might not have occurred to a writer whofe knowledge had been collected merely from books. We fay not this, however, as paffing an indifcriminate cenfure on his performance. It certainly has merit; but not of that kind which we expected. The verfification is elegant and harmonious, and the sentiments are fenfible and juft.

The eclogues are four in number: the title of the firft is Alexis: or, The Traveller, Scene, the Ruins of Alexandria. Of the fecond, Selima: or, The Fair Greek. Scene, a Seraglio in Arabia Felix. In this eclogue the Writer has made confiderable use of Lady M. W. Montague's defcription of the amusements of the Haram. The title of the third eclogue is Ramah: or, The Bramin. Scene, the Pagoda of Conjeveram. It opens with fome degree of fublimity.

High on the top of that religious fane,
Whofe fpires from far attract the zealot-train,
Pride of Gentoos! mid fuperftition's night
Which shines a beacon to the Pagan's fight,
A Bramin ftood-expos'd to ev'ry eye,
The roof his bed, his canopy the sky;
For three long days he here the clime defy'd,
Revenge his ftudy, and diftrefs his pride.
O'er woes impending runs his lab'ring mind,
And omens thicken in the coming wind!'.

"Ye Gods! protectors of the Indian race,
Now trembles not your empire to its base?
Say, on what fpet your altars fhall be found,
While mad Ambition walks his guilty round?
Lo! by the Ganges' confecrated flood

The facred Cow distains the earth with blood;
Selected form of purity divine!

Mute interceffor at your holy shrine!

I fee! I fee! the fated ruin fpread,

The ftream polluted at the fountain-head!
Religion changing thro' the land her vow;
The Mofque afpiring o'er the Pagod's brow:
But chief the holy temples of Tanjore

Defil'd, where Mahomet ne'er trod before!"

The remaining part of the eclogue is not so spirited or striking. Ramah, towards the conclufion, harangues more like an European politician than an Afiatic devotee. The laft eclogue is, The Escape: or, The Captives. Scene, the fuburbs of Tunis. Time, Midnight. If we were to give the preference to any of these pieces, it should be this. The characters are Sebastian and Perez, two Spanish captives.

Perez began. A virgin was his theme,
Bright as her orb, yet cold as Cynthia's beam!

O thou! to whom my youthful vows belong,
Strength of my fword; and goddess of my fong!
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Who oft my chivalry with fmiles haft paid,
And deign'd to grace the midnight ferenade:
Be thou propitious to this teeming hour,
Which gives a captive to thy boundless pow'r.
Love, more than freedom, tempts him o'er the wave,
To own his tyrant, and refume the flave:
To him all thoughts of liberty were vain,
Who, fcap'd from bondage, feeks a stronger chain !
Let Marcia then her Perez' claim approve,
His truth perfuade her, and his fuff'rings move.
And you, my rivals! who that claim difdain'd,
Scoff'd at my lot, and by my abfence reign'd;
Or in the lifts, or in your am'rous fuit,
For love and honour Perez will dispute.

In vain you poize the lance, or breathe the vow.
The fair-one twines the wreath for Perez' brow!"
Sebaftian then. Him fills a dearer name,
Soft as her light, and chafte as Dian's fame!

"And will to thee Sebaftian be reftor'd,
With fmiles be welcom'd, as with fighs deplor'd!
Will love o'erpay thee with a late embrace,
Wife of my choice! and guardian of my race!
See, if the thought diffolve me not to tears,
My manhood thake, and waken all my fears.
No babes, perhaps, may lifp a fire's return-
The mother's truft tranfmitted to an urn!
Or if fo hopelefs, fo fevere my fate,

Thofe children now may weep their orphan ftate!"

Had all the defcriptive parts of thefe Eclogues been equal to the concluding lines of this, the cenfure that was paft at the beginning of this article had been unneceffary.

He faid; and faw the object in his reach:
The friendly galley flrikes upon the beach.
Swift by the cord the Captives downward glide-
The bark drops filent with the ebbing tide.
Now, uncbferv'd, the lower fort they gain,
Now fhoot the narrow outlet to the main.

To crown their hopes the wind from Tunis blows!
They pass the Cape where ancient Carthage rose :
Onward their courfe with toil unceasing ply,
'Till Murcia's mountains faintly tinge the fky.
Touch'd at the fight they caft their cares behind,
While all their country rushes on their mind!

There is fomething in the fourth line,

The bark drops filent with the ebbing tidethat is uncommonly defcriptive.

We are rather difpofed to think, that where this Writer has failed, it has been owing more to that diffidence which young poets fometimes feel in going out of a beaten track, than to any want of poetical ability: and in this opinion, we are will

ing to hope our Readers will concur with us, especially when they have read, what is certainly a model of tenderness and elegance, his Dedication

To Mrs. IRWIN.

Lamp of my life! and fummit of my praife!
The bright reward of all my toilfome days!
After unnumber'd forms and perils brav'd,

The port in which my fhipwreck'd hopes were fav'd;
Who, when my youth had pleafure's round enjoy'd,
Came to my craving foul, and fill'd the void.
To thee, whofe feeling heart and judgment chafte,
Give thee of fancy's luxuries to tafte;

To thee I dedicate thefe rambling lays,
And hold thy fmiles beyond a monarch's bays!
See, on our blifs the nuptial year decline,
And fill the fun which lit it, feems to fhine!
Crown'd is our union with a smiling boy,
And thou fill courted like a virgin coy.
Ye fhades of lovers! witnefs what we feel-
To modern couples vain were the appeal!

Tho' human joys are ever on the wing,
Tho' fmall the icope of life's enchanted ring;
Tho' Time advances with a courfer's pace,
And ftill must rob thee of fome charm or grace;
No fights ungrateful can falute our eyes,
Who ufe no optics but what love fupplies!
Who but in this betray a partial fide,

Still each to each, the bridegroom and the bride!

C-t-t.

ART. VII. Political Conferences between feveral Great Men of the laft and prefent Century. With Notes by the Editor. 8vo. Cadell, 1780.

I s. 6d. HIS fenfible tract confifts of dialogues between men who once acted an important part, and fhone with diftinguifhed luftre on the political theatre of this country. In order to give the Reader, who has made a particular study of English hiftory, an idea of the fubjects to which the conferences relate, it is fufficient barely to mention the names of the persons introduced in them. The firft is between Lord Strafford and Mr. Pym; the fecond introduces Sir Harry Vane and Mr. Whitlock; the third, Oliver Cromwell and Waller the poet; the fourth, William Lenthal, Speaker of the Long Parliament, and Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon; the fifth, Lord Danby, Lord Devonshire and Lord Delamere; the fixth, Robert Earl of Oxford and Mathew Prior; the feventh, Sir Robert Walpole and Mr. Pelham. These great men are made, in the work before us, to fpeak like themfelves; their characters are described with equal impartiality and difcernment. As a fpecimen of the ftyle, which is easy and agreeable, we shall

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infert some obfervations put in the mouth of Sir Robert Walpole.

• England is a popular government, and the honour of the nation is to be gratified even in turning out a Minifter, when they are taught fo loudly to ask for it. It was foretold me by fome of my friends, before the last general election, that I should lofe, in the course of a few feffions, my ufual majorities. Even though my Mafter fhould be willing to ftipulate to prolong my political existence to the next Parliament, yet the malevolence of party would purfue me, and would overtake me, in the long run. I mean, by the appearance of a voluntary refignation, to prevent the difgrace of being turned out, in confequence of a rude addrefs to the Throne. The King's fervice must not be obstructed. I, who had the honour to make up a difference between the prefent King and his Father, will not be the cause of a breach between the Prince and my Royal Mafter. I have been permitted to take the lead in the affairs of Great Britain for twenty years. Let me fee who will have fuch good fortune, and stand his ground fo long, without incurring more of the public hatred or contempt. I was not kept down by the furious Sunderland. I have been able to keep out the cankered Bolingbroke from his feat in Parliament and the Council. He is now confulted as the oracle of the Party, and his tongue and pen are venomously employed against me. If I have loved power, I have not injured my country whilft in poffeffion of it. I have not offended against any known law of the land. I have lulled the nation into tranquillity, and enlarged its commerce. I flaved off the Merchant's war as long as I could. The oratory of Captain Jenkins, at our bar, bore down like a torrent all minifterial objections to hoftilities against Spain. When the nation was refolved, I gave into warlike measures, and I leave my antagonists to get out as well as they can. I hope, hereafter, when the popular madnefs has fubfided, that your moderation and capacity will raife you to the highest employments. If my recommendation at this juncture can have weight, it should be, to place Lord Wilmington, who is not confidered as a party man, at the head of the Treafury when I am withdrawn.'

Corruption is a frightful word; yet, under the lefs profligate one of influence, you will be obliged to practise it. There is no carrying on government without it. To expect to bring over to unanimity of opinion a whole Houfe of Commons, and to carry an important queftion by the dint of reafon alone, would be folly in the extreme. But if the influence of money should cease, I should dread as much as my friend Sherlock would do, to fee an independent House of Commons, as an independent King, or an independent Houfe of Lords. I have been called the Father of Corruption; but I have done no more than my predeceffors in my ftation have been obliged to do. When prerogative ended, influence in Parliament began, and became a neceffary engine of every Administration. I have converted many a bigotted Jacobite into a moderate man; and have really checked the forwardness of fome, who came into my meafures with fo much pliability, that it has made even a Walpole blush. I have found it neceffary to confalt the pulfe of many a wavering fenator; and I conclude, from my extenfive experience, that

almoft

almost every man has his price. Sir John Barnard wants popularity; and that is a reward no English Minister has to fpare. When 1 obferved any one blazing like a meteor into glaring obfervation, and likely to make a figure against me or my Master, I have thought him the Cæfar against whom Cato would have allowed me to bribe. Whatever may be laid to my charge, of profufion or inadvertency, I have not heard that a fingle Member, who has voted with me, has complained he has voted against his confcience. When the Revolu tion made the people lefs afraid of their fovereigns, the milter management of mer, through their paffions and their interests, and even their amusements, has taken place. The gratifications of the Court are become neceffary to win gentlemen to attend, even to make a House, and to act in their legislative capacities. I fhall carry with me the confolatory reflection, that I have kept within bounds the malignity of Whig and Tory; that I have faved the nation from the extravagance of war; that I have not rendered my fovereign unpopular; that I have countermined the views of the Pretender; and that I have, at the right time, formed an intention of giving up my places, like a good citizen, to prevent any poffible convulfion in the State. Confider me no longer as a Member of the Lower Houfe. I fhall be fafe, as a Lord, among the Lords. Argyle, Carteret, and Chesterfield know better than to become Tribunes of the People. Their ardour for a continental war will make Hanover more odious

than I have done, and themselves more ungracious. I wish they may not make its Elector fo at last.'

We are to confider that the Author is here fpeaking not his own, but Sir Robert's sentiments; and indeed there is no reafon to accuse this work of intentional partiality to any political party among us. The Author is evidently a man of fenfe and moderation, who has acquired fuch a degree of hiftorical knowledge as is commonly attended with a gentle fcepticism as to fpeculative principles of government. In fomé paffages, however, he speaks of the undue influence of the Crown with too little. indignation; and his perfect acquaintance, obtained by habitual familiarity, with the moft elaborate English hiftories, which are little better than apologies for the prerogative, has perhaps given a flight bias, unperceived by himself, to a few of his political tenets.

In the course of the work, the Author alludes to various interesting anecdotes fcattered in the writings of Clarendon, Whitlock, D'Ewes, and other careful collectors of fecret history; but as many of these are but little known, we wish, for the fake of the Reader, that he had been lefs fparing of his notes, whether illuftrations or authorities.