tability of thefe furfaces, the ftimulus of the calomel, or of the other preparations, is more likely to prove too great; to produce ficknefs, griping, and purging, and to occafion their being hurled out of the body before fufficient time has been alTowed for their abforption. In this way the remedy runs a greater risk of being entirely loft, and of producing as little effect on the difeafe, for which it was exhibited, as the Pe-' ruvian bark would do an intermittent, if, instead of staying in the ftomach, it was conftantly running off by ftool. Or though it should not actually purge, yet, from its particular ftimulus, the digeftive organs, with whofe ftate the functions of the body are so much connected, are more apt to be thrown into diforder; during which period, the attempts of nature to relieve herself against any difeafe, if not altogether prevented, muft, at least, be extremely imperfect. On the contrary, if calomel is rubbed on the infide of the mouth, it is applied to a furface, which happens to be alternately exposed to heat and cold, and to confiderable friction in chewing our food and cleaning our teeth; of course to a lefs irritable furface, and capable even of bearing moderate friction. The calomel will here be mixed with the faliva during the friction, will be dif fufed over the whole mouth, and abforbed from the infide of the lips, furfaces of the tongue, roof of the mouth and fauces, as well as of the cheeks. Thus, its firft effects will not be in the way of stimulus on the prima viæ, but it will be gradually and equally applied to the general system.'

We cannot difmifs this article without acknowledging that Mr. Clare has difcovered a method of administering mercury, which affords the ftrongeft reason to expect that it will be productive of great advantages in practice; and the fingular modefty with which it is recommended by the author, entitles it to the more candid examination.

The Female Comgrefs, or the Temple of Cotytto: a Mock Heroie Poem, in four Cantos. 2s. 6d. T. Davies.

WE E have feldom received a greater degree of entertainment

from any metrical compofition, than from the Temple of Cotytto. It is indeed fuch a poem as the gay, the elegant Petronius would have written, had he flourished in this kingdom during the prefent times of licentioufnefs and diffipation. The following extract however will prove more favourable to the reputation of our anonymous author, than the utmost commendations we are able to beftow on his performance.

• Were

Where London, haughty bride of ocean, ftands,
Fraught with the treafures of a thousand lands,
And boafts her pious kings, aerial spires,
Her wealthy merchants and poetic fires,
In that bleft region, where to purer air,
The place and fquare, fublimer fouls repair,
Who feldom pay their debts, and roll afar
From hated creditors, the gilded car;
Within a temple rais'd by potent spells,
In pomp barbaric, dark Cotytto dwells.
A murky queen, the flies the chearful day,
Yet wide her rule, and mighty is her sway.
From eyes profane, a broad and lofty mound
Conceal'd the cincture of her chofen ground:
A fingle wicket, hid from vulgar view,
An entrance yielded to the favour'd few.
Within, the temple rofe, a gorgeous frame
Of jetty lava from Vefuvio's flame;
And towr'd aloft in meretricious ftile,
A mingled Roman, Grecian, Eaftern pile.
The mighty columns fhone, a glaring mafs
Of kindling fulphur and Corinthian brass.
Their order too, befpake the town unchafte,
For am'rous feat renown'd in ages paft;
Save that the capitals nor foliage crown'd,
Nor vines nor ivy wreath'd the clusters round.
Far other fculptures ev'ry pillar grac'd
In order meet myfterious figures plac'd.
Such were the fymbols, as in days of yore
The trophy'd columns of Sefoftris bore;
And quaint device was grav'd, and form of love,
On pedestal below, and frieze above.

For years on years the gazer's eye might roam,
And find new wonders in th' enchanted dome.

• Comus and Circe by the portal stand,
To welcome strangers with their cup and wand.
With leaden eyes that ever love the floor,
The god of filence guards the trusty door.
On downy carpets Sloth within was laid,
And beds and couches were around difplay'd;
The Sportful Flora heap'd her fofteft flowers,
And naked fatyrs trim'd fequefter'd bow'rs.
High-rear'd the youth of Lampfacus was feen,
The child of Bacchus and the Paphian queen.
With kindling eyes and throbbing breafts, a croud
Of pious dames before his ftandard bow'd,
Naked were all th' attendants, or array'd
In gauze, that while it veil'd but more difplay'd.
The goat and monkey sported o'er the ground,
And wanton fparrows fkimm'd in airy round;
The cantharis that loves th' Hefperian plain,
With airy hummings footh'd the glad some train.
There might you fee old Aretine advance,
The feast to marshal, and direct the dance;
Here foul Torrentius with his pencil ftands,
To sketch polluted lectures for the bands.

Ten

Ten thoufand mirrors o'er the walls were bright,
Ten thousand tapers pour'd a flood of light;
Where'er his eyes th' aftonifh'd ftranger threw,
Reflected pleasures struck his kindling view.
Refponfive gurgling to the matron's fighs,
Ten thousand founts of cordial waters rife,
Then fall in lavers of Etrufcan ware,
Where lovers rolling fteep their am'rous care.
'A wond'rous fountain 'midft the fane arofe,
The tepid stream, involv'd in vapours, flows
A fubtle demon o'er the well prefides,
And guilty flames inform the boiling tides.
Two mighty baths receiv'd it's parted course,
Of various poifon, but of equal force;
Their potent magick chang'd the votive race,
And either fex ufurp'd the other's place :
One, white as milk, fubdued the manly kind,
To female organs, with a female mind;
It's neighbour, ruddy like the wine-press ran,
And bade the woman rife a daring man.
But both alike enkindled foul defires,

The ftormy paffions, and the raging fires;
Quick, bursting, trembling, flathing on the foul,
No thought, no paufe, no measure, no controul.---
New from the fpring, before the goddefs' eye,
Their alter'd pow'rs exulting myriads try.

In fpeaking tints, the painted cieling told

Cotytto's triumphs in the years of old.
Her lov'd Canopus in perspective seen ;

Th' unnumber'd husbands of th' Affyrian queen;
The beds, the blissful bow'rs, for Ninus dreft;

How Myrrha burn'd; how glow'd Pafiphae's breast;
Idume there, her palmy vale displays,

And dames of Palestine their orgies raife;
And here, from Caprea's rocky winding caves,
The lustful tyrant fways his trembling flaves,
Thro' new delights th' inventive Spintrice roam,
And Elephantis holds th' inftructive tome;
Here livelong nights amidst the venal band,
Th' imperial harlot takes her public stand:
The guilty fcenes that ftain the Roman page,
Poppa's foftnefs and Fauftina's rage;
The vile extremes of Baffianus' life,
By turns a husband, and by turns a wife;
How Borgia mix'd the lover and the fire,
Parental fondness, and incestuous fire;
All this and more the gay compartments fhow,
Inftructive leffon to the train below.
The train below th' inftructive leffon caught,
And freely acted what the pencil taught.
Within a nook retir'd the goddess dwelt,
Her form they view'd not, but her influence felt.
Eternal night th' unseemly pow'r conceal'd,
Yet mortals found her in her works reveal'd.

• Where fuch the temple rear'd it's gorgeous pride, A votive band with ftealthy footsteps hied;

(The

(The day-ftar flumber'd in his ocean bed,
The moon thro' clouds a doubtful lustre fhed)---
Gorgopis, Lycis, with Cynopis old,

Bacchante frolic, and Thalestris bold;
Fair Hippia, that domeftic hame difdains,
And hunts for infamy on diftant plains,
To lifted fields the torch of Venus bears,
And loves with cannon thund'ring in her ears,
Till common ftales, that quench the foldier's flame,
Stand wond'ring at her bold contempt of fhame;
Atoffa, newly freed from nuptial vows,

And fell Locufta, murdrefs of her fpoufe;
Fluth'd with the fires their hardy mother gave,
The pert Porneia, Philomifge grave;
Demure Berinthia, and Flippante gay,
Fam'd for her perfum'd lacqueys' long array;
The brown Andromana, whofe prurient mind
Glows with the gen'ral love of all mankind;
Afpafia wanton, with Glycerias young,
And proud Diabolis, by poets fung.
The chatte Diana ficken'd at the view,

And as the matrons paft, her light withdrew.

Having prefented our readers with this fpecimen, we fhall conclude by recommending the entire Poem to their perufal.

The Injured Islanders; or the Influence of Art upon the Happiness of Nature. 4to. 25. 6d. Murray.

'HE Injured Islanders is an epiftle from Oberea to captain Wallis. The production does honour to the feelings, as well as to the genius of the author. He has refcued a subject from the hands of ridicule, which appears to have deferved a better fate. To what has hitherto been reprefented only in a ludicrous point of view he has given delicacy and fentiment.

We are informed in the preface that a remembrance of their mutual affection; a sense of her subsequent misfortunes; and a patriotic feeling for the fate of her country, are the basis of the following poem.' In the finishing of this sketch the author, generally keeps out of fight, and allows the plaintive queen of O'Taheité to paint her forrows in all the native glow of local colouring: there is perhaps an inftance or two where fhe appears rather too well acquainted with the hiftory and politics of the old world. We have great refpect for royal talents, and for the inftructing powers of captain Wallis, but we very much question whether Omiah, after having, in this country, mixed with the great and karned, thefe fountain-heads of knowlege, could have given us fuch a defcription of the viciffitudes and revolutions of our hemifphere, as we meet with in p. 18. of the Injured Iflanders; neither do we imagine that

• And glean'd the Gothic relics of the storm' would have prefented to him the idea meant to be conveyed, nor indeed any idea, till after a very long, a minute explanation.

After

After having made this remark, it gives us pleafure to cb-. ferve that Oberea fucceeds extremely well in painting the happy. fimplicity of her country, the evils arifing from the introduction of new wants, new hopes, new fears, and confequently new vices; that the coftume is, in general, well preferved, and that there is nature and warmth in the defcriptions, while the flow and harmony of the numbers are much beyond what we usually meet with.

The island, with the innocent and heart felt enjoyments of its inhabitants, are thus defcribed;

Can't thou forget, how chearful, how content
Taheitee's fons their days of pleasure fpent!
With rifing morn they fought the healthful ftream,
And walk'd, or work'd till fultry noon-tide came;
Then focial join'd; from vain diftinctions free,
In mirth convivial round the spreading tree,
While tuneful flutes, and warbling wood-notes near,
In rival strains ftill charm'd the lift'ning ear:
At grateful eve they mix'd the artless tale,
The jeft, the dance, the vegetable meal;
Paid the laft vifit at fome fountain's head,
To cleanse, and cool them for the peaceful bed;
Deem'd the bright fun declin'd for them alone,
Thefe ifles the world-and all the world their own.
Where fmiles the land where fewer ills affail?
Where fewer fears, or paffions can prevail?
No ferpents here their poifon'd volumes wreathe,
No tainted gales with fell difeafes breathe,
No varying arts to multiply defires,

No av'rice chills, and no ambition fires;
Each bleffing granted as our withes rife,

We live, and love-the fav'rites of the fkies."

.

The lines that immediately follow are in the flyle of Shakfpeare's fairy poetry: whether the author had that great high priéft of nature in view, or whether he drew from the fource, we shall not take upon us to determine.

• While kind * Etuas watchful still prefide,
And nature's tasks th' aerial bands divide,
Some o'er the fea control the tempefts' roar,
Impell the tides, or fhove them from the fhore;
Some o'er the land exert their genial powers,
Deck the bright year, or guide the fleeting hours,
With lib'ral hand difpenfe profufion round,
With fragrant breath perfume the fertile ground,
Gild the gay grove with fruits' refreshing cheer,
Nor ask from toil the products of the year;
And pleas'd, or anger'd, as the work they find,
In rain-bows fmile, or murmur in the wind.

The evils which arote from intercourfe with the Europeans, and which at once blafted every pleafure of incorrupted nature, are no lefs happily defcribed ;--the following lines are afterwards

Beings refembling our fairies.

VOL. XLVII. March, 1779.

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