pences of his household; without which, they must have borne a much larger proportion to those of individuals than they do; for it may safely be stated, that there is hardly a private gentleman in the kingdom, whose expences of living have not increased, within the period alluded to, in a much greater degree than those of his Majesty. In the fixed allowances to the Royal Family, there is but a trifling excess; they have varied only as circumstances rendered that variation indispensibly necessary. On the head of Fensions, respecting which a jealousy would most naturally be entertained, there was an actual saving to a considerable amount of those indeed that were granted, it would be seen, on a close investigation, how few were likely to have been given from pure favour: and all the gifts of Royal bounty, in the sixteen years, were under 30,000l.- not one shilling of which was for any concealed purpose, as the names of the parties who received the same, and the services, are entered in the book which was before the Committee, composed of gentlemen of different political connec tions; and no suggestion was heard of the most trifling sum having been bestowed improperly.'

Hence it appears that the exceedings in the Civil List Department are to be enumerated among the expences of the war. We cannot subscribe to Mr. Rose's subsequent assertion, that the Minister is without the means of influence, except it be by an inconsiderable patronage in the disposal of livings.

Art. 22. Thoughts on the Internal Situation of Great Britain in the Month of May 1802. By a Magistrate. 8vo. Is. 6d. Spils

bury.

Our discernment is not sufficiently acute to perceive the appropri ateness of these thoughts to the situation of Great Britain in the month of May, any more than to its situation in June, or any other month in the year; since they consist of general and loose reflec tions on subjects, of late, frequently discussed. They are announced as introductory to a work of more importance, on the topics of political economy so slightly treated in these pages.

RELIGIOUS.

Art. 23. Two Sermons preached at Dominica, 11th and 13th of April 1800, and officially noticed by his Majesty's Privy Council in that Island. To which is added, an Appendix, containing Minutes of Three Trials which occurred at Roseau in the Spring of the preceding Year: Together with Remarks on the Issue of those Trials; as well as on the Slave Trade, &c. By the Rev. C. Peters, A. M. Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, and late Rector of St. George's and Roseau, in Dominica. 8vo. 3s. Hatchard.

The zeal of a Christian, even when pleading the cause of the op pressed, should be tempered with prudence and moderation. It should be a "zeal according to knowledge." Incautiously to rouse the indignation of the injured party is often to add strength to the tyrant's arm, and to furnish a new plea for his oppression. Such was the result of these two sermons, which were preached by Mr. Peters åt Roseau in the Island of Dominica, in behalf of the unhappy slaves.

His zeal broke out into intemperate language; and, whatever might be the effect on the slaves, it incensed the proprietors, and, in consequence of their remonstrance, Mr. P. has retired from his pastoral office. We are sorry that we cannot bestow on the sermons that unqualified approbation' which the author expects. The Appendix, and the general Remarks on the Slave-trade, are much better intitled to commendation. The one is affecting from the picture which it draws of the sufferings of the slaves; the other abounds in sensible, humane, and valuable reflections.

We truly sympathize with Mr. Peters, in pitying and wishing to end the slavery of our African brethren: but, if we had been appointed to preach in their presence, we should have followed up our exhortations to lenity in the owners with the soothing voice of religious consolation to the slaves; and we would have exhorted them, even in bondage, to remember their Christian freedom, and to look forwards to a period in which " they that sow in tears shall reap in joy."

Art. 24. Divine Authority of the Bible; or, Revelation and Reason opposed to Sophistry and Ridicule: Being a Refutation of Paine's Age of Reason, Part First and Second. By Robert Thomson. I2mo. 2s. Higham, Matthews, &c.

Mr. Paine having treated Revelation and its advocates with little ceremony, he cannot expect much politeness in return. The present champion for the divine authority of the Bible recollects the proverb, Answer a Fool according to his Folly, and often gives coarseness for coarseness. Paine is likened to a goose, is said to be an antient fixture in the school of Deism, and to have chosen the place of blacksmith to the deistical regiment; and his "Age of Reason" is pronounced to be the very frenzy of atheism.' Though, however, he is to be reprobated for the indecent manner in which he attacks the Scriptures, we do not approve of the Christian who adopts the same mode in their defence. His cause does not require and cannot be graced by a warfare so conducted.-Speaking of the work before us, Mr. T. says, I flatter myself I shall be able to prove that Paine, far from knowing any thing of the controversy, in which he has the temerity to venture as an author, has never once examined the subject, has never once read the Bible to this day.' This may be undertaking rather too much. The first part of Mr. T.'s Refutation, which is all that is now published, examines Paine's Creed-the Necessity of Revelation in general-the Authenticity of the Pentateuch-the supposed Cruelty of God in the Scriptures-Vindication of the Character of Moses the remaining Books of the O. T.-Paine's Letter to Mr. Erskine-the N. T., particularly the Genealogies of Matthew and Luke-and the Canon of Scripture.

This effort of a Layman may perhaps be treated by Mr. Paine with more attention than similar exertions made by Priests. Mr. T. is equally zealous with himself, though on the opposite side; and in their hatred of Priests they are perfectly agreed.

25.

POETRY.

Art. Alonzo and Cora, with other original Poems, principally elegiac. By Elizabeth Scot, a Native of Edinburgh To which are added, Letters in Verse, by Blacklock and Burns. 10s. 6d. Boards. Rivingtons. 1801.

8vo.

From the short history of this lady, prefixed to her poems, and from the amiable spirit disclosed in her productions, we can entertain no doubt that Mrs. Scot was an interesting object to her friends: but the virtues of domestic life do not constitute the merit of a writer; and the slight verses now brought before the Public would have been more respectably stationed, had they still dwelt in a private bureau.

To prevent an unfavourable impression, which might otherwise be occasioned by the title-page, we ought to observe that the story of Alonzo and Cora was versified from Marmontel, long before it was burlesqued by Kotzebue, or his translators,

The editor of this volume, moved undoubtedly by friendly zeal for the author, has anticipated the labours of the critic, by characterizing almost every composition in a note. We shall quote a few stanzas from the piece called Edwin and Edith, because he says that the author's talents no-where shew themselves to greater advantage than in this little poem.' We are of the same opinion, and shall leave the reader to judge of her powers from this example:

Adown yon fair sequester'd vale

A silver stream meandering flows;
Thick on its banks the primrose pale,
And sweet the azure violet blows.

Around yon rock's high pointed side
Its arms the fragrant woodbine twines;
The briar-rose in blushing pride

To paint the fairy scene combines.

Fierce Boreas' rage was all unknown,
That blasts the hope of infant springs
Far to less favour'd regions flown,
He spreads not here his dusky wing.

A simple, but a spacious dome

The traveller's eye delighted view'd;
'Twas oft the weary wanderer's home,
Whom want and wretchedness pursu'd.
'Twas guarded by an ancient wood,

That stately rais'd it's rev'rend head;
The boast of ages long had stood,
And wide its friendly shelter spread.

An aged chieftain there abode,

Safe from the storms of public strife:
He long had left ambition's road,
To taste the sweets of rural life.

His youth, for gallant feat's renown'd,
Had earn'd sweet peace to gild his age;
And wove the victor's wreath, that crown'd
The hoary temples of the sage.

As the young blossom's roseate hue
Adorns the apple's wither'd arms,
Thus by his side a daughter shew,
Fair as the dawn, her opening charms.
Ah! wherefore was thy polish'd cheek
Ting'd with the rose's softest die?
Why shone in beams so heavenly meek
The star of morning in thine eye?'

The third line in the last stanza but one,

Thus by his side a daughter shew,'

is not intelligible in point of grammar, and is totally indefensible as a rhyme to bue. Had such a passage occurred in a work that required emendatory criticism, we should have restored it as follows:

"Thus by his side his daughter's shoe

Display'd it's ribband's purple charms."

It is surely incumbent on those who attempt poetical composition, to understand the leading principles of style in the language which they design to immortalize.

Art. 26.

Poems, by the Rev. Wm. Lisle Bowles. Vol. II. Small 8vo. 6s. Boards. Cadell jun. and Davies. 1801. Having repeatedly paid our compliments to Mr. Bowles, we shall hope to be excused if, pleading the privilege of old acquaintance, we treat him less ceremoniously on the present occasion than we should do on a first introduction. Some of the pieces, comprized in the elegant little volume which he here presents to us, have demanded our notice as separate publications; and to those accounts we beg leave to refer our readers. Our remarks on the Song of the Battle of the Nile, the first poem in this collection, will be found in M. R. vol. xxviii. p. 110. N. S., and those on the other principal poems, intitled St. Michael's Mount and Coombe Ellen, in M. R. vol. xxix. p. 237. and 239. N. S. Here, as in other places of our journal, we have so fully appreciated Mr. Bowles's rank as a poet, that little more is requisite for us now than to announce this second volume of his works; and to assure the many lovers of his Muse that they will find in it those specimens, sometimes of bold description and at others of elegant simplicity, which their knowlege of the powers of his mind and the character of his genius will have taught them to expect.

Besides the poems already named, this volume includes, Inscriptive Pieces, Calpe Obsessa, On an Unfortunate Woman, Hymn to Woden, Gilimer, Summer Evening at Home, Winter Evening at Home, the Spirit of Navigation Discovery, Water Party on Beaulieu River, Fairy Sketch, the Snow Drop, and Monody on the Death of Dr. Warton. We shall copy Gilimer.

GILIMER was the last of the Vandal kings of Africa, conquered by BELISARIUS; he retired to the heights of Pappua, when his army was entirely beaten-His answer to the message sent to him there by BELISARIUS is well known. He desired the conqueror to send him a Loaf of Bread, a Sponge, and a Lute: this request was thus explained that the king had not tasted any baked bread since his ar rival on that mountain, and earnestly longed to eat a morsel of it before he died; the sponge he wanted to allay a tumour that was fallen upon one of his eyes; and the lute, on which he had learnt to play, was to assist him in setting some elegiac verses he had composed on the subject of his misfortunes.

Hence, soldier, to thy plumed chief;
Tell him that Afric's king,

Broken by years, and bow'd with grief,
Asks but a lute, that he may sing
His sorrows to the moon; or (if he weep)
A sponge, which he in tears may steep;
And let his pity spare a little bread!”

Such, GILIMER, was thy last pray'r
To him, who o'er thy realm his gay host led,
When thou forlorn, and frozen with despair,

Did'st sit on Pappua's heights alone,

Mourning thy fortune lost, thy crown, thy kingdom gone,

When 'twas still night, and on the mountain vast
The moon her tranquil glimmer cast,

From tent to tent, remotely spread around,
He heard the murm'ring army's hostile sound,
And swell'd from his sad lute a solemn tone,
Whilst the lone vallies echo'd-" All is gone!"

The sun from darkness rose,

Illumining the landscape wide,

The tents, the far-off ships, and the pale morning tide;
Now the prophetick song indignant flows-

"Thine, Roman, is the victory

Roman, the wide world is thine

In every clime thy cagles fly,

And the gay squadron's length'ning line,

That flashes far and near,

Its flouting banners as in scorn displays,-
Trump answers trump, to war-horse war-horse neighs