Loud fhe laments!-and long the Nymph fhall ftray The Poetess then adverts, with exquifite fenfibility and art, to a connexion of a dearer and more interefting kind. 'But ah!-aloft on Albion's rocky steep, That frowns incumbent o'er the boiling deep, Eyes the lone flood, and deprecates the ftorm.- Thy eager glances wander o'er the main !- Twines the bright wreath, and rears th' immortal buft; THE ATTENDANT POWER, that bade his fails expand, To this poem is fubjoined an Ode to the Sun; a prize poem at Batheafton, which difplays an imagination well ftored with poetical ideas. l-r.ut. ART. X. An Epistle to a Friend, on the Death of John Thornton, Efq. By the Author of "An Epifle to an eminent Painter." 4to. 1 s. Dodley. 1780. H OWEVER homely may be the verfe that laments over the grave of departed friendship, it not only difarms the feverity of criticism, but, if dictated by the genuine and unaffected feelings of the heart, it will be read with attention in fome degree equal to the fincerity with which it is fuppofed to have been written. How exquifite, then, must be the pleasure that is afforded by a poem like the prefent! a poem as elegant as the principle which it proceeds from is amiable! How beautiful is the following apoftrophe! • Pure Pure mind! whofe meekness, in thy mortal days, Nor with'd that friendship fhould on marble give What tho' undeck'd with titles, power, and wealth, Yet heavenly shapes, that fhun the glare of day, Short was thy life, but ah! its thread how fine! What tho' thy opening manhood could not gain Hope's Hope's firmest promises 'twas thine to raise, That merit's brighteft meed would grace thy lengthen'd days; Thine firm Integrity, whose language clear Sweet as the breath of fpring thy converfe flow'd, A penfive, pleafing melancholy reign'd, Which won regard, and charm'd th' attentive eye, Tho' juft obfervance in thy life may trace (While thy cold grafp the hand of Friendship preft, That calm obedience which thy life difplay'd. The melancholy yet manly enthufiafm with which the Writer fuggefts the employment of himself and the furviving friend to whom the epiftle is addreffed, is truly affecting. Oft let us loiter on his favourite hill, Whofe fhades the fadly-pleafing thought inftill; At evening's penfive hour, or opening day, The fame nervous elegance of expreffion, the fame freedom and fulness in the harmony of his numbers (perhaps the most certain indication of true poetical genius), with the fame elevated manliness of thought, which were admired in a former production of this excellent writer, are equally difcernible in the present. Before we difmifs this article we muft obferve, there is one paffage in this poem, on which we have particularly fixed our eye. Oft to our giddy Mufe thy voice has taught And strive to make FUTURITY HER FRIEND. It is needlefs to point out, that he who wishes to make futurity his friend, muft difclaim attention to whatever is in its own nature temporary; he must be jealous of the dignity of verfe, not to debase it (as too many do whofe writings will be forgotten), by proftitution to the purpofes of party or perfonal fatire. But there can be little to fear in this refpect from a Writer like the prefent. A mind, formed for and delighting in the contemplation of what is elegant in art or amiable in manners, is not likely to be feduced by objects that are in no way congenial to itself. * Epistle to an eminent Painter: See Rev. Oct. 1778. C.t.-t TH ART. XI. Political Annals of the prefent United Colonies, from their Settlement to the Peace of 1763. Compiled chiefly from Records, and authorised often by the Infertion of State Papers. By George Chalmers, Efq. Book I. 4to. 11. 1 s. Boards. Printed for the Author, and fold by Bowen, in London. 1779. HUCYDIDES hath always been thought entitled to the highest praife, for the impartiality with which he hath related the tranfactions of the period wherein he lived. It is fo extremely difficult for an hiftorian to preferve himself entirely free from the bias of party, and to view events and characters with the eye of calm philofophy, when he is treating of facts immediately connected with the country and age to which he he belongs; it requires fuch a degree of firmness of mind, and independence of spirit, to ftand difengaged from all undue influence, on the one hand turning a deaf ear to popular clamour, and, on the other, viewing all the bribes which power can offer, oculo irretorto; that, in this fituation, impartiality ought doubtlefs to be regarded as the most meritorious quality in an hiftorical writer. We wish it were in our power to allow this kind of merit to the Author of thefe Annals. The work is fo valuable, on account of the diftinctnefs of its detail, the authenticity of its documents, and the elegant manner in which it is written, that it is with concern we remark, throughout the narrative, the moft ftudied application of every fact, which will admit of it, to the vindication of a principle, as warmly contradicted by one party, as it is ftrenuoufly afferted by another, the right of the British Parliament to tax America. Taking for granted prin-. ciples which many will be difpofed to conteft-that a series of precedents is of itself a fufficient foundation of legality, and that it is conclufive to argue from the manner in which the Colonies were treated in their infancy, to that in which they ought to be treated in their maturity, he takes every occafion which the history affords him of maintaining this right; and thus, in indulging the warmth of political difputation, he loses the dignity of hiftory. Impatient to exprefs his fentiments on his favourite topic, the Author, in our opinion rather prematurely, afferts the legiflative right of taxation on the ground of the fecond charter granted by James I. to the Virginian colonists, by which a body of merchants and tradefmen were incorporated, and impowered to convey lands, make ordinances for the colony, and rule and direct the colonists; and by which the colonifts were permitted to export merchandife, for seven years, cuftom free. Thus, fays he, it appears decifively that the colonifts were to be governed by the ordinances of a corporation refiding in England, in which they were not represented, and over the deliberations of which they had no controul. Thus was affirmed the general right of taxing them without their confent, because they were exempted from duties payable within the colony for a limited time t.' These are sentiments which the Author takes every opportunity to repeat. Speaking of the exercife of the power of taxing the colonies, by the parliament in 1672, he fays: The Commons foon turned their views beyond the Atlantic. The commerce of the colonies had been before regulated and re + The futility of this conclufion was demonftrated in a former No. of our Review. REV. June, 1780. Hh ftrained; |