The fame of Geffner on the continent, for elegant and tender fancy and expreffion, is unrivalled, and the turn of his fancy may be feen, even in the arguments of these paftoral dialogues. The only objection to be made is, that Geffner's is an ideal world. His paftoral is not that of any age or country but he conveys the reader to a delightful region, and peoples it with human beings worthy of fuch beautiful fcenes. His fwains and nymphs are heathens, and fome of his fpeakers are even ideal perfonages. But refign the imagination to thefe fictions, and all is exquifite. Beauty and variety are every where profufely fcattered. Nor has he obtained a tranflator unworthy of him. Mr. Baker proved his poetical powers three years ago, by a fmall volume entitled "Tenby*;" and he appears, in the interval, to have cultivated those talents with increafed fuccefs. Amidft a profufion of beau ties fupplied by the author, and happily given by the tranflator, we are peculiarly ftruck by the eclogue at p. 87; where two shepherds drive their flocks towards the ruins of a fplendid mausoleum, and thence are led to reflect on the vanity of greatnefs, and the mifery of ambition. The thought fo new, and the management of it fo excellent, enfure the highest commendation. We omit the beginning, though full of paftoral images, to take the more characteristic part.

MYCON.

"Daphnis, declare what means yon mould'ring pile ?
Low in the fwamp are shafts of marble laid,

Where weeds and rushes wave their noisome shade;

Around yon ruin'd arch dark ivy creeps,

And the wild thorn thro' every crevice peeps.

DAPH. 'Twas once a tomb.-Mrc. Such is the form it wears; And lo, a proftrate urn its fate declares.

Grav'd on its fide, expreffive fhapes are seen

Of warring chiefs, and steeds of angry mien ;

Mark! how their prancing hoofs beneath them tread
The flaughter'd heaps that on the ground lie spread!
He was no fimple child of thepherd race,

Whofe tomb fuch fanguinary fculptures trace!
He ne'er when living could have blefs'd mankind,
Whose bones unfhelter'd are to scorn confign'd;
To him no tear fucceeding ages gave,
No flowers adorn'd his unlamented grave.
DAPH. Inhuman lord! to waste the fruitful plains,
To bind the free-born husbandman in chains :
This was his joy-where'er his fquadrons rush'd
Beneath their hoofs the nodding grain was crush'd;

See Brit. Crit. vol. xxxii. p. 409.
F 3

As

As raging wolves the timid flock devour,
So girt with iron troops his ravenous power
Prey'd on the filent unoffending fwain,

And with remorfelefs rapine fwell'd the tyrants' gain.
He in high marble tow'rs entrench'd his state,
Gorg'd with the fpoil of hamlets defolate.

And rais'd himself yon ftructure to record

The graceless triumph of a life abhorred." P. 90. Geffner, we may fafely predict, will now be read and admired in England. The tranflator has added a few notes, at the end of the volume. They are chiefly claffical, and evince good taste.

ART. 11. The O-Paiad; a Satire. By a Mad Bull. 8vo. Is. Cawthorne. 1810.

The writer of this fatirical trifle feems to have powers qualied for higher and better undertakings. He will hardly, perhaps, thank us for noticing it, but we are not forry to have the opportunity of expreffing our abomination of the fcenes, which for fo long continued a period were allowed to endanger the tranquillity of the metropolis.

The writer is an advocate of the O. P. caufe, and exclaims with fury enough against the private boxes, and other prefumed encroachments and irregularities of the managers.

ART. 12. The Loft Child; a Christmas Tale, founded on Fat. 12mo. 3s. Harris. 1810.

An interefting ftory prettily told, and a very fuitable prefent for children, as it inculcates the great duties of humanity, and a juft confidence in the difpenfations of Providence.

DRAMATIC.

ART. 13. Grieving's a Folly; a Comedy, in Five Alts: as performed by the Drury Lane Company, at the Lyceum Theatre, Strand. By Richard Leigh, Efq. 8vo. 72 PP. Longman and Co. 1809.

2s. 6d.

This Comedy is in fome refpects, a counterpart of Sir Richard Steele's Funeral," and, though far below that performance in wit and intereft, has at least the negative merit of avoiding the grofsly improbable incidents and difgufting flippancy of style that characterize the modern Farces, mifcalled Comedies. The affumed grief of a husband for the lofs of a wife whom he detefted,

gives the name, to this play: but there is another plot more interefting, and not ill conducted. Some circumstances are indeed rather improbable, but do not (as in most other modern dramas) ftrikingly offend againft confiftency and propriety. We will not detail the plot, as we think it may be read with fome degree of intereft. In the characters there is not much novelty; nor are there, on the other hand, any that appear fervile copies. We know not what fuccefs this drama had on the stage, but we found it by no means tedious or uninterefting in the perufal.

ART. 14. The Abdication of Ferdinand; or, Napoleon at Bayonne ; an Hiftorical Play, in Five Acts. 77 PP. 2s. 6d. Longman and Co. 1809.

The dia

The scenes and converfations fuppofed to have paffed at Bayonne, between the unfortunate Royal Family of Spain, and the treacherous invader and oppreffor of that kingdom, are here thrown into a drama, in which there is no poetry, and little intereft, except that which refults from the ftory itfelf. logue appears to have been intended for blank verfe, but the metre is often faulty. The following speech of King Ferdinand is, we think, as fair a specimen of this author's ftyle as can be given.

Fer. "'Tis true; but 'tis the government of heav'n.
And there is justice in it. Europe fuffers

Not for the blame and impotence of Kings,
But for her general depravity.

Every man blames the errors of the King,
When he should mend the frailty in himself:
A nation of all honourable men

Wants no affurance; but in a dry wood
One fpark may be the mischief of the whole :
For nations that corrupt themselves, are like
Gathering of fuel for a conflagration;
This is my notice-Philofophers have written
National wealth and furety as they please.
Some place it in the fortitude of foldiers';
Others in the dominion of the fea;
Others in populous numbers on the land;
Others in labour and fertility

Sufficient to the numbers and encrease;
Others in laws and forms of liberty;

But I afcribe it to an honeft heart,

That values the profperity of others
More than its own; and has no other fear

Than the apprehenfion of offending Heaven.
-Plenty, dominion, numbers, and brave men,

F 4

The

The form of liberty and honeft laws,
Are but the fruit and produce of the heart;
Corrupt that, and the whole is diffolute.

-And hence the benefactor of mankind
Left nothing but morality to men."
P. 71.

ART. 15.

NOVELS.

The Irish Reclufe; or, a Breakfast at the Rotunda. By Sarah Ifdell, Author of the Vale of Louisiana. 3 Vols. Booth.

Novels, romances, &c. are now intruded into the world for no other reafon, it would feem, than to encourage the papermaker or printer, for truly all idea of entertaining readers of common feafe must be out of the queftion. The following extract much reminds us of fchool themes, where long and fine founding epithets are gathered together for the purpofe of what is technically, in fcholaftic language, termed filling up.

"Oh! God of mercy!" exclaimed the Earl in an agony of emotion-Oh! God of mercy is this the history of my Elizabeth of my chief pride! of my heart's dearest treasure ! is fhe thus abandoned? thus loft to me, to herself, and to all the world?.

"Good heaven! fir, who are you? or what does this mean ?”’ exclaimed Mrs. Middleton, examining his no longer averted face; and as its lineaments got familiar to her recollection, treachery, ingratitude and guilt feized upon her mind with fuch evident horror, as would have betrayed her emotion to any other than the Earl." P. 147.

The laws of gallantry, upon our firft taking up the book be. fore us, appeared to demand a favourable review, but upon clofer examination, our duty called for our decided difapprobation of the conftant exclamations of Good Heavens! God of mercy! &c. &c. fo frequently met with throughout the work.

POLITICS.

ART. 16. Addrefs to the Public, on the Subject of the late Parlia mentary Investigation. By Eugenio. 8vo. 20 pp. Hatchard. 1809.

Eugenio appears to be a candid and benevolent but rather a de. clamatory writer. He thinks, with moft impartial men, that the Royal Duke, whofe conduct was lately the fubject of a parlia.

mentary

mentary inveftigation, was much too harfhly treated by the perfons who fupported that inquiry, and that fome of thofe who have fince, at public meetings, fo zealously applauded that profecution, were actuated, not by a love of justice and hatred of cor. ruption, but by motives of a very different nature.

He particularly condemns the proceedings at the Common Hall of the City of London, where, he obferves, the facred maxim of “Audi Alteram Partem," was trampled under foot. But what elfe could be expected from the tumultuary mafs of people affembled on thofe occafions, and mifcalled the Livery of London ? Since no means have ever been adopted for excluding the common rabble from thofe affemblies, and except in the choice of magif trates and other officers (when the fhow of hands is often negatived by the poll) no criterion is established for afcertaining the real fenfe of the citizens. Moft properly therefore has his Majefty, for many years paft, declined to receive Addreffes from fuch affemblies on his throne; and has restricted that ceremony to addreffes from the corporate body of the city of London. The author of this pamphlet very juftly alfo warns his countrymen against the dangers lurking under the fpecious pretext of reform, and holds out the example of France, where that pretext was the forerunner of a total fubverfion of government.

ART. 17. A Curfory View of Pruffia, from the Death of Frederick
II. to the Peace of Tilfit; containing an authentic Account of the
Battles of Jena, Auerftadt, Eylau, and Friedland; as alfo other
Important Events during that Interefting Period. In a Series of
Letters from a Gentleman in Berlin to his Friend in London.
176 pp. 5s. Robinfon. 1809.

8vo.

Among the memorable but melancholy events of the prefent age is the fall of the Pruffian Monarchy. A fall fo rapid, and from so towering a height, aftonished us at the time, and even now is contemplated by many rather with terror and difmay than as a fubject of philofophic and useful meditation.

To trace the caufes of this difaftrous event is the author's purpose, in the letters before us; which, though not distinguished by very deep researches or profound remarks, appear to afford a fatisfactory account of the fituation of Pruffia during the period referred to. It cannot be doubted that the well-digefted and energetic fyftem, both civil and military, established by Frederick the Second, was rapidly enfeebled by the indolence, and corrupted by the vices, of his immediate fucceffor; and that the prefent unfortunate fovereign (if he may be fo termed) of that difinembered kingdom, poffeffed neither fufficient wifdom to anticipate, nor vi gour to avert, the ruin of his country. Even the fyftem of the

great