And that he

'Chain'd, as to th' attracting centre, every ear.' Nature, likewife, in propria perfona,

fhed her penfive shower;

The mighty mother wept, alas! with me.'

And what, if poffible, is more beyond the comprehenfion of vulgar capacities,

Th' imperial goddess mourn'd her own decay,

And wish'd she could a fecond birth bestow.'

She wishes, likewife, to give him a fecond birth, but finds it impoffible. On which melancholy occafion, Melpomene pois'd her dagger in air,' and Thalia conceiv'd a pain.' The poet next accompanies Fancy, arm'd with all her magic;' and the certainly must have bewitched him when he wrote the two following lines; the first of which militates against sense, and the fecond against grammar.

• Her waving wand, deep midnight deeper made,
With her I went to where our Garrick laid.

The fhady forms' of Shakspeare's character now appear, and pay their compliments to Mr. Garrick, in fpeeches felected from his plays, and adapted to the occafion. The bard himfelf, wrapt in wonder at thefe various fhews, as well he might, makes his appearance, and at the waving of his wand,'

• the mournful train again were grav'd.

If this poem, likewife, had been quietly inurn'd,' as well as these perturbed fpirits,' the author's poetical reputation, with all due fubmiffion to the arbitrators of poetic honour at Bath-Eafton be it spoken, would have fuffered no diminution.

Our inftances of the remaining faults with which we have charged Mr. Pratt, fhall be felected from the other poems, which acquired him the garland of fame at the fame villa.→ Incorrect numbers.

Or night-living Young, whofe folemn harp
Sounded a requiem to the fheeted ghofts

Of pale Philander and of Narciffa fair.'

Vulgarifms, in the fame poem, where they are by no means fcattered with a fparing hand; for there we meet with a furious fatal form leaning over a chair—a fretted victim—a wild fpark and a

Young gamefome fair-one,fhe whofe hand

Pats the leek face of yonder filken fool,

Yon emmet in embroidery.'

• kind foul!-the taps his cheek.'

Another lady is introduced, of a different character from this yielding fair one.

• Good heaven! what ruffling rapid she is that ?? She wins money at play; and

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Sweeps thro' the rooms, and eries out victory!?

But indignant fortune fhifts',-fhelofes the conqueror's pride, and links to bed.?

Defective rhymes.

• The "darkness vifible" of dawn
Dimly proclaims the dubious morn.?
Thofe with no variation in the found.
When the time hangs heavy on us,
Sol difdaining to fhine on us.'
Thofe which do not rhyme at all.

• When the conquering card I hold,
Smart I throw it on the board.'

Abfolute nonfenfe. Of this the Ode to the Sun affords many examples. One, however, will ferve to fhew, that the bril liancy of the fubject has not tended to diffipate the obfcurity of the author's ideas.

• When bursting forth from fealing night,
The infant's eye firft feels the light,

Uncertain is its day;

Some human frost may haply come,
And drop it in th' oblivious tomb,
To quench its fhort-liv'd ray.”

Can any thing like fenfe be extracted from the day of an eye burfting from night, and human froft coming accidentally, and dropping it in a tomb to quench it ?-Tired with a harvest that has afforded nothing but tares, and of which a confiderable gleaning is fill left in the fame productive field, ycleped PRIZE POEMS, we gladly relinquish the defperate hook; and to put the reader as well as ourfelves in better humour, for our late extracts, if he is fmit with the love of facred fong,' cannot contribute to fweeten his temper, we shall quote a pasfage of a very different complexion. It is the opening of a poem addreffed to the prince of Wales; the whole, with a few trifling exceptions, is written in the fame manner.

• While blefs'd with infant innocence and truth,
Thofe fair attendants of ingenious youth,
While yet in embrio each idea lies,
And in the foul her opening paffions rife;
While dawning reafon ripens in her mine,
And all the fenfes bow at nature's fhrine';

Amidst the bounties of fuperior wealth,

The joys which flow from fortune and from health;
While crowds obfequious on thy beck attend,
And a free people, fraught with incense, bend;
While courtly Adulation, falfe and dear,
Pours her delicious poifon in thine ear;
While fervile bards, in mercenary praise,
The honied period turn a thousand ways.
Surrounded thus by all that can infpire,
Blifs, paffion, pleafure, frolic, and defire,
O let the free-born Mufe, with loyal zeal,
Boldly declare what flatterers wou'd conceal!'

The two last volumes are composed of Moral Tales, and Essays on various fubjects. The latter, though by no means remarkable for depth of reafon, or vigour of fentiment, are not de ficient in eafe and perfpicuity. There is commonly a pleasing vivacity, fometimes a little dafhed with affectation, in Mr. Pratt's mode of telling a story. That of the Dog in the Tombs,' which is given for fact, is exceedingly remarkable, and deserves farther attention. If the style in which it is narrated had been more fimple, it would have been more affecting. This obfervation might be applied to many of the Tales: they are, however, not destitute of merit; and the younger mind particularly, from their perufal, may reap inftruction

and amusement.

Philofophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Vol, LXXV. For the Year 1785. Part I. 4to. 75. 6d. L. Davis. THIS part of the annual volume is in many respects important; but the value of the papers will more fully ap pear from the analyfis, than from any general introductory obfervations,

Article I. An Account of an artificial Spring. By Erafmus Darwin, M. D. F. R. S.-This article evinces the author's judgment and ingenuity. The water in his well was impure; but in the neighbourhood, on higher ground, it was remarkably good. Dr. Darwin, therefore, bored through the bed of marle, under which the old water arose, and arrived at a lower ftratum, from whence iffued a fpring resembling that in the neighbourhood. The mechanical contrivances to prevent the impure water from debafing the inferior fpring, cannot easily be abridged; but they are fimple, ingenious, and were com pletely effectual. The reasoning too is juft and accurate. Art. II. An Account of an English Bird of the Genus Motacilla, fuppofed to be hitherto unnoticed by British Ornithologists.

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thologists. By the Rev. John Lightfoot, M. A. F. R. S.This appears to be a new fpecies of motacilla, and is very ac curately defcribed by Mr. Lightfoot, under the name of m. arundinacea. The turdus arundinaceus minimus of Sepp. very much resembles this bird, and is probably the fame; though, as it is ill-coloured, and not very accurately described, fome little differences are obfervable. The structure of its neft is curious.

But to return to the neft I was going to defcribe. It is compofed externally of dry ftalks of grafs, lined, for the most part, with the flowery tufts of the common reed, or arundo vallatoria, but fometimes with small dead graffes, and a few black horse-hairs to cover them. This neft is ufually found fufpended or faftened on, like a hammock, between three or four stalks of reeds, below the panicles of flowers, in fuch a manner that the stalks run through the fides of the nests at nearly equal distances; or, to Speak more properly, the neft is tied on to the reeds with dead grafs, and fometimes (as being more eligible when it can be had) even with thread and pack-thread, emulating the work of a fempitrefs, as was the cafe of the neft exhibited in the drawing. The bird, however, though generally, does not always confine her building to the fupport of reeds; fometimes the fixes it on to the branches of the water-dock; and, in one inftance only (that here delineated), it was found fastened to the trifurcated branch of of a fyringa bufh, or philadelphus, growing in a garden hedge by the river fide.'

This little bird is not very frequent, but feems not to be confined to one part of England only it is probably, however, migratory.

Art. III. An Account of Morne Garou, a Mountain in the Island of St. Vincent, with a Defcription of the Volcano on its Summit. By Mr. James Anderfon, Surgeon.-The fteadiness and refolution with which our traveller conquered the obstacles to his expedition, are commendable; and he was rewarded by a fingular, and, to a philofophic eye, a curious fight. But volcanos have been often described; and this, in St. Vincent, affords nothing very fingular. Though many of the Antilles are the hills of an inundated continent, fome of them are undoubtedly volcanic. St. Vincent and St. Lucia are both fo.

Art. IV. A Supplement to the Third Part of the Paper on the Summation of Infinite Series, in the Philofophical Tranfactions for 1782. By the Rev. S. Vince, M. A.-This article is incapable of abridgement.

Art. V. Defcription of a Plant yielding Afa fœtida. By John Hope, M. D. F. R. S.-The industry of Dr. Hope is well known; and the medical world are much obliged to him

for

for the very exact and valuable description of the ferula asa fœtida. Dr. Hope obferves, that Kampfer's description differs from the appearance of the plant, in his botanical garden; and the prefident, in defence of Kæmpfer, alledges that the Perfian plant may have been a different fpecies from that at Edinburgh, fince Kampfer's accuracy has not hitherto been impeached. The leaf only is different, the kind of the umbel is the fame; and Kæmpfer has expressly told us, that he had not seen it in flower. (Vide Amænitates Exoticæ Fafc, III. P. 538). These circumftances, in our opinion, fully justify the fufpicion of the learned-prefident. Dr. Hope received it from Dr. Guthrie, at Petersburgh. Every part of the plant pours out a rich milky juice; and the fmell of garlick is fenfible at the distance of feveral feet. It grows in the open air without protection, and may be a valuable object of com

merce.

Art. VI. Catalogue of Double Stars. By William Herschel, F. R. S. This is a mark of the great attention, and astonishing address of Mr. Herschel, as an obferver. The double ftars are divided into fix claffes.

Art. VII. Observations of a new variable Star. By Edward Pigott, Efq.-The variable star, which is the fubject of this paper, is the Antinoi. Its period is 7 days, 4. 38'.

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• Hitherto the opinion of aftronomers concerning the changes of Algol's light feem to be very unfettled; at least none are univerfally adopted, though various are the hypothefes to account for it; fuch, as fuppofing the star of fome other than a spherical form, or a large body revolving round it, or with feveral dark spots or fmall bright ones on its furface, also giving an inclination to its axis, &c. though most of these conjectures with regard to Algol be attended with difficulties, fome of them combined do, I think, account for the variation of Antinoi."

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The methods of fixing, with more exactness than usual, the magnitude of stars, are very ingenious; but we fear they cannot be practifed with fuccefs. We fee several obftacles to them, befides those mentioned by Mr. Pigott.

Art. VIII. Aftronomical Observations. By M. Francis de Zach.-Thefe obfervations relate to an eclipfe of the moon, on March 18, 1783, to the vernal equinox, Jupiter's fatellites, and to a problem that occurs in computing the orbits of comets. To these are added, fome obfervations on the tranfit of Mercury, November 12, 1783. It is not poffible to abridge obfervations of this kind, for any purpose of information. We shall only add, from the laft fubject, that the diameter of Mercury, when over the fun, feemed to be 8". 137, certainly lefs than 9′′: it is usually reckoned 12%

Art, IX.