"Weep, O ye mountains! weep; your pride is fall'n,
Your glory gone: the steel-rib'd fons of war
Revel in flaughter'd carnage. Shield me, Heaven,
Oh! fhield me from deftruction's yawning gulph!
Perdition blast the wretch, whofe thirft of power
Ranfack'd thefe fmiling realms of joy! bright god
Of jocund day, whofe carr embofs'd with gold
Wafts thee along the azure vault of heav'n,
In flaming glory wrapt, whofe panting fleeds
Breathe fire, how inaufpicious beam'd thy ray,
When to this land of peace Columbus came!
Oft have I heard the tale: with folemn pomp
The gay-deck'd veffel plough'd yon crystal wave.
Then blaz'd the red-wing'd lightning; India's fons
In dumb confufion gaz'd: grim vifag'd death
Unfheath'd his thirfty fword; and, bath'd in blood,
Scatter'd wild ruin and despair around.

Is it for this their haughty veffels bear
Our glittering wealth to Europe's diftant fhore?
E'en now ambition wakes the din of war.
Forbid it, heav'n! Thrice happy age of yore,
When dove-ey'd Peace, with all her jovial train,
Smil'd on our rude forefathers, blithe and gay
In native innocence; when mild content
Wing'd all their days with blifs! no fordid art
Ruffled their generous breafts; no black-brow'd guilt
Their fimple manners ftain'd: now, brac'd with flrength,
They plung'd impetuous down the falling ftream

Of Niagara, whilft the light canoe

Swift bore them o'er the bofom of the deep:
Now, wand'ring through the incenfe breathing vale,
They carol'd loud their love-infpiring fong:
The fwarthy nymphs with liftening transport look'd
Applaufe. But ah !"-Rafh youth, forbear the figh,
Nor heave the heart-felt groan: hope's orient beam
Burfts from yon parting cloud: a blithefome tcene
Brightens the wide horizon: fair the dawn

That chears the world with joy: once more fhall peace
Vifit thy glad abodes, and plenty cloath
Virginia's fruitful vallies, and the groves

Of Carolina, Paradife of blifs.

No wily Indian from the thicket's gloom
Ambush'd fhall aim the poifon'd dart: fecure
The traveller fhall rove the defert wilds

Of California.The royal youth

That wields Britannia's fceptre o'er the globe,

From Canada's bleak mountains, fteep'd in fnow,
To Coromandel, and the fhining coaft
Of rich Golconda, feat of eattern pride,
Diffufive bleffings fheds.-Illuftrious Prince,
'Tis thine to lull the raging ftorm of war,
'Tis thine to fofter freedom's chearful fons,

Τα

To fway the rod of justice, and to cull
The flower of each bright virtue, that adorns
The brow of kings; with kind parental care,
Thrice happy task! to rear the tender plant,
To mold the future monarch, good and great!
Warm'd by each brave example, rouz'd to deeds
Of high renown, his generous heart fhall glow
To tread his father's fteps. Britannia smiles,
Crowning with feftive joy the day that gave
Her darling fon to life, whofe deathlefs fame
Shall raife her trophy'd honours to the sky.
Wanton on Zephyr's wing, may rofe-lip'd health
Cherish the lovely babe! ye guardian powers
That o'er the natal hour indulgent watch,
Conduct his helpless years; direct his steps
To early wisdom: o'er his guiltless breast
Let virtue beam her charms, bright as the ftar
Whofe radiance melts the aweful gloom of night.
Thus fhall the mufe, with holy rapture fir'd,
Her future hero fing, and twine his brow
With many a laurel'd wreath; fair conqueft spread
Her purple banners round, and gentle peace
Blazon the throne with honour's pureft gem.

We would not have our Readers fuppofe that we have quoted this as a perfect Poem. We are fenfible, that the thoughts are frequently trite, and that the images are in general too much enlarged for their importance; but we give it as one of the best in the collection.

If we have beftowed greater applaufe on the University Poems upon former occafions, it was because they were better executed. Many of thofe gentlemen, whofe verfes we have heretofore diftinguished, have not written.upon the prefent occafion nor, indeed, is it to be wondered at, that they fhould with-hold their names from fuch a forbidding medley.

;

Such public offerings as these may evince the loyalty of our Univerfities, but they will never add any thing to their literary reputation. The gifts of poetry, thofe facred gifts, which are never lavished but upon the favoured FEw, cannot be fuppofed to fall to the lot of every ftudent who can repeat

Tityre tu patula, or

Pierides

Et me fecere poetara

General offerings of poetry muft, therefore, always be unfuccefsful, and expofe our public feminaries to the ridicule of criticism, when the finds their productions too contemptible to be treated with gravity. Such publications may likewise have

a bad

a bad tendency in another refpect. Every rhyming or fyllableweighing gownfman, whether a Fresh-man or a Senior-fellow, when once he has beheld his name and his verses printed on the full fair page of a pompous Folio; when he fees his own labours affociated with those of Nobles and Doctors, and confiders them as already brought to the ears of kings, it is natural for him to indulge the hopes of poetic fame, and to open his heart to the moft treacherous and infinuating of all fpecious enemies, Selfflattery. Hence the Mufes are difgraced, and the public peftered with crude and wretched attempts, while the unfortunate bard is, poffibly, neglecting fome ufeful calling, in quest of thofe laurels which he can never attain.

We entertain the moft honourable fentiments of our Univerfities; and are perfwaded, that it would be serving borh them, and the cause of literature in general, could we, in any meafure, contribute, by timely ridicule, to prevent the evil confequences above-mentioned.

A New and General Biographical Dictionary, containing an Historical and Critical account of the Lives and writings of the most eminent Perfons in every nation; particularly the British and Irish, from the earliest accounts of time to the prefent period. 11 Vols. 8vo. 21. 15 s. in boards. Ofborne, Payne, &c.

T muft ever be acknowledged in favour of the General Hiftorian, who undertakes to inftruct us in the transactions of paft ages, who faithfully draws from life, and accurately delineates the actions and characters of mankind; that he opens before us a noble fund of rational entertainment; and is at the fame time of the most important fervice, in forming the minds of men to virtue, and exciting them to an honourable and worthy conduct. That he entertains, and in a moft agreeable manner, will not be doubted: and whilft he is calling forth into exercise the moft generous principles and difpofitions of the human heart, inftructing us in the nature and obligations of private and social virtue, representing the duties of a man and a citizen, and all the important offices of peace and war, it will be generally allowed that he alfo improves the minds of his Reader.

Nor is this encomium wholly confined to the Hiftorian at large; the faithful Biographer lays a juft claim to a proportionable fhare of merit: he hath the fame important objects profeffedly in view; and in many refpects purfues them with equal advantage and fuccefs. The actions and characters of men it is alike their

their province to defcribe; with this principal difference, that 31 the former reprefents them as they appear in the public and more active scenes of life, and as they affect the general courfe of human affairs: whereas the latter, without omitting the public, leads us more into private and domeftic fituations; brings us acquainted with the whole circle of a man's friends, lays open his connections and correfpondence; the plan of his education; the method of his ftudies; his leading views in life; the manner in which he employed his time; and introduces us to the knowledge of a variety of circumftances, of the greatest importance to judging well of characters and manners; affording very useful hints for others to improve upon; and which could not with any propriety be introduced into a general History. Amongst the feveral fpecies of writing therefore, BIOGRAPHY will certainly be placed in a rank of fome importance, in point of real utility, as well as amusement.

There have been very few eminent and illuftrious perfons, either in antient or modern times, of whofe lives fome memoirs have not been collected, and handed down to us. giver, the Philofopher, the Mathematician, the Poet, the WarThe Lawriour, Phyfician, or Divine, if in any remarkable manner they have supported their feveral characters, diftinguished themselves in their profeffions, and merited fame by the fervices they have done their country or mankind, have met with fome ingenious and grateful pen, to gratify the public curiofity, and tranfinit their memory to pofterity. The great inconvenience of fuch memoirs hath been that they have generally been drawn up by those who were friends to the man, or warm admirers of the life they wrote; and of whom it might often be truly faid, that they were Panegyrifts, rather than Hiftorians.

But the fingle lives of the moft remarkable and memorable. perfons, though written with the greatest truth and exactness, unlefs collected together, could not be fuppofed in their difperfed flate, to be of any general and extenfive ufe. To those Gentlemen therefore who have taken upon them the immenfe pains of fearching into the records of antiquity, and collecting and difpofing these materials; who without the partialities of friendship, or the influence of prejudice, and in the juft fpirit of criticism, have fet themselves to give a faithful account of thofe illuftrious men, whofe lives and actions will be objects of attention to all ages and nations, the public in general, and the friends of literature in particular are furely very greatly obliged. Mr. BAYLE, the compilers of the GENERAL DICTIONARY, the Authors of the BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA, and others who have engaged in the fame laborious and important fervice, notwithstanding the particular imperfections of their feveral performances, deferve

to

to be mentioned with refpect; they have done well. But valuable as their works may be, they are too voluminous, they are too expensive to become the property of great numbers of people. A work of the fame kind, reduced within a narrower compafs, and of eafier purchase, was wanting; and bids much fairer to be generally useful. This is what the Proprietors of the present publication have attempted; and in what manner they have executed it, we shall now reprefent with all the impartiality inour power.

The Gentlemen of the Trade in this town, need not be informed by us, with what a fufpicious eye the Public in general look upon all their schemes to oblige the world: a Bookfaller's Jobb, is a popular term of reproach and odium, fufficient to prevent the acceptance of the most valuable production. But whatever foundation there may be for a jealoufy of this kind, there are inftances in which it is moft unwarrantable and inju rious we think the prefent is one. The perfons concerned, as proprictors, in this work, we are well informed, have taken, great pains; and have been at very confiderable expence to render it truly worthy the public attention: it was their defire that it might be fuch; and upon the whole, we think it no hazarded Judgment, to fay, that it merits encouragement. That it is very unequally done, will foon appear to those who examine it with attention; and this may indeed be generally expected, where many hands are employed, of different principles, fentiments and abilities; and where the materials of the whole are fo various and diffimilar. Some of the first volumes are by much the worst in many refpects; as the work proceeds, it improves upon us greatly, and is evidently conducted with fuperior judgment and ability.

The prefent collection is a very numerous one, containing not lefs than two thoufand different lives: it extends to all ages and countries; but, which would naturally be expected, pays particular attention to thofe of our own countrymen, who have rendered themselves remarkable: it gives us the history but of few Princes; in which omiffion we think there is a good deal of propriety; as the private lives and characters of fuch perfonages are little known; and are but of inferior confequence, when compared with their public character, which we may better expect from the general Hiftorian, whofe particular province it is. Of thofe who have diftinguifhed themfelves in the polite arts, or learned profeffions, the reader will find very few of any importance omitted: Scholars and learned men make up a large part of the collection; and, which will often be found extreamly ufeful to be confulted upon particular occafions, a catalogue of their writings, with the dates of their publication, is added in

the