the excellence of his poem, but to a friendly desire of seeing it freed from every little blemish that may obscure its lustre, or deface its beauty. Those new-compounded words which the author has introduced into this poem, we consider as one of its faults. The occasional construction of such words, when well formed and selected, is not to be condemned, especially when they are more expressive than simple words could be, in the same situation. In the Latin, but especially in the Greek language, we find them used with great effect, and the Roman critic, as well as poet, whom we have before quoted, sanction their occasional use in these lines of his "Ars Poetica"---a work, which cannot be too highly recommended to the attention of all who make poetry a study, for the excellence of the rules it contains on the metrical art, and the beauty of the verses in which they are delivered: But in the poem of Night these compounds are far too numerous, and though sometimes expressive, frequently harsh and unmusical. We insert the following as examples: 66 dagger-tongued," ‚” “reed-roof'd," "storm-created," "blood-defiled," "horror freezed,” "storm-bleach'd," "hunger-bitten," "heart-palsied," "idea-swift," &c. A greater fault than this, in the structure of the language of this poem, is the occasional conversion of adjectives and substantives into verbs and adverbs, as in the following expressions: "His black lip paled with ire," "peaks that island gloomily" " queenly form," ‚” “startingly,” "momently,"--and the introduction of new and obsolete words, such as, of the first kind, "deathiness," "swart" (unless it be intended for swarth, and in that case it is obsolete)," glooming;" and of the latter kind," stalwart," which we imagine must be intended for stalworth. Another defect in Night is the repetition of the same images and expression. In a long poem, such as the Iliad, this liberty may perhaps be allowed, but it certainly ought not to be introduced in a short one: nor, though consecrated, in a manner, by Homer's example, do we think it proper to be imitated by a modern poet. In the first page of Night we meet with," As Valor's dying hour;" in the forty-third, "Like a dying Hero's dream" in p. 78. "The storm curtain'd night's darkness;" in p. 91." Seraphic tresses curtain'd his repose," in p. 36. "The curtain'd bed, of stillness." In other places we meet with, "Awe watching on Valor's brow," p. 82; "Valor weeping o'er the bed of dying friendship," p. 40; and the "faded form of Valor bending in tears,"p. 134. Amongst many beautiful comparisons which occur in this poem, we find some that are obscure and incongruous. The use of comparisons is to give the reader a clearer idea ofthe object compared, and to embellish or elevate the subject: but this is not done where the comparison is obscure, as in p. 11, where a young lady is compared to "Freedom, the dauntless and the mountain-born, Nor unlike Freedom's mountain-sister Health;" and, in p. 19, when in a melancholy mood, the same lady is compared to "Evening in her mildness, when the breeze Plays with her dusky hair." Of Freedom, Health, and Evening, which are themselves personifications, the first of a moral, the second of a natural quality, and the third of an appearance in nature, in their figurative forms, we have no distinct idea. They are indeed generally represented as females, but their height, shape, dress, colour, and all the qualities that constitute woman the poet leaves to the conception of the imagination. To compare auother female, then, to these imaginary and indistinct creations of the fancy, cannot give us a clearer idea of her charms it is, besides, comparing an object that really exists in nature to one that exists no where but in the mind of the poet. Of incougruous comparisons, we give the two following, as examples : "Her voice Sweet as the smile of angels." p. 12. "Soft as sleep they move." p. 93. There is no relation between a voice and a smile, so that the sweetness of the one can never resemble that of the other: and how can motion be compared to sleep, which is motionless? If it be answered that the point of comparison is not between the motion itself, but the softness of it and sleep, it still appears to us incongruous; for since sleep is a passive state of rest, we cannot conceive how it can with any propriety be compared to any quality, however light and airy, of motion, and which is an active state. The sentences are sometimes crowded with too many thoughts, and the mind of the reader is distracted with an unnecessary multiplication of images. This is a fault which the author seems to have acquired, perhaps insensibly, from the reading of Young, whose Night Thoughts afford innumerable examples of it. "Flowers planted by the reinless winds she trode Beneath her feet (so Time on Beauty treads," &c. p. 18. "Aye and the stars-they too shall from heaven Behold his fate and tremble." The last line but one reminds us of another defect, which this poem occasionally exhibits, the inelegant introduction of insignificant words at the commencement and conclusion of the verse: as p. 143. Aye, in crystalline horror bound, &c. The feather'd bee, dipp'd in the dew of morning-Aye, &c. p. 55. The homeward labourer stops and listens there. p. 13. Smote him in horror and in mercy there. p. 29. Such insignificant monosyllables as these weaken the lines, and are not necessary to point out the sense; indeed they sometimes render it confused, and we more than once found ourselves, after reading the above lines, eaquiring "where?" These adverbs of place, which are always pointing the reader's attention to some particular object or spot appear to us as useless and ridiculous as those old broken guide-posts, with whieh we sometimes meet in a strange and untravelled road, and from which we hope to make out our way: but, on approaching nearer them, find the direction entirely effaced, so that they give us no information at all, or it is in so broken and mutilated a state that it only serves to render us more uncertain and confused, as to the proper road we ought to take, than we were before we approached it. And fondly loitering in the valley yet. p. 15. In general, however, it is but justice to say we think the structure of the versification of Night good. The author sometimes breaks his verses with great felicity, and throws the emphatic word to the beginning of the line, where, terminating the sentence, it produces a powerful and striking pause: as in the following instance :-- Who, fearing evil, seeks the worst of ills, death? p. Panted for glory Wolfe. p. 84. 8. We have heard it objected to the versification that the sentences are too short: in this criticism we do not agree. They appear to us in general sufficiently long, and are certainly modulated with considerable art. Neglected and unmusical lines, however, sometimes occur, as What negligent elegance! what tearful smiles! p. 93. Negligent might here be exchanged with advantage for careless. -And dash p. 100. Into despair the confident hope of pride! The irregular song in which this last line occurs, appears to us in the worst taste of modern times: this observation, however, must be understood as applying merely to the structure of the verse for if the four irregular, unmusical, and as it were isolated lines, were extracted, the rest would be very passable. Irregularity of metre is the destruction of all good poetry-it brings the composition down to a level with prose, or, to speak more correctly, it places it somewhere between poetry and prose, and gives it the air of poetry run mad. Such composition may justly be considered as a monster in the world of imagination, the foul aud unnatural offspring of bad taste and licentious genius. Another great fault in the poem of Night is the too frequent personification of abstract qualities such as terror, destruction, famine, madness, horror, delay, &c. Personification is, uo doubt, that which gives life and animation to poetry, "bodies forth the form of things unknown," and "gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name." But the poet should be sparing in the use of this figure; for as the eye is distracted by a crowd of objects, the mind is confused by a multitude of images, and as a house is. thrown into confusion by too many inhabitants, so is a poem by too many figures: it then resembles a theatre, in which the stage is so crowded with actors that they have not sufficient room to move with dignity, grace, or ease. From the whole of these observations, it will appear that we think highly of the poetic genius displayed in the conception and management of " Night," though it cannot be denied that it has some great faults. These, however, appear to us to arise, not from the barrenness but luxuriance of a genius which does not require the spur so much as the rein. As the faults in this poem are the more evident, so the beauties must be considered greater from this circumstance,--that they are not attempted to be concealed or adorned under the covering of rhyme, which to many readers renders, every nonsense acceptable and of whom Pope says, In the bright muse tho' thousand charms conspire, Her voice is all these tuneful fools admire. Whatever is good in this poem is intrinsically so, and does not derive its beauty from adventitious ornament; and, in this respect, it is like the Venus de Medici," the statue that enchants the world," which, disdaining the artful embellishment of dress, stands forward in marked but modest beauty to the admiration of mankind. We have only to add in addition to these remarks, that we look forward with pleasure to the publication of the second part of Night, and hope the author will meet with suffici ent encouragemnt to complete his original design. Literary & Scientific Entelligence. German Literature.-The first number of The Annals of Literature has lately been published at Vienna. In its general appearance it very much resembles The Quare terly Review, and the similarity is likely to improve, as it comes out under the auspices of the Austrian Government, Prince Metternich being the open and avowed patron. Greek Literature. At Vienna, they have three Greek Newspapers. One of them is for political and general topics. The second is for literary subjects. The third, the most recently established, is also for literary subjects, but being conducted by an editor who understands English, it fornishes the Greeks with a regular account of our academical prizes, our improvements in science, and our celebrated institutions. On examining a series of these Gazettes, I found one entirely devoted to an abstract of the thirteenth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society.- Miss. Reg. Sept. Roman Antiquities.- A peasant of Courcelles (Cote d'Or, France,) labouring lately in a field on the back of Mont Afrique, discovered several tombs facing the east. They contained human bones; and the enamel of the teeth was very little altered. At a little distanee from the tombs they found two medals, the one consular, the other of the emperor Domitian, and a plate of copper, chased and plated, which appeared to have been a part of armour.The top of this mountain was long the cantonment of Roman legions; and there yet may be seen part of an entrenchment, known by the name of Cæsar's camp. There have been lately discovered at Auch, in the department of Gers, some vestiges of the ancient Roman towns, called Elesaberis and Cymbenis, which are mentioned in the Commentaries of Cæsar. There have recently been discovered at Soulosse, on the premises of M. Leucose, several shafts of columns, and some cap itals enriched with the leaves of the acanthus, and several long bricks, flat, and edged like those which cover the heat-conductors at Nasium. The pedestals of the columns, of which some were erect, and others overturned, were from 18 to 24 Inches in diameter, and rather more than three feet in height. The capitals for those columns were only 16 inches diameter. Agriculture. The West Indian plant, known by the name of the Caribbee-cabVOL. III. bage, (Arum colocassia L.) has lately been succesfully cultivated in the south of France. Itsr roots supply the place of the Potatoe in the Egyptian markets, aud in India and China its leaves form the principal food of the common people. The Caribbee-cabbage thrives best in damp places. It grows up in tufts between four and five feet in height, its leaves are two feet long, and about eighteen inches wide, Ancient Coins.-A man of the name of Fortune discovered, a little time ago, an earthen pot, full of ancient coins (value about £10.) in stocking up a hedge on the farm of Mr. Thomas Ward, of High Fields, near Stafford. The coins are mostly of the reigns of James and Elizabeth, and are in a high state of preservation. Shakspeare and Vandyck.-An English gentleman residing at Brussels, had the good fortune to rescue from oblivion, and to become possessed of an original picture of Vandyck, representing the interesting scene of our immortal SHAKESPEAREHamlet contemplating the Skull of Yorick.- The picture was accidentally discovered among the rubbish of a coachhouse at Brussels, but so completely cover. ed with dust and dirty varnish, that it was scarcely visible. It was pronounced by some of the Flemish connoisseurs to be a picture of some merit—but the story of a doctor or an apothecary examining a human skull was cousidered to be triste, and the picture was sold for a trifle. On its being carefully cleaned, it was found to be in perfect preservation--the colouring as fresh and brilliant as it came from the easels of the painter. It is a half length, the countenances of Hamlet full of expression, the bands touched with all the truth of nature, and with the exquisite delicacy of the pencil of Vandyck. This inestimable picture, which has excited much attention at Brussels, particularly among the amateurs, is now ascertained to have formerly bolonged to the Count Aylesbury, who married the Princess of Horne, and that it was originally painted for Charles the First by Vandyck, when he was in Engiand. 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