to be shaken by so trifling and evanescent a publication as the present:

-neque ego illi detrahere ausim Hærentem capiti multà cum laude coro

nam.

Of the numerous pieces already sent to the Committee for performance, he has only availed himself of three vocal Travesties, which he has selected, not for their merit, but simply for their brevity. Above one hundred spectacles, melodramas, operas and pantomimes have been transmitted, besides the two first acts of one legitimate comedy. Some of these evince considerable smartness of manual dialogue, and several brilliant repartees of chairs, tables, and other inanimate wits; but the authors seem to have forgotten that in the new Drury Lane, the audience can hear as well as see. Of late our Theatres have been so constructed, that John Bull has been compelled to have very long ears, or none at all; to keep them dangling about his skull like discarded servants, while his eyes were gazing at pieballs and elephants, or else to stretch them out to an asinine length to catch the congenial sound of braying trumpets. An auricular revolution is, we trust, about to take place, and as many people have been much puzzled to define the meaning of the new æra, of which we have heard so much, we venture to pronounce, that as far as regards Drury Lane Theatre, the new æra means the reign of ears. If the past afford any pledge for the future, we may confidently expect from the Committee of that House, every thing that can be accomplished by the union of taste, and assiduity.

Having, we hope, briefly explained the basis on which this fairy fabric has been raised by the creative wand of genius, we will introduce our readers to the structure of the edifice and the portraits which adorn it.

To a person conversant with the reigning poets of the day, whether usurpers, or legitimate rulers in the

common-wealth of Taste, it is superfluous to observe, that most of the pieces which form this collection are so completely individualized with the style of their prototypes, that the initials- which head the mottos might have been spared. They may indeed assist the unpractised reader, in whom the names of Scott, of Southey, and of Crabbe, awake no corresponding train of ideas and excite no acknowledgment for pleasure received; but to those who are themselves capable of discrimination, they are like the intrusive good-nature of a friend, who, while the plot of a well-constructed drama gradually developes itself, whispers in our denouement of the piece. First in order, stands

ear the

LOYAL EFFUSION, by W. T. F.

To write a spoken style has been the commendation of many who have been termed easy writers, and some whom critics of a graver mood have found it very hard to read with patience. We do not wish to class Mr. Fitzgerald with "the mob of gentlemen who write with ease," but had he always written as well as he speaks, he would never have given rise to the caricature which is here presented to us. We are particularly pleased with the political passages and the notion of the influence of Buonaparté on our theatrical disasters.

THE BABY'S DEBUT, by W. W.

For Mr. Wordsworth's preference of baby prattle to the mature result of awakened intelligence, since he has "eyes to make partition between good and evil," we have indeed no charity, and heartily approve any attempt to make him ashamed of the folly of writing beneath himself. We

must however observe that the monologue of Nancy Lake is considerably worse than the worst of Mr. W's productions, since we have never perused one in which his genius did not sometimes flash through the cloud in which he studiously involves it.

An ADDRESS without a PHOENIX, by S. T. P.

Of the resemblance borne by this poetical essay to the style and manner of its prototype, we confess ourselves incompetent to judge,' not knowing exactly what writer is distinguished by the initials prefixed. The lines, however, are musical, the ideas just, though obvious, and the poem might stand on its intrinsic merit without any secondary claim to attention.

CUI BONO! by LORD B.

This well-chosen motto seems the cabalistic spell which dissolves all the enchantments of enthusiasm, all the illusions which soften and embellish life; and leaves to the noble bard the mere prospect of a dreary wilderness devastated by Ennui, who, though the offspring of Refinement, exhibits only the stern features of its other parent Pride. Never was there a more close or a more liberal imitation than these lines present of that fascinating but dangerous poem Childe Harold, which no reader of sensibility can leave unread, or rise from its perusal without the spirits dejected and the imagination darkened. We think the last lines of the second stanza as beautiful as any offering which elegiac poetry ever laid on the shrine of sensibility.

THE LIVING LUSTRES, by T. M.

The tripping measure, the double rhymes, the warm imagery, and the easy diction, of Anacreon Moore are strongly represented, but as the pictures and allusions he presents to the fancy, are always distinct aud clear, we cannot think the notion of substituting a row of " young beauties," for a range of lamps, by any means a happy one. We have never met with any thing like this jumble of physical and moral light in the lightest songs and ballads of this popular writer: nor do we profess to admire the political turn which is given to the concluding

stanzas.

THE REBUILDING, by R. S.

We earnestly hope that this attempt will not fall into the hands of any who have not read that beautiful poem, the Curse of Kehama.

DRURY'S DIRGE,

by LAURA MAtilda.

We venture to promise that all readers of taste who can get through this poem will allow the imitation to be exact.

A TALE of DRURY-LANE, by W.S. We must not leave unnoticed the excellent Motto which crowns this address. The poem itself is so like Walter Scott that it cannot but have considerable merit: the imitative talent here shines in its full splendor, and must afford a rich treat to those who have a taste for sportive satire.

JOHNSON'S GHOST.

On beginning this Address, we were almost tempted to exclaim, "Hence! Avaunt! 'tis holy ground," and were not a little concerned to find our old friend and benefactor Bozzy, introduced merely to make a bow and retire; but a few sentences written in the very tone and manner of the Sage of Litchfield soothed us into complacency and disposed us to approve the imitation presented to us. We admire equally the sentences which begin, the argument which continues, and the name which concludes it.

THE BEAUTIFUL INCENDIARY, by the Hon. W. S.

If the Honorable William Spencer has ever written such lines as these, we can only say that we have been very fortunate in the specimens which have fallen under our observation. We suppose the last stanza is intended to ridicule a passage in a very beautiful song beginning with "Too late I staid."

FIRE and ALE, by M. G. L. If it were even possible to "wallow naked in December's snow without being greatly inconvenienced by the cold, it would be while reading this spirited address, which not only dazzles, but scorches by a blaze of wit, for which the seriocomic performances of Mr. Monk Lewis and the other professors of

the "terribile via," supply ample fuel. We refer the reader to the descriptions of the Ale King and the Fire King.

PROPHETIC MUSINGS, by S. T. C.

Let Mr. Coleridge read them, and let him blush. Gifted as he is

by nature and by art, why will he provoke satire by studied inanity? DRURY'S HUSTINGS, by a PICNIC POET.

We are once more at a loss for the prototype of this humorous effusion.

ARCHITECTURAL ATOMS, by
DR. B.

This is a favorable specimen of successful labor. Some of the lines remind us of the poetry of Dr. Darwin, and still more forcibly recall the loves of the Triangles. We know not whether the chemical blunder of representing old bricks as capable of being moulded up again into new ones be intentional or not.

THEATRICAL ALARM BELL, by M. P.

"Something too much of this," yet it is admirably hit off. The feeble amplification, and redundant superfluity of epithet, of this print, cannot be better imitated or more successfully ridiculed.

THE THEATRE, by the REV. G. C.

Such" prefaces of apologies" require another to apologize for them. Though Mr. Crabbe must be acknowledged to be an eminent writer, we must allow that he is very often pompous and prolix. That he represents persons and things as they are, rather than as they ought to be, is perhaps the reason why his portraitures are more frequently

admitted to be just than allowed to be pleasing. His superfluous minuteness of description is successfully imitated, but the lover of the ridiculous will be disappointed if he expect to find much to make sport of in the poetry of Mr. Crabbe, who is indeed rather a moral writer in verse than a poet.

Three dramatico-medical cases with the signature of Momus Medlar.

We must pronounce the mental health of that patient to be desperate, to whom either of these cases can apply. Though little skilled in these affections of the brain, we do not hesitate to declare the most alarming symptom to be a plethora of Folly, which we shall be most happy to relieve by the use of our critical lancet. The application of ludicrous terms, and the introduction of familiar images to incidents in themselves serious and affecting, will always make the vulgar laugh, but readers of sensibility love not to be robbed of "the Joy of Grief."

We cannot think either the penitence of a deluded wife, the forgiveness of a christian husband, the horrors of a guilty usurper, or the catastrophe of a murderer, proper subjects to form the basis of a comic entertainment.

PUNCH'S APOTHEOSIS, by T. H.

This is the last, and we are almost tempted to exclaim, "O most foolish, lame, and impotent conclusion!" but it may have merit which we lose by not knowing its prototype, (though we have heard, Mr. Theodore Hook).

Our readers will be aware that it was impossible to analyse these witty effusions in any other way, than by noticing the character of the originals, which was the object of the imitation.

GYMNASIUM sive SYMBOLA CRITICA. By the Rev. ALEXANDER CROMBIE, L. L. D. 2 vols. 8vo. London, Johnson. 1812. Price 18s.

IT is observed by the author of the work before us, that the most successful means of becoming critically acquainted with any foreign language, is to employ it, either in composition, or translation, under the direction of some skilful teacher. A capacity of translating our vernacular tongue into another language, with accuracy and elegance, affords, he observes, the most incontestible evidence of a perfect acquaintance with the grammar, the idiom, and the purest phraseology of that language.

To assist the classical student in acquiring a acquiring a correct Latin prose style, is the sole, but not unimportant purpose of the "Gymnasium sive Symbola Critica." The work, accordingly, consists of critical observations of a miscellaneous nature, but chiefly philological, illus trated by Exercises, progressively adapted to the capacity of the scholar. To enable our readers to form a judgment of these volumes, we shall first present them with a sketch of the author's plan, and then select a specimen of its execution.

The work is introduced with some preliminary observations, the purpose of which is to furnish the reader with some general rules for writing correct Latin prose. These Occupy 107 pages.

The several excellencies of style, the author observes, result from a combination of the three following requisites 1st. A judicious selection of words; 2d. A natural and lucid arrangement; and 3d. An observance of those grammatical relations among the words themselves, which reputable and general

usage has established. Presuming Presuming that the reader has already acquired a competent knowledge of Latin syntax, he proceeds, in Chap. I. of the Preliminary Observations, to offer a few directions for the selection of words. Here he is naturally led to explain the character of Barbarism; and endeavours to establish certain rules, by which the junior reader may determine the relative value of those synonimous words, which the Lexicographer may, in any case, present to his choice. After showing that Barbarisms, though sometimes admissible, should generally be avoided, as unfriendly to perspicuity, he proceeds to caution the scholar against the employment of any Latin word in a barbarous sense,also against the use of any phraseology purely poetical, and likewise against the employment of equivocal words whenever ambiguity of meaning is to be apprehended. These admonitions are accompanied with examples.

In Chap. II. which is divided into two sections, the author treats of arrangement, or the collocation of words in clauses and sentences. The first section is devoted to the consideration of comparative arrangement. Here the author, after illustrating the superiority, which a trans positive language possesses over one, which is purely analogous, in respect to arrangement, proceeds to exemplify the difference between the English and the Latin collocation, and to inquire, which of them should be deemed the natural order. Section 2. treats especially of Latin arrangement, and contains a variety

of rules for the direction of the scholar in the collocation of words.

In Chap. III. the author treats of translation, and inquires, what are the qualifications necessary to

constitute the excellence of a good translator. He then proceeds, in Chap. IV. to explain the causes which render translation, in many instances, imperfect, and in others, impracticable. Chap. v. is given wholly to the subject of AngloLatin translation. After observing, that idiomatical expressions should be studiously avoided, unless the idioms of the two languages should accidentally concur, and that phrases should be rendered by phrases, none being allowable, unless sanctioned by positive authority, he observes, that tropes and figures cannot always admit a close or literal translation.

In translating, it is necessary to observe, that tropes and figures cannot always be transferred from one language into another; in other words, the figurative terms cannot, lated. For example, the Latins said, in every instance, be literally transFerro occisus est, to denote, "He was slain by a sword;" but we cannot transfer the synecdoche, and say in English," he was slain by iron." To explain the origin of tropes and figures, as partly created by necessity, partly adopted from convenience, and partly introduced as subservient to beauty, elegance, vivacity, and strength, would lead us too far from our present purpose. Suffice it to observe, that tropes and figures being founded in the relation, which one object of thought bears to another, and the laws of mental association being the same in all men, a very close resemblance exists between different languages, in respect to the figurative employment of words. Hence a term, figuratively used in one language, frequently admits a literal translation into another, without violating the figure. Of this fact, it would be easy to adduce a great variety of examples. We shall content ourselves, however, with the few following

We say, in English, "The pillar of the family," denoting by metaphor,