were obliged to do, and of sheltering them from public view, we may now prefent a modeft and oftenfible front to the paffing Aranger: nor will it be thought a difgrace to frequent thofe affemblies, formerly denominated conventicles, which are now legally established, and fanctioned by the approbation and countenance of an enlightened public.""Here, therefore, we hope to affemble under the public eye: with that vifible respect, which is due to the laws and Government that protect us." These remarks are very creditable to Dr. Rees, and though we must be allowed ftill to wifh that he could fee fome things in a different light, (the actual extent of his diffents from the tenets of the Eftablished Church being all the while not clearly understood by us,) we most willingly give him credit for his fincerity, and would not be fufpected of an inclination to withhold any praife that may be due to his eminence, as a very learned and diftinguifhed contemporary, and also as a very able writer. ART. 11. BRITISH CATALOGUE. POETRY. Sacred Meditations and devotional Hymns, with fome Efays in Profe, composed on various Occafions of Life, and published for the Ufe of the Intelligent Mind in its ferious Moments. By a Layman. 12mo. 6s. Murray. 1811. A very pleafing and interefting volume, breathing the spirit of true piety, and folid good fenfe, without verging in the fmalleft degree towards fuperftition or fanaticifm. They who retire, as we doubt not many of our readers often do, for the purpose and the benefit of fecret prayer and filent meditation, will find a useful and agreeable companion in this publication. We infert one of the poetical pieces. RELIGION COMPATIBLE WITH THE HAPPINESS OF LIFE." "Religion fings no gloomy tales, "Religion interdicts no joy, But what would health and peace annoy; Or difunite our focial ties; Or cloud our profpects of the fkies. 884 " She "She asks a corner of our heart, "The husbandman, who breathes the dawn, All ranks their feveral tasks may tend, Her claims accredit, and affume Thofe habits which will bless the tomb,” P. 28. ART, 12. The Patriot's Vision; a Poem. To which is added, Monody on the Death of the late Right Hon. Charles James Fox. 4to. 2s. 6d. Gale and Curtis, 1810. This gentleman, for he is no extraordinary poet, feems to be very angry that the fiftieth anniverfary of our gracious Sovereign's acceffion to the throne should be celebrated as a day of feftivity and rejoicing. He is alfo very fevere, or has the intention of being fo, upon the commendations now fo univerfally, and we believe fo juftly, paid to the military talents of Lord Wellington. The peroration of the whole is a Monody, rather out of time and place, on the death of Mr. Fox, partly, as it is with fome modefty ftated, in imitation of Milton's Lycidas. This latter part is, however, the best of the poem, and has fome lires which are fpirited and not unmelodious. We certainly do not agree with this gentleman in his political prejudices, nor think Mr. Fox "The angel minifter of Britain's fate." But we by no means mean to affirm, that this poem does not exhi bit fome indications of talents, though certainly, as we before obferved, not of the moft exalted order. ART. 13. The Adventures of Ulyffes, or the Return to Ithaca: A Claffical Drama from Homer. By Mr. James Mendham, jun. 8vo. 35. Sherwood. 1811. The principal incidents in the life and character of Ulyffes are taken from Homer, and exhibited in this poem in a dramatic form. Perhaps no very great poetical powers are apparent, but the narrative is agreeably detailed, and fome pleafing fongs are introduced. The author will, from the modefty which is obvious in his dedication and advertisement, be fatisfied with the above commendation; at least we hope he will, for we cannot conscien riously afford him any more. ART. 14. A Selection of Pfalms and Hymns for Unitarian Worfhip. By Robert Afpland. 12mo. 397 p. Johnson. 1810. Mr. Afpland must allow us to criticize the title of his book. Hymns for Unitarian worship muft be held, we apprehend, to imply, that they will not ferve for Trinitarian worship, or at leaft are so selected as to exclude fuch doctrines. As Trinitarians, however, we beg leave to put in our claim to by far the greater number of pfalms and hymns which appear in this collection; nor do we by any means object to thofe that are otherwife derived. Mr. Afpland is very fevere in his introduction upon our co-adjutor Mr. E. Nares, of Biddenden, Kent, (we will not call him the reverend, for we know that title to be very obnoxious to Mr. Afpland); his feverity, however, we will venture to fay, is mifplaced. Mr. E. N. is no bigot, nor in his work, to which Mr. A. alludes, do we difcover any thing that tends to reftrain his opponents in the free exercife of their opinions. His works are defenfive, and by no means intended to be other. wife. But we think we have discovered one mistake into which he may have fallen. It is poffible that in his introduction to the Remarks on the Improved Verfion published in April, 1810, he has mifapprehended Mr. Afpland's meaning, when he (Mr. A.) profeffes to publish (by felection from Trinitarian writers)“ hymns of fuch moderate length as to preclude the neceffity of paffing over particular verfes." Pofiibly Mr. A. meant, that he should confine his felection to the short and unobjectionable hymns of those authors; but Mr. E. N. feems to have fuppofed that he intended to say, he should curtail the hymns, by omon of particular verfes in the Jelection; fo that what were originally long, he would reduce to moderate dimenfions, for the ufe of Unitarians; and perhaps, feeing things in this light, he felt as jealous of fuch Unitarian curtailments as Mr. Afpland would be of any Trinitarian infertions. We have been careful to examine matters with this view, and muft declare that, though in many inflances Mr. Afpland has merely tranfcribed, what Trinitarian writers had written and published, and has ventured upon no improper curtailment; yet we must as pofitively declare, that we have found feveral inftances of fuch omiffions and curtailments as Mr. E. N. fufpected, and fuch as are not strictly fair. One inftance will fhow our meaning as well as a thousand. In the 326th hymn of Mr. Afpland, p. 251, a ftanza is omitted to the following effect; Jefus, my God, I know his Name, His Name is all my trust, Nor will He put my foul to fhame, As Dr. Watts's hymn in the original, confifts only of four ftanzas, it could not be too long.-Many of Mr. Afpland's felection extend to five ftanzas or more. Now let us but fuppofe that the three ftanzas felected and published by Mr. Afpland, had been originally an Unitarian production, and that for the purpofes of his own worship, fome Anti-Unitarian had chofen to ufert the difcarded verfes of Watts-would Mr. A. venture to affert that fuch proceedings were fair and ingenuous? Omiffion on one fide, is furely equivalent to infertion on the other, and there we wish to leave the question. Of the foul and ungentlemanly language applied to Mr. E. N., Mr. A. must be prepared to bear the fhame, fhould his book happen to fall into the hands of those who know any thing of cominon forms of courtefy and good manners; of which, we have reafon to fufpect, that he himfelf is grofsly ignorant. ART. 15. An University Prize Poem on his Majesty King George III. having compleated the Fiftieth Year of bis Reign. By Nicholas John Halpin, T.C.D. 12mo. 2s. 6d. Harding. 1811. What might be the number or merits of the competitors for the prize which was affigned to this poem, we cannot fay; it cer tainly cannot boaft of any very exalted pretenfions as a poetical compofition. The laft is one of the best stanzas. "Oh Thou whofe awful voice fupreme To form a fplendor-bright-divine. ART. 16. The Age; a Poem: moral, political, and metaphyfical. With illuftrative Annotations. In ten Books. 8vo. 316 pp. 7s. 6d. Vernor and Hood. 1810. Whatever the prefent age may be, the author of this poem will find, we apprehend, that it is not an age to read a long and metaphyfical compofition like the prefent, in which the morality is obtrufive, and the fatire weak. In a note, towards the end, the poet mentions the author of Hudibras, whofe ftyle he tells us he has imitated in a former part of the work, though in that and other portions it has been avoided." P. 305. We have long been intimately converfant with the ftyle of Butler, but confefs ourselves unable to find the intended refemblance in any part of this poem. Ten books of a very flight delineation of the Age, written in the verfe, but without the vigour or wit of Hudibras, form a dofe too heavy even for the digeftion of a critic. left we fhould feem to do any injuftice to the poet, let us introduce a paffage, which ftrikes us as one of the best. "Amid' fubftantial feasts of joy The greedy fenfe at length must cloy, But, |