the profound fubjects of the political affairs and conftitutions of nations. We have faid nothing of the Gallicifms and inaccuracies which deform her tranflation; but, as the lady is now become entirely frenchified, this might reafonably be expected. We beg leave to repeat our doubts of the authenticity of many of thefe Letters, which appear to contradict the fituation, circumftances, manners, and fentiments of him to whom they are afcribed.

BRITISH CATALOGUE.

POETRY.

ART. 16, The Year of Sorrow. Written in the Spring of 1803. By W. R. Spencer. Royal 4to. 22 pp. 5s. Cadell and Davies,

1804.

The fubject of this melancholy effufion is the deceafe of feveral perfons, valued or beloved by the author, in the first months of the year 803 The poetical powers of Mr. W. R. Spencer have been before acknowledged, and they fhine with much luftre in this beautiful poem, in which the author effectually calls forth the fympathy of his readers. Among many paffages of fine writing, the following, on the death of the Hon. Mrs. Ellis, is confpicuous.

"Breathe foft! Italian gales! and ye that wing
The tideless shore, where never-changing spring
Rules all the halcyon year; breathe foft, and fhed
Your kindlieft dews o'er pale Eliza's head!
Propitious grant an anguish'd mother's prayer,
And fave a wedded lover from despair.
Vain was the hope-in beauty's earliest pride,
E'en in the porch of life, Eliza died;
Ere yet the green leaf of her days was come,
The death-ftorm tofe, and fwept her to the tomb!
O thou, whofe final will is happiness,

Author of good, Permitter of distress,

If till to fpeechlefs pangs thine ear be giv'n,
If dumb defpair be eloquence in heav'n,
O reafcend thy mercy-feat! to thee
Religious forrow bows her filial knee!
Let Faith, thy cherub almoner, bestow

One gleam to cheer, not chase, the night of woe;
Let Patience footh, not cure, the facred grief,
Which prays not for oblivion but relief." P. 8.

Gga

The

The Apoftrophe to the Year of Sorrow, in the concluding lines of the poem, is the more pleafing to the reader, because the with it contains for the health of a beloved wife has, we believe, been happily realized.

"And yet, difaftrous year! thou canft impart
One reconciling boon to cheer my heart!
Revive, revive my Sufan's drooping head,
O'er her pale cheek Hygeia's bloffoms shed;
Sooth ev'ry pang, and every
fear remove,

And charm her back to beauty, joy, and love!
Then will I blufh for each reproachful tear,

And thank, and bless thee ftill, difaftrous year!"

We might perhaps, if ftrictly queftioned, object to a few expreffions in this poem, but the merit of it altogether is confiderable.

ART. 17. Fables, confifting of fele& Parts from Dante, Berni, Chaucer, and Arifto, imitated in English Heroic Verfe. By Richard Wharton, Efq. M. P. 8vo. 5s. Payne and Mackinlay. 1804.

This feems a very elegant exercife of a gentleman for his private amufement, and certainly not unworthy of the public eye. The poetry is very spirited: and, though the fubjects are familiar to every reader of Italian, no one can be difpleafed at having their recollection fo agreeably revived. The Caftle of Altaripa, from Berni's Orlando Inamorato, has extraordinary merit; fo have the ftories of Caligorante and Orrilo, from Ariofto; and indeed so have they all.

ART. 18. The Prefs; a Poem, published as a Specimen of Typography. By John McCreery. Royal 4to. 47 PP. 125. Cadell and Davies. 1803.

"It is not without confiderable anxiety", fays this author, at the clofe of his Preface," that I offer to public infpection this Poem, the production of thofe hours that I have been able to fnatch from avocations of a more important nature to myfelf and my family. The reader will, I hope, bear in remembrance that it is not exhibited as the offfpring of academic ftudy, or uninterrupted leifure, but is chiefly intended for that purpofe which the title-page has already fufficiently expreffed" namely, as a fpecimen of typography. Mr. M'Creery, it should be obferved, is a printer at Liverpool, and this beautiful proof of his art is rendered more remarkable, by fome of the finest prints and vignettes, from wooden blocks, that ever have been executed.

But when we have praised the beauty of the prefs-work and ornaments, we have gone as far as juftice will allow. The poetry undoubtedly requires all the apology offered for it, at the leaft; nor can we always praise the fentiments. His celebration of the alphabet, though much in character for a printer, wants fomething of poetical dignity; or is he much more fuccefsful when he proceeds,

To range in words the alphabetic fign."

We are defirous, however, for the fake of the other merits of the publication, to give the moft favourable fpecimen of the poetry; which perhaps is the following, on the labour of tranfcription, before the invention of printing.

"Inceffant ftrove the Scribe's induftrious race,
Lingering and labouring with uncertain pace;
Slow from his hands the works of genius came;
His proudeft ufe to feed the unfteady flame;
So greatly circumfcrib'd his power appears,
A volume oft' hath a'd the toil of years.
The intellectual feast for wealth prepar'd,
With humble life no generous bounty fhar'd,
Depriv'd, by pallid wants' depreffing power,
Of cultivated thought's delufive hour;

And as dull labour toil'd the livelong day,
The unconscious foul in ftupid dozings lay."

In declaring his violent wrath against Mr. Pitt, for the Act which obliges printers to put their names at the beginning and end of what they print, this typographical poet, we prefume, fpeaks the language of many among his brethen. Yet it is not easy to see what harm it can do a printer thus to advertize himself, or how it can be inconvenient, except when he wishes to print what ought not to be printed. In the poetical part, Mr. McCreery might have received fubftantial aid from his friend Mr. Rofcoe.

ART. 19. Invasion, a descriptive and fatirical Poem. By J. Amphlett. Svo. 45. Longman and Rees. 1804.

The author, in the high fpirit of an English patriot, and in poetry, fome of which deserves much commendation, anticipates the event of a French invafion; which, with its progrefs and final confequences, he defcribes in three Books. The following fpecimen may invite the reader to peruse the whole,

"Reft, facred fhades, and holy be the ground,
Where'er each bleeding patriot corfe be found;
For you a grateful nation long fhall mourn,
And nought but folemn fable weeds be worn.
A nation fhall your funeral rites prepare;
A nation's fighs, that fteal upon the air;
And, when your facred relics peaceful sleep,
Its fons fhall mufing bend, its daughters weep;
And dear fhall be the fpot where refts your clay,
Though empires totter, and though ftates decay.
Reft, holy manes, ever honour'd, brave,
Still be the guardians of the fame ye gave;
And, when infulting tyrants threat our coaft,
Your facred name fhall animate our host,”

Авт.

ART. 20. Mifcellaneous Poems, in Verfe and Profe. By John Parkesa 12mo. 3s. Vernor and Hood. 1804.

This feems a whimsical title, and induced us to think that we fhould find the poetry prose and the profe poetry. However, on examination, the author feems to have a little idea of versification, though not enough to justify our advifing him to purfue the occupation.

DRAMATIC,

In Five Alts. As pere

ART. 21. Delays and Blunders; a Comedy. formed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. By Frederick Reynolds. 8vo. 76 pp. 25. 6d. Longman and Rees. 1803.

With a candid allowance for improbabilities, and even impoffibilities, to a confiderable extent, this Comedy may ferve, as it has done, to amufe an audience. In the clofet, it is not eafy to forget that the principal incidents in it are fuch as could not poffibly take place in England, where the scene is laid. A murder which is no murder, a trial without an evidence, an acquittal without reafon, a falfe and impoffible imprisonment, a releafe as ftrange; fudden and unnatural compunction after the moft hardened villainy: incidents of this kind, paffing fo rapidly as to make no impreffion, and mixed with the most farcical burlefque of language and characters, fuch are the ingredients of this play; which, however, is no worfe than almost every one that appears. The idea of forming a natural and confiftent plot, every part of which tends to fome point for which the fpectator is made to feel an intereft, feems to be entirely loft among the present writers.

Mr. R. chooses to fuppofe his readers acquainted with technical terms of the theatre; and, in his ftage directions, fpeaks of the wing, the flat, &c. which confequently renders the directions unintelligible to nine tenths of thofe who attempt to read the Comedy.

NOVEL.

ART. 22. The Swiss Emigrants. A Tale.

and Rees. 1804.

12m0. 35. Longman

This is a very pleafing and well-told tale, founded on the outrages committed by the French, in their most unwarrantable fubjection of Switzerland. A concife but very interesting detail of the French invafion of this unfortunate country is prefixed, which cannot be perufed without the moft animated indignation against the perfidy and barbarity of this fcourge of nations,

MEDICINE.

MEDICINE.

ART. 23. Difcourfes on the Management of Infants and the Treatment of their Difeajes. Written in a plain, familiar flyle, to render it [the fubject intelligible and useful to all Mathers, and [to] those who have the Management of Infants. By John Herdman, M. D. 8vo. 127 pp. 2s. 6d. Edinburgh printed; fold by Longman and Rees, London. 1804.

This is the first of a fet of popular difcourfes, which the author intends to profecute, on the management and difeafes of children. It is much upon the plan of the familiar treatifes on the fame fubjects which have iffued from the pens of Mr. Mofs and Dr. Buchan; and although the obfervations contained in this firft difcourfe be neither new nor original, yet are they fet forth with a clearness and animation of ftyle, well fuited to make an impreffion upon the minds of thofe to whom they are addreffed. Like Rouffeau, however, whom he quotes, the author (in our opinion) pushes the arguments drawn from human life in its favage ftate, and from the example of the brute creation, too far; and while we contend with him, and the late excellent Dr. Gregory, that mothers fhould fuckle their own children, and that there is no fufficient plea for the neglect of this duty in the majority of cafes, we are nevertheless perfuaded that inftances now and then occur where, either from hereditary debility of conftitution, or from infirmity occafioned by irregularity of living, (evils which refult from civilization, and which do not exift in favage or brutal life), a woman is not able to nurse the offspring the brings forth; nor do we think that the objections urged against the milk of another woman (provided that woman be in perfect health) are by any means well-founded,

ART. 24. A Treatise on Cheltenham Waters and Bilious Diseases; con taining, 1. The Chemical and Medical Properties of the Saline Springs of Cheltenham; 2. Arrangement and Hiftory of Bilious Difeafes; 3. The Medical Ufes of the Saline Springs; 4. Directions for drinking the Waters; 5. Geological Experiments for the Discovery of new Saline Springs at Cheltenham; 6. The Nature and Ufes of the Steel Well. To which are prefixed, Obfervations on Mineral Waters and Watering Places. By Thomas Jamefon, M. D. 8vo. 191 pp. 6s. Cheltenham printed; fold by Murray, London. 1803.

So many treatifes have been written on the Cheltenham Waters, that many obfervations made by others must neceffarily be repeated in this publication. Thefe, which conftitute the main part of this tract, we hall pass over, noticing only fuch matters as appear to be new, and peculiar to this author.

During the last feafon, apprehenfions prevailed among the invalids who vifited Cheltenham, that the old fprings would not fupply a fufficiency of water, the demand for which has progreffively increased for

the