nt 
sion. 
CARTWRIGHT’S ARMINE AND ELVIRA=SAYERS’ NUGH POETICA. 
pears to give the truest and most candid 
account of the celebrated version of 
Macpherson that has yet been pub- 
lished. 
_ We have already said, that the poems 
of Mrs. Grant are entitled to indul- 
gence; but we should be deficient in 
our duty to the public, and indeed to 
the author, did we neglect to point out 
some faults which call for correction. 
We do not stop to particularize the bad 
rhymes, but they are numerous. That 
poorest of all expletives so frequently 
occurs, as—‘‘ so deep, so sweet,’ &c. 
« The clan’s proud standard waves 
amain.”” 
¢¢ When probity and wisdom loth combine 
With ad/ the poignant humour of a Burns,” 
561 
and several similar lines are flat and re- 
dundant inthe extreme. Industry, sup- 
port, sonorous, arial, &c. should never 
make their appearance on this side the 
Tweed ; nor such prosody as 
«¢ Dear Beatrice with pleasure I read your 
kind letter,” 
«¢ More difficult to clear than his rey'rence's 
text.” 
Several sentences are inaccurately 
constructed, and most of the pieces 
might be compressed with advantage. 
Mrs. Grant evidently possesses those 
great requisites for poetic excellence, 
a lively fancy and a feeling heart, and 
we shall be rejoiced to announce a se- 
cond edition of her poems with omis- 
sions and corrections. 
Arr. XVI. Armine and Elvira: a legendary Tale. The Ninth Edition. With other 
Poems. By Epmunp Cartwricut, M. A. 
THE elegant tale of Armine and 
Elvira, first given to the world in 1771, 
has acquired for its author a degree of 
poetical fame, which naturally led us 
to expect great pleasure from the peru- 
sal of the volume before us. Time, we 
flattered ourselves, must have ripened, 
from blossoms so fragrant and beautiful, 
a mellow and delicious fruit. 
In this pleasing anticipation we have 
been somewhat deceived. The tender 
plant of poesy, it is probable, has re- 
ceived but little culture from Mr. Cart- 
wright during the last thirty years ; thus 
the vernal bloom of fancy has been suf- 
fered to fade in neglect, and has only 
been succeeded: by an autumnul blow 
equally transient and less lovely. 
Our author must not, however, be 
confounded with the herd of common 
versifiers; though deficient in strength 
and boldness—never brilliant, and rarely 
original—he is always moral, generally 
elegant, often ingenious, and sometimes 
pathetic. There is a striking resem- 
12mo. pp. 132. : 
blance between the style and genius of 
Mr. Cartwright and of his friend Dr. 
Langhorne; but the former is less 
chargeable than the latter with obscu- 
rity and affectation. 
« Youth and Age,” an ode from the 
Swedish, may certainly * be considered 
as a literary curiosity” as well as an 
agreeable and elegant piece; though, but 
for the advertisement, we should never 
have conjectured it to be of foreign 
birth. 
None of the new pieces are of great 
length, nor does their author claim for 
them any higher title than that of « Tri- 
fles.’ The following is a frifle, but 
surely a very tender and pleasing one. 
«* Not once the sun has deign’d to shine 
My Susan, thro’ this day so drear, 
‘Tis yet, save that which made thee mine 
To me the brightest of the year. 
«* This day first saw those eyes so blue, 
Their fascinating beams display— 
Blest day! to come with rapture new, 
Yet never steal a charm away }” 
Art. XVII. Nuge Poetice. By ¥. Savers, M.D. 8vo. pp. $7. 
OF a thin pamphlet, with a title so 
unpretending, a short account will suffice. 
Its longest and most finished piece, en- 
titled, “ Theseus and Ariadne, from an 
‘gantly versified poem, more concise, yet 
epithalamium by Catullus,” is an ele- 
i ornamented than the original, of 
which it is rather an abstract than a ver- 
In some passages we could wish 
that more of the costume of theLatin bard 
had been preserved, and that it had been 
Ann. Rey, Vor. I, 
less completely transformed into a mo- 
dern English production. ‘I'ranslation, 
it should be recollected, may be instruc- 
tive, whilst imitation can only be enter- 
taining. For instance—a literal version 
of the lines, tae | 
<¢ Non humilis eurvis purgutur vinea rastris, 
Non glebam prono conyeliit vomere taurus. 
Yon fale ualtenwat JSrondatorum arloris ym- 
bram,” 
would have given the English reader 
Q 
