Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

BRITISH CATALOGUE.

POETRY.

ART. 15. Addifoni Epiftola miffa ex Italia ad illuftrem Dominum Haifax, Anno 1701. Autore A. Murphy. 4to. 47 PP. 2s. Rivingtons. 1799.

The author of this tranflation from Addifon's Epistle to Lord Halifax, long eftablished as an English writer of eminence, here pats in his claim to the favour of the Latian Mufes. Nor has he courted them in vain. No notice is prefixed refpecting either the tranflation, or the Alcaic Ode to Lord Loughborough which precedes it; but internal evidence marks the Ode as a later compofition, not without merit, but unequal in vigour to his Hexameters. Of the Epiftle, it is no very high praife to fay, that it is much more elegant and poetical than the original; for the frequent feebleness of Addifon's couplet verfe, is truly aftonishing to those who have not very recently infpected it. The following lines will show how well the tranflator has caught the fpirit, and interwoven the expreffions, of the belt clafie

anthors.

Quam juvat errantem in fylvis, nemorumque receffu

Explorare lacus vitreos, atque inclyta cantu

Flumina! jam video rapidis ubi volvitur undis

Suphureâ Nar albus aquâ; jam fontis ameni
Apparent latices, ripis Clitumnus opacis
Unde per arva fluens viridi trahit amue liquorem.
Parte alia tardis devolvens flexibus undas,
Irque reditque viam, crebrifque ambagibus errat
Mincius, et late viridantes irrigat agros;;
Perque imas valles, et olentes fulphure ripas
Albula præcipitat fumanti gurgite fluctus,

We have had frequent occafion of late to advert to productions of Mr. Murphy, and always with fatisfaction.

ART. 16. Ballad Stories, Sonnets, &c. By George Davies Harley, Comedian. Volume I. 12mo. 35. 6d. Dilly. 1799.

We have before been entertained by Mr. Harley's poetry, and are much pleased with the prefent agreeable mifcellany. The fong of Sunburnt Betty is very pretty, and we wonder that part of it at least has not been fet to mufic; with the exception of the fecond ftanza, the fentiment of which is fomewhat too coarfe. The fong of Billy Moor is entitled to confiderable praife. The following may ferve as a fpecimen of the work.

THE

THE REMEMBRANCE.

'Tis a custom or fashion, and follow'd by moft,

To rail at the world, its unkindness, and strife;
But I own that thro' life, I've been pleas'd with mine hoft,
In all the ftrange chances and change of that life.

As a ftranger I've fojourn'd, fome twelve years or more,
And with strangers have ta'en up my board and my bed,
But kindness, not av'rice, took charge of the fcore,

And furnish'd the feather that pillow'd my head..
So that more than mere herw could our courtesy boast,
When the hour of ungracious departure drew near,
I've faluted mine hoftefs, fhook hands with mine host,
And dropp'd, as I pafs'd o'er their threshold, a tear.
'Twas int'reft paid off on a debt left behind,

Far, far beyond figures, and blazon of art;
They are records I keep on the file of my mind,
And lock with my life in the core of my heart.

Then accept, funder'd fouls, tho' remov'd be the day,
When by chance we first met, all in friendship and glee;
What gratitude ftill by inftalments must pay,

While the fum of your favours remember'd fhall be.

Nor ye of my KIN, ftrive to cancel the debt,

Which I owe to the stranger, and kindness past by ;
Nor efface from my mem'ry the rooted regret,

That honours the fenfe of fuch worth with a-figh.

ART. 17. The Hop-Garden. A Didactic Poem. By Luke Booker, LL. D. 8vo. 118 pp. 35. Rivingtons.

We have lately noticed, with approbation, a deferiptive poem by this author, on Malvern. The poem now before us, though termed didactic, is on a fubject better fuited, in our apprehenfion, to defcriptive poetry. Hop Gardens difplay a beautiful fcenery; while the culture of them admits no great variety of precepts or illuftrations. Accordingly, in a poem of two fhort books there are many long digreffions; fome of which are almost as applicable to any other subject, as to that of the poem. Dr. Booker's precepts are, we doubt not, juft, and his language is, in general, poetical, though fometimes blemished by flight faults. The morality and piety which pervades the work we very highly approve; and a paffage of this kind, mingled with patriotic fentiment, we fhall here infert.

[ocr errors]

Thus mayft thou ftand unfhaken, Queen of ifles,
Great Albion injur'd by no daring arm
Rais'd hateful at thy weal; but may each blow
Pow'rlefs recoil, or on the impious head
That aims it, fatal fall!-This be the fate
Of ev'ry foe declar'd, and, dreaded moft-

[ocr errors]

Each

Each mask'd affailant of thy envied bliss.
And, O forget not Him where fhelt'ring hand
Oft o'er thee ftretch'd prefervative, has harm
Averted, e'en when dark Destruction's gulf
Thee to enclofe wide yawn'd-no other pow's
Then near to help thee."

The three laft of thefe lines are ill-conftructed, and those that follow are better intended than executed, but the fpirit of the whole paffage is eminently laudable.

Subjoined to the Hop Garden, is a Poem on Ale; which, employing more opportunities for defcription, is more poetical than the former, and paints the feftivities and hofpitality of an English Christmas, ina pleating and truly moral ftrain.

4

ART. 18. Two metrical Romances, and other original Pieces, with Parody from Shakspeare; and a Tranflation of a Part of the Fourth Act of Kotzebue's celebrated Tragedy, called Die Spanièr in Peru, E. 4to. 28. Allen. 1799.

Now in real danger, fierce and undifmay'd

That with his Knights they might their skill difplay,

And found i'th' Spanish ftyle a table spread.

Perhaps the reader may not like this fpecimen; let him then take the following stanza on leaving Oxford.

These scenes I leave, I now muft cease to roam,

Midft thefe fair fears, and breathe collegiate air,
Retirement left, I feek a different home,
And to the bufy capital repair.

ART. 19, Enkle and Yarico. A Poem. By Mr. C. Brown. 4to. 55 pp. 1s. 6d. Glendinning. 1799. '

Small

We fhall exhibit a few proofs of the author's poetical ear and fpirit; and then leave his poem (as he calls it) to be purchased by those whose talle it may fuit.

"When come to proper age, his father faid,

4.

Tis time, my fon, t'inrich youself by trade." P.
With all the figns of forrow, amaz'd they stand."
Ah, me! fo miferable-how great my grief;
Which hopes no comfort, nor expects relief!" P. 11.
The time will come, when you'll a father be,

[ocr errors]

And, oh! (affecting thought) a mother me." P. 39.
Thou moft obdurate wretch, all words are weak,
To file thee proper, or thy crime to fpeak." P. 42.
The foolish the informs me fhe's with child,
Expecting hence to render me more mild." P. 42.

P. 6.

Authors (poe's especially) often plead thus with the public, for the necetlity of bringing forth their conceptions. Mr. C. Brown may adopt alfo the pathetic lamentation of his heroine, Yarico

"My child, who nc'er receiv'd the gift of breath,

Is pafs'd before me through the gates of death.". P. 48.

DRAMATIC.

[ocr errors]

DRAMATIC.

ART. 20. The Red-Cross Knights, a Play; in Five Alts. As performed at the Theatre-Royal, Hay Market. Founded on the Robbers of Schil

ler. By J. G. Holman. 8vo. 68 PP. 25. Cawthorne, &c.

1799.

On a

Whoever is acquainted with the drama of Schiller, entitled the Robbers, will know that it must require confiderable alterations to adapt it to the tafte, the feelings, or the morality of the English ftage. This Mr. Holman tells us he first attempted, without changing theeffentials of the original plan; but the licenser would not fo admit of it. The following paffage is very honourable to the candour and good fenfe of Mr. H. Surprised at firft at the decision, as he had "carefully expunged all fentiments that appeared to war against establishments and good order," he re-examined his work. more difpaffionate inveftigation of the play, however," he fays, "I found much to justify the licenfer's decifion. Compunction for villainy feems the peculiar feature of Charles: the reft of the Robbers combine brutal infenfibility of their enormities with the most heroic attachment to their leader. This junction of fublime virtue with confummate depravity, though it may be found in nature, fhould never be dragged into view :-the heroilm dazzles the mind, and renders it blind to the atrocity." As a complete remedy to the objection, Mr.' H. made his Robbers into Knights errant; a material change indeed. In this ftate the public received it; with what degree of fatisfaction, it was not our lot to witnefs, but certainly without danger to morals. Mr. Calcott's delightful mufic of the Red Cross Knight, which is fung in the fourth act, could not fail to produce an admirable effect.

ART. 21. The Naval Pillar, a Mufical Entertainment, as performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden. By T. Dibdin, Author of the Jerw and Doctor, Sr. 8vo. 27 pp. IS. Barker, Ruffel-Street, Covent-Garden. 1799.

A flight effufion, on a patriotic defign, is not a fubject of regular oriticifm. The fongs in this little performance poffefs fome humour, and the dialogue gives them a fort of connection and propriety.

ART. 22. Spaniards in Peru; or the Death of Rolla: a Tragedy, in Five Ads. By Auguftus von Kotzebue, The Original of the Play performing at the Theatre-Royal Drury Lane, under the Title of Pizarro. Tranflated from the German, by Anne Plumptree, Tranflator of Kotzebue's Virgin of the Sun, &c. Sixth Edition, revised. 8vo. 93 pp. 25. ed. Symonds. 1799.

In the fixth edition revifed, we fhould hardly expect to fee that Pizarro was performing at Drury-Lane, unlefs Pizarro were a living actor in that company. As to the tranflation, it is probably good enough, and has the merit of not being disfigured by foolish notes; which perhaps

[ocr errors]

is one reafon for its attaining fo large a fale. We have lately feen a boat from an author, that he was the first to introduce the tafte for German dramas; much more fhould we rejoice to fee a writer, who could put an end to that tafte by producing, which feems not very difficult, better things of original growth.

NOVELS.

ART. 23. The Hiftory of the Amtfrath Gutman. Written by Himself. Published by Adolphus Baran Knigge. Tranflated from the German. 12mo. 312 pp. 3s. 6d. Vernor and Hood. 1799.

In the tranflator's Preface to this work, the well-known Baron Knigge, who is called in the title-page the publisher, is confidered (we prefume juftly) as the author, and this book is announced as a complete refutation to the charge brought against him by the Abbé Barruel and Profeffor Robifon, of being a Jacobin, an Illuminé, and an Anarchift. We expected therefore to find a ftory expreísly contrived to recommend the principles of legal fubordination, to illuftrate the advantages of civil fociety, and enforce the precepts of Chriftianity. Even this would have been far from difproving an accufation fupported by fo ftrong a body of evidence. It might have arifen from an artful defign to glofs over the author's real character; it might be the effect of a temporary caprice, or the palinodia of fincere repentance. The reader will not, however, have the trouble of conjecturing the caufe of what has little foundation in fact. Few paffages in this book are hoftile to thofe anarchical doctrines which the fect of Illuminés (of which Knigge is proved to have been one of the chiefs) took so much pains to diffeminate. On the other hand, the corruptions and abuses of regular governments (at least of those in Germany) are much dwelt upon, and, we believe, much exaggerated. There is alfo (in p. 23) a fneer at the facred hiftory. Upon the whole, however, this tale does not appear to be written with a mischievous defign; and, if it were, it is too infipid to have any effect. This Amtfrath (a word which fignifies a man who rents lands of the fovereign in any German state) is a honest good fort of perfon, but neither fays nor does any thing very extraordinary or interelting; nor does any thing of that nature happen to him; except that, after he has become poor, he luckily finds a long-lost brother who is rich. The tranflator (who, if we may judge from fome of the netes, feems to be a female of the Woolftonecraft school) will no doubt rank us with those, "whofe taste is vitiated" by modern novels. We mutt fubmit to the imputation. It is not indeed neceffary, that every tale fhould abound in wonderful incidents; but furely either the events fhould be varied and interefting, or the characters very fkilfully delineated, or the obfervations on life and manners ftriking and juft. Not one of thefe qualifications belongs, in any great degree, to the work before us.

Not having feen the original, we cannot judge whether the tranflaion is faithful or not; but the language is, excepting a few Gallicfms, tolerably accurate and expreflive.

ART.

« ZurückWeiter »