poet beyond those of his contemporaries Waller and Carew; especially in the amatory and anacreontic styles. Dr. Drake has also adduced specimens from Sylvester's Du Bartas in proof of his having possessd a truly poetic vein. Sylvester has, indeed, been peculiarly fortunate for it was but a short time since that we had to notice a variety of exquisite selections from the same translator, by Mr. Dunster, in proof that Milton had not only been acquainted with him, but had derived from him several of his most elegant and most admired descriptions. It was in consequence of Mr. Dunster's publication that Dr. Drake was induced to turn his attention to this quarter and in the excerptions he has made, he has been studious to glean such passages alone as Mr. Dunster has either omitted or pretermitted.

The poetry of the year has been peculiarly barren in its higher classes: not a single epic poem of any description having made its appearance; while, in the dramatie department, the whole that is really worth perusing has been offered to us in an additional volume of Miss Bailey's Miscellaneous Plays, upon the great merit of which we have formerly expatiated, though we do not think that the volume before us is quite equal to the two preceding. It consists of two tragedies and a comedy: of the former, Constantine is far superior to Rayner, though by no means so impressive as Ethwald: of the latter, we cannot avoid asserting, that it is the feeblest effort of our author's comic muse.

But though, within the course of the year, we have had to boast of no regular epic, nor of any dramatic undertaking worthy of parti

cular notice, save the above plays of Miss Bailey,-in Mr. Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel" we have received an ample atonement and compensation for this general neglect and sterility. It is the most exquisite poem we have long met with, the most melodious, the most impressive and forcible. Its model is that of the old metrical romance; varying its measure as the change of subject, or even, at times, the fancy of the poet himself may suggest ;-a liberty consistent with the costume of ancient minstrelsy, but sternly prohibited by the more regular and classic muse. Its tale is simple, and, though obvious, still interesting to the conclusion: it is also conducted with fewer digressions and tautologies than the old romance is in the habit of presenting to us-is more scientifically arranged, and picturesquely adorned. The machinery, however, seems to be but of little use to the progress of the entire piece, and might be suppressed without being missed, or deteriorating from its general merit. The poem peculiarly excels in description and pathos; it seems to combine all the excellencies of the old metrical ballad with the omis sion of its defects and incongruities; and to be enriched with as ample an intertexture of true epic composition as the nature of its style and structure would admit of.

Mr. Scott has also been laudably engaged in dragging from the dust of the "North Countree" libraries, a most interesting metrical romance of the thirteenth century, intitled "Sir Tristram," composed by Thomas of Ercildoune, commonly called Thomas the Rhymer. The poem is splendidly edited from the Auchinleck manuscript, in an octavo volume of five hundred pages,

at

at the price of two guineas; and not more than a hundred and fifty copies have been struck off. It is preceded by an elaborate and valu able preliminary dissertation on the subject of the poem, and the long agitated question, Whether, since the story of Trystan or Tristram refers to a period of very remote antiquity, and various French metrical romances have been founded upon it, Ercildoune translated his poem from some pre-existing type in the romance language, or wrote it as an original piece, from which the French poems upon the same subject have considerably copied. The result is, that Ercildoune collected the materials for his romance in the country which gave him his name, and which is still represented in our maps as situated on the borders of the antient British kingdom of Strathclwyd, comprehending the border districts of England and Scotland: that the poem before us was published anterior to any similar romance in the French tongue: and that the name of Ercildoune, as the original writer, is actually referred to in one or two French fragments.

Mr. Hayley has written a poem in six cantos, intitled "The Triumph of Music," upon an Italian love-story, which is equally improbable and uninteresting. It appears to be designedly a mere vehicle for communicating, in a conRected form, a variety of love-songs, devotional hymns, sentimental sonnets, and moral rhapsodies, which the author has penned on particular occasions, and carefully preserved in his escritoir. We have not heard that the fame of the poet has been much augmented, nor can we conceive that it is likely to be augmented by this patchwork performance. There are

4.

some good, and forcible, and ele gant lines in it: but in the main, it is feeble, desultory, irrelevant.

From captain Elton we have re ceived a small volume of occa sional poems possessed of consider able spirit and harmony. He has pleasantly employed the leisure which is not unfrequently to be found in a camp. Robert Bloom field has again mounted his rural Pegasus, and in "Good Tidings; or News from the Farm," has produced a panegyrić poem upon the cow-pox, of no ordinary merit. We have only to hope, that all the good it ardently proclaims and prophecies may be accomplished without any draw-back. Mr. Spencer has offered an elegiac poem, entitled "The Year of Sorrow, written in the Spring of 1803." It appears, indeed, to have been a year of severe affliction and loss of valuable and esteemed connexions to the writer, who laments in strains so truly pathetic, as to render it impossible for his readers not to condole with him. We wish him years of more felicity, and poems founded upon happier subjects. "Poems: by George Richards, M.A. late Fellow of Oriel College, 2 vols." Mr. Richards has been peculiarly fortunate in having re ceived permission to have these poems printed at the university press, Oxford. They are a medley of dramas, odes, epistles, prizepoems, and war-whoops. We have not heard that Mr. Richards has any chance of being a successor to Dr. Hurdis.

Of poetical contributions repab. lished either in whole or part, we have to notice "The Wiccamical Chaplet;" edited by Mr. Huddesford; and consisting of a selection of poetry chiefly original, com prising smaller poems serious and

comic;

comic; classical trifles, sonnets, inscriptions and epitaphs, songs and ballads mock-heroic poems, epigrams, and fragments of poems. The name of Huddes rd has seldom accompanied the antecedent productions of this writer; but there has been too much merit in all of them to suffer public curiosity to rest satis fied beneath an anonymous title page. For the same reason, the editor needed not to have published his name with the present volume: there are too many characteristic marks both in the humourous and sentimental pieces to have rendered it possible that any degree of doubt should have attached to the name of at least one of the largest and ablest contributors to this selection.-Dr. Crowe has published a new and enlarged, and, we may add, an improved edition of his very excellent "Lewesdon Hill." He has also subjoined to it various other poems, possessed of proportionate merit. A new edition, anonymously introduced, but attributed to Mr. W. Tooke, of Gray's-Inn Square, has been published of "The Poeti cal Works of Charles Churchill," in 2 vols. 8vo. Its value, to those who are fond of Mr. Churchill's caustic verses, is largely enhanced by a variety of very useful explanatory notes, and an authentic account of the author's life, drawn up by the editor with an equal portion of industry and spirit.-Falconer's "Shipwreck" has also been re-edited, and enriched with additional notes, and a life of the author by Mr. James Stanier Clarke, we believe, a brother of Dr. Clarke of Cambridge. It is an elegant octavo volume, beautifully ornamented with drawings from Mr. Gell, and ably illustrated by the voluntary contributions of several literary and nautical friends of the 1804.

editor. A new edition of colonel Mercer's Poems has been likewise presented to the world, with some additional effusions of equal ele gance and polish with those that are already in the possession of the public.

Of the rest, it becomes us to state that Mr. J. Belfour has presented to us a small volume of "Fables on Subjects connected with Literature;" which, we are told in the title-page, are imitated from the Spanish of Don Tomas de Yriarte; but which, from an accurate comparison with the original, we can truly aver have at times an imitation so slight and evanescent that we can scarcely trace it. "Love-Letters to my Wife; written in the Year 1789, by James Woodhouse:" which rather evince that the writer has been a good and a happy husband, than a good or a happy poet; and which is meant to be followed by other volumes of "Love-Letters," in reserve, if the present should meet with the success the author fondly anticipates., "Blickley Vale, with other Poems, by Nathaniel Howard;" a little volume, with frequent gleanings of the genuine rays of Apollo. "Wallace, or the Vale of Ellerslie, with other Poems, by John Finlay;" who seems to be so deeply immersed in the shades of the vale of Ellerslie, as to find "no light, but rather darkness visible;" excepting, indeed, the borrowed lustre which, without any acknowledgment, he freely makes use of from the labours of more radiant bards. "Poems by Thomas Brown, M. D. 2 vols. 12mo," evincing a strange intermixture of sense and nonsense; of power occasionally to excel, and occasionally to become worthless and insignificant; a warmth and

energy

energy of imagination, and a want of taste and modulation. "The Shepherd's Boy; being Pastoral Tales: by William Day."-Pastoral tales fit for shepherds' boys alone. "British Purity; or, The World we live in: a Poetic Tale of two Centuries." A satirical attack upon modern times and modern politics, in easy rhyme, but not always allowing us to understand with ease the side of the question that is meant to be ridiculed." Invasion; a Descriptive and Satirical Poem, by J. Amphlet," who has been induced to anticipate his subject, lest, in the event of its actually taking place, he should "fall in the field of honour unknown and unsung."The Reign of Fancy, by the author of the Pleasures of Nature" whom we understand to be Mr. Carey, and who has executed the poem before us upon the same scale of excellence as his past production. And "The Grampians Desolate, by Alexander Campbell;" to which we cannot but wish success, as its profits are to be appropriated to a most useful and benevolent institution for the cultivation of waste land in the Highlands. Our dramatic productions for the year are altogether ephemeral-and are scarcely designed, we should suppose, even by the authors themselves for a longer term of existence. They are, in almost every instance, moreover, written for par ticular characters; a degradation to which the muse never should submit, and which, in times of greater energy and dignity, she never has done, nor ever will do. The only piece of this description which is entitled to particular notice is Mr. Cumberland's "Sailor's Daughter;" a comedy in five acts; in which, if we have few of the higlier excellencies of the comic

muse, we have less mummery and extravagance than pervade the ge neral efforts of the day. The rest it is sufficient to enumerate in a mere catalogue. "Almahide and Hamet, a Tragedy, by Benjamin Heath Malkin, Esq." altered (alieree) from Dryden's "Con quest of Grenada." "The Recal of Momus: by Benjamin Thomp son, Esq." appropriately denomi nated by the writer himself, bagatelle. "The Paragraph; a Musical Entertainment in two Acts: by Prince Hoare:" a Paragraph scarcely worth inserting, "Guilty or not Guilty: by Thomas Dibdin :" designed altoge ther for the stage, and filled with jokes, puns, and temporary allusions. "The Sea-side Hero; a Drama in three Acts: by John Carr, Esq." "The Hunter of the Alps; a Drama interspersed with Music: by Mr. Dimond, Jun."Pieces which prove that the authors are possessed of better powers than they have actually chosen to evince." The Soldier's Daughter; a Comedy in five Acts: by A. Cherry, of the Theatre Royal, Drury-Lane:"-evincing that the writer has not been an unobservant student in his own profession: that he knows what comedy should con sist of, and can occasionally draw characters with success." 33 "The Counterfeit; a Farce in two Acts: by Andrew Macklin." "TwentyOne; an Operatic Afterpiece, in one Act: by James Wild." "Foul Deeds will Rise; a Musical Dra ma: by S. J. Arnold:" of all which it is sufficient to observe, that such things are.

In our tales and novels we have been far more fortunate. M. Jauf fret's "Travels of Rolando" have been translated from the French in 4. vols. 12mo.; and through

the

the history of this fictitious character engages the reader in a tour round the world, it cannot fail to communicate to him knowledge of real utility, as well as of considerable variety, in a manner at once entertaining and impressive. Of a description not widely dissimilar is Miss Hamilton's "Memoirs of the -Life of Agrippina," which are designed, through the union of fiction and fact, to lead the young or the idle to a general knowledge of Roman history, customs, and charac. ters during the era of Tiberius. We cannot, however, very cordially approve of this ingraft of imagination upon historic truth; being persuaded that the impression hence produced upon the juvenile mind will be so considerable, that it will be difficult afterwards, even upon a recurrence to real history, to separate from the memory the details of fact from those of fancy: and still less do we approve of the personage Miss Hamilton has chosen for her heroine, whose real character, so far from corresponding, even in the main, with the ac . count of her in the Memoirs before us, was in many instances in direct opposition to it.-M. Lantier's

Travellers in Switzerland," which we have formerly noticed with approbation in our department of Foreign Literature, has been translated into our own tongue; and ranks under the present description of publications. It agreeably developes, in an epistolary form, and by means of imaginary adventures, the history, picturesque scenery, customs and manners of the country to which it refers; and cannot fail to impart much useful instruction. To the same class we may refer "The Duchess of La Valliere; an Historical Romance," translated from

the French of Madame de Genlis, designed to delineate many of the transactions that characterized the age and court of Louis XIV.; and concerning which the author tells us, in the words of her interpreter, that "history is very faithfully followed;" since "though we have added much, we have omitted no thing." Much indeed is added which, in our judgment, ought not to have been; and far too mush to allow the writer's assertion that "history is here very faithfully followed." But we have already noticed this work in its original form.

Of tales or novels indebted solely. to the imagination of the writer, we have to enumerate "Heliodora; or the Grecian Minstrel :" translated from the German of Baron Goethe, which, if less impressive than "The Sorrows of Werter," produced by the same writer, is certainly of a less dangerous ten dency. The work evinces the hand of a master; has a vast portion of bustle, involution, and soul-harrow. ing terror ; but is spun out to too great a length, and hence becomes tedious towards the close. "The Modern Griselda: a Tale, by Miss Edgeworth."-A tale designed to prove how easily it is possible for a woman who possesses the entire affections of her husband, to lose them by degrees in consequence of her own abuse of the power she has acquired; and how difficult it is to recover what she has thus ab surdly thrown away. Miss Edgeworth writes with her usual spirit and attention to real life.-" Au brey: a Novel, by R. C. Dallas, Esq. ". -a novel well written, and, saving a few inconsistencies, replete with good moral instruction. It is addressed to M. Bertrand de Moleville, of whose political laZ 2 bours,