But which feem'd to a man, who was not worth a groat, That I own my nerves fuffer'd-I foon thirk'd away, Took place and went down in old Whiten next day.' This, we apprehend, is full enough To go through the poem, as we have done, is a Bore indeed. La Belle Affemblée; or, the Female Praters. 4 Satire, 410. 18, Flexney. Women haranguing in public affemblies is one of the ftrong eft proofs of the falfe tafte of the prefent age; it is therefore a fair object for ridicule and fatire, and, had the fubject fallen into good hands, might have afforded fome entertainment. This piece, however, is too badly written to have any fuch effect, being throughout a moft lame and contemptible performance, as the few following lines, fome of the best in the poem, will sufficiently evince. 'Tis not the graces of the tongue Why a lady fhould be compared to a bittern, or what our poet can mean by Claffic's arms, we cannot comprehend. This gentleman calls one of the Mufes by the new name of Mnemofyene; another, not Melpomene, but Melpomene*; and another, not Terpsichore, but Terpsichoret. That a writer who ventures to publish should be fo utterly unacquainted with quantity in words fo commonly known, is really aftonishing. Authors, before they write fhou'd read." An Heroic Epiftle to the Rev. Richard Watson, D. D. F. R. S, Palladio's rules Fill'd half the world with imitating fools. It is the fame thing with writing as with architecture; whoever meets with extraordinary fuccefs in any branch of it, is fure to have a number of aukward imitators, who will be perpetually aping his style and manner. Amongst those mock-birds we may venture to rank our author, who having caught, which is easily done, a little of the turn of features and complexion of a very excellent original, probably imagines that he has given us a good and faithful copy of it. It has indeed been long fince obNow Melpomene claims her part. There's Terpsichore, queen of fong. ferved (we believe by Lord Shaftesbury) that the nigher any thing approaches to what is good, that is not really fo, the more directly does it become its oppofite.' And this feems to be the cafe with regard to the piece before us, which, though it carries with it the external air of the celebrated Heroic Epiftle to Sir William Chambers, has not a twentieth part of its merit. Our author however affures us in the advertisement prefixed, that ⚫he well knows the influence that the very name of a compofition has upon the generality.' In this the young bard may be mistaken, as his calling this poem an Heroic Epiftle may do it more hurt than good, because it muft undoubtedly fuffer by the comparison. Our young Drawcanfir is, notwithstanding, we are ready to acknowledge, poffeffed of fome poetical abilities, which in riper years, and under the conduct of judgment and discretion, may enable him to make fome figure in the world of literature; at prefent, without fufficient fkill, He runs a muck, and tilts at all he meets." His fatire in this poem, fo far as it concerns the hero of it, is certainly ill directed, as Dr. Watson is a character too refpectable to be with any propriety made an object of ridicule. When our facetious bard addreffes him thus in the following lines, How fhall I trace thee, various as thou art, Thro' church, thro' state, in halcyon calm or storm, what does he tell us, but what all the world knew before, that Dr. Watson is a man of fo univerfal a genius, that in whatever line he thought proper to direct his ftudies, in that he was fure to excel. If Dr. Watson had attempted all, and fucceeded in none, he might have been laughed at as a pretender; but when the direct contrary is the real fact, where is the merit, or where is the justice of fuch raillery ? In the following lines Mr. Burke's thoughts are put into tolerably good metre: "Tis thus in Burke's unequall'd page we find The British fov'reign fhifting like the wind: "Shorn of his beams," on Snowdon's mifty height, And on your steps the earl of Ceftria pops: Again he rifes as Lancaftria s count; But when the pilgrim winds o'er Edgecombe's Mount, And Cornwall's duke concludes the strange career!' This is well enough; but there is nothing new in it. In our author's ridicule of Dr. Watfon's Effay on Chemistry (which is a most ingenious performance) he fays, Moon-ey'd Albinos, and of dreaded shape The orang-outang ftalks from Java's woods, The laft line is apparently taken from Pope*, (though we are told in a note, that it is an imitation of Macgreggor, or the au thor of the Epiftle to Sir William Chambers) as well as the laft of thefe two : Mark cloifter'd Gl..-n, with well-extended foot, Shou'd you, fublime in the prelatic chair, May lead to Lambeth, or-the k-g knows where. The laft line conveys an ill-natured, coarfe, and illiberal fuggeftion. The whole performance, indeed, feems to have been dictated by private refentment and perfonal animofity, which, how far the doctor may have deferved, we cannot pretend to determine, as the writer of the poem is at prefent, and feems willing to remain, unknown. An Anfwer to the Heroic Epifle lately addressed to the rev. Dr. Watfon. 40. 6d. Rivington. If this be in reality the performance of a friend of Dr. Watfon's, however well meant, it can certainly be of no fervice to him, as it is too poorly written to claim any attention. The verfes are what the author, • Deaf to every jingling of rhyme,' (as he profeffes himself to be) would, we fuppofe, call Miltonic, but not quite fo fublime, as the reader will fee by the following quotation. Why, fays Dr. Watson's very good friend, addreffing himfelf to the author of the preceding article, Why thus on others strive to fcatter fhame, The things we know are neither rich nor rare, See Pope's Eth. Epift. Wrapp'd in his virtue, and a good furtout." And And a little after, • Cease then to bark, thou dog, to fhew thy teeth.. Thy pigmy arms muft ever try in vain, To grafp the loins of Watson's giant fame.' Nothing can be more contemptible than the whole piece. We are rather indeed inclined to think that this Anfwer must have been written by the author of the Heroic Epiftle himself, which he probably thought might anfwer a double purpofe; viz. firft, to raife the confequence of his performance by an Anfwer; and fecondly, by way of foil to fet off the beauties of it, as the Heroic Epiftle, though no very capital work, would gain greatly by the comparison. MISCELLANEO U S. An Heroic Addrefs, in Profe. To the rev. Richard Watfon, D. D. F.R.S. 4to. 25. 6d. Becket, The author of the Heroic Epistle in Verfe, after having treated Dr. Watson with all the poetical feverity which he was mafter of, has here renewed the attack upon him with other weapons, and given us an Heroic (why it fhould be called fo we know not) Address in profe; because, as he condefcends in his advertisement to inform us, the public being in poffeffion of his poetical abilities, he was defirous they fhould be also acquainted with the tone and march of his profe. A tone and march which, whatever may be this author's opinion, we are inclined to think the public will not relish even fo well as his poetical ones; the ftyle being, in general, inflated and pedantic,. the fentiments trite, ill expreffed, and the whole elaborate trifle, mean, abufive, and illiberal. Those who have read our author's Heroic Epifle may, probably, remember these lines: Attend, e'er yet too late, difcretion's voice, That Gospel firft you chofe, be ftill your choice; The ftate to Edmund leave, &c. Dr. Watson, as if in confequence of this kind advice (though it is probable he never attended to this gentleman at all) follows the line of his profeffion, and delivers a moft excellent, ufeful, and fenfible difcourfe to the clergy of the archdeaconry of Ely: for this very difcourfe, in compliance with the injunction which he had himself impofed, our Zoilus attacks Dr. Watson in a most outrageous manner. Strange and unaccountable inconfiftency! But in what manner is this done? I know,' fays the author, fpeaking of his own work, you will be told to laugh. at this address, as confifting of mere declamation, fmart quotations from the claffics, and paltry attempts at wit, instead of folid argument, and convincing demonftration.'-This, though our See p. 33, in the note at bottom. author, author, we will answer for him, does not think so, is no bad or falfe description of the piece. With regard to the diftinguishing features by which this gentleman may be known from every other author, viz. an oftentatious parade of learning, and a tedious unremitted verbofity, we do not remember to have met with his equal; for no fooner does he light upon an image, or ftart a thought, but he immediately pours upon you fuch a torrent of paffages, from ancient and modern writers, as totally overwhelms you. Never was honeft Sancho Pancha fo fond of proverbs as this gentlemen is of heaping quotation on quotation, to the utter deftruction of all ftyle, method, and argument. We will give our readers a fhort fpecimen or two of this author's ftyle and manner. Speaking of himfelf, in the preface, (the whole of which is almoft one continued egotifm) he says, I am not a Vulfénius: I can fpeak with the rapture of the glowing fatirift; Dii majorum umbris tenuem et fine pondere terram Qui præceptorem fancti voluere parentis Effe loco! But as to the fpell-muttering crew, and owls of boding crylet them take heed; my lion may be roused as well as Dr. Watfon's my lay will live; it has fome vital figns about it: let them, if they have read fo much, if, they startle not at the wand of nature's own magician, if their fpirit be not perturbed Boav Пgiv aïoles-Let them, I fay, with awe remember, "The apparition of the armed head" that rofe and defcended without even the umbra of a name. But should a generous public fofter my infant fpeech; I may hereafter wear upon my now baby brow the-But excufe me, reader; I forget myself Caufa fuit Pater his : Me puerum eft aufus Romam portare docendum Semet prognatos Avitâ Ex re præberi fumptus quis crederet illos. Nil me poeniteat fanum Patris hujus. • Chi mi darà la voce e le parole Convenienti à fi nobil foggetto ? Tanto ch' arrive all' alto mio concetto?' Here, in the space of a very few lines, we have Greek, Latin, and Italian, befides allufions; bits, fcraps, &c. from English writers; but this is nothing to the farrago of quotations which we meet with in the notes, far out-fwelling the bulk of the text, as an Irishman's poftfcript is longer than his letter; they come fo thick and close upon you that there is no flicking a pin between them: there are many who blame, and, perhaps, with fome degree of juflice, the profeffor's political conduct, as inconfiftent with his former principles; but very few, we believe, except this Incognitus, find fault with him for his archi diaconal Dacourie, or for propofing a scheme fo noble and ufeful as that which he has laid before the clergy; though as we |