Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

And though, in sooth, most men betray this flaw,
Yet haply have we all met one, or two,

Who would not care an ill-flesh'd bone to gnaw,
Could they for neighbour deed of service do-
Nor worse nor better were the friends Amyntor knew!

"Friendship's a name-the world is false and cold-
All live for self! for other people none !

"Tis not more chilling to my touch, to hold
Dull lead, or ice ne'er shone on by the sun,

Than shake man's hand-whose heart can ne'er be won!
Smooth are the words well met! how are you?-speak !'
And smoother still, my friend! my love! my son!'-

[ocr errors]

'Tis cant-'tis nonsense-to deceive the weak!

For human friendship's bought-for hour, day, month, or week."

This extract will shew, that the author is a young, and not a very skilful poet, who has injudiciously chosen per haps the most difficult measure in the language. In reading the piece, we found several affectations of familiarity, which now and then degenerated into vulgarisms: thus mayhap is used for perhaps, &c. Of all stanzas, the one here chosen will least admit of such attempts.

ART. 15-Melancholy Hours; a Collection of Miscella neous Poems. London, John Richardson, 1816. 12mo. Pp. 186.

In this collection there are many neat, well-turned poems, and they are submitted to the public in a very unpresuming manner. Whoever be the author or authors, (for we apprehend they are not all written by one individual,) it may be fairly said, that a very pretty taste runs through the greater part of the volume. The pieces are very varied in their subjects and in their forms; and among the best, we may notice the lines upon observing a marriage in the newspapers, and to a person who disliked poetry. We could have forgiven the author if he had not been so warm an admirer of the publications of Lord Byron.

POLITE ARTS.

ART. 16.-Companion to the Ball- Room; containing a Choice Collection of the most original and admired Country Dance, Reel, Hornpipe, and Waltz Tunes: with a variety of appropriate Figures, the Etiquette, and a Dissertation on the State of the Bull-Room. By THOMAS WILSON. London, Button, 1816. 8vo. pp. 232.

IT

T seems that the author of this work had been applied to, to prepare a pocket collection of correct and favourite country dances, with appropriate figures, and which might include equally instruction to the dancer and the musician; and the present publication shews the success with which the purpose has been fulfilled. It is so long since we have been visited by the Danso-mania, and with the certainty of its having taken a final leave of us, that we shall not presume to judge of the merits of Mr. Wilson in his own profession; but we may be allowed to say, that from the dissertation at the conclusion we have received no small degree of amusement. He there tells us of the universality of his art; that it has been practised by every person on the "terraquéous globe," rude or civilized; and he regrets that the teachers employed in it (which are equal, if not superior in number, to those engaged in any other) should not, like him, have become instructive authors on the subject. He assigns as the cause of this neglect, not any deficiency of literary talent in his brethren, but their wish to conceal the mysteries of their lucrative employment, and (mercy on him!) the ignorance of publishers and booksellers, who cannot appreciate the value of the disclosure. Under such views, the ingenious writer, who is actuated by higher motives, laments that the inquiry had not been taken up sooner, so that the evils complained of might have been of less magnitude. This is a new feature in the distresses of the country, of which we, as critics, were not until this moment apprised; and we refer it to others to consider the remedy Mr. Wilson recommends: for, although acquainted with some few of the figures in our own art, we see no analogy in these by which we can explain the figures in the art with which this expert gentleman is conversant. He has, however, filched one from the profession to which we belong-the hyperbole.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

ART. 17.-Means of improving the Condition of the Poor in Morals and Happiness; considered in a Lecture delivered in the Minor Institute, August 22, 1816: to which is prefixed a short Account of that Institution. By THOMAS WILLIAMS. London, Hatchard, 1816. 8vo. pp. 64.

THIS lecture consists principally of calculations in political arithmetic, drawn from the tables of Mr. Colquhoun, with observations upon them. It was read at Highbury Place, Islington, where we presume this society is established. The lecturer very fitly attributes the depravity that prevails to vice and idleness; and, as one of the cures of profligacy, he recommends early marriages. God, he says, enjoined this rite" to a naked world, and every man who turns the age of twenty-five unmarried, is to be blamed or pitied." In noticing the classes of the unfortunate, he observes, "Here are two hundred and eighty thousand persons, besides paupers, without any lawful occupation, living by their wits." We at first thought that the worthy gentleman was designating our laborious brethren of the quill, and that he rather over-reckoned the numerical state of the fraternity; but we find in this estimate he comprehends beggars, prostitutes, gamblers, criminals, and show-men.

In the first part, having examined into the scenes of national corruption and distress, he inquires, in the second, as to the means of preventing vice and its attendant calamities. Among these he recommends the suppression of Sunday newspapers, which he calls the engines of profaneness, infidelity, and sedition. He treats them as inventions, "the whole praise of which is due to the age of innovation, and he considers that they "will produce, if not effectually checked, effects more mischievous to the great cause of godliness than many of those changes" (the subversion and revolution of empires)" which we have already beheld with much astonishment and regret." It is curious to observe with what avidity and virulence mistaken zeal will select some innocent and harmless instrument on which to indulge its rage. This insensate declamation reminds us of a missionary, of the peaceful and virtuous society of Friends, who took a voyage of three thousand miles, across the Atlantic, to proclaim the three crying sins of the British nation which were to expose it to the destruction of Sodom and Nineveh:

[ocr errors]

capes to the coat, slashed pockets, and powder in the hair.' We are sure the writer has the best intentions, and we only wish him equal discretion to carry them into effect.

ART. 18.-West-Indian Sketches, drawn from authentic Sources.-No. 3. Legal Condition of the Slave- Trade.No 4. The Nature of West-Indian Slavery further illustrated by certain Occurrences in the Island of Tortola. London, Ellerton. pp. 23-40. 8vo. 1816.

THESE are a continuation of a series of pamphlets, intended in the shortest form to expose the mischievous consequences of the Slave Trade; and a letter is introduced into the first of those now before us, from Dr. Pinckard, dated 25th May, 1796, reciting many acts of cruelty. In this communication he particularly adverts, and with just seyerity, to the doctrine of one of the criminal judges, who published it as his opinion, in a Colonial Gazette, and with the sanction of his name, "that the authority of the master over his negroes is not to be encumbered with official formalities," and "that his power cannot, without danger, be brought into doubt or discussion, and should never be opposed or thwarted by any intermediate authority."

The second sketch is chiefly taken from papers which were laid on the table of the House of Commons in 1812. Some reference is also made to the Report of the Trial of Mr. Hodge, at Tortola, who had been one of the members of his Majesty's council for the Virgin Islands.

We are ourselves warm and zealous advocates of the abolition of the slave-trade, and sincere and ardent friends to all those who co-operate for its final termination. To their attention we recommend with concern the success with which it has been lately conducted from the Havannah, and other western dependencies of the Spanish crown. Sir Thomas Yeo seems not to have been provided with the necessary instructions to intercept the traders.

CRIT. REV. VOL. IV. Oct. 1816.

3 К

THEOLOGY.

ART. 19-Sermons, translated from the French of DANIEL DE SUPERVILLE, formerly Pastor to the French Protestant Church at Rotterdam; with Memoirs of his Life. By JOHN ALLEN. London, Burton and Briggs, 1816. 8vo. pp. 401.

THE translator was induced to give an English dress to this work from the acknowledged merit of the discourses, and we are glad to observe his intention of following them with others in the same attire. Among these, we shall be glad to find included the sermon preached on the 30th Sept. 1691, when the author was appointed regular pastor at Rotterdam, and which was published by himself, under the title of the "Triumph of the Gospel.'

[ocr errors]

Daniel de Superville was a native of France, and studied at the College of Saumur: he subsequently continued his literary and theological pursuits at Geneva. He was a Protestant minister in his native country, when the edict of Nantz was revoked, and the public exercise of the reformed religion was forbidden. Under these circumstances, he had offers from Berlin, London, Hamburgh, and Rotterdam; but he preferred fulfilling his sacred functions at the last, when he was nominated pastor with the learned James Basnage. In this town he died, on the 9th June, 1728, at the age of nearly 71 years.

TOPOGRAPHY.

ART. 20.-The Terra Incognita of Lincolnshire, with Observations, moral, descriptive, and historical, in original Letters, written purposely for the improvement of Youth, during the months of May and October, 1815. By MISS HATFIELD. London, Robinson, 12mo. pp. 144. 1816.

IT

seems that this lady has before written some works on Theology and Mythology, which received a favourable notice in a paragraph of this and another contemporary Review. We wish that the present had been entitled to the same respect. The author, pining for "rural quiet, the contemplation of nature, the study of books, and the converse of friendship," sets off in a barouche and four, with Lady W. and Lady N., to the mansion of the latter; and, a steward

« ElőzőTovább »