608 
the Harp of Memnon. But the poem 
which afforded us the highett pleafure was 
The Ocean ; its beauties, to a rigid cri- 
tic, may appear unequal, but the follow- 
ing Ranzas contain true poetry :— 
~ 
As homeward my weary wing’d Fancy ex- 
tends 
Her ftsr-lighted courfe through the fkies, 
High over the mighty Atlantic afcends, 
And turns upon Europe her eyes, 
Ah me! what new profpe&ts, new horrors 
arife ! 
¥ fee the war-tempefted flood 
All foaming, and panting with blood; 
The panic-ftruck Ocean in agony roars, 
Rebounds from the battle, and flies to his 
fhores. 
For Britannia is wielding her trident to-day, 
Confuming her foes in her ire, 
And hurling her thunder with abfolute fway 
From her wave-ruling chario‘s of fire: 
She triumphs !—-the winds and the waters 
confpire 
To fpread her invincible name 4 
The univerfe rings with ber fame— 
But the cries of the fatheriefs mix with her 
praife, 
And the tears of the widow are thed on her 
bays. 
© Britain! dear Eritain, the iand of my 
birth, 
O Ife moft enchantingly fair ! 
Thou Pear] of the Ocean! thos Gem of the 
Earth! 
O my Mother! my Mother! beware ! 
For weaith is a phantom, and empire a 
{nare : 
© let not thy birth-right be fold 
For reprobate glory and gold ; 
Thy foreign dominions like wild-graftings 
fhoot— 
They weigh down thy trunke=they will tear 
up thy root ! 
‘Fhe Saft poem, entitled The Common 
Lot, has merit of a fimpler nature. 
The “‘ Colleétion of Original Poems,” 
by Mils Dacre, entitled “ Hours of 
Solitude,’ are unequal in their execution. 
It is, perhaps, enough fay they are chiefly 
amatorial. 
Mr. GeEnt’s ‘ Poetic Sketches” have 
the praife of mediocrity. The Addreis 
to the Reviewers is {pirited. ; 
Mr. GiLLEsPie’s ailegorical poem on 
“© The Progrefs of Refinement” acferves 
as honourable a place in our Retrofpe¢t as 
The Wanderer of Switzeriland; nor are 
the fmaller poems which accompany it 
Jefs elegant or fkilful. 
Nor is lefs credit due ta the ** Exgli/b 
Lyrics,” by Mr. SMyTH; one of the 
moft elegant and pleafing little volumes 
it ever has been our lot to notice. The 
4 
Retrofpec? of Dometic Literature.—Poetry. 
fancy of the author is lively, but his ge- 
nius chaftened. He has even written an 
Ode to Pity, which, though it will not 
excite equal emotion with Collins’s Ode, 
may be read after it with pleafure. 
Dovucuass’s “ Poems, chiefly in the 
Scottifo Dialeét,”’ add another to the many 
inftances of Santis amid confined means of 
improvement. They have not, perhaps, 
the merit of Blcomfield’s poems, but 
contain occafional touches of the real 
feelings of nature ; and app-ar to have 
been encouraged by a large body of fub- 
{cribers. 
Lessine’s ‘* Nathan the Wife, a dra- 
matic Poem,’ has been tranflated from 
the German. In its diétion it aims at fim- 
plicity, and in its moral inculcates the 
duty of mytual indulgence in religious 
opinions, Whether either in the one cafe 
or the other it will fuit the tafte of En- 
glifhmen may be a queftion: this we can 
,aflure our readers, the Tranflation is a 
matfter-piece. 
Mr. Ruusron’s ‘* Poems,” though 
uneven, are animated ; a little care would 
have removed one-half of their ble- 
mifhes. 
Mr. Couu’s *£* Poems’ exhibit the 
lively fancy of an author who, we la~ 
“ment to fay, is nOW no more. 
“< The Science of governing an Empire,” 
in blank verfe, may, perhaps, have more 
charms for poetical readers than for poli- 
ticians. | 
Mr. Rozins’s “ Senfibility” can only 
have the praife of mediocrity. His flow 
of verfe is eafy, and deferves neither par- 
ticular praife or extraordinary rigour from 
the critic. Hundreds have been read be- 
fore him whofe works have had no higher 
ae 
Mr. Bounpben tells us in 1 the preface 
to ** Fatal Curicfity, or the Vifion of Sil- 
vefrer;” that he has been toid his crme 
has merit; but that had he been tola 
was the moficontemptible thing ever com- 
poled, it would have been a great chance 
if he had nut printed it. After fuch a 
declaration, we leave the minute exami- - 
ation of his merits and demerits to our 
brether critics. We have, however, feen 
fome parts of his poem which we think 
deferve confiderable approbation, 
The greater part of tlie poetry upon 
Lord Nelfon’s death appears to have beea 
compoled in hafte, to mcet the warm feel- 
ings of the public ; and, in courfe, is 
not to be furveyed with an eye of clofe 
criticiim. Among the beft fpecimens, 
we may enumerate Mr. RicHaRDs’s and 
Mr, FiTZGERALD’S, with ananonymous 
poem, 
