to be found no where but in a dungeon or on the pillory. There are, doubtless, literary offences which may, with propriety, be left to the animadverfions of the prefs; but language fo obfcene, fo feditious, and fo horribly blafphemous as that of Peter Pindar, calls aloud for the interpofition of the law; and, as long as his miferable trafh fhall live, to pervert the tafte, corrupt the morals, and difgrace the character of the nation, fo long will it continue a reproach to those whose bounden duty it was, and ftill is, to bring him to justice.

ART. XIV. The Battle of the Bards, an beroic Poem. In twe
Cantos, By Mauritius Moonthine, F. R. S. Ox. Cant, Dubl.
Et Edin. Soc. A. B, C. & D. &c. 4to. Pp. 46. 2s. Lack.
ington. London. 1800.

IT was not to be expected that fuch an incident as took place between the man who calls himfelf PETER PINDAR, and the anthor of THE BAVIAD, should pass without fome fatirical strictures, Among the feveral literary effufions which that incident has occafioned, this poem must hold a diftinguished place. It is written with fpirit, and the author is a man of learning as well as of wit. His preface is written in a style of lofty irony, very well calculated to introduce a mock-heroic poem. The author has found occa-, fion to turn his attention to other writers, besides those whose contention form the principal subject of his poem, Hence Mr. DutTON, author of The Dramatic Cenfor, and a writer who denomi、 nates himself ANTHONY PASQUIN, are mentioned in very fevere terms. To show our impartiality, and to give the best specimen of our author's manner, we fhall felect what he fays of that sturdy maftiff at the gate of literature, A REVIEW. The latter part of this extract will doubtless remind our readers of " The Dunciad,"

"Haft thou not heard the undifputed fame
Of these great Sheets that note an author's name?
Haft thou not kenn'd those furious beafts of prey,
That hunt lank Poets in the eye of day,

And, rav'nous, on their flefhlefs members feed?
Not fiercer AFRIC or HYRCANIA breed!
Oh! haft thou not, in fhaggy vesture blue,
Beheld that MONTHLY MONSTER, a REVIEW,
Wont every garret, horrible to scour,
Bloodier than Bum, aye seeking to devour.
A hungry tyger of this horrid crew,
(To the rank fcent of carrion ever true,)
"Upturned into the air his nottril wide,"
And, from afar, the drooping minstrel spied;
Forth from his lair loud thunder'd Critic Law,
Then clapp'd on PETER his tremendous paw.
Whole pamphlets, in his ireful mood, he tore,
Fresh-bleeding Sonnets ftrew the letter'd floor;

<

Meek Eclogues murmur, ftrangled in the birth;
Lampoons, inflammatory, load the hearth;
Sad Elegies, their fwan-like requiem breathe;
Pert Epigrams, ftill lively, fmile in death;
Soft am'rous Odes their balmy fragrance," fhed,
And heap the Desk with mountains of the dead.
Hence ftern Debate, hence Anger, ferret-ey'd,
Wolvish Diffention hence, and Leopard-Pride;
Hence Bull-dog-battle, Monkey-Malice hence,
The Mule's deep Sullens, and the Afs's Sense;
On every fide wild blaz'd the wrathful foul,
And either Ink-ftand bled at every hole!"

1

ART. XV. Peter and Æfop. A St. Giles's Eclogue. 4to. Pr: 38. 2s. 6d. Murray and Highley. London. 1800.

ANOTHER fatirical work on the fame fubject, but much inferior to the former. The author has overloaded his poem with tedious notes. There is a ftrange inconfiftency in his preface and his form. In the foriner, fpeaking of Peter and his opponent, he fays, "to their talents, of which no man can think more favourably than I do, I am ready to do homage ;" yet the whole tendency of the poem is to reproach both as characters deferving nothing but public indignation or contempt. The author's chief purpose, however, feems to be to brand the character of a Barrifter whom he calls SCURRA. He intimates, in the Preface, that this character is intended to reprefent a general affemblage of the bad properties of a fpecies of fcurrilous men, but the particular manner in which Scurra is mentioned in the poem plainly denotes fome individual Barrister. We fhall not prefume to form any conjectures upon the occafion, either as to the individual thus defignated, or as to the motives which have produced what, in this refpect, feems the offering of personal refentment,

ART. XVI. The Parish Prieft. A Poem. 4to. PP. 43. 58. Black. 1800.

for which this poem was written muft

HE laudable smooth the brow of criticifm, and prevent her from being too rigid in the examination of its merits. It is avowedly a tranflation, with alterations, of a Latin poem entitled SACERDOS PARCIALIS RUSTICUS, written by the Rev. JOHN BURTON, Vicar of Maplederham, and printed at Oxford in 1757. The prefent work is dedi cated to Sir JAMES LAKE, a worthy and accomplished Baronet; and the dedication is figned DAWSON WARREN. As the name of the tranflator does not appear in the title-page we know not how we are to defignate the author, but prefume that he belongs to the Church. What juftice he has rendered to the original, or what may be the merits of the additions he has made, we cannot tell, as we know no

F*2

thing

thing of that original. The poem before us does not posseís much of the mufe's fire; but the verification is, in general, fmooth, and the duties of the Parish Prieft are defcribed with fimplicity and correctnefs. One of the motives affigned for this work is to rescue the Priest from the derifion of fcoffers; but the poem itself mentions the refpectful manner in which he is treated by the people who witness his pious duties, and therefore this motive does not feem to be wellfounded, We shall felect the paffage, which reprefents the happiness of retirement, and that which defcribes the tranquil end of the Parish Prieft, as fpecimens of the author's poetical talents.

"How happy he, who through the vale of life,
Far from ambition, far from fear and ftrife,
Walks fafely on-in rural pleasures bleft,
Joys which delight the wifeft and the best
He dwells retir'd, nor views with anxious eyes
Those perishable toys the worldly prize:
To all that's ufeful, good, and great inclin'd,
Eternal life ftill occupies his mind.
Yet while to loftiest hopes his thoughts afcend,
See him his duty carefully attend;

Earneft his facred miffion to fulfill,

And teach to fallen man his Master's will.

The fyren pleasure, with her 'witching smiles,
Here baffled finds her artifice and wiles.
Not difcord, fpreading mifery and woe,
Not reflefs envy (man's most cruel foe)
Nor wealth's temptations can his mind controu!,
Or fhake the ftedfaft purpose of his foul;
But piety, and faith, whofe eagle eye
Can diftant heav'n, and all its joys defcry,
Teach him on wings of confidence to rife,
And fortune's gifts, and fortune's frowns defpife,
Teach him to fet his heart on things above,
And bid him feek the realms of endless love."

"As when o'erloaded with the golden grain,
The harvest falls inclin'd upon the plain;
As when, first loofen'd by the winter's cold,
The mellow'd fruit parts gently from its hold;
So has old age approach'd with chilling breath,
Slow to prepare
him for the ftroke of death;
And, creeping on by juft degrees, at length
Has robb'd his frame of all its former ftrength;
Yet firm in mind and with untroubled foul,
He walks ferene to life's extremest goal.

E'en in the laft fad moments of his toil,
When struggling nature cannot but recoil,
Still full of hope, in confcious virtue great,
He fmiling welcomes Death and meets his fate,

No apprehenfive dread invades his breaft,
No fad complaints, no groans difturb his reft;
But all is peaceful, happy; and ferene,

Till time with gentle hand concludes the scene;
Juft fo the Sun with mild declining ray
Sinks in the Weft and ends a Summer day."

This poem is embellished with a frontispiece, exhibiting the Priest going through the church-yard to perform his facred functions, and the refpectful greetings of his ruftic flock, engraved by HEATH, and a vignette, reprefenting Edmonton Church, in its ancient ftate, engraved by BONNER. Both of these prints, but particularly the latter, ◄ are creditable to the respective artists.

THE DRA M A.

ART. XVII. Ràmah Droog: a Comic Opera, in three Acts.
As performed with universal applaufe at the Theatre-Royals
Covent-Garden. By James Cobb, Efq. 8vo. Pr. 74. 25.
Longman and Rees. 1800.

ÍT

T cannot be expected that we should enter into a critical analyfis of dramatic compofitions that are written with a total disregard of all critical rules, and merely to profit by the depraved tafte of the day. When we inform our readers that one of the chief events, in the comic opera before us, arifes from the transformation of an Irish ferjeant, into a pretended phyfician, and that he relieves a RAJAH from the effects of intoxication by a potatoe, we conceive that they will be fully fatisfied with us for detailing its dramatic merits. Mr. Cobb, the author of this farrago, is faid to be a refpectable man, and he poffeffes talents, according to report, that would enable him to produce fomething better. We are, therefore, forry to see such men facrifice to the degraded tafte of the million, at a time when men of abilities fhould endeavour to raise the stage from its present degenerate devotion to extravagant buffoonery or empty fing-fong.

ART. XVIII. The Jew and the Doctor: a Farce, in two Acts. As performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden. By Thomas Dibdin. 8vo. Pr. 32. Is. Longman and Rees. 1800.

THE praise of this piece, like Mr. Cumberland's comedy of THE JEW, feems to leffon the prejudice with which the Mofaic tribes are generally confidered by all ranks of fociety. The intention is laudable, and we should be glad if the general conduct of those tribes juftified the attempt. There is fome whim in the piece, but it is full of forced jokes. Indeed it feems as if the author had been long employed in collecting a mafs of common-place jefts in order to give them to the public in a dramatic form. But poor as this piece is, it deferves more fupport than the levelling morality and shining cant

of the German drama, which threaten more mifchief to the British ftage, than all the folly and extravagance of our native writers, defpicable as they, most of them, are when compared with their predeceffors.

ART. XIX. The Seige of Cuzco: A Tragedy, in five Alts. By William Sotheby, F. R. S. and A. S. S. 8vo. PP. 112. 28. Wright. London. 1800.

THE learning and poetical talents of Mr. SOTHEBY, and the direction of those talents, have procured him a juft eftimation in literary and patriotic circles. We do not think, however, that his abilities are particularly inclined towards dramatic compofition. This tragedy feems written in emulation of the far-famed Pizarro, and though we are by no means admirers of Kotzebue, we cannot think that Mr. Sotheby's work is to be compared with his in intereft, vigour, and variety. Mr. Sotheby has precluded himfelf from the plea of greater adherence to hiftorical truth than the German dramatift, as the events in the fiege of Cuzco, though founded on an hiftorical bafis, are confeffedly fictitious. The conteft between Pizarro and Almagro is the bafis which the author, according to his own declaration, has chofen; but that conteft, which would have afforded good fcope for agitations and intereft, arifing from alternate fuccefs and mifcarriage on both fides, by no means forms a confiderable feature in this tragedy. The character of Pizarro is not drawn with much force or difcrimination. Mr. Sotheby tells us that though his Peruvian perfonages are fictitious, he bas endeavoured in their chief, Zamorin, to exemplify his own conception of the Peruvian character. We cannot, however, find any thing peculiar in the character of Zamorin. He is attached to his country and its inftitutions, and he is willing even to facrifice the deareft domestic ties on the altar of patriotifm; but this is an Roman trait, and by no means fo appropriate to Peruvian public fpirit and loyalty, as to give us a diftinct idea of thofe Peruvian virtues. If this character be intended as a rival of Rolla, the au thor has failed, for though we allow the romantic extravagance of old ROLLA, in being anxious to promote the happiness of his CORA, even at the expence of his own most ardent defires, yet there is a ftriking fpirit of noble gallantry in the character that places him above Zamorin. The Siege of Cuzco is defective in incident anđ pathos, nor are there any of those furprizes, or that artifice of fufpence, which are calculated to arreft the affections and stimulate the imagination. Some of the lines are very rugged and unmetrical, fuch as

"That ceafed from tears when he came; and the orphan child,

Who knew but him on earth, and at his prefence,

Lifp'd the new name of father,"

"Down the ftrange bridge that floped its arch to the wave." "Of innocent blood, fpilt upon earth, calls down," &c.

The