The harmless pris'ner by the wing or tail
To make the booby laugh. But if fo loud
His well-deferv'd rebuke, the timid child
Stands off alarm'd, then let him fee thee crush
The thing he fears. Or give it liberty,
Not unconstrained, as heav'n bestow'd it. No,
Set the gall'd pris'ner free, but lock his chain
Full-faft about him. Drive him to the field,
But pluck no arrow from his fide. He's gone,
And feels that liberty is wond'rous fweet,
Tho' the crook'd pin faft fixt, and trailing thread,
Admit no remedy. Awhile he lives—

His thread clings faft he flutters, faints, and dies.
Go, Tom, a ladder bring, and reach the nest.
Tis nothing but a fparrow's, and 'twill ferve
To pacify the boy. What if the dam
In patient expectation fits, and hopes
Another day shall all her cares reward,
And bring to light her helpless progeny ?
Forth from her high maternal office dragg'd
With rude indignity, behold fhe comes
A joyful victim to the callous boy.
He with delight her ruffled plumes surveys,
Seizes her neft, and the dear charge purloins;
Then with a frantic laugh down drops the eggs,
And blindfold hops to crush 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 ftraw far-fetch'd? 'Twas all in vain.
Half-ftarv'd Grimalkin claims thee for his prey,
And in his cruel paw fast-clutch'd devours
Relentlefs. Or the boy aware, himself
Cuts short existence, and allots to puss
Only the fever'd head. Ingenious fool,
Pert executioner, behold the blood
Of parent and of offspring. Grin amain;
O! thou haft done a deed that Heav'n abhors.
Let the wife parent laugh to fee how well
His looby boy has learn'd to be humane.
Let him applaud the bloody deed, and spare
The well-carn'd rod. In thee, great ftate,
Eternal glory of the Gentile world,

Juft Athens, had the beardlefs boy prefum'd
A deed fo villainous, the public arm

Had the mean youth chattis'd, till it had wak’d

A foul humane and fenfible of wrong.

The fubjoined fpecimen will give the reader no unfavourable

idea of the writer's defcriptive powers:

• Alcanor

• Alcanor come, and let us once again
Defcend into the valley, and enjoy

The fober peace of the ftill fummer's eve.
We have no blush to lofe; our freckled cheek
The fun not blifters, nor the night dew blasts.
Such is the time the mufing 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 hiffing wing; to mark the wanton mouse,
And fee him gambol round the primrose head,
'Till the ftill owl comes fmoothly failing by,
And with a fhrill to-whit breaks off his dance,
And fends him fcouring home; to hear the cur
Of the night-loving partridge, or the fwell
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 rifing moon.
Then let me steal along the woody lane,
To hear thy fong fo various, fweet bird,
The queen of night, tranfporting Philomel;
I name thee not to give my feeble lines
A grace elfe wanted, for I love thy fong,
And often have I stood to hear thee fing,
When the clear moon, with Cytherean smile,
Emerging from an eaftern cloud, has fhot
A look of pure benevolence and joy

Into the heart of night. Yes, I have ftood
And mark'd thy varied note, and frequent pause,
Thy brifk and melancholy mood, with heart
Sincerely pleas'd. And, O! methought no note
Can equal thine, fweet bird, of all that fing,
How eafily the chief! Yet have I heard
What pleases me ftill more; the human voice
In serious sweetness flowing from the heart
Of unaffected woman. I could hark
Till the round world diffolv'd, to the pure
Love teaches, gentle Modefty infpires.
But teaze me not, ye felf conceited fools,
Who with a loud, infufferable fquall
Infult our ears, or hum a noiseless tune
Difdaining to be heard; the while

ye grin,

To fhew a fet of teeth newly repair'd,

ftrain

Or fhrink and fhrug, 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 befcrape a dancing dog.'

The

The conclufion of this extract affords an example of what we before remarked, viz. that the author frequently debafes his compofition by blending the folemn and ludicrous, the common, the vulgar, with the fublime. Had the paffage above quoted ended with gentle modefty inspires,' it would have been more perfect. What follows ftrikes like a harsh discord in mufic, and every ferious 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 fervant maid into his poem; he has chofen this

• Surpaffing Dorothy, the Sweetest thing
Thefe bitter times afford'

for his dulcinea, and fays that, like the ftinglefs drone, which feeks the fane of Cloacine, he will fing her beauties.' He then goes on to praife her vaft becoming ftrides, her aukward majefty, her fwinging 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-cleanfed • teeth, her broad hysteric grin, her fhining face, her greafy 'locks,' &c. &c. He next compares his Dolly to the flaunt⚫ing belle,' and gives the preference in every refpect to Dolly. Her teeth, he fays, are all her own, thofe of the fashionable fair purchased of the dentist; her breath is sweet, theirs offends with fuch a foetid ftench,' that, were it not for perfumes,

• We could not live within a thousand leagues
Of fuch a fearful pest.'

Dolly's locks,' though greafy,' we are told, grew on her, but theirs were bought of fome loufy wench.' Having exhibited this dirty and difagreeable picture, he next compares the mental qualities of each, and prefers those of his favourite dulcinea. The conclufion, following the creed of the celebrated Bays, was intended we fuppofe to elevate and surprise'—it does indeed excite wonder:

You write, perhaps, and read:
To what good purpofe? to corrupt the foul,
To give it back to him who gave it you,
So fpotted, as to make his angels blush,
And caufe the Deity himself to turn
And hide his countenance.'

Whatever a headstrong bard, who is bound by no rule, and fubject to no law,' may imagine, we cannot approve of this ferio-comic affemblage, this feria mixta jocis; nor do we think

it will meet with the approbation of any reader of taste. After this difgufting mixture of his lovely Lulage, his Sugariffa, his dear Dorothy' with angels and the Deity, it is not surprising that he should debase the Supreme Being to an electrician,' and fpeak of his charging and recharging his dreadful battery.'

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

As carrots, parfnips, onions, cabbages,
Potatoes, turnips, radifhes, my mufe

Difdains 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 fomething more worthy of public approbation. He himself does not speak highly of the prefent work, and fays that applaufe were ill de'ferved by this rude fong obtain'd.' 'Like Milton, he builds his hopes of immortality on his future labours:

Yet I not fear,

Ere the fhort tale of my existence clofe,

Some ftrain perhaps, on my time mellow'd harp

To hit, thefe woods may well remember.'

The hopes of Milton were fully realised; may thofe of the author of the Village Curate not be disappointed!

ART. XII. Obfervations occafioned by the Attempts made in England to effect the Abolition of the Slave-Trade; fhewing the Manner in which Negroes are treated in the British Colonies in the Weft-Indies; and alfo fome particular Remarks on a Letter addrefed to the Treasurer of the Society for effecting fuch Abolition, from the Rev. Robert Boucher Nicholls, Dean of Middleham. By G. Francklyn, Efq. 8vo. 2s. 6d. ftitched. Jamaica, 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 deferving attention, on account of their distance from the feat of legiflature, 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 than ENG. REV. VOL. XV. FEB. 1790.

than how far any proposed restrictions may affect their own intereft. Though the pamphlet before us contains much severity, 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 fhewing that flavery was permitted, inafmuch as it was regulated, under the Mofaic difpenfation. The unimproved state of fociety in the Eaft at that period of the world, might render flavery the only means of fubordination; and the well-known imperfection of the law fhould not prevent those who are bleffed by a more perfect revelation from drawing moral inftitutes from the former code. Though the letter of the gofpel takes no particular notice of flavery, Mr. Francklyn very honeftly admits that the equality of rank propofed by its teachers, feems very inconfiftent, not only with flavery, but with most of the inftitutions in Christian countries. He therefore advises the Chriftian advocate to confider the fituation of the British soldier and failor, the former of whom in particular is often trepanned from the bleffings of society, and forced, for life, into a more abject slavery than the negroes ever experience; and the latter, to whom the ftate owes fo much, is never for a moment in the fecure poffeffion of all that renders fociety endearing. On the subject of maltreating the flaves, we are directed to compare the few inftances that the most zealous industry has been able to produce, in ranfacking the annals of more than a century, and in the circuit of all the Weft-India iflands, 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 must do fomething towards foftening the manners of thofe who conftantly refide in the former; and that however irafcible indolence and indulgence may render them, the few inftances produced, fhew they are not chargeable with severity or cruelty. That the conduct of fuch as refide in England is ufually marked with tenderness to their fervants, and often a blameable inattention to thofe prudential motives which occafion the feverity exercifed towards inferiors. That, were it otherwife, common prudence would induce every Creole to be as careful of the health and life of a flave as an English farmer is of his live ftock; and if some occafional feverities are heard of, they must be imputed partly to the imperfection of human nature in the islands as well as every where elfe, but particularly to the spontaneous or conftrained migration of every European, whofe connexions find him unfit to live in England.

To