the mind, and investigating the delicate principles of the plea sure we derive from objects grand, new, or beautiful, presents a sweet and soothing image to the mind. Nor is the contemplation of the principles of taste and genius less agreeable, when poetry, taking her turn again, throws aside the dry abstract treatise, and serves them up in the form of a didactic poem, seasoned with episodes, and garnished with the flowers of fancy. Witness the didactic works on poetry, of Horace, Vida, and Boileau; Pope's Art of Criticism;' Akenside's 'Pleasures of the Imagination;' with divers other works of the same kind that might be mentioned. At the rear of this mighty phalanx follows the author of 'the Powers of Genius,' and (we will venture to add) not without symptoms of having imbibed a considerable portion of those powers which he describes, though not unblemished by marks of (what indeed the author professes) the haste, eagerness, and rashness of youth.' Mr. Linn will doubtless be surprised at finding himself ranked so high: we have made great allowances, greater perhaps than are strictly permissible to critics, for his youth; such is our wish to give encouragement to rising genius. But he must not presume upon our forbearance; there is room for much amendment, which we shall expect to find if ever he comes before us again, and without which he will not meet that indulgence which we now feel disposed to shew him. Prefixed to the poem is a short preface, containing a few trite remarks on the qualifications necessary to the didactic poet, a list of those few who have shone principally in this line of poetry, and a closing petition- May I hope to be heard?' To the text of the poem are subjoined pretty copious notes, to explain passages which may be doubtful, and to support general assertions which may require some confirmation.' At the end is a long note on the subject of American literature, which the author, who is himself a native of that country, treats with a partial, but amiable zeal. I shall not attempt' (says he) to conceal the enthusiasm which I feel for meritorious performances of native Americans; nor can I repress my indignation at the unjust manner in which they are treated by the reviewers of England. America, notwithstanding their aspersions, has attained an eminence in literature, which is, at least, respectable. Like Hercules in his cradle, she has manifested a gigantic grasp, and discovered that she will be great.' This he proceeds to elucidate, or rather asserts in general terms, in respect to politics, law, mathematics, ethics, divinity, history, and poetry. • Beneath our skies, fancy neither sickens nor dics. The fire of poetry is kindled by our storms. Amid our plains, on the banks of our waters, and on our mountains, dwells the spirit of inventive enthusiasm. These regions were not formed only to echo to the voice of Europe; but from them shall yet sound a lyre which shall be the admiration of the world.' We sincerely hope that this gentleman's auguries may be realized, and, when they are, we promise (for ourselves at least) that our trans-Atlantic brethren shall not be treated in an unjust manner. Tros Tyriusve mihi nullo discrimina agetur.' After the above note follows an appendix, occupying thirtyseven pages, and containing quotations from Isaiah, the book of Job, the Psalms, the song of Moses in Exodus, Milton's Paradise Lost and Regained, Pope's Homer, Shakspeare, Ossian, Sotheby's Wieland's Oberon, and from the prose works of Milton, Barrow, Gray, Johnson, Young, Bossuet, Sherlock, and Massillon, as illustrations of genius, which according to Mr. Linn can be made known only by its effects. We do not conceive that much benefit accrues to literature from these vague and indefinite praises bestowed upon select passages of celebrated authors. Addison brought this mode of criticism into vogue by his commendations of the Paradise Lost, and an admirable effect they had by directing the public taste to a sense of the beauties of that poem. But times are altered; a taste for composition has since then pervaded all ranks of either sex; the stream of science, if it has not deepened its channel, has expanded its surface; and the question in which we feel an interest, is transferred from feeling to art. It is no longer asked, what is commendable in a composition, but why it is so. The style of Mr. Linn's prose is by no means happy. It abounds too much in the vibrantes sententiolæ, et melliti verborum globuli.' A series of short pointed asseverations soon tire the ear, and require the matter of a Seneca or a Montesquieu not to disgust by their dogmatical air. But who can bear to be told by a modern in this ipse dixit strain, how in his estimation Shakspeare had some powers of invention, Milton learning, and Burns sensibility? This method of apportioning praise in notes is becoming vastly fashionable, and deserves reprehension. We would recommend it to these soidisant critics, to weigh well the following words of Longinus: Ἡ τῶν λόγων κρίσις πολλῆς ἐστι πείρας τελευταῖον ἐπιγέννημα. This author is frequently guilty of that violation of English idiom, so common in the north of England, which consists in using will with a pronoun of the first person to express a future event independent on volition. This error occurs in the following pages: ix, 7, 14, 19, 121. In one passage we have shall for will, an extraordinary inadvertency from the pen of an American: The author shall not supplicate the candour or indulgence of any individual, &c.' page xv. And, now that we are on the subject of grammar, we will just notice that underwent is used for undergone, page 60 note; that either is applied in the sense of any one, page for; and that where are ye fled, &c.' should strictly be whither are ye fled,' page 144. Hitherto our remarks have been chiefly verbal and confined to the preface, design, notes, and appendix. In the poem itself we have to complain first that Genius is made a female by Mr. Linn: 'Genius we know by her impetuous force.' This line, which is the third from the beginning of the poem, we quote in preference to many others, because the very attribute, assigned to Genius in it, should have suggested to the writer the impropriety of making it of the softer sex. impetuous force evidently one of the propria quæ maribus?' Is not The poem itself seems not to have been written with any fixed or systematic plan. The subjects touched upon follow one another without any other order apparently than that of casual suggestion in the writer's mind. He does not meddle in any degree with the metaphysical part of his subject, nor does he propose or defend any particular theory. Indeed his subject is chiefly of use to him as a vehicle for his remarks on the appropriate excellences of different writers, particularly poets; and it must be acknowledged that he gives us their characteristic traits with a bold and spirited pencil. Still, whatever be the end of poetry in its other branches, that of didactic poetry is clearly and avowedly to instruct. Mr. Linn tells us as much in his preface. But we would ask him, what does his poem teach us? That Homer and Virgil wrote well? we answer that we knew this before. That literature passed from Greece to Rome? we knew it before. Surely from a poem entitled 'the Powers of Genius,' it is not unreasonable to look for some luminous and definite observations on the progress and culture of those powers, some fixed points of view from which we may contemplate them, and some precepts for their improvement. But genius, it seems, is indefinable and indeterminate. The only rule is, 'catch where you can ;' and all else is-fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cleanthum.' But it is time to lay before the reader an extract from the We select the lamentation of the outcast Genius: poem. As late I roam'd the Hudson's banks along, Long years have flown since I, a careless boy, May no one come to shed the thrilling tear, A Farewell cold world, farewell thou pallid bear, Give peace and comfort which ye never gave. And in thy mansions, father, let me live.' P. 70. Perhaps the third line of the above extract would be more correctly expressed thus: What time the moon ascending threw her beam.' The moon ascends, but her beam upon the water descends. This reminds us of a line in the character of madame Genlis, page 44, which is in other respects well-drawn: Rove by the glimpses of pale Luna's beam.' We recommend it to poets possessed of such powers of poetical diction as Mr. Linn, to leave Sol and Luna to enlighten the enigmatists of the Lady's Diary, and to content themselves with the humble appellations of sun and moon. Solemque. suum, sua sidera norint.' 6 At the conclusion of the poem there is a strange confusion of the Genius of Columbia with the mental power personified. After saying The Genius of our seat he concludes with this couplet: Thus Genius spoke-express'd a parent's prayer; Surely this is an error of the press for 'The Genius spoke,' &c. Upon the whole, we look upon the Powers of Genius as a poem possessed of no ordinary merit. It is far from perfect; but it is raised far above the sing-song nothings of the present day, and we hope will prove the earnest of greater things. Let the author fix his eye stedfastly on those great models whom he praises so well. Let him despise such epithets as museful, and other similar ones. Let him in short beware of being enticed by the charms of quaintness under the garb of novelty. He already possesses a brilliant fancy and a rich flow of metaphor. His language is graceful and nervous, and, with a few exceptions, correct. The cadence of his verse discovers an ear that can feel the effect of varied and appropriate harmony. The following four verses on Ariosto will Lestify this: |