Page images
PDF
EPUB

of this lady, who probably knows scarcely any thing of the severer ills of life, we are nevertheless constrained to protest against the opinion which she seems to inculcate in the following poem, that a state of mind ap proaching toward indifference is preferable to a keen sensibility. It is in titled, 'A Tender Heart.'

"A tender heart-O what a treasure!
"O what a source of varied pleasure!
A gentle word-a smile-a glance-
Can bid with joy the spirits dance;
Nature in her minutest scene,
Her flow'rs, her moss, her turfy green,
Has pow'r to spread enchantment near,
And bid delight in ev'ry thing appear.
A tender heart! cause of sadness!
Of wild despair-of raving madness!
An unkind word- -a look-a frown-
Can sink the yielding spirits down;
And when no real ill appears,
Oft fancy fills the eyes with tears;
Spreads shadows dark on all around,
And bids distress in ev'ry thing be found.
He then, in waters calm, appearing,
Who far from transport's waves is steering,
Should prize the blessing of repose,
Nor wish th' extremes that feeling knows.
And let the thought of past delight,

And hope of future seasons bright,

Console and soothe beneath distress.

The lonely drooping child of tenderness.' pp. 75, 76.

We will add the Sonnet written at Netley Abbey', as a further specimen of Miss E.'s performances.

[ocr errors]

Why should I fear the spirits of the dead?
What if they wander at the hour of night,
Amid these sacred walls, with silent tread,

And dimly visible to mortal sight!
What if they ride upon the wandering gale,
And with low sighs alarm the listening ear;

Or swell a deep, a sadly-sounding wail,

Like solemn dirge of death! why should I fear?

No! seated on some fragment of rude stone,

While through the Ash-trees waving o'er my head
The wild winds pour their melancholy moan,
My soul, by fond imagination led,

Shall muse on days and years for ever flown,

And hold mysterious converse with the dead!" p. 36.

Art. XIX. An Essay on the Life and Writings of Mr. Abraham Booth, late Pastor of the Church in Little Prescot Street, Goodman's Fields, London By William Jones. 8vo. pp. 143. Price 4s. Liverpool, Jones, Woodward and Co: Button, Burditt. 1808.

AS

S the chief features in Mr. Booth's life and character have been exhi bited in various publications which we have already noticed, it will not be necessary to give so large an account of this work, as the excel-. lence of the venerable subject of it might warrant. That the particulars concerning so good and wise a man, which lay dispersed in several pamphlets, should be collected into a more regular, respectable, and permanent work, was certainly much to be wished; and this is nearly the amount of what Mr. J. has performed, with regard to Mr. Booth's life. It was very proper, also, that such a work should include some account of his valuable writings; this Mr. J. has likewise furnished, though not so satisfactorily as he might have done, had he devoted a few more pages to the object. In other respects, he has evidently taken pains to render the work complete; for which purpose he has prefixed an excellent portrait of Mr. Booth, as a frontispiece.

"

It is not quite evident, however, that Mr. J. was the proper person to assume the office of biographer for so good a scholar, and so amiable a、 man, as Mr. Booth. It would be a stretch of liberality to applaud the metaphysics of a writer, who makes such a strong distinction, as we find in the remarks on a work of Mr. Booth's, p. 50, between “exuberance of fancy," and " fertility of imagination. His criticisms indeed are seldom creditable to his discernment: even his motto affords a strong presumption against the extent of his reading and the accuracy of his judgement. On the subject of his own abilities, however, Mr. J. is by no means of our opinion; indeed his indications of self-complacency, and dogmatical declarations of sentinrent, are far from being peculiarly appro- . priate in a memoir of Mr. Booth, whose eminent merits, in other respects, were enhanced by his singular modesty. The sarcasms of such a writer as Mr. Jones, on such a writer as Mr. Fuller, are not a little ridiculous. And with regard to minuter points of propriety, Mr. J. is frequently culpable. For instance, he uses the word "assumption" for suspicion, (p. 69) "names" for men, (p. 3) &c. and, by his use of the word "fastidious," (p. 92) appears to be ignorant of its meaning. He also writes, "such happy strokes of pleasantry as renders," (p. 50); and says precisely the reverse of what he means in the following sentence, (p. 121) 66 to deny that, among those who are disaffected to the doctrines of divine grace, there may not be found many men of good sense and even of. great learning, would be both uncandid and unjust." There must be some mistake, too, in the observation, that, Mr. Booth "has laboured, and others have entered into his rest!" a sentence, however, which Mr. J. has dignified with a note of admiration. It is not very easy to guess whether this point was intended as an expression of the author's admiration of a blundering sentence, or a signal for the reader's. There is either an oversight or an artifice, in the quotation of five stanzas from a poem of Montgomery's, without any reference to the author, or any mark to admonish the reader that Mr. Jones is not the author of them; it must be confessed, however, that no admonition of this kind was necessary. In one respect, his qualifications are not to be disputed; he appears to

agree with Mr. Booth on every point, excepting that he is an admirer of Glas and Sandeman. We should not have mentioned his foibles so pointedly, but for the very lofty and satisfied tone which he adopts in many parts of his work, and the frequency with which he thrusts himself forward under the imposing form, "e." Some other improprieties might have been noticed; but it is unnecessary; and none of them are of a kind to , affect very materially the utility of his publication.

Art. XX. Distress: A pathetic Poem. By Robert Noyes. Second Edition. 4to pp. 38. Price 4s. Williams and Co. 1809. ACCORDING to a biographical sketch prefixed to this edition of a poem first published many years ago, the author was educated for the ministry among the dissenters; was a man of respectable attainments, and on terms of friendship with Dr. Edward Young. After an engagement of three years at, Newport in the Isle of Wight, he settled, in 1755, with a congregation at Cranbrook, Kent. Here he continued till early in 1781, when he suffered a very severe affliction in the death of his wife, aggravated, as we are told, by a sudden dismission from his office, which he had held twenty-six years, the very next Sunday after her interment, on a pretence that the congregation could not support him, though it is stated that they intended at the same time to invite a successor at an augmented salary This complicated "Distress," for he was left with six children to provide for, gave rise to the poem before us, in which a pungency of feeling, unhappily more akin to wrath than to resignation, seems to have supplied vigour to a mind certainly of no despicable powers. The poem has been frequently printed; and, though not composed in the best taste, contains a good proportion of spirited and harmonious verse. This brief notice is, we think, due to the present edition, as it exhibits the poem in its genuine state, and is published for the purpose of benefitting the author's surviving children.

Art. XXI. The Economy of the human Mind. By Eleonora Fernandez. 12mo. pp. 184. Price 4s. Sherwood and Co. 1809.

that

stance.

OF all the ancient adages, none is more frequently found applicable than extremes, meet.'" We think this book affords a very fair inWhen Milton published his Paradise Lost, it might safely have been predicted that no work of the same class would arise for a century ; which is exactly the prediction we venture to utter respecting this performance of Mrs. Éleonora Fernandez. Of her mental qualities it is not easy to speak without an appearance of exaggeration Of her attainments, we shall only say, that she appears to have disdained the humble studies of grammar and speiling book, but has made considerable proficiency in the dialect and doctrines of the Economy of Human Life', A few specimens will enable our readers to judge for themselves of a performance, which, to our shame be it spoken, we really have not faculties to understand. Of a virtuous woman it is said, The tongues of the licentious are dumb in her presence, for they perceive a captivating weakness, awed by the manly virtues.'. Of the hypocrite, The words of his mouth are concealed in a poisonous drug, which defileth the mind of his hearers, while he attempteth to clothe his hypocrisy in the beautiful garb which 4th hath been dressed in; but her limbs are distorted, uncouth in he

6

manners, inelegant in her shape, and the richness of her robe only exposeth her hidden deformities.” Under the section intitled " Modesty" Mrs. Eleanora observes, To taste of the fountain of truth, is to secure those inestimable treasures which die not with the soul, but exist with time, and only end with eternity.'

میت

Art. XXII.The Fisher Boy, a Poem: comprising his several Avocations du ring the four Seasons of the Year. By H. C. Esq. foolscap. 8vo. pp 120. price 4s. Vernor and Co. 1808.

HERE is a poem of four cantos, extending over more than a hundred pages, which we have read without once yawning! This felicity, indeed, we ascribe rather to the novelty of the subject than the talents of the author. It is perhaps sufficient praise, to say that he has collected a number of incidents and scenes, arising out of a fisher boy's life, of which he has been an eye-witness, and described them very naturally, ininutely, and clearly, in simple, but not vulgar verse. An extract from the part which details the occupations of summer, will probably induce some of our readers to peruse the whole poem.

VOL. V.

[ocr errors]

Propitious now the summer solstice glows,

To shrimp with little net our Ned oft goes;

While sultry Leo plenteously supplies,

With savo'ry pawns, that yield a precious prize :
'Tis now with anxious gaze the moon he'll view,
Note well the full, and equally the new;
Then at low-water-mark that spot he'll reach,
Where sand abounds, and rocks bestrew the beach.
His net to hoop attach'd, and fixt to pole,
He nimbly glides into each rocky hole,
With care proceeds the limpid pools to try,
Where shelly prawns transparent meet the eye;
Arrests their darting progress with his drag,

Draws forth the spoils then pops them in his bag;
And while thus busied, he will sometimes pause,

To mark the green crab sidling on its claws;
Will oft preserve in pouch some fine-vein'd shell,
Or pluck the varied weed from rocky cell;
Nor does that living wonder 'scape his eye,
The little snaky living æmone,

Whose fungus body to the rock adheres,
While, like Medusa's locks, its back appears,
Fring'd with all colours to th' admiring view,
In beauty equal to the rainbow's hue.

In myriads, clinging to the stones are seen,
Muscles and cockles, ting'd with black and green,
And perriwinkles; frills, with cockle shell,
Whose flesh of pinkish hue in sauce eats well;
These, with unnumber'd reptiles of the main,
The tide retiring, leaves on sandy plain;
Fit food for contemplation of the sage,
Whose study is prolific nature's page.
Return'd from prawning, Neddy, without fail,
Finds for his horny lot immediate sale,
Ff

Which being boil'd, the long claw'd produce straight
Is turn'd to scarlet hue, though green so late;

Making, what living was as amber clear,

A substance firm, and quite opaque appear.'

Notes of explanation or anecdote frequently occur at the foot of the page, and contribute to the value of the book. If it should reach a second edition, we would strongly recommend the author to expunge his preface and all his quotations from the classics, as they can answer no other purpose than that of exciting the spleen of all persons of taste, and provoking some ill-natured critics to call him a conceited school-boy, who tries to make up for the scantiness of his learning by the abundance of his pedantry. As if to give some appearance of originality to these worn-out scraps, the printer has altered many of them into utter nonsense.

Art. XXIII. The Cambrian Traveller's Guide, and Pocket Companion; containing the collected Information of the most popular and authentic Writers, relating to the principality of Wales, and Parts of the adjoining Counties, augmented by considerable Additions, the Result of various Excursions: comprehending Histories and Descriptions of the Cities, Towns, Villages, Castles, Mansions, Palaces, Abbeys, Churches, Inns, Mountains, Rocks, Waterfalls, Ferries, Bridges, Passes, &c. &c. arranged in alphabetic Order: also, Descriptions of what is remarkable in the intermediate Spaces, as Solitary Houses, Forts, Encampments, Walls, Ancient Roads, Caverns, Rivers, Aqueducts, Lakes, Forests, Woods, Fields of Battle, Islets, Cromlechs, Carneths, Tumuli, Pillars, Druidic Circles, Works of Iron, Tin, Copper, &c: the Roads are described, the Distances given, and the distinct Routes of Aikin, Barber, Bingley, Coxe, Donovan, Evans, Hutton, Malkin, Pennant, Skrine, Warner and Wyndham, are preserved; the whole interspersed with Historic and Biographic Notices, with Natural History, Botany, Mineralogy; and with Remarks on the Commerce, Manufactures, Agriculture, and Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants. (By George Nicholson), 8vo. columns 720, price 7s. 6d. bds. Stourport, G. Nicholson; Symonds, Lackington, 1808.

AFTER copying the whole of this very instructive and amusing title

page, our account of the book may be short. The plan appears to us not very judiciously chosen; but it has been executed with great diligence. The work is printed very closely on thin paper, and contains as much information as could possibly be comprised within the allotted space it is very comprehensive without being bulky,and will be found to afford as much entertainment as can ever be expected in a series of distinct articles of this kind arranged in alphabetical order.

Art. XXIV. Apostolical Directions concerning Female Education. A Sermon, preached at St. Thomas's Square, Hackney, Jan. 8. 1809, to recommend a School of Industry founded in that place. By S. Palmer. 12mo. pp. 20. price 6d. Conder, Maxwell and Co. 1809. THIS plain but sensible discourse is founded on 1 im. v. 10. In the introduction a good account is given of the charitable labours of widows, and the plans of educating youth, in the primitive churches. It is then observed, 1. that the bringing up of poor children, especially poor female children, is a good work'; and 2. that this good work is peculiar

[graphic]

6

« PreviousContinue »