The youth he prefs'd her to his heart;

The maid let fall a tear.

Ah! feldom had their hoft, I ween,
Beheld fo fweet a pair:

The youth was tall with manly bloom,
She flender, foft, and fair.
The youth was clad in foreft green,
With bugle-horn so bright:
She in a filken robe and fcarf
Snatch'd up in hafty flight.

Sit down, my children, fays the fage;
Sweet reft your limbs require:
Then heaps fresh fewel on the hearth,
And mends his little fire.

Partake, he faid, my fimple store,
Dried fruits, and milk, and curds;
And fpreading all upon the board,
Invites with kindly words.

Thanks, father, for thy bounteous fare:
The youthful couple say:

Then freely ate, and made good chear,
And talk'd their cares away.

Now fay, my children, (for perchance
My councel may avail)

What strange adventure brought you here
Within this lonely dale?

Firft tell me, father, faid the youth,

(Nor blame mine eager tongue)

What town is near? What lands are thefé?

And to what lord belong?

Alas! my son, the hermit faid,

Why do I live to fay,

The righful lord of thefe domains

Is banish'd far away?'

The fecond canto commences with a happy comparison of the fmiles of the young lady to the morning fucceeding the ftorm and the conversation which then paffes between the lovers is full of virtuous and tender fentimentş.

• Lovely fmil'd the blushing morn,
And every storm was fled :

But lovelier far, with fweeter fmile,
Fair Eleanor left her bed.

She found her Henry all alone,
And cheer'd him with her fight;

The youth confulting with his friend
Had watch'd the livelong night.

What sweet furprize o'erpower'd her breaft
Her cheek what blushes dyed,

When fondly he befought her there
To yield to be his bride?

‹ Within this lonely hermitage

There is a chapel meet :

Then grant, dear maid, my fond request,
And make my bliss compleat.

'O Henry, when thou deign'ft to sue,
Can I thy fuit withstand?

When thou, lov'd youth, haft won my heart,
Can I refuse my hand?

• For thee I left a father's fmiles,

And mother's tender care;

And whether weal or woe betide,
Thy lot I mean to fhare.

• And wilt thou then, O generous maid,
Such matchlefs favour show,

To share with me a banish'd wight
My peril, pain, or woe?

Now heaven, I truft, hath joys in store
To crown thy conftant breast;

For, know, fond hope affures my heart
That we fhall foon be bleft.'

The hermit's tale, which is tragical, and well related, is introduced in this canto, and continued to the end of the poem. The thought and expreffion in the following ftanza are exquifitely beautiful,

• Young Bertram lov'd a beauteous maid,
As fair as fair might be;

The dew-drop on the lily's cheek

Was not fo fair as fhe.'

There is an agreeable fimplicity in the second line of the stanza next quoted, which, in fpite of the verbal redundancy, extorts our approbation.

• She Bertram courteously address'd;
And kneeling on her knee;
Sir knight, the lady of thy love
Hath fent this gift to thee.'

The description of the battle between the English and Scots is highly animated; and the ftrong resemblance it bears to the ballad of Chevy-Chace, fhews, that the author has warmed his imagination with the beauties of that poem. As this paffage affords fo striking a parallel, we beg leave to extract it. 'Lord Percy, and his barons bold Then fix upon a day

To fcour the marches, late opprest,
And Scottish wrongs repay.

The knights affembled on the hills
A thousand horfe and more :

Brave Widdrington, though funk in years,
The Percy-standard bore.

• Tweed's limpid current foon they pass,
And range the borders round;

Down the green flopes of Tiviotdale
Their bugle-horns refound.

As when a lion in his den
Hath heard the hunters cries,

Dd 3

And

with truth be acknowledged, that many of his profeffion are properly furnished with qualifications neceffary for difquifitions of this kind; and many of them have given ample proofs of their knowledge in facred fcience.

Every attempt that tends to make the facred writings better understood by all degrees of men, is highly laudable in itself, and of fervice to the general interests of mankind; and no helps can be thought fuperfluous in thefe days, which feem to boast of being ignorant of the most important truths.

The prefent, as well as the former work, in which this author has been engaged, feems to have proceeded from a thorough conviction of the importance of the fubject, as well as a defire of doing his utmost to investigate facred truth.

The particulars which the author hath chofen for his enquiry, are those against which the pointless darts of infidelity have been repeatedly levelled, down from lord Herbert of Cherbury, to the puny champion of Geneva. Like a true master builder, he looks well to his foundation; being thoroughly affured that the ftrength of the fuperftructure muft chiefly depend upon its being properly laid.

The particulars in which we are inftructed by Mofes, are fuch as no other writer could have informed us of. To him we are indebted for the knowledge of the creation of all things; of the first parents of the human race; the inventors of arts; the origin of nations; the founders of kingdoms and empires; the inftitution of laws; the fountain of religious rites; and we may add, of the ancient mythology: but what is of greater confequence, the means of forming a true sense of God and religion; by what means religion came afterwards to be corrupted; and the progress of that corruption.

It appears from the work before us, that the author adheres very clofely to verbal criticism, and the natural interpretation: of things; and we may venture to affirm, that very good reasons may be given for believing the accounts which Mofes has left us, without having recourfe to the fubterfuge of allegory on every occafion.

A fondness for allegory has been the parent of much abfurdity, and in none more confpicuous than the disciples of Hutchinfon, and fhall we fay even the polished Middleton? The admirers of this fcheme invert the old maxim, ex nihilo nibil fit, for they will produce ex nihilo omne aliquid.

We are happy to find that our author coincides fo exactly with the learned and judicious critic, Dr. Kennicott, to whofe Tree of Life he fo pertinently refers. That work was indeed

Piercy and Douglas, great in arms,
There all their courage fhow'd;
And all the field was frew'd with dead,

And all with crimson flow'd.'

This poem is written in that ftrain of beautiful fimplicity, and unaffected energy, which are univerfally the characteristics of the best compofition. While it poffeffes the fpirit, it is void of the imperfections of our ancient poetry. It pleafes by the genuine graces of nature, undebased with the ornaments of art; and whether we confider it in regard to imagery, sentiment, or diction, we may fairly admit it to rival the most celebrated model of the English ballad.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE.

POETRY.

12. The Purfuits of Happiness. Infcribed to a Friend. 4to. Is. 6d. Cadell.

IN

N this piece there are fome good lines, fome pleafing strokes of a lively imagination; but, among the reft, feveral verses which are inharmonious and unpoetical. The following couplets are of this latter fpecies.

The glare that blazes in a public show,

The courtier's whifper and the great man's bow."
Yet they, whom gaping crouds with envy fee,
Have years to feem, but fcarce an hour to be.'
All this is own'd; but prudent men are glad
To take the world as it may be had.'

This laft line wants a fyllable of the requifite measure.
The characters which the author attempts to draw are faint
and imperfect sketches, fome scattered lineaments which hardly
Atrike, difguft, or pleafe. One of the beft is the portrait of
Canidia.

Her foul unbroken and unquench'd its flame,
See yonder veteran in the lists of fame ;

See at the clofing of fome public show

Canidia joftling in its hindmoft row:

('Tis but the decent rudeness of her state,
For fimple ladies come an hour too late)
Canidia ftill in beauty's fecond prime,
At fixty bends not to the hand of Time;
Time can but draw his wrinkles o'er her brow,
Time can but fpread her gloffy locks with fnow,
Thefe are no parts of her---that head drefs fee,
Triumphs in youthful immortality!
Eternal bloom--is in the pow'r of paint,

And yet Canidia's more than half a faint;

Conftant at church, for fometimes beaux are there,
And thus one falling morn, the clos'd a prayer:

Dd 4

And

"And as for death, fince die the youngest muft,
And this fair frame be moulder'd in the duft,
Be all these errors of my youth forgiv'n,

And let me wear this Denmark-fly * in heav'n !” Satirical pieces are feldom free from rudeness and indelicacy. In this respect the poem before us is unexceptionable. 13. Armine and Elvira, a Legendary Tale. In two Parts. 4to. 25. Murray.

This tale exhibits a pleafing reprefentation of parental tendernefs and virtue, with the infurmountable emotions of a mutual paffion in the breafts of young Armine and Elvira. is related in a correct ftile of poetry, and is moral and affeating.

14. An original Effay on Woman. 4to. 2s. 6d. Swan.

1

This Effay is intended as a vindication of the fair fex from the afperfions that have been thrown upon them by many satirifts, and is in feveral places a parody on the Essay on Man, which is imitated with remarkable addrefs. The fair champion has, we think, ingeniously defended the cause the has undertaken; and it would be illiberal not likewife to acknowledge the juftice with which the recriminates against our own fex. We have always been of opinion with this lady, that the female mind is equally fufceptible of attainments with that of man, and that the fuperiority of the latter, in point of learning, is owing entirely to the difference of education. At the fame time that we admit an equal docility in both fexes, we hope the ladies will never become ambitious of depriving us of fo natural a diftinction as that of the palm of literature. They may be affured, however, that we are not induced to this defire from any motives of jealousy respecting the department of criticism; for nothing could afford us greater pleasure than to be joined with an equal number of fair affociates. But fhould that amiable part of the creation become votaries of Minerva, what advantages would mankind enjoy, that could in any degree compenfate for the want of the more agreeable endowments of beauty and vivacity, which nature has lavished on the fofter fex? Though the bounds of our Review will scarcely admit of more quotations, we cannot refrain from gratifying our readers with a few lines of this poem, as a specimen.

Grieve not, ye fair, to want the ftrength of man;
You're more fecure on delicacy's plan :

For when the brute prevails, and makes him ftorm,
Then fweetly fmile him to a placid form;

Recal his reafon, damp the raging fire,

And let your voice be great Timotheus' lyre.
Male ftorms fubfide before a female figh,

And anger leffens on a foft reply:

A particular fort of head-dress,

Let