Each retiring to its nest, W. CASE, JUX. ON THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN WESTCOTT, WHO.FELL ON BOARD THE MAJESTic, itt AUGUST, 1798. TU HILST every shore re-echoes Nelson's name, VV And recent conquest swells Britannia's fame; Whilft a glad nation's lö Pæans rise In joyful chorus to the vaulted skies; O let the muse lament brave Westcote's doom, And strew fair laurels o'er his briny tombNurtur'd in youth upon the wat’ry plain, He brav'd the thousand perils of the main, And gain'd, at length, a title jusly due, The honour'd father of his gallant crew. Prudence was his, and unremitting zeal, And mercy-prompt a captive's woes to heal; His country's cause his patriot-bofom fir'd, And in that cause he fought-he fell-expir'd. W. CASE, JUN GUELPHO AND ERMINIA. The moon was in its wane. The barn-dog howl'd-loud scream'd the glocd, The speckled toad hiss’d dire, GUELPHO urg'd his flying Need O'er wild-fern, brake, and briar. And now the thunders roll, And skims the murky pool. Whose winding mazes lead Recount the bloody decd. He heard the bell toil " ONE"Hope to my soul he joyful cries, The deed of death is dune. To wayward love a prey- A momentary day. How swift they dart along; Unbleft with funeral fong. The dagger's grissly wound; W. MUDFORD, SONNET TO THE OAK. Full oft has friendship carv'd thy knotted side, Unlike the foppilh flower that rears its head, When the proud fun from Cancer flings his rays; The first chill blast of autumn frowns it dead, Blights all its sweetness, and its form decays : In vain assaults thy time-defying form ; Enjoy the sunshine and endure the storm; CIVIS, SONNET. The world affords, and these alone are mine. No self-created cares be-cloud bis day, That fings to please himself, and not the throng; Renews his daily blessings, and his song. Alas! for me, with each revolving day, My cares must still increase, my happinefs decay, Wolverhampton, CIVIS. June 14th, 1799. : Literary Review. View of the Russian Empire during the Reign of Ca tharine the Second, and to the Close of the present Century. By William Tooke, F. R. Š. Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, and of the Economical Society at St. Petersburg. In Three Volumes. Longman. sl. 75. THE Ruffian empire, at the commencement of the 1 present century, emerged from its obscurity, and is now becoming the most renowned among the nations of the earth. We are glad, therefore, to have recourse to an author who can satisfy our curiosity refpeéting it. Mr. Tooke is already known to the public by his entertaining Life of the late Empreis, an account of which was given in our last Review. That the author is well qualified for the task he has here undertaken, will abundantly appear from the perusal of this accurate and laborious work. The Advertisement is so full and expressive of the nature and tendency of the work, that we shall insert it. ADVERTISEMENT. • The Russian empire, which in various respects now fixes the attention of Europe, has for several years been the subject of a multitude of investigations and writings, by which the knowledge of that country is considerably improved and enlarged. The care which Catharine the Second, from her first accession to the throne, and during the whole of her reign, devoted to the cultivation of this knowledge, has been attended with so much success, that Russia, which, prior to the year 1762, was a fort of terra incognita in our part of the globe, is Vol. VIII, H now now in possession of a very considerable store of materials, from which the present state of this remarkable country may be illustrated and described. The first and moft important step to the elucidation of the natural and moral condition of Russia, was the appointment of the academiciants of St. Petersburg to travel for the purpose of exploring its qualities in both these respects; and their journals still form the basis of all that we know with certainty of the internal state of this extensive em. pire. These important discoveries assisted the zeal of some induttrious foreigners, who either in the country itself, or by correspondence and connections, coilected useful materials, and communicated the result of their labours to the public. By the introduction of the governments, which, besides the bene ścial effects they produced on the political administration of the empire, greatly assisted the knowledge of the country; by the admeasurement and survey of the districts assigned them, which facilitated the construction of special charts on a more accurate plan; by the more adequate enumeration of the people, &c. but, above all, by the wise and enlightened publicity with which it was allowed to treat of these matters, This knowledge acquired such a powerful accession, that the idea of a systematical digest of all the necessary materials, was me longer to be considered as a vain speculation. Busching at first, and after him Meffrs. Schlætzer, Herrmann, Hupel, and Jaftly Storch, drew up their topographies and Itatistics of the empire; still, however, the voluminous journals of the academicians lay unopened to this country, and the travels of Pallas, Guldenstadt, Georgi, Lepechin, Falk, the Gmelins, Fischer, and others, were in England known only by the occasional mention of their extraordinary value, with deserved encomiums on the talents and labours of their authors, in the reports of our countrymen on their return from a transient visit to St. Petersburg. " Having passed the greater part of the long reign of the Fate Empress, in her dominions; favoured for many years with the friendship and intimacy of two successive directors of the academy, with free access to its libraries and collections, and being personally acquainted with several of the travellers themselves, I presume to lay before the public this View of the Russian Empire, in which I have faithfully followed the au thors |