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dinary religious commotion in the popular mind had actually resulted in a conspicuous and confirmed improvement of devotional habits and practical virtue. This is the indispensable and conclusive proof of a genuine operation of religion; and therefore we willingly join with the respectable men who have recommended this tract, in regarding it as a signal display of divine power over the human mind; nor can we at all conceive of any mode in which it can be reasonable to anticipate that universal prevalence of genuine religion, which all Christians understand the prophets to predict, without the intervention of some simi.. lar operation, on a wide scale, to give efficacy to evangelical instruction.

But since even the most powerful operations of religion do not so transform the minds of men as to make a weak understanding strong, substitute extensive knowledge for ignorance, reduce ardent passions to a strictly regulated government of reason, or change simplicity into discretion, it must be naturally expected that such a wonderful agitation of the popular mind, as that described in this tract, would be accompanied to a considerable degree, in some instances, by real extravagance of feeling and expression, and error of understanding; and it is not to be denied that this was the case.

We could have wished that Mr. Edwards's acuteness had been a little more exerted, to distinguish the limits between the proper, and the excessive and enthusiastic modes of feeling. It would have been very desirable to have had, in addition to Mr. Edwards's description, an account of the same facts y some other intelligent observer, less accustomed to theological ideas and language. In point of veracity, there could not be on earth a higher authority than Mr. Edwards; but, as he partook so considerably of the spirit of the scene around him, and beheld every thing exclusively with the eye of a divine, he necessarily placed facts, as such, in a point of view somewhat different from that in which they would have appeared, if related by a mere general observer of human events, and a point of view in which they are less capable of being accurately compared with the ordinary course of things.

We doubt the wisdom of dwelling, as the venerable writer does, a considerable time, on the religious experience of a child of four years old; a case strangely remarkable, to be sure, but we do not see to what use it can be applied, since no one could think of recommending it as a model and standard of religious experience for mature persons, and it would be absurd to expect that children, in general, of the same or a much greater age, should be able to comprehend or participate such feelings.

The language of this tract is in the last extreme of theōlogical uncouthness, abounding with such phrases as the following:-"a more plentiful in-gathering of souls ;”—“ in a Christless condition ;"-" a dreadful thing to lie out of Christ;" -"God's dealings with them ;-"souls were savingly brought home to Christ;"" so much immediate saving-fruit ;—" she felt all the day a constant sweetness in her soul;" &c. &c.

Art. XII. A Dissertation on Metrical Pauses, and the due Construction and proper Manner of reading Latin Heroic Verse. By James Pickbourn. 8vo. pp. 43. Price 28. Longman and Co. 1808. WE have no doubt that Mr. P. has investigated, more profoundly and accurately than any grammarian of modern times, the disposition, diversities, and effects, of the Ca. sura in hexameter verse. With much elucidation of the usual doctrine, he has introduced some remarks, which intitle him to the praise of original discovery. Of this kind is his obser vation, that "a pause perfectly similar in its nature" to the ordinary Cesura," and equally powerful in its effects, is sometimes formed by a Monosyllable." p. 5.

The following are good instances, out of many adduced by Mr. P.

Cadme, quid hoc? | ubi pes; | ubi sunt | humerique manusque ;
Adspice nos hoc tantum : et si | pietate meremur
Nec meus hic sermo est | sed quem | præcepit Ofellus.

Ov.

Virg.

Hor.

Mr. P. attends with great exactitude to the Trochaic Casura, and to its various combinations with the Syllabic; and and he hence elicits a variety of new and curious observations. The omission of the second Casura, i. e. in the third foot, ) he remarks to be frequent in Virgil, occasional in Horace, but scarcely to be met with in Ovid. "In this," he adds, 'consists the principal difference between the versification of Ovid and Vir. gil. Ovid's strict attention to the second Cæsura makes him excel in the uniformity and general smoothness of his measures; and Virgil's frequent neglect of it gives him the advantage of much greater variety in his numbers, and sometimes of superior strength of expression." p. 16.

Mr. P. thinks "the controversy respecting Accent, and Quantity, one of the most extraordinary that ever subsisted among literary men. He examines the contradictory hypotheses of Primatt, of Foster, and of the late Bishop Horsley; and he wonders that "the oracular wisdom of Phoebus,"

Inter utrumque tene: medio tutissimus ibis:

should have been so completely neglected by each of those learned men. His own sentiment, which in our opinion is indisputably and almost intuitively true, is

• that Accent in some degree affects Quantity; i, e. it makes the accent

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ed syllable a little longer than it would be without it; but its operation is never so great as to make a short syllable become long, nor does the privation of accent ever make a long syllable become short; for there are degrees of time both in long and short syllables. Et longis longiores, et brevibus sunt breviores syllaba, Quinct" p. 36,

Mr. P. says, 66 We are. not certain in what manner the

ancients pronounced their vowels; whether as we do, or, (which is more probable,) in a manner similar to that which prevails on the continent." p. 37. p. 37. He might, we think, have assumed a more decided tone. Independently of all the probable evidence, the testimony of Dionysius the Halicarnassian, who, in his Treatise de Structura Orationis, (p. 94-96, ed. Upt.), has described the organical formation of the Greek vowels, determines the question in favour of the continental mode.

On the practical and interesting subject of the manner of reciting Latin (and of course Greek) verse, Mr. P.'s opinion is that an equally careful attention should be paid to accent, to quantity, and to the metrical and sentential pauses. A good reader," he concludes,

66

of English poetry very seldom pronounces a word in a manner different from that in which he sounds it in prose; yet he not only forcibly expresses the sense of his author, but by modulating his voice in some degree according to Cæsural and final pauses, he makes the verse appear beautifully smooth and harmonious, wherever the poet Has done his duty: and I do not doubt but that Greek and Latin poetry, read in the same manner, would appear to equal advantage" p. 43.

To those classical scholars who are sensible of the importance of prosodial accuracy, as all but the superficial 'must be, we recommend this pamphlet as highly deserving of at

tention.

Art.XIII, The Siege of Copenhagen; a Poem. By James Grahame. foolscap, 4to. pp. 11. Price 2s. Edinburgh, Blackwood; Longman and Co. 1808.

THE bombardment of the Danish capital is an event that every humane and considerate Englishman will contemplate with deep regret, if not with a feeling of shame; it certainly is no subject for exultation. The applauding reference to it, in Mr. Walter Scott's " Marmion," is a gross offence against the proprieties both of taste and sentiment; and though Mr. Grahame's abhorrence of the measure may be excessive, we are much better pleased with unreasoning philanthropy, in a poet, than with unfeeling politics. Mr. G. does not enter into argument in this affair; he sympathizes with the Zealanders under the horrors of a bombardment, and thinks that a description of its effects, is the same thing as a demonstration of

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its injustice; he observes a total silence respecting the events and the negociations which brought it on, represents it as commenced without reason and pretence, in a time of profound peace, and satisfies himself with calling his countrymen perfidious foes." We shall not now discuss the justice or policy of the expedition; there is nothing like reason against it in this poem, except the assertions, that if France had obtained the Danish navy, we should have taken it when at sea,and that if we had not taken it when at sea, and France had actually landed her forces in this country, we need not, even then, have feared the consequences. The last assertion it is needless to debate; and perhaps the facility of the passage to Ireland or Scotland, and the recent escapes of the French fleets, would be deemed a sufficient answer to the other. lf Mr. G. rests his case on either of these assertions, it is lost.

The plan of the poem is very simple: it is an ornamented description of the previous tranquility, the warlike preparations, and the effects of the cannonade and bombardment.

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Calm was the eve, the sun had set in gold,
And silent to the beach the billows rolled,.
When England's banners, rising on the view,
Awakened half-forgotten fears anew.

But peals of friendly omen hail the shore,

And Denmark's towers return the welcome roar ;-
While playful groupes let fall their gathered shells,

And every little heart with transport swells.

Slowly the veterans to the ramparts mount,

Gaze fearless on the force they cannot count;
Or through the empty embrasures apply.

The long drawn tube, to aid the failing eye.'

This charming picture is in Mr. Grahame's happiest manner; every touch is expressive; the circumstances he selects are so striking, yet so natural, that the mind is almost deluded into a persuasion that it beholds the reality. In this magical power over the fancy, Mr. Grahame has few rivals; there are not many who can so perfectly command a distant scene into his presence, and display it to us in the accuracy of nature and the beauty of fiction.

We shall now borrow a pretty long extract, distinguished by a similar merit, but representing a very different scene. The prominent circumstances which are to strike the attention, we had almost said the senses of the reader, and interest his heart, are selected and delineated with admirable skill. The subordinate and associated circumstances are most artfully introduced to heighten the general effect; it is seldom that epithets add so much force and reality to a description.

• Close to each mother cower an infant ring, Or round her neck in frenzied terror cling; Ah, refuge vain! on iron pinions sped,

The heaved volcano tracks the heavens with red ;
Resistless on the fated roof descends,

Crashing from floor to floor, its passage rends,
Till, stopt at last, it darts presaging fire,
(Dread pause of fate!) then bursts with havoc dire.
The mother, safe, looks round with horror wild,
And, lifting from the ground her darling child,
Frantic, beholds two sightless eyeballs roll,
Where beamed those orbs that spake a seraph soul,

And now on every side rise sights of woe;
Here inst nt death, there lingeringly slow.
In yonder roofless dwelling, mark the blaze,
That round the cradled infant lambent plays;
And see the little arms outstretched for aid
Alas, thy watchful mother low is laid!
Meantime the father, in the hottest fight,
Oft backward looks upon the dreadful light,
Which still he trusts surmounts some lofty dome,
As yet
far distant from his humble home;
And still he hopes to see the infant smile,
Whose wicker couch is now its funeral pile.

Ah me! the whispers round the sick man's bed, The cautious step, that fears its own light tread, Are now in vain; the stunning, ceaseless noise O'erpowers affection's soft and soothing voice; Looks, signs, the place of useless words supply, And sorrow, bending, scans the languid eye.

Amid the public wards of pain and woe,
Where art attempts to lull the anguished throe,
No slumber, save the slumber of the dead,
Is o'er the couches of the wounded shed.
Alas! even here the fateful spheres explode,
And scatter death through misery's last abode,
Add wound to wound, compassion's aid withstand,
Scorch the skilled eye, and maim the healing hand.

Nor is the temple spared: the arrowy fire
Clings to the nave and grapples with the spire.
The spire, enveloped in the bursting blaze,
A waving pinnacle sublime displays,
And, in the unruffled deep reflected far,
Seems with its point to kiss the polar star;
While dazzled by the vast colossal brand,
Leviathan heaves grounded on the strand.

• From street to street the conflagration spreads

Along the rows a ruddy lustre sheds,

Illumes each battlement and dialled tower,

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