you fell is from that to which you are fallen: and hee that beauti fied the earth doth now adorne the heauens. And I am verily perswaded that the Nuntius Siderius would, with his perspectiue glasse," sooner discouer Sidius Sydneyanum, than any planet aboue the number of seauen. Braue gentleman, thou shouldst not lack all the poor Roman language I haue, to make thee as famous throgh Europe, as thou art through thy England, but that I want information of the circumstances of thy life: and besides my life would scarse suffice to recount the deedes of thine. But what needest thou the paines of my pen? It was thou that didst defend Poësie; and Poësie will defend thee. Sydney and Scaliger be the Gemini, which I would wish all young gentlemen to obserue, and haue an eye to, in this worlds tempestuous Ocean; that so no gale of false glorie driue them against the rock of riot, and wherrie them into base attempts." (p. 156-160.) Towards the conclusion of the second part the author draws the characters of a courtier, a schollar, a soldier, a merchant, and a shepherd: the second and third are his favourites; that of the soldier we subjoin, as affording a singular specimen of eloquent description, which in some places reminds us of the same subject touched off in a few fines by our admirable Shakespeare. "The soule of the Souldier is not chained to his bodie; but holdes it a thing indifferent either to tarry or to goe: and whereas others giue-vp the ghost heauily, the Souldier giues it vppe chearefullie. If Death cunningly counterfeit the voice of Honour, and call him; he wil wade through bloud, and runne through fire to ouertake him, though he bee ouertaken himself. What is it can sooner driue a man into an extasie, than to see a fellow venture his life for 8. pence a daie; and seeke to maintaine life by the losse of bloud? Not one of Adams children gets his liuing with such paine as he. For, hee not onely liues by the sweat of his browes; but, by the lopping of limbes, the emptying of veines, and the maiming and dismembring of himselfe. Those things, which seem hidious and fearefull to other mortalls, serue him for mirth and musicke. Hee is at no time so delighted, as when hee sees his foe marching towardes him in a cloud of dust: the reflection of his armour is more welcome to him, than the warmth of the sunne: he longs to shake a bloudie fist with him. But (ô!) how he ioyes in the ioyning of the battels! He whips his sword out of the scabbarde; and sheaths it in his enemy: whersoeuer it flies, a soule flies with it. He runs raging here and there; and puffes, and blowes, to depriue others of breath. His bloud within, comes-out, to paint his face, made pale by reuenge: his lookes bode horrour. Hee fights, vpon his very stumps and when his hands are hacked to nothing, he yet looks bis insulting foe in the face, till his sword mangle his bodie into mammockes, and heaw his head into fitters. And when he fals, his CRIT. REV. VOL. IV. Oct. 1816. 31 mouth (in despite) bites the mouth of the earth, which is readie to swallow him. And now, hee that would not take a blowe frō any visible hand, takes one at the bands of inuisible Death; who euer strikes, when a man hath no sense of disgrace left him. Historie will furnish vs with manie millions of examples of the valiant acts of souldiers: how some haue scaled skie-kissing walles; how others againe, to preuent a shamefull flight, haue killed their horses; least one beast should carry-away another: I meane, a Cowarde. This theame (should I follow it) would take-vp all my time: for, I can neuer write enough of that, which can neuer be prais'd enough. Yet, Soldierie wants not dispraises, and inconueniences; it being euident, that many Ages cannot furnish vs with many warrantable warres: I meane, such as the word of God doth allow. Now, when a man fights in a bad quarrell, and vpon wicked pretenses; his soule is in as great daunger of eternall death, as his bodie is of the momentarie. Besides; experience telleth vs, that men of that profession (for the most part) lead the loosest liues, of all others; and that, therefore, oftentimes God giues manie of them ouer to put their strength in chariots, and horses; though, to say the truth, it be more noble so to doe, than to place all humane happinesse in hawkes and hounds. To conclude in this ample subiect; the inconueniences of a Souldiers life are innumerable: as, chaunge of diet, famine, diuersitie of diseases, swarmes of vermine, and the like; all which destroy health: without which, life is a liuing death. Thus haue I endeauoured to commend the choisest couple of mankinde; the Schollar and the Souldier: who contend, one with the other, for the Laurell. Insomuch that it is to be doubted whether or no Iulius Cæsar did glorie more in his Commentaries, or in his fifty set battles, from which he returned victour. Yet, for my heart, can I finde out no one delight in both these beautifull paire, that hath not a crosse to crush and nippe it. To what end then should I treate of lower callings, when I discouer no content in the higher, and happier?" (p. 205-212.) From the extracts above made, our readers will be able to form a tolerable estimate of the character of this production, which always furiously zealous in the cause of virtue, is now and then strangely ridiculous in its attacks upon vice. The book, from one end to the other seems struck off at a heat; as if the writer had been led from one subject to another without removing his pen from the paper: in the outset he declares, "I must and will write for my spleen is swollen;" and he is ever on the full gallop in chase of enemies whom he lashes sublimi flagello. In the introductory matter he states, that in his book he has "laid himself open to the world," but he discloses less of himself than we should have expected. The following excellent sentence we submit to such gentlemanly authors as in the excess of their politeness endeavour to curry favour with all parties, by soothing up the follies, and flattering the vices of each. Stafford proclaims that he has written his Niobe "to the intent that I may attract the loue of the vertuous, and the hate of all those who continue vitious: for I hold him to be no honest man that is beloved of all men. For in that, he sheweth that he can applie himselfe to the time, be it never so vitious; to the place, be it neuer so infamous; to the person, be it neuer so odious." J. P. C. MONTHLY CATALOGUE.. GNOMOLOGY. ART. 11.-Gnomologia; Adages and Proverbs, Wise Sentences, and Witty Sayings. Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British. Compiled by THOMAS FULLER, M. D. · London, for Thomas and Joseph Allman, and John Fairbairn, Edinburgh. 1816. pp. 204. In this small reprint, no less than 6,497 proverbs, sayings, &c. are collected by the industry of the author, who, by those who only judged from names, has been confounded with Thomas Fuller, best known by his "Worthies." In the introduction, some of these adages are apologized for on the ground of indecorum and indelicacy, but without much reason, while it might not have been amiss if those inserted in previous and well-known collections had been omitted; a few also are puerile and insignificant. The industrious accumulator states, that extreme old age and defective sight, prevented him from finishing the undertaking in the manner he wished; but notwithstanding, it will be useful, to such as have sufficient patience to wade through such a vast variety of unconnected sentences. Other useful new editions of little works by Dr. Fuller have lately made their appearance. PHARMACY. ART. 12.-Oracular Communications, addressed to Students of the Medical Profession. By ESCULAPIUS. London, Cox and Son, 1816, 12mo. pp. 132. THE work under this singular title, from the Temple at Sicyon, contains much plain and salutary advice to the young students in the art of healing. The writer first ad verts to their moral qualifications, and recommends to them rectitude of principle, benevolence of disposition, and unwearied assiduity; and having disposed of matters essential to the moral character, he proceeds to the plan of study. It is presupposed that the individuals to whom this little volume is addressed, have previously passed through a regular apprenticeship with a practitioner, and that their time has been employed, not only in pounding and compounding ingredients, but in obtaining a knowledge of pharmacy, and likewise of some general principles of anatomy, together with the theory and practice of medicine. Assuming, that all this has been accomplished, the author considers that two years at least should be devoted at one of the principal seats of professional learning; and he is of opinion, that a third year, for the preliminary duties, would be spent with great advantage at Edinburgh. Anatomy is properly recommended as the first branch of study, it being the basis of every other; and a good foundation in this department, with a proper regard to the theory and practice of surgery, will leave little comparatively to acquire. But surgery itself, as dependent on medicine, implies the indispensable necessity of the knowledge of physic, which is too much neglected during the residence of the pupil in the metropolis; yet, the wider field of inquiry it demands, shews the absurdity of inattention when such a favourable opportunity of extensive examination is afforded. The importance of chemistry is explained on the principle of affinities; medical botany is mentioned as useful, but subordinate; and lastly, general directions are given with respect to the obstetric art, and the diseases peculiar to infancy. In each range of study, the most popular and excellent books are pointed out; and on the whole, a body of information is supplied in a concise form, which we earnestly recommend to every juvenile practitioner. Such is our feeling towards this oracular teacher, that in humble imitation of the wisest of the ancient philosophers, we readily offer a cock to our modern Esculapius. POETRY. ART. 13.-Clara; or, Fancy's Tale. A Poem, in three Cantos. By JOHN OWENS HOWARD. Dublin, for C. La Grange. pp. 211. Ir is always our wish to speak favourably of the efforts of the muse, more especially on her first blushing appearance before the public; but we regret that we must give the author of this poem an opportunity of saying that we underrate his talents of composition, and over-rate our own capacity of judging. Mr. Howard is obviously an Irishman, with a little too much of that redundancy of warmth for which his countrymen are remarkable, to be able coolly to weigh the value of his own compositions. If the story of this volume had been told in about one-fourth of the space it occupies, it would have much better deserved our praise. The following quintuplication of images, all diminishing the force and effect of the first, will illustrate our meaning, if it want any illustration. "Quick as the arrow from the bow, Quick as the glance that strikes the mind, Stands by her side the stranger Knight." ART. 14.-Amyntor and Adelaide; or, a Tale of Life: a Romance of Poetry, in Three Cantos. By CHARLES MASTERTON. London, Chapple, 66, Pall Mall, 1816. 12mo. pp. 119. THIS story, and the manner in which it is told, are alike pretty; but neither the one nor the other deserve a higher epithet. The hero, in his birth and character, is made to resemble an unfortunate poet, the events of whose life have been detailed in one of the most admirable pieces of biography that ever was penned. The author is a little too didactic in the manner in which he gives his relation, and he is full of reflections that have no higher claim to novelty than the themes that call for them. The two following stanzas are a favourable and characteristic specimen. "Yet such there be--I would that there were none- Loving no mortal, when the feast is done Which did their cormorant-assembly draw |