Loud fhe laments!-and long the Nymph fhall ftray
With wild unequal step round Cook's Morai!'

The Poetess then adverts, with exquifite fenfibility and art, to a connexion of a dearer and more interefting kind.

'But ah!-aloft on Albion's rocky steep,

That frowns incumbent o'er the boiling deep,
Solicitous, and fad, a fofter form

Eyes the lone flood, and deprecates the ftorm.-
Ill-fated matron!-for, alas! in vain

Thy eager glances wander o'er the main !-
'Tis the vex'd billows, that infurgent rave,
Their white foam filvers yonder diftant wave,
'Tis not his fails!-thy hufband comes no more!
His bones now whiten an accurfed fhore!
Retire, for hark! the fea-gull fhrieking foars,
The lurid atmosphere portentous low'rs;
Night's fullen fpirit groans in ev'ry gale,
And o'er the waters draws the darkling veil,
Sighs in thy hair, and chills thy throbbing breaft-
Go, wretched mourner!-weep thy griefs to rest!
Yet, tho' through life is loft each fond delight,
Tho' fet thy earthly fun in dreary night,
Oh! raife thy thoughts to yonder starry plain,
And own thy forrow felfish, weak, and vain;
Since, while Britannia, to his virtues juft,

Twines the bright wreath, and rears th' immortal buft;
While on each wind of heav'n his fame fhall rife,
In endless incenfe to the fmiling fkies;

THE ATTENDANT POWER, that bade his fails expand,
And waft her bleffings to each barren land,
Now raptur'd bears him to th'immortal plains,
Where Mercy hails him with congenial ftrains;
Where foars, on Joy's white plume, his fpirit free,
And angels choir him, while he waits for THEE.’

To this poem is fubjoined an Ode to the Sun; a prize poem at Batheafton, which difplays an imagination well ftored with poetical ideas.

l-r.ut.

ART. X. An Epistle to a Friend, on the Death of John Thornton, Efq. By the Author of "An Epifle to an eminent Painter." 4to. 1 s. Dodley. 1780.

H

OWEVER homely may be the verfe that laments over the grave of departed friendship, it not only difarms the feverity of criticism, but, if dictated by the genuine and unaffected feelings of the heart, it will be read with attention in fome degree equal to the fincerity with which it is fuppofed to have been written. How exquifite, then, must be the pleasure that is afforded by a poem like the prefent! a poem as elegant as the principle which it proceeds from is amiable! How beautiful is the following apoftrophe!

• Pure

Pure mind! whofe meekness, in thy mortal days,
Purfuing virtue, ftill retir'd from praise;

Nor with'd that friendship fhould on marble give
That perfect image of thy worth to live,
Which 'twas thy aim alone to leave imprest
On the close tablet of her faithful breast.
If now her verfe against thy wish rebel,
And ftrive to blazon what the lov'd fo well,
Forgive the tender thought, the moral fong,
Which would thy virtues to the world prolong;
That, refcued from the grave's oblivious fhade,
Their useful luftre may be ftill furvey'd,
Dear to the penfive eye of fond regret,
As light ftill beaming from a fun that's fet.
Oft to our giddy Mufe thy voice has taught
The juft ambition of poetic thought;
Bid her bold view to latest time extend,
And strive to make futurity her friend.
If any verfe, her little art can frame,
May win the partial voice of diftant fame,
Be it the verfe, whofe fond ambition tries
To paint thy mind in truth's unfading dyes,
Tho' firm, yet tender, ardent, yet refin'd;
With Roman ftrength and Attic grace combin❜d.

What tho' undeck'd with titles, power, and wealth,
Great were thy generous deeds, and done by stealth;
For thy pure bounty from obfervance ftole,
Nor wish'd applaufe, but from thy confcious foul.
Tho' thy plain tomb no fculptur'd form may shew,
No boastful witness of fufpected woe;

Yet heavenly shapes, that fhun the glare of day,
To that dear fpot fhall nightly vifits pay:
Pale Science there fhall o'er her votary frew
Her flow'rs, yet moift with forrow's recent dew.
There Charity, Compaffion's lovely child,
In ruftic notes pathetically wild,
With grateful bleffings bid thy name endure,
And mourn the patron of her village-poor.
E'en from the midnight fhew with mufic gay,
The foul of Beauty to thy tomb shall stray,
In sweet distraction steal from prefent mirth,
To figh unnotic'd o'er the hallow'd earth,
Which hides thofe lips, that glow'd with tender fire,
And fung her praifes to no common lyre:
But Friendship, wrapt in forrow's deepest gloom,
Shall keep the longest vigils at thy tomb;
Her wounded breast, difdainful of relief,
There claims a fond præ-eminence in grief.

Short was thy life, but ah! its thread how fine!
How pure the texture of the finish'd line!

What tho' thy opening manhood could not gain
Thofe late rewards, maturer toils attain ;

Hope's

Hope's firmest promises 'twas thine to raise,

That merit's brighteft meed would grace thy lengthen'd days;
For thine were Judgment's patient powers to draw
Entangled juftice from the nets of law;

Thine firm Integrity, whose language clear
Ne'er fwell'd with arrogance, or hook with fear.
Reafon's mild power, unvex'd by mental strife,
Sway'd the calm current of thy useful life;
Whofe even courfe was in no season loft,
Nor rough with forms, nor ftagnated by froft.
In fcenes of public toil, or social ease,
'Twas thine by firm fincerity to please;

Sweet as the breath of fpring thy converfe flow'd,
As fummer's noon-tide warmth thy friendship glow'd.
O'er thy mild manners, by no art constrain'd,

A penfive, pleafing melancholy reign'd,

Which won regard, and charm'd th' attentive eye,
Like the foft lufire of an evening sky:
Yet if perchance excited to defend
The injur'd merit of an abfent friend,
That gentle fpirit, rous'd to virtuous ire,
Indignant fiath'd refentment's noble fire.

Tho' juft obfervance in thy life may trace
A lovely model of each moral grace,
Thy laft of days the nobleft leffon taught:
Severe inftruction! and too dearly bought!
Whofe force from memory never can depart,
But while it mends, mult agonife the heart.
Tho' thy fhrunk nerves were deftin'd to fuftain
Th' increasing horrors of flow-walling pain;
Thofe fpirit-quenching pangs, whose base controul
Cloud the clear temper, and exhauft the foul;
Yet in that hour, when Death afferts his claim,
And his strong fummons shakes the confcious frame;
When weaker minds, by frantic fear o'erthrown,
Shrink in wild horror from the dread Unknown,
Thy firmer foul, with Chriflian ftrength renew'd,
Nor loft in languor, nor by pain fubdued,

(While thy cold grafp the hand of Friendship preft,
And her vain aid in fault'ring accents bleft)
With awe, but not as Superstition's flave,
Survey'd the gathering fhadows of the grave;
And to thy God, in death, devoutly paid.

That calm obedience which thy life difplay'd.

The melancholy yet manly enthufiafm with which the Writer fuggefts the employment of himself and the furviving friend to whom the epiftle is addreffed, is truly affecting.

Oft let us loiter on his favourite hill,

Whofe fhades the fadly-pleafing thought inftill;
Recount his kindnefs, as we fondly rove,
And meet his fpirit in the lonely grove.
5

At evening's penfive hour, or opening day,
He yet fhall feem the partner of our way.
Blett Spirit! fill thro' fancy's ear impart
The calm of virtue to the troubled heart!
Correct each fordid view, each vain desire,
And touch the mortal with celeftial fire!
So may we ftill, in this dark scene of earth,
Hold fweet communion with thy living worth;
And, while our purer thoughts thy merit fcan,
Revere the Angel, as we lov'd the Man.

The fame nervous elegance of expreffion, the fame freedom and fulness in the harmony of his numbers (perhaps the most certain indication of true poetical genius), with the fame elevated manliness of thought, which were admired in a former production of this excellent writer, are equally difcernible in the present.

Before we difmifs this article we muft obferve, there is one paffage in this poem, on which we have particularly fixed our eye.

Oft to our giddy Mufe thy voice has taught
The juft ambition of poetic thought;
Bid her bold view to latest time extend,

And strive to make FUTURITY HER FRIEND.

It is needlefs to point out, that he who wishes to make futurity his friend, muft difclaim attention to whatever is in its own nature temporary; he must be jealous of the dignity of verfe, not to debase it (as too many do whofe writings will be forgotten), by proftitution to the purpofes of party or perfonal fatire. But there can be little to fear in this refpect from a Writer like the prefent. A mind, formed for and delighting in the contemplation of what is elegant in art or amiable in manners, is not likely to be feduced by objects that are in no way congenial to itself.

* Epistle to an eminent Painter: See Rev. Oct. 1778. C.t.-t

TH

ART. XI. Political Annals of the prefent United Colonies, from their Settlement to the Peace of 1763. Compiled chiefly from Records, and authorised often by the Infertion of State Papers. By George Chalmers, Efq. Book I. 4to. 11. 1 s. Boards. Printed for the Author, and fold by Bowen, in London. 1779. HUCYDIDES hath always been thought entitled to the highest praife, for the impartiality with which he hath related the tranfactions of the period wherein he lived. It is fo extremely difficult for an hiftorian to preferve himself entirely free from the bias of party, and to view events and characters with the eye of calm philofophy, when he is treating of facts immediately connected with the country and age to which

he

he belongs; it requires fuch a degree of firmness of mind, and independence of spirit, to ftand difengaged from all undue influence, on the one hand turning a deaf ear to popular clamour, and, on the other, viewing all the bribes which power can offer, oculo irretorto; that, in this fituation, impartiality ought doubtlefs to be regarded as the most meritorious quality in an hiftorical writer.

We wish it were in our power to allow this kind of merit to the Author of thefe Annals. The work is fo valuable, on account of the diftinctnefs of its detail, the authenticity of its documents, and the elegant manner in which it is written, that it is with concern we remark, throughout the narrative, the moft ftudied application of every fact, which will admit of it, to the vindication of a principle, as warmly contradicted by one party, as it is ftrenuoufly afferted by another, the right of the British Parliament to tax America. Taking for granted prin-. ciples which many will be difpofed to conteft-that a series of precedents is of itself a fufficient foundation of legality, and that it is conclufive to argue from the manner in which the Colonies were treated in their infancy, to that in which they ought to be treated in their maturity, he takes every occafion which the history affords him of maintaining this right; and thus, in indulging the warmth of political difputation, he loses the dignity of hiftory.

Impatient to exprefs his fentiments on his favourite topic, the Author, in our opinion rather prematurely, afferts the legiflative right of taxation on the ground of the fecond charter granted by James I. to the Virginian colonists, by which a body of merchants and tradefmen were incorporated, and impowered to convey lands, make ordinances for the colony, and rule and direct the colonists; and by which the colonifts were permitted to export merchandife, for seven years, cuftom free. Thus, fays he, it appears decifively that the colonifts were to be governed by the ordinances of a corporation refiding in England, in which they were not represented, and over the deliberations of which they had no controul. Thus was affirmed the general right of taxing them without their confent, because they were exempted from duties payable within the colony for a limited time t.'

These are sentiments which the Author takes every opportunity to repeat. Speaking of the exercife of the power of taxing the colonies, by the parliament in 1672, he fays:

The Commons foon turned their views beyond the Atlantic. The commerce of the colonies had been before regulated and re

+ The futility of this conclufion was demonftrated in a former No. of our Review.

REV. June, 1780.

Hh

ftrained;