"Like you a father's grief I know, Like you I loft a fon, Yet, yet I feel the dreadful blow, But God's high will be done. "He will not break the bruised reed, "O then, whate'er we feel or fear, For tho' man's fufferings are fevere, There is a refpectable lift of Subfcribers prefixed to the book, but, from fome hints, which the author has thrown out in the publication, noticed 'in the following article, we fear, that many who put down their names, did not put down their money. ART. VIII. Critical Trifles, in a Familiar Epifle to John Fisher, Efq. LL. D. By the Rev. Charles Edward Stewart. 12mo. Pp. 25. Price 1s. 6d. Bickerftaff, Effex Street, London, 1797. this poetical epiftle to a friend, compofed in the ftyle and reviews the different fentences pronounced on his " Collection of Trifles" by critics convivial and profeffional. In answer to upon Mr. Burke, in answer to these lines and fome obfervations his invaluable works, condefcended to honour me with a letter, which gratitude for fo flattering a teftimony from such a man will not fuffer me to fupprefs. 66 SIR, "I receive a very real confolation from the verfes you are fo good to fend me. They are animated with an high spirit of poetry and piety. I am happy to find, that any thing I have done in favour of a caufe (to which I am the more attached in finding that I have it in common with you) has obtained the fuffrage of fo able a judge. Your zeal for that caufe may perhaps a little have warped your judgement. One naturally thinks with favour of thofe performances which are exerted in favour of principles to which we wish well. Whatever be your motives, I ought to be highly flattered with a juftice to intentions, which has fo large a measure of kindnefs and indulgence to the execution. Beconsfield, March 21, 1796. "I have the honour to be, &c. 66 EDMUND BURKE." a charge of want of delicacy, preferred against him by fome female critics, he offers the following plea. P. 14, 15. "Will the ladies permit me to offer before 'em A ftory well known and of perfect decorum ? · "When Salisbury's fam'd countefs was dancing with glee, The ftocking's fecurity fell from her knee, Rival beauties and courtiers (they could not do less) My innocent Trifles feverely you handle, When, by fancy aflifted, you ftoop to invent, And impute to me meanings that never were meant, Beauty, virtue, and excellence out of your reach, Ill to her who thinks ill,' be the motto of each.” He thus comments on the decifion of a critic of a different defcription. * "A PROFESSIONAL CRITIC,† of exquifite taste, In the lowest burlefque would be reckoned a crime, "The origin of the order of the garter, every schoolboy and fchoolgirl know, was owing to this dreadful calamity, that befel the Counters of Salitbury in Edward the Third's time.' "The BRITISH CRITIC.Thefe verfes are unequal, yet, that the author is not deftitute of the talents of a poet will completely appear by fome lines, though founded on a pun. The Epigram on the thirtieth of January, being the birth-day of fome blockhead, is neat enough. Such fubftitutes for rhymes as favage and disparage are not allowable even in the loweft burlefque; and there are a few more fuch faults, but, altogether, the Trifes have merit." "This unfortunate no-rhyme did certainly efcape obfervation, till it was too late to amend it; but I did not fuppofe that a fingle error would be fo feverely reprehended by any critic." Yet Yet in fpite of this fault and fome moret of the kind, 'Altogether.-the Trifles-perhaps-may-have-merit' I deprecate this for the fate of my lays; E'en for this bold attempt, which I feel must be vain, The bard confoles himself for fuch cenfures with the approbation of friends, whofe worth, genius, and merit, ftamp a fterling value on their applaufe. There are fome elegant lines, in P. 21, fent him by a Mr. WADDINGTON; and the following feu d'Efprit from Sir CHARLES BUNBURY, accompanying his fubfcription, which deferve notice: "For the Trifles in verfe, give me leave to propose Thefe light and new play things, these Trifles in profe; With pleasure the critic your poetry quotes, And Newland's, we know, are unparallel'd notes." ART. IX. The Battle of the Nile, a Poem. By William Sotheby, Efq. 4to. Pp. 27. Price 2s. 6d. Hatchard, London. 1799. THE HE HERO OF THE NILE has found, in Mr. Sotheby, judgement to appreciate, and genius to celebrate, his exploits;-a bard, in fhort, worthy of himself. The poem opens with a defcription of the French fleet laying, in fancied fecurity, in the bay of Aboukir, the officers and men rioting in mirth and revelry, and exulting in the fpoils of plundered Egypt and the promifed fubjugation of the Eaft. The approach of the British fleet affords a fair opportunity for paying a tribute of juftice to the gallant TROWBRIDGE, whofe fhip ftruck before fhe could be brought into action. "An author never knows his own deficiencies; if the Trifles have any merit, I thought, and still think, it is in the accuracy of the rhymes, and with the exception of the above and, perhaps, one or two others, I do not believe a fourth inftance can be produced in thirteen hundred lines." "Pope's Prologue to his Satires." "Ah, "Ah, gallant chief! who led'ft th' adventurous hoft, 1 fee thee wreck'd on Egypt's faithlefs coaft!- Let others fing that oft' mid fhips on flame Thy hand has pluck'd from death the wreath of fame, The hero rifing from the ftorms of fate! Yes!--firm of foul, I view thee, TROWBRIDGE! stand, And guide to fame each warrior floating by." P. 4. The battle is next defcribed with true poetic fire, and foon as the din of arms had ceafed ; NELSON, bleeding on his victor prow, "Bold hero! grac'd by many a glorious fear... A grateful monarch twine around thy head Wreaths that fhall deck the wound where Britain bled. And fmites the fpoiler that blafphem'd his God!" p. 7, 8. The bard proceeds to recapitulate the vain-boafting threats of the French to deftroy the British power in the East, and exclaims "How art thou fall'n! gaunt famine, day by day, While hov'ring vultures on a diftant shore, Shriek to their cry, and plunge their beaks in gore. And waded fetlock-deep in Gallic blood! Swept with red mane thy chiefs that bit the ground, And, And, wildly neighing to the brazen roar, Arch'd his proud creft thy flaming phalanx o'er !" The deftructive progrefs of French liberty, at home and abroad, is admirably depicted in the following animated lines : "Gaul! in whofe foul, through ev'ry thirsty vein, Swells the fierce fpirit of the first-born Cain ;' Whose banner, flaming from th' infernal loom, In vengeance waves o'er nature's crouded tomb,--Where'er thy hoft, beneath its pomp unfurl'd, O'erfhadow'd, as they pafs'd, th' unpeopled world: Stern foe! when Albion bade the battle ceafe, And, arm'd for victory, woo'd returning peace, Thy rage let flip th' exterminating brood, The dogs of war, that lap the stream of blood, Famine, that grafps in death th' unfurrow'd clod, And peftilence, that scents where slaughter trod! "Ah! had thy foul to foothing peace inclin'd, A narrower compass had thy crimes confin'd: Now arming vengeance flames th' Atlantic o'er, And taunting infult shakes thy threaten'd shore ;--The idols of thy worship, France, behold :--The fceptred regicides, that ftab for gold!' thee on to war, Though howling furies urge Yet, holier held—ador'd above the reft, Base Mammon builds his altar in thy breaft. "Where marble temples wav'd their vanes on high, Saints, round whofe brow the filver glory roll'd,— Crofs, Crofier, Cope, and rich embroider'd vest,— "Ah! from that hour, when, in th' abyfs below, X 'Mid |