"Twill tell thee that the winged day Can ne'er be chain'd by man's endeavour; That life and time shall fade away, While heav'n and virtue bloom for ever." P. 159. There are two or three tales of ghofts, told at fome length; but they feem rather defigned as burlesques of Mr. Lewis's ghost stories, than as imitations of them. ART. 16. Juvenilia; or, a Collection of Poems: written between the Ages of Twelve and Sixteen. By J. H. L. Hunt, late of the Grammar School of Chrift's Hofpital. Second Edition. Evo. 236 pp. 6s. Rivingtons. 1801. By the Advertisement prefixed to thefe Poems, it appears that the age of the author, at the time of publication, was only fixteen, and that feveral of the Poems were written at a much earlier age. A very refpectable Lift of Subfcribers follows, and may well account for the publication of these juvenile performances; which confift of Mifcellaneous Poems, Tranflations, Sonnets, Paftorals, Elegies, Odes, Hymns, and Anthems. In noticing the compofirions of early youth, we would be as mild as poffible, and feel peculiarly defirous to difplay beauties, not to exhibit defects. Thefe Poems, however, appear to us (although by no means wanting in the inaccuracies that might be expected) not to prove fo much genius in poetry as fondnefs for it. The verfification is in general smooth and flowing; and there is a fuperabundance of ornament, without much originality of thought. The following lines, in the Poem on Retirement, are among the best which we have found: "How fweet to rife, when Morn's refulgent hand Boaft ye, midft all your treasures, fuch an hour? Or Riot wake with Animation's eye?" P. 42. Some of the Sonnets are alfo pretty; and the author, if he will Audy fimplicity of ftyle, and correctnefs of expreffion, may in time become a pleafing, if not a great poet. ART. 17. Poems, on various Subjects. By G. Walker, Author of the Vagabond, Three Spaniards, c. 8vo. 161 pp. 5s. 6d. Walker. 1801. The most tolerable of thefe Poems is, in our opinion, the first; which is a mere verfification of Dr. Johnson's tale of “ Obidah and the the Hermit," in the Rambler. The lines are fmooth, and but few of the expreffions objectionable. In the next-Poem, which the author calls an Eastern Eclogue," we have the word expanse with the accents of the two fyllables reverfed, and mountainous with the middle fyllable accented; the profufive Tygris fpreads her waves, deletiucus Keura paints its dony bloffoms, fountains variate the scene, and compliance is pointed with rejects. Notwithstanding these, and other glaring faults (not counterbalanced by any ftriking merits) we looked through the remainder of the book; which confifts of Eaftern and American Eclogues, Hymns, &c. and Northern Odes; some of them original, and others tranflated. They are not in general deficient in harmony of rhythm, but have little elfe to recommend them. There is a Poem at the end, addreffed to Fancy, by a Mr. Mitford; which feems to be defigned as a burlesque on those that precede it. ART. 18. Orlando Furiofo di Lodovico Ariofo con Note caftigato de Leonardo Nardini, ad ufo degli Studifi della lingua Italiana, Four Vols. 128. Londra Preflo a Ďulau et Co. é L. Nardini, Poland-Street. 1801. This favourite Poem of Italy, which many Italians do not hesitate to compare even with the Jerufalem Delivered, appears in a form, in which it may fafely be placed in the hands of young perfons. M. Nardini has modified fome portions, in which the reprefentations of pasfion were too lively; and has in other places inferted whole ftanzas of his own, without materially injuring the integrity of the original. He has alio added fuitable notes, illuftrative of hillory and geography, and is altogether entitled to our thanks. There are two editions of the work, one chaftened, if we may fo fay, by M. Nardini for young readers, the other, in which the original is printed without alteration, with the addition of the editor's notes. ART. 19. Hymns. The public Worship and private Devotions of true Chriftians, affifted in fome Thoughts in Verfe, principally drawn from felett Paffages of the Word of God. By Samuel Medley. 12mo. 3. Johnfon. 1800. We lately noticed Memoirs of this perfon, compiled by his fon, in a true fpirit of filial piety. Thefe Hymns we prefume are fome pofthumous works, published with the view of doing honour to the memory of a deceased parent. Of their poetical merit it is impoffible to fay much; but they feem compofed with a fervour of unaffected piety, and will doubtlefs be received and circulated with much eager nefs amongst the author's friends. DRAMATIC. ART. 20. Wallenflein. A Drama. In Tavo Parts. Tranflated from the German of Frederick Schiller, by S. T. Coleridge. 8vo. 371 pp. Longman and Rees. 1800. May the wretch," faid Horace, "who shall murder his aged fa ther, eat garlic for his punishment!""May the critic," we may justly juftly exclaim, "for his higheft offences, be doomed to review a German historical play!" This penance we have, though " with difficulty and labour hard," at length performed; the ftory of Wallenftein, though dramatized into a large octavo volume, may, as to its leading circumftances, be related in few words. That General, the celebrated antagonist of Guftavus Adolphus, inflated by pride. intoxicated by power, and inftigated by fome defigning villains in his confidence, engages in rebellion againft his fovereign, the Emperor, and treacherously attempts to deliver the ariny intrufted to his charge to the enemy. He is prevented by a counterplot of his LieutenantGeneral, Octavio Piccolomini, and obliged to fly with a few regiments to the fortrefs of Egra, where a Colonel Butler, who had continued with him for the purpose of betraying him, caufes him to be aflaffinated. The epifodes, and circumftances by which this story is eked out into two long dramas, are fcarcely fufficient to have formed one play, carried on with any fpirit and vivacity. Unluckily too, the greater part of the firft play is fo barren a defert, that scarcely any reader, we fear, will have courage to travel through it. Yet fome fertile fpots here and there appear; and the latter part of that drama, as well as a confiderable portion of the fecond, though chargeable with many extravagancies and abfurdities, and unfit for reprefentation, are not devoid of intereft. The most pleafing (indeed the only interefting) characters in thefe dramas are, Maximilian Piccolomini, fon of the LieutenantGeneral (and ridiculously addreffed throughout by the familiar abbreviation of Max.) and Thekla, the daughter of Wallenftein. They are enamoured of each other, and placed in a diftreffing fituation; but the gentleman has too much of the eccentricity of a Gerinan lover, and the lady not a little of the forwardness of German heroines. As to Walleuftein himself, his inordinate pride is fo difgufting, and his attempted treafon fo profligate, that, with all his fplendid qualities, we cannot feel interested for him. For the tedioufnefs of most of the scenes and fpeeches in the dramas, the tranfiator, Mr. Coleridge, makes the beft apology in his power, comparing them to Shakespeare's three historical plays of Henry the Sixth But, not to mention that a very small part of thofe plays is fuppofed, by the beft critics, to have been the work of Shakespeare, is not this comparison to the worst of our bard's hiftorical dramas, fomewhat like that of the actor, who affured himfell of fuccefs, "because he was taller than Garrick, and had a better voice than Moffop?" Yet the three parts of Henry the Sixth are full of buitle and incident; fo that they form, in that refpect, a perfect contraft to the two dramas of Wallenftein. We admit, however, the merit of thofe paffages which are pointed out by the tranflator, and could cite fome others which exhibit proofs of genius. The belt scene, or at least the moft dramatic and interefting, is, in our opinion, the first in the fifth act, of the second play; but it is too long to transcribe here. We will, as a fpecimen, extract another favourite paffage with the tranflator, the defcription given of Thekla, of the aftrological tower, in the first drama. "It was a strange Senfation that came o'er me, when at first The The narrowing line of day-light, that ran after Coloffal ftatues, and all kings, stood round me But from these ftars; all feem'd to come from them. The ftar upon her head was foft and bright, O never rudely will I blame his faith In the might of ftars and angels! "Tis not merely Since likewife for the ftricken heart of Love For fable is Love's world, his home, his birth-place: Divinities, being himfelf divine. The intelligible forms of ancient poets, The fair humanities of old religion, The Power, the Beauty, and the Majefty, That had their haunts in dale, or piny mountain, Or chafms and wat'ry depths; all these have vanifh'd. 3 Yonder Yonder they move, from yonder visible sky- And Venus who brings ev'ry thing that's fair!" P. 80 Not having the original with which to compare it, we cannot give any opinion refpecting the fidelity of the tranflation: as an English compofition, it does not want fpirit and energy; but is frequently faulty in rhythm, and devoid of harmony and elegance. ART. 21. Adelmorn, the Outlaw. A Romantic Drama, in Three As. The fingular title of Romantic Drama, as well as our knowledge of most of the other productions of this author, taught us to expect an excurfion with him beyond the bounds of truth, probability, and nature. The laft of thefe, however, fhould, fo far as refpects the delineation of characters, and the conduct obferved by them, even in these eccentric dramas, be adhered to. In a quaint but good-humoured Preface, the author gives fome account of the origin of his piece, and the reception it met with on the ftage. The catastrophe was, it feems, fuggefted by a story he had read of the discovery of a murder, " through the conscious terrors of the perpetrator, at the moment when, for want of evidence againft him, he was going to be acquitted." On this anecdote the Drama before us is founded; and we readily admit that it is far from being devoid of intereft, or unpleafing in the perufal. In its merits and defects, as a scenic reprefentation, we fhould have nearly concurred with the of woo; who feem to have borne ftrong teftimony to the unfkilfulness in the conduct of fome parts of the plot. In delineating fuch a catastrophe, the great difficulty was to make a change fo fudden, in the mind of a guilty and hardened culprit, understood by the audience. This Mr. Lewis obviated by his old expedient of a ghoft; but his ghosts are become to the public, what he feems to confider them himself, rather ludicrous than terrible. When the ghost, on the next reprefentation, was banifhed, fome external occurrence, likely to make a fudden impreffion on the criminal, fhould (we think) have been substituted: for, without fuch a circumftance, a hardened confcience, after refifting fo many attacks, would fcarcely take so sudden a turn, or yield at the moment of triumph. There are other objections to the conduct of the ftory, of most of which, indeed, the author feems well aware; but we repeat, that (except in the attempts at humour) it is by no means ill-written; and we fhould be pleased to fee this writer apply his talents to fome more legitimate fpe cies of the drama. An apology is alfo made, in the Preface, for the justly cenfured Romance of the Monk; but we with the author was not fo fond of bringing that performance again into notice. On that fubject we think, with the hero in the burlefque tragedy, that "the lefs is faid, the better." MEDICINE. |