ART, XII. The Battles of Talavera, a Poem. 12mo. 3s. Second Edition. Murray. 1810. REPORT generally affigns, though with what truth we are not able to determine, this very fpirited and patriotic poem to Mr. Croker, Secretary to the Admiralty. Whoever is the writer, he is entitled to the acknowledgments of all lovers of genuine poetry, and of British courage. The scene is the country in which the fanguinary battles of Talavera took place; the opening defcribes the night before the conflict; than which opening nothing can be more animated and appropriate. That the poem has made a great impreffion, obviously appears from its having paffed to a fecond edition before it reached us. But we hail its approach with no common ardour. Every page would afford a fatisfactory fpecimen of the juftice of our commendation, but we content ourfelves with giving the conclufion :— Cafting a dull and flickering light France moves her bufy bands-but now She comes not, venturous, to affail Far from the tents where late she lay, All night the holds her way: The The trophies of the fray! . The weak, the wounded, and the flain- XXII. "I would not check the tender figh, Loved, loft, lamented, lie! But I would fay, for thofe that die For thofe in glory's grave who fleep, To witnefs o'er the glowing dawn, The flumber of the brave- He fought eluding health-in vain- He fills a foreign grave! Oh, had he lived, his hand to-day Had woven for the victor's brow, Such chaplet as the enthufiaft lay Or, fince 'twas Heaven's feverer doom Would, Wellesley, would that he had died Ss 3 Their Their kinfmen's, friends', and country's pride, Among the more friking paffages is the juft and happy delineation of Lord Wellington's character, and the terrible conteft for "the Blood-flained Hill," in which fo many of our gallant countrymen bit the duft. We have not often had greater poetical feaft than this fmall poem has fupplied. ART. XIII. Danmanii Orientales Illuftres; or, The Worthies of Deven. By John Prince. A new Edition, with, Notes. pp. 821. 31. 13s. 6d. Plymouth, Rees and Curtis. 1810. MORE than one hundred years have elapfed fince the publication of the "Worthies of Prince;" and of late this book has fold at a very high price. This was a fufficient incentive to the publishers to bring it forward in a new fhape. But their additions are very few and unimpor. tant. The note on Monck is a favourable specimen. "The name of Monck is affociated with the restoration of the monarchy, and the reasonable joy excited by that event, in the dif tracted ftate of the country, very naturally tended to an extravagant admiration of the Monarch reftored, and of the inftrument of his restoration. If the errors and the vices of a long and infamous reign opened not the eyes of his fubjects to the real character of Charles, it is no reafonable ground of furprize that fome degree of a fimilar delufion influenced the estimation of the real character of Monck. His popularity had not abated in our author's time, and we may readily, in this inftance, account for and excufe the partiality which led to the adoption of the panegyrical language of the text. Time, which has taught us to view the character of Charles in its true light, and to appreciate the extent of his demerits, by developing the profligacy of his actions, and the pernicious tendency of his fecret defigns, has thrown a fhade of fufpicion on the purity of the intentions of the General. A celebrated hiftorian, whofe partiality to the houfe of Stuart is no where fo confpicuous or reprehenfible as in his attempts to palliate the misconduct of Charles the Second, has adopted the favourable fide of the queftion in relation to Monck; while a no lefs celebrated statesman has recently exhibited his portrait in colours of the blackeft dye. Each of thefe characters we fhall lay before the reader, premifing only, that as profound diffimulation was the predominant quality of his mind, and a ftudious concealment of his views the invariable principle of his conduct, it is not improbable that the meafure which he ultimately accomplished was the refult as much of chance as of defign; and that he merits not not entirely either the encomium of the one party or the invective of the other. Never fubject, in fact,' fays' Mr. Hume, probably in his intentions had deferved better of his king and country. In the fpace of a few months, without effufion of blood, by his cautious and difinterested conduct alone, he had bestowed fettlement on three kingdoms, which had long been torn with the most violent convalfions. And having obftinately refufed the most inviting conditions offered him by the king, as well as by every party in the kingdom, he freely restored his, injured mafter to the vacant throne.' The army,' fays Mr. Fox, fpeaking of the fame perfon, by fuch a concurrence of fortuitous. circumstances as hiftory teaches us not to be surprised at, had fallen into the hands of one, than whom a bafer could not be found in its loweft ranks. Perfonal courage appears to have been Monck's only virtue: referve and diffimulation made up the whole ftock of his wifdom. There is reafon to believe, that from the general bias of the prefbyterians, as well as of the cavaliers, monarchy was the prevalent wifh; but it is obfervable, that although the parliament was, contrary to the principle upon which it was pretended to be called, compofed of many avowed royalifts, yet none dared to hint at the reftoration of the King, till they had Monck's permiffion, or rather command, to receive and confider his letters. It is impoffible, in reviewing the whole of this tranfaction, not to remark, that a General who had gained his rank, reputation, and ftation in the fervice of a republic, and of what he as well as others called, however falfely, the cause of liberty, made no fcruple to lay the nation proftrate at the feet of a Monarch, without a fingle provifion in favour of that caufe; and if the promife of indemnity may feem to argue that there. was fome attention at least paid to the fafety of his affociates in arms, his fubfequent conduct gives us reason to suppose, that even' this provifion was owing to any other cause rather than to any generous feeling of his breaft. For he afterwards not only acquiefced in the infults fo meanly put upon the illuftrious corpfe of Blake, under whofe aufpices and commands he had performed the most creditable fervices of his life; but in the trial of Argyle, produced letters of friendship and confidence, to take away the life of a nobleman, the zeal and cordiality of whofe co-operation with him, proved by fuch documents, were the chief ground of his execution; thus gratuitoufly furpaffing in infamy thofe miferable wretches, who, to fave their own lives, are fometimes perfuaded to impeach and fwear away the lives of their accomplices." P. 599. The readers of Prince have here the advantage of a copious index, the most valuable addition to the original work. "The illuftrious corpfe!" This is a ftrange expreffion of Mr. Fox, neither is the fentence which precedes remarkably elegant, Rev. S&4 BRITISH BRITISH CATALOGUE. POETRY. ART. 14 The Minor Minftrel; or Poetical Pieces, chiefly Familiar and Defcriptive. By W. Holloway. 12mo. 182 pp. 45. Suttaby. 1808. The fpecimen which Mr. Holloway has chofen to give of his own poetry, under a beautifully defigned and engraved frontif. piece is this: "Stump, Stump, the beaft, with heavy tread, The crazy foot-bridge fafely paft, His mafter dozing o'er his head, And reach'd the further bank at last.” Whoever reads thefe will at once recollect that the author is one of the heroes of the Simpliciad, and completely in that ftyle is the poem there quoted, called Hurft Water, (p. 20.) the aim of which, we are told in a note, is "to imprefs on the mind juft ideas of the fuperintendance of Providence." Far be it from us to write with levity on fuch a fubject, but certainly the fagacity and powerful inftinct of the horfe is the chief idea imprefied by the tale; and why it fhould be particularly edifying to fuppofe an actual interference of Providence in favour of a rath and drunken farmer, we cannot perceive. We fay however, with plea fure, that the intentions of Mr. H. appear to be uniformly good, and that all his poems are not of a level with "ftump, ftump." We have not been better pleafed with any thing in them than the following: "A FATHER'S EXPOSTULATION WITH HIS CHILDREN, "Why do those clouds of angry humour lour, To break the bond that binds you to your home For |