356 
Barton's Prodromus. 
And we are vigilant— thy late commands 
Have been fulfilled to the utmost. 
This is the very language of a waiting- 
maid. Similar tameness and insipidity 
are not rare in tliis poem. In fine, we 
look upon Manfred as the least credita- 
bW production of lord Byron’s pen. 
Wfe are ourselves at a loss for that irre- 
sistible charm which so m;my find in his 
hrdship’s poetry. If it be the gloominess 
of his jtictures that is so attractive to con- 
genial spirits, we must, indeed, concede 
the palm to him. But if it be the awe 
with which even tlie least reverent 
treatment of solemn subjects fills the 
mind, the same sensation in a more ex- 
quisite degree may be aAvakened by read- 
ing the IN ight Thoughts ; and we would 
urge it upon those of lord Byron’s vota- 
ries, who have never read that in- 
comparable poem, to seek a solace 
for ihcir sombre feelings in the pages 
Art. 4. Flora Phlladelphica Prodromus, <rr Prodromus of the Flora Pldladelphica, 
exhibiting a list of all the plants to be described in that work which have as yet been 
collected. By Dr. William P. C. Barton. Philadelphia. 1615. 4to. pp. 100. 
\ PRODROMUS is a work generally a needful arrangement, notwithstanding 
I j-iL issued previous to the puldication that he professes the intention or wish 
of a larger one on the same subject, and that his work should become a manual to 
( whose object is to inform the public of the the Philadelphian Botanist. AVhether this 
author’s views, improvements or disco- wish may ever be fulfilled is rather pro- 
veries, by giving a succinct account of blematical, since besides handing us his 
them ; tliis last particular therefore dis- Prodromus in a 4to. size, a veiy unusual 
tinguishes this performance from the shape for a pocket companion, it has been 
Prospectus, which is merely intended to printed in transverse columns, which have 
.convey an idea of the plan of a subse- a very uncouth and forbidding ajrpear- 
quent work. This denomination has ance ; some of them are entirely useless 
( however been hitherto nearly confined to and almost blank, while the Avhole matter 
ivorks on Natural Histoiy and Botany, might have been very easily included in a 
; and they hav'e been sometimes issued small volume of about 60 pages ; and 
j without the intention of publishing an- lastly, the localities of the plants are al- 
otlier wmrk on the same subject. They together omitted. Tliis unaccountable 
are often in fact works of great merit, omission renders the work of no value to 
worthy to stand isolated, and at all times the practical Botanist who may hereafter 
\ of greater practical utility than expensive wish to search for the jilants enumerated 
publieations. The Prodromus Florw by the author. No local Flora, or Pro- 
I JVovcB Hollandice of Brown, the Prodro- dromus of a Flora can be deemed perfect, 
.nius Flora Greece of Smith, and the unless the student or Botanist is directed 
\Prodromus Florce Capensis of Thunberg, to the places where the plants w'ere found, 
iinay be mentioned as instances of able The omission of this necessaiy circum- 
i performances of this kind. stance carries with it an ambiguous ap- 
But in order to render them eminently pearance, and a severe critic might insi- 
useful, their authors have generally liad nuate that many plants are enumerated 
in view that they should answer the pur- without the authority of personal evi- 
pose of practical manuals, wherefore dence ; but we ai’e far from intending to 
they have been printed in a diminutive intimate any such suspicion, and only 
size, and in a shape likely to include a wish, (and w^e expect every botanist will 
great deal of matter wdthin a small com- herein agree with us) that our researches 
pass. It appears that the author of this for many rare plants mentioned in this 
Prodromus has entirely overlooked such Prodromus had been facilitated. Mean- 
of Dr. Young. His vigorous reasoning, 
his holy melancholy, his philosophic re- 
signation, his moral sublimity, and Chris- 
tian faith, will present a strong and salu- 
tary contrast to the sickly sentimentality, 
the miserable fears, the still more misera- 
ble daring, the grovelling philosophy, and 
the forlorn atheism of lord Byron. 
But it is not ours to dictate. Yet w e 
must be permitted, w hilst we leave others 
to the gratification of theii' capricious 
tastes, to desire that no modern hero, no 
sublimated monster, — no Mokanna, 
informe, ingens, cut lumen udtmpiim, 
no Manfred, 
Will) Ale by his side, come hot horn hell, 
may ramp in our path, w hat time we for- 
sake the Parthenon to stray with the 
muses in the vale of Tempe. 
E. 
