The harmless pris’ner by the wing or tail
To make the booby laugh. But if fo loud
His well-deserv'd rebuke, the timid child
Stands off alarm'd, then let him see thee crush
The thing he fears. Or give it liberty,
Not unconftrained, as heav'n bestow'd it. No,
Set the galld pris'ner free, but lock his chain
Full-fast about him. Drive him to the field,
But pluck no arrow from his fide. He's gone,
And feels that liberty is wond'rous sweet,
Tho' the crook'd pin faft fixt, and trailing thread,
Admit no remedy. Awhile he lives -
His thread clings fast he flutters, faints, and dies.
Go, Tom, a ladder bring,' and reach the nest.
*Tis nothing but a sparrow's, and 'twill serve
To pacify the boy. What if the dam
In patient expectation sits, and hopes
Another day shall all her cares reward,
And bring to light her helpless progeny ?
Forthi from her high maternal office dragg’d
With rude indignity, behold she comes
A joyful victim to the callous boy.
He with delight her ruffled plumes surveys,
Seizes her nest, and the dear charge purloins ;
Then with a frantic laugh down drops the eggs,
And blindfold hops to crulh them as he goes.
Ah! hapless bird, yet happy still if this
Be all the pain thy cruel foe intends.
Ah! what avail'd thy labour of an age
To weave the genial neft, with many a root
And many a straw far-fetch'd ? 'Twas all in vain.
Half-starv'd Grimalkin claims thee for his prey,
And in his cruel paw fast-clutch'd devours
Relentlefs. Or the boy awase, himself
Cuts short existence, and allots to puss
Only the sever'd head. Ingenious fool,
Pert executioner, behold the blood
Of parent and of offspring. Grin amain;
O! thou hast done a deed that Heav'n abhors.
Let the wise parent laugh to see how well
His looby boy has learn'd to be humane.
Let him applaud the bloody deed, and spare
The well-earn'd rod. In thee, great state,
Eternal glory of the Gentile world,
Just Athens, had the beardlefs boy presum'd
A deed so villainous, the public arm
Had the mean youth chattis'd, till it had wak'd

A soul humane and sensible of wrong
The subjoined specimen will give the reader no unfavourable
idea of the writer's descriptive powers:

• Alcanor

• Alcanor come, and let us once again
Descend into the valley, and enjoy
The fober peace of the still summer's eve.
We have no blush to lose; our freckled cheek
The fun not blisters, nor the night-dew blasts.
Such is the time the musing poet loves.
Now vigorous imagination teems,
And, warm with meditation, brings to birth
Her admirable thought. I love to hear
The filent rook to the high wood make way
With hisling wing; to mark the wanton mouse,
And see him gambol round the primrose head,
'Till the still owl comes smoothly sailing by,
And with a Thrill to-whit breaks off his dance,
And sends him scouring home; to hear the cur
Of the night-loving partridge, or the swell
Of the deep curfew from afar. And now
It pleases me to mark the hooting owl,
Perch'd on the naked hop pole, to attend
The diftant cataract, or farmer's cur
That bays the northern lights or rising moon:
Then let me fteal along the woody lane,
To hear thy fong so various, sweet bird,
The queen of night, transporting Philomel;
I name thee not to give my feeble lines
A grace else wanted, for I love thy fong,
And often have I stood to hear thee sing,
When the clear moon, with Cytherean linile,
Emerging from an eastern cloud, has shot
A look of pure benevolence and joy
Into the heart of night. Yes, I have stood
And mark'd thy varied note, and frequent pause,
Thy brisk and melancholy mood, with heart
Sincerely pleas’d. And, O! methought no note
Can equal thine, sweet bird, of all that fing,
How easily the chief! Yet have I heard
What pleases me still more; the human voice
In serious sweetness flowing from the heart
Of unaffected woman. I could hark
Till the round world dissolv'd, to the pure

ftrain
Love teaches, gentle Modelty inspires.
But teaze me not, ye self-conceited fools,
Who with a loud, insufferable fquall
Insult our ears, or hum a noiseless tune
Disdaining to be heard; the while ye grin,
To shew a set of teeth newly repair’d,
Or shrink and shrug, to make the crowd admire
Your ftrange grimaces practis'd at the glass.
O! I abhor it. I had rather hear
A pedlar's kit bescrape a dancing dog.'

The

The conclufion of this extract affords an example of what we before remarked, viz. that the author frequently debases his composition by blending the solemn and ludicrous, the common, the vulgar, with the sublime. Had the passage above quoted ended with gentle modesty inspires,' it would have been more perfect. What follows strikes like a harsh difcord in music, and every serious idea is banished by the ludicrous imagery presented in the last line. This fault runs through the whole of the publication ; out of many we shall select one more example. The poet has thought proper to introduce a dirty, ugly servant maid into his poem; he has chosen this

Surpassing Dorothy, the sweetest thing

These bitter times afford'for his dulcinea, and says that, like the stingless drone, which

feeks the fane of Cloacine, he will fing her beauties. He then goes on to praise her vaft becoming strides, her aukward

majesty, her swinging arms, like the handles of a pump,' he calls her queen of neglect and dirt;' he then proceeds to defcribe her formidable row from ear to ear of never-cleansed

teeth, her broad hysteric grin, her shining face, her greafy locks,' &c. &c. He next compares his Dolly to the faunt• ing belle,' and gives the preference in every respect to Dolly. Her teeth, he says, are all her own, those of the fashionable fair purchased of the dentist; her breath is sweet, theirs offends with such a' foetid stench,' that, were it not for perfumes,

"We could not live within a thousand leagues

Of such a fearful peft.' Dolly's ' locks, though 'greasy,' we are told, grew on her, but theirs were bought of some lousy wench.' Having exhibited this dirty and disagreeable picture, he next compares the mental qualities of each, and prefers those of his favourite dulcinea. The conclusion, following the creed of the celebrated Bays, was intended we suppose to elevate and surprise'-it does indeed excite wonder:

* You write, perhaps, and read : To what good purpose ? to corrupt the soul, To give it back to him who gave

it

you,
So spotted, as to make his angels blush,
And cause the Deity himself to turn

And hide his countenance.'
Whatever a headstrong bard, who is bound by no rule, and

subject to no law,' may imagine, we cannot approve of this serio-comic assemblage, this seria mixta jocis; nor do we think

it will meet with the approbation of any reader of taste. After this disgusting mixture of his "lovely Lulage, his Sugarissa, his

dear Dorothy' with angels and the Deity, it is not surprising that he thould'debase the Supreme Being to an electrician,' and speak of his charging and recharging his dreadful battery.'

Having marked the striking features of the Village Curate, to dwell on minute and verbal criticism is needless. The vulgarism lay instead of lie, we think occurs more than once in this publication; and prosaic lines, such as the following, are not unfrequent :

As carrots, parsnips, onions, cabbages,
Potatoes, turnips, radishes, my muse

Difüains not.'-
Upon the whole, though we have found a good deal to blame
in this performance, yet the author discovers marks of genius,
which, when matured by time, may produce something more
worthy of public approbation. He himself does not speak
highly of the present work, and says that applause were ill de-
'served by this rude song obtain’d.' 'Like Milton; he builds his
hopes of immortality on his future labours :

Yet I not fear,
Ere the short tale of my existence close,
Some strain perhaps, on my time mellow'd harp

To hit, these woods may well remember.'
The hopes of Milton were fully realised; may those of the au-
thor of the Village Curate not be disappointed!

Art. XII. Observations occafioned by the Attempts made in Eng

land to effect the Abolition of the Slave-Trade ; fhewing, the Manner in which Negroes are treated in the British Colonies in the IVeft-Indies; and also some particular Remarks on a Letter addressed to the Treasurer of the Society for effecting such Abolis tion, from the Rev. Robert Boucher Nicholls, Dean of Middleham. By G. Francklyn, Esq. 8vo. 2s.6d. stitched. Jamnaica,

printed; London, reprinted. Walter, 1789. AS every man claims the privilege of being heard in his own

defence, the advocates for the flave-trade seem particularly deserving attention, on account of their distance from the feat of legislature, which is about to determine the fate of this branch of commerce, and of the too general odium in which it is involved by men who think very little further on the subject

ENG. REV. VOL. XV. FEB. 1790.

than how far any proposed restrictions may affect their own intereft. Though the pamphlet before us contains much feverity, and is not in every part correct, yet the first, it will be allowed, is not unprovoked, and the latter no where obscures the meaning.

Our author begins with shewing that slavery was permitted, inasmuch as it was regulated, under the Mosaic dispensation. The unimproved state of society in the East at that period of the world, might render slavery the only means of subordination ; and the well-known imperfection of the law should not prevent those who are blessed by a more perfect revelation from drawing moral institutes from the former code. Though the letter of the gospel takes no particular notice of slavery, Mr. Francklyn very honestly admits that the equality of rank proposed by its teachers, seems very inconsistent, not only with slavery, but with most of the institutions in Christian countries. He therefore advises the Christian advocate to consider the situation of the British soldier and sailor, the former of whom in particular is often trepanned from the blessings of society, and forced, for life, into a more abject Navery than the negroes ever experience; and the latter, to whom the state owes so much, is never for a moment in the secure possession of all that renders society endearing. On the subject of maltreating the Naves, we are directed to compare the few instances that the most zealous industry has been able to produce, in ransacking the annals of more than a century, and in the circuit of all the West-India islands, with the number of crimes annually perpetrated in Great-Britain. It is urged, that if the native inhabitants of tropical countries are invariably found milder and more inoffenfive than those nearer the poles, it is but reasonable to conclude climate inust do something towards softening the manners of thofe who constantly reside in the former; and that however irascible indolence and indulgence may render them, the few inftances produced, shew they are not chargeable with severity or cruelty. That the conduct of such as reside in England is usually marked with tenderness to their servants, and often a blameable inattention to those prudential motives which occafion the severity exercised towards inferiors. That, were it otherwise, common prudence would induce every Creole to be as careful of the health and life of a slave as an English farmer is of his live stock; and if fome occasional severities are heard of, they must be imputed partly to the imperfection of human nature in the islands as well as every where else, but particularly to the spontaneous or constrained migration of every European, whose connexions find him wnfit to live in England.

To