Where'er the treads reviving nature blooms;
The arid waste a livelier look affumes;
Hate and revenge, with all their dread alarms,
And favage war, fufpend their murderous arms,
The fons of industry each art employ,

And wonted foes diffolve in mutual joy.

But while the lovely Power, with all her train,
Yet timid treads the late enfanguined plain,
To Gallia's realm her jealous eye fhe turns,
Where low-born pride in fecret fury burns;
Sudden fhe hears the deep-toned voice of War,
And fees fell Difcord mount her iron car;
Scared at the fcene, too soon, alas, she flies,

And speeds for fafety to her native skies." P. 137

If Dr. Peebles is not able to build the loftier rhymes, he is certainly a very agreeable poet, and we are proud to fay that his principles and fentiments are in all refpects congenial with our own. Let other and

harfher critics amufe themselves and their readers with pointing out and dwelling with emphasis on a few dull and feeble lines. We have looked to the pleasant fide, and have been very much amused with this production,

ART. 17. Tobias, a Poem, in Three Parts, by the Rev. Luke Booker, L.L. D. 8vo. 87 pp. T. Booker. 1805.

This elegant little poem is conftructed upon the ftory of Tobit, and although the principal incidents are fcrupulously adhered to, the author has confidered himself at liberty in the courfe of his progress to make occafional deviations and additions. The fimplicity of the narrative is however beautifully preferved, and the hiftory of a "pious, perfecuted, yet not heaven-forfaken family," is defcribed in the most pathetic as well as inftructive manner.

We are at a lofs from what parts to felect a fpecimen-the following is however particularly ftriking:

"But Tobit facred Duty's onward path,
Dauntless purfued; and decent in the grave

Difpos'd the blood-ftain'd corfe. Then, fighing deep,
With folemn ftep and flow, his outer court

He fought; forbearing to rejoin his friends,
Till the decreed ablutions fhould again
Cleanfe from the tainting touch of grifly death.
There forrowing, he, beneath the beetling walls.
Of his rude dome, repos'd his weary limbs;
The night dews on his naked head the while
Faft falling, cold. Yet he with pious eye
Gaz'd on the ftarry canopy fublime:

Long time he gaz'd, and when the morning pour'd
Its renovated fplendours o'er the eaft,-

To him, alas thofe fplendours fhone in vain ;

Darkness

Darkness had fhed her thick and filmy scales
His orbs, eclipfing-

Helpless now, and blind,

The relics of his former affluence gone-
No foothing ftay-no tutelary friend
Had he, fave one-the partner of his foul,
Whom heav'n affigned him fharer of his lot--
His faithful Anna. Unrepining, she

A feamftrefs' task difcharg'd, and daily food
Earn'd thriftful-But ah! what's human aid
To him whofe head is whelm'd in mifery?
Vainly does Friendship's fympathetic tear
Embalm the pang of grief, if from above
Defcend not Confolation. That to win,
Thefe orifons, to him who gracious hears
The figh of Faith, all-reverent, Tobit pour'd:
O thou! whofe works thine attributes declare,
Juftice and mercy and eternal truth,—
Remember me, and with compaffionate eye
Thy firs regard! nor mine alone, but those
Of my forefathers-noted in thy books,
A num'rous train! For we thy dread commands
Mid trembling Sinai's thunders loud promulged
Have, impious, difobey'd. Hence outcasts vile
Are we difpers'd among the nations round,
To fcorn expos'd, captivity and death-
Death, the unhappy's friend: in whose kind arms
Affliction fleeps in peace, and where the rage
Of rancorous malice aims its shafts in vain.
Thither, oh! thither lead me, and mine eyes,
Sightlefs and dark, feal in the kindred tomb!
While, proudly buoyant o'er a wretched world,
My liberated foul to realms of peace

Where happy fpirits wander, rapt may fly." Part I. p. 12.

Should another edition of the present poem be called for, it is Dr. Booker's intention to publish a number of additional pieces; a publication which, from the prefent fpecimen of the author's powers, we fhall look forward to with much pleasure.

ART. 18. Buonaparte! A Satire. His Coronation. A Vifion. 8vo. 22 pp. Ballantyne, Edinburgh. 1804.

It has been fo particularly our tafk to become acquainted with the various printed accounts of this moft extraordinary character, that we confefs ourselves fully fatisfied with defcriptions of his wanton and barbarous atrocities. The poifoning of his wounded troops, the butchery of his Turkifh prifoners, and the murders of Pichegru, Touf faint, and the unfortunate Duc d'Enghien, are here once more de fcribed with feeling, but with little pretence to the name of poetry. The author thus relates the birth and early propenfities of Buonaparte.

"Here

"Here let us pause awhile, intent to fean,
How grew this non defcript in th⚫pe of man;
And, firft-in Corfica he drew his breath,
Breath peftilential! till denouncing death.
But, Corfica*, thy name, the learned find,
Confifts of heart and dagger close combined.
And thus doth Seneca, an ancient scribe,
Prophetic, too, the Corficans describe.
Bloodily vindictive, robbers, liars,

And of all Gods th' accurs'd, prophane deniers.
In early youth+, 'twas his delight to gain
A fight of wretches agoniz'd in pain,

Unlike his playmates, who their pence expend,
For comfits, cakes, or fome fuch boyish end;
His for the befpitals he kept with care,
T'obtain a feat at operations there.
But then, moit anxious to fecure a place,
With eager eye the furgeon's knife to trace,
When dubt and horror hover'd o'er the cafe.
And what he faw, he would act o'er again;
Happy to mimic those who writhed in pain.—
Next under Robespierre, that great master, plac'd,
And each by each reciprocally grac'd,

The fcholar quickly learned the art of blood,
Which foon he practis'd for his country's good.
And while Robespierre trifled in retail,

His cannon thousands swept, by streets wholesale.
Such, Frenchmen, is the man! the fiend

On whom, as on a pillar, ye at løft have lean'd:
And now, though more than ever abject slaves,
Yet each to each ftill of his glory raves;
While of that glory, each deluded elf
Believes a ray reflected on himself.

Sick with fuch thoughts, I clofe my wearied eyes,
Clofe them in vain, for foon ftrange phantoms rife."

DRAMATIC.

ART. 19. Almahide and Hamet. A Tragedy. By Benjamin Heath Malkin, Efq. M. A. 8vo. 69. Longman and Rees. 1804.

This tragedy is introduced by a long prefatory addrefs to Mr. Kemble, in which the author gives a rapid sketch of the hiftory of the English drama, from the appearance of "Ferrex and Porrex," by Lord Buckhurst, to the prefent period. This fhows the author fufficiently acquainted with the fubject, but exhibits no great acuteness of

*Cor heart, fica a dagger.

+ Revolutionary Plutarch, Vol. II,

remark

remark or much novel information. The tragedy is founded on the ftory of the conqueft of Granada, before handled by Dryden, and certainly a more fuitable fubje&t for tragedy cannot eafily be imagined. We however like Mr. Malkin's profe better than his poetry. The verfification is never very harmonious, nor is the fable inanaged with particular dexterity. It will however amufe in the perufal, and we do not know that it has ever been offered for public reprefentation. The tragedy concludes with these four lines, and we do not know that it contains any better:

By this example let mankind be taught
Divided love, tho' guiltlefs, ends in woe.
Granada's realms might ftand to diftant times
But for our fond, mistaken, selfish feuds."

The mufe of tragedy does not appear to fmile very aufpiciously on this author, who yet has talents which may be beneficially exercised.

ART. 20. Confined in Vain; or, a Double To Do: a Farce, in Twe Ads. By T. Jones, Author of Poems, &c. and Phantoms; or, the Irishman in England: a Farce. 8vo. 47 PP. Is. 6d. Jones. 1805.

The barbarous, and fcarcely intelligible, jargon which appears in the title-page to this Farce, precluded the expectation of much merit in the Farce itself. Accordingly we found it to be of the loweft order, as to language, characters, and incidents; the last of which are fo abfurd and impoffible, that we imagined ourselves reading one of the fuccefsful comedies of the prefent age, not a drama which had never been reprefented. The perfon" Confined in Vain" is, of course, a young lady, whofe father (as ufual) is an unfeeling and felfish brute, determined to compel her to a difagreeable marriage. Another, not very novel, circumftance, is her efcape out of a window in man's clothes, and a fudden unaccountable pardon granted by her father to her lover and herself, when they appear and declare themselves married. As a probable conclufion to the piece, a drunken rake, and almost a total stranger to them, having won a large fum by gaming, beftows it, without rhyme or reafon, on the happy couple. Abfurd as this is, we have feen as great abfurdities applauded on the ftage, and are, alas! often condemned to read them in our closet.

ART. 21. The Piccolominis, a Drama, in Five Alts, from the German of Schiller. 8vo. 26. 6d. Chapple. 1805.

The rage for tranflating German plays, feems at leaft fufpended; and, if they can prefent us with nothing better than the piece before us, it may be as well to have done with it altogether. The interlude which precedes the main piece, and which is called Wallenftein's Camp, however it might delight a German audience, is to us as dull and flat as poffible; nor does the play itself intereft us much more. Some merit indeed it may be prefumed to have, for it is termed one of the chef d'ouvres of the incomparable Schiller;" and we are threatened with another in a few days; but we are not remarkably

66

anxious

anxious to fee it; or rather, if it is to be like this, we are anxious not to fee it,

MEDICINE,

ART. 22. Cafes of two extraordinary Polypi removed from the Nofe, the one by Excifion with a new Inftrument, the other by improved Forceps; with an Appendix, defcribing an improved Inftrument for the Fiftula in Ano, with Obfervations on that Difeafe. Illuftrated with a Copper-Plate. By Thomas Whately, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. 8vo. 42 pp. 25. Johnfon. 1805.

The author of this pamphlet evinces by his numerous publications and inventions, a very laudable ambition of diftinguishing himself in furgery; and as it is to be prefumed that he exerts himself to the ut moft, he ought not be blamed, though his fuccess should not be anfwerable to his efforts.

In this little work he inftructs the profeffion in a new treatment of the polypus of the nofe.

A patient afflicted with this complaint put himself under the author's care. The polypus arofe far back in the pofterior noftrils, and hung down behind the uvula. Mr. Whately attempted repeatedly to extract it with the common forceps; but could not fucceed. He next got a piece of cat-gut round the root of the polypus: and tried first to faw it through, and then to jerk it off; but failed in both attempts.

He then ordered an excellent ftrong pair of forceps to be made, with an appropriate curve. The polypus was, however, fo firmly attached, and fo long in its texture, that although he used both his hands, and pulled with all his force, yet the forceps always flipped off ineffectually. Stone forceps befet with teeth were also tried in yain. He then attacked this all-powerful polypus by a ligature: but in twifting the cat-gut of which it was made, it broke; like the withs with which the Philistines attempted to bind Samfon.

Being baffled in all thefe attempts, the author at length invented a knife with a moveable sheath, a kind of biftouri caché. He paffed this inftrument up the nofe, guided by a ligature, and moft fortunately cut through the root of the polypus, while the patient nearly fainted with lofs of blood.

It is clear that complete fuccefs might likewise have been obtained by a ligature properly applied, only taking care that the cat-gut fhould not be rotten; or ufing a fkein of ftrong filk; which would unqueftionably have been a much fafer plan, than cutting in the dark. Defides, we confider that the danger of hæmorrage is a very serious matter; for veffels divided by a cutting inftrument bleed much more vielently, than when lacerated by a pair of forceps.

Jeft

The next cafe was eafily managed: the polypus was extracted at once by the ftrong forceps. We feel inclined to congratulate the operator on this fuccefs; but as reviewers we are afraid of doing fo; by encouraging the publication of fuch cases, books should multiply upon our hands, fafter than polypi.

By a natural affociation of ideas, the author defcends from the nofe