A Defence of Poetry. Addreffed to Henry James Pye, Efq. To which is added, a Specimen of a new Verfion of Telemachus. By I. D'Ifraeli. 410. 25. Stockdale. The lines in the fift poem are commonly fpirited and harmonious; but the fentiments are fometimes trite, and sometimes falfe. The following lines may ferve as a proof of what we affert; and a fair fpecimen of the performance itself. Yet once to Virtue was the Mufe endear'd, Pure was that fpirit, that with holy heat Taught, at the touch of Fame, their hearts to beat; The first four lines we approve; but the compliment to poetry, which follows, is furely too unqualified. In ancient times, as in our modern degenerated days, in the most claffic ages of Greece and Rome, it often ferved as a vehicle for the most illiberal fatire, and groffeft indecencies. Did not Auguftus himfelf, indulge his vein' moft fhamefully in refpect to the latter? And why are we to fuppofe that the fmiles of a monarch are neceffary to the conftituting of an eminent poet. Virgilindeed flourished in the fun-fhine of a court; but not fo his two great rivals, in diftant ages born.' Homer, we have reason to fuppofe, earned a precarious fubfiftence, and knew but little of its fplendor. Milton defpifed, and was defpifed by it. When, again, we might afk, was the time that all were infpired, that no one wrote invità Minervâ? That the productions of the Mufe were always applauded? Was it in the golden days of Auguftus? Did not Bavius or Mævius exist at that time? Be affured, Mr. D'Ifraeli, ever fince poems have been, or will be written, readers or critics, for one changes to the other as a grub to a fly, have decided, and will decide on their merits or their faults. The fpecimen of the intended verfion of Telema. chus is fmooth and eafy: but we believe few readers will prefer it to the profaic tranflation, which is doubtless much more congenial to the original. Mifcellaneous Mifcellaneous Pieces in Verfe and Profe. By Robert Bacon. 8vo. 15. 6d. Dilly. It is pretty generally understood that a man in the poetical world, however it may be in the political, must stand or fall by his own abilities:-that the eminence of a patron can neither haften nor avert his fate. This truth, however fully established, and however often repeated, is received with fome difficulty, or difcredited by many of our juvenile writers, who are apt to judge of the prefent ftate of literary affairs from what it was in the last century. Our author thus begins his dedication to the right hon. William Wyndham, efq. Sir, as to folicit the countenance of diftinguished merit, is effential to the real interefts of inferior talents, it will not, therefore, appear fingular, that I have prefented these my juvenile efforts to a perfon of your literary character; and that I have been ambitious of having them ushered into the world under your patronage and fupport. Nor will the public, Sir, I am fully perfuaded, be difpofed to view this little production of mine but with a propitious eye, when submitted to their indulgence through the medium of one, who, amidst an unremitted diligence in difcharging the duties of his important flation, which fo eminently diftinguishes his character as a member of the British fenate, has ever fhewn the most ardent zeal for promoting the true interests of science and literature.' In Dryden's time, when few could read, or judge for themfelves, an illuftrious name prefixed, fometimes probably gave a kind of fanction to an indifferent petformance, and recommended it to the world. It was at least, the dedicator's interest, as Dryden well knew, to make his patron think fo; and thus by flattering his felf-importance, increase his own emolument. But thefe days are paft; and though we wish not to difcourage the effervefcence of gratitude, or refpe&iful addreffes to the rich or great, we would advife the rifing generation of authors no longer to talk of influencing the public opinion of a literary per formance, by prefixing any particular name, like a talisman, to it; it will never anfwer. Mr. Bacon's abilities are not of a very fuperior caft, neither are they contemptible. We meet with no paffage of any length that deferves to be felected for i:s excellence, and as few occur that are liable to any feverity of reprehenfion. Juvenile Poems, with Remarks on Poetry, and a Differtation or the beft Method of punishing and preventing Crimes. By John Armstrong. 12mo. 25. Ed. ferved. Hill, Edinburgh." What we faid of the former work may be applied to this truly miscellaneous performance, as the title fufficiently shows it to be. Yet, though the materials are fo various, the execution is nearly uniform. In the poetry we meet with as little to cenfure as to praite. This author, as well as the the former, is extremely young, yet their performances poffefs little of the characteristics of youth. The profe differtations in this work fhew that he has not led a life of idlenefs. He has both read and thought, and his observations are in general just and well expreffed. Epiftola Macaronica ad Fratrem, de iis qua gefta funt in nupero diffentientium conventu, Londini habito, Prid. id. Febr. 1790. 4to. 15. Johnson. Macaronic poetry (whether derived from macaroni or macaroons is of little importance) derives much of its pleasantry from the mixture of vernacular words, irregular conftructions, and every kind of poetic licence which can give an eafy flow to the verfification. The earliest fpecimen of this verfe is by Theophilus Folingius, a Benedictine monk, who published a work of this kind in 1520, under the name of Merlinus Coccaius, fol lowed by another apparently older, but not really fo, in 1526, by a different author. It cannot with propriety be ftyled the Latin Hudibraftic, but it is the only form in which Latin hexameters can be rendered humorous in form as well as in meaning. In England we have had few fpecimens of this kind of writing, and the principal of these may be found in Camden's remains. The most noted profe macaronic in France was Ra belais, and he feems to be the first who caught the hint from the Italian poets. We remember a whimsical macaronic poem published many years fince as a compliment to the Westminster fcholars, on the reprefentation of Ignoramus; but the author took a wider circle, and employed in it, if we recollect accu. rately, Latin, English, French, and Italian. The fhort hiftory of macaronic poetry muft not, however, lead us from our prefent author, who is not only one of the correcteft poets of this clafs, but occafionally foars higher, into the regions of the epos, though only defcribing the annual din ner of the delegates who met in London on the repeal of the testact. His defcriptive talents are admirable. • Hi cuncti keen were; fari aut pugnare parati Nec taceam Milford, Hayward; Brandhollis et illum Quid referam Cleri clariflima nomina? Reefum, • Non Non aderas, Priestley!-potior te cura tenebat Church quibus, et churchmen in coelum upblowere poffis.' As he fometimes foars higher, we fhall add a fpecimen of his more fonorous epic lines: it is the defcription of his breaking the shell of a lobster: Lobsterus tantum, lorice tegmine fretus, Obftitit, et renuit, nullo certamine, vinci. Mifcellaneous Poems, by Anne Francis. 12mo. 35. Becket. These Poems are written on a great variety of subjects, and poffels, as might be naturally concluded, different degrees of merit. We cannot, on the whole, fpeak highly of them; but the following lamentation on a dead Robin will ferve to evince that the author is not deftitute of feeling or poetical abilities. Ah! sweetest of the feather'd throng, That chirps, and flits the glades along, Who oft when brumal storms affail'd, Would't, fhivering to my roof retire, At early dawn, thy quavering throat Alas! poor bird, I mourn thy lot, Shall drive the lingering gloom: Try DRAMATIC. Try Again, a Farce in Two Acts, as performed at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. 8vo. 15. Robin fons. This is a pleafant farce, full of intrigue and humour: the author allows it to have been taken in part from the Precautions Inutiles of Gherardi; but fo many leffer comedies of a fimilar nature are the growth of our own foil, or have been transplanted from one where intrigue flourishes more luxuriantly, that we cannot expect much novelty, and the author must probably be contented with a temporary reputation. The Theatre: a Didactic Effay. Including an Idea of the Charac ter of Jane Shore, as performed by a Young Lady in a private Play, &c. &c. By Samuel Whyte. 8vo. 15. Jones, Dublin. The preface to this effay contains many mifcellaneous remarks, which are ingenious and pleafing. We were particularly interested by fome obfervations refpecting the fupposed plagiarisms of refpectable authors, and we may fhortly mention that the receipt to form a beauty,' a poem of Swift, diftinguifhed with fo much refpect by Hawkefworth, is evidently taken from La Fontaine, or more remotely, as our author juftly obferves, from the Grecian Pandora. The fong in the fix. teenth number of the Guardian is borrowed from the fame poet, but greatly improved in its English drefs: the fong we fuppofe to be in the hands of most of our readers-On Belvidera's bofom lying.' The lines of Fontaine we shall transcribe : Soulagez mon tourment, difois-je à ma cruelle, Ma mort vous feroit perdre un Amant fi fidelle, Qu'il n'en eft point de tel dans l'empire amoureux. Il le faut donc garder, me répondit la belle, Je vous perdrois plutôt en vous rendant heureux.' What relates to the fufpected plagiarifm of Gray we shall fubjoin: Gray, it has been faid, is indebted to an appropriation of the like kind, for the greatest part of his juftly admired elegy in a country church yard. The writer does not advance this affertion invidioutly, or of his own authority; whatever the merit of the difcovery, it belongs to Mr. Gd, a gentleman of this city, a profeffed admirer of Gray's, well stocked with poetic literature; who owes much of his reputation as a public fpeaker, to the happy application of it in his harangues. Meeting him one evening in his walks, he told the writer, that a few days before, in turning over fome books at Watfon the bookfeller's, who then lived in Dame-flreet, he dipped into an old collection of poems, and to his great furprize, popped upon one in an obfolete ftyle, from which Grey had copied almost the whole of his elegy. Six or feven years after, in August 1797, the writer was in London, and had the gratification of 6 dining |