ART. 30.-The Works of the English Poets. With Prefaces, biographical and critical. By Samuel Johnson, LL. D. Re-edited, with new biographical and critical Matter, by J. Aikin, M. D. Vols. VII. VIII. IX. 12mo. Small Paper 11. 1s. Large Paper 11. 16s. Boards. Kearsley. 1802.

We now announce the continuation of this publication, with the three volumes which contain the poems of Cowley. The life of Cowley has, however, been written with such critical discrimination, such ability, and judgement, by Johnson, that the editor has little subject for remark. He objects, with some reason, to the term metaphysical poets, because their metaphors or resemblances are not exclusively intellectual. Though Johnson defends Cowley from the attack of a critic who censured him for profane and lascivious verses,' yet, in another passage, he condemns the poet for light al-lusions to sacred things.

The sentence Dr. Johnson has pronounced concerning the unfitness of scripture subjects for poetical embellishment, on account of the awe and submissive reverence with which the sacred writings are perused, seems rather to be dictated by the spirit of scrupulous and mistaken piety, than by just and philosophical thinking. It evidently adopts for its principle the notion of the full and equal divine inspiration of every part of the writings composing the canon of scripture, whether historical, perspective, or prophetic ;-a notion which few men of learning and liberal inquiry can now be supposed to hold. That all curiosity respecting these topics is suppressed, because there is already what is "sufficient for the purposes of religion," is surely a very singular and narrow sentiment. Who would not rejoice at the recovery of some of those historical records which are expressly mentioned as containing at large, facts only given in abridgment by the extant Jewish writers ? And what reader of the Bible, not destitute of common feeling, will concur in the critic's assertion, that the effect of the theocratical system is to prevent us from readily sympathising in the joys and griefs of those who lived under it? That mind must indeed be strangely impressed with the character of theocracy, which is rendered incapable of being interested by the natural circumstances in the adventures of Joseph or David. That the intermixture of poetical fiction in such narrations is a matter of much delicacy, will readily be acknowledged; since if the additions are not perfectly conformable to the original ground-work, they will prove offensive to those who are firm believers in the authenticity and importance of the scriptural records. But there seems no reason why the amplifications and ornaments usual in sober epick poetry should not be as admissible in a subject of Jewish history, as in one of any other. Dr. Johnson was not, perhaps, aware at the time of writing, what a sweeping clause in critical legislation he was propounding, and how many fine works were involved in his condemnation. The particular merit of the "Davideis" is quite another consideration; and it appears to have been estimated by the critic with his usual perspicacity. Cowley's genius was, indeed, altogether unsuitable to the epick. His place is among the ingenious poets, and he may justly rank the first in his class.' Vol. vii. P. cii.

We have transcribed this passage, lest we should lessen the force

of the reply; yet we own that it is not to us satisfactory. There is no scale to measure the degree of divine inspiration; and, in narratives purely historic, the interposition of divinity occurs; and, to extend the licence, might endanger that respectful distance at which sacred subjects should ever be contemplated. Even the language of the Scriptures hedges them around with reverential archaisms, which should not be lightly withdrawn, or employed for other purposes.

The engravings are executed with elegance, from drawings di stinguished by spirit and taste. In one or two instances, the choice is not entitled to much praise; and, in another, the Pegasus is not brought sufficiently forward to illustrate the quotation. The Muse has alighted from Pegasus, when the poet exclaimsStop! stop my Muse! allay thy vigorous heat,

Kindled at a hint so great :

Hold thy Pindaric Pegasus closely in,

Which does to rage begin, &c.'

DRAMA.

ART. 31.-The Wife of two Husbands, a Musical Drama, in three Acts. As performed at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane. By James Cobb. The Music composed and selected by J. Mazzinghi. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Robinsons. 1803.

Mr. Cobb has taken this drama from a piece of Pixerècourt, lately represented with some success at Paris.

The heroine of the play is prevailed upon, by the fascinating manner of a young villain, to espouse him unknown to her father. Here, by the way, we will just notice, that, if we had time or inclination for the pursuit, we should, most likely, find M. Pixerècourt indebted to one of the German dramatists for his model; for this father, notwithstanding his child was but fifteen when she contracted the marriage, and though she continues afterwards unceasingly to supplicate his pardon, pours upon her head, till within two or three sentences of the conclusion of the piece, the curses of unrestrained anger, in a style of vehemence equal to Schiller or Kotzebue. We do not, however, mean by this remark to imply that the little performance before us is destitute of all merit, or filled with Germaz inanity. Here is no rant of passion to vindicate concubinage, nor happiness bestowed on a profligate adulterer. The heart feels interested in the fate of a woman, who, for one venial trespass, committed when a mere child, is agonising under the displeasure of a too-unforgiving parent, and subjected to the injurious treatment of him who seduced her from her filial obligations. When several years had elapsed after this fatal union, the greater part of which she had spent in absence, through the ill usage of her tyrant, that abandoned man deceives her into a marriage with an amiable nobleman, by means of counterfeit attestations of his own death, in order to make a prey of the property of this second husband. Shortly after this epoch, the scene opens; and, from the circumstance of the latter marriage, M. Pixerècourt has bestowed on his heroine her title, La Femme à deux Maris.'

The translator has thought it necessary to make some alterations yet these, we do not hesitate to say, have not improved the original. No British bosom, at this important moment, can avoid beaming

with loyalty to his sovereign, and enthusiastic love for his country. But to introduce an Irish soldier, and an English sailor, amongst the dependents of a Sicilian, in order to make them sing Hearts of Oak are our Ships,' and teach the peasants to dance, is trifling and preposterous. The sentiments, in general, are noble and well expressed. Mr. Cobb has been careful not to let them fall off in his English version.

ART. 32.-The Caravan; or, the Driver and his Dog. A grand serio-comic Romance, in two Acts. Written by Frederic Reynolds. The Music by William Reeve. 8vo. 2s. Robinsons. 1803.

To try a production like this by the rules of dramatic criticism, would be to treat its author severely indeed. If the nation choose to be pleased by a representation of ballets and pantomimes, the Caravan is as well calculated for that purpose, as Blue Beard, Cinderella, or any other of this description of scenic pageantry.

NOVELS, &c.

ART. 33.-Letters from Mrs. Palmerstone to her Daughter; inculcating Morality by entertaining Narratives. By Mrs. Hunter, of Norwich. 3 Vols. 8vo. 15s. Boards. Longman and Rees. 1803. These volumes merit our warm commendation, since they amuse the fancy, while they amend the heart. The instructions precede the tale, a method not without its use, since the moral, appended to the story, is, we fear, often passed over. In this instance, expectation is kept alive, and the young mind is led to the temple, through an amusing portico. Our author's own object is evinced by the observations of her friend in the introduction; since, to the desideratum thus explained, she replies by offering her packet, the contents to the volume before us.

He said he wanted books for his female pupils, and particularly for those between twelve and seventeen years of age. I instantly reminded him of the numberless and excellent works published for the express purposes of instruction to young people; and with some asperity, I believe, and perhaps national pride, named several authors who had a distinguished claim to his selection and preference. He replied, "He was well acquainted with the books which I had enumerated: he acknowledged their merit, and had availed himself of their usefulness. But," added he, smiling, "some are too serious, and others too childish: some say too much, and others not enough. I want a delineation of the human heart, with a moral which will not disgrace a mature reason. i want a mirror of truth and of nature, in which my girls may see themselves without danger to their native simplicity, and without checking too harshly their natural curiosity and fancy." Vol. i. p. xi.

We had marked some of the letters as peculiarly interesting and instructive; but, on the whole, we are unwilling to discriminate where all have merit. Perhaps Beauty and Ugliness, or the Sick Child,' affords one of the most salutary lessons for the conduct of young people; while Amelia Saville points out a path particularly destructive even to present happiness. To have enforced the moral, she should have been more generally known and despised, as she truly merited to be. Mrs. Hunter has, we think, not succeeded so well in her Eastern and Allegoric Tales.

ART. 34.-The Cave of Consenza: a Romance of the eighteenth Century. Altered from the Italian. By Eliza Muscat Bromley. 2 Vols. 12mo. 12s. Boards. Robinsons. 1803.

There are some circumstances relating to this publication that might disarm criticism, even were the faults more numerous. The work is said to be altered from the Italian; and there is seemingly an incongruous mixture of the English and Italian stories. The latter is in the usual style of caves, banditti, strong holds, &c. The whole, however, is interesting, and, notwithstanding numerous violations of probability, pleasing. The moral we do not think unexceptionable. The heedless attachment of a young girl of seventeen to a married man of forty, and the death of an amiable woman, to make way for their union, will lead rather to the indulgence of such transient fancies than to the necessity of opposing them. Every wife will not die with so much complaisance; and every love-sick girl will not be so fortunate.

ART. 35.-Moss Cliff Abbey; or, the Sepulchral Harmonist. A mysterious Tale. By Mary-Julia Young. 4 Vols. 12mo. 12s. Boards, Crosby and Co. 1803.

In the days of Curl, a 'taking title' was as fashionable as at present; and we augur well of the success of the Sepulchral Harmonist, in these days when ghosts and mysteries are so fashionable. The novel, though abounding with events scarcely within the verge of probability, is interesting, from its frequent and sudden changes of fortune: the characters, however, are in no respect new, and merely captivate from their situation; and, while we 'incredulously hate' the unexpected alternations of misery and happiness, disapprobation vanishes, in our eagerness to follow the events. We have laughed a little at the ghost of an opera tune; but this is the ghost of an elegy; and the poetry is wild and full of fantasy,' well adapted to the situation. The Booth and Amelia of Fielding seem to have been in Miss Young's view, when she sketched George and Harriet Newton.

MISCELLANEOUS LIST.

ART. 36.-Book-keeping improved: or, a certain Method laid down and exemplified for the Detection and Prevention of Errors; entirely superseding the tedious Process of calling the Books over. By Philip Pullen. 4to. 11. 1s. Boards. No Bookseller's Name.

1803.

An improvement is here made in the journal, by an additional column, to receive the folio numbers of the several debits and credits posted in the account-current-book. The totals are collected at the bottom of the column, and carried forward; by which means a counter-check is obtained on the addition of every entry. The ledger is not altered. In the account-current-book every item is posted as fully as possible. The several amounts in the journal are entered in the inner cash column, and the total amount carried to the outer cash column, that the respective sums posted in the ledger may correspond, and act as a check on the amounts posted in this book. To these is added a book of partial balance, as an auxiliary to the general balance. The respective amounts posted in the debit and credit of the several accounts in the ledger during each month, being compared with the journal amount for such month, prove

that the sums have been either correctly, or incorrectly, posted. If there be an error, it is detected by a comparison of the partial balance with the account-current-book. Thus the books may be correctly balanced every month without calling the books over. The improvements here suggested merit the consideration of the mer

chant.

ART. 37.-Thoughts on the Doctrine of vicarious Suffering, occasioned by some Refiexions on the Bishop of London's Lectures in the Monthly Review for December, 1802. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Baldwin. 1803.

That man would have remained in the state of death, if it had not been for the mediation of the Gospel covenant,' is a truth to which all Christians give their ready assent. On the operation and nature of that covenant, many disputes have arisen; and our author treats the subject rather inaccurately, when he concludes, that some satisfaction was provided to stay divine justice from the vindictive execution of that fatal sentence which man had incurred by transgression.' No satisfaction was provided to stay divine justice; for divine justice took its course, and man was punished in the way prescribed by the law: he died for his transgression, and all his offspring became, in consequence, subjected to death. To recover man from this state of death, a sacrifice must be made, according to our author, to divine justice; but a sacrifice is intended to expiate guilt, and to preclude the vindictive effects of justice: now nothing has prevented the effect of the primal sentence passed upon man; and his restoration to life becomes the subject of a different inquiry. We here read much of sacrifices; and the sacrifice of Christ cannot, it is said, be considered as alluding to Mosaical sacrifices; that the sacrifices under the Mosaical rites were real; and that that of our Saviour can only be considered in a figu rative sense-for his death was that of a malefactor. Hence the figurative expressions of Scripture are naturally much tortured by our author, and the plain evident meaning of Scripture is lost in refined discussions. The disobedience of Adam was the mean by which death entered into the world-the obedience of Christ was the mean by which man receives the gift of eternal life. In a controversy of this kind, it would be well to use the precise language of the Scriptures: in them we shall neither find the term satisfaction applied to Christ's death, nor shall we meet with any term that expresses vicarious suffering. However, we will abstain from further remarks, lest the irritable author should involve us in similar censures to those he has bestowed on our brother reviewers.

CORRESPONDENCE.

We are much obliged to our sincere well-wisher SENEX' for his past atten tions, and shall be glad to gratify his expectations in future. In respect, however, to his observations concerning the article on THALABA, it is impossible for us to reply satisfactorily, without a distinct statement of his objections to the critique it contains. Whatever exception may have been taken to it by Sener, the writer of that article, we have no doubt, would readily remove; and, we have the satisfaction to add, that, though it has not the good fortune entirely to please our sincere well-wisher,' it has been complimented from other quarters in a style highly gratifying to its author.

We will beg leave to remind SENEX that it is usual to pay the postage of com→ munications like his.