Yet weighing fubfidies and England's weal,
You ftill in anxious thought call forth
Dark ills, which Gaul and Pruffia deep conceal
Or fierce may burft from towering North.

All-feeing Wisdom, kind to mortals, hides
Time's future births in gloomy night;
Too-bufy care, with pity, Heaven derides,
Man's fond, officious, feeble might.
Ufe then aright the prefent. Things to be,
Uncertain flow, like Thames; now peaceful borne
In even bed, foft-gliding down to sea ;

Now mould'ring fhores, and oaks uptorn,
Herds, cottages, together fwept away,
Headlong he rolls; the pendent woods

And bellowing cliffs proclaim the dire dismay,

When the fierce torrents roufe the tranquil floods.

They, mafters of themfelves, they happy live,
Whofe hearts at eafe can fay fecure,

"This day rofe not in vain; let Heav'n next give
"Or clouded fkies, or funshine pure."

Yet never what swift Time behind has caft,
Shall back return. No pow'r the thing
That was bid not have been; for ever paft,
It flies on unrelenting wing.

Fortune, who joys perverfe in mortal woe,
Still frolicking with cruel play,
Now may on me her giddy fmile bestow,
Now wanton to another stray.

If conftant, I carefs her, if the flies

On fickle plumes, farewell her charms!
All dower I wave (fave what good fame supplies),
And wrap my foul in Freedom's arms.

"Tis not for me to fhrink with mean defpair,
Favour's proud ship should whirlwinds tofs;
Nor venal idols footh with bart'ring prayer,
To fhield from wreck opprobrious drofs.
'Midft all the tumults of the warring fphere,
My light-charged bark may haply glide;

Some gale may waft, fome confcious thought fhall cheer,
And the fmall freight unanxious glide.

WILLIAM PITT."

The decorations which accompany thefe volumes are of a very pleasing kind; particularly the view of the little republic of San Marino, prefixed to Vol. II. and in the third the por

trait of Lady Fanshawe. The view of the Paraclete is rendered ftill more interesting than otherwise it would be, by the intelligence that the engraving is altogether (writing and all)" a complete fac-fimile of the exquifite efforts of the pen and of the pencil of the elegant Mifs Ponfonby, of Plas Nwdd, near Llangollen." The romantic retirement in which that lady has long lived with her friend lady Butler, renders her as favourable a fubject for agreeable anecdote, as many who are recorded in these volumes.

We shall not undertake, respecting a work of entertainment, a fevere fcrutiny of the authorities on which the anecdotes are founded. If we mistake not, a confiderable part of those relating to French names are taken from the Dictionaire Hiftorique; a copious, and, we believe, in general, a tolerably accurate fource of information. That books so various and amufing fhould obtain an extenfive fale, is to be expected; perhaps we should not recommend the ingenious and worthy compiler to load the work too much by additional volumes: but fay in time, "Ohe jam fatis eft, Ohe libelle."

BRITISH

CATALOGUE.,

POETRY.

ART. 20. A poetical Epiftle, addressed to Mifs Wollstonecraft, occafioned by reading her celebrated Effay on the Rights of Woman, and her historical and moral View of the French Revolution. By John Henry Colls. 4to. IS. Vernon and Hood. 1794.

Though an admirer of this Lady's Essay on her own Sex, Mr. Colls is a man poffeffed of no inconfiderable share of good fenfe, but if he be ambitious of the poet's laurel, he muft repeat his exertions. The following extract will present a tolerable specimen of his abilities:

"Who looks through life, with fteady eye, will find,

One leading principle pervades mankind;

That, form'd by nature for the felf-fame ends,

Each on the whole, for focial blifs depends;

That, Sex to Sex, for mutual fuccour clings,

And all our diff'rence from our treatment fprings.
What then is Woman on the prefent plan?
The fplendid plaything of tyrannic man--

His equal, only in a wanton hour,
When lawless luft fubdues the tyrant's pow'r ;
Then, in the fervor of illicit love,

He deems the fair an angel from above,
Enraptur'd gazes on her form and face,
And thinks each blemish a fuperior grace:
At length, all blufhing, from the traitor's arms
She fprings, divefted of her wonted charms,
Condemn'd to bear, for having been too kind,
A frame polluted, and a wounded mind.
Ye vile affociates in corruption's caufe,
Who break through nature's and religion's laws,
And feem ambitious only to destroy
The opening bloffom of domestic joy;
Should death let fall life's curtain by furprize,
And fign your foul's dread paffport to the skies,
Where faithful mem'ry all the paft unfolds,
And God himself the rod of justice holds;
O fay, when ev'ry deed fhall be reveal'd,
And not the fhadow of a thought conceal'd,
What apt excufes will ye then affign

To ward the vengeance of a pow'r Divine ?". P. 14.

ART. 21.

Beauties of Fables, in Verfe: to form the Judgment, dire& the Tafe, and improve the Conduct of Youth. Crown 8vo. 208 pp. 38. Scatcherd. 1794.

Fables, judiciously selected, are certainly feful vehicles of inftruction to youth and the volume before us, with as few exceptions as can be generally made to fuch publications, may be recommended for that purpose. But as every numerous collection of fables that we have yet feen, prefents inftances of deficiency, or perverfeness in the judgement of its author or compiler, fo neither is this totally free from fuch an objection. We fhall fubjoin the following fable, taken from page 25, to illuftrate our affertion:

"DROWNED WOMAN AND HUSBAND.

A man, ill mated with a clam'rous wife,
Who daily led him an unhappy life,

A kind relief from Fate's indulgence found;
And fhe, who ducking oft deferv'd, was drown'd.
He fought her corpfe, and tho' his true intent
Was not to find it, up the river went.

A neighbour, that obferv'd his feeming pain,
Which fuch wrong measures needs muft render vaia,
Told him: If what he fought, he wish'd to find,
'Twas a prepoft'rous method he defign'd:
He rather should the water's course pursue,
Which foonest would restore her to his view.

The

The man reply'd: "That would be more a jest,
For he was fure, who knew her temper best,

That the, when dead, against the ftream would ftrive,
Who was all contradiction while alive."

MORAL.

Thus an ill-humour'd, peevith wife, is priz'd;
Hated, while living; and when dead, defpis'd:
One only good she does; by proving crois,
She faves her husband's forrow for her lofs.
Such helps, unmeet, rather obstructions prove;
Kindle averfion, but extinguifh love:

Their husbands lofe them with a grateful fmart;

As men, for life, with gangren'd members part." P. 25.

Such a tale certainly is not calculated to form the judgment, direct the tafte, or improve the conduct of youth. The duplicity of the hufband, the inhumanity of jefting on a fubject fo tragical, with many other glaring faults, render this fable very unfit to be put into the hands of young perfons; to whom nothing fhould be prefented that might tend to difturb the pure and ingenuous fimplicity. The want of this care is ill compenfated for by a farcaftic turn of humour, or any allurements of perverted wit. Another fault in this fable is miferable profaic flatnefs of ftyle, and total want of harmony. The book is made up of fables felected from Gay and others, and profe fables verfified, the latter of which have in general the fame faults of compofition. Mr. Herbert's fable, from De la Motte, of Genius, Virtue, and Reputation, (Dodfl. Coll. Vol. iii. p. 210) is terribly mauled by bad imitation at p. 128, under the title of the Journey.

ART. 22. Poems, containing the Retrofpect, Odes, Elegies, Sonnets, &c. by Robert Lovell and Robert Southey, of Baliol-College, Oxford. 8vo. 130 pp. 45. Dilly. 1795.

In the prefent ftate of poetry, the volume here announced deferves, and we hope will receive, particular attention; it will at leaft have our praise to help it on its way, and this from a principle of gratitude; it has produced a gratification we do not very often experience. These British Bards affume the claffical names of Bion and Mofchus, and this not unaptly, for their compofitions are chatte, harmonious, and correct. Bion is Mr. Southey, Mofchus Mr. Lovell: the first poem is by the former gentleman, and we think the following lines will excite emotions of tender recollection in many a feeling bofom. Speaking of his first schoolmafter the poet says,

"Even now thro' many a long year I trace
The hour when first in awe I view'd his face;
Even now recall my entrance at the dome,
'Twas the first day I ever left my home.
Years intervening have not worn away
The deep remembrance of that diftant day,

BRIT. CRIT. VOL. VI. AUG. 1795.

Effac'd

Effac'd the veftige of my earlieft fears,
A mother's fondnefs, and a mother's tears;
When close the preft me to her forrowing heart,
As loth as even I myself to part.

But time to youthful forrow yields relief,
Each various object weans the child from grief:
Like April fhowers the tears of youth descend,
Sudden they fall, and fuddenly they end;
Serener pleasure gilds the following hour,

As brighter gleams the fun when paft the April fhow'r.
Methinks ev'n now the interview I fee,
Recall the mistrefs' fmile, the master's glee:
Much of my future happinefs they faid,
Much of the eafy life the fcholars led;

Of fpacious play-ground, and of wholefome air,
The beft inftruction, and the tenderest care;
And when I followed from the garden door
My father, 'till with tears I faw no more,
How civilly they eas'd my parting pain,
And never fpake fo civilly again!"

Neither can we, without obvious injuftice to our readers, forego the pportunity of prefenting them with the following fonnet:

66

Ungrateful he who pluckt thee from thy stalk,

Poor faded flow'ret, on his careleis way,

Inhal'd awhile thine odours on his walk,

Then paft along, and left thee to decay.
Thou melancholy emblem! had 1 feen

Thy modeft beauties dew'd with evening's gem,
I had not rudely cropt thy parent stem,
But left thy bloffom ftill to grace the green.
And now I bend me o'er thy wither'd bloom,
And drop the tear, as Fancy, at my fide,

Deep fighing, points the fair frail Emma's tomb,

"Like thine, fad flower! was that poor wanderer's pride! O, loft to love and truth! whose selfish joy

Tasted her vernal sweets, but tafted to destroy."

Thefe fpecimens are the productions of Mr. Lovell's pen, to whom, indeed, the larger portion of the volume belongs. But, that his friend and coadjutor is in all refpects worthy of him, is amply proved by other poems, as well as by the following fonner.

"As o'er the lengthen'd plain the traveller goes
Weary and fad, his wayward fancy ftrays
To fcenes which late he pafs'd, haply to raise

The tranfient joy which memory bestows;
And oft while hope difpels the gathering gloom,

He paints the approaching fcene in colours gay:
So I, to cheer me in life's rugged way,

Or glance o'er pleasures past; or think of blifs to come...

But