To win the last my every nerve I strain'd; ، A virgin's gift a youth should guard with care. And oft, beneath its spreading shade reclin'd, By love inspir'd, ere long I woo'd the maid, ، Thus Lacon spake, and, bending low his head, May years revolve before you join your bride! That Heaven may bless you with his guardian care.” Art. 27. Leander and Hero, translated from the Heroic Epistles The author of these poems is intitled to some praise for the harmony of his versification, and for the spirit which he has displayed in his translations. The principal fault, which we have remarked in him, consists in a few unnecessary inversions, which obscure the sense without improving the melody of his numbers. We select the following passages from the translation of the epistle of Leander to Hero, as a specimen of the writer's powers: ، In these, or terms not much unlike, I spoke ; On through the smiling glass, mean while, 1 broke: The night a rival of the noontide beam O.W. No stillest air unsmooth'd the calm profound; Slow from the wave I rear'd my languid head: and this, Play'd on the deep the moon's reflected gleam,' And seem'd too soon my briny task to close,' are rendered rather equivocal by the inversion. No stillest air unsmooth'd the calm profound' is a very faulty line; and the expression of a vest supplying a limb is too inaccurate even for the licence of poetry.-The following Elegy affords a favourable specimen of the author's talents for original composition c SOLITUDE. On the Wish of withdrawing from civilized Life, sometimes expressed by Men of Genius. "Devenêre locos lætos, et amoena vireta If genial suns, or fragrant glooms can please, Point the bold prow, and catch the balny gale! Unstain'd by Art, her peaceful children tends. ; In whose full cups a guiltless vintage flows. To note the skilful diver smooth descend Renounc'd 66 Renounc'd each meed of honourable toil? Each youthful hope, that keeps the life-blood warm, Of partial friendship's more prevailing charm? And, like the pebbly current, murmur there? And other Autumns blush with livelier stain: GoD's temples, social worship's holy light- By heaven inspir'd, should lull the studious breast, In sullen apathy, and sordid rest! My desire has been for some years past, and does still vehemently con tinue, to retire myself to some of our American plantations, not to seek for gold, or to enrich myself with the traffic of those parts, but to forfake this world for ever, with all the vanities and vexations of it, and to bury myself there in some obscure retreat, (but not without the consolation of letters and philosophy.) 66 Oblitusque meorum, obliviscendus et illis:" COWLEY'S PREFACE." O.W. MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 28. Part of a Letter to a Noble Earl; containing a very short Quarto ; Quarto; and vindicatory of the Yeomanry and Catholics of the City of Cork. By Thomas Townshend, Esq. Barrister at Law, and a Member of the Irish Parliament. 8vo. Is. 6d. Booker. 1801. This pamphlet did not fall into our hands till we had finished our review of Sir R. Musgrave's History; and we must not dissemble the pleasure which we felt, on finding our observations corroborated by so able and well-informed a writer as Mr. Townsend. Instead of giving an abstract of these pages, we imagine that we shall render greater service in this conflict between genuine policy and Christian forbearance on one hand, and selfish views and bigotry on the other, if we let the author speak for himself. His claim to attention is thus briefly but strongly stated: I have my information from my own personal observation; the Author of the Quarto from prejudiced rumour.' The following passages support the above assertion, while they afford a testimony highly honourable to the objects of the writer's praise: Immediately on the breaking out of the rebellion, I was appointed Counsel to the General who commanded in the southern district, and who resided at Cork. The peculiar features which distinguished the last, from all former rebellions; the mixture of conspiracy and conflict, of mysterious initiations, and of open array, made it justly supposed by the government that legal assistance was necessary in searching after those more tranquil and concealed, though not less dangerous and wicked characteristics of the treason. His Majesty's General, with whom I had the honour to act during the whole of that unfortunate period, ought not to be lightly passed by. He exercised a discretion so sound; a temper so moderate, and yet so firm. a regard to the shedding of blood so scrupulous; and a force of decision in dealing with guilt so effectual and exemplary; and was withal so unbiassed by his prejudices, so unadvised by his passions, and so patient in his investigations between guilt and innocence, that a man better fitted for the awful duties committed to him could not be selected from any class in the community. It would be injustice not to say that his successor, to this day, has fully emulated so noble an example.'- To advise and confer with the General on all occasions, to examine informers, digest their informations, and investigate and arrange concurrently with him, was an important share of my duty.' We fully concur in this equally just and spirited remark; That any man can be found, who, in the present mind of Europe, looks for the causes of popular disquiet in the theological fustian of the thirteenth century, is not less than a miracle! In this triumphant day of a shameless and presumptuous Atheism, to impeach the most general profession of Christianity, the religion of all the crowns and cabinets of all the kingdoms of the continent of Europe, as the cause of blood and treason in Ireland, is, to my humble mind, an intellectual irregularity beyond the adjustment of reason.' The subsequent piece of information is as interesting as it is satis factory: Take |