BRITISH CATALOGUE.

POETRY.

ART. 12: The Alexandriad. Being an humble Attempt to enume rate in Rhyme fome of thofe Acts which diftinguish the Reign of the Emperor Alexander. 4to. 20 pp. Price 3s. Weftley, 1805.

The amiable Sovereign, who is celebrated in the lines before us, has found a Poet, who (though diffident of his abilities for the task feems not unworthy of the topic which he has chofen. The cha racter of the Emperor Alexander, and the various beneficent acts of his reign, are delineated in verfes always flowing, and often spirited and energetic; as the following paffage (which alludes to his having ameliorated the condition of the Ruffian Peafants, and to the voyages of Difcovery made under his direction) will evince:

"See the bly the peafant rais'd to man's eftate,

With growing thought, and new-born pride elate,
With willing labour tills the grateful foil,
Secure to reap the produce of his toil.

Sweet liberty defcends to nerve his arms,

And through his waking foul breaths all her charms,
His cares, his fears, his forrows fhe beguiles,
And decks e'en poverty in cheerful fmiles.
See, where he views with ardent, doubting eyes,
And awkward gratitude and glad furprise,
About him shoot unhop'd felicities:

While from a mass, so late but breathing earth,
Love and allegiance burst at once to birth.

See, focial commerce fwell with new-born pride,
Shake off its languor,-court the ardent tide;
Already fee th' impetuous fails unfurl'd,
To plunge advent'rous in an unknown world;
From Hyperborean climes-a trackless way,
Far as the cradle of the infant day,

The hallow'd enfign of bleft peace to bear,

And ope to CAESAR's love an ampler fphere."-P. 6.

}

The Author feems to have anticipated a more favourable event than occurred in the late conteft in Germany: but we may per haps ftill hope for the ultimate deliverance of Europe, from the permanent union of Great Britain with fo amiable a Monarch and fo powerful an Empire.

ART. 13.

Funeral Ode, for Mufic, to the Memory of the Immortal Hero, Lord Neljon. 4to. 1opp. Price Is. Rivingtons. 1805.

The glorious victory and death of Lord Nelfon feem to have infpired many well-meaning perfons to attempt verfe, who, but for that circumstance, would never have thought of poetry. Of this clafs, probably, is the Author before us; as he informs us that his work was written during the few moments of leifure which could be fnatched from avocations of a very different caft.”—His verfes (if they may be fo called) are, indeed, caft in a very fingular mould, as the following fpecimen will evince:

"SPIRIT.

"From Trafalgar's rocky fhores heard ye not the din of war, That o'er Europe's nations roll'd and alarm'd the world afar? Now I bring exalted high on my vic'ry-trophied car,

Nelfon's name! Nelfon's name!

Near the watch-tow'r of the fea, Gibraltar's caftled steep,
Where Britons, fpite of foes, their unconquer'd station keep,
The fleets conjoin'd of France and Spain dar'd truft the guarded deep,
Daring death, daring death.

Nelfon rofe: he calls his chiefs: his plans with awe they eye,
They pledge their lives, their fame, each in glory's grave to lie,
Or for England's brows to win, gory wreaths of victory,

That proud day, that proud day.

Fearless, fhouting, full of hope and joy, in double lin'd array,
Britannia's fquadrons throng to meet the overmatch'd affray,
And first amid the wond'ring foe brave Nelfon leads the way,

Nelfon leads, Nelfon leads."—-P. 6.

Such metre as the foregoing, fo much in the ftyle of Mrs. Harris's petition, by Swif, will not, we fuppofe, have many Imitators. A Dirge, which follows, is in Elegiac lines, and confequently rather more tolerable: but the best that can be faid of this Writer is, that his attempt is announced with madefty, and that it is animated by public fpirit and patriotifim.

ART. 14. Chrift's Lamentation over Jerufalem. A Setonian Prize Poem. By Charles Peers, Efq. A. M. and F. S. A. of St. John's College. 4to. 15PP. Price IS. 6d. Deighton, Cambridge; and Hatchard, London. 1805.

The Poet, whofe fole tafk is to dilate on a paffage in Scripture, is under peculiar difficulties. The fimple fublimity, or the touch. ing pathos, fo often found in the facred writings, is generally weakened by expanfion of the fentiments, and does not always fubmit to the constraint of metre. Under thefe difadvantages, the Prize Poem now before us cannot be expected to please in fo high a de

gree

gree as fome which we have lately noticed, where the Authors had full fcope for the difplay of imagination, and an almost unlimited choice of ideas and language. Yet this Author has paraphrafed the beautiful and pathetic Prophecy of the deftruction of Jerufalem, in a manner that fully juftifies the diftinction which his Poem has obtained; as the following Extract will show :

"Yet not by fearful prodigies unmark'd
Shall be the doom of Sion: though the fall,
She fhall not fall like one of vulgar note.
What, if erewhile that folemn legend grav'd
At deep of night upon his palace wall
By God's own finger, to th' Affyrian king
Gave dark prediction ere his empire fell;
Shall not my Father's city challenge proof
Of love divine to dignify her end?

When this firm earth fhall to her centre fhake
In dread convulfion rock'd; yon glorious fun
Veil his meridian fplendour: when the moon.
Shall be appalled; and thofe the ftarry hofts
That deck the firmament, withhold their fires:
When peftilence and fickness fhall go forth
Wafting the nations, and disastrous wars
And evil prophecies and rumours wild
Shall fcatter tribulation and difmay,
Then, mark, the hour is near :"-P. 12.

DRAMATIC.

ART. 15. The Laughable Lover. A Comedy, in Five Ads. By Carol O'Cauftic. 8vo. 103 pp. 2s. 6d. Symonds. 1806. In a "Prefatory Dialogue" (fuppofed to have been held in the Green Room) we are told this comedy was rejected on account of certain political allufions contained in it. But, on the perufal of it, we perceive little, if any, ground for fuch an objection. One or two farcafms (particularly the allufion to the order in council, and fubfequent itatute, refpecting payments at the Bank) might as well be omitted; but upon the whole the play is fufficiently free from political faire. We cannot, however, entirely agree to the author's doctrine, as expreffed in the following lines: "I thought the * Theater was meant to be

A temple dedicate to liberty

As well as morals; a reforming fchool

Sacred to public virtue; where mifrule

The author purpofely writes theater; from the vain defire which fome ftill entertain of rendering the orthography exactly conformable to the pronunciation of our language.

Of hardieft minifters might punish'd be
With fatire's honeft keen feverity."

The legislature, however, when they paffed the licenfing ac (an act which has never fince, that we have heard, been complained of) admitted no fuch doctrine; but conceived that fuch a "reforming school" would foon become not a "temple of liberty," but a fchool of party politics, and an arena of political contention: Surely in our hours of relaxation and amufement, we might forget all party ftrife and animofity.

From the fpecimen which we have exhibited, the reader may judge of this writer's abilities as a poet. As a dramatic author, he is not fo contemptible, for we have met with worfe dramas (in our opinion) than the comedy before us. The incidents are indeed fomewhat improbable, and the humour (for humour it occafionally has) rather farcical: but these objections do not feem of late to have influenced the managers of our theatres, or the audiences who frequent them.

ART. 16. The School for Friends. A Comedy, in Five Alts, as performed with diftinguished fuccefs, by Their Majefties Servants, at the Theatre, Drury Lane. Written by Mifs Chambers, Author of "He Deceives Himfelf," a domeftic Tale, in three Vols. 8vo. 93 PP. 2s. 6d. Barker, 1805.

In the prefent state of the drama, it is fome fatisfaction to meet with a comedy, the fuccefs of which does not arife from the extravagance of its fable, or the buffoonery of its language. The School for Friends, though not diftinguished by any pre-eminent merits, is at least free from the grofs abfurdities, which are tolerated, and even applauded in the modern pieces, which the cour tefy of the time has mifcalled comedies. We are therefore furprifed and pleafed at its fuccefs. As the first attempt of a lady, it deferved encouragement; which, we truft, will animate the author to further exertions, and to productions which may rescue the name of comedy from its prefent difgrace.

ART. 17.

NOVELS.

Ferdinand and Amelia. A Novel. In three Volumes. 12mo. Ios. 6d. Crosby. 1806.

We fee nothing in this novel to diftinguish it from other pub. lications of the fame kind, either by praife or cenfure. It is not remarkably well or ill written, not peculiarly inftructive, nor at all immoral.-There are a good many incidents and changes of fortune, fome of which are not ill contrived.-One circumftance we deem it proper to remark, as a hint to the writers of novels. It is allowable to adopt any names for the charac

sers

ters in a novel, provided thofe names are not peculiar to any perfon or family; but we think it indelicate and improper to use either the Chriftian and Surname by which any well known perfon is ufually diftinguished, or a Surname alone which is peculiar (as fome are) to a fingle family.-The latter of these impro. prieties the author before us has fallen into, as he has diftinguished one of his characters (and a very bad one) by a Surname which we believe, is borne by one family only in the whole kingdom,An indelicacy of this kind is very eafily avoided.

The language of this novel is now and then ungrammatical, but not more frequently than may be expected in the writings of this clafs, which load the fhelves of a circulating library.

ART. 18. The Myfterious Freebooter, or the Days of Queen Befs; a Romance, in four Volumes. By Francis Lathom, Author of Men and Manners. Lane.

Although we have been accustomed to regard the performances of Mr. Lathom in a favourble point of view, we are willing to place the Myfterious Freebooter at the head of his Romantic productions. We certainly think that his talent is moft adapted to the compofition of humorous works: but, in this inftance, curiofity is as much excited, and time as fairly paid, as by almoft any of the romances which the terrific genius of modern fable has produced. Perhaps Mr. Lathom might have ranked in the firft clafs of fabulifts, had it been his good fortune to write earlier.

This tale has been brought upon the ftage at the Circus in the fhape of a ballet. Indeed the fituations are frequently ftriking and dramatic, and the work muft derive one advantage from appearing in dumb-fhow, of which we are forry to perceive that it at prefent ftands in need. We mean that, in a ballet, while our feelings are wrought on by impaffioned scenes, our ears cannot be wounded by the numberlefs inaccuracies of grammar and style which crowd the pages of this amufing ftory. We remember to have noticed this defect in a former production of our author, and we were in hopes that time, which gives facility, would give alfo correctnefs of compofition. We have been deceived. The Mysterious Freebooter is really worth the trouble of correction. Even a Scotch pebble is highly improved by the fric tion of the Lapidary; but he who poffeffes a diamond, and neglects to polish it, is guilty of a careleffnefs for which he deferves to fuffer.

The characters are fome of them forcibly and naturally drawn, particularly thofe of De Moubray and Mabel Monteith; though the latter is certainly placed in a fituation too prominent for her proportionate importance in the work. The general ftructure of the plot is fimple and unembarraffed: it is interfperfed with a number of poetical trifles, among the beft of which is an Elegy