These scanty garbs thrown by? And when, at length,
Their budding beauties, blooming cheeks, their limbs
Of graceful mould, and all their mental gifts

Are constellated in mature display ;

Then, does not Hope behold them act their parts

On lite's conspicuous stage with well-earned praise A
Good without boasting; prosperous without pride;"

And greatly happy close the arduous scene,

Where all that's mortal finds its destined goal?" P. 15.

The other poems, viz. ' an Ode to the Genius of the Lakes,' and < Stanzas on the Death of Dr. Johnson,' possess little merit.

ART. 23.-Christ's Lamentation over Jerusalem. A Seatonian Prize Poem. By Charles Peers, Esq. A. M. and F. S. A. 4to. 1s. 6d. Hatchard. 1805.

THIS exercise, upon the whole, is far from being discreditable to the author. If it display none of the high and original powers of genius, it exhibits at least a considerable degree of taste, à mind stored with some of the fairest images of sacred poetry, an ear tolerably well attuned to epic harmony, and a style of diction at times strongly tinctured with Miltonic energy and loftiness. We shal transcribe as a specimen the following lines,

'Thou hast felt in turn

The scourge of the destroyer! where are now
Thine ivory palaces and golden gates,

Thine olive groves, and marble fountains? where
Thine elder temple, that great archetype

Of wondrous masonry; her hangings rich
In gorgeous colours dipped, and cedar beams
Hewn upon Libanus, o'erlaid with gold
Of Ophir, dazzling each beholder's eye?
Where now her minstrels? Where the virgin train
That in full, chorus chaunting hailed the dawn
Of peaceful sabbath or glad Jubilee ?

No sound is heard her vaulted roof beneath,
Save of unhallowed traffic-the loud din
Of tumult-shouts of blasphemy and wrong,
Bursting discordant from the house of prayer.
The voice of melody hath ceased; no more
Or harp or tabret cheer thy festal pomps:
No more the smoke of grateful incense, flung
From golden censers, fill the courts of heaven:
No more in midnight vision, to the sense
Of priest or prophet come the Sons of God
To speak his bidding clothed in sable stole,
The garb of woe, her joyless elders sit;
And Sion's virgin daughters; they erewhile

So portly, they in costliest robes arrayed
Of Tyrian purple, and with braided hair
Dropping sweet odours, who for pride disdained
The ground they trod, weep silent and forlorn."

ART. 24.-Maurice, the Rustic, and other Poems, by Henry Suma mersett. 12mo. pp. 110.

Longman.

1805.

MR. H. Summersett is one of those many uneducated poets who have been induced to publish their literary efforts by contemplating the success of Chatterton and of Burns. He does not seem to consider, that these prodigies of genius did not meet with admiration merely because they were uneducated men, but on account of those productions which are exquisitely beautiful in themselves, which would have been admired as the works of any man under any circumstances of life, habits, and education, and which are viewed with increased wonder and astonishment from a consideration of the peculiar disadvantages through which they struggled into birth. The intrinsic merit of their poetry brought these poets into notice; but if the authors had never been known, their verses would have been admired; as we gaze with rapture on the beauties of the canvass, though the name of the painter is uncertain or unknown." Mr. Summersett comes forward at the bar of the tribunal of public taste, and as he does not use vain boasting, nor challenge admiration with that air of self-sufficiency, which too often accompanies men in his situation, he disposes us to listen to his claims with temper, and with a disposition to favour his pretensions. He informs us in his preface, that the 'golden advantages of science were not within the reach of his attainment, and that many times and with painful mortification he has exclaimed-Had I been less ignorant, I must have been more happy.'

'I have written in haste; often in anxiety and adversity: I am still too proud to aim at exciting compassion by this declaration; but it will perhaps serve as an excuse for some of my many imperfections." At such an address criticism is disarmed; her arrows fall from her hand, and her eye, which glittered with eagerness to aim, is suffused with tears. Such language seems rather to intreat the advice of friendship, than to defy the scrutiny of criticism, and we shall therefore endeavour to answer the question, which our author acknowledges to have confused and alarmed him: via. Ought an obscure uneducated man to commence author? An uneducated man cannot form an accurate idea of the merits or defects of his own works. He may exhibit proofs of genius which will be more than counterbalanced by ridiculous erro or gross ignorance; it is therefore his duty to refer to some learned friend for advice, whose pruning band may remove deformities, which might deface and spoil every excellence. If this friend should advise him to venture before the public eye, it behoves him to reflect on what he aims to attain : he aims at the reward of genius, which is, in general, empty praise. He hopes to meet with some who do not despise the efforts of uncul

:

tivated nature, and whose frowns blast not the bud of genius. Ho may be so fortunate as to find readers of this description, and if he is contented with the smile of their approbation, it is well but if he publishes his literary essays under the fond expectation of lasting fame, and pecuniary profit, he will find himself miserably mistaken, A poem of moderate merit may be cursorily read once, but it is never read a second time; and the pecuniary reward ceases with the subscription to the first copy. If Mr. S, is a mechanic, we advise him not to neglect his tools for his pen: he has certainly given a specimen of talents, which, under more fortunate circumstances, might have rendered him an ornamental figure in a bookseller's shop, which, in his present state, will procure him respect and consideration: among his friends, and, as we should hope, will be great sources of pure pleasure to him in the intervals which can be spared from the important duty of earning his bread.

NOVELS.

ART. 25.-The Pilgrim of the Cross, or the Chronicles of Christa belle de Mowbray, an ancient Legend, in four Volumes. By Elizabeth Helme. Small 8vo. Longman. 1805.

THIS novel is full of incidents, which amused our attention through a pilgrimage of four volumes. The events are fixed in the romantic period of the Crusades, and the whole work may very properly be recommended to be taken in its turn by those who go through a regular course of novel-reading. Its inscription, by permission, to the Princess Sophia of Gloucester, is a sufficient indication that the principles which it contains are recommendatory of virtue.

ART. 26.--Leonora; by Miss Edgworth. Sco. 2 Vols, Johnson.

1806.

THE professors of modern philosophy have been already hunted) down by moral writers with such vigour that we trust very few of the race remain; but while a single animal of this description exists, the efforts towards a complete extermination must not be relaxed-there is now less glory in the enterprize, but the attempt is in itself always meritorious.

This novel is written in a series of letters. Leonora is a virtuous woman, and attributing the reports which she hears of Olivia's conduct to the mischievous spirit of scandal and to the malignity of envy, invites her to her house as an asylum from the persecutions of the malicious. Olivia is a professor of the modern philosophy, and has no other conceptions of the rules of right and wrong, man of rules for the game of whist, which may be very useful in the game of life, but which may be broken through or complied with in any particular emergency. She comes ripe from France, a determined fos to all those restraints which confine tide-less blooded females, within

the pale of virtue and decorum, and, as might naturally be expected, she shews her gratitude to Leonora by seducing the affections of her husband. Leonora's mother, the Duchess of, is fully aware of Olivia's character, and warns her daughter of the danger of introducing such a guest, such a 'she-wolf of France,' into her domestic circle, in a strain so replete with discrimination and good sense, that, if it were not too long for our purpose, we could with pleasure quote her whole first letter to her daughter."

Olivia's character is pourtrayed with a strong pencil, and the whole novel is written with great spirit. The sixth letter is an excellent specimen of moral reasoning.

MEDICINE.

ART. 27-An Essay on the Entropeon, or Inversion of the Eyelids. By Philip Crampton, M. D. Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, &c. 8vo. Carpenter. 1805.

DR. Crampton's object in this well written pamphlet, is, to shew that the notion of the nature of the disease, and the operation deduced from it, which have been handed down almost unaltered from the days of Hippocrates, are erroneous; and to recommend an operation founded upon a more accurate view of the complaint, which has been attended, according to his own experience, with more certain and more permanent success. The common opinion of the cause of this inversion, namely, that it depends upon a relaxation of -the external tegument of the eyelid, he controverts very satisfacto rily.

A mere inspection of the eyelid, he observes, must convince us that an elongation of its external skin would never produce the disease. The numerous folds which we perceive in the eyelids of old and relaxed persons, demonstrate that the external integument gives no support to the tarsus; consequently the inversion of the one can never be produced by the relaxation of the other.' p. 35. The cure, however, is usually attempted upon this notion, by removing part of the external skin by various methods. This produces, Dr. C. affirms, only a temporary relief.

After giving a clear and accurate description of the eyelid and its appendages, he concludes, that a contraction of the internal mem➡ brane of the eyelid, and not an elongation of the external integu ment, is the immediate cause of the entropeon.' The object, then, of an operation which may permanently relieve this distressing disorder, is to divide the conjunctiva, lining the eyelid, especially near the external and internal canthus of the eye, and afterwards to retain the parts in their natural position, till, by recovering their original healthy state, they are enabled to perform their functions. The latter part of the operation is effected by an instrument which, with some trifling alterations in its shape, differs very little from the elevator of Pellier. The minute steps of the operation with the knife, are clearly detailed in the cases which are subjoined, to which

we must refer the practical reader, who may be disposed to adopt the method of cure which the author recommends. It appears to be founded on rational principles, and he avers that it is generally followed by success.

MISCELLANEOUS.

ART. 28.-Prospectus of a Work entitled, a philosophical and experi mental Inquiry into the Laws of Resistance of non-elastic Fluids and Cohesion of fibrous Fluids, as far as either is connected with the Theory or Practice of naval Architecture; &c. &c. By A. Maconochie, Esq. 4to. Egerton. 1805.

ALTHOUGH no country is more indebted to navigation than our own, yet there is by no means that attention paid to the construction of vessels which their importance demands. Various circumstances have contributed to so strange a phænomenon, and they are such as probably to counteract every attempt at a remedy. - Naval architecture has been left very much to itself, and, as this author properly observes, a single individual, a bookseller, has done. more for its improvement, than the legislature, and all the incorporated societies for the encouragement of the arts and sciences together.

It will be a curious circumstance, if India should contribute more to this science than Europe: yet the work before us, written by a gentleman of Baypoor, near Calicut, Malabar, holds out encouragement which we little expected from such a quarter. His intended work will, we hope, meet with the protection of the East India company from the prospectus we augur most favourably of the future benefits to be derived from it. His employment in the forests of India has afforded him every opportunity of acquiring an ex tensive knowledge of the materials of shipb uilding, and his experiiments are numerous and judicious. He proposes to give his work in two volumes, quarto, in three parts, the first containing a view of the present state of oak timber in England, the causes of its scarcity, with the prospects of a future supply; the second, a view of the timber trade of India, with a plan for its improvement; the third, a view of the present state of naval architecture in India, shewing in general the vast resources in naval staples, contained within the British dominions in that country. To assist him in this undertak ing he calls upon men of knowledge and experience, and points out in this prospectus to what points he wishes their attention to be chiefly directed.

The resistance of fluids is doubtless an object of the first importance. To ascertain it, a variety of experiments is proposed on surfaces, moving in various directions with various velocities. These experiments will throw light on the motion of vessels in water: an inquiry into the laws of cohesion of fibrous solids will assist us in the framing of our vessels. Here the author has very successfully brought chemistry to his aid, and in the investigation of the pyroligneous