

blished,