Long, Senators of England's happy realm!
Where equal rights a free-born people share,
Long, in your ancient and paternal feats
Live honour'd, and your eminent stations fill,
Bleffing the fhire that hails you-that oft pours
(Where fettive blifs and harmony prefide)

Libations sparkling to your names rever'd.” P. 14.

This poem is in three books, and includes a description and cele bration of Worcester; with many epifodical illuftrations from history, which increase the interest of the whole.

ART. 21. Ode to Lord Nelfon, on his Conqueft in Egypt. By Harmo dius. 4to. 15. Egerton. 1798.

This is a very spirited effufion, as the reader will perceive, from the following apoftrophe to Peace.

Avails it the victorious palm to vain,

If still our Albion, Queen of Ifles in vain,
Tby abfence, genial Peace, mult mourn;

Ah! when thall each dejected vale,
Each hill, and plain, fweet ftranger hail,
The bleffings of thy kind return!

Thy filver ftreamers fluttering to the gale,
Once floated long upon our towers,

Thou once didft love thy Albion's bowers, &c. &c.

In the last line, didft is printed did, by a mistake, it is prefamed, of the prefs. The poem contains many agreeable and animated paffages; and the compliment to Lord Nelfon's piety, at the conclufion, is as juft, as the epithet forlorn, applied to Britannia in the line which follows, is ill-timed and inapplicable.

ART. 22. Henry and Acafto: a moral Tale. In Three Parts. By the Rev. Brian Hill, A.M. late of Queen's College, Oxford; Chaplai to the Earl of Keven and Melvill; and Author of Travels through Sicily and Calabria. Dedicated, by Permission, to the Right Honourable Lady Kenyon. Svo. 5s. Stockdale. 1798.

This' moral tale is intended to exhibit the various temptations incident to young men in their intercourfe with the world, and more particularly points out the force of example, either in the caufe of virtue or of vice. The ftory is well conducted, and the precepts it inculcates, are thofe of benevolence and religion. The ideas perhaps are not new, nor the verse particularly harmonious; but the object and tendency are fuch, as entitle the author to very high commendation. The following lines will afford a fpecimen of the poetry, and its morality. Ye fons of mirth! who with prepost'rous joy, The night in riot's frantic fcenes employ, Say, where's the bliss to revel at the feast, To drop the manhood and affume the beast ? To lofe all felf control, and, madly vain, The bounds of faber wisdom to difdain?

Think, as ye fill the mantling goblet high,
How your excels the needy would fupply!
How what inebriates you, would cheer the faint,

How what deftroys your health, would eafe his plaint :
So fhall two virtues from one action flow,

And Charity in felf-denial grow."

If from were added in the place of in, it would be better; and we would recommend this alteration to the following line, it stands thus: The tear, that trembled in her cryftall'd eye.

It fhould be rather,

The cryftal tear, that trembled in her eye.

Cryfal being much more applicable to the tear than to the eye.

ART. 23.

Poems on various Subjects, by Mary Ann Chantrell, of
Newington Butts. 8vo. 109 pp. 35. Symonds. 1798.
The Mufes of Newington Butts do not appear to be quite Sicilian
Mufes. This lady begins an Addrefs to her Subfcribers thus:
"When Fancy to me her affiftance first lent,

To amufe my own thoughts was my only intent.
The wifh of a few partial friends have prevailed
O'er the vanity their foothing flattery affailed.
Yet, ere I confented in print to appear,
'Twas requifite courage fhould teach me to bear
The laugh of the critic, the fneer of contempt,
With Ridicule's smile at the foolish attempt,”.

However we may be inclined to fmile, Mrs. C. need not fear any criticifm from us. Looking further into her book, we find that her verfes deferve praife as loyal, and obferve with fatisfaction a list of Subfcribers, that prove they have not been unproductive.

2S

ART. 24. A Congratulatory Poem on the Escape of Sir Sidney Smith from France, and his happy Arrival in England. 4to. 25 PP. Hatchard, and Rivingtons. 1798.

The zeal of friendship is more confpicuous in this poem than the fire of genius: yet the latter is not wholly wanting. The poem opens with fpirit.

"From that perfidious, that degraded land,
Where Guilt and Rapine reign without control;
Where Anarchy hurls wide her flaming brand,
And deeds of horror freeze the harrow'd foul:
From that fell Temple, where, with fcowling face,
The bafe, dark Regicide, remorfelefs eyes
The bleeding forms of Bourbon's fallen race,
And round them hofts of gory victims rife :--
Welcome to light and liberty once more!

Welcome to ev'ry heart on greeting Albion's fhore!"

It goes on to relate the several actions of Sir Sidney Smith, his capture, and efcape; which laft the author attributes to the gratitude of

fome

fome friend: but on this point he does not fully explain himself. It concludes with an affectionate congratulation to the father of his hero. Some paffages in this poem are rather obfcure, and several lines weak or inaccurate in the expreffion. Yet, upon the whole, it is entitled to a refpectable rank among the productions of a perfonal and temporary

nature.

ART. 25. The Warning, a poetical Addrefs to Britons. To which is added, a Report of the Proceedings of the Whig Club, at their Meeting, May 1, 1798, in a poetical Epifle from Henry Bumpkin, in Town, to bis Brother in the Country. 8vo. 46 pp. Is. 6d. Hatchard.

3798.

The first of these poems is an attempt to describe and reprobate the principles that have produced, and the enormities that have attended, the revolution in France. The author's intention is highly laudable; but, nec Dis nec viribus æquis. He feems not to have any talent for poetry. Almost the whole of The Warning is profaic; and we meet with fuch rhymes as reveals and tales; fools and fouls, and (yet worse) Gauls and laws, fmiled and pride. The following paffage is by far the best in the Poem. Yet it is clofely copied (and, in fome parts, almost word for word) from Goldfmith's Deferted Village.

"How fweet the fcene beneath the ev'ning skies!
Up the green hill the village murmurs rise,
There, as with eafy fteps and flow I ftray,
The feather'd fongfters chirp on ev'ry spray;
The fwain with artlefs mufic fills the vale,
The gath'ring herd that lows to meet the pail,
The ruddy maid, with bashful looks of love,
The sportive lambkins and, the cooing dove,
The noify geefe, that gabble round the brook,
The twitt ring fwallow, and the cawing rook,
The aged fires, that tell the daily news,
The playful children, eafy to amuse;

Thefe all, in mingled concert, crowd the green,

And clofe, in happy peace, the ev'ning fcene." P. 28.

The burlesque Poem on the Whig Club, is by no means smooth in

its verfification, or happy in its attempts at humour.

DRAMATIC.

ART. 26. The Maid of Marienburg. A Drama, in Five A&s, fron the German of Kratter. 8vo. 208 pp. 45. Allen, &c. 1798.

Not having the original of this drama before us, we can only fpeak of it as it appears in the tranflation. The story is briefly this. Chatinka (or Catherine) the Maid of Marienburg, and daughter of a refpectable priest, has been feized by fome foldiers of Peter the Great, on the ftorming of that town; which had revolted against his government. She has been delivered from the foldiers by Field-Marshal

Prince Menzikof, their general, and the Emperor's chief favourite, and put under the protection of the Princefs Natalia, his wife. They refide with the Emperor at Peterhof, a little retreat of his near Peteriburg, where the Emperor almott imperceptibly becomes ena noured of Chatinka; and when her father, paitor Gluck, who (accompanied by his fon Edward) has come from Livonia in fearch of her, at lalt discovers the place of her refidence. he refuses to permit her to depart with her father. She attempts in vain to efcape; but, being refolotely determined not to fuffer the Emperor's addrelles, he at length, by an effort of magnanimity, confents to part with her. Finding, however, by the agitation of her fpirits at taking leave, that he is really attached to him, he declares his refolation of making her his wife and Emprefs.

We know not whether the Maid of Marienburg was reprefented on the German age, but we think it would not fucceed on that of England. The plot is too barren of incident, and the dialogue not fufficiently interesting for ftage effect. There is not the leaft attempt at wit of any kind; and the fertiments, though very moral and just, are not often expreffed in pointed or energétic language. Upon the whole, it is a flory in dialogue rather than a drama; though the concluding fcene is interefting, and not ill written.

ART. 27. Natalia and Muzikof, or, The Confpiracy against Peter the Great. A Tragedy in five Act, from the German of Kratter. 8vo. 204 pp. 4s. Allen. 1798.

Natalia Euvanky, the heroine of this tragedy, is betrothed to Field Marthal Menzikor, the favourite of Peter the Great; who had raised him from the lowest degree to be his first General and Minifter. Her father, Prince Amilka, (a complete villain) being engaged in a confpiracy against the E aperor, and hating his intended fon in law, determines to make him and Natalia, in appearance at least, parties to his treafon; that, in cafe of detection, they may also fuffer. The Field Marshal is for this purpose, plied with wine, and (by rather a clumfy contrivance) excited to be jealous of the Emperor; till, in a ttanfport of rage, he figns his name to a confederation again!t him. Natalia, who refufes to join in the confpiracy, is deceived by the re femblance between two papers, and figns the confederation, fuppofing it to be her marriage contract. On the breaking out of the confpiracy, Menzikof, having repented of his ralinefs, refcuer the Emperor from the affeffins, but his fignature to the confederation appearing, is tried as an accomplite, and only acquitted on the interpofition of the Emperor, who pleads his caufe in difguife. Natalia, rather than accufe her father of the imposture practited on her, and be confronted with him, fuffers fentence of death to be paffed on herself, and is leď ́ out to execution with the confpirators, but faved by the dying decla ration of Amilka, who is ftruck at laft with remorfe. Such is the outline of the plot; which is filled up by an underplot and several fubordinate characters Like most of the Germ n plays with which we are acquainted, it has fome extravagant and fom: infipid scenes; but the concluding part is interesting. From fome circumftances in A a a

BRIT. CRIT. VOL, XII, DEC. 1798.

the

the piece, we conclude the author to be one of the Illuminati. He Introduces a High Pricft among the confpirators, and takes care to make him the most abandoned (if poffibie) of the whole crew. One of his affociates calmly alks him how many times he studied through his Bible before he became fo complete a villain? To which the priest as gravely replies, "he was already fo perfect there that it needed no Bible to complete him." This is the ne plus ultra of modern philofophism. It "out-berods Herod." Voltaire himself could fcarcely have equalled it.

NOVEL.

ART. 28. The Libertines, a Novel. z Vols. Izmo. 5s. Robiafons. 1798.

There is a great deal of ingenuity and contrivance, fome good writing, and even good verfes in this novel; but it is more gloomy and terrible than even the Italian of Mrs. Radcliffe. We prefume it to be the production of a youthful pen, which has been directed by a very warm and fertile imagination. We fee, however, and acknowledge, a very refpectable degree of talent, which due exercife and difcipline may elevate to excellence.

PHILOSOPHY.

ART. 29. Fays Political, Economical, and Philofophical. By Benja min Count of Rumford, Sc. Se. Vol. II. Effey VIII. Of the Propagation of Heat in various Subftances. Effay IX. An Inquiry concerning the Source of the Heat excited in Friction. Cadell and Davies. 1798.

Thefe two Effays which form a part of the fecond volume of Count Rumford's Experimental Effays, begin with page 389, and end with page 496. A copper plate engraving accompanies each Effay.

The 8th The contents of this publication are by no means new. Eflay confiits of two papers, which were read before the Royal Society in the years 1786 and 1792. The 9th Effay contains only one paper, which was read before the Royal Society in January, 1798. Count Rumford's reafons for publifhing thofe papers in the pretent form, as well as his promifes of fpeedy and more practically ufeful publications, will belt appear from the following part of his Introduction to the 8th Effav.

"As reference has frequently been made to thefe papers in feveral of the preceding Etays; and as many of the experiments of which an account is given in them, are not only interesting in themfelves, but are neceffary to be known in all their details, in order to judge of feveral important conclufions that have been founded on their results, the author has thought that it would not be improper to republish. them under the prefent form.

"The