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His barons are, almost all, eager for the war; and, among the rest,
Stood up the proud lord Hume,

Of Scotland the chief chamberlain.
"My liege, (quoth he,) in all your life,
More lucky fate could never fall;
For now that land, with little grief,
Unto your crown you conquer shall.
For England's king, you understand,
To France is past with all his peers;
There is none at home, left in the land,
But joult-head monks and bursten fryers.
Or ragged rustics, without rules,

Or priests prating for pudding shives,
Or millners madder than their mules,
Or wanton clerks waking their wives.
There is not a lord left in England,
But all are gone beyond the sea;
Both knight and baron with his band,
With ordnance or artillery."

The king then called to Dallamount,

Which bodword out of France did bring,
Quoth he," the nobles' names pray note,
Who are encamped with th’English king.”
"That will I do, my liege," quoth he,
"As many as I have at heart;
First there is the great earl of Derby,
With one that is called lord Herbert.
"There is an earl of ancient race,
Plumed up in proud and rich array,
His banner casts a glittering grace,
A half moon in a golden ray."
"That is the noble Percy plain,”

The king did say, and gave a stamp,
"There is not such a lord again,

"No, not in all king Henry's camp."

"There is a lord that bold doth bear
A talbot brave, a burly tyke,
Whose fathers struck France so with fear,
As made poor wives and children shriek."

The king then answered at one word,
"That is the earl of Shrewsbury."
There is likewise a lusty lord,
Which is called the famed Darcy.
There's Dudley and brave Delaware,
And Drury great lords all three ;
The duke of Buckingham is there,
Lord Cobham and lord Willoughby.

* There

“There is the earl of Essex gay,

And Stafford, stout earl of Wiltshire;
There is the earl of Kent, lord Gray,
With haughty Hastings hot as fire.
"There is the marquis of Dorset brave,
Fitz-Water and Fitz-Leigh, lords most great,
Of doughty knights, the lusty lave,

I never could by name repeat.

"There is a knight of the north country,
Which leads a lusty plump of spears;
I know not what his name should be,
A boisterous bull, all black, he wears."
Lord Hume then answered on hight,
"This same is Sir John Neville bold;
King Harry bath not so brave a knight,
In all his camp, my coat I will hold.
"He doth maintain without all doubt,
The earl of Westmoreland's estate,
I know of old his stomach stout;
In England is not left his mate."
The king then asked his lords all round,
If wars or peace they did prefer?

They cried, and made the hall to sound,

"Let peace go back, and let us have war.'

Art. 19. The Poetical Works of Sir William Jones. With the Life of the Author. 2 Vols. 12mo. 106. 6d. Boards.

Davies, Baxter, &c.

Cadell and

The extraordinarily varied attainments, and the high private character, of the late Sir William Jones, must render this neat edition of his poetic lucubrations, and abridged view of his life, acceptable to many readers. The biography is selected principally from Lord Teign mouth's ample memoirs of his excellent friend; and the poems are arranged, not in chronological order, but under the different classes to which their subjects refer them.

Art. 20. Affection, with other Poems. By Henry Smithers, of the Adelphi. Royal 8vo. ́ pp. 210. One Guinea. Boards. Miller,

1807.

Though the contents of this volume impress us with a high opinion of its author's moral character, we cannot say that they either exhibit or promise much poetic excellence. They do not, indeed, occupy so large a space as the notes, which are principally extracted from Bewick's History of Quadrupeds, and the travels of Sir John Carr. The paper and printing are very handsome; and we are presented with some highly finished vignettes and other engravings, from the designs of Mr. Masquerier.

Art. 21. La Fête Royale; or the Visit to Stowe; a Poem, in two CanHatchard. 1808.

tos.

12mo. f S.

"The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast" naturally pro

duced

duced a host of imitations.-such as (not to mention the Peacock at Home the Gala of the Lake, the Elephant's Masquerade, the Lion's Dejeuné, and the Petit Souper of the Eagle: but by what process of association they stimulated the courtly writer now before us to describe a visit paid by the unfortunate representative of the house of Bourbon to the Marquis of Buckingham, it may be considered as scarcely decent in us minutely to inquire. Suffice it that the author himself has told us that this extraordinary effect was produced in his mind; and he accordingly sat down, inspired by the fame of Mr. Roscoe, to bedaub with his macaroni couplets my Lord and my Lady Buckingham, as well as my Lady Mary Grenville, who doubtless are much obliged to him for the compliment.

In the course of this process, the writer has contrived to confer some very essential benefits on his native language, as well as that of our neighbours, by teaching us to pronounce Roi like "Roy's Wife of Aldivalloch," — magnifique, magnific,—coup d'ail, cow'd eel, as in this couplet,

And e'en from his idol a minute would steal,

To glance o'er the splendour a rapid coup d'œil,

and to call secretary, secretary; sinile, similee, &c. &c. &c. He has conferred an equal kindness on poor Louis XVIII., by put ting this wise and witty speech into his mouth;

And still may auspicious Heaven its showers

Of blessings, of honour, of health, and of peace,
On the loved house of Grenville for ever increase;"

to which, with vast politeness, my Lord Marquis is made to reply,
Good health to the King! With its honours restored,
And in splendour revived, may the house of Bourbon

Give

peace to the world from its merciful throne !'

The Poem concludes with the ceremony of planting 32 oaks by the royal party, as a living monument of the visit.' We really hope, for the sake of my Lord Buckingham's descendants, that the trees may flourish when the planters and the poet are forgotten.

Art. 22. Specimen of an English Homer in Blank Verse. 8vo. pp. 30. 1s. 6d. Payne. 1807.

The author of this specimen says that he first undertook to try his powers in translating Homer, in consequence of a declaration made by Mr. Knight in his "Inquiry into the Principles of Taste," that blank verse was not suited to epic poetry: but he farther informs us that his attempt was soon laid aside. On the appearance, however, of the translation of the first book of the Iliad by the Archdeacon of Merioneth, he was induced to examine what he had before written; and on a comparison he resolved to blend together his own, the Archdeacon's, and Cowper's versions, and try whether a specimen of an English Homer might not be thus produced, such as would be tole rably true to its archetype, and at the same time readable to an English reader. The result is the specimen which he has laid before the public. We quote the first sixteen lines:

See Rev. Vol. lii. N. S. p. 441.

· The

The stern resentment of Achilles, son
Of Peleus, Muse record,-dire source of woe;
Which caus'd unnumber'd ills to Greece, and sent
Many brave souls of heroes to the shades
Untimely, and their bodies gave a prey
To dogs and every ravenous bird: so will'd
The all ruling providence of Jove, when first
In fierce dissension strove the king of men,
Atrides, and Achilles Goddess-born.

'What Power their fury urg'd to fatal deeds?—
Jove's and Latona's son.-He, by the king
Offended, a destroying pestilence sent
Among the host: the people victims fell:
And this, because Atrides dar'd insult

Chryses, his priest. To the swift ships of Greece
He came, with costly ransom to redeem
His captive daughter: in his hands he bore
The ensigns of Apollo Archer god,

His wreath and golden sceptre. Much he sued
To all the Greeks, but chief his prayer address'd
To Atreus' sons, joint leaders of the host.'

The whole specimen consists of a translation of 222 lines of the first book of the Iliad; and the admired interview between Hector and Andromache, comprehending 90 lines from the sixth.--We think that the execution is on the whole, as every translation ought to be, close, spirited, and easy; the versification is also for the most part harmonious; but in this department there is evident room for improvement; and a few more close revisals would have made the specimen still more worthy of the approbation of the public.

In publishing this effort, the author intends only to shew what may be done by any person who is well qualified for the undertaking; at the same time declaring that he has not the most distant thoughts of ever himself proceeding with a task, which, were he competent to it, he should in his present circumstances find too laborious.

MILITARY AFFAIRS.

Art. 23. Official Letters written by Lieut. Col. Henry Haldane, Captain of Royal Invalid Engineers, to the Masters General of His Majesty's Ordnance, since the Year 1802. 8vo. 2s. Harding. We briefly stated the point at issue between this gentleman and the Master General of the Ordnance, in noticing his letters to Lord Chatham, Rev. Vol. xliii. N. S. p. 448. The present pamphlet contains, besides his former letters, a number of additional observations in support of his claim to army promotion, his correspondence with the Earl of Moira, while at the head of the Ordnance, and his Memorial to the King. He remains unsuccessful in his applications.

NOVEL.

Art. 24. The Hungarian Brothers. By Miss Anna Maria Porter. 12mo. 3 Vols. 138. 6d. Boards. Longman and Co.

In this novel are pourtrayed, with considerable ability, the different characters of Charles and Demetrius, Counts of Leopolstat. The one is, on all occasions, calm, thoughtful, and discreet, never undertaking any object but such as a deliberate judgment pronounces to be just and proper: the other, although born with a disposition equally good, is warm, impetuous, and governed solely by the impulse of the moment. In the consequences which arise to these persons from their different modes of conduct, a very valuable lesson is taught to young people; since honour and prosperity attend the one, while difficulties and dangers wait on the other, and are so forcibly described as to leave a deep impression on the reader. The secondary characters are also ably supported; and the tale is well told. The work therefore claims a respectable station among writings of this class.

:

EDUCATION.

Art. 25. Festuca Grammatica; the Child's Guide to some Principles of the Latin Grammar, in which the original and natural Delineation of the Verb is restored, by Means of the English Particles, to Six certain Rules, most easy to be comprehended by Children with a Phraseologicon of the regular Latin Syntax; shewing its very extensive Analogy with the English, to be a true and most ready medium through which to initiate a young Scholar in the Latin Tongue. By the Rev. Richard Lyne, Author of the Latin Primer. 12mo. PP. 142. 2s. 6d. Law.

Conformably to its long title, this work professes to be an improvement on the usual manner of teaching the Latin language; and were the extent of improvement equal to that of the alteration proposed, it would be a valuable tract indeed; scarcely any part of the old method being retained. As the alterations are so extensive, we should hardly expect that the plan here proposed would be generally adopted: but several of the observations which are offered are so much to the purpose, that they may be perused with profit by those who wish to make a proficiency in the language; indeed these remarks on and illustrations of the Latin idioms are very valuable. The author seems to possess a considerable degree of observation and industry, and his strictures are ingenious and acute : but the work is defective in arrangement; and if ever a second edition be printed, we advise him to introduce some modifications into the plan, that will render it more alluring and useful to the student.

Art. 26. The Primitives of the Greek Tongue, in five Languages, viz. Greek, Latin, English, Italian, and French; in Verse. By J. F. Alphonse Roullier. 8vo. pp. 112. 3s. 6d. sewed. Longman and Co.

To turn individual words of five languages into verse shews a reso lution of no uncommon kind; yet this is the task that has been ac complished in the work before us, in which the author's object was to render the attainment of those languages more easy, since words in poetic numbers are remembered with less difficulty than in prose. The verse is hexameter: the Greek primitives are alphabetically dis REV. AUG. 1808.

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posed;

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