Hook Art. 52. The Siege of Gibraltar; a Poem. By Capt. Jof. Budworth, Author of A Fortnight's Ramble to the Lakes*. 4to. 28. ham and Co. What Pope confeffed with regard to one of his early productions, that "pure defcription held" in it " the place of fenfe," cannot justly be applied to the prefent performance, unlefs for fenfe we fubftitute the word poetry-but it would be ungenerous in us to criticife the production of a foldier's mufe, when the merit of the verses is not fondly over-rated by the author himself, as appears from the modesty with which he fpeaks of them in the following paffage, copied from the dedication: I am no fcholar, but you have the unlaboured effufions of a mind that was in the midst of the fcenes it attempts to defcribe; and if it may tend to give an unadorned account of an event the world was once interested about, it will not concern me, if I fhould be faid to have failed in the poetry.' The pourtraiture of the brilliant fcenes here commemorated will not, we imagine, highly delight the ear of the faftidious critic: but we doubt not that it will gratefully excite the recollection of the brotherfoldiers of Capt. Budworth, who fhared with him in the dangers and the honours of that ever-memorable and glorious fervice.-Many of the defcriptive paffages in the poem are illuftrated by notes, which are fraught with information and amusement. In feveral of the anecdotes, the author does ample juftice to fome of the leading military characters who diftinguished themselves on that great occafion; among which the names of the brave ELLIOT, (the late Lord Heathfield,) and the gallant CURTIS, fhine with fuperior luftre. Art 53 Sonnets, (3d Edition +,) with other Poems, by the Rev. W. L. Bowles, A. M. late of Trinity College, Oxford. Crown 8vo. pp. 120. 3s. fewed. Dilly. 1794 The Italians, who during four centuries of literary culture must have made more experiments than other nations on the moft convenient form for fhort compofitions, have given a very general preference to the fonnet. Odes, heroic, religious, and amatory,-elegies, panegyrics,anecdotes, fables,tranflations,defcriptions, fatirical portraits; in fact, every thing calculated ftrongly to arreft a tranfient attention has been anxiously fitted to this bed of Procruftes, and expanded or compreffed to the precife dimenfions of fourteen lines confifting of two quatrains and two triads of rhimes-and, as a fingle thought, elegantly amplified, may be made fufficient to fill this space-as any fyftem of thoughts to be confined within this compafs must be pruned of every unneceffary appendage-as the industry requifite to polish fo fhort a poem into the most elaborate perfection, and to put throughout the right word in the right place, is by no means either rare or fatiguing, fo nothing is more common than to find a fonnet poffeffing every requifite of a perfect work of art; unity and wholeness of plan; thoughts attracting attention from the beginning, and providing a gradual increafe of pleasure till the clofe; and a ftyle offending by no *See Rev. N. S. vol. xiii. p. 117. + See Rev. vol. lxxx. p. 465; and vol. lxxxi. p. 83. awkward The Italians awkward word, ftrained conftruction, or harsh line. accordingly take great delight in Anthologies of fonnets, and conftantly point to them as the proof of their national excellence in the leffer myfteries of the mufe. Nor are fuch purfuits to be defpised: Trypho could difplay as profound a knowlege of defign in engraving a Cameo, as Polycletus in the fculpture of his Canon. In the fonnets here offered to the public, Mr. Bowles exempts himfelf from the neceffity of feeking a multiplicity of like rhimes, and feldom binds together more than a couplet. He alfo terminates many of them by an Alexandrine; which, notwithstanding Pope's fimile of the wounded fnake, is certainly agreeable to the English ear at the close of long stanzas,-as the readers of Spenfer muft have felt. The fubjects felected are wholly of the plaintive elegiac kind, as is indeed the cafe with most British poems of this defcription; the verfification is fmooth, the ftyle correct, the imagery pleafing, the thoughts are natural, and the faults are rare. Yet, with all this, there are very few which leave much impreffion on the memory, or forcibly recall us to their perufal. We endeavoured to find the best, in order to praise it, and the worst, in order to criticise it; yet, in vain like a ftring of beads, each is as perfect as the other:-but we have fufficiently dwelt on the fonnets of this ingenious writer, as the reader will fee by turning back to our former articles, cited in the note. The other poems annexed are no lefs pleafing than the polished fonnets of this author: but the principal of thefe have also been duly noticed in our former volumes. Art. 54. Heigh-ho for a Hufband! a Comedy: as performed at the Theatre Royal, in the Hay-market, January 14, 1794. 8vo. Is. 6d. Arrowsmith. 1794. This dramatic piece is a parody of Farquhar's comedy of the Beaux Stratagem. Charlotte and Maria, two giddy girls of family, who quit the protection of their friends, and traverse the country in fearch of husbands, are given as the counterpart of Archer and Aimwell; Mrs. Mill-clack the landlady, of Boniface; her fon Frank, of Daughter Cherry; and fo of the reft. The frolic lafts only half a day; during which thefe forward miffes, who do very little credit to their breeding, fall in love, one with the landlady's fon, and the other with a fpirited clown who turns out to be a young efquire. In the evening, the father of Charlotte overtakes them, and fomewhat too kindly confents to the completion of thefe foolish matches, that the girls may no longer cry Heigh-ho for a husband! As a parody, the piece is entitled to no commendation. In wit and humour it falls far fhort of the original; though fome of the characters are not without merit. The talkative landlady, her rattling fon, the fimple clown Timothy, and the country malkin Dorothy, are well conceived and expreffed. The genteel characters are leaft diftinctly marked. The Epilogue, by Mr. Colman, is written with great ease, and contains two admirable matrimonial sketches. Art. 55. Poems written in clofe Confinement in the Tower, and Newgate, under a Charge of High Treafon. By John Thelwall. 4to. 28. Ridgway. 1795. Mr. Mr. Thelwall himself shall characterife thefe poems.—They have," fays he, perhaps, little but fentiment to recommend them. They are generally tranfcripts of the heart, rather than flights of the ima gination; rather intended to rouze the patriotic feeling, than calcu fated to amafe the admirer of poetical enthufiafm. I have spoken what I felt; not confidered what I should speak; a method, at least, the most honest, and fometimes the most fuccessful, in appealing to the hearts of others.'-This feems at once both juft and modeft. We deem of his poetry as the author deems, according to the foregoing thort extract from his prefatory Advertisement: but we must add that we admire the flow of fpirits and the fortitude that could produce fuch lines under fuch circumstances! The following may be given as a fpe. cimen : STANZAS; Tower, Sept. 28, 1794. • Short is perhaps our date of life, By turns his honest bofom warm. And while the vital fpirits flow, To Freedom fill, and fearlefs quaff? Who build upon the diftant day." The above little poem,' the author obferves, was the first, in point of date, written under any impreffion that our lives were to be weighed in the balance of Criminal Juftice.-There is another piece, entitled Anacreontic, written with yet fuperior vivacity. The rest are odes, fonnets, a ballad, &c. of various poetic merit: the writer's political principles illuminating many of them, and feeming to be, in deed, the "infpiring fpirit" of the whole. Art. 56. The National Advocates; a Poem. Affectionately infcribed to the Hon. Thomas Erskine, and Vicary Gibbs, Efq. 4to. PP. 33. 2s. 6d, Debrett. 1795. The The SCIPIO and LALIUS of the bar' are here not improperly celebrated as Fraternal advocates in Freedom's caufe.' To you, entitled to the word's applause, You, who as Freedom's child carefs the Mufe." In this performance, the Mufe of Freedom has exerted her powers, of whatever magnitude they may be deemed, in afferting the noble cause in which, on this occafion, the is engaged; and especially in rehearsing the uncommon merits of the profeffional gentlemen already named particularly on account of their late fuccefsful efforts in de fence of the perfons imprifoned on a charge of High Treafon. • When a fick nation, like a feverish child, It is not treafon ftill to wish her free.' This patriotic poet, however attached to the interefts of liberty, is no friend to French Philofophy;-againft which, and its attendant, Licentiousness, he inveighs with becoming indignation; concluding what he fays on this head with the following application: • Brave generous Britons, who have lefs to fear From open enmity's uplifted fpear, Beware this fmiling peftilence, and know In French Philofophy your deadliest foe!" After fome pertinent allufions to the mif-ufe of the antient Greek and Roman eloquence, and juftly giving preference to the more virtuous oratory of our countrymen of the prefent age, the poet con cludea cludes with the following apoftrophe to the diftinguifhed heroes of his panegyric: • Erskine and Gibbs! whofe names, to Nature dear, Ye, to whom England owes a pleafing debt, Of the poetry in which this nameless and to us unknown writer has clothed his very laudable fentiments, it feems fcarcely neceffary for us to speak, after it has fo amply fpoken for itself in the preceding extracts. NOVELS. Art. 57. The Advantages of Education; or the History of Maria Williams, a Tale for Miffes and their Mammas. By Prudentia Homefpun. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6s. fewed. Lane. Amid the multiplicity of fictitious tales which tend to excite romantic fentiments and falfe ideas of life, in young minds, it affords us pleasure to see this captivating fpecies of writing sometimes employed, unequivocally and powerfully, for the purpose of effacing thefe falfe impreffions, and fubftituting in their room the genuine dictates of good fenfe and prudence. This is the profeffed defign of the present work; and we have feldom feen one better adapted to anfwer the end. The ftory affords young females excellent leffons on the |