Art. 22. Poetical Essays on Moral Subje@s: To which is added, A Winter-piece, in Profe. By a Youth. 12mo. Is. 6d. Buckland. 1787 The pious fpirit, and the good intention, of this young Writer, will not, we are afraid, atone for the want of fancy in his verse, and of fimplicity in his profe. In the former, his muse creeps as much too humbly, as the foars too loftily in the latter. Art. 23. Poems, by Maria and Harriet Falconar. 12mo. 3s. 6d. fewed. Johnfon. 1788. Thefe poetic buds promife fair for a beautiful crop, when the full flowering feafon arrives; if, in the mean time, they are neither nipped by the unkind blights, nor chilled by the cold severity, of criticifm. For the prefent, we are glad to fee their growth and bloom encouraged by a very handsome fubfcription. Art. 24. Ovid's Heroids; or Epiftles from the Heroines of Antiquity. Tranflated into English Verfe, by James Ewen. 8vo. 6s. Dixwell. 1787. This adventurer, in the arduous task of poetical translation, profeffes to have been early converfant with the writings of Pope: how much he improved his tafte by the study of fo elegant a model, we leave the Reader to judge, by the following extract from the clofe of Dido's Epistle to Æneas: O that Æneas could behold me write ! Which foon for tears fhall drink blood's crimson bue. Cheaply you raise a monument for me. This weapon's not the first has pierc'd my heart; It feels the wound of cruel Cupid's dart. Ann, my dear Sifter, my dear Sifter Ann †, Privy to all my weakness for the man; "Dido's own hand urg'd home the fatal wound." The translation may perhaps be of fome ufe to idle school-boys in the lower forms, but what fatisfaction can it afford to those who are capable of admiring the beauties of Ovid ? Art. 25. Poem to the Rev. Meffrs. Ramfay and Clark fon, Granville Sharp, Efq. Capt. Smith, and the refpectable Society of Quakers, on their benevolent Exertions for the Suppreffion of the Slave Trade. By J. N. Puddicombe, A. M. 4to. is. Richardson, &c. 1788. We fhall rejoice to find that Mr. P. is a prophet, as well as a poet; for thus he predicts: *The eldest of thefe Parnaffian fifters is fixteen, the other fourteen. + Oh! Sophonisba! Sophonisba, oh! S 3 * Ye Ye perfecuted race, exulting raise Your drooping heads, prepare for happier days; Amen! fo be it! - But many there are, who augur differently. The good and ingenious Lactilla, having joined the benevolent band, affociated in the cause of humanity, attacks the flave-trade, and flave-holders, with great fpirit, in a poem which, on the whole, does not difgrace her former works, though it is by no means free from faults. In particular, we think, that, in the heat of invective, fhe mingles too many curfes and execrations with her arguments; fo that her poetry is apt to degenerate into fomething like fcolding.In exploding the pleas drawn from our commercial interefts, the thus flies out: Curfes fall On the destructive fyftem that fhall need Again, after expatiating on the cruelties exercifed on the flaves, by their mafters, and reciting a very affecting tale of a poor negroe, inhumanly butchered under the forms of law, fhe exclaims, Gracious God! Why thus in mercy let thy whirlwinds fleep Thy glorious attribute? Sweep them from the earth!' But let us proceed to the production of another female pen, employed in the fame good caufe: Art. 27. Slavery, a Poem. By Hannah More. 4to. I s. 6 d. Cadell. 1788. Mifs More's performance breathes a more philofophic fpirit, and appears in a more elegant garb, than that which is the fubject of the preceding article. She is equally warmed by the facred fire of LIBERTY, and the pleads the caufe of the enslaved negroes in ftrains not lefs perfuafive, though perhaps lefs vigorous and energetic than thofe of the animated Lactilla. The chief excellence of this poem confifts in its pathetic appeals to our feelings, in behalf of our fable fellow-creatures: • From heads to hearts lies Nature's plain appeal, Though Though wounds there are which reafon's force may heal, The nerve, howe'er untutor'd, can sustain A fharp, unutterable fenfe of pain: As exquifitely fashion'd in a flave, As where unequal fate a fceptre gave.' The poem concludes with a juft tribute of praise to the memory of Captain Cook, whofe difcoveries tended only to enlarge the boundaries of human happiness; and we have alfo an eulogium on the peaceful PENN,' with that of the meek-fpirited fect to which the great Founder of Pennfylvania belonged; and who have fo laudably exerted themfelves for the fuppreffion of flavery; at whofe pious beheft (as our Poetefs happily expreffes it, in the following line), The chain untouch'd, drops off; the fetter falls!' Art. 28. Aura; or the Slave. A Poem, in two Cantos. By Tho. Geo. Street. 4to. 2s. 6d. Kearsley. 1788. We are by no means furprised, that verfe-men, as well as profemen, fhould take up their pens to reprobate the flave-trade, and to plead with the public in behalf of the poor negroes. The Mufes are by nature the friends of freedom, and never are we more enamoured of them than when they efpoufe the caufe of humanity. In a work directed to this object, a small portion of their influence is fufficient to render it interefting. Though the ftream be not altogether pure from the Heliconian fpring, we can drink of it with pleasure if it flows combined with the milk of human kindness. AURA, therefore, is a poem which cannot fail of being read with fome degree of approbation, though it has many imperfections. In numbers generally flowing with eafe, it relates a moft affecting ftory, chiefly founded (as the Author tells us) on a true one, which he had, when in Jamaica, from an old negroe woman. Chriftians have reafon to blush at the recital; for it proves that if we have not the black complexion of the Africans, we have, at least fome of us, the blackest hearts, and can requite the greatest good with the worst of evils. As a fpecimen, we shall extract the Poet's account of the manner in which a party of Europeans, preferved from deftruction by the interpofition of fome humane negroes, rewarded their benefactors: Ofwego's hofpitable manfion gain'd, Conceal'd behind some trees a few remain’d S The story is abruptly introduced; the poem contains fome very weak and profaic lines; and we think the Author might have given fitter names to his heroes than Ofwego and Almanzo, one of which, at least, would found very ftrangely in the ears of an African chief. With fimilar impropriety too, he here introduces the war-whoop of the American favages. The preface contains fome facts relative to the treatment of the negroes in our fettlements, which are recommended to the attention of those whofe humanity has prompted them to establish focieties for the abolition of the flave-trade. How far it is politic immediately to abolish this fhocking trade, we cannot pretend to fay; but HuMANITY feems to require it. Art. 29. The Vifion of Columbus, a Poem, in Nine Books, by Joel Barlow, Efq. 12mo. 2s. 6d. Dilly. 1787. This is an historical poem, in which the great events which have happened in confequence of the difcovery of America, are defcribed as in vifionary representation to Columbus. Though we do not find in the piece any confiderable share of that fire of genius and glow of fancy which are effential to epic poetry, yet, as a narrative of real facts in a poetical drefs, it has fome merit. Of the author's ftyle and tafte in verfification the reader will form no unfavourable idea, by the following extract from a well-fupported tale of Capac and Oella, founders of the Peruvian empire. Led by his father's wars, in early prime, In peace returning with his conquering fire, By nature form'd to daring deeds of fame, That That bounds his glories, and forbids to part Retiring penfive, near the wonted fhade, The author, who is a native of America, gives the public no unpleafing specimen of his own abilities, and of the attention which is paid to the muses, in this rifing republic. NOVELS. Art. 30. Blenheim Lodge. 12mo. 2 Vols. 5 s. fewed. Lane. pen. 1787. From the Titum-ti ftyle, and little feverity in the manners of the perfons who figure in this novel, it is natural for Reviewers to conclude, that Blenheim Lodge is not the production of a masculine Grave and folemn as we are, however, it must be acknowledged, that the Writer fometimes elicits a park or two from our flinty bofoms, which kindles into fomething like approbation. In a word, the liveliness which runs through many of the pages, evinces a capacity for better things; but then it is to be objected, that this fprightlinefs often degenerates into flippancy-and thus have we finally perused these volumes with difguft. The fable has nothing striking or interefting in it; the characters are not fufficiently difcriminated; and as to the moral, we cannot find it. Art. 31. The School of Virtue, on a new Plan. Infcribed to her Majefty. By a Gentleman of the Temple. 12mo. 2 Vols. 5 s. fewed. Lane. 1787. We have here a very fingular production. A novel written, as we take it, by a Methodist, or at least by fome one of a fanatical caft: |