656 
POETRY. 
Mr. Topp has publithed a new edition 
of tive poetieal works of Milton. This is 
an elaborate work, and certainly a very 
valuable one. Mr. Todd prefented the 
public with a fpecimen of his qualifica- 
tions as an annotator, by the edition 
which he gave usa few years ago of Co- 
mous. 
‘¢ Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs, by 
ROBERT BLOOMFIELD.” It has fome- 
times been the fate of genius to ficken 
and to laneuith, on being tranfplanted 
from the fhade of cbfcurity and the cold 
foil of poverty, where it was indigenous, 
into a warmer fituation and a richer bed, 
where, however carefully tended, it fill 
was exotic. The genius of Mr. Bloom- 
field has fuffered nothing from this remo- 
val, but, on the contrary, the fhoots which 
jt has made are vigorous, and the blof- 
foms beautiful, and it is faying a great 
deal, that they have not, like fome culti- 
vated flowers, loft the fimplicity of their 
original ftruGure. It is incompatible 
with the brevity of our article to admit 
{pecimens, or we fhould gladly have in- 
troduced Mr. Bloomfield’s Ode, flowing 
warm from his heart, on the Peace which 
had juft taken place, as the printing of his 
volume was on the point of completion.— 
There is a fervor and an apsimation 
in fome paflages of this fhort Ode, from 
which we fufpe&t the author tc be capable 
of nobler things than any which have yet 
proceeded from him. 
«© Specimens of the early Englifh Po- 
ets; to which is prefixed, an hiftorical 
Sketch of the Englith Poetry and Lan- 
guage, in three Volumes, by GEORGE 
Evuis, Efg.”’ If there wasa period when 
our early Englifh Poets lay, like an old 
garment whofe fafhion is paft away, for- 
gotten or defpifed, we arenow making al] 
the amends in our power for this unme- 
rited indifference and reglect. Our poeti- 
¢al antiquaries now ranfacx the duft-co- 
vered corners of their libraries with the 
greateft avidity, and pore with aftonifhing 
perfeverance over every black-letter vo- 
jume they can find. ‘* Toconflitutea re- 
jith, faidanelegant and unfortunate young 
man, who laboured in the fame vocation 
with Mr. Eilis*,) to conftitute a relith for 
the black-letter, a certain degree of lite- 
rary Quixotifm is highly rcguifite: he 
who is unwilling to penetrate the barren 
heath and the folitary defert—he who 
cannot encounter weariness, perplexity, 
and difeuft—he who is not actuated Ly 
* Mr, Headley. 
Retrofped? of Domeftic Literature —Poetry. 
an enthufiafin for his employment, is no. 
true knight, and unfit for fuch fervice.’’ 
This is perfe@ly true, and we are indébt- 
ed to that adventurer who refcues from 
the giant Oblivion one captive beauty.— 
The firft edi.ion of this miicellany, which 
appeared in the year 1790, was itated by 
the author to be an attempt to comprife 
within the compafs of one volume all the 
moft beautiful fhort poems that had been 
publifhed in this country during the fix- 
teenth and feventeenth centuries ; it was 
at the fame time ftated that the completion 
of the plan had been prevented by the dif- 
ficulty of procuring a fufficient ftock of 
materials. The prefent, which is a much 
more comprehenfive. collecticn, 1s divided 
into two parts, which have fer their com- 
mon object ‘* to exhibit, by means of a 
regular feries of {pecimens, the rife and 
progre/s of our language, from the tenth 
to the latter end of the feventeenth cen- 
tury. Inthe former part, which termi- 
nates with the reign of Henry VIII. the 
extracts are generally chofen with a view 
to picturefque de{cription, or to the deli- 
neation of national manners ; whereas the 
fecond divifion cf the work is meant to 
exhibit the beft models that could be 
found, in each reign, of regular and finifh- 
ed compofition. In the former, which con- 
fifts of very early fragments, it was thought 
that a few critical remarks, as well as 
biographical anecdotes, were abfolutely 
neceflary ; and that thefe could not be 
given more concifely than in the form of 
an hiflorical fketch; but in the latter a 
fhort outline of the literary character of 
each reign, and a few notices refpeétinge 
the feveral writers, appeared to be fufhi- 
cient.. To the whole is added a fort of 
eflay, on the formation and early grada- 
tions of our Janguage, which, being little 
more than a repetition of fome obferva- 
tions contained in the firft volume, is, per 
haps, fuperfluous ; but may be convenient 
for the purpofe of reference. Our ancient 
Englifh poetry is a mine which contains 
great treafure, but he who undertakes to 
wotk it fhould be prepared with a conft- 
derable fhare of knowledge and of tafie ; 
to adeficiency in thefe refpeéts we mutt 
attribute thofe fragments of valuelefs me- 
tal, which have oftentimes been brought 
up and exhibited before us as {pecimens of 
the pureft gold. Mr. Ellis, however, is 
every way qualified for the tafk he has 
here undertaken ; he is a Scholar, a man 
of tafie, genius, and judgment. 
“© Science rmvived ; or, the Vifion of 
Alfred, a Poem, in eight Books.” ‘The 
Author has difplayed confiderable inge- i 
- muity 
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