These points well consider'd, he next conn'd the

page,

To find a theme fitting his Muse to engage;

Upon analyzing the productions of Mr. Southey, it will be found that he is most anxious to make the world acquainted with the multiplicity of books that have engrossed his attention: to accomplish which purpose he has neglected the arrangement of his ideas, and a due attention to the groundwork of his plans; two concomitants which are absolutely essential to ensure the poet universal and unperishable fame.

A poem entitled the Damnation of Ruvomisha, from the pen of Rodrigo Maddocks, Esq., is a production in the style of Southey; containing a portion of the extravaganza of that writer's Curse of Kehama, while the versification is much more regular than the laureat's poem of Thalaba the Destroyer. There is, indeed, no part of the production of Mr. Maddocks which can compare with Kehama's entrance through eight portals at the same juncture of time; or of the orb compounded of a thousand little eyes kneaded into one. All that it is requisite to state, respecting the Damnation of Ruvomisha, is, that such individuals who may be partial to the most marvellous of the marvellous will find ample food for the indulgence of their predeliction on perusal of the work in question.

And the purpose achiev'd, next with care plann'd

the story;

The sage was sublime, and the hero all glory;

And years thus revolving, when toil found an

end,

He next gave his poem to each critic friend;

Read o'er their remarks, then corrected anew,
Each line thus subjected to keenest review:
When diffident still, and with feelings oppress'd,
His Epic for months he consign'd to the chest ;
Till clamours of those who had greeted with praise
At length urg'd him on
urg'd him on to dispense wide his
lays,

Which living ensur'd to his brows verdant wreath,
And 'shrin'd him with fame of a genius in death.
Such erst was the practice when study and science
To vapid effusions at once bad defiance:

The poet conceiving one Epic, well fraught,
A work with the labour of life cheaply bought.
But now in a Laureat that's living, we find

A bard truly gifted with Parnassian mind;

Thus Southey, who once wrote for freedom→

egad,

True turn-coat, can right about face, pliant lad; 'Tis to creatures like these laureat labours belong; A soul truly fir'd wou'd disdain flattery's song:

class out Herods shame, daring alike the language of reproof and the keen lash of correction, without deigning to subsidize a venal pen in order to throw a gloss over the flagrant dereliction. As a specimen, however, of this species of composition, taken in its fullest extent, may tend to amuse, I shall present the subjoined without further apology.

Father de Aranaz published a book at Pampeluna in favour of Philip the Vth, the title of which, rendered into English word for word, ran as follows.

"The Lord Philip Vth is true King of Spain of God's own making: the "Tower of the second David, persecuted and victorious, fortified with three "bulwarks, viz. Justice, Religion, and Politics, to which a thousand Shields 66 are fastened to defend his Crown; dedicated and consecrated to the King 66 our Lord, whom God preserve for the Glory of Spain and the Good of "Christendom. By Father Hyacinthus D'Aranaz, a native of the most "faithful city of Sanguessa, Doctor of Divinity, Synodal Examiner of the Archbishopric of Toledo, Chaplain to his Majesty, &c. &c".

"

This fanatical, I might add farcical writer, compares his work to a fortress with three bulwarks. Fifteen shields are fastened to the first, eight to the second, and four to the third. To get into that fortress, one must go through a portico, where, says the author, one may be informed that the Devil, in quality of the Prince of Discord, inspires the malcontents with a desire of changing their king; and has entrusted the heretics with the execution of such enterprize.

So proceed in thy course, ape the courtier's

career, (k)

And with shame braid thy temples each fresh

coming year.

(k) Adulandi gens prudentissima laudat

Sermonem indocti, faciem deformis amici. Juvenal.

The skilful race of flatterers praises the discourse of the ignorant, and the face of the deformed friend.

Does not a rhymster fire explode
When he composes Birth-day Ode?
A subject now become so stale,
'Tis worse than ten days uncork'd ale;
And yet is render'd staler by

My poet drone's dull poetry.

Anacreon Moore,

πατῶ δ' απαντα θυμω.

I kick the world before me.

Anacreon.

IF frame of a mortal enshrines fancy's store,
Such genius exists in the mind of a Moore:
The soul of Anacreon his couplets impart,

Of Cupid he levels the conqu❜ring dart,

While of beauty's bright goddess he loosens the

zone,

His style, point, and metre, completely his own. (1)

(1) Menage, speaking of Martial, the epigrammatist, asserts, that there is no Latin poet whatsoever in whose works there are