We are not pleased with the noble author, when he labours to persuade us that he has really acted the part of a translator, and, in most cases, closely copied his original. In some instances, he has certainly pursued or expanded a hint furnished by the epic poet of Portugal; yet we shall not greatly err, if we regard those minor compositions as poems rather than translations, and Camoens as Viscount Strangford in disguise.Ought such tricks of diplomacy to be tolerated in the literary world? We think that they should not. A little jockeyship of publication, however, cannot affect the intrinsic merit of the pieces themselves. That merit chiefly consists in a happy union of tender sentiment and simple elegant expression. Though love be the prevailing theme, and love has been celebrated since poets existed, these madrigals, canzonets, and sonnets will still bear the test of critical perusal, and will still please by their native sweetness. It is not mean praise to say of a young amatory poet, that he is more terse than Anacreon, and more delicate than Little. The following extracts will, we apprehend, justify the very favourable opinion which we have formed of the present collection: • CANZON. • When day has smil'd a soft farewell, And while my lone step prints the dew, I see her, as with graceful care I feel her harp's melodious thrill Strike to my heart -- and thence be still Re-echo'd faithfully: I meet her mild and quiet eye, God knows how fervently! Such are my hours of dear delight, ⚫ MADRIGAL. • MADRIGAL. Dear is the blush of early light To him who ploughs the pathless deep, 'Dearer to me the break of day, 'SONNET. Mondego! thou, whose waters cold and clear Gird those green banks, where Fancy fain would stay, When Hope was kind, and Friendship seem'd sincere ; To other shores, where other fountains stray, And Memory oft, by old Affection taught, I saw the virtuous man contend With life's unnumber'd woes; 'I saw the Passions' pliant slave In gallant trim, and gay; His course was Pleasure's placid wave, And I was caught in Folly's snare, There surely is some guiding pow'r • CANZONET. Thou hast an eye of tender blue, And thou hast locks of Daphne's hue, And cheeks that shame the morning's break, And And lips that might for redness make But whether soft or sweet as they, For I have never tried them. Yet, thus created for delight, And ev'n that woman's angel face, grace, If woman's heart be cruel! Love is a sweet and blooming boy, Lord Strangford's versification is soft and musical; and his rhymes are, for the most part, correct: but the suspension of a pause at the end of the line is sometimes so unduly prolonged, that it mars the ease and freedom which we expect in short and airy measures. Thus the second, third, and fourth lines of the Madrigal, which begins with Pr'ythee, Cupid,' &c. run into one another without so much as a terminating comma. In the stanzas to Night, we have three lines of the same exceptionable structure; For this around thy solemn fane Young birds I strew, that glisten • With tears of woe By jealous Tithon,' &c. Another example occurs at the beginning of the 14th sonnet: My best belov'd although unpitying skies The epithet southernly is somewhat grating; and it shall often be warm'd by remembering thee' is one of the few lines which we should point out as prosaic. The phrase done to death must surely be an oversight, not to say an error of the Press. As it stands, it gives us a culinary idea, very different from the cold state in which the Lover is represented to be. We shall compensate for these strictures by copying another pleasing amatory effusion: • CANZONET. The Lady who swore by her Eyes. eyes. But I've learn'd from the painful experience of youth, Then, dear one, I'd rather, thrice rather believe Than that you "by your eyes" should so wickedly swear, Of the notes,' the noble writer remarks, little can be said. He who comments on amatory verses undertakes but a limited office. His utmost effort is the citation of parallel passages, unless he substitute admiration for criticism; a mistake into which, of all others, a translator is most likely to fall.' Let us add that his Lordship's translations and imitations of these parallel passages are executed with singular neatness and propriety. Among the other beauties of this classical performance, the reader of taste will not overlook the pretty and merited compliment with which Lord S. concludes his preface: · The present writer has yet to offer his grateful acknowledgments to those wuose advice and experience have aided his labours. It is with pride and pleasure that he enrols among them the names of Percy and of Hayley. To the kindness of the latter he is indebted for the assistance of many valuable books, which could not elsewhere be procured; and to the almost fatherly friendship of the learned Bishop of Dromore, his obligations have long been unbounded. It is no small honour to so young a writer, that he should be countenanced by men, who, like the good spirits in Trissino, sit under the shade of their own laurels, and smile encouragement on those who are labouring up the mountain over which they preside.' The work is handsomely printed, and embellished with a head of Camoens. REV. SEPT. 1804. C ART. Muir. ART. III. An Account of the Astronomical Discoveries of Kepler: in cluding an Historical Review of the Systems which had successively prevailed before his Time.-By Robert Small, D.D. F.R.S. Edinburgh. 8vo. pp. 370, and 11 Plates. 7s. 6d. Boards. Mawman. THE HE real merit of those great men, who have given to Science and Philosophy a new existence and a new form, is known only to few. Their praises, however, loudly resound on every side; and while all, who make pretensions to acquirements in Science, speak of Galileo, Bacon, Kepler, and Newton, with enthusiasm, very few consult the original works of these celebrated authors. In books of easier access, and of more familiar aspect, we seek for sketches of their discoveries, for the summaries of doctrine, and for the results of investigation. The "bright reward" of those who live laborious days," the veneration of posterity, is not always the offspring of reason and feeling: we praise, because others have praised before us, and reverberate the echo of reiterated commendation. Bacon and Newton are not yet removed into the shade, nor viewed through the medium of another's representation: we are not as yet contented with the substance and spirit of their philosophy, compressed within the limits of a journal or a magazine: since national partiality, acting on the same side with good taste and judgment, still cause their original productions to be read by their countrymen. Galileo and Kepler, however, the one preferred by his historian to Bacon, the other the illustrious precursor of Newton, are almost entirely neglected. The little which we know of them is derived from the secondhand report of others; and indolence, or want of opportunity, has hitherto induced us to subscribe to the statements of others respecting their labours and their merits. To the generality of readers, indeed, it must be acknowleged, the original works of such authors are not most conveniently adapted. Numerous circumstances influence the style and the mode of communicating new notions and discoveries. From the prevailing ignorance of the times, it might be necessary tediously to explain and illustrate truths now commonly received; and from the current prejudices, it might be necessary to combat errors with caution or with vigour, which now would seem excessive and preposterous. The minds of the inventors, also, felt the influence of the opinions of their age, and complied with its fashion from the frequent employment of barbarous terms, and of words without precise signification, they imperfectly and obscurely communicated their inventions; from the intentional use of terms, by which poor and beggarly notions |