reigns supreme, and is entitled to our esteem and admiration. Every thing of the kind, after the perusal of Paradise Lost, loses its relish, and possesses a comparative insipidity. Mr. Cumberland, however, has taken the incidents of the four gospels, and put them into an easy kind of blank verse-on some of the topics he lets loose his imagination, and his additional › remarks are calculated to aid our moral improvement. We should have been better pleased with the Poem had it avoided all controversial divinity, and rose occasionally to an appropriate sublimity. The plates are very neat and expressive, happily selected and elegantly executed. Indeed, great praise is also due to every part connected with its typography.

The Pleasures of Hope, with other Poems. By Thomas Campbell. Fourth edition, corrected and enlarged. Longman and Rees. 6s. in boards..

WE

E noticed this elegant little work upon its first appearance, and bestowed that honourable meed of praise to which it is, in our opinion, entitled. We are happy to find that the public have been pleased to consider it in the same point of view, having honoured it by an extensive circulation.

HOPE is the most elevated passion of the mind-accompanies us through all the stages of life-nor quits us even in the approach of dissolution. It is that imperious sentiment by which we are led to combat difficulty to surmount every obstacle-and to aspire after the honours of immortality. This passion is sure to be cherished by the generous mind, and lays a foundation for those virtues which invest the character of mankind with an attractive glory. On the other hand, the want of hope deadens every effort, and blasts every opening prospect of felicity.

Mr. Campbell has, in this poem, with the hand of true genius, delineated the Pleasures of Hope in their engaging variety. He has taken a wide sweep in his poetical excursion through nature and art-laying the most promising topics under contribution. We notice

with peculiar pleasure his remarks on the elevated Hope of Immortality, contained in the sacred writings. In these times such a subject is highly acceptable-nor do we think that he has spoken of the pernicious tendency of scepticism in terms of too great severity.

The plates are beautiful in point of subject and execution. Indeed, we hesitate not to declare, that the Pleasures of Hope are entitled to a large share of our approbation. The little pieces at the end proceed from the same pen, and may be read with pleasure and improvement. The last of which, though not the least in our estimation, we have introduced into our poetical department in the preceding number.

Poems, Moral and Descriptive. By Thomae Dermody. Vernor and Hood. 35. in boards.

HESE poems present to us a pleasing variety, and I discover a cultivated mind. The author depre

cates the severity of critic sm-but we feel no disposition to treat his production with severity. The modest muse is en idled to our candour and attention.

In the Retrospect (the principal poem in the volume), we find many descriptions of rural life happily pourtrayed having delineated the benevolent landlord, there occurs the following interesting paragraph :

Thus lives the GOOD MAN! how a country sighs
With genuine anguish when the GOOD MAN dies;
Musing, behold athwart yon black'ning mead,
In solemn march his funeral pomp proceed,
Pride and protector of the mournful throng,
Sad burthen! see him slowly mov'd along,
Far off the long procession's dusky hue,
Now ent'ring at the churchyard-gate I view,

And now, while its new guest looks down from heav'n,

Falls the full tear, and dust to dust is giv'n;

From hearts his bounty eas'd, what sorrows rise!
That last shriek was his passport to the skies!
Ye thoughtless great, with supercilious eye,
Daily who pass the naked wanderer by,

Who grudge one mite of that enormous store
You idly squander, to the shivering poor;
How can you talk of sympathies refin'd,
The liberal spirit, and the extensive mind?
O! witness heaven! with heart and door unshut,
The labouring hind that shrinks into his hut,
Whose latch the mendicant may freely raise,
Nor for the little alms exhaust his praise,
More virtue oft, more native honour knows,
Than grandeur strutting in his birth-day clothes.
I see him, having prest his homely fare,
Pursue some cherish'd trav'ler with a pray'r,
And thank in secret the indulgent sky,
That gave him power to wipe the weeping eye.
Cherubic CHARITY! how soft a show'r
Of balm benign thy silent favours pour,

In the dark dungeon how thy presence charms,
Aims the fond hope, the blighted project warms,
Pervades with open hand the sorrowing earth,
And to misfortune lends the laugh of mirth;
In thy most winning, most resistless mien,
Thou deign'st to visit the sequester'd scene,
There the sick couch from ruder blast defend,
And art its best physician and its friend!"

The Pursuit of Patronage, and the other pieces, are ingeniously written-but the Elegiac Expostulation to the Unfortunate Taylor, contains a vein of humour which made us smile, and which, at a future period, we may introduce into the Parnassian Garland.

IN

Retrospect of the Political World,
FOR APRIL, 180г.

N our article for March, we expressed ourselves with diffidence respecting the measures taken to break the northern confederacy. We have it now in our power to convey more certain information on this important subject.

Sir Hyde Parker and Lord Nelson having for some time past sailed for the Baltic, passed the Sound on the 30th

of last month, with little molestation. They soon met the Danish fleet not far from Copenhagen, and on the 2d instant a most bloody engagement took place, in which the Danes were at length defeated. Lord Nelson led on the attack with his usual intrepidity. The battle lasted four hours. To use his lordship's own words" I made the signal for the squadron to weigh and to engage the Danish line, consisting of six sail of the line, eleven floating batteries, one bomb ship, besides schooner gun-vessels. These were supported by the Crown Islands, mounting eighty-eight cannon, and four sail of the line moored in the harbour's mouth, and some batteries on the island of Amak. The bomb-ship and the schooner gun-vessels made their escape, the other seventeen sail are sunk, burnt, or taken, being the whole of the Danish line to the southward of the Crown Islands !" Such is the admiral's account of this victory. We find, however, that it was dearly bought, as it has since appeared that our ships have been greatly disabled, and near a thousand of our men killed and wounded. The Danes fought with astonishing bravery-but our victory would have been more complete, were not our vessels hampered by the narrowness of the sea where the fight hap. pened. As it is, we must acknowledge it to be well fought by both parties-but the consequences could not fail of being shocking to humanity.

Immediately after this event, a truce was entered into, allowing the Danes a certain portion of time, in which our and their courts might come to some amicable termination. It is most sincerely wished that there will be no more blood shed on the occasion: While our loss is stated to be considerable, the Danes are supposed to have lost double the number. What a pity! that the misunderstandings between nations cannot be rectified without having recourse to such scenes of horror and devastation.

Our fleet has proceeded up the Baltic, and we shall, most probably, by next month, have it in our power to detail their proceedings against Sweden and Russia, the other powers which constitute the northern con. federacy.

In the mean time, we have particularly to notice the very sudden death of the EMPEROR PAUL, who, on the 25th of last month, was found dead in his bed! It is supposed he was carried off by an apoplexy. Be this as it may, and no further particulars have yet. transpired, we must now look to his son and successor ALEXANDER-a youth of whom report speaks very favourably-though it is imagined he will adhere to the confederacy already formed against us. He has, however, given orders for the release of the English prisoners. In his ukase, or proclamation, he has these words, after declaring the high respect and veneration in which he should always hold the memory of his late father" Being educated in the principles which have governed and adorned the reign of my illustrious grandmother, and under which the empire of Russia has acquired high distinction among the nations of Europe, it is my determination to adopt her system, and to renew those treaties which she made so advantage. ously for the empire."

The seizure of Hanover by the king of Prussia, occasions a variety of speculations. This measure indeed, as well as the seizure of English property at Hamburgh, creates a general alarm, and cannot fail of being injurious to this country.

As we expressed our joy at the expiration of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, so we are sorry to find that suspension almost instanteneously renewed.

The increasing importation of corn will, we trust, produce a lasting reduction of its price-great quantities, we are informed, are on their way both from the continent and from the United States of America. The heart of every good man must rejoice in the prospect. The most lamentable instances of poverty and distress have, we believe, occurred for some months past, in different parts of Great Britain!