546. 
the very able estimate of the faults and 
merits of ‘l'acitus. 
«Tandem vero Tacitus, Sallustii impu- 
tatas sententiolas, et argutas clausulas, ad- 
sectans, quem prius apud eum corruptum 
invenit stylum, corruptiorem adhuc effecit : 
multaque insuper nova dictionis aucupia, et 
obscuram quandam elegantiam, et urbani- 
tates, nescio quas, e declamatorum scholis, 
que tunc Roma magnopere florebant, eupi- 
dissime arripuit. Quo quidem fuco (ut id - 
obiter dicam) nihil perniciosum magis styli 
historici sanitati accidisse poterat, nihil quod 
ab ejus nativa indole magis, abhorret. Ut 
cunque vero Tacitus parum sibi temperaverit 
ab hisce argutiis et importuna concinnitate, 
mirifico tamen acumine ea, que casum 
magni et. ambitiosissimi imperil comitari 
solent, delatorum insidias, magnatum con- 
urationes, civium proscriptiones, suspectam 
rincipibus privatorum potentiam, et super- 
Uy id dominatignis occulta concilia, per- 
sequitur, investigat, eruit: nec minima etiam 
preteriens, ut exinde res maximi momenti 
extricet, ct futura occupans et premonstrans. 
Quod cum sa.acitatis est, et perspicacie 
summe, admirandum magis in hujus ingenil 
scriptore judico, quod tantopere polleat in 
descriptionibus, ad metum et terrorem com- 
paratis ; in quibus confingendis egregie seligit 
imagines, et captat circiumstantias non nisi 
maximo poete vel pictori perspiciendas; hoc 
Art. VI. 
STOP thief! Mr, Peter Bayley, jun. 
isa literary sharper, who has obtained cre- 
dit upon false pretences, and made his way 
into good company by wearing stolen 
clothes, Withoutfarther preamblewe shall 
proceed to convict this gentleman of pla- 
giarisms as artful, as dishonourable and 
as dishonest, as have ever stamped any 
pretender with infamy. 
__ The poem entitled an Evening in the 
Vale of Festiniog, is made up noe the 
Lyrical Ballads of Mr. Wordsworth, 
«* It is a blessed scene, and I rejoice 
That I have ielt inwove into my being 
A love of the gieen fields, and azure sky, 
Mountains, and all the multitud’nous throng 
Of waves that sound along the rocky shore. 
And therefore (for this never-dying passion, 
This craving appetite, has led me on, 
As though possess’d with moody thoughts, 
and fed 
With wayward fancies)—therefore have I 
roanr'd 
Through devious wilds, through pathless 
»_glens, and climb’d 
The tall cliff’s topmost crag, and therefore 
bar'd a 
To the sharp mountain-blast my glowing 
. o 
breast. 
POETRY. 
tamen parce et obscure, ut sentiamus’ eum 
plura apud se sublimiter concepta habere, 
que non vult proferre, et indiciis tantum 
utens, et Jevissima lincamenta adhibens, et 
lectori multa consulte relinquens, ita tamen 
ut ostendat vel qui studiose celavit.” 
It only remains to notice the editor’s 
annotations. They are generally trifling 
and worthless ;—for instance. “ V. 84, 
I meditate my lightsome lay.” ¢'To 
meditate my rural minstrelsy,’ Comus, v. 
547 ; * meditate the muse,’ Lycid. v. 66 ; 
‘Musam meditaris, Virg. Ecl. 1. 2.” 
Again, and in the same page, V. 295, 
« Which sloping hills around inclose.” 
* meanwhile murm’ring waters fall 
Down the slope hills,’ Par. Lost, iv. 260.” 
The greater part of these notes are 
no better. ‘To make such annotations 
requires no better talent than memory. 
Boys who cap verses are employed quite 
as much to their own and to the publie 
improvement. This is the folly of the 
times, and it has prevailed too long: 
two centuries ago it was the fashion m 
Traly, and Spain, and France; England 
has taken up the absurdity when other 
countries were weary and ashamed of it. 
Poems, by Peter Bayvey, jun. Esq. Svo. pp. 208. 
Nor nursing other feclings have I sought 
The savage grandeur of yon wilds sublime, 
The foaming eat’ract, or the softer voice 
Of bub'ling hill-streams—To this place I 
come 
Led by the self-same impulse. 
This hoar stone, 
Studded with moss, with green and fringed 
moss, 
With crimson fret-work, and bright cups of 
gold; 
And all emboss'd with curled knots, and tufts 
Of lichens—this hoar stone shall be my seat.” 
These lines are botched up from the 
following passages of the Wye and the 
Thorn. 
«< And so J dare to hope, 
Though changed no doubt from what | was, 
when first 
I came among these hills; when like a roe 
1 bounded o’er the mountains, by the sides 
Of the deep rivers and the lonely streams, 
Wherever Nature Jed: more like a man 
Flying from something that he dreads, than 
one + 
Who sought the thing he loved. For na- 
ture then, 
(The coarser pleasures ef my boyish days 
And their glad animal movements all gone by) 
To me was al] in all!.—I cannot paint 
What then I was. - The sounding cataract 
{ 
