i801.] 
kingdom ; every motive calls loudly upon 
us to do what is in our power: this call 
upon us is urgent: whatever can contri- 
bute to bring corn into the kingdom, or 
whatever can contribute to produce more 
upon its lands, fhould be fpeedily put in 
execution. Millions of barren acres re- 
proach us with inattention and fupine- 
nefs; let us dread above all things hor- 
rible, “ Famine, the laft, the moft dread- 
ful refource of nature.” The plough 
ftands ready to be turned into the furrow; 
Where the long heath and untrod marth 
extend, 
Thither, ye fwains, your fkill, your la- 
bours bend ; 
Where afelefs fern ufurps th’ indignant 
foil, 
There let thericher gifts of Ceres {mile; 
And where ho founds but hollow 
winds prevail, 
Let harveft’s joyous tumult fill the gale! 
Millions, whofe tears are mixt with 
fcanty bread, 
Shall call dawn bleflings on your ho- 
nour'd head, 

Had a general inclofure-bill taken 
place laft year, or when it was firft pro- 
pofed, more quarters of good corn might 
have been grown on our own lands, then 
can polhibly be imported at an immenfe 
coft of treafure from other countries: 
but our policy has been to give a high 
bounty to feed our poor with bad foreign 
grain, and impofe a heavy expence oa 
thofe of our countrymen, who would en- 
deavour by bold exertions to increafe our 
native productions. Are our old feudal 
cuitoms and diftin¢tions for ever to ftand 
in the way of the moft neceffary improve- 
ments? or, fhall we adopt the abhorred 
policy of the Greeks, and of the modern 
Chineie ? Let us rele, that * “ the in- 
creafe of population is neceffarily limited 
by the means of fubfiftence,” and endea- 
vour, at leaft, to poftpone the time, when 
“ gigantic, inevitable famine, ftalkine in 
the rear,” fhall, with one mighty blow, 
level the population with the food of the 
world.” 
eae 
Norwich, Nov. 16, 1800. 

For the Monthly Magazine. 
CRITICISM of the MESSIAH. 
( Continued from page 426.) 
N the fixth book the arreftation of Je- 
fus takes place. ‘The apparition of a 
death-angel to Philo, when he threatens 
the capital punifhment of Jefus, with the 
\ 

* Effay; p. 140. 
Klopftock’s Mefiiah. 
50} 
words: “T appoint thee in the valley of 
Benhinnon, there halt thou fee my face 
again,” is a well-proje@ed parody of the 
genius’s appearing to Brutus, but it is 
not fortunately executed ; it wants, like 
every tranfplantation of Klopftock’s, con- 
cifeneis, fimple grandeur, and fewnefs of 
impreflive ornaments: too much is {aid 
by the angel, too many things about him 
are deferibed. The fecond appearance 
in the thirteenth canto is not better ma- 
naged. 
Thefeventh book narrates the penitence 
and felf-flaughter of Judas tragically and 
fublimely. ‘The interference of Portia, 
the wife of Pilate, at the folicitation of 
Mary, the mother of Jefus, to obtain the 
releafe of the fon, is condu@ed with no-= 
bienels, tendernefs, and propriety. “ The 
mother of the Uncreated” difplays a lof- 
tinefs admired even by angels. The 
fcourging, the crowning with thorns, and 
the fortition of the garments, are hurried 
over with prudent rapidity. Very few 
paffages recal Vida’s Chriftiad: one of 
thefe is Portia’s dream, which, however 
improved in Klopftock, probably refules 
from the lines 
Romanum interea monet ipa exterrita 
vifis 
Per fomnum conjux, juvenis ne fangui- 
ne {feie 
Polluat, abftineat capte, portenta mi- 
wari 
Magna Deum in fomnis, &c. 
CHRISTIADOS, LIB. V. 
Taffo and Milton have not confulted 
Vida fo fruitlefsly. 
In the eighth book the crucifixion is 
effected. An eclipfe produced by the 
miraculous interpofition of the ftar Ada- 
mida, which Uriel is ordered to guide 
between the fun and the earth, gives rife 
to a fine defcription. 
Earth grew fill at the finking twi- 
light: the twilight 
Gloomier, ftiller the earth. Broad 
ghaitly fhadows, with pale gleams 
Streak’d more dimly, and more flow’d 
treublous over the mouutains. 
Dumb withdrew the fowls of heav’n to 
the depths of the foreft ; 
Beafts of the field ftole fearful to hide 
in the lonelieft caverns ; 
Even the worm flunk duwn. In the air 
reign’d death-like hlence. 
Man, flow-breathing, look'd at the 
heavens. The gathering darknels 
Now was night. The flar ftood fill 
(fo Uriel guided) 
Qaenching the fun light wholly. Ja 
horribly vifible midnight 
VYeil’d were the world’s wide fields. 
3 Sound 
