his verse by two Magazines; and how low must be his opinion of our poetic taste when we declare that, if he bethe only verse-writer in our language, we hope that no English verse will in future be written! Art. 16. Emancipation, a Poem; by Robert Dornan, Esq. 8vo. 58. sewed. Stockdale, Junior. 1814.

Of the patriotic and catholic zeal of Mr. Dornan, we cannot speak too highly; and, as the cause which he advocates receives our most cordial support, we should have felt real pleasure, had we been able to welcome his muse with applause. Alas! his poetry is not what we wished to find it; he is a prosing versifier, remarkably careless in his rhimes, and destitute of that energy which we should have supposed his subject would have inspired. When he declaims, he is feeble; and, when he endeavours to argue, he is unsatisfactory. Respecting the veto, he thus writes:

Enlighten'd policy maintain'd

It wise to grant them what they claim'd:
Yet venal ones have still been found,
By art, to gain some higher ground;
To purchase the unsteady vote;
To keep the idle tale afloat,
What perils might the state impend
Should base disunion have an end;
Of foreign influence to speak,

Intemperate words, advantage take;

Of doubts that, from their weakness, rise,
Of vetos and securities:

A veto ask'd?to this reply..

In other words, 'tis to deny."

Mr. D. maintains that allegiance of the Catholic church to the Pope in spirituals is an indispensable part of her system, being necessary to preserve its purity:' but he contends that the state has no ground for alarm on this account, as the Pope does not

- interference seek with aught That appertains to worldly thought.'

He then adds,

This solemn protest made and by
Men of well-tried veracity,

In reason's ear would serve at least

To set this futile plea at rest.'

It is rather unlucky that the testimony of History is a little at variance with the report of these men of well-tried veracity:' but we shall not here agitate the point. Some difficulties may occur on the subject of Catholic-emancipation: but, on a general and enlarged view of the question, that measure is most devoutly to be wished, and here Mr. D. preaches well:

Since justice, mercy, all unite,
Since subjects only claim their right,
Let prudence voice be heard at last,
And good atone for evils past:

Poets are prone to run into length, and Mr. D. is guilty of this fault. Had he studied compression, his verse would have produced more effect.

EDUCATION.

Art. 17. Punctuation; or an Attempt to facilitate the Art of Pointing, on the Principles of Craminar and Reason. For the Use of Schools, and the Assistance of general Readers. By S. Rousseau. 12mo. 58. Boards. Longman and Co. 1813. Some advantage may certainly be derived from the perusal of these hints, although the examples are needlessly multiplied, and in a few instances the writer's grammar is inaccurate. Thus, (in p. 105.) he says, every verse in the Psalms, the Te Deum, and some other parts of the Liturgy of the Church of England, are divided by a colon; and in page 146. the following sentence is incorrect: we do not see but such a mode of punctuation is allowable.' Some errors occur also in the quotations; such as in page 47., Nor cast me longing ling ring look behind; and, page 63., And bathed in fragment oils that breathed of Heaven.' These mistakes may be attributable to the printer, but they ought to have been rectified. It is to be observed, also, that the author has borrowed too largely from preceding writers, without due acknowlegement.

Art. 18. Travels at Home, and Voyages by the Fire-side; for the Instruction and Entertainment of Young Persons. Two Volumes, 12mo. 6s. half-bound. Rees. 1814.

The plan on which these little volumes are constructed is good; but the author is mistaken in supposing the idea to be new, since Mrs. Wakefield and (we believe) Mr. Evans have preceded him in the

Said to be the Rev. Dr. Lloyd, to whom the public stands indebted for "Particulars of the Life of a Dissenting Minister," noticed, as anonymous, in our Number for February last, p. 220., and also for a tract intitled "On the Choice of a School," mentioned by us in our last Volume, p. 315.

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fabrication of imaginary voyages and travels. To avoid all appearance of deception, the present author fully apprizes his pupils of the nature of the undertaking, and bids them observe that the several voyages or travels which he is about to detail are not real: but, in our judgment, he would have avoided the necessity of this caution, had his title been Travels on the Map, for then the voyage, as far as it is designated, is real; and, by first marking the point of departure on a map or chart previously spred on the table, and tracing the route to be taken with a pointed instrument, the eye of the student makes a real progress from station to station, while the preceptor details the information which is necessary to render the excursion instructive and amusing. Another circumstance requires attention in the compilation of these details, viz. not to put knowlege into the mouth of the imaginary juvenile traveller which he has no possibility of collecting. A young person, who really sailed from London to Dover, thence down the Channel, and actually landed in the island of Jersey, would perceive by his intercourse with the people of the latter place a mixed dialect, and might naturally ask his parent for an explanation: but the traveller at home has no opportunity of this kind, and therefore the speech assigned to Lucy, at p. 42, is out of character. Listen, papa, the people here speak French, I declare, with now and then some English words intermixed. How is that, if they are subject to us? Some kind of illusion is useful in this sort of travelling; and therefore it is not prudent on all occasions to interpose such hints as the following: nothing but improvement and pleasure, surely, can be experienced in Travels at Home. Voyages by the fire-side impose a little attention on those who make them. Danger is out of the question.' p. 63. In the commencement, such a hint is proper: but, when often repeated, which is the case in these volumes, the whole becomes tame and flat. These dampers may be expunged in a second edition; to which the work will probably arrive, since it is written in a pleasing style, and adds to much local information many pertinent and improving obser. vations and reflections.

The author speculates on the production of two more volumes, and we take it for granted that he will be encouraged to carry his purpose into execution: but, as he protests against vulgar expressions, we must request that he will not use the word tasty, p. 138., which may be found in the cook's vocabulary but not in Johnson; and that he will not make Eliza exclaim, at p. 43., Oh, I should like of all things!

A traveller at home, moreover, should not have represented the curious machinery, worked by a steam-engine, in Portsmouth dockyard, as performing the business of rope-making, (see Vol. ii. p.154.) because this machinery is employed in making blocks. Is not the author erroneous, also, when he represents Hannibal as crossing Mt. St. Gothard, on passing from Spain into Italy? (p. 188.) lius Nepos, Vit. Han, says that this commander passed the Alps which adjoin to Gaul; and Cellarius remarks that the Pennine Alps are those which Hercules and Hannibal are supposed to have crossed, Whitaker, also, in his modern work on the passage of Hannibal over these mountains, adopts the same opinion.

Corne

These

These travels, while they afford young persons some knowlege of other nations, are written so as to produce an attachment to their own country.

PHILOSOPHY.

Art. 19. Luhar Observations, denoting the Influence of the Moon on the Winds, by her Impulses on the Earth's Atmosphere, governed by her Configuration, Position, and other Changes; exemplifying the Cause of such Changes; with Demonstrations how to connect every Sign with the Results of its Indications: also a clearer Definition of the Terms Air and Atmosphere; explaining on what Principle of Nature the heavenly Orbs are kept in their Spheres. By Sol. Go. Da Costa. 8vo. 25. Underwood.

It has been perhaps from time immemorial a very commonly received opinion, that the frequent changes which are experienced in our atmosphere are in some measure influenced by the moon. Even astronomers and meteorologists have asserted that, had we but suffi. cient data, we might as accurately compute the courses of the wind as the time and duration of an eclipse: but few, we presume, were bold enough to conceive that such data were at all likely to be obtained; and indeed they might and would, in all probability, have still remained among the impenetrable secrets of Nature, had it not, as Mr. da Costa modestly expresses himself, pleased the Almighty to bestow upon him such intellectual powers, as to enable him to comprehend his wisdom and goodness,' and thus to obtain a clue to the direction of the winds. The author, indeed, seems fully aware of the importance of his discovery. So strong,' says he, is my persua sion that I have attained a step higher than any who have devoted their entire labours to the study of astronomy, that I feel impatient to communicate my discovery, and have therefore resolved on publishing it for the benefit of the human race, and with the hope that my country and posterity will render it that justice it is deserving of."

Such being the pretensions of the author, our readers will not be surprised to find that this little tract contains a learned disquisition on the "man in the moon," and his influence on the wind and weather. This man, it seems, is perpetually shifting his postures and positions, and frequently putting on the most unseemly shapes: from an unremitting attention to which, for four years, the author has drawn certain and infallible indications of the state of the winds from one change of the moon to another: - abating only a few days, which may still be variable, and which are attributable to certain ⚫ veins and currents on the smooth surface of the moon's circumference;' the hollows or cavities of the same being filled with a sort of celestial void' which the man in the moon is perpetually hurling on this sublunary globe in the form of wind and rain ; —and hence in course the obvious connection between his several positions, and the various changes in the wind and weather.

Nor is this all. We have some other equally ingenious theories, on the ebbing and flowing of the tides, the air and atmosphere, the elements of matter, &c. &c. Mr da Costa has even discovered that'

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fish

fish cannot graze in meadows, nor can beasts fly! The heavens, it seems, cannot be hermetically sealed in vacuo;' nor could the moon be retained in her orbit, without the pulsive force of rarity and density.' How justly, therefore, does the author say that a discovery of such imposing interest cannot fail to benefit the navigator, enrich the science of astronomy, and be useful to all mankind !!'

We have only farther to add that, whatever may be our opinion of the influence of the moon as affecting the wind and the weather, we can scarcely doubt her dominion over the author when he determined on the publication of the present performance.

RELIGIOUS.

Art. 20. The Energy of Talent, and the Reward of active Virtue and Benevolence. An Address delivered at the Interment of Joseph Dawson, Esq. of Royds-Hall, in the County of York, in the Protestant Dissenting Chapel, in Chapel-lane, Bradford, December 18. 1813. By the Rev. Thomas Jervis. 8vo. IS. Johnson and Co.

We have very rarely met with a more correct, animated, and impressive specimen of demonstrative eloquence than this address exhibits. It is one of the first duties of survivors to consecrate the grave of persons of pre-eminent moral and intellectual worth by an appropriate eulogy, such as that which Mr. Jervis delivered at the interment of Mr. Dawson. The meed of praise was his due; and who will aspire after virtue, præmia si tollas? The custom of eulogizing the illustrious,' says Mr. J., is agreeable to the practice of poets, orators, and moralists in the classic ages of Greece and Rome;' and that he had classic models in his recollection is evident from an excellent parody of the most celebrated passage in Cicero's Cato Major, with which he concludes. The character of Mr. Dawson is drawn with a masterly hand, and, for the traits of talent and virtue which it manifests, may be recommended as a moral study: but it is too much extended to be copied into our pages.

Art. 21. An Essay on the Authenticity of the New Testament; with an Account of the ancient Versions, and some of the principal Greek Manuscripts. By J. F. Gyles, Esq. A.M. 8vo. 4s. Boards. Hatchard.

In an age much prone to infidelity, defences of revelation can never be unseasonable, even though nothing new in point of argument be adduced in them. Mr. Gyles endeavours to place a few striking facts within a narrow compass, in order to accommodate himself to those who have not much time for books. His object, he says, is to compress in a few pages, in the compass of an hour's reading, some important arguments for the authenticity of the N. T., with as much general information on the subject as the limits of the plan would admit.'

To short accounts of the most approved versions and MSS. of the N.T., Mr. Gyles adds the testimonies of those antient enemies

*"O præclarum diem, cùm, ad illud divinum animorum concilium, catumque proficiscar, cumque ex hac turba et colluvione discedam!" &c.