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highest respect for the memory of Mr. Harris, we are happy in this opportunity of testifying it; and, as we have now derived unalloyed satisfaction from the perusal of his memoirs, we were desirous of imparting to others some of the pleasure which we have experienced. The noble editor must by no means be forgotten on this occasion: he has performed a delicate task with great ability; and, indeed, we know not which most to applaud, the ardour and tenderness of his filial sentiments, the justice and propriety of his observations, or the simplicity and true pathos of the narrative.

These volumes are very handsomely printed, and are decorated with two portraits of the author: the one taken when he was a young man, the second engraved from a model made by Gosset when Mr. Harris was at the age of sixty-seven years. The prints, also, which were prefixed to the respective works as they were published, are here preserved. Vol. I. contains the Three Treatises, and Hermes. Vol. II. the Philosophical Arrangements, and the Philological Enquiries. The work is dedicated to the King in a strain of good sense, and in terms of manly but respectful freedom.

ART. II. The Lamentation. A Poem. In two Parts. To which are added other Miscellaneons Pieces, in Blank Verse and Rhyme. Crown 8vo. pp. 200. 6s. Boards. White. 1801.

MYTHOLOGY tells us that, in days of yore, the man who slept on the top of Parnassus became a poet :-he slept, he waked,

"And lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came."

or

Now whether this part of the mountain has been swallowed up by an earthquake, or worn out by continual usage; whether the identical spot, the once favoured soil of inspiration, be so overgrown by weeds as to be rendered impervious; whether the would-be Bard-+now anticipates his nap, and falls into his trance in the middle or at the bottom of the hill; -may be matter worthy of the investigation of the speculative inquirer, who feels himself anxiously solicitous to account for the degeneracy of the race of poets. To us these desultory ideas have occurred from venerable recollection of the sublime worthies of antient days: but we are ready to pay the due tribute of praise to all our modern Bards, whose merits we would not appreciate by the rules of invidious comparison; and we shall readily allow that, if the poems before us do not rank in the first class of excellence, they are yet far above mediocrity.

The

S.R.

maid

The poetical oglio here presented to us supplies a variety that may suit every taste; and the author tells us, in his preface, that his subjects have been produced under the very different impressions of joy and sorrow. Hence flow Lamentations, Elegies, Pastorals, Songs, and Sonnets.-The volume opens with the poem which, as being most considerable in size, gives title to the publication. Here we travel through the most dreary and gloomy paths of human life. The muse addresses an invocation to melancholy; and the pensive mind, obedient to the summons, accompanies her to the end of the journey. This poem, however, is correctly moral and religious, and will meet the approbation of the reflecting reader. The destructive vice of gaming is reprobated with a virtuous indignation:

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O love of play! thou certain source of woe,
Thou ceaseless torturer of honest hearts!
Thou cause unfailing of tormenting thought,
How many noble souls hast thou destroy'd!'

In page 42, we have a pleasing illustration of the superior
state of happiness resulting from the retired life of virtuous
innocence, when contrasted with the scenes of vice and pam-
pered luxury:

O then for ever let us fly those scenes!
Which vice and odious cunning represent
On the throng'd theatre of human life:
For 'tis in cottages, and not in courts,
At frugal tables, not at sumptuous feasts,
In still retirement, not in busy crowds,

That virtue and that happiness reside.'

From the miscellaneous compositions, were it not that our boundary is circumscribed, we could select more than one. poem which pleases us :-the following, on Lelia, obtains a preference:

O had I Titian's skill to trace

A picture without fault or flaw,
A perfect form or perfect face,

I then would Lelia's portrait draw.

• Or had I Milton's pow'r of song

Where strength with melody combin'd,
I'd sing in numbers soft, yet strong,
The nobler graces of her mind.

For none but Titian's art could paint

Her eyes, her mouth, her shape, her air ;

His art alone could represent

So sweet a form, a face so fair.

!

• An

1

And Milton's Muse alone could tell
Her graceful ease, her polish'd art,
Her soul where all attractions dwell,

And prostrate lays the proudest heart."

Among the Songs, we find several that are sprightly and convivial; and the poet seems to celebrate the jaice of the grape and the charms of his mistress equally con amore. His devotion to both is pleasantly manifested in the following lines; though here the little blind Deity is a more principal object of worship than the jolly God:

You ask for a song, and, by Jove!

I'll sing one as well as I'm able;
The theme I have chosen is Love,

A theme known to all at this table;
For where is the soul that escapes

The subtle and searching sensation?
It comes in all manners and shapes,
And fills the whole range of creation.
It spares neither aged nor young,

But travels the blessed world over,
And though never told by the tongue,
The eyes are still sure to discover.
'Tis th' essence of spiritual flame,

The source of each tender emotion,
A feeling that fills the whole frame,
And speaks in each feature and motion.
It warms ev'ry thought of the soul,

It opes a new world to the senses;
Fair fancy it frees from controul,

And breaks down stupidity's fences.
It opens the mind of the sage;

The growth of bright genius it quickens,
Gives warmth to the coldness of age,

And health to the bosom that sickens,
If sometimes the source of much pain,
Its joys in proportion are greater;
And though long we suffer in vain,

Reward will come sooner or later.
Thus Phyllis once broke my repose,
But Myra is not so hard hearted,
Her kindness has banish'd my woes,

And cur'd all the wounds that once smarted.

· Now, as for myself, I declare,

The passion I ne'er will let languish;

For sweet are the smiles of the fair,

Tho' frowns are my torment and anguish.

O those

O those who have known well as I,
The value of Love's sacred pleasures,
Find charms in the glance of an eye,
Surpassing the world's richest treasures.
The sex, then, in bumpers I'll toast,
While wine I can purchase or borrow;
For comfort without them were lost,

And life would be nothing but sorrow.
They e'er shall be prais'd by my pen;

Their healths I will drink in my glasses;
For who cares a straw for the men,

So long as he's lov'd by the lasses?'

We are glad to leave the author merrier at the conclusion of his volume than we find him at the beginning: but, before we part, we must comply with our usual custom of adding a few mild strictures, where they are requisite. In his blank verse, he is too frequently prosaic: e. g.

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I early rose, yet found friend was up

my

At work already in a neighbouring field.'

The cloth remov'd, an hour was spent in chat.'
Happy I am, as one descending in the vale of years
Can well expect to be.'

In his rhyme, the poet's ear has often failed to perceive the effect that the simple transposition of a word produces, in the harmony of numbers: while his alliterations are still more obviously harsh and unpleasing; as in the line, page 189, in a poem on sleep:

Which whilst waking.'

It may be said that such faults are trifles: but, with respect to a writer's reputation,

"Ha nuga seria ducent

In mala derisum semel exceptumque sinistrè.”

M: Moy.

ART. III. Mr. Marsh's Translation of Professor Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament: Vols. III. and IV.

IN

Article continued from p. 405. Rev. Dec.]

N that part of this work which relates to St. Luke's Gospel, the Professor discusses, at length, the various questions which have arisen respecting the life and character of this evangelist, the time and the place at which he wrote his Gospel, the person to whom it was addressed, and the motives which induced him to compose it. The present author thinks that this book is not wholly free from errors. He says that Luke was neither an Apostle, nor an eye witness to the facts

9

which

which he relates; and hence he infers that when St. Luke differs from St. Matthew or St. John, who were eye witnesses, the mistakes are on the part of the former. He points out some of these inaccuracies; and on one of them he makes the following remarks:

In the short extract, which St. Luke has given from the sermon on the mount, he has inverted one of the precepts delivered by Christ. According to Matth. v. 40. Christ gave the following command, Τῳ θέλοντι στο κριθήναι, και χιτώνα σε λαβειν, αφες αυτῷ και TO TO: but on the contrary in St. Luke's Gospel, ch. vi. 29, the command is given thus : Απο τα αιροντος σε το ιμάτιον και τον χιτώνα μη xwhuong. To those who are unacquainted with the Jewish laws, the form in which St. Luke has recorded this precept, will appear to be the most natural, because an outward garment (Mario) must be taken off before the under garment (XIT). But Christ alluded in this instance to a Jewish law, according to which a creditor could summon a debtor before a court of justice, and if he were unable to pay, could claim from him his under garment: but the outward garment was sacred, and could not be seized, even if the wearer had pledged it as surety for a debt. The meaning therefore of the precept, as recorded by St. Matthew, is this: that if any one has a claim upon us, we should rather give up even more than the laws require, than dispute that, which can with justice be demanded. This is a very rational precept: but in the form in which St. Luke has delivered it, and in the connection in which he has related it, the precept implies that not even robbers ought to be resisted, and hence objections have been made to the Christian religion. But the objections will cease to be of weight, if we admit, that St. Luke misunderstood the precept.'

We are sorry to inform our readers that Mr. Marsh, in his character of annotator, accompanies Professor Michaelis no farther than the end of St. Luke's Gospel. We copy, in his own words, the reasons assigned by him (in his preface) for this circumstance:

The translation was finished before the close of 1795, when I began to draw up a commentary on our author's text, as I had done in the preceding volumes. But as I proceeded with the Notes on the three first Gospels, I perceived the necessity of entering into a minute investigation of their origin and composition, which gave rise to the Dissertation, printed in Vol. III. P. ii.: and this Dissertation was not finished before the beginning of 1798. It was at that time, that my attention began to be directed to a totally dif ferent subject: the calumnies, which were then incessantly uttered against Great Britain, both at home and abroad, provoked me to attempt a confutation of them: and the volumes, which I accordingly published, again employed an interval of nearly two years. Toward the end of 1799, I returned to the study of theology: I began to collect materials for observations on the other books of the New Testament: and I intended to have treated them in the same

mauner,

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