dantic writings of Scriblerus, that the following high wrought passage describes the foregoing fact too minutely. 'To rich Augusta's granaries he flies; No wary doubts, no balanced scruples rise: 6 Unlock your stores,' he calls, your ships prepare, Pause not-nor urge the cost-though tripled thrice, Wealth I but feel a trust, till it provide Relief for want, in scenes where I preside. ' The mandate thus repeated, grainy stores Are soon diffused through Tay's exhausted shores.' p. 73. The next examples which we take, present moving portraits, the one of Memory, the other of Magnetism; or, as the author intends it, of the effects of French principles. p. 52. Her backward tube let Memory still apply, pp. 67.8. The following description of Colonel Graham eating his horse, will, we much fear, be less relished than it deserves. p. 129. From scene to scene his active valour hastes, And this fine distich on French alliances will foolishly be thought deficient in dignity. Brigaded thieves, incendiaries and spies, With matchless impudence, self-named allies. p. 85. Nay, we are afraid there are critics who will be more sensible of the vulgarity than the force of the following appeal. • Yourselves be judge, who best our weal promotes : In all these, and a multitude of other passages, we must take the liberty of asserting, without fear of being contradicted, that the intentions of the author were pure, that he firmly believed he was treating his subject with the sublimity it merited, and that July że jest possible proof of his innocence) the anslation which consciousness of right can alone I will ther be leren, hat by the constant use of Van, i tose as if his poetry where gravity would, on My Words. 1 endency to laughter is excited by Mr vere den nur becoming. mist mit, that in this remark here is some truth: Nay, vi sen alow, at de varis ailuded are rather too ofAnd a speak candidly, down to ne masif the verses, which may render their inius recon me vity of the reader more certain. But we must remark, hat this error aise is venial, because it is if a secus sect, whose uit is it? Who does not see noAnd besides, f readers will laugh in the middle very, force, and ingenuity, in such expressions as the following? Dumm, p. 33.; treninz, dll; angrian, 28.; unbisedy day, Fra 1; Mat-uket sands, 119.; leaguered towers, 129.; 12; Arch-murch, 95.; refixai, 8′′.; blood-bolor de zure, but But chiefy in the following compound • From every point, each frab-wing post,' &c. p. 140. We must observe, once for all, that a constant struggle with Large is the true criterion of vast poetical genius. The grand corect of this contest, is to extend our empire over unruly words, to force them into services for which they shew a natural repurtance, to torture them until they are rendered fit for their new tasks, or sometimes to neglect this, and disregard all their stubborn unamness. Besides the instances already given of our author's unusual success in this struggle, we may add his various achievements in the rhyming way, as, for instance, pp. 22. 195. 136. • Improving states require, with each ascent, Stil less and less coercion's harsh restraint. • Oh! then would Power its measured sway relax, • Where can thy worth, thy polished prowess claim Light up a circle of nocturnal fire, And nigher yet the curve contracts, and nigher.' If all that we have stated in favour of our author's phraseology, be insufficient to work out his defence, we must desire captious men to remember how many liberties with language the greatest poets have used. Even some of the words and rhymes above quoted, may be found, we believe, in Shakespeare and Milton: And if they used such licenses, why may not Mr Walker? Walker? Surely it will not be denied that he has as much need as they, to work up his ideas, and give spirit to his verse. Nay, has he ever once taken such liberties as Virgil did with his verses, leaving some half lengths, others kit-cat, and others three quarters? And by how many alliterations and antitheses does he charm and surprise us, allowing for peculiarities of grammatical and rythmical taste, even to such as may on these matters differ from him and us? The last accusation which we are able to anticipate, is of a different nature from the foregoing, though we think it will be found equally insignificant in the eyes of good and impartial men. It may be said that our author has given up too great a portion of his invaluable verse to the celebration of certain obscure personages, chiefly remarkable for their situation in his immediate neighbourhood, and has thereby interfered with the province of the preacher and life-writer. But let it be remembered, that Mr Walker knew, while he wrote, that he was dealing out immortality: And (as he is but a man, with all his genius), he could not be expected to forego the gratification of including his best friends in the range of his bounty. Besides, he could not avoid knowing that this was the only chance which these worthy persons had of deathless renown; and it would have been highly unneighbourlike to have rejected them. Here again, then, our author stands excused, by the purity of his motives. The style of Mr Walker, in celebrating truly illustrious characters, must be allowed by all to savour of the very highest relish of the epic. Among these, the Angel of Gallia' holds a distinguished place, and delivers a long speech, in a dream. Her eloquence is of the most splendid kind: She describes Desolation looking from a turret begirt with screaming owls and croaking rooks.' The following portion of the angel's ha rangue is strikingly didactic through the first five lines, when suddenly a touch of the true sublime is given in one line, after which the remainder of the discourse is didactic. Mute, through the ports, that skirt my wide domains, And, round her grave, the ghost of Commerce pines. Next to this angel, the most distinguished personages are British scamen. They are all immortalized in detail, each by a separate separate simile. Lord Nelson is a small diamond or sparkling cross; Lord St Vincent is likened to a bird tearing out a bull's eyes; Lieutenant Price, to a bomb-shell (he belonging probably to the artillery); Lord Cochrane, to a sword-fish stabbing a whale ; and Lord Duncan, to Leonidas. Who does not perceive the beauty and justness of all these comparisons? For our parts, we are inclined, as we must give an opinion, to prefer the last, for the striking accuracy of the resemblance; well knowing that Leonidas, the celebrated Greek admiral, fought an equal force of Persians, gained a complete victory, and returned in triumph to his grateful countrymen, who immediately gave him a pension and a peerage. Upon the whole, therefore, we are of opinion, that our favourite poem may challenge the attacks of criticism, whether we view the accuracy of the principles which it is intended to inculcate, or the innocence of the views with which the author has executed the detail of his work. But knowing, as we do, how little such rare qualities weigh in the scale of public opinion in these degenerate times, we must recommend it to Mr Walker to make up his mind for the worst. Let him consider the emptiness of rhyming, either to individual edification, or to the public weal; and how far inferior poetic fame is to the praise of worth. What though Horace has pronounced a sentence against mediocrity? Does that prevent this very line of mediocrity from being the path most constantly pursued, and by the greatest crowds? Our author will meet, in spite of Horace, with the most respectable part of the poetical community in the middle regions. These, in fact, are the parts generally fre quented by royal and noble, and holy and wealthy, and fair authors; and with their society, he may be well consoled for the want of the white fillet,' which forms the only badge that we remember to distinguish the other order of bards, the Phoebs digna locuti.' ART. XIII. A Description of the Anatomy of the Ornithorynchus Paradoxus. By Everard Home, Esq. F. R. S. From the Philosophical Transactions for 1802. HE first description of this animal was given by Dr Shaw, in the Naturalist's Miscellany; but, at that time, he could not decidedly pronounce it to be a natural production. Its singular appearance struck him so forcibly, that he almost instantly suspected a trick; and was led to think on the various artifices, that had often been practised, to impose on the ignorance and credu lity of naturalists. He acknowledges frankly, in his natural history, that the beak of a duck, so curiously engrafted on the head of a quadruped, was so very unlike the other animal productions of nature, that he could not help viewing the whole with a degree of scepticism; and that he published his account in the miscellany with a sort of diffidence, and under some private suspicions that it was possibly a fabrication of art. His doubts, however, are now dispelled. Several specimens have been brought to Europe. And this And this very extraordinary animal is actually a native of Austral Asia, or New Holland. In that country, and in no other, has it yet been seen in the living state. It frequents the banks of small fresh-water lakes, and is supposed to feed in the muddy places that surround them; although the particular kind of food on which it subsists be not known. When it goes into the lake, it does not swim upon the surface, but merely comes up occasionally to breathe, which it does in the same manner as the turtle. When brought ashore, it runs upon the ground with as much activity as a land-tortoise, and, like most of the amphibia, appears very tenacious of life. The specimens brought to Europe were of different sizes. Those sent to Sir Joseph Banks, and dissected by Mr Home, were much larger than that formerly described by Dr Shaw. Of Sir Joseph's specimens, the male was 17 inches long, measuring from the point of the bill to the extremity of the tail. Of this measurement, the bill was 2 inches, and the tail 4: The circumference of the body was 11 inches. In all, the head was rather compressed; had a bill and nostrils like a duck's, very small eyes, and oblong slits for external ears. The trunk resembled that of an otter, and was nearly of the same thickness throughout, except at the shoulders, where it was smaller. The feet were short, and webbed; and had each five toes, pointed with claws. In the fore feet, the web extended beyond the claws; and in the hind feet terminated at their origin. The tail, in its general shape, was similar to that of a beaver: and at its extremity, in Dr Shaw's figure (for Mr Home has given us none), it appears bifid. The The colour on the back, legs, bill, and tail, was a dark brown; on the under surface of the neck and belly, a silver grey. hair was of two kinds; a very fine thick fur of half an inch long, and a very uncommon kind of hair, three quarters of an inch long, cylindrical at the root, and flattened at the point, so as to have the appearance of feathers. of feathers. Both of these kinds were long er on the belly, than upon the back. We have given the above general description, partly taken from Dr Shaw's Natural History, and partly from Mr Home's paper, VOL. II. NO. IV. Q q in |