to commend him for his former attention to politics: at the fame time he affects to ridicule Dr. Franklin for his electrical dexterities, and to admire his prefent political purfuits. We will venture, notwithstanding, to fay, that neither of thefe ingenious Doctors were more innocently, ingenioufly, and, we believe, ufefully employed, than they were in their phyfical refearches from which the honour, with which their names will defcend to pofterity, will be derived; and not from their political productions or party pursuits.

W.

Sir Martyn, a Poem, in the Manner of Spenfer. By William Julius Mickle. 4to. 2s. 6d. Flexney.

This Poem was first published in the year 1767, and has gone through feveral editions under the title of the CONCUBINE;' a title, which the author here fufpects to have conveyed at very improper idea both of the fubject and fpirit of the Poem. For our part, however, we think it conveyed full as proper an idea of the fubject, viz. the inconveniences and ill effects of the libertine ftate of Concubinage, as the title it now bears; unless there be fome covert meaning, we do not understand, in the name of Sir Martyn; on the advantage of which the author congratulates himself.-But the title is of little importance: the work itfelf, which is of fingular merit, is of much more. The Reviewers of the month, indeed, found fome fault with the compofition, on its firft appearance; which appears to have induced Mr. Mickle to add a prefatory addrefs to the prefent edition, by way of explaining the defign of the piece, to which the faid Reviewers, it feems, did not fufficiently attend. Be this as it may, we ourselves cannot speak of. the piece in more candid and critical terms than does the author himself.

4k is an established maxim in criticism, That an interesting moral is effential to a good poem. The character of the Man of Fortune is of the utmost importance both in the political and moral world; to throw, therefore, a just ridicule, on the pursuits and pleasures which often prove fatal to the important virtues of the Gentleman, muft afford an interesting moral, but it is the management of the Writer which alone mutt render it ftriking. Yet, however he may have failed in attaining this, the Author may decently affert, that to paint talfe pleafure as it is, ridiculous and contemptible, alike deftructive to virtue and to happiness, was, at least, the purpofe of his Poem.

This, at least, might have been fufpected, if, instead of giving his poem the name of its hero, the author had named it atter the heroine; criftened her Betty, and let her taken the name of her matter. Rev.

G 2

" It

"It is alfo an established maxim in criticifm, That the fubject of poem fhould be One; that every part fhould contribute to the completion of One defign, which, properly purfued, will naturally diffufe itfelf into a regular Beginning, Middle, and End. Yet, in attaining this Unity of the Whole, the neceffary Regularity must still be poeti. cal, for the spirit of poetry cannot exist under the fhackles of logical or mathematical arrangement. Or, to ufe the words of a very eminent Critic, "As there muft needs be a connexion, fo that connexion will

best answer its end, and the purpose of the writer, which, whilst it "leads by a fure train of thinking to the conclufion in view, conceals "itfelf all the while, and leaves to the Reader the fatisfaction of fupplying the intermediate links, and joining together, in his own mind, what is left in a feeming pofture of neglect and inconnec

❝tion."

If therefore the delineation of the character of the Man of Birth, who, with every advantage of natural abilities and amiable difpofition, is at once loft to the Public and Himfelf; if this character has its beginning, middle, and end, the Poem has all the unity that propriety requires: how far fuch unity is attained, may perhaps be feen at one view in the following Argument.

"After an invocation to the Genius of Spenfer, and propofition of the fubject, the Knight's first attachment to his Concubine, his levity, love of pleafure, and diffipation, with the influence over him which on this fhe afjumes, are parts which und ubtedly conftitute a juft Beginning.

"The effects of this influence, exemplified in the different parts of a gen tleman's relative character,—in bis domeftic elegance of park, gardens, and boufe-in his unhappiness as a lover," a parent, and a nian of letters-bebawiour as a maßer to bis tenents, as a friend, and a brother—and in bis feelings in his hours of retirement as a man of birth, and a patriot, naturally complete the Middle, to which an allegorical catastrophe furnifbes the proper and regular End.

"Some realons, perhaps, may be expected for having adopted the manner of Spenter. To propofe a general ufe of it were indeed highly abfurd; yet it may be prefumed there are fomne fubjects on which it may be used with advantage. But not to enter upon any formal defence, the Author will only fay, That the fulness and wantonnefs of defcription, the quaint fimplicity, and above all, the ludicrous, of which the antique phrafeology and manner of Spenfer are fo happily and peculiarly fufceptible, inclined him to esteem it not folely as the beit, but the only mode of compofition adapted to his fubject."

As a fpecimen of the poem itfelf, we fhall give our readers the defcription of the Cave of Difcontent; of which an elegant defign by Taylor, engraved by Grignion, ornaments the te-page of the prefent edition.

"..Deep in the wyldes of Faeric Lond it lay;

Wide was the mouth, the roofe all rudely rent;
Some parts receive, and fome exclude the Day,
For deept beneath the hill its caverns went:
The ragged walls with lightning feemd ybrent,'
And loathlie vermin ever crept the flote:

Yet

Yet all in fight, with towres and castles gent,
A beauteous lawnfkepe rofe afore the dore,
The which to view fo fayre the Captives grieved fore.

All by the gate, beneath a pine shade bare,

An owl-frequented bowre, fome tents were fpred; Here fat a Throng, with eager furious stare

Rattling the dice; and there, with eyes halfe dead, Same drow fie Dronkards, looking black and red, Dozd out their days: and by the path-way green

A fprightlie Troupe still onward heedleffe fped, In chace of butterflies alert and keen;

Honours, and Wealth, and Powre, their butterflies I ween.

And oft, difguftfull of their various cares,

Into the Cave they wend with fullen pace;

Each to his meet apartment derrly fares:

Here, all in raggs, in piteous plight most bace,
The Dronkard litts; there, fhent with foul difgrace,
The thriftlefle Heir; and o'er his reeking blade
Red with his Friends heart gore, in woefull cace
The Duellist raves; and there, on vetchie bed,
Crazd with his vaine purfuits, the Maniack bends his head.

Yet round his gloomy cell, with chalk he fcrawls
Ships, coaches, crownes, and eke the gallow tree;
All that he wifhd or feard his ghaftlie walls

Present him still, and mock his miferie.

And there, felf-doomd, his curied felie to flee,
The Gamefter hangs in corner murk and dread;
Nigh to the ground bends his ungratious knee;
His drooping armes and white-reclining head
Dim feen, cold Horror gleams athwart thunhallowed shade.
Near the dreare gate, beneath the rifted rock,
The Keeper of the Cave all haggard fatt,

His pining corfe a reflefle ague hook,
And blistering fores did all his carkas frett:
All with himselfe he feemd in keen debate;
For ftill the mufcles of his mouthe he drew

Ghastly and fell; and ftill with deepe regrate
He lookd him round, as if his heart did rew
His former deeds, and mournd full fore his fores to view.
Yet not Himfelfe, but Heavens Great King he blamd,
And dard his wifdom and his will arraign;

For boldly he the ways of God blafphemd,
And of blind governaunce did loudly plain,
While vild Selte-pity would his eyes diftain;
As when an Wolfe, entrapt in village ground,
In dread of death ygnaws his limb in twain,
And views with fcalding teares his bleeding wound :
Such fierce Selfe-pity ftill this Wights dire portaunce crownd.

Near

Near by there food an hamlett in the dale,

Where, in the filver age, CONTENT did wonne;
This now was His: yet ali mote nought avail,
His loathing eyes that place did ever shun;
But ever through his Neighbours lawns would run,
Where every goodlie fielde thrice goodlie feemd.
Such was this weary Wight all woe-begone;
Such was his life; and thus of things he deemd;
And fuchlike was his Cave, that all with forrowes teemd."

We cannot own ourselves fond of imitations of Spenfer; and yet, in the particular cafe before us, we think Mr. Mickle's reafons for adopting fuch imitation fully fufficient. We would, nevertheless, caution poets of inferior talents how they follow lis example.

W.

Travels through Spain and Portugal, in 1774; with a short Account of the Spanish Expedition against Algiers, in 1775: By Major William Dalrymple. 4to. 7s. 6d. Almon.

There is fomething fo pleafing in the relations of voyagers and travellers, that we do not wonder at the fuccefs of publications of this nature; even when they contain nothing new but the manner of relating them. We do not mean the relations of your literary voyagers, whofe itineraries are fabricated by fire fide-travellers at home, who manufacture deferiptions of places they never vifited, converfe with people they never faw, and invent incidents and accidents that never happened, but in their own imagination. Major Dalrymple's travels have, be de their authenticity to recommend them, the advantage of relating a tour, feldom taken by English travellers. A Chart of his route is prefixed to the work, by which it appears that he fet out from Gibraltar, paffing through Ronda, Offuna, Cordova, and Anduyer, to Madrid: from whence, he travelled to Corunna and Ferrol, paffing through Avila, Salamanca, Zamora, Aftorga, and Iugo. From Corunna, he returned to Gibraltar through Portugal, by the way of Oporto and Lisbon, re entering Spain at Bajados, and paffing thence through Seville and Cadiz, to the place from which he fet out. Of the incidents, that befell our traveller in this tour, there are few worth relating, as the reader may conclude from his thinking proper to record the following, which happened to him at Temblequer.

6. Here

"Here the pofada was bad; but it afforded us an adventure, very fimilar in its nature, to that of Don Quixote and Maritornes; our fair-one was not quite fo ugly as Cervantes's; but he was fully as amorously inclined. We got a quarter with a recefs, wherein two beds were placed; as it was extremely hot, and the recess stunk of all kinds of bad finells, I drew the mattrafs off the platform, and placed it in the middle of the floor; now it happened that our quarter was a paflage room, at one end of which was a little apartment, taken up by a Calazero, going with an empty chaite to Toledo; he retired early to reit, and we were not long after him: at what hour the devil disturbed the repofe of the Calazero, I cannot determine; but in the midst of a molt profound fleep, I was awaked, and almost crushed to death, by an amazing weight falling acrofs me; fo foon as I could fpeak, I roared out luftily, for an initant, when I was relieved from my burthen, and faluted by a hollow and deep-toned voice, with Perdon U. M. Cavallero, which was repeated feveral times; I was too much flurried to think of Spanith execrations; but I curfed moit heartily in English-at lait, recollecting myfelf, I afked, Que qu'ere U. M.? Nada, replied the voice, Voi a mi quarto Señor. Va U. M. al Demonio, fays I, and then turned myfel to fleep; when was again difturbed by a naked foot, which gave me a flap in the face: Quien es, fays I, loudly; a female voice replied, Hu-fh-- I then, in a lower, and more gentle tone, afked, Quiere V. M. algo? at the fame time putting my hand out of bed, to feel whether it were a substance or a fhade, that had accosted me; I perceived a glimmering light coming towards me, held out by the witch of Endor, in a yellow petticoat. The girl was fairly caught, and all the powers of eloquence could not prove the contrary. The picture was a good one: the old beldam, with a thin, fhrivelled, yellow countenance, and clamorous voice, expofing, by the dim light of a halt extinguished lamp, Maritorne's charms, which were concealed by the fhift only; with fuch a shift, and fuch charms! the matter fitting up in bed, endeavouring to vindicate his conduct; and the fervant, awaked out of his fleep, with a blue handkerchief tied about his head, in amazement at the icene. It being now three o'clock, it was in vain to rest again, fo we fed our cattle, the Calazero his mules, and at four we fet out; the latter foiled in his intrigue, of which I had only the reputation. Thus, we left the poor disappointed girl to be feverely lectured by the jealous Jezabel her mittrets, who was fo old, that the had quite torgot the time when the ufed to play the fame pranks. Sport on, ye amorous Caftilians; nor ler the ill-judged caution of a gloomy Englishman deprive you of thole tranfports he cannot enjoy."

Of the King and Court of Madrid our traveller gives the following defcription.

"I was feveral times at court, during its refidence here: all the royal family dine publicly in feparate rooms; and it is the etiquette to

• Pofada or Inn. By this being faid to be fimply bad, it must have been comparatively tolerable; our traveller's confiant complaint being against the badnefs of the Inns: his encountering of which he was fo fingularly unlucky as to meet feveral times with the worft in the world.

vifit