be fuppofed to have happened ;-fuch at least is the present tale;— which is told in plain and fimple verse; and, though it cannot boast any high poetical decorations, and is not wholly free from grammatical negligences, it may be read with general approbation. Art. 36. The Sweets and Sorrows of Love. 4to. pp. 60. 2s. 6d. Laking. 1793. As the preface to thefe poems is written in a very extraordinary ftyle, our readers may not be difpleafed if we quote it at full length: Buy them, ye critics, and tear them in pieces; I'll smile, and fupply you with more. For not the head, but the heart; not the ftern folidity of the hiftorian, but the artlefs fimplicity of the lover, do 1 flatter myself by any of the following unlaboured verses to please. Alas, how few fuch readers they can have! • Ere Love first reigns and revels in the heart, To defy the critics, when an author is confcious that he merits their cenfures, is a common practice :-but a new perfonification of Love, after all that has been written on the fubject of it, argues at leaft originality, if not genius; and to this praise our poet is unquestionably entitled-for in all our reading we never before difcovered that Love was employed as a house-maid to fweep the duft away. Paffing over fuch trifles, let us proceed to the poems, in which the fweets and forrows of Love are fuppofed to be defcribed. Mary, our author's favourite miftrefs, as might be imagined, is the poet's conftant theme; whether his compofitions affume the form of elegies, fonnets, fongs, or epigrams. That the compliments which he pays to this fair lady fhould appear rather exaggerated, and extravagant, is not furprising, if we confider the nature of the paffion which he feels: but, for her fake, at least, we wish that they had been intelligible. For our part, we confess that we cannot comprehend the following conceit; • My ink is powder, and fweet Mary's eyes Two matches, acting on my heart, love prim'd, Amid this confufion of metaphors, if we could for a moment, by the force of imagination, fuppofe the poet's ink to be powder, Mary's eyes matches, with the addition of fire conveyed through that hollow tube, his goofe-quill, the confequence would be an explosion, which would inevitably deftroy the matches and pen, and might prove fatal to the poet himself; and, in these circumftances, how the pen could .pour forth Mary's praise in mufic, appears to us quite inconceivable. The enamoured writer, however, with modefty, gives us this little piece as a " Conceit,"—and fo he entitles it: but it is fuch a conceit as, we fuppofe, could occur to none but an artillery man, or a mufketeer. As a farther fpecimen of the author's poetical talents, we shall fa vour our readers with the following poem, which he styles Gratitude: 1. What 1. What fhall I fay, what shall I do, 2. Oh could I place her on a throne, In thee I have my being. 4. Thy blissful-beating bofom fair Doth all my thoughts and wishes carry: My best-beloved Mary!'. Cervantes, in the perfon of the afflicted matron, juftly ridicules the writers of love-verfes in his time, who frequently burn and freeze, live and die, in the fame ftanza:-but it is our author's fate to carry abfurdity to a much greater height. Speaking of his deas Mary, he says, ⚫ I fwear I will not live when thou art dead, But flie to find thee in th' Elifian fhade; And having found thee, Oh, adieu! I'll clafp thee thus, and cry, " 'tis heaven, indeed!" The bare idea makes my bofom bleed, And my foul fickens at the difmal view.' This lady's power is not confined to Ely fium, but extends to a region over which, we fufpect, few of her fex would wish to exercise any jurisdiction: Place me on the frozen pole, And Mary's lip would fire my foul; Or in the deepeft hell below, And Mary's frown would freeze my heart to fnow.' What a ftrange wildness of imagination, confufion of thought, and total difregard of good fenfe and propriety of language, pervade the whole of these poems! which are fuch as might, indeed, have been expected from the author of The Genius of Shakespeare, a Vifion*.j Art. 37. Dramas for the Ufe of Young Ladies. 12mo. pp. 178. 2s. 6d. Boards. Robinsons, &c. Thefe dramas are the production of a female, who, as we imagine from the preface, is employed in the education of youth :-but dramas for young ladies educated with all the delicacies of refinement, who are to be the partners of men who avow themselves charmned with feminine foibles, (for fuch is too frequently the doctrine of the day,) cannot be fuppofed to inculcate that mafculine morality (pardon us, gentle dames!) of which, according to our creed, women are as * See Review, July, P. 345. capable capable and as worthy as men. The courageous spirit of inquiry, which fhould lead the mind from truth to truth, without any dread of parting with prejudices, muft not be expected in compofitions avowedly written for the ufe of young ladies. Unfortunately for them, the maxims of education at prefent will not admit them to overstep the precife and chilling confines of the governefs's decorum. Shoulderftraps, back-boards, and neck-fetting, with an impertinent because fuperficial knowlege of French, mufic, and drawing, added to a wafte of ingenuity in abfurd needle-works, and as large a dose of maukish fentiment as the tutorefs knows how to adminifter, form women who are deftined to a life either of inanity or diffipation; to fip tea, fit at card-tables, and hold councils on new caps and caft reputations. Those invigorating efforts of body and mind, which fhould expand their powers and fit them for the arduous duties of life, are kept from them as the deadly poifons that would murder the amiable weaknees of the fex. This being the general mistake, it is not wonderful that Mifs-or Mrs.-C. Short, for fo our authorefs figns herself, fhould adopt thofe fentiments which are fuppofed to be the height of female perfection. The best part of her morality is the general feeling of benevolence which he has infufed into her compofitions, and, in fome places, with good effect. It may, indeed, be fafely affirmed of thefe dramas that they are not beneath, but fuperior to, the received standard of the morality of ladies; and we fear that we may safely throw that of the gentlemen into the bargain. A prologue, and an epilogue, by Mifs Seward, are added: but we own that we have read poetry which afforded us greater pleasure. Frequent and complex metaphors do not confer, but deftroy, poetical energy. Mifs Seward is fometimes too fond of tinfel. NOVELS, &c. Art. 38. The Shrine of Bertha: in a Series of Letters. By Mifs M. E. Robinson. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6s. fewed. Lane. 1794. A young lady may be fuppofed to draw her materials rather from reading than from real life. In the prefent inftance, this, we perceive, muft in a great measure have been the cafe. Mifs M. Robinfon, however, has the merit of having imagined an interesting tale, which includes the ufual incidents of this fpecies of compofition, without being spun out to an immoderate length. Paffionate love mutually conceived at first fight between a beautiful young couple, and ending, after fome difficulties and embarraffments, in the vulgar catastrophe of a marriage, is the fum and fubflance of the Shrine of Bertha but the letters are fhort and, on the whole, well-written; the bufinefs does not lag; nor (if we except thofe of the Steward, which are, for the prefent day, out of character and an outré Slipflop, are any letters introduced unneceffarily. Mifs Lucretia Win terton is in one place made, like a Mrs. Slipflop, to talk of a Venus Medufa: but this is not of a piece with the general exhibition of her character:- the writer of the letters to Courtney could not be fo ignorant. Perhaps, also, when Henry Percival, after his first interview with the beautiful Laura Fitz-Owen, goes to a neighbouring farm-house and writes his paffion on a pane of glafs, our authorefs did not know that the the young gentlemen of 179- do not ufually travel with a diamond ring, as gentlemen formerly did, on their finger. A young gentleman may now be feen with an antique ring on his finger, but moft commonly with nothing. In the progress of the ftory, fome poetry is introduced; for which Mifs Robinson acknowleges herself indebted to the elegant pen of her mother. Art. 39. Afhdale Village: a Moral Work of Fancy. By Jane Gelling. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6s. fewed. Robinsons. From the lift of fubfcribers, and from the author's address to them and the public, we perceive that this novel is published under circumftances which entitle it to lenient criticism. The writer appears to poffefs very juft ideas concerning the female character, and through the medium of her fictitious tale, which is chiefly domeftic, conveys ufeful hints to parents and children, on the important fubject of female education. If it should be thought that she is somewhat deficient in that original invention and that artificial arrangement of materials, by means of which profeffed artifts in this way entice and fix the attention of their readers; or in that eafe, perfpicuity, and propriety of language, which diftinguish well-educated perfons in the higher claffes of life, whence most of the characters in this novel are taken; fhe has at least the merit of reprefenting inftructive incidents, and of communicating good fentiments, moral, prudential, and religious. The ftory has been left unfinished: but the kind encouragement of the public would probably induce the author to complete her plan. Art. 40. The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of James Molefwerth Hobart, alias Henry Griffin, alias Lord Maffey, the New-market Duke of Ormond, &c. involving a number of well-known Characters: together with a fhort Sketch of the early part of the Life of Dr. Torquid. By N. Dralloc. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6s. fewed. Sael. 1794. The abilities of this writer are degraded by the worthless fubject. There are, however, many readers whofe tafte and curiofity will be highly gratified by the contents of thefe volumes.-We remember to have heard a noted publisher, deceased, pronounce the Memoirs of Jonathan Wild " a much better copy, to the bookfellers, than Reading's Life of Chrift." Art. 41. CANAL NAVIGATIONS. Addenda to the History of Inland Navigations. 4to. 1s. 6d. Taylor. 1793. In our 9th vol. N. S. p. 319, we gave an account of Mr. Phillips's "General Hiftory of Inland Navigations, Foreign and Domestic;" a valuable work: to which the prefent publication is a fupplement. Some articles, we are told in the introductory paragraph, having been omitted in the body of the original work, this opportunity of giving them is embraced: the others have arifen to maturity fince the preceding fheets were drawn up. The feveral navigations here defcribed, in addition to thofe that are comprehended in the General Hiftory, are Hereford Hereford and Gloucefter canal Leicester navigation Lewes ditto Monmouthshire ditto Coombe Hill ditto Manchester and Oldham ditto Loughborough ditto Shropshire ditto. The Grand Junction or Braunfton Canal, we believe, has taken place fince this fupplement was printed; and perhaps fome others. LAW. Art. 42. A Practical Treatife on Copyhold Tenure, with the Method of holding Courts Leet, Courts Baron, and other Courts; and an Appendix, containing Forms of Entries on Court Rolls, and Minute Books, Surveys, Stewards' Fees, and a Variety of Precedents on the Mode of conveying Copyhold Eftates. By Richard Barnard Fisher, Efq. Steward of Saint Mary Magdalen College, Oxford. 8vo. pp. 380. 6s. 6d. Boards. Butterworth. 1794. We are forry to obferve that Mr. Fisher has omitted to introduce the law on the fubject of copyholds which is to be collected from the Reports of Burrow, Cowper, Douglas, Durnford and Eaft, and H. Blackftone, and, with very few exceptions, has confined himfelf to the old law which is to be found in Coke's Copyholder, and other books on this branch of English jurisprudence.-We cannot approve the manner in which authorities are quoted in this work; for general references may be fallacious and unfatisfactory; and few ftudents can command time (let their perfeverance be ever fo indefatigable,) to examine Bacon's Abridgment and Co. Litt. for a particular point, without having their attention directed to the refpective paffages.The Appendix contains many Precedents, and, we think, will be found useful. Art. 43. The Law of Tithes. By T. H. Shaw, Gent. 8vo. 8s. Boards. Pheney. 1794. A compilement which may, doubtlefs, be very ufeful to thofe who are in want of information on the subject. MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 44. Moft of the places here defcribed have been fo much celebrated of late in our gazettes, &c. that their names are become very familiar with our English readers, viz. Valenciennes, Dunkirk, Thionville, Landrecies, Condé, Maubeuge, Lifle, and above thirty others. The plans fe m to be correctly engraven, and the defcriptive pages. generally cor. espond with the accounts given in our beft books of geo graphy. |