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extend to all that bear the image of our divine Master, and shew that they love him sincerely, by keeping his commandments. This is the decisive rule by which he has taught us to judge who are, and who are not, his genuine disciples. By their fruits," (says he) "shall ye know them."

If it be said, as an objection to our brotherly love for any who make a Christian profession, that they adopt principles which serve to enfeeble the power, and sully the glory of the Gospel ;-allowing this to be really the case, or that we, in our deliberate judgment, believe it is; yet, if under the influence of other principles, which they embrace in common with ourselves, they still discover a truly Christian temper; shall we consider and treat them as aliens from the great household of faith, and strangers to the covenant of promise? Is not this pronouncing judgment upon another man's servant, where we have no warrant? And will it not serve to confirm them in the mistakes into which we think they have fallen? Will it not, also, provoke them to observe the same rule of conduct towards ourselves, which we observe towards them; and thus beget endless jealousies and contentions, that will prove greatly injurious to the credit and progress of the Christian cause in the world? Would it not be much better, for our own credit and comfort, and for the advancement of the truth as it is in Jesus, to do them (mistaken as they may be thought) every personal office of kindness in our power? Should we not, in duty, endeavour to convince them that our principles are better than theirs, by the more excellent fruits which they produce in our lives and temper?

We cannot, indeed, without dishonouring ourselves, nor should we, from regard to the best interest of others, do any thing that will encourage the spread of principles which we really think to be false and dangerous: on the contrary, we are commanded in the spirit of meekness and love, "to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." Our duty, here, however, surely, does not require us to disown as brethren, or refuse doing acts of brotherly kindness to those who, by breathing the spirit of Christ, prove that they really belong to his family. This is a badge of distinction so important in itself, and which reflects so much honour upon the cause of our divine Master, that it should certainly entitle all upon whom it is found, to every office of kindness we are capable of rendering them, in whatever particulars they may differ from us besides. And the readiest way we can take to correct their errors, if they have fallen into any, is to convince them that we feel a tender concern for their interest. They may not hold exactly the same place in the household of faith with ourselves; but still, as members of the same family, servants of the same master, and heirs of the same glorious expectations and hopes; we have one common relation and interest, and are bound, by peculiar obligations, to consult and promote each other's welfare.' P. 416.

The same sentiment is frequently inculcated; and indeed, till the world wears a very different appearance, it cannot be too often inculcated on every Christian community for

it is not the name we bear, the profession we make, or the stations we fill in the world and the church; it is not a fiery zeal for this,

and the other particular party, into which the Christian world is divided, or whether we worship God according to an established form, or amongst dissenters from it: I will add, it is not a partial conformity to some few commands of Christ, or a temporary conformity to them all; It is not, I say, any one of these too much valued distinctions, nor all of them united together, that will denominate us true Christians, in the judgment of the great day. Whatever importance they may be thought to carry, in the present opinion of prejudiced and fallible men, when weighed in the balance of our final and unerring judge they will be found wanting. Unless we possess, in some prevailing degree, the mind of Christ, whatever other pretensions we may make to the character of his disciples, we shall assuredly be disowned and rejected by him.' P. 409.

These just views of an appropriate Christian temper natu rally take their rise from enlarged conceptions of the character and conduct of the author of our religion. In a sermon on the authoritative manner in which our Lord delivered his doctrine,' we trace these sentiments to their proper source; and the following passage points out the distinction between our Saviour and every other human being in the justest manner.

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Impostors may, indeed, sometimes affect airs of great confidence and importance, to raise their credit in the world. But conscious as they must be of their own insincerity, they cannot always, nor long, keep up the deception. Those who follow them into their private walks, and carefully mark their steps, will soon discern the vanity of their pretensions. Whereas our Lord, upon no occasion, departed in the smallest degree, from the high character he assumed. Whatever changes took place in his outward circumstances, or with whomsoever he conversed, a noble superiority still appeared in every thing he said and did. Strip the greatest heroes upon earth of some few shining qualities and achievements which attract the public admiration, and you will find them the same feeble and imperfect beings with the rest of their species. And follow the persons who are most celebrated for genius and learning into their private recesses, and you will probably see them fall into weaknesses and follies that would dishonour an illiterate peasant. But our divine Master preserved the same dignity of conduct, the same wisdom and goodness, in private as in public life, and at the festive entertainment, as in the temple or the synagogue; and when he was buffeted and spit upon by an insolent rabble, as when he was entering Jerusalem, with triumph, amidst the hosannahs of its fickle inhabitants. Such, indeed, was the excellence of his character, that he even rises in our esteem and veneration, the lower we behold

him sinking in his outward circumstances. Never did he appear, in any period of his life upon earth, more great and venerable, than when he was employed with his expiring breath, amidst the rude shouts of an insulting mob, and under all the shame and anguish of erucifixion, in interceding for his cruel murderers, and bestowing the blessings of paradise upon the penitent companion of his sufferings. Let us delight to contemplate these truly astonishing displays of his

glory; and let the contemplation of them establish our faith in the truth of his doctrine, the fulfillment of his promises, and the execution of his awful denunciations.' P. 308.

"We could with pleasure transcribe many other passages from these discourses: but the above extracts will care a favorable impression on the reader; and we will only add to them one more, on the proper employment of our time.

There is a time proper for every purpose under heaven, which a wise man can wish, and which the present mixed state of things requires us to prosecute. We are ourselves a wonderful composition of what is great and small-of what allies us to worms, and unites us to angels. And suited to the imperfections of our nature, are the occupations of life: in some, we descend to a level with the beasts that perish; in others, we emulate the exalted employments of those happy beings who worship before the throne of God. They have each, however, their respective importance; and there is no reason why one should be allowed to intrude upon, and exclude another. There are seasons proper for pursuing the necessary business and innocent enjoyments of this life, as well as for cultivating the temper which is necessary to prepare us for the blessedness of the next; and those men who devote that portion of their time to exercises of religion, which they ought to employ in the management of their secular affairs; and who neglect the business of the shop and compting-house, under pretence of attending to the duties of the closet, or the house of God, are chargeable with an egregious mistake, and lay themselves open to the rebuke which our Lord passed upon the Pharisees" these things ought ye to have done and not left the other undone."

Every thing is beautiful in its season." Whereas what is highly important and commendable, in itself considered, by being ill-timed, so far from entitling us to any real esteem, becomes the deserved object of reproach and censure. It should be our care, therefore, to learn, not only what plans and purposes it becomes us to form; but to consider and embrace the proper seasons for prosecuting them.'

P. 101.

ART. XI.-Componimenti Lirici de' più illustri Poeti d'Italia scelti da T. J. Mathias. 3 Tomes.

Lyric Productions of the most celebrated Poets of Italy, selected by T. J. Mathias. 12mo. l. 11s. 6d.

Becket. 1802.

3 Vols.

Boards.

WE have often to regret, in the course of our periodical lucubrations, that many of the most classical scholars of our own age, who are endowed with an ample portion of genius, seem to have forgotten the present world in contemplation of the past; and are so super-saturated with Latin and Greck, that they cannot find either time or room for the acquisition or retention of modern tongues. Such is not the

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case with Mr. Mathias, whom we may justly allow to adopt the language of Milton, and assert- Non me tam ipsa Athenæ Atticæ cum illo suo pellucido Ilisso, nec illa vetus Roma suâ Tiberis ripâ, retinere valuerunt, quin sæpe Arnum vestrum et Fesulanos illos colles invisere amem;' and whose Italian diction is, for the most part, so correct, as to have reflected no discredit upon the Della Cruscan academy

itself.

In respect to size and typography, these volumes are intended to match with our compiler's edition of Select Sonnets and Canzonets of Petrarch, published about two years ago, under the title of Rime Scelte di Francesco Petrarca; in consequence of which, the specimens adduced from this poet, in the present collection, are pieces which were not admitted into the Select Rhymes:' they are, indeed, few in number, and by no means of pre-eminent merit.

Mr. Mathias opens his work with two distinct addresses, in the Italian language; of which the first is super-scribed to two right learned friends of his own (eruditissimi amici suoi), under the fictitious names of Aleæus and Aristippus; and the second, topoetic and cultivated English readers.' As a specimen of the perseverance and success with which he has studied this elegant tongue, we shall copy from the latter his own version into it, of Mr. Gray's Sonnet on the Death of the honourable R. West, which he regards as the most perfect of its kind that has ever been composed in English, and, on account of its tenderness and exquisitely polished melody, as altogether worthy of the vale of Vaucluse. The translation, he adds, was executed some years ago.

In van per me ride il nascente giorno,

E'l Sole innalza i rosseggianti rai,
Sciolgon gli augelli in van pietosi lai,
E'l suol rinverde in lieto manto adorno:
Altri oggetti i' desio di giorno in giorno,
Ed altre note, ahi! note no, ma guai;
Non giunge il mio martir tra' spirti gai;
Muor la gioja imperfetta a me d'intorno.
Sorge l'Aurora intanto annunziatrice
Di novi ufizj a' più felici cori;
Sparge i suoi beni il suol con larga mano;
Destan gli augelli lor vezzosi amori;
Io chiamo lui cui più sentir non lice,
E piango più perchè lo piango in vano.'

Vol. i. r. xiii.

We subjoin the original, for a comparison.

In vain to me the smiling mornings shine,
And redd'ning Phoebus lifts his golden fire,
The birds in vain their amorous descant join,
Or cheerful fields resume their green attire:

These ears, alas! for other notes repine,
A different object do these eyes require:
My lonely anguish melts no heart but mine,
And in my breast the imperfect joys expire.

Yet morning smiles the busy race to cheer,
And new-born pleasure brings to happier mens
The fields to all their wonted tribute bear;

To warm their little loves the birds complain;
I fruitless mourn to him who cannot hear,

And weep the more, because I weep in vain.' Vol. i. p. xii.

As the return of the word giorno, in the fifth line of the translation, is by no means necessary, and does not occur in the original, we are surprised that Mr. Mathias should have introduced it, as a rhyme to the same word in the first line. Such a poverty of invention is scarcely to be tolerated in any language, but least of all in the Italian, in which the facility of rhyming is so considerable, as to afford daily instances of extemporaneous sonnets of no inconsiderable merit. The poets from whom our author has deduced his Ivric selections, are Dante, Cino, Petrarch, Lorenzo de' Medici, Poliziano, Ariosto, Bembo, Sannazzato, Amalteo, Della Casa, Paterno, Vittoria Colonna, Molza, Tanzillo, Martelli, Torquato and Bernardo Tasso, Celio Magno, Lemene, Magi, Cotta, Casaregi, Manfredi, Rinaldi, Chiabrera, Filicaja, Testi, Venerosi, Badori, Gozzi, Rozzi, Zappi, Brugueres, Frugoni, Menzini, and Guidi. The latter part of the third volume consists of sonnets, selected principally from the same poets, but occasionally from a few others. The reader will hence easily conceive that the editor has furnished a sufficient variety of subject, as well as of style; and, upon the whole, we think the choice he has manifested evinces an excellent judgement and correct taste. As he has devoted so large a space, however, to Petrarch, we are astonished that his friend Boccacio has not been admitted to a share: Tassoni might also have been allowed to keep company with his contemporaries, Bernardo and Torquato Tasso; and neither Marino, nor Mario Colonna, would have disgraced them. In culling from the poems of Filicaja, the master-piece of his sacred lyrics has been unaccountably omitted: we mean his Ode on the Siege of Vienna, which begins:

E fino a quanto inulti

Fian, SIGNORE, i tuoi servi? E fino a quanto

Dei barbarici insulti

Orgogliosa n'andrà l'empia baldanza ?

Dov' è, dov'è, gran Dio, l'antico vanto

Di tu' alta possanza?' &c.

The production, which bears the nearest affinity to this

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