the island, attended by damfels of her own nature. The prince, animated by this vifion, and deeply enamoured with the idea of the nymph, who, in the allegorical fenfe, reprefents Liberty, left the coast of Phoenicia, and failed towards Egypt.

These circumftances, being previous to the action, are not related till the second book: for, at the opening of the poem, after the usual introduction, the prince is brought with his companions to the mouth of the Nile; he lands, and advances towards the city of Memphis, but is met in a forest by Ramiel, in the shape of a venerable fage, who conducts him to the palace of the Egyptian king, where he fees the temple of fcience, the pyramids (then just begun), and other amazing edifices. After a fplendid repaft, he is defired to relate the motives of his voyage.The subject of the next book has been already explained; but it will be diverfified, like all the reft, with feveral fpeeches, descriptions, and epifodes.-The third book begins with a confultation of the evil deities worshipped

in Phoenicia; whofe various characters are delineated. The debate is opened by Baal, who, in a furious fpeech, complains of the infult offered to their temples by the expedition of the Tyrians, and difcourses with malignity on the future happiness of their defcendants. Various ftratagems are propofed, to obftruct their progress. At last, Aftartè offers to allure the chief with the love of pleasure, Mammon to tempt him with riches; Dagon promises to attack his fleet, Nifroc to engage him in a desperate war, Moloch to affift his enemies by his enchantment, and Baal himself to fubvert his government, by inftilling into his mind a fondnefs of arbitrary power. In the mean while,' the Tyrians are at fea, accompanied by Ramiel, who, in the character of a fage, hád offered to conduct them; they are driven by` a tempeft back to Cyprus, where Aftartè, in the fhape of a beautiful princess, like the nymph before defcribed, attempts to feduce the hero by all the allurements of volup

tuousness, which he refifts at length by the affiftance of the guardian spirit, and leaves the island, where he had almost been induced. to fettle, mistaking it for the western ifle defcribed to him in his vifion.-In the fourth book, after an invocation to the nymphs of Thames, the virgin Albina is represented converfing with her damfels in Albion ;-her dream, and love of the Tyrian prince, whose image had been fhewn to her in a rivulet by the Genius of the ile. The Phoenicians, landing in Crete, are received by Baal, who had taken the form of the Cretan king, and difcourfes to the prince in praise of tyranny, but is confuted by the fage.-The fifth book represents a nation in peace; a meeting, raif, ed by the inftigation of Baal, is appeased; arts, manufactures, and sciences begin to flourish. As the Tyrians fail along the coast of the Mediterranean, the fage, at the request of Britan, describes to him the state of Greece, Italy, and the Gauls, and relates rather obfcurely, by way of prophecy, the future.

glory and decline of Athens and Rome.

The Phoenicians reach the

opening of the fixth book.

ftreights, at the

The evil spirits

affemble, and determine, fince most of their ftratagems had failed, to attack them by violence. Dagon raises a tempeft and a great commotion in the elements, fo that the whole fleet is covered with darkness: Ramiel encourages the prince, and, pretending to retire from danger on account of his age, fummons a legion of genii, or benevolent angels, and engages the evil spirits in the air. Nifroc, in hopes of intimidating Britan, appears to him in all his horrors; the prince expoftulates with him, and darts a javelin at the spirit, but is feized by Mammon, and carried in a cloud to a distant part of the globe; upon which, Ramiel, whofe power may be suppofed to be limited, and who might think that the virtue of the prince should be put to a fevere trial, leaves him for a time, and flies, in his own fhape, to the manfion of the beneficent genii.-The feventh book is

wholly taken up with a description of the oppofite hemifphere, to which the prince is conveyed by Mammon, whofe palace and treasure are described; the Tyrian chief is almoft tempted to defift from his enterprise, and to refide in America with the adorers of Mammon:- the inconveniences of an oligarchy difplayed. The evil spirits being difperfed, light returns to the Tyrians, who find themselves in the ocean, but, miffing their leader and the fage, difpute about the regency, and are on the point of feparating;-the danger of anarchy: at length having an admiral and a commander, they land on the coaft of Gaul, at the beginning of the eighth book. Nifroc incites the king of that country to attack them; hence is deduced the origin of the national enmity between the English and French. The guardian fpirits affemble; their fpeeches; the genius of Albion propofes to conduct Albina to the palace of Mammon, in order to rouse the hero from his inactivity. In the ninth book,