506 
merit. It is almoft unneceflary to fay, 
that the “ Epiftle toa Friend,’ by Mr. 
SAMuEeL RoGERs, author of the Plea- 
fures of Memory, is beautiful, intereft- 
ing, and very highly polifhed. The five 
concluding cantos of the ‘ Henriade 
are publifhed: we know not to whom 
we are indebted for this Englith tranfla- 
tion, which we are ftrongly difpofed to 
prefer, in point of elegance, and har- 
mony of verfification, to the original of 
Voltaire. Mr. Giskorne’s ‘“ Vales of 
Wever”’ is a loco-defcriptive poem, ev!- 
dently imitated, in regard to ftyle, trom 
DarRwin’s Botanic Garden: fome parts 
of it are beautiful. Mr. FosBrooKEs 
* Economy of Monattic Life, as it exifted 
in England,’ isa poem of confiderable 
merit in itfelf, and has, moreover, the 
extrinfic value of philofophical and archai- 
ological illuftrations from Lyndwood, 
Dugdale, Selden, Wilkins, &c. &c. to- 
gether with copious extraéts from origi- 
nal MSS. : it is written in the ftanza of 
Spencer.. Mr. CorTLe, of Cambridge, 
hes made a valuable addition to the lite- 
rature of his country, in a volume of 
“Icelandic Poetry: this gentleman 
has tranflated into Englifh verle the 
Edda* of Semund. When the Edda of 
Snorro Sturlefton was publifhed in the 
‘‘ Northern Antiquities,” about thirty 
years ago, the compilation of Semund 
was fuppofed to be loft; a MS. collec- 
tion, however, in the king of Denmark’s 
library of mythological odes from this 
Edda, was publifhed at Copenhagen, in 
1787. It is this colleétion which Mr. 
Cotte has tranflated: it confifts of 
twelve poems, all of which abound with 
imagery, the moit romantic, novel, and 
fublime. Mr. Hayvtey’s edition of 
Milton is completed im three volumes ; 
the price of it is fifteen guineas. This 
magnificent work is adorned with the 
typographical beauties of Bulmer, and 
with engravings frem the defigns of 
- Romney and Weftal. . Dr. BOOKER’S 
« Malvern” is a deferiptive poem of 
fome merit: the Doétor’s talent for this 
{pecies of compofition has been evinced 
on former occafions, and he appears to 
have cultivated it with confiderable fuc- 


——_—_—— 

* Some few readery.. may require to be in- 
formed, that an Edda fignifes a compilatien of 
the fyftem of Runic mythology; in thefe cam- 
pilations were incorporated numerous _particu~ 
lars of Scandinavian manners and-philotophy. 
Mr. Maret fuppofes the object of them to 
have been, the initruction of thofe young Ice- 
Jandets, principally, who intended to devote 
themfelves to the profeflion of the fcald, or 
_poet, as they contain a fyftem of poetics. 
Retrofped of Domeftic Literature.—Poetry, 
. f Sup. 
cefs. Dr. B.’s verfification js eafy and 
elegant, but not fufficiently animated. 
The Rev. James Moore, matter of the 
free grammar-f{chool in Hertford, has 
written, during his leifure hours, an epic 
poem, in twelve books, called « The 
Columbiad ; or, the Difcovery | of Ame- 
rica and the Weft-Indies, by Columbus :”’ 
a dearer and a duller book never iffued 
from the prefs. Mr. Pye’s “ Naucra- 
tia, or Naval Dominion,”’ ts written with 
confiderable animation; Mr. P. long 
fince accepted an office which impofes on 
him the moft grofs and fulfome adulation - 
that the poet-laureat fhould have volun. 
teered a few paflages of fimilar import in 
his prefent produétion, is not wonderful. 
The defign and execution of the Nau- 
cratia are creditable to the poetical ta- 
lents of its author. Mr. Huu, of 
Covent-garden Theatre, has written 
fome ‘* Moral Tales,” founded on real. 
events: the verfification is fimple, ani- 
mated, and eafy ; the matter is excellent. 
The errors of this werk are trifling, and 
it would be an acceptable and a yaluable 
prefent to young perfons in particular. 
The “ Critical, Poetical, and Dramatic 
Works” of Mr. Joun Penn, are pub. 
lifhed in two oétavo volumes ; the fir 
contains a tranilation of Calfabigi’s letter 
to Count Alfieri, on tragedy, with various 
and learned notes; the poetical mifcella- 
nies are of unequal merit: in the fecond 
volume is an art of Englith poetry, imi- 
tated from Horace’s epiftle to the Pifos ; 
an abridgment fuccceds, of Milton’s 
Samfon Agoniftes, Jonfon’s Silent Wo- 
man, and Voltaire’s Semiramis; all of 
which Mr. P. has endeavoured to adapt 
for the theatre. Many beauties are 
pruned away, from Samfon Agoniftes in 
particular. Mr. SouTHEy’s ** Joan of 
Arc,” which, confidered under all its at- 
tendant circumftances, is a wonderful 
effort of genius, has undergone a fevere 
and {crutinizing revifion by its author, 
who hes publithed a new edition of it in 
octave. Lhe “ Oberon” of WieLanp 
has been tranflated by Mr. SoTHEBY : 
the {piric of the poem ts faid to have, in 
fome degree, fuffered by the too rigid 
adelity* of the tranflation; this, how- 
ever, will probably be regarded as a 
venial error, and the Englith public will, 
doubtlets, confider itfelf under obligation 
to Mr. S. for introducing it to acquaint- 
ance with one of the moft polithed epic 
SE 
* The merit of fidelity is, however, difputed 
by Dr. WiILLIcH.—See Monthly Magazine, 
#age 399, Part 3. 1798, 
: \ poems 
