Retrofpe of Domeftic Literature»m Novels and Romances. 
$0, when fond parents home return, 
They chide the driver’s ling’ring pace ; 
To clafp their babes their boforns yearn, 
Whe ruth into their -clofe embrace.” 
** Original Poems and ‘Tranilations ; 
particularly Ambra, from Lorenzo de’ Me- 
dici ; chiefly by Sufannqg Watts.” It is 
yery feldom that we have had fo many 
temptations to tran{cription fetjOciore us ie 
as in col] ecting the lift which we have at 
enumerated of poetjcal _ publications : 
dare not yield to the fair feducet oh 
now folicits attention ; and alt hough we 
could ornament our page with fome very 
delightful fpecimens of poetry, mult con- 
tent ourfelves with a cool Mohent refer-_ 
ence to. the volume. 
The author of ** A Poetical Sketch, 
1s a young writer of contiderable imagi- 
nation and or iginality of thought. 
A volume entitled, © Poems and Bal- 
Jads.”” is alfo the produétion, as we ima- 
gine, of an inexperienced writer: they do 
him credit.—A fecond edition is publifh- 
ed of Mr. Courtier’s *¢ Pleafures of Soli- 
tudes". 
Dr. Thompfon's « Seleé&t eens 
from the works of Homer and Hor 
are by no means of that excellence wh ich 
his originals demanded: the Dostor, it 
feems, had intended to have illuftrated fe- 
veral pages with notes, and-* I cannot but 
lament,” fays he, ‘ that thishas been fo 
long delayed ; for now the infirmities of 
feventy-five years, fuperadded to a con- 
ftitution not-the moft a€tive, feem to have 
‘con{pired | againft the execution of this 
lan.” 
“© The Sorrows of Switzerland,” by 
Mr. Bowles. This gentleman has alfo 
publifhed a fecond volume of Pcems, 
which we ought to have mentioned before. 
Mr. Bowles is with us a very favourite 
poet: his images are rich, and he has 
a great command of postic eee 
_ It is time that we fhould proceed from 
poetry, omitting much of inferior merit, 
to the fertile fubje& of 
NOVELS AND ROMANCES. 
Here alfo, as in the few claffes of lite- 
rature which remain to be noticed, we 
mutt,in confequence of the length to which 
our article has been extended, be extremely 
brief. Mr. Surr’s Novel, of SPLENDID 
MisEry is a work of fancy, which 
evinces confiderable genius: in the writer. 
The ftory poffeffes many features of ori- 
ginality, and is told in language very fu- 
perior in point of correétnels and polifh to 
that which we are accuftomed to meet 
+ 
599 
with in modern novels. The character 
of the hero Latimore is doubtlefs a bold 
attempt, but we think it is neverthelefs a 
fuccefsful delineation of the workings of 
atred and ambition ina lofty mind. The 
portraits from fafhionabie life are lively 
and correct drawing. The public op 
nion has in a great degree anticipated our 
judgment of SPLENDID ‘Misery, which 
has already pafled through two editions, 
and a third is now anlatuticed to be nearly 
ready for publication —-Among the other 
produétions in this clafs of literature we 
fall notice ** Lady Geraldine Beaufort” 
the production of a daughter of the 
late Serjeant Wilfon: the chara&ters are 
tolerably well drawn, and the ftory is con- 
du&ed. with fome ingenuity.—‘* The 
White Knight ; or, the Monaftery of 
Morne,@ Romance, by THEODORE MEL- 
VILLE, Efq.”’ a-hafty work, abounding 
in grammatical errors: the moral, how- 
ever, is unexceptionable.—‘* Le Forefte” 
is a novel of fome merit, it exhibits -re- 
foeétable talents: it is written by the au- 
thor of Arthur Vite Albinim Maf- 
fouff ; or, the Philofophy of the Day.” 
Under the form of an Faftern tale, a great 
deal of keen fatire is levelled at what has 
been termed modern philofophifms: the 
work is by no means excellent of its kind. 
—‘¢ Jealoufy ; or, the Dreadful Miftake,”” 
a fimple, interefting tale, written in ealy 
unaffected language. “¢ Welth Legends, a 
colleétion of popular oral Tales,” anda ve- 
ry entertaining collection too.—** Home,” 
a Novel, in five volumes: though not pof- 
‘fetiing very uncommon mnebiter this work 
is very ref{pectable in every point of view. 
—‘* The Strolling Player; or, Life and 
Adventures of William Templeton.” 
This very amufing novel difplays fuch 
firiking traits of charaéter, that we are 
almoft “difpofed to addrefs the author— 
Mutato nomine, de te Fabula narratur. 
Many of the fcenes here introduced could 
not have been fo forcibly reprefented by 
any but an eye-witnefs. 
<< A Series of Novels, by MaDamz DE 
GenLis.”” Thefe volumes are felected 
from that bulky work, the Bibliotheque 
des Romans; and contain fuch of that 
colleétion as were contributed by Madame 
de Genlis, Itis needlefs to fay any thing 
concerning them: Madame de Genlis has 
raifed her fame on a foundation which 
will not readily be fhaken. 
‘¢ The Scottith Legend.”? ** The Hse 
Appareut.” «© The Baron’s Daughter,” 
and a few others conclude the lift of No- 
vels and Romances. ‘To proceed to i 
tne 
