"Bright from the main the orient Morning fpread,
That ne'er must set on many a warrior's head:
Soft in the bellying fails the breezes fleep,
And scarce a fleecy wave deforms the deep;
A flag*, unknown to Neptune's wide domain,
Sheds its faint ftreamers o'er the azure plain;
There tower'd those banners, dy'd in civic blood,
And claim'd the Trident of the humbled Flood.
Meanwhile, revolving in his manly foul
Fate's ftern decrees, that human might control,
Britannia's Hero bade the fignal fly,

And the loud cannon fhakes the vaulted sky:
Quick thro' the trembling hoft he darts his courfe,
And fwift as lightning deals the thunder's force.
Huge piles of fmoke in curling volumes rife,
Obfcure the feas, and darken all the skies;
Save where the flath illumes the fev'ring cloud,
Gleams round the maft, or quivers thro' the fhroud.
Wide o'er th' embattled line the fight extends,
The ocean bellows, and the welkin rends;
Till, far and near, the echoing concave bounds,
With boarfer clangors and remoter founds.
Now thro' the imoke fome ftately veffel rears,
Now half difclos'd her painted form appears;
There crash the stayless mafts, and firew the deck,
And leave the fhatter'd hull a helpless wreck.
Where'er his foes with fiercer ardour wage,
Or where the battle frowns with warmer rage,
The vet'ran Chieftain bids his vengeance fpread,
And heaven-deputed Genii guard his head;
His fiery track is mark'd by crimson waves,
And throudlefs Frenchmen doom'd to wat'ry graves :
Till Horror, fated with the waste of blood,
Appeas'd the battle's rage, and smooth'd the flood.

So when fome brooding tempeft raves for birth,
And deep convulfions fhake the lab'ring earth,
Thick black'ning clouds, portentous of the storm,
Obfcure the Sun, and Nature's face deform;
Swift thro' the gloom the livid lightnights glare,
And peals of thunder rend the yielding air:
Loud whirlwinds rife, and sweep the tott'ring tow'rs;
A fudden deluge o'er the landfcape pours;
Down the rough fteep the headlong torrents dafh;
Torn from their roots the leaflefs forefts crash;
'Th' abodes of man and beast by storm defac'd,
Till half Creation feems a dreary waste."

P. 16.

"The tri-coloured flag; originally intended for the Nation, the Law, and the King of the conftituting Affembly."

The

The above paffage contains one of the best (if not the very best) defcriptions of a naval engagement which we recollect having read. We could cite with pleasure several other parts of the Poem. In fomé few paffages, however, the ingenious author has not given it all the correctness and polifh which we could have wifhed; and, in fome fentences, has not been fufficiently attentive to grammatical arrangement. In this refpect the fpeech in p. 19, beginning with the words "If matchlefs worth," is peculiarly faulty. We think the author could scarcely have read his Poem after he had compofed it. The concluding paffage fhould also be retouched, as it is remarkably tame and feeble. Upon the whole, fhould this Poem, in a fubfequent edition, receive thofe corrections and improvements of which it is eafily fufceptible, it will, in our opinion, be at least equal to any, in modern times, which a temporary subject has produced.

ART. 18. Poems. By Percival Stockdale. 8vo. 39 pp.

Wallis. 1800.

Is. 6d. In examining the compofitions of any writer, it is unpleasant to ftumble on the threshold. Yet we cannot avoid noticing the peevishnefs and afperity, the conceit and arrogance, difplayed in the Dedica tion to thefe Poems. Mr. S. after complaining that "his independent fpirit," and, as he evidently infinuates, his merits, have produced the

unrelenting frowns of power, and of its numerous and fervile imitators and retainers," thus expreffes himself: "Their hireling archers have often shot their arrows at me; they were dipped in poifon, but they had no effect on the immortality of my nature: they have injured the appendages, the trappings of my existence; but they have not fubdued, they have not weakened, the vigour, the exertions, the luminous images of my mind.”

Whether we, who thought it our duty, on a former occafion*, to reprehend this writer for his uncandid and ill-founded attack on a most refpectable Prelate, are included among thefe "hireling archers," 'we will not trouble ourselves to enquire: but we are forry it is not in our power to trace the "luminous images" of Mr. S.'s mind, in the compofitions now before us; nor can we flatter him with the notion, that his poetical talents will at all increase "the immortality of his nature." The firft Poem, which is the Chorus to the fecond Act of Taffo's Aminta, is the leaft exceptionable. The fecond, which attacks a late very worthy gentleman, in the most violent terms (calling him not only stupid and covetous, but even a wretch and parricide) for a mere negligence in not having preferved and beautified the tomb of his ancestor, the poet Waller, is degrading only to the author of such illiberal and unfounded abufe. The Rival Flowers, appearing by the modeft prefatory explanation to be a favourite with the author, we will extract it, as a fpecimen of his poetical talents.

See the review of his Letter to the Bishop of Durham; Brit. CM. vol. xv. p. 689.

"Even

"Even partial to a northern clime,
Where Nature ftrews her frugal fweets,
And fmiling on the poet's rhyme,
The generous Flora flow retreats.

Fair Leonora, dangerous maid,

Who reared, and wore, each beauteous flower,
Took, one day, for fuperfluous aid,
The rofe's and the jafmine's power.
Clitander, with adventurous choice,
To fpecious warfare feated nigh,
Inhaled foft mufick from her voice,
Delicious poifon from her eye.
Cupid, to whom all archers yield,
Perched in her breaft ;-the bright bouquet
Before him glowed; and thus concealed,
The God, in charming ambush lay.
Unfeen, a fmall, but piercing dart,
Flew from his unrelenting bow;
I need not tell you, that the heart
Is always reached when he's the foe.

Some blufhing leaves, transfixed, and borne
On the dread arrow winged their way ;
Now, beyond cure, the heart was torne;
Compleat the triumph of the day.
The fragrant foliage of the rofe,
But more decifive made the wound;
In Kent fuch foliage never blows,
Nor yet on Sharon's holy ground.
Unfading flower! the Sibyl's leaves,
Fraught with Jove's friendship, or his hate,
As every feeling foul believes,
Were never charged with furer fate!

Oh! dire effect of beauty's pride!
As POPE, in his immortal strain
Hath fung, the hapless lover died,
Entranced, "of aromatick pain!"
The God of keenest joys, and woes,
Exulting, to Olympus flew ;

And envious of the honoured rofe,

The jafmine drooped, and paler grew." P. 16.

Our readers will judge for themselves of the luminous mind which produced the foregoing ftanzas. Of the remaining Poems, the best that can be faid is, that they contain a few tolerable lines. Those on Mr. Wilberforce's View of Religion convey a just compliment to that writer; but are polluted by a note, containing the most uncandid and unjuft invectives on Mrs, Hannah More, because she has dared to ad

vance

vance an opinion contrary (it seems) to that of Mr. Percival Stockdale; namely, that an adultrefs, however the may, on her apparent repentance, be confoled and cherished by her friends, fhould not (for the fake of example) be received into the public fociety of the good and virtuous. But let the reader turn to the paffage in Mrs. More's book (vol. i, p. 53-4-5) and then judge of the writer who has compared her to Philip of Spain! We envy the feelings as little as we do the talents of this angry author.

ART. 19. Tintern Abbey; with other original Poems. By Clericus. 8vo. 33 PP. 25. Phillips. 1800.

Tintern Abbey is in blank verfe; and contains, though very fhort, fome pailages of merit. The other fmall Poems are in rhyme, either paired or alternate. They are very fmall and twinkling ftars, but now and then emit a ray of genius. The brighteft, perhaps, is this.

"TO THE EOLIAN HARP,

"Eolic Harp! I love thy dying ftrain,
Thofe founds replete with pleafurable pain;
The zephyrs play upon thy quiv'ring ftrings,
Wafting thy notes away on airy wings:
So yonder moth plays round the lambent flame!
So the foul lingers in the expiring frame.
Alas! the glim'ring lamp too foon expires,
Like founds that die upon thy tuneful wires!
Thus, all alone, at folemn hour of night,
I've watch'd the fender taper's wav'ring light;
Pleas'd with the varying rays its luftre threw;
But, ah! its little radiance foon withdrew.
Hark! now a dulcet found falutes my ear,
Like diftant mufic in the heavenly sphere;
It dies away-I lofe the aerial found:
Yes-fo delufive are our pleasures found!
Ye paffing gales! fweep o'er the chords again,
My thoughts expand with that fweet fwelling ftrain!
Like winged founds we mortals pafs away,

From thee we learn the moralizing lay." P. 22.

It may be objected, that Eolic feems to point rather to the Doric Mufe than to the Harp of Æolus: with more reafon than Gray, on the other hand, in his "Awake, Æolian Lyre, awake," was fuppofed, by fome unfkilful readers, to mean the little inftrument here celebrated.

ART. 20. Poems, written E. S. 7. 18mo. 1s. 6d. Jordan. 1799. This very fmall book contains four tales of fome little interest, but not remarkably well told; for example:

"Eltruda fat at the hall fire,
And fung both blithe and gay;

I wish my brother was come back,
That's been fo long away.

Scarce

Scarce had the faid-she heard a noife,
The found of arms without,

She started from her ftool, and cry'd
What can it be about?

This is meant as fimplicity; but it is, unfortunately, ridiculous. Such alfo are many other paffages.

ART. 21.

DRAMATIC.

Maximian, a Tragedy: taken from Corneille, and dedicated to William Lock, Efq. 8vo. 98 pp. 35. Leigh and Sotheby. 1800.

This tragedy is, as we are told in the Dedication, not a literal tranflation from Corneille's Maximian. The author fays, fhe has endeavoured to give it more bustle and variety, in order" to render it interefting." In this great object however the has, in our opinion, failed. The play has fome buftle, but little intereft. It is throughout feebly written. We will not therefore compare it with the original; it being our general rule, where we cannot commend a well-meant attempt, to fay as little as poffible.

ART. 22.

The School for Honour, or The Chance of War. A Comedy, in Five Alts. Tranflated from the German of Leffing. 8va. 1c6 pp. 2s. 6d. Vernor and Hood. 1799.

This tranflation from Leffing has already appeared in English, under the title of the Baronefs of Brufchal, or the Disbanded Officer. Inftead of two tranflations, the story does not appear to us to deferve one, being highly improbable itself, and almost wholly barren of incidents. A difbanded officer, fuppofing himself to be poor, determines (from a romantic fenfe of honour) to break with his mistress, a young lady of high birth and beauty, because she has become rich. To preferve him, the, abruptly and without the leaft addrefs, feigns herself poor, and an outcaft from her family. This has the defired effect; for in a moment he becomes as eager to poffefs, as he had been determined to reject her. In the end it appears that both are affluent, and they are of courfe united. This is the leading feature of the plot; but there are, in the inferior characters, a few feeble attempts at comic humour. Upon the whole, we have never met with, even in a German drama, more extravagance, or more infipidity; but the former is not, as in fome of the productions of that nation, a relief to the latter, by introducing a few interefting (cenes, and ftriking fituations, the pathos of which, in fome degree, atones for their abfurdity; the whole is here flat as well as improbable.

ART. 23. Wilmore Cafle; a new Comic Opera, in Two Acts, as performed with confiderable Applause at the Theatre- Royal, Dry Lane. The Mufic entirely nw, by Mr. Hook. Written by R. Houlton, M. B. 8vo. 37 PP. Is. 6d. Weftley. 1800.

In an Advertisement prefixed to this Opera, the author tells us, that 1 uniformly received, during five fucceffive nights, the warneft tri

butes