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ufes of the farm, &c. he takes notice of what we think the most important advantage of all, which is, the guarding against the danger of a dry fummer, where the lands are fo fituated, that they can be watered at any season.

It is inconceivable, what twenty-four hours water properly conveyed over the lands will do, in fuch feafon; a beautiful verdure will arife in a few days, where a parched, rufty foil could only be feen; and one acre will then be found to maintain more ftock than ten would before. The peculiar benefit of fuch feed at fuch time, let those farmers eftimate, who have experienced a dry fummer with a large ftock, and no meadows. A third advantage must not be paffed over, as it may poffibly ftimulate fome farmers to attempt to water their coarfe lands. Every perfon who has a breeding ftock of ewes knows the difficulty of procuring proper food for the lambs in February, March and April, after the turnips are eaten, or when they have failed, and before the natural or artificial graffes are fit to take them. This difficulty is effectually remedied by the Water Meadows, which, when laid up in time, properly watered, and drained, will have a fufficient bite for the ewes and lambs by the end of February, and they may be kept in them with perfect fafety, till the end of April; nothing makes the ewe thrive better than this fpring grafs, or produces more milk; this is called spring feeding the meadows. To thefe advantages another may be addreffed to the gentleman, who wishes to improve his eftate; and whose benevolent heart prompts him to extend a charitable hand to the relief of the induftrious poor, and not to the encouragement of idleness and vice; almost the whole of the expences in this mode of cultivation is the actual manual labour of a clafs of people, who have no genius to employ their bodily ftrength otherways, for their's and their families fupport; confequently viewed in this light, the expences can be comparatively but fmall, the improvement great and durable.'

ART. IX. Elegy on Captain Cook. To which is added, an Ode to the Sun. By Mifs Seward. 4to. 1 s. 6d. DodЛley. 1780.

CA

APTAIN COOK's fingular and unfortunate death has been lamented, and indeed moft juftly, by every one who has regard either for perfonal merit, the enlargement of knowledge, or the general interefts of humanity. No teftimony of gratitude to his memory, or veneration for his character, has been with-held by thofe who had power to do juftice to either. His furviving family has been marked out by Royal munificence, and the celebration of his fame has been propofed as the fubject of poetical contest at both univerfities.

The firft, however, who has ftarted in this poetic race is the ingenious Authorefs of the Elegy before us-an Atalanta, if we may judge from her prefent career, that will not easily be

overtaken.

While o'er the deep, in many a dreadful form,
The giant Danger howls along the florm,

Furling

Furling the iron fails with numbed hands,
Firm on the deck the great Adventurer stands;
Round glitt'ring mountains hears the billows rave,
And the + vaft rain thunder on the wave.-
Appall'd he hears !-but checks the rifing figh,
And turns on his firm band a glift'ning eye.-
Not for himself the fighs unbidden break,
Amid the terrors of the icy wreck;

Not for himself ftarts the impaffion'd tear,
Congealing as it falls ;-nor pain, nor fear,
Nor Death's dread darts, impede the great defign,
Till Nature draws the circumfcribing line.
Huge rocks of ice th' arrefted fhip em bay,
And bar the gallant Wanderer's dangerous way.-
His eye regretful marks the Goddess turn
Th' affiduous prow from its relentless bourn.
The following paffage is embellished by imagery truly
poetic, original, and juft.

On a lone beach a || rock-built temple stands,
Stupendous pile! unwrought by mortal hands;
Sublime the ponderous turrets rife in air,
And the wide roof bafaltic columns bear;

Thro' the long aifles the murm'ring tempefts blow,
And Ocean chides his dafhing waves below.
From this fair fane, along the filver fands,
Two fifter-virgins wave their fnowy hands;
First § gentle Flora-round her smiling brow
Leaves of new forms, and flow'rs uncultur'd glow;
Thin folds of ** vegetable filk, behind,

Shade her white neck, and wanton in the wind;

Strange

Furling the iron fails.-"Our fails and rigging were fo frozen, that they feemed plates of iron."

+ And the waft ruin.-The breaking of one of these immense mountains of ice, and the prodigious noife it made, is particularly defcribed in Cook's fecond voyage to the South Pole.

Till Nature, &c.-" After running four leagues this courfe, with the ice on our starboard fide, we found ourselves quite embayed, the ice extending from north-north-east, round by the weft and fouth, to eat, in one compact body; the weather was tolerably clear, yet we could fee no end to it."

A rock-built temple." On one part of this ifle there was a folitary rock, rifing on the coaft with arched cavities, like a majestic temple."

§ Firft gentle Flora. -Flora is the Goddess of modern Botany, and Fauna of modern Zoology: hence the pupils of Linnæus call their books Flora Anglica--Fauna Danica, &c.- "The Flora of one of these islands contained thirty new plants."

** Vegetable filk.-In New-Zealand is a flag of which the natives make their nets and cordage. i he fibres of this vegetable are longer and ftronger than our hemp and flax; and fome, manufactured in

London,

Strange fweets, where'er fhe turns, perfume the glades,
And fruits unnam'd adorn the bending fhades.
-Next Fauna treads, in youthful beauty's pride,
A playful Kangroo bounding by her fide;
Around the Nymph her beauteous + Pois difplay
Their varied plumes, and trill the dulcet lay;
A Giant-bat, with leathern wings outfpread,
Umbrella light, hangs quiv'ring o'er her head.
As o'er the cliff her graceful ftep fhe bends,
On glitt'ring wing her infect-train attends.
With diamond-eye her fcaly tribes furvey

Their Goddess-nymph, and gambol in the spray.'

The allufion to the funeral ceremonies at Otaheite is introduced with great happiness and propriety :

'Gay Eden of the fouth, thy tribute pay,

And raife, in pomp of woe, thy Cook's | Morai!
Bid mild Omiah bring his choiceft stores,
The juicy fruits, and the luxuriant flow'rs;
Bring the bright plumes, that drink the torrid ray,
And strew each lavish spoil on Cook's Morai!
Come, Oberea, hapless fair-one! come,
With piercing fhrieks bewail thy Hero's doom!-
She comes!-the gazes round with dire furvey!
Oh! fly the mourner on her frantic way.
See! fee! the pointed ivory wounds that head,
Where late the Loves impurpled roses spread;
Now ftain'd with gore, her raven treffes flow,
In ruthless negligence of madd'ning woe;

London, is as white and gloffy as fine filk. This valuable vegetable will probably grow in our climate.

*A playful Kangroo.-The kangroo is an animal peculiar to thofe climates. It is perpetually jumping along on its hind legs, its fore legs being too short to be ufed in the manner of other quadrupeds.

+ Beauteous Pois." The poi-bird, common in thofe countries, has feathers of a fine mazarine blue, except thofe of the neck, which are of a beautiful filver grey; and two or three short white ones, which are in the pinion-joint of the wing. Under its throat hang two little tufts of curled white feathers, called its poies, which, being the Otaheitean word for ear-rings, occafioned our giving that name to the bird; which is not more remarkable for the beauty of its plumage, than for the exquifite melody of its note."

A Giant-bat.-The bats which Captain Cook faw in fome of thefe countries were of incredible dimenfions, measuring three feet and an half in breadth, when their wings were extended.

Marai.-The Morai is a kind of funeral altar, which the people of Otaheite raife to the memory of their deceafed friends. They bring to it a daily tribute of fruits, flowers, and the plumage of birds. The chief mourner wanders around it in a state of apparent distraction, shrieking furiously, and ftriking at intervals a fhark's tooth into her head. All people fly her, as the aims at wounding not only herfelf, but others.

Loud

Loud fhe laments!-and long the Nymph fhall stray
With wild unequal step round Cook's Morai!'

The Poetefs 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,
Solicitous, and fad, a fofter form

Eyes the lone flood, and deprecates the ftorm.—
Ill fated matron !—for, alas! in vain
Thy eager glances wander o'er the main !-
'Tis the vex'd billows, that infurgent rave,
Their white foam filvers yonder distant wave,
'Tis not his fails!-thy husband comes no more!
His bones now whiten an accurfed fhore!
Retire, for hark! the fea-gull fhrieking foars,
The lurid atmosphere portentous low'rs;
Night's fullen fpirit groans in ev'ry gale,
And o'er the waters draws the darkling veil,
Sighs in thy hair, and chills thy throbbing breaft-
Go, wretched mourner!-weep thy griefs to reft!
Yet, tho' through life is loft each fond delight,
Tho' fet thy earthly fun in dreary night,
Oh! raife thy thoughts to yonder starry plain,
And own thy forrow felfish, weak, and vain;
Since, while Britannia, to his virtues juft,

Twines the bright wreath, and rears th' immortal bust;
While on each wind of heav'n his fame fhall rife,

In endless incenfe to the smiling skies;

THE ATTENDANT POWER, that bade his fails expand,
And waft her bleffings to each barren land,
Now raptur'd bears him to th'immortal plains,
Where Mercy hails him with congenial trains;
Where foars, on Joy's white plume, his spirit free,
And angels choir him, while he waits for THEE.'

To this poem is fubjoined an Ode to the Sun; a prize poem at Batheafton, which difplays an imagination well stored with poetical ideas.

ART. X. An Epistle to a Friend, on the Death of John Thornton, Efq. By the Author of "An Epiftle to an eminent Painter." 4to. Is. DodЛley. 1780.

HOW

[OWEVER homely may be the verfe that laments over the grave of departed friendship, it not only difarms the feverity of criticifm, 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, muft 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 apostrophe!

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• Pure

Pure mind! whofe meeknefs, in thy mortal days,
Purfuing virtue, ftill retir'd from praise;

Nor with'd that friendship fhould on marble give
That perfect image of thy worth to live,
Which 'twas thy aim alone to leave impreft
On the close tablet of her faithful breast.
If now her verfe against thy wifh rebel,
And strive to blazon what the lov'd so well,
Forgive the tender thought, the moral fong,
Which would thy virtues to the world prolong;
That, rescued from the grave's oblivious shade,
Their useful luftre may be ftill furvey'd,
Dear to the penfive eye of ford regret,
As light ftill beaming from a fun that's fet.
Oft to our giddy Mufe thy voice has taught
The juft ambition of poetic thought;
Bid her bold view to latest time extend,
And strive to make futurity her friend.
If any verfe, her little art can frame,
May win the partial voice of distant fame,
Be it the verfe, whose fond ambition tries
To paint thy mind in truth's unfading dyes,
Tho' firm, yet tender, ardent, yet refin'd;
With Roman ftrength and Attic grace combin'd.
What tho' undeck'd with titles, power, and wealth,
Great were thy generous deeds, and done by stealth;
For thy pure bounty from obfervance ftole,
Nor with'd applaufe, but from thy confcious foul.
Tho' thy plain tomb no fculptur'd form may fhew,
No boastful witness of fufpected woe;

Yet heavenly shapes, that fhun the glare of day,
To that dear spot fhall nightly vifits pay:
Pale Science there fhall o'er her votary strew
Her flow'rs, yet moift with forrow's recent dew.
There Charity, Compaffion's lovely child,
In ruftic notes pathetically wild,

With grateful bleflings bid thy name endure,
And mourn the patron of her village-poor.
E'en from the midnight fhew with mufic gay,
The foul of Beauty to thy tomb shall stray,
In fweet diftraction steal from present mirth,
To figh unnotic'd o'er the hallow'd earth,

Which hides thofe lips, that glow'd with tender fire,
And fung her praises to no common lyre:

But Friendship, wrapt in forrow's deepest gloom,
Shall keep the longeft vigils at thy tomb;
Her wounded brealt, difdainful of relief,
There claims a fond præ-eminence in grief.

Short was thy life, but ah! its thread how fine!
How pure the texture of the finish'd line!

What tho' thy opening manhood could not gain
Thofe late rewards, maturer toils attain ;

Hope's

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