connection of bodies, ceases to be heat. Electricity is a modification that will appear to be a medium between heat and light, confidered as extremes; for, neither is it unconnected with bodies nor internally connected with their fubftance.' From thefe principles, the reader will eafily conceive that an ingenious philofopher may deduce an explanation of that very puzzling phænomenon the excitation of heat by friction. Such an explanation is attempted by Dr. H. We refer to pages 510514. The other topics in thefe differtations are, a comparison of phlogiftic and phofphoretic bodies- the manner in which fspecific gravity, hardness, and ductility, are influenced by phlogiftic matter-and of light and colour as affected by this matter in bodies.

Diff. VIII. and laft, is a review of the inveftigated principles, in order to an application of the theory.

This volume is evidently the refult of years of reflection: the author is unqueftionably a man of genius and knowlege; and his fpeculations, as might be expected, well deferve the notice of those who are anxious to form juft conceptions concerning feveral of the moft abftrufe points in natural knowlege. We regret that, as Dr. Hutton has bestowed much thought and care that what he offers fhould be true,' he has not, also, like Bacon, endeavoured "as much as poffible that it should be aç-ceffible to the human mind, though ftrangely befet and prepoffeffed:"-but, not to infit at length on the peculiarities of his ftyle, his repetitions, and his general prolixity, we are afraid that there is one circumftance in his manner, which is repugnant to the fpirit of true philofophy. Dr. Hutton commonly expreffes himfelf as if he had deduced his opinions from reafoning, and then comes to compare them with experiment. He alfo more than infinuates that we can obtain notions, or ideas, from reafoning which our fenfes do not fupply.-When ever he adduces an experiment, (which is but feldom,) he mentions it flightly, and relates the circumftances, (if they be related at all,) in a note.-Dr. H. obferves that M. Lavoilier's treatise on chemistry does honour to the prefent age. Let him then confider, firft, how different his own ftyle and method are from the ftyle and method of M. Lavoifier's work; and, fecondly, whether he could not have brought his differtations. nearer to the fame excellent ftandard.-it would perhaps be rendering a fervice to philofophy, if fome ingenious and wellinformed student, with Dr. Hutton's permiffion, and under his inspection, were to draw up a concife and diftin&t abridgment of thefe eight differtations of the third part. Such a publication might not have an extenfive fale: but it fhould be undertaken by a perfon who was alike indifferent to profit or lofs.

ART

ART. III. Poems. By John Bidlake, B. A. Chaplain to His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence. 4to. pp. 206. 6s. Boards. Chapman. 1794.

THE firft and principal poem in this collection is styled the Progrefs of Poetry, Painting, and Mufic. GENIUS is here married to FANCY: the fruits of this happy union are three daughters, viz. POETRY, PAINTING, and Music; and their difpofitions and peculiar propenfities are defcribed. Thefe ladies, after having rejected many offers, at length condescend to bestow their hands and hearts on three youths, who were judged well deferving of that honour, viz. ART, INDUSTRY, and NECESSITY. The first is wedded to POETRY, the fecond to PAINTING, and the laft to MUSIC. Being of a romantic turn, they all determine to fet out in fearch of adventures: but each of the ladies chofe a different road, accompanied by her hufband.-ART flattered himfelf that he should be able to check the wild fallies of imagination and eccentricities of conduct, to which POETRY, his lady-wife, was too much inclined: but he was mistaken. INDUSTRY and NECESSITY were equally unsuccessful with PAINTING and Music. At length they meet; and, convinced by experience of their error, they refolve to confult FATE on the best means of directing their wives to a proper application of their talents, and to the acquifition of chat excellence in their feveral departments, at which they fo ardently wifhed to arrive. FATE, with more good humour than might have been expected from fo inexorable a Deity, not only tells them that art, induftry, and neceffity, united, are effential to infure fuccefs in poetry, painting, and mufic, but gives the three fifters a profpect of futurity, and spreads before their eyes the glories which are referved for their favourites and yotaries. POETRY fees with pleafure Homer, Ifaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Pindar, Sophocles, Euripides, Anacreon, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, and Thomfon; of whofe excellencies and defects we have a fhort defcription. Apelles, Zeuxis, Raphael, Titian, Claude, and Salvator Rofa, prefent themfelves before PAINTING. The eyes of Music are first caught by a magnificent temple, which we fuppofe to be the Temple of Jerufalem, with the royal Pfalmift feated in the midft. To this grand object fucceeds a Gothic cathedral, in which harmony, as an affiftant to devotion, appears in full fplendour. The poet exemplifies the influence of mufic in martial enterprizes, its power to alleviate the corroding cares of ambition, to cheer diftrefs and poverty, to enliven the gloom of a dungeon, and even to fufpend the horrors of infanity. After this glorious fpectacle, FATE gives the favoured

favoured inquirers good advice; with which the poem coñ

cludes.

That this ingenious writer fhould be fond of allegory is not furprifing, fince metaphors are the life and foul of poetry; and allegory is nothing more than a continued metaphor :but, in the felection of allegorical characters, fome judgment may be deemed neceffary, and yet more in fupporting those characters with propriety, through a poem of any confiderable length. Human paffions have been frequently and happily perfonified by allegorical writers, and fometimes even abftract ideas have been eflayed with fuccefs: but thefe ideas, thus perfonified, were eafily comprehended, and capable of a clear and accurate definition. Now it happens rather unfortunately for the prefent author, that there is, perhaps, no word in the English language of more vague and undetermined meaning than genius; and good writers have afferted that it has never yet been properly defined. In analizing the human mind, philofophers generally affign the province of comparing ideas, and drawing conclufions from fuch comparisons, to judgment, and the power of combining ideas to imagination; and that faculty of creation, which is the peculiar attribute of genius, is faid to be nothing more than a facility of forming new and unexpected combinations. If this be the cafe, the marriage of Genius with Fancy, or Imagination, almoft involves in it an abfurdity fomething like Crambo's Logical Inceft (Vide Martinus Scriblerus). Had our author changed the fex of Genius, and married her to Judgment, he might have promised himself good poets, painters, and muficians, without the trouble of fending his heroes and heroines on long adventures, and obliging them to confult the book of Fate. We may be told, however, in answer to these observations, that it is not to be expected that poets fhould attend to metaphyfical fubtleties and logical diftinétions. We fhail therefore difmifs the fubject, and attend to Mr. B.'s powers of verfification, and his other qualifications as a poet."

We shall first prefent our readers with the defcription here given of FANCY and of GENIUS:

When Time was young, undifciplin❜d mankind,

E'er utters yet their manners had refin'd,
FANCY, a bathful nymph, had fix'd her seat,
Amid the windings of a ftill retreat;

In wilds embofom'd and with woods o'ergrown,
Where ne'er the bufy fteps of man were known;
Where noify Interruption never came,
Nor ever Echo hail'd one focial name..
Amid these shades 'twas her delight to dwell
And mufe within her folitary cell.

To

To reach that cell a fecret paffage wound,
By goats, the mountain wanderers, only found:
Which hunting danger o'er the rocky steep,
Defied the horrors of the nether deep.
Around the flaunting honey-fuckle flung
Its wreathing arms and in rich clusters hung.
And flowers fantastic of all orders gay,
Were emulous their bloffoms to display;
Wild fruits adorn'd the loaded trees around,
And the wood-ftrawberry blush'd upon
the ground.
Large was the cave within; its rugged fides
In christal chain'd the moisture's dripping tides.
Phosphoric bodies fpread around their light,
And made the place in native splendour bright.
Here golden veins their mazy luftre fhew'd,
Rich diamonds blaz'd, and ruddy rubies glow'd;
The emerald's green, the amethyst's ftrong blue,
The yellow topaz, mix'd their various hue;
In magic colours fhed a day their own,
And in an ever-changing brilliance fhone.
Oft on her couch the nymph in liftless ease,
Would fleeping waste the fultry fummer's days;
On light tranfparent wings while dreams flew round,
And hook from murmuring air a lulling found.
Thick dancing fo in noon-day's yellow beam,
The million infects gayly coloured gleam.
So frequent fparks, the circling wheel displays,
And gilds the night with artificial rays.
The nymph had various taftes; fhe would delight
To fit by glowing embers in the night,
And picture figures in the changing light.
Then mufing oft the ftray'd abroad at eve,

To note what shapes the floating clouds could give;
Sometimes the fought the depths of nightly fhade,
Or watch'd the moon beams fleeping on the glade ;
Or idly view'd in air the bubbles float,

Or liften'd to the bashful cuckoo's note;
Or pleas'd would fee the stream meand'ring glide,
And playful fun-beams dancing on the tide;
Full oft the ftray'd deep roaring torrents near;
In filence then repos'd her lift'ning ear,

And on the ground to catch each found would lay*,
And shake at every trembl'ing of the spray.
Penfive o'er midnight graves alone fhe trod,
Disturbing ghofts amid their lone abode ;
Or oft by peacocks drawn in ambient air,
Wild as a tempeft rufh'd her rapid car.

To diftant climes on wings of thought would stray,
Or in the northern lights amufive play.

}

*For lie.

REV. MARCH, 1795.

T

Gay

Gay were her steps, when earth became her care;
Eafe mov'd her limbs and all her form was fair.
Her robe, dyed in the rainbow, at each view,
With varied tiffue fhone and colours new.
It chanc'd as once, the nymph, intent to ftray,
Walk'd forth to taste the fweets of blooming May,
GENIUS, the eldeft born of light, furvey'd
The various beauties of the matchlefs maid.
High on a mountain's top he fat and faw,
The light fantaftic nymph her figures draw
And give a varied grace to all below.
Love in the inftant all his bosom fir'd,
And playing there each tender with inspir'd.
A veil of filver-light his figure bound,
And circling rays of gold his temples crown'd.
Lit in the Sun, a torch his hand sustain❜d,
The emblem of the power, which he maintain❜d.
When touch'd by this, the foul afcends on high`
And dull obftructions yield, though loth to fly,
And vainly 'gainst its speed their weight apply.
Loofe were his limbs, by no clofe garments brac❜d,
Two amply fpreading wings his fhoulders grac❜d.
With thefe, through Heaven he ftretch'd his holder flight,
Or pierc'd in central earth, the depths of night.
Beyond the Sun his courfe would oft afpire,

Swift as the meffage of electric fire.

Wisdom was his; yet his ambitious mind,

Difdain'd by vulgar laws to be confin'd.

And what, perhaps, much more might please the fair,
Beauty his form adorn'd and grace his air.

Soon to the nymph he made his paffion known;
Nor loth the nymph an equal flame to own.

Not long when both were pleas'd, nor heeded law,
Delay, or form, the hours of courtship faw,
The nuptial rites perform'd, then FANCY's cave
A bleft retreat to happy GENIUS gave.'

Thefe lines are not deftitute of harmony, although they may not poffefs all that vigour of thought, and ftrength of expreffion, which are deemed eflential to the perfection of poetry. The author certainly has talents for defcription: but he does not appear to have fufficiently confidered that the greatest masters, in that art, have diftinguished themselves by the selection of a few ftriking and characteristical properties in the object or perfon described; together with fuch circumftances as might throw light on the general fubject, and render it the more interesting. In making FANCY figure to herself pictures in the fire, trace resemblances in the clouds, gaze on the moon shining with pale luftre on the trembling leaves, watch the reflection of the fun-beams in the water, and liften to the roar of torrents,

the