"In the fame lobby ftands a buft of the late Profeffor Porfon, a man of the deepeft erudition and of the most capacious mind. This caft in plaifter, was taken immediately after his death, and on which the hair of his head and his eye-brows are partly preferved; fo that it prefents an awful afpect, and it is impoffible to contemplate the buft of this diftinguifhed fcholar, without mingled fenfations of admiration and regret.

"Near the preceding is a pleafing bust of Dr. Burney, whose "History of Mufic," as a fcience, excited much admiration from its novelty and excellence.

"At the east end of the library, on two mahogany pedestals, ftand fuperb bufts in ftatuary marble of Pitt and Fox, by Nolli kens; and at the oppofite end are placed five well chofen antique cafts. In the faloon are two excellent pictures by Fufeli: one a Vifion of Lady Jane Gray, before her execution, from a manufcript letter of Bishop Latimer to Dr. Bullinger, preferved in the public library at Zurich. The other, a fcene from the tragedy of King Lear.

In the mufic faloon ftands a whole-length mufcular figure, in bronze, of a marine deity, about four feet in height; a figure of equal energy and elegance by John de Bologna. This ftatue formed part of the collection of Danbury Place, Effex, and coft the prefent poffeffor one hundred and fifty guineas.

"In two niches over the doors are two fuperb vases of Verd Antique.

"The fhape of this room, as well as that of the library, is an oblong with circular ends, There are, in two arched receffes, mirrors of large dimenfions, ingenioufly producing the deception of two other rooms; the effect of which is very ftriking." P. 436.

The defects of the work are neither many nor important. The compiler might eafily have obtained more extenfive and more fatisfactory information with respect to the Lord and Lady Dacre, who were the founders of that admirable charity in Weftminster, known by the name of Emmanuel Hofpital. We were alfo fomewhat furprized at finding no mention or anecdotes of Addifon, who fo often frequented Chelfea, and dated from thence fome of the moft excellent Papers in the Spectator. We muft further take the liberty of adding, that the book deferved fuperior embellishments; thofe which accompany the volume are very unequal, and many of them very indifferent indeed. However, we on the whole confider Mr. Faulkner as well entitled to our acknowledgments, and think that he cannot fail of receiving, what indeed he merits, due encouragement for his labour. It is, with the exceptions above specified, a hand fome volume, and will be found to communicate much both of information and entertainment.

ART. XII.

The Battles of Talavera, a Poem. 12me. 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 :

XXI.

"And now again the evening fheds
Her dewy veil on Tajo's fide,
And from the Sierra's rocky heads,
The giant fhadows stride.

And all is dim and dark again-
Save here and there upon the plain,
As if from funeral pyres,
Cafting a dull and flickering light
Acrofs the umbered face of night,
Still flash the baleful fires.
But fince the clofe of yeíter-e'en
How altered is the martial scene:
Again, in night's furrounding veil,

France moves her busy bands-but now

She comes not, venturous, to affail
The vicors in their guarded vale,
Or on the mountain's brow-

No! baffled and disheartened, o'er
Alberche's ftream, and from his fhore,
With filent hafte fhe speeds,
Nor dares, e'en at that midnight hour,
To take the reft she needs;

Far from the tents where late fhe lay,
Far from the field where late fhe fought,
With rapid ftep and humbled thought,

All night he holds her way:
Leaving to Britain's conquering fons,
Standards rent and ponderous guns,

The

"I would not check the tender figh, I would not chide the pious tear,

That heaves the heart and dims the eye,

When honoured friend and kinfman dear,
Even upon victory's proudest bier,

Loved, loft, lamented, lie!

But I would fay, for thofe that die
In honour's high career,

For thofe in glory's grave who fleep,
Weep fondly, but, exulting, weep!
The faireft wreath that fame can bind,
Is ever with the cyprefs twined;
And fresher from th' untimely tomb
Renown's eternal laurels bloom;
Fickle is fortune and unfure,
And worth and fame to be secure
Muft be in death enshrined!
I too have known what 'tis to part
With the first inmate of my heart;
To feel the bonds of nature riven,

To witnefs o'er the glowing dawn,
The spring of youth, the fire of heaven,
The grave's deep fhadows drawn!
He flept not on the battle plain

The flumber of the brave-
Worn with disease, and racked with pain,
Far o'er th' Atlantic wave

He fought eluding health-in vain-
Health never lit his eye again,
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
Of genius may bestow;

Or, fince 'twas Heaven's feverer doom
To call him to an early tomb;

Would, Wellesley, would that he had died
Beneath thine eye and at thy fide!
It would have lightened forrow's load,
Had thy applaufe on him beftowed
The fame he loved in thee;
And reared his honoured tomb beside
Thofe of the gallant hearts who died,

S's 3

Their kinfmen's, friends', and country's pride,
In Talavera's victory." P. 29,

Among the more ftriking paffages is the juft and happy delineation of Lord Wellington's character, and the terrible conteft for "the Blood-ftained Hill," in which fo many of our gallant countrymen bit the düft, We have not often had a greater poetical feaft than this fmall poem has fupplied.

ART. XIII. Danmonii Orientales Illufires; or, The Worthies of Devon. By John Prince. 4to. pp. 821. 31. 1ss. 6d.

tis. 1810.

A new Edition, with Notes.
Anew
Plymouth, Rees and Cur-

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 reafonable joy excited by that event, in the dif, tracted fate of the country, very naturally tended to an extravagant admiration of the Monarch reftored, and of the inftrument of his refloration. 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 eftimation 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 shade 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 mifconduct of Charles the Second, has adopted the favourable fide of the queftion in relation to Monck; while a no lefs celebrated fatefman has recently exhibited his portrait in colours of the blacket dye. Each of thefe characters we shall 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 convulfions. And having obftinately refufed * the most inviting conditions offered him by the king, as well as by every party in the kingdom, he freely reftored 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 furprised at, had 4 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 al-> though the parliament was, contrary to the principle upon which it was pretended to be called, compofed of many avowed royalists, yet none dared to hint at the refloration of the King, till they had Monck's permiffion, or rather command, to receive and con. fider his letters. It is impoffibie, 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

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 reafon to fuppofe, that even this provifion was owing to any other caufe 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 moft 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 gratuitously furpaffing in infamy those 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.

$64

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