Retrofpeet of Domeftic Literature.— Poetry. 
fidered as the Guardian of the Church 
than he is of the State, cannot eman.- 
cipate the Catholics from their prefent 
Difabilities, without endangering the Se- 
curity and Stability of the Church, and, 
of courfe, without violating that Part of 
the Coronation Oath, by which he Swears 
to Maintain it to the wtmoff of his Power.” 
On the other fide of the queftion, they 
may refer to Mr. Butler’s ‘* Letter to 
a Nobleman, on the propofed Repeal of the 
Penal Laws which now remain in Force 
againft the Irifh Roman Catholic ;” and 
a pamphlet entitled ‘“* The Queftion, as 
to the Admiffion of Catholics to Parlia- 
ment, confidered upon the Principles of 
exifting Laws; with Supplemental Ob- 
fervations on the Coronation Oath, by a 
Barrifter,”” where we think Mr. Reeve’s . 
arguments are very compleatly over- 
thrown. The following fhort argument, 
urged by this Barrifter, feems decifive : 
«© Admitting, (fays he,) for the fake of 
argument, that the Sovereign is pledged 
to his fubjects, by the engagement.con- 
traéted at his coronation, to continue the 
exclufion of Catholics from Parliament, 
(although the fuppofition is abfurd, fince, 
by the King alone, they could not be 
admitted,) yet if the three eftates of the 
realm, in Parliament affembled, fhall pre- 
fent a Bill to his Majefty, praying that 
the difability to which Catholics are li- 
able may be removed, furely his Majefty 
may grant his royal fan&ion, fince the 
very form of the Bill exprefsly ftates, that 
the meafure is propofed with the advice | 
and confent of his fubjeéts.” Mr. 
Reeves’ pamphlet has alfo, among many 
others, provoked the four following re- 
plies, all of which may be confulted with 
advantage: I. **A fhort View of the 
Catholic Queftion, in a Letter to a Coun. 
fellor at Law in Dublin, by the Hon. 
Henry Aucustus DILion, M. P.” 
Il. * A further Supplement (occafioned 
by the fecond edition of Mr. Reeves’ 
“‘ Confiderations on the Coronation 
Oath,”’) to a pamphlet intitled ‘* The 
Queftion, as to the Admiffion of Catholics 
to Parliament, confidered on the Princi- 
ples of exifting Laws, by Joun Josepu 
Ditton, of Lincoln’s-inn, Esq. Bar- 
rifter-at-Law.”’ III. ‘*General Opinions 
on the Conduct of Minifters, with re- 
fpe& to the paft and prefent State of 
Ireland, and inculcating the Juftice and 
Policy -of Catholic Emancipation, by 
THomas TOwnsHEND, Esq. Barrifter- 
at Law, and a Member of the Irifh Par- 
diament.” IV, * The Cale of Confcience 
603 
Solved ; or, Catholic Emancipation proved 
to be compatible with the Coronation 
Oath, ina Letter from a Cafuift in the 
Country to his’ Friend in Town: witha 
Supplement in Anfwer to Confiderations 
on the faid Oath, by JoHn Reeves, 
Esq.” 
From Law we proceed to the more en- 
gaoing fubject of 
POETRY. 
Arduous as is the tafk, and noble as 
are the powers required ‘‘to build the 
lofty’’ epic, true genius, in the juft cone 
fidence of its ftrength, fhrinks nét from 
the labour ; and we have lately witnefled 
more than one inftance where its exertions 
have been rewarded by fuccefs. 
Mr. SouTHEY’s ‘* Joan of Arc*”’ has 
gained -him high poetic honours, and we 
are inclined to believe that Mr. Cottle 
will obtain no mean renown from «“ Al. 
fred.” The fubject of this latter poem 
is peculiarly happy: the very name of 
Alfred makes every Briton’s heart beat 
high for liberty, and prepare himfelf for 
death in the defence of it: yet the fuc- 
cefsful achievements and eventful life of 
this hero have not hitherto been celebrated 
in fong, exeept by Sir Richard Black- 
more, over whofe ‘poem, Oblivion, like 
the tree of Java—the poifonous Upas, has 
long fince thrown her deadiy fhade. Mr. 
Cottle, in a well-written preface, has 
hinted to the unreflegting reader the las 
bour of his undertaking, he has {tated 
‘the difficulty of fupporting, through 
fo long a Poem, the fimple voice of na- 
ture, when fhe frowns and when the {miles 
—of arranging characters, and diftinguifh- 
Ing each by a feries of appropriate actions 
—-of maintaining perfpicuity at all times 
—of infroducing that variety of paufe in 
the verfification, which fhall deftroy mo- 
notonous harmony without degenerating 
into harfhnefs—of preferving an uniform 
elevation of ftyle—of fuftaining the ine 
tereft, and finally, of producing a con- 
fiftent whole.”” A tale of love has ge- 
nerally been that with which our poets 
have endeavoured to intereft our affections 
and excite our fympathies. In the fincere 
and unfhaken attachment of Alfred and 
Alfwitha, Mr. Cottle has exhibited the 
conjugal affe&tion in its purity—has cer- 
tainly had a more dignified paffion to 
* Mr. Southey has juft publifhed a metrical 
romance, entitled ‘* Thaliba the Deftroyer,” : 
but not having yet had an opportunity of 
reading it, we muft defer, till a future ec- 
cafion, any opinion of its merits, | 
| develope 
