Retrofpect of Domeftic Literature—Poetrys 
enthyfiafm and refined tafte, peculiarly 
qualified him for the tak. Many poems 
are inferted hitherto unpublifhed; and 
the numerous letters of Burns and his 
friends, which Dr. Currie has judicioufly 
incorporated and made the bafis of his 
biography, affift us in acquiring a com- 
- plete knowledge of the poet’s character, 
and in tracing the growth of his genius, 
and the confirmation of bis intelleét. 
Weare happy to announce the publica- 
tion.of a new edition, corrected and enlarg- 
ed, witha gloflary, extremely minute and 
copious, of the delightful “ Poems of 
Allan Ramfay.” The anonymous editor 
of thefe volumes has prefixed a “ Life” of 
the author, from authentic documents, 
and ‘‘ Remarks” on his poems, which 
evince a very correct tafte, a very found 
difcriminative judgment. 
The fecond, and, we regret to add, the 
Jaft volume is now publifhed of Mr. 
Way’s “ Fabliaux,” in Englifh verfe. 
This moft elegant and moft accomplifhed 
writer has paid the debt of nature; andthe 
public is under obligation for the appear- 
vuce of the prefent volume to his friend 
Mr. GrorGeE EL.ts, the gentleman 
who wrote the preface and notes to the 
former volume of this work, and to 
whom the prefent owes not merely its 
preface and its valuable notes, but sn ap- 
pendix, in which fome tales are con- 
tinued with much fpirit, which had been 
left unfinifhed by Mr. Way. Mr. Ellis 
has in the prefs a work on the hiftory of 
Englifh poetry ; and the editor of thefe 
fafcinating volumes has difplayed fo much 
tafte and fo much knowledge, that we may 
be allowed to form high expectations con- 
cerning his own original and we under- 
fland elaborate performance. 
We are forry to fay, that the Oxonian 
Profeffor of Poetry, Dr. Hurpts, in his 
poem ‘* The favourite Village,” has not 
afforded us that unmixed delight which 
we did hope to have received from this 
effort of his mufe. Many pafflages which 
occur, do honour to the author’s feelings 
as a man; and fome of his fimple un- 
ornamented defcriptions do credit to the 
correctnefs of his tafte; but, when the 
bard attempts to fweep the ‘ indignant 
chords of the lyre,’ his rage is oftentimes 
ridiculous. Dr. Hurdis muft not attempt 
the fublime and lofty ftrains of poetry: 
he has been remarkably unfuccefsful on 
the prefent occafion, at leaft, where his 
images are frequently incongruous and 
extravagant, and his fimilies as unlike as 
poffible, 
609 
The elegant and fpirited tranflator of 
Oberon, one of the moft polifhed poems of 
modern times, has done well in devoting 
his talents to the tranflation of Virgil’s 
Georgics, without exception perhaps 
the moft polifhed poem of antiquity. Of 
the Georgics we have numerous verfions, 
fuch as they afe, inthe English language; 
thofe of Dryden and Warton ftand fore- 
moft, without any other competition than 
that between themfelves. Dryden’s, being 
anterior of the two, had undergone va- 
rious criticifms when Dr. Warton wrote; 
who from that circumiftance, and the ad- 
ditional one of being himfelf a critic of 
much tafte and acutenefs, avoided thofe 
grofs miftakes, thofe many incorreét lines, 
and wild deviations from the original, 
which detract from the merit of his pre- 
deceffor. Dr. Warton’s verfion, how- 
ever, excellent as it is in many re{peéts, 
dignified, elegant, and energetic, is far, 
very far behind the original in dignity, 
elegance and energy. Room, therefore, 
was ftill left—and room, alas! js yet left 
for competition with the Mafter of the Ro- 
man lyre. Mr. Sotheby, fenfible of the 
re{pective excellences of thefe two tran{- 
lations, and fenGible doubtlefs of their 
defects, has offered his own verfion, not 
without diffidence ; and juftly obferves, 
refpeéting the difficulty of the tafk un- 
dertaken, that “the grace, the {pirir, 
and dignity, of the verfifcation of the 
mott harmonious of our poets in the lat 
century, combined with the learning, 
the refined tafte, and corre@ judgment 
of the moft eminent of our critics in the 
prefent, could alone have conveyed to 
the Englifh reader an adequate fenfe of 
the perfection of the Latia original’ 
The verfion of Mr. Sotheby difcredits 
not the high applaufe he has earned by 
his transfulion of Oberon into the Eng- 
hth language. It is not expeéted that 
we fhould enter into the comparative 
merits of Dryden, Warton, and Sotheby. 
Each has his excellences, and each oc- 
cafionally furpaffes both his competitors 
without rivalling the original. The cha- 
raéiers of Dryden's tranflation are, per= 
haps, high {pirit and unpolifhed ftrength: 
the verfion of Dr. Warton is far more 
faithful, elegant and equal: ‘in fuavity 
of verfification and varicty of cadence, 
the prefent tranflator will, perhaps, often 
bear away the palm. 
The lovers of {plendid typography and 
elegant engraving will be pleafed with a 
beautiful edition which has Juft appear- 
ed of Mr. Gray’s Poems. 
The 
