Retrospect of Domestic Literature—Poetry. 
A poem of a very diiferent description, 
though of sterling merit, will be found in 
Mr. Crane's ‘* Borough; in Twenty- 
Jour Letters:” containing the description 
of an English sea-port town; the diffe- 
rent classes of its inhabitants, amuse- 
ments, almhouses, prisons, schools, &c. 
The subjects are humble; but Mr, Crabbe 
has given them an interest by the pow- 
ers of his pen, attractive to the most 
fastidious reader. 
We shall point ovt the lines upon the 
Sea, as the finest passage in the first 
Jetter : @ 
*¢'Turn to the watery world! but who to 
thee ys 
(A wonder yet unview’d) shall paint the sea? 
Various and vast, sublime in all its forms, , 
When lull’d by zephyrs, or when rous’d by 
storms, 
Irs colours changing, when -from clouds and 
Suh 
Shades after shades upon the surface run; 
Embrown’d and horrid now, and now 
serene 
fn limpid blue, and evanescent green ; 
And o't the foggy banks on ocean lie, 
Litt the fair sail, and cheat th’ experienc’d 
eye.” 
Thee description of the winter storm is 
admirable. The second letter is devoted 
to Lhe Church, its mural monuments, 
-and their inscriptions, which are 
touched on with originality and feeling. 
In the third letter we have the characters 
of the Vicar and the Curate. The for- 
mer closes with the following Jines: 
<6 The rich approv'd—of them in awe he 
L stood ; 
The poor admir’d-—they all believ’d him 
good ; 
The old and serious of his habits spoke ; 
The frank and youthful lov’d his pleasant 
joke; 
Mamma approv’d a safe contented guest, _ 
And Miss a friend to back a small request 5 
In him his flock found nothing to condemn 5 
Him <ectaries lik’d—-he never troubled 
them ; 
No triiles fail’d his yielding mind to 
please; ] 
And ail his passions sunk in early ease. 
Nor one so old has left this world of sin, 
More like the being that he enter’d in.” 
The Curate’s is amelancholy character. 
The fourth letter is on Sects and Profes- 
sions in Religion. The fitth is entitled 
The Election: and the sixth treats 
of the profession of the Law. Physic, and 
the dilferent J’rades, take their turns in 
the seventh and eighth ; and the ninth is 
devoted to Amusements, From Clubs 
633 
and Social Meetings, in the tenth letter, 
Mr. Crabbe proceeds to Inns: 
‘© High in the street, o’erlooking all the 
place, 
The rampant Lion shows his kingly face 3 
His ample jaws extend from side to side, 
His eyes are glaring, and his nostrils wide 5 
In silver shag the sovereign form is drest, 
A mane horrific sweeps his ample chest 5 
Elate with pride, he seems t’ assert his 
relen, 
And stands the glory of his wide domain.” 
The twelfth letter describes the arrival 
of the Players, with their pleasantry, 
Jabours, patience, vanity, and adven- 
tures: 
«¢ They might have praise, confin’d tu farce 
alone: 
Full well they grin; they should not try 
to groan.” 
‘¢ Of various men these marching troops are 
made, 
Pen-spurning clerks, and lads contemning 
trade; 
Waiters and servants by confinement teaz’d, 
And youths of wealth by dissipation eas’d : 
With feeling nymphs, who, such resource at 
band, 
Scorn to obey the rigour of command; 
Some, who from higher views by vice are 
won, 
And some of either sex by love undone; 
The greater part lameating as their fall 
What seme au honour and advancement 
call.” 
The Alns-House and Trustees, form 
the subject of the thirteenth; and The 
Inhabitants of the Alms-House, those of 
the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth 
letters. he fourteenth contains the 
history of a wealthy heir reduced to po- 
verty by dissipation: his fortuue is re- 
stored by marriage, but again consumed; 
he goes abroad, but jis recalled to a 
Jarger inheritance; again becomes poor; 
and is at last admitted into the alms- 
house. The character ‘of Clelia, the 
female inhabitant of the Alms-honse, is a 
master-piece, and gives a lively interest 
to the fifteenth letter. Cielia was gay 
and giddy, and at last met with a Lovelace 
of her day. She was next siiuated with 
an attorney. Another such period in her 
life occurs; and she marries the master 
of an inn: 
“¢ He had no idle retrospective whim, 
Till she was his her deeds’ concern’d not 
‘ him.” 
She becomesa widow; and ten years 
more are past in various trials, views, 
and treubles: 
*° Now 
