"She asks a corner of our heart, "The hufbandman, who breathes the dawn, "All ranks their feveral tasks may tend, But when thefe fkies fhall roll away, Her claims accredit, and affume Thofe habits which will bless the tomb." P. 28. ART. 12. This gentleman, for he is no extraordinary poet, feems to be very angry that the fiftieth anniversary of our gracious Sovereign's acceffion to the throne fhould be celebrated as a day of feftivity and rejoicing. He is alfo very fevere, or has the intention of being fo, upon the commendations now fo univerfally, and we believe fo juftly, paid to the military talents of Lord Wellington. The peroration of the whole is a Monody, rather out of time and place, on the death of Mr. Fox, partly, as it is with fome modefty ftated, in imitation of Milton's Lycidas. This latter part is, however, the best of the poem, and has fome lires which are fpirited and not unmelodious. We certainly do not agree with this gentleman in his political prejudices, nor think Mr. Fox "The angel minifter of Britain's fate." But we by no means mean to affirm, that this poem does not exhi bit fome indications of talents, though certainly, as we before ́obferved, not of the most exalted order. ART. 13. The principal incidents in the life and character of Ulyffes are taken from Homer, and exhibited in this poem in a dramatic form. Perhaps no very great poetical powers are apparent, but the nar rative is agreeably detailed, and fome pleafing fongs are introduced. The author will, from the modefty which is obvious in his dedication and advertisement, be fatisfied with the above commendation; at least we hope he will, for we cannot conscien.. tiously afford him any more. ART. 14. A Selection of Pfalms and Hymns for Unitarian Worfhip. By Robert Afpland. I 2mo. 397 p. Johnson. 1810. Mr. Afpland must allow us to criticize the title of his book. Hymns for Unitarian worship must be held, we apprehend, to imply, that they will not ferve for Trinitarian worship, or at least are so selected as to exclude fuch doctrines. As Trinitarians, however, we beg leave to put in our claim to by far the greater number of pfalms and hymns which appear in this collection; nor do we by any means object to thofe that are otherwife derived. Mr. Afpland is very fevere in his introduction upon our co-adjutor Mr. E. Nares, of Biddenden, Kent, (we will not call him the reverend, for we know that title to be very obnoxious to Mr. Afpland); his feverity, however, we will venture to say, is mifplaced. Mr. E. N. is no bigot, nor in his work, to which Mr. A. alludes, do we difcover any thing that tends to reftrain his opponents in the free exercise of their opinions. His works are defenfive, and by no means intended to be other, wife. But we think we have difcovered one mistake into which he may have fallen. It is poffible that in his introduction to the Remarks on the Improved Verfion publifhed in April, 1810, he has misapprehended Mr. Afpland's meaning, when he (Mr. A.) profeffes to publifh (by selection from Trinitarian writers)" hymns of fuch moderate length as to preclude the neceffity of paffing over particular verses." Poffibly Mr. A. meant, that he fhould confine his felection to the fort and unobjectionable hymns of those authors; but Mr. E. N. feems to have fuppofed that he intended to say, he should curtail the hymns, by omiffion of particular verfes in the felection; fo that what were originally long, he would reduce to moderate dimenfions, for the ufe of Unitarians; and perhaps, feeing things in this light, he felt as jealous of fuch Unitarian curtailments as Mr. Afpland would be of any Trinitarian insertions. We have been careful to examine matters with this view, and muft declare that, though in many inftances Mr. Afpland has merely tranfcribed, what Trinitarian writers had written and publifhed, and has ventured upon no improper curtailment; yet we muft as pofitively declare, that we have found feveral in. ftances of fuch omiffions and curtailments as Mr. E. N. fuspected, and fuch as are not strictly fair. One inftance will show our meaning as well as a thoufand. In the 326th hymn of Mr. Afpland, p. 251, a feanza is omitted to the following effect: "Jefus, my God, I know his Name, His Name is all my trust, Nor will He put my foul to fhame, As Dr. Watts's hymn in the original, confifts only of four ftanzas, it could not be too long.-Many of Mr. Afpland's felection extend to five ftanzas or more. Now let us but fup. pofe that the three ftanzas selected and published by Mr. Afpland, had been originally an Unitarian production, and that for the purpofes of his own worship, fome Anti-Unitarian had chofen to fert the difcarded verfes of Watts-would Mr. A. venture to affert that fuch proceedings were fair and ingenuous? Omiffion on one fide, is furely equivalent to infertion on the other, and there we wish to leave the queftion. Of the foul and ungentlemanly language applied to Mr. E. N., Mr. A. must be prepared to bear the fhame, fhould his book happen to fall into the hands of those who know any thing of common forms of courtefy and good manners; of which, we have reafon to fufpect, that he himfelf is grofsly ignorant. ART. 15. An University Prize Poem on his Majesty King George III. having compleated the Fiftieth Year of his Reign. By Nicholas John Halpin, T.C.D. Izmo. 2s. 6d. Harding. 1811. What might be the number or merits of the competitors for the prize which was affigned to this poem, we cannot fay; it cer tainly cannot boaft of any very exalted pretenfions as a poetical compofition. The laft is one of the best stanzas, "Oh Thou whofe awful voice fupreme From thapeless chaos called this globe, To form a fplendor-bright-divine, ART. 16. The Age; a Poem: moral, political, and metaphyfical. With illuftrative Annotations. In ten Books. 8vo. 316 pp. 7s. 6d. Vernor and Hood. 1810. Whatever the prefent age may be, the author of this poem will find, we apprehend, that it is not an age to read a long and metaphyfical compofition like the prefent, in which the morality is obtrufive, and the fatire weak, In a note, towards the end, the poet mentions the author of Hudibras, whofe ftyle he tells us he has imitated in a former part of the work, though in that and other portions it has been avoided." P. 305. We have long been intimately converfant with the ftyle of Butler, but confefs ourselves unable to find the intended refemblance in any part of this poem. Ten books of a very flight delineation of the Age, written in the verfe, but without the vigour or wit of Hudibras, form a dofe too heavy even for the digeftion of a critic. But, left we fhould feem to do any injuftice to the poet, let us introduce a paffage, which ftrikes us as one of the beft. "Amid' fubftantial feasts of joy The greedy fenfe at length must cloy, We merely care for fcenes in which And demons rifing here and there: A half-way house commodious fet. There is a note on this paffage, which we omit, as it confifts chiefly of a trite quotation from Horace; but the following paffage of it, being fomewhat better, and indeed livelier than the notes in general, we infert it, on the fame principle on which we produced the poetical paffage. "It is aftonishing, that fome of our lawyers who have lately found certain things to be criminal, which were formerly unknown under that character, have not difcovered what a splendid action could be brought under the title of Ear verfus Eye. We mean, for the recovery of damages fuftained by the plaintiff, through the rapacity of the defendant, in depriving him of his ufual rights and privileges; and if a man can now obtain ten thoufand pounds for the feduction of his wife, that he was puzzling his wits how to get rid of before, we can fcarcely doubt, but that the plaintiff, Mr. Ear, would recover under the direction of his Lordship, a fum equal to the national debt against the defendant, Eye; and which, as he could not pay, would afford the gratification of incarcerating the fellow for life. At any rate, if the plaintiff could prove his cafe, he would, by his difappointment at the Theatre, recover at least one filling damages, which would carry cofts; as the de. fendant would certainly plead in juftification. So that the chief end of the action would be fecured." P. 74. In this humble attempt at wit, we fee reafon to fuppofe that the author is either a lawyer, or what lawyers will fay is very different, a juftice of peace. That he would not get a verdict in Apollo's court, we think very clear. His politics we ad. mire ftill less than his poetry. ART. |