haps, it is the digitus index, the finger of the spectator pointing to the criminal.

beth, has the outlines of a houfe, which is the meaning of its name; and in a reclined position, represents the grave, that manfion or houfe, into which the malefactor is to be im.` mediately removed.

1, vau, fignifies a book. And it is well known that the uncus, or hook, was used by the ancients at the execution of criminals. To this Horace alludes, Lib. I. Ode 35.

Nec feverus

This allufion is illuftrated by thefe words of Suetonius, Nemo funitorum non et in Genonias abječtus, UNCoque tractus, Tib §61.

ref, is a head, and denotes judicium CAPITIS, or the pænam capitalem, the capital punishment of the offender. The place of execution near Jerufalem, the Tiburn of the Jews, was called Golgotha, or the place of a Scull; by reason, as St. Jerom fays, of the malefactors executed and buried there.

J, nun, fignifies a fon, or child, which the figure of this letter reprefents in a fitting pofture. And who thould this fon or child denote, but the children of the criminal, in the attitude of grief and lamentation? But if we,take the nan final we have a wonderful fymbol, a graphical reprefentation of the thief hanging upon the gallows.

From this example, the learned reader will perceive the truth of this remark, which we have already cited from Mr. Nelme, viz. that every symbol, or letter, has a precife idea pertaining to it; he will form fome notion of that inexhaustible fund of knowledge which is concealed under characters or fymbols; and finally, he will perceive the great utility of the Nelmean fyftem.

VIII. Poems confifling chiefly of Tranflations from the Afiatick Languages. To which are added, Three Essays. 8vo. 41. fewed. Elmfly.

7HILE the frequency of fictitious tranflations from Ori

ental manuscripts afforded room to suspect the authenticity of whatever was published under that denomination, it had the additional effect of rendering us doubtful with regard even to the existence of literary genius in that quarter of the world. Our total inacquaintance with the Perfian and Turkish

lan

languages increafing this fcepticism, the Eastern ftyle was generally confidered as an antiquated mode of composition, and no profpect appeared of any real productions of Afiatic poetry being ever imported into Europe. Since men of tafte, however, have vifited thofe countries, fuch a prejudice begins to be diffipated; and we have the pleasure to anticipate a great acceffion to poetry from the knowledge of the oriental languages which will be diffused upon the publication of the valuable * Dictionary now in the press.

The first poem in this collection is an eclogue, called Solima, written in praife of an Arabian princefs, who is fuppofed to have built a caravanfera, with pleasant gardens, for the refreshment of travellers and pilgrims. This poem, we are told, is not actually a tranflation from the Arabic, but that a'l the figures, fentiments, and defcriptions it contains, are taken from the poets of that country. The following specimen will give our readers a favourable idea of the poetical abilities both of thefe and the author now under our observation. Ye maids of Aden, hear a loftier tale

I

Than e'er was fung in meadow, bow`r, or dale.
The fimiles of Abelah, and Maia's eyes,

Where beauty plays, and love in flumber lies;
The fragrant byacinths of Azza's hair,

That wanton with the laughing fummer air;

Love-tinctur'd cheeks, whence rofes feek their bloom,
And lips, from which the Zephyr fteals perfume,
Invite no more the wild unpolish'd lay,

But fly like dreams before the morning ray.
Then farewel, love! and farewel, youthful fires!
A nobler warmth my kindled breaft infpires.
Far bolder notes the lift'ning wood shall fill :
Flow fmooth, ye riv'lets; and, ye gales, be ftill.,

See yon fair groves that o'er Amana rise,
And with their spicy breath embalm the skies;
Where ev'ry breeze fheds incenfe o'er the vales,
And ev'ry fhrub the scent of musk exhales!
See through yon op'ning glade a glitt'ring scene,
Lawns ever gay, and meadows ever green!
Then afk the groves, and afk the vocal bow'rs,
Who deck'd their fpiry tops with blooming flow'rs,
Taught the blue ftream o'er fandy vales to flow,
And the brown wild with livelieft hues to glow;
Fair Solima! the hills and dales will fing,
Fair Solima! the diftant echoes ring.
But not with idle fhows of vain delight,
To charm the foul, or to beguile the fight;
At noon on banks of pleasure to repofe,

Where bloom intwin'd the lily, pink, and rofe;

An improved Edition of MENINSKI's Dictionary, revised and corrected by W. Jones, Efq. under the patronage of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the lion. Eaft India and Turkey companies.

Not

Not in proud piles to heap the nightly feaft,
Till morn with pearls has deck'd the glowing eaft
Ah! not for this the taught those bow`rs to rife,
And bade all Eden fpring before our eyes:
Far other thoughts her heav'nly mind employ,
(Hence, empty pride! and hence, delufive joy !)
To cheer with fweet repaft the fainting gueft;
To lull the weary on the couch of reft;

To warm the trav'ler numb'd with winter's cold;
The young to cherish, to fupport the old;
The fad to comfort, and the weak protect;
The poor to fhelter, and the loft direct :

Thefe are her cares, and this her glorious task';
Can heav'n a nobler give, or mortals afk?

Come to thefe groves, and thefe life-breathing glades
Ye friendlefs orphans, and ye dow'rless maids!
With eager hafte your mournful manfions leave,
Ye weak, that tremble, and, ye fick, that grieve;
Here fhall foft tents o'er flow'ry lawns difplay'd,
At night defend you, and at noon o'erfhade:
Here rofy health the fweets of life will fhow'r,
And new delights beguile each varied hour.
Mourns there a widow, bath'd in ftreaming tears?
Stoops there a fire beneath the weight of years?
Weeps there a maid in pining fadnefs left,
Of fondling parents, and of hope bereft ?
To Solima their forrows they bewail,
To Solima they pour their plaintive tale.
She hears and, radiant as the ftar of day,
Through the thick foreft wins her eafy way:
She asks what cares the joyless train opprefs,
What sickness waftes them, or what wants distress;
And as they mourn, fhe steals a tender sigh,
Whilft all her foul fits melting in her eye:
Then with a fmile the healing balm beftows,
And sheds a tear of pity o'er their woes,

Which, as it drops, fome foft-eyed angel bears
Transform'd to pearl, and in his bosom wears.'

The title of the fecond poem is, The Palace of Fortune, the hint of which was taken from one of the tales of Inatulla. Our author, however, has made fome alterations, and added feveral defcriptions and epifodes from other Eastern writers. An extract from the beginning of this poem likewife, may fhew the luxuriancy of the author's imagination.

• Mild was the vernal gale, and calm the day,
When Maia near a crystal fountain lay,
Young Maia, fairest of the blue-eyed maids,
That rov'd at noon in Tibet's musky thades;
But, haply, wand'ring through the fields of air,
Some fiend had whisper'd,-Maia, thou art fair!
Hence, fwelling pride had fill'd her fimple breast,
And rifing paffions rob'd her mind of reft;
In courts and glitt'ring tow'rs fhe wifh'd to dwell,
And fcorn'd her lab'ring parents lowly cell:

And

And now, as gazing o'er the glaffy stream,
She faw her blooming cheek's reflected beam,
Her treffes brighter than the morning sky,
And the mild radiance of her sparkling eye,
Low fighs and trickling tears by turns the ftole,
And thus discharg'd the anguish of her soul :
"Why glow thofe cheeks, if unadmir'd they glow ?
Why flow those treffes, if unprais'd they flow?
Why dart thofe eyes their liquid ray ferene,
Unfelt their influence, and their light unfeen?
Ye heav'ns! was that love breathing bofom made
To warm dull groves, and cheer the lonely glade?
Ah, no: those blushes, that enchanting face
Some tap'ftried hall or gilded bow'r might grace,
Might deck the fcenes, where love and pleasure reign,
And fire with am'rous flames the youthful train

While thus the fpoke, a fudden blaze of light
Shot through the clouds, and ftruck her dazzled fight:
She rais'd her head, aftonish'd, to the skies,
Add veil'd with trembling hands her aching eyes;
When through the yielding air fhe faw from far
A goddess gliding in a golden car,

That foon defcended on the flow'ry lawn,
By two fair yokes of starry peacocks drawn:
A thousand nymphs with many a sprightly glance
Form'd round the radiant wheels an airy dance,
Celeftial fhapes, in fluid light array'd;

Like twinkling ftars their beamy fandals play'd:
Their lucid, mantles glitter'd in the fun,
(Webs half fo bright the filkworm never fpun)
Tranfparent robes, that bore the rainbow's hue,
And finer than the nets of pearly dew

That morning fpreads o'er ev'ry op'ning flow'r,
When sportive fummer decks his bridal bow'r.
'The queen herself, too fair for mortal fight,
Sat in the centre of encircling light.

Soon with soft touch the rais'd the trembling maid,
And by her fide in filent Aumber laid:

Straight the gay birds difplay'd their spangled train,
And flew refulgent through th' aerial plain;
The fairy band their fhining pinions fpread,

And as they-rofe fresh gales of fweetnefs fhed

;

Fan'd with their flowing fkirts the fky was mild,
And heav`n's blue fields with brighter radiance smil`d.'

The next poem is intitled, the Seven Fountains, and is an epifode from the Arabian Ta'es, ingrafted upon an allegory in the works of Ebn Arabfhah, native of Damafcus, who flourifhed in the fifteenth century. Concerning this compofition, we shall only observe, that it is written in the fame beautiful strain of poetry with the preceding pieces.

The embellishment which, it is probable, the Eastern poetry receives from the hands of this author, renders it impoffible for us to judge of the beauties of thefe compofitions in their native language; but from the comparison of it with the

Y 3

Ita

Italian, which the author has drawn in a beautiful elegy, intitled Laura, we muft acknowledge, that the former appears with remarkable luftre.

We meet afterwards with an ode on the Spring, felected from the works of Meribi, a poet of confiderable fame in the reign of Soliman II. A paftoral, and a poem upon Chefs, written at the age of fixteen or seventeen years, conclude this collection, which, in general, affords no lefs evidence of the author's poetical genius, than of thofe on whom he has improved.

The two effays fubjoined to these poems, discover the author to be poffeffed of a high degree of critical difcernment, as well as poetical tafte; and from the esteem in which the oriental poetry. is held by this competent judge, we cannot help entertaining fanguine expectations of the pleasure which will foon be reaped upon the accefs of the public to the treafures of Eaftern lite

rature.

IX. Mifcellaneous Poems, confifling of Originals and Tranflations. By Vincent Bourne, M. A. 410. 11. Dodfley.

THERE are no memoirs of the life of this ingenious writer

prefixed to his works; we can only therefore inform our readers, in general terms, that he was educated at the univerfity of Cambridge, and there took the degree of master of arts, and was fellow of Trinity College; that he was for feveral years an ufher in Weftminfter-School; that his probity and goodness of heart were equal to his literary abilities; that out of confcientious motives he was induced to refufe fome valuable ecclefiaftical preferment, offered him in the moft liberal manner by a late noble duke; that he was a married man; and that he died of a lingering diforder in December 1747.

In a letter which he wrote to his wife, a few weeks before his death, he mentions the reafons which made him decline the thoughts of engaging in the minifterial office.

:

Though, fays he, I think myfelf in ftrictness answerable to none but God and my own confcience; yet, for the fatisfaction of the perfon that is dearest to me, I own and declare, that the importance of fo great a charge, joined with a mistrust of my own fufficiency, made me fearful of undertaking it if I have not in that capacity affifted in the falvation of fouis, I have not been the means of lofing any if I have not brought reputation to the function by any merit of mine, I have the comfort of this reflection, I have given no fcandal to it, by my meannefs and unwor thinefs. It has been my fincere defire, though not my happiness, to be as useful in my little fphere of life as poffible: my own inclinations would have led me to a more likely way of being ferviceable, if I might have pursued them; however, as the method of education, I bave been brought up in was, I am fatisfied, very