fend other cattle from them. This arrangement would likewife prove very advantageous to the farmers who refide at a distance from the Cape, who might use them, inftead of Oxen, to draw their waggons, laden with timber and provifions, to market; by which means, they need not breed so many Oxen, and confequently might bring up more Cows, and make more butter to fupply the market at the Cape: this would likewise encourage the breed of Hogs, as they could be half fed on the waste butter milk, and thas a fupply of pork and bacon might be tranfmitted, for the use of the fhips which touch at the Cape for provifions.

"As the Hottentots hunt the Zebra merely for the fake of its flesh, which they eat, the destruction of the animal has ever been the object of the huntfman's purfuit; it is no wonder then, that the poor crea ture should always confider man as its foe, instead of its protector; and, when it happens to be taken alive, it is not surprising that it fhould be perverfe and mischievous, and refuse obedience to that being from which it has fo feldom experienced mercy. Every animal has an instinctive knowledge of its enemies, and doubtless this has contributed to prevent the Zebra from refigning its liberty, where it has been taught, by experience as well as inftinct, that it has nothing to hope for, but every thing to dread. Cautious and vigilant in the extreme, he fuffers nothing to approach him, and, as if he were confcious that his beauty renders him an object of defire, he inftantly takes the alarm at the fight of man, and flies from his purfuer with incredible velocity.

"The Zebra is only found in Africa, and is unknown to the other quarters of the globe: it is, notwithstanding, capable of exifting in any climate not intenfely cold.

"The period of its geftation is uncertain, but it is probable that it resembles the Afs in this particular. Its voice bears fome fimilitude to the confused barking of a Mastiff Dog.

"Mr. Pennant thinks it probable, that the Zebra was known to the Romans, as it is found in the fame country with the Giraff, or Camelopardalis, which was early introduced into their shows. Martial feems to hint at it, by his pulcher onager; and Oppian particularly describes the stripes diverging from the black lift on the back."

The engraved figure of the Zebra does not give the animal fo elegant a form of the neck as ufually belongs to it. The fpots of the Camelopard are not reprefented fo fquare as they ought to be. The chief fault of the defcriptions in general is a kind of garrulous, narrative style, fometimes more than bordering on the ridiculous; and the whole, with its adventitious ornaments, forms rather an elegant book of ainusement for dilettanti, than a repofitory of fcience for the real naturalift.

* "Sparrman's Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope."

A a a

SRIT. CRIT. VOl. x1. June, 1798.

BRITISH

BRITISH CATALOGUE.

POETRY.

ART. 18. Mifcellaneous Writings; confifling of Poems; Lucretia, s Tragedy; and Moral Effays; with a Vocabulary of the Paffions; in which their fources are pointed out; their regular Currents traced; and their Deviations delineated. By R. C. Dallas, Efq. 40. 300 PF. 11. Is. Longman, Paternofter-Row. 1797.

A handfome and well-printed volume, with a modest and fenfible preface, and finished by a litt of refpectable fubfcribers, raised our hopes and expectations. We prepared a place among our principal articles, for the account we should find it necessary to give of Mr. Dallas's work; and anticipated the pleafure of beftowing on it praife and recommendation. We turned to the first poem, on Kirkstall Abbey, to which a very good vignette view is prefixed. Happy had it been if the print only had been there; but fubjoined to it are fome lines, printed in all the pomp of capitals, and taken from the body of the poem. Of thefe, thus brought forward to particular notice, to our astonishment we found the fecond line neither verfe, nor any thing like verfe.

Of a folitary abbey full mantled.

This was a bad omen. But it might be a fingle overfight; though it was odd enough, that the poet fhould felect the worst line in his book for fo confpicuous a fituation. We looked further. In the poem itself, the 13th line again, no verfe.

Alike the ready minifter, delights to strike.

After some space,

Not gone as faid for ever-for memory.

Inconceivable! that at this time of day, when the cadence of verfe has become familiar to almost every car, a writer fhould be found, who publishes a volume, chiefly of poetry, without difcerning verfe from profe. Yet the compofition has many poetical ideas. We proceeded through one poem after another; and, from the comparison of them all, fatisfied ourselves, that the writer, had he been trained regularly for it, might have been a poet. All proceeded tolerably well, till we came to the Tragedy. But here ended all thoughts of a principal article. Such a tiflue of improbable fituation and unnatural rant, we have hardly ever feen. We now content ourselves with telling our readers, that, if they think it worth while to look into the volume, they will find here and there fome good paffages; a very laudable spirit of piety; and throughout mere to praife in the man than in the writer.

As the author has sketched his own hiftory, in fome tolerable lines, we fhall felect them as a fpecimen; because they may affift in accounting for fome peculiarities in the Writings. After his father's death, he fays,

"Soon then afpiring to a noble trade,

I wifhed, to grace my hat, a fmart cockade,
I glowed with heroes to enroll my name :
Till difappointment quench'd the martial flame.
Then to the bar I'm urged, the bar I fhun,
To wander near the ftreams of Helicon.
My friends alarm'd, turn pale, and groaning fee,
A love of rhyming fhooting out in me:
With horror view the Mufe at madding fports,
Or flumbering over statutes and reports.
Then in full concert all aloud pronounce,

That, from that moment, I must wealth renounce.'

39

We do not say that thefe are the beft lines in the book, by any means; yet, on the whole, we cannot blame the author's friends. He who abandons business for poetry, fhould have a much stronger call from the Mufes. The poem that pleafed us moft, is " Laura, an Elegy." It is plain and unaffected, with fome pathetic paffages. The Ellays we cannot praife, the style is ftiff and turgid. The best part is the Vocabulary of the Paffions, in which, however, there is not so much new discovery as the author feems to fuppofe. His good difpofition appears every where to deserve unequivocal praise.

ART. 19. The Gardens, a Poem; tranflated from the French of the Abbé de Lille. 4to. Printed by T. Benfley. 15s. No Pub

lifher's Name.

This tranflation, though publifhed anonymously, is, we understand, the production of the pen of Mrs. Montolicu, a young lady of ele gance and fashion, and is certainly highly creditable to her poetical talents. It is in general very faithful to the French poem, though poffeffing much of the fpirit of an original compofition.

As a fpecimen of the poetry, we felect the account of the pleasure the native of Otaheite received from feeing a plant of his own coun try in the Royal Confervatory.

Among the various tribes the Indian stray'd,
And each green colony in turn furvey'd ;
When to his view amid the throng appears
A tree, the shelter of his infant years:
Sudden he ftaris-with frantic gefture flies,
Clings round the precious ftem with piercing cries,
Warms it with kifles, waters it with tears,

Recalls each spot fond memory endears.

Thefe well-known fields, poffeffing matchlefs charms,
The ftream he cleav'd so oft with vigorous arms,
Those fresh bananas yielding fruit and fhade,

The foreft on whofe favage tribe he prey'd,

His roof paternal, and the neighb'ring grove,
Where in wild notes he fung his dufky love.
Before his eyes the dear illufions stand,

And once again he views his native land.”
The following fally, in praise of the jet d'eau,

L'homme fe dit, "C'eft moi qui créai ces prodiges,"
L'homme admire fon art dans ces brillans prestiges,

is wonderfully improved in the translation:

"I work'd these prodigies," proud man exclaims;
The friend of nature wonders while he blames.

That part alfo of the fourth canto, where fome parts of Gray's Elegy are interwoven with the poem, is very happily executed. We muft not omit to mention that the embellishments, engraved by Bartolozzi, with which the tranflation is accompanied, give both elegance and additional value to the publication. They are vignette prints, and in general of exquifite beauty.

ART. 20.
Lord Mayor's Day: an Heroic Poem; with Anecdotes of the
Giants, Mr. Deputy Bb, Mr. Deputy Ly, &c. &c. 5..E..
4to. 1s. Jordan. 1798.

This author alfo feems little acquainted with the laws of verse; but is neither deficient in spirit nor in humour.

ART. 21. The Volunteer: a Poem. 4to. is. 6d. Vernor and Hood. 1798.

This is a fpirited effufion of a writer, warmed with honeft love of his country; and contains fome excellent lines, as for example:

So when the fpirit of the tempeft lours,
Creation feels him in her finking powers;
The leafy foreft bows the fhiv'ring head,
And ftrait the honors of its year are filed!
The ling ring fun beams kifs the parting green,
Till one wide waite of fadness wrap the scene.

ART. 22. Epifle from Lady Granger to Edward D. Efq. written during her Confinement in the Island of Kilda. 410. 25. Cadell and Davies. 1798.

The fingular ftory of this lady is told by Bofwell in his tour to the Hebrides. Upon the fact of her confinement in this remote and folitary place, the poet builds his verfe, and with no mean effect. He reprefents her as guilty of an illicit attachment, and as the victim of revenge and jealousy. We may eafily hope excufe for inferting the following fpecimen of the poem.

The fimple maid, whofe thoughts devoid of guile,
Ne'er pafs'd the limits of the fea-girt isle;

In ev'ry trouble finds a fure relief,

For mild Religion fooths her rifing grief,

Does

Does cold disease flow wafte her fading bloom?
Hope cheers her foul, and points beyond the tomb.
When light'nings flafh on vengeful pinions driv'n,
She chants her ev'ning prayer, and trufts in heav'n.
But me nor heaven, nor fmiling hope can hear,
Wrapt in dark mifts, my future paths appear:
Bright to my view the fcenes of childhood rife;
But gnawing Confcience blasts their brilliant dyes;
Tho robed in blifs, thefe halcyon pleasures spring,
Each pleasure beams a curfe, each joy a fting.

ART. 23. The Sphinx's Head broken; or, a Poetical Epifle, with Nates, to Thomas James M*th**s, Clerk to the Queen's Tr*f-r, proving him to be the Author of the Pursuits of Literature, a Satirical Poem; with occafional Digreffions and Remarks. By Andrew Œdipus, an injured Author. 4to. Is. Bell. 1798.

This injured author is in fo great a paffion, that we may at least give him credit for being what he reprefents himself, an irritable fon of an irritable tribe. We look in vain for the proofs which juftify him to himself, for thus attacking an ingenious and amiable man, with moft ungovernable, and, as we think, unpardonable malignity.

ART. 24. Poetry, Mifcellaneous, and Dramatic. By an Artift. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Cadell and Davies. 1797.

The first poem in this collection is termed Efk Water, and is a defcription of that beautiful ftream. It is in many parts very poetical, and contains fome very elegant lines; we were much pleased with thefe :

Know, young Enthufiaft! tho' thy bofom beat,
With ftrong emotions in the green retreat;
Tho' tranfport fmiling hover o'er the scene,
Thy lafting pleasure muft be fought with men.
Falle is the crazed imagination's ftrife,
To fhun in fhades the common cares of life;
Falfe is the hope, the landfcapes charm will laft,
If pride or floth enerve the glowing breast
ft ;
Falle to extol the hermit's holy beď,

For ends more facred man was furely made.

The other poems are lefs important; and the Dream of St. Cloud, the dramatic poem, has more imagination than judgment, it is indeed fingularly fanciful, yet not conducted without ingenuity,

ART. 25. Satires, &c. By Jaques. Part the Firft. 4to. 29. 6d. Miller. 1798.

We do not fee enough of fpirit or poetry in this first part, to induce us to advife Jaques, whoever he may be, to publish a second.

ART