ART. V. Poems fuggefted chiefly by Scenes in Afia-Minor, THE HE elegant talents, various learning, and early fate of Mr. Carlyle, infufe a ftrong intereft for this volume into the breaft of every claffical and feeling reader. The poems with which the collection opens are particularly attractive, they relate to ftriking fcenes in the Eaft, and are prefaced by extracts from the author's journal, which fully explain their fubjects. From this journal, further improved by the author's hand, and adorned with these poems, fuch a book of travels might have been formed, had his life been continued, as the world has feldom feen. In a poem on a moonlight view of Athens, the author feems in fome melancholy lines, to prognofticate his own fate. The leading thought of the paffage is taken from that, which has been fo often copied, the exquifite paffage of Mofchus in the epitaph on Bion, Αἴ, αἴ, ταὶ μαλάχαι μὲν ἐπὰν καλὰ κᾶπον ὅλωνται, &c. Nevertheless, much originality is thrown into the imitation by the mode of conducting it. The view of Athens recalls to the poet's mind the picture of Cambridge, where he had fo often meditated on the fame of that city. "Some fond remembrance-fome connected thought Each scene retraced with confcious pleafures fraught, "While History tells the deeds that graced yon vale, Ilyffus vanishes and Granta flows. "Again I fee life's renovated spring With every opening hour and every smile, Unnipt by care-unbrufh'd by forrow's wing, That welcom'd pleasure when they welcom'd toil.2 "Again I fee that gay, that bufy band, With whom I wander'd by the willowy ftream, "Where are they now? fome struggling in the waves "Dim waning Planet! that behind yon hill "And thou fall'n city, where barbarians tread, "But oh! lov'd youths, departed from the day, "Ye're fet in death-and foon this fragile frame, "Father of fpirits! ere that awful hour, "I afk no following radiance to appear To mark its track, for praife or fame to fee, And Faith waft on the spark unquench'd to Thee!". P. 59. The advantages and difadvantages of unpolifhed nature, are beautifully expreffed in the firft poem, which was written "on palling an evening with a caravan of Arabs and Ca raminians, in a Cemetery near Akfheher." "No thoughts but what the tongue dare speak Or were it mute, the mantling cheek, Each "Each rifing image ftands confeft At once difplay'd-at once defcried Shews every rock that crowns his fide. "Nature, thefe genuine charms are thine !→→→ And all is finifh'd, but the heart. "There's the foft fpeech-the polish'd ftyle "But hark yon fhout! yon cry of rage "Nature, thefe charms are thine! The ocean's breast that mocks controul, "These charms are thine!—and fhould I e'er · To diffipate the idle ftrain." P. 11. Nothing can be better expressed than the third and fourth of these ftanzas. The imitations from the Arabic, which form the fecond part of the collection, are not many nor extenfive. The chief part of thefe ftores was given in the author's "Specimens," commended by us long ago*: The original poems at the end are rather in a lighter ftyle, and that in particular which alludes to Mrs. Wolftoncraft is not devoid of elegant humour. A learned lady is vifited in her Study by Oberon king of the Fairies. "What faw he there? no filken robes And pickled toads, and ponderous books, • See Brit. Crit. Vol. viii. p. 577 Bertha "The king advanc'd, and bowing faid, With learning's weeds to teem!" P. 119. This volume has given to us, and will to many others, a portion of very gratifying amufement, not unmixed with inftruction. We travel here in the Eaft with more pleasure than we ever travelled before, because the Mufe goes handin hand with us. As a memorial of a man whofe merits were very various, and whofe fpan of life was fhort, it will remain diftinguished, even in extenfive collections. ART. VI. African Memoranda: relative to an Attempt to eftablish a British Settlement on the Island of Bulama, on the Western Coast of Africa, in the Year 1792. With a brief Notice of the neighbouring Tribes, Soil, Productions, &c. and fome Obfervations on the Facility of Colonizing that Part of Africa, with a View to Cultivation; and the Introduction of Letters and Religion to its Inhabitants: but more particularly as the Means of gradually abolishing African Slavery. By Captain Philip Beaver, of His Majesty's Royal Navy. 4to. Price il. 11s. 6d. Baldwin. 1806. A FEW A FEW individuals, wifhing to make the experiment, how far it was practicable to cultivate traffic or productions on the coast of Africa, by the means and affiftance of native Africans, who were to be in a state of freedom, inftituted a fociety for that, avowed purpose. This, however, was not the only motive of their proceeding: a wish was excited, to ascertain by actual experiment, how far the native African was capable of enjoying the unrestrained benefits of freedom, and to what an extent the various degrees of civilization could be communicated to him. A committee being appointed for the regulation and conduct of this plan, the island of Bulama, at the mouth of the river Grande, was fixed upon for the purpofe. The prefent bulky volume details the particulars of the expedition, and the caufes of its ill fuccefs. The work is divided into three parts; the first defcribes the proceedings of the Bulama Society in England, and the tranfactions of the colonifts from their departure from England, to their final abandonment of the island. The fecond part exhibits the author's journal on the ifland; and the third part recapitulates the caufes of their failure, with a defcription of the African coaft, between the rivers Gambia and Grande, of the island Bulama itfelf, and of the other islands in its vicinity. This is the most interesting portion of the work, and will justify our inferting a fpecimen; for the contentions and mifunderftandings of the individuals concerned in the expedition, or the injudicious conduct of thofe, to whom its failure may be imputed, are matters foreign from our consideration, and on which we are incompetent to decide. "OF THE BIJUGAS. "The nations and tribes, of whom we have hitherto fpoken, refemble each other, not only in their general manners and cuf toms, but also in the degree of progrefs they have made from abfolute barbarifm; but the Bijugas, of whom I am about to fpeak, have not the fmalleft refemblance imaginable, except in colour, to any of the African nations, by which they are femifurrounded. "Thefe, of all the Africans, on this part of the coaft are the most uncivilized, faithlefs, and warlike; and are diftinguished among the neighbouring nations by the appellation of wild men. "The Bijugas are above the middle fize, mufcular, bony, and well-proportioned; they have the appearance of great ftrength and activity; their nofes are more elevated, and their D BRIT, CRIT, VOL, XXVII, JAN. 1806. lips |