A flave! then lifted in the midnight air Their fpears, while the dun rocks reply'd "WE SWEAR.” This is evidently ftudied, for effect; and we think the effect ftriking. But what fhall we fay of this line? "Above whose blue fmoke wave th' impending pines." And, ftill more, of this? "And melancholy cry of the night-bird.” Or this couplet? "Would not for her dark foes feel honest hate, The harshness of the former line in this couplet, and the feebleness of the fecond, fully exemplify our remark. The fame must be said of this couplet. "And when the red fun leaves the dark'ning sky, Amid the gory tracts, fit down and cry.” The cry is quite farcical, instead of tragic. The following verfe is also very harsh. "To gather herbs that the wild crofts adorn." And this very weak, though certainly intended to have effect. "For he funk broken hearted to the tomb." We will not multiply our examples, meaning rather to give a caution than a cenfure. But we must object also to several modern affectations in this Poem. To the very frequent use of compounded fubftantives not in general ufe; as, day-tints, war-fpear tear-drop, night-fires, death-ftorm, night-ftorm The repetition of an epithet, by way of enforcing it, has feldom a good effect; in the following paffage it is peculiarly bad. by the white, white beard Of him, whose tear-red eyes,” &c. "A deep, deep figh" is rather more tolerable. We object also to the air fobbing. It has done fo in one modern poem before, and once is enough. We think it also unworthy of Mr. Bowles to borrow from Macpherson, who, though not without poetical fpirit, was an inferior poet to himself. He has copied him in this paffage almoft verbatim. "Like the remembrance of a melody, And again: "And fhricks the fpirit in the paffing blaft." Fellers Feller, as a comparative of fell, is hardly allowable. In the paffage, p. 20, beginning "Which oft the homeward," &c. minutenefs of defcription is carried beyond all bounds. But, after all, this compofition has more poetical merit than is frequently found in a poem of thrice the length, and therefore can the better bear thefe little deductions. We bor row from the rich. ART. XIV. The Hiftory of Framlingham, in the County of Suffolk; including brief Notices of the Mafters and Fellows of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, from the Foundation of the College to the prefent Time. Begun by the late Robert Hawes, Gent. Steward of the Manors of Framlingham and Saxted. With confiderable Additions and Notes, by Robert Lader. 4to. 453 pp. Loder, Woodbridge. 1798. WE E have often given our opinion of the utility of topogra phical works, when executed by men of induftry and abilities. They give a permanency to local cuftoms, and even to fome hiftoric facts, which, without fuch a register, might in time become obfcure and be forgotten. In the article of biography alfo, they either bring into more general notice characters of retired worth, or furnish the public with many characteristic facts of perfons, who, though eminent on the theatre of life, muft of course be more minutely known in the place which gave them birth, or which has been their general refidence. The work before us, which, by fome accident, has been long overlooked, is one of thofe that deferve particular commenda-. tion. Though Mr. L. has performed little more than the office of an editor, yet he has executed it with care, and with a defire to collect for the reader every thing that could be procured, either as illuftrative or defcriptive of the subject of his History. The extract from Mr. Hawes's collections forms the basis of this work, of which the following account is given in the Preface. " The following work, forming part of the Hiftory of the Hundred of Loes, is extracted from a very fair MS. comprifing upwards of feven hundred folio pages clofely written, adorned in the body of the hiftory, and in the margins, with drawings of churches, gentlemens eats, miniature portraits, ancient feals, and coats of arms of the nobi lity, gentry, and clergy, blazoned in their proper colours, which was compiled, Dd BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XVIII, OCT. 1801. compiled by Robert Hawes, gent. fteward of the manors of Framlingham and Saxted, in the year 1712; and remains in the collection of John Revett, of Brandefton-Hall, Efq. who very generously permitted the editor to make a transcript from it, for this occafion, to whom he begs leave to prefent his moft grateful acknowledgments. "Another copy of the preceding MS. was prefented by Mr. Hawes to the Mafter and Fellows of Pembroke-Hall; a third (on the credit of two refpectable gentlemen) is faid to be in the public library at Cambridge; and a fourth, in the collection of the Marquis of Hertford. "Mr. Hawes derived much information from the Records and MSS. at Pembroke-Hall, and was also greatly affifted in his researches by the liberal communication of the Rev. Dr. Tanner, Chancellor of Norwich, and John Revett, of Brandefton-Hall, Efq. grandfather to the prefent gentleman of that name." Pref. p. vi. The first chapter opens with a defcription of the town and caftle of Framlingham*, which latter was formerly a feat of the Eaft-Anglian kings; and appears, by the outward walls and towers, ftill ftanding very perfect, though the inward buildings are all now defaced and pulled down, to have been a place of very confiderable ftrength and beauty in former ages. The Conqueror and his fons were Lords of Framlingham, till it was granted to Roger Bigod; in which family it remained, till Edward II. forcibly feized, and gave it to the Lord Tho mas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk; from whom it is traced, through the Mowbrays and Howards, Dukes of Norfolk and Earls of Suffolk, till fold by Theophilus Howard, in 1635, for 14,000l. to Sir Robert Hitcham, knight, who by his testament devifes that lordship to the Mafter and Fellows of Pembroke. Hall in Cambridge. This defcent of the manor is investigated with a minuteness and accuracy, which no other perfon could have pretended to but Mr. Hawes, who, from his office, had access to all the records and documents neceffary for. the purpose. In Chapters IX. and X. a lift is given of the Mafters and Fellows of Pembroke-Hall, with biographical sketches of the former, from the foundation of that college, as well prior as fubfequent to Sir Robert's grant. This part of the work, in which we meet with many names of very great eminence, will be found the moft generally entertaining, particularly to thofe who have had the good fortune to be connected with that diftinguished feat of learning. *Or Freindlingham, derived from the Saxon words freindling, a Aranger, and bam, an houfe; that is to fay, an houfe of frangers. "This account was originally begun by Matthew Wren, Prefident of that House, afterwards Lord Bilhop of Ely (fee Strype's Life of Archbishop Grindal, p. 308) augmented and continued by Mr. Hawes before mentioned; the Rev. Richard Attwood, M. A. Fellow of the College; and brought down to the year 1795, by the Rev. Dr. Turner, the prefent Mafter, to whom the editor is infinitely obliged, as alfo for his unexpected condefcenfion and fuccefs with the Fellows and scholars, in procuring for this volume the plate, containing the portrait of Sir Robert Hitcham, knight, drawn and engraved at their expence, from the original picture in Serjeant's-Inn Hall." Pref. p. vi. To this fucceeds an account, of Framlingham and Saxted churches, together with the demefnes and cuftoms of the manors. Subjoined is an Appendix, confifting of an ordinance for confirming and fettling them in 1654, extracts of wills, and a catalogue of plants growing in and near the parish of Framlingham, which was kindly communicated to the editor by the Rev. George Crabbe, of Great Glemham. The work is embellished with ten plates, including views of Saxted church, Framlingham caftle and church, with the tombs therein, all neatly executed. BRITISH CATALOGUE. POETRY. ART. 15. The Millennium, a Poem, in Three Cantos. 8vo. 389 pp. 75. 6d. Carpenter. 1800 and 1801. This author, whofe apparent intention it is to furnish a kind of Purfuits of Literature on the oppofite fide of the question, is certainly not ill-qualified for the task. The firft of his Cantos was reviewed feparately in vol. xvii, p. 650; fince which, two others have been added, of which we shall now give fome account. The verfification deferves commendation, it is written with vigour and skill, and the irony is frequently managed with no lefs ability; but frequently alfo, like many other fatirifts, this writer finds his way to fome topics, in his progrefs to which it is not eafy for his reader to follow him. The notes continue to be redundant, and filled with learning; but princi pally (except in a very few inftances) with the knowledge and display of modern languages, German, Portuguefe, &c. As a fpecimen lefs liable to objection than many others, we fhall here infert a part of his, not unjust, fatire against the rage for diffipation poffeffing our island. Having sketched the winter, the author proceeds: "But WINTER clofes, the revolving year, P. 30, Canto II. The fatirift is not fo bigotted to his own fide of the queftion, but that he can fee and ridicule the abfurdity of Mr. Godwin's philofophy. But unfortunately he fatirizes, with equal or greater keennefs, the inoculation for the cow-pox, which feems now to be established beyond the reach of ridicule. There is a mock attack upon, what the poet chooses to call JACOBISM, alledging that Jacobinism is unfit for verfe but the attack is intended only as a vehicle to introduce a more real and ferious attack against the oppofers of that peft. We have heard, but on no particular authority, that Dr. Geddes is concerned in the notes, if not more. ART. 16. A Satirical Epiftle in Verfe, addressed to the Poet Laureate on his Carmen Seculare, containing fome Strictures on modern Times and Characters. 8vo. 46 pp. 35. Ginger. 1801. Sarcaflic addreffes to the Poet Laureat of the day are grown so stale by repetition, as to make it rather furprising that a man of talent (which the writer before us certainly may be deemed) fhould choose that vehicle for his fatire. In truth there is but little in this poem refpecting the Laureat or his writings; and in that little the writer facrifices, in our opinion, not only his candour (a quality not always regarded by fatirifts) but even his tafte, to the love of exaggerated and indifcriminate cenfure. We agree fully to his, and the now general, opinion, refpecting the commencement of the century; which he has ably proved in his Introduction; but his fuppofition that old Chronos, as a punishment for Mr. Pye's error, inflicted on the country and its allies I every |