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condition of the profession in general, and is evidently the produc tion of a sagacious and intelligent mind.

In searching into the causes of the present state of the medical profession, the imperfection of which is freely acknowleged, the author properly begins by taking a review of the state of medical education in the different universities of the British empire, of the manner in which degrees may be obtained from them, and of the powers and regulations of the Colleges of Physicians established in London, Dublin, and Edinburgh, From his strictures on the Dublin college, it would appear that its constitution is peculiarly narrow, and that its public transactions are, to the last degree, paltry and insignificant.

The writer next makes some sensible remarks on the specific nature and object of the different branches of the medical profession, points out their connection with each other, and estimates their respective value to society at large. His observations concerning midwifery fully. accord with our sentiments,-although, we apprehend, they may be in opposition to the general feeling on the subject:

The public voice unequivocally expressed is always entitled to respect, nor shall I ever be the advocate for contemning it. In trath it irks me not a little to hear so often as I am compelled to do, the absurd affectations of false delicacy, which are imposed on the world as the result of natural feeling, and to listen to propositions seriously advanced by these dainty speculatists, for confining all midwifry practice to illiterate females, or for conceding (as the more moderate only are content to do that a male practitioner shall be in attendance in order to give his assistance when this shall be required by his venerable and sagacious sister artist, Has it never occurred to 'these delicately minded and enlightened casuists, that a man thus fortuitously made acquainted with the practice of midwifry must know know but little of his art, and must be very inadequate indeed to af fording effectual aid, where this shall be most required; or haye they never allowed themselves in their wisdom to reflect, that the moment in which only effectual assistance can oftentimes be yielded, may, from ignorance, or vanity, or a sense of competition thus injudiciously excited, be allowed to pass over by the too confident female to whose skill this truly important office may have been committed! While procreation continues to supply the defaleations of the human species

while apprehensions respecting an uncertain event in which the life of a mother, or a child, or of both may be at stake, have power to agonize the mind-while sterling genuine feeling holds its empire in the hearts of husbands, parents, or friends, so long will midwifry be practised as an art by men, who either are or pretend to be enlightened.'

In arguing this question, it must be fully and unequivocally demonstrated that female practitioners may and shall be rendered completely, equal in skill to professional men, before artificial notions of delicacy should be allowed any weight in a case of such great importance.

POETRY.

Art. 15. Outlines of English History, in Verse.

Rowse.

1 809.

12mo. PP. 115. 35. 6d, Boards.

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By Elizabeth Darton and Co.

This

This is a neat and in general an accurate compendium of our history, but we cannot discover its utility. It is certainly very desirable to assist recollection by the technical aid of verse, in respect to dates and leading events: but what preceptor would choose to load the memory of children with above a hundred pages of rhyme, to which the useful detail of facts, and the freedom and propriety of language, are perpetually sacrificed? The rhymes are also sometimes of such a nature, as to teach young people a vicious pronunciation; as in this couplet: Peter the hermit of Amiens

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When at Jerusalem, it seems;' (p. 19.)

and the concluding phrase shews that vulgar idioms are introduced, to eke out the verse The author, however, deserves that praise which has often been considered as the highest that can be conferred on literary efforts :-she knows where to stop, and closes her series of events with the abolition of the Slave-trade. Our future historians, if they feel for the honour of England, will perhaps wish to leave off at the same epoch.

Art. 16, Tenby, the Navy of England, and other occasional Poetry. By George Baker, A. M. late of C.C. College, Oxon. Crown Bro. pp. 120. 5s. 6d. Boards. Carpenter, 1807.

. Mr. Baker's muse does not appear to us to have done justice to -the beautiful town in Pembrokeshire, which is the professed subject of the first poem in this collection. He does not indeed affect to convey an accurate idea of it by his description: but we think that it is not unreasonable to have expected that the charms of this highly favoured spot should have inspired more poetical sentiments, and greater harmony of versification. The following passage, on the approach of evening, is far superior to any other in the poem, -and indeed in the whole volume:

Purple the rocks: the waters deeper blue
Invests, while o'er the western clouds afar
Hues of ethereal temper, such as earth

Names not, their gorgeous glowing lustre spread.
Thence to the broad horizon's utmost bow

Each watch-tower, peering mast, and wand'ring sail,
And many shadow'd moving forms of men,

Blaze with the light; earth, air, and ocean smile.
O last mild aspect of the glorious day!
Calm to the soul, and to the sense delight
Dispensing, stay, yet stay; adorn'd by thee,
All objects of creation fairer seem,

And like the good we cherish, valu'd most
When gliding from our grasp, thy modest charms
Win the full homage of the wanton eye,

That gaz'd unheeding on the fires of Noon.'

The second piece is a translation from a prize-poem, which the author might have left undisturbed in its original Latin, without injury to the literature of his country. We were inclined to imagine, from seeing this translation, and observing a certain want of

dexterity

dexterity in wielding the English idiom, that Mr. B. had hardly shaken off the trammels of school, till we read the Latin poems in this volume; which prove that he has lived long enough in the world to have forgotten all the rules of prosody. We do not complain of the alteration introduced in the quantity of the interesting name of Lydia, (p.105.) though it has much the same effect as if one of our own rhymers should talk of Margery: but, when gentlemen make quovis a trochee, and temeré and facilé anapests, they may as well abandon the hope of excelling in school-boy exercises, and condescend to employ the vernacular language.

Art. 17. Travelling Recreations. By William Parsons, Esq Two Vols. 12mo. with Plates. 1. is. Boards. Longman and Co.

1807.

The moderate pretensions, with which this author lays his poems before the public, will not fail to be admitted by every candid and good-humoured critic. Their composition was to him the solace of post-chaises, inns, and temporary lodgings,' his occasional refuge from the Damon of Ennui, or sometimes his peripatetic amusement ig visits to the city ;' and he expects no more than to be classed with the mob of gentlemen, who write with ease.' We never saw a work more strongly indicative of that most gentlemanly of all feelings, the desire to amuse and to be amused. Unpoetical readers, indeed, may be somewhat surprised at Mr. Parsons's propensity to turn every thing into rhyme; while financiers and lawyers will stare at a grave Ode on the Loan of 1796,' and another to the Right Hon. Lord Kenyon, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, occasioned by some late decisions, and particularly one, in which he maintained a different opinion from Lord *** ** concerning Frauds committed at Auctions. The longest and best poem in the collection is a new version of the fabliau, which Mr. Way translated under the title of "The Knight and the Sword;" here called Fidelity, or Love at first Sight.' The former part of the story in particular is related in a style of much vivacity and enjouement, and the versification is throughout correct and graceful --Of the lighter compositions, we copy one or two:

“In answer to some complimentary Verses on a Lady, which were handed about at BATH.

WHILE

in his strains, which so musical flow,

Does on****** the bright prize of BEAUTY bestow,
And declares that if PARIS her charms had beheld,
He had own'd his three GODDESSES fairly excell'd;
I freely confess that I ne'er felt a passion
For so perfect, so high-bred a woman of fashion;
But prefer, while she blushes, of man half afraid,
The innocent charms of some sweet village maid.

Amid DEITIES still be her Ladyship class'd,
Whose charms she has rival'd, whose failings surpass'd!
For in wantonness VENUS by her is outvied,
And MINERTA in boldness, and JUNO in pride?"

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EPIGRAM.

ON A FANTASTICAL FAT OLD WOMAN DANCING AT BATH, WITH A GIRDLE WHICH HAD THIS MOTTO EMBROIDERED ON IT:

"A la Susanne."

SUCH ugliness may be protection
From any indiscreet affection,
Secure from lovers' oaths;

'Tis net SUSANNA here we see :
A baffled ELDER it may be,

Who stole the lady's clothes!"

SONG,

For a Dinner given when the Author was studying CHEMISTRY at EDINBURGH, in the Year 1800.

A STUDENT I am, and a CHEMIST I'll live,
Since CHEMISTRY wine, and good living, can give,
LAVOISIER I read, Doctor Hope* 1 attend,

But my study is PLEASURE with SCIENCE to blend :
I hear of AZOTIC, and OXYGEN gasses,
CALORIC's a fluid repulsive, they say;

But here is a fluid, which all these surpasses,

For WINE is attractive- and makes the heart gay!

Of Angles, and Triangles, PLAYFAIR may preach,
But this I'll demonstrate, whatever he teach,-
If broad at the base, and sufficiently tall,

A bottle can please-with no angles at all!

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Of cause, and effect, STEWART tells us indeed,

His system is good, and no fault I detect;

But this maxim I knew, ere I came o'er the TWEED,
That good Wine is a cause-and good Mirth an effect!
From DALZEL I learn, by his erudite pow'rs
That the wines of the Ancients were better than ours;
And I glow at the names of ANACREON and FLACCUS,
The rogues were such lovers of VENUS and BACCHUS!
-As the Scors so renown'd are for wisdom and knowledge,
I came hither, some further improvements to seek ;
But this I'll maintain, thro' all forms of the College,
COMPOTATIO'S good LATIN-ETMIOZION good GREEK!
• And SCIENCE Wwe find is now grown so bewitching,
From the garret we trace her, quite down to the kitchen!
While boilers, and roasters, sage RUMFORD applies,
Which delight our Professors, our Ladies surprise;
Tho' the cook maids lament, and declare 'tis quite cruel
To puzzle their nobs with such new ways to dine,

His scheme may be good to economise fuel,

But let him save our coals-ws will not save our WINE!'

*The Chemical Professor.' 'The Mathematical Professor.' The Professor of Moral Philosophy.?

Professor.'

The GREEK

Art.

RELIGIOUS.

Art. 18. Occasional Discourses on various Subjects, by Richard Munk. house, D.D. of Queen's College, Oxford; and Minister of St. John Baptist's Church, Wakefield. 3 Vols. 8vo. 11. 18. Boards. Longman and Co.

Dr. M. expresses an ardent solicitude for the constitution of his Country and the permanence of its establishments, civil and ceclesiastical;' with his dislike of republican tenets, because of their hostility to the former, and of sectarism, as being more immediately injurious to the latter' but he adds, without a wish to restrain the liberty of choice and freedom of discussion, farther than as such restriction may be necessary to the peace of the church, and to the safety of the United Kingdom.' This limitation, with all its apparent candour, is an assumption of much power, for who is to decide what is necessary to the peace of the Church? but, after having perused the following ingenuous sentiment of this writer, we should never apprehend from him any thing in the shape of intolerance or persecution: There are, doubtless, virtuous characters under every form of civil government; and he ventures to reckon in the number of his friends, many upright conscientious, good men, whose religious tenets are very different from his own.'

Of the twenty five discourses which compose these volumes, we find three on Freemasonry and Gregorism; and while the duties connected with these institutions are considered, their praises are also sung: but, as we have not the honour of being among the initiat ed, we shall not apply our compasses and level to this subject. Two others are addressed to the Wakefield Volunteers, on whom the preacher bestows great commendations, and to whom he offers, with animation, very seasonable and useful admonititions. A good discourse occurs on education, preached in support of a Charity-school at Wakefield. Ten or eleven others were delivered on days of Fasting, or of Thanksgiving. One discourse is, with christian zeal, directed against the Slave-trade, and is dedicated to Mr. Wilberforce: Dr. Munkhouse appears in this, and other instances, the friend of human kind. How far his fervour respecting estab lishments, or his zeal against separatists, particularly as expressed in the discourse, No. 20, is consistent with this philanthropy, or with the declaration recited above, or with the moderation which appears to be implied on other occasions, and, as we think, particularly in the fifth discourse, preached on the opening of a church in Wakefield, we recommend to his re-consideration.-We must add that, with this writer's warmth of attachment to the forms and articles of the established church, he combines an ardent rejection of Calvinism; on which subject he thus delivers his opinion: It is a system which has truly and emphatically been said to consist of human creatures without liberty, doctrines without sense, faith without reason, and God without mercy."

The notes affixed to these sermons are many and multifarious :some are subscribed with the initials R. M. and thus claimed by the Doctor as his own; others professedly consist of extracts, which, it is hoped, will be not unacceptable to the reader. Two discourses,

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which,

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