The youth he prefs'd her to his heart; The maid let fall a tear. Ah! feldom had their hoft, I ween, The youth was tall with manly bloom, Sit down, my children, fays the fage; Partake, he faid, my fimple store, Thanks, father, for thy bounteous fare: Then freely ate, and made good chear, Now fay, my children, (for perchance What strange adventure brought you here Firft tell me, father, faid the youth, (Nor blame mine eager tongue) What town is near? What lands are thefé? And to what lord belong? Alas! my son, the hermit faid, Why do I live to fay, The righful lord of thefe domains Is banish'd far away?' The fecond canto commences with a happy comparison of the fmiles of the young lady to the morning fucceeding the ftorm and the conversation which then paffes between the lovers is full of virtuous and tender fentimentş. • Lovely fmil'd the blushing morn, But lovelier far, with fweeter fmile, She found her Henry all alone, The youth confulting with his friend What sweet furprize o'erpower'd her breaft When fondly he befought her there ‹ Within this lonely hermitage There is a chapel meet : Then grant, dear maid, my fond request, 'O Henry, when thou deign'ft to sue, When thou, lov'd youth, haft won my heart, • For thee I left a father's fmiles, And mother's tender care; And whether weal or woe betide, • And wilt thou then, O generous maid, To share with me a banish'd wight Now heaven, I truft, hath joys in store For, know, fond hope affures my heart The hermit's tale, which is tragical, and well related, is introduced in this canto, and continued to the end of the poem. The thought and expreffion in the following ftanza are exquifitely beautiful, • Young Bertram lov'd a beauteous maid, The dew-drop on the lily's cheek Was not fo fair as fhe.' There is an agreeable fimplicity in the second line of the stanza next quoted, which, in fpite of the verbal redundancy, extorts our approbation. • She Bertram courteously address'd; The description of the battle between the English and Scots is highly animated; and the ftrong resemblance it bears to the ballad of Chevy-Chace, fhews, that the author has warmed his imagination with the beauties of that poem. As this paffage affords fo striking a parallel, we beg leave to extract it. 'Lord Percy, and his barons bold Then fix upon a day To fcour the marches, late opprest, The knights affembled on the hills Brave Widdrington, though funk in years, • Tweed's limpid current foon they pass, Down the green flopes of Tiviotdale As when a lion in his den Dd 3 And with truth be acknowledged, that many of his profeffion are properly furnished with qualifications neceffary for difquifitions of this kind; and many of them have given ample proofs of their knowledge in facred fcience. Every attempt that tends to make the facred writings better understood by all degrees of men, is highly laudable in itself, and of fervice to the general interests of mankind; and no helps can be thought fuperfluous in thefe days, which feem to boast of being ignorant of the most important truths. The prefent, as well as the former work, in which this author has been engaged, feems to have proceeded from a thorough conviction of the importance of the fubject, as well as a defire of doing his utmost to investigate facred truth. The particulars which the author hath chofen for his enquiry, are those against which the pointless darts of infidelity have been repeatedly levelled, down from lord Herbert of Cherbury, to the puny champion of Geneva. Like a true master builder, he looks well to his foundation; being thoroughly affured that the ftrength of the fuperftructure muft chiefly depend upon its being properly laid. The particulars in which we are inftructed by Mofes, are fuch as no other writer could have informed us of. To him we are indebted for the knowledge of the creation of all things; of the first parents of the human race; the inventors of arts; the origin of nations; the founders of kingdoms and empires; the inftitution of laws; the fountain of religious rites; and we may add, of the ancient mythology: but what is of greater confequence, the means of forming a true sense of God and religion; by what means religion came afterwards to be corrupted; and the progress of that corruption. It appears from the work before us, that the author adheres very clofely to verbal criticism, and the natural interpretation: of things; and we may venture to affirm, that very good reasons may be given for believing the accounts which Mofes has left us, without having recourfe to the fubterfuge of allegory on every occafion. A fondness for allegory has been the parent of much abfurdity, and in none more confpicuous than the disciples of Hutchinfon, and fhall we fay even the polished Middleton? The admirers of this fcheme invert the old maxim, ex nihilo nibil fit, for they will produce ex nihilo omne aliquid. We are happy to find that our author coincides fo exactly with the learned and judicious critic, Dr. Kennicott, to whofe Tree of Life he fo pertinently refers. That work was indeed Piercy and Douglas, great in arms, And all with crimson flow'd.' This poem is written in that ftrain of beautiful fimplicity, and unaffected energy, which are univerfally the characteristics of the best compofition. While it poffeffes the fpirit, it is void of the imperfections of our ancient poetry. It pleafes by the genuine graces of nature, undebased with the ornaments of art; and whether we confider it in regard to imagery, sentiment, or diction, we may fairly admit it to rival the most celebrated model of the English ballad. MONTHLY CATALOGUE. POETRY. 12. The Purfuits of Happiness. Infcribed to a Friend. 4to. Is. 6d. Cadell. IN N this piece there are fome good lines, fome pleafing strokes of a lively imagination; but, among the reft, feveral verses which are inharmonious and unpoetical. The following couplets are of this latter fpecies. The glare that blazes in a public show, The courtier's whifper and the great man's bow." This laft line wants a fyllable of the requifite measure. Her foul unbroken and unquench'd its flame, See at the clofing of fome public show Canidia joftling in its hindmoft row: ('Tis but the decent rudeness of her state, And yet Canidia's more than half a faint; Conftant at church, for fometimes beaux are there, Dd 4 And "And as for death, fince die the youngest muft, And let me wear this Denmark-fly * in heav'n !” Satirical pieces are feldom free from rudeness and indelicacy. In this respect the poem before us is unexceptionable. 13. Armine and Elvira, a Legendary Tale. In two Parts. 4to. 25. Murray. This tale exhibits a pleafing reprefentation of parental tendernefs and virtue, with the infurmountable emotions of a mutual paffion in the breafts of young Armine and Elvira. is related in a correct ftile of poetry, and is moral and affeating. 14. An original Effay on Woman. 4to. 2s. 6d. Swan. 1 This Effay is intended as a vindication of the fair fex from the afperfions that have been thrown upon them by many satirifts, and is in feveral places a parody on the Essay on Man, which is imitated with remarkable addrefs. The fair champion has, we think, ingeniously defended the cause the has undertaken; and it would be illiberal not likewife to acknowledge the juftice with which the recriminates against our own fex. We have always been of opinion with this lady, that the female mind is equally fufceptible of attainments with that of man, and that the fuperiority of the latter, in point of learning, is owing entirely to the difference of education. At the fame time that we admit an equal docility in both fexes, we hope the ladies will never become ambitious of depriving us of fo natural a diftinction as that of the palm of literature. They may be affured, however, that we are not induced to this defire from any motives of jealousy respecting the department of criticism; for nothing could afford us greater pleasure than to be joined with an equal number of fair affociates. But fhould that amiable part of the creation become votaries of Minerva, what advantages would mankind enjoy, that could in any degree compenfate for the want of the more agreeable endowments of beauty and vivacity, which nature has lavished on the fofter fex? Though the bounds of our Review will scarcely admit of more quotations, we cannot refrain from gratifying our readers with a few lines of this poem, as a specimen. Grieve not, ye fair, to want the ftrength of man; For when the brute prevails, and makes him ftorm, Recal his reafon, damp the raging fire, And let your voice be great Timotheus' lyre. And anger leffens on a foft reply: A particular fort of head-dress, Let |