Our Author's reafoning, could not, fo easily at leaft, have taken place, had fuch a corps of obfervation, and celerity of movement, been established, as we here find recommended.- -It is not, however, yet too late to adopt so promising a scheme.-So, indeed, it seems to us; but, on a fubject like this, matters may appear in very different lights to a Reviewer, in his garret, and a Nabob, in his palace in Leadenhall-ftreet.

POETICAL.

Art. 12. The Triumph of Dulness, a Poem: occafioned by a late Grace paffed in the University of Cambridge. 4to. I S. Almon. 1781.

The Author of this poem is pleased to inveigh with much feverity, and in no defpicable metre, against a Grace lately paffed in the Univerfity of Cambridge. It had been a custom in that feminary of learning for the Bachelors and junior Masters of Arts, who had dif tinguished themselves by their fuperiority in mathematical researches, to have Undergraduates in the capacity of private pupils t. From this practice, in the opinion of thofe refpectable gentlemen who propofed the reform, many inconveniences arofe. One was-that the expences of the Univerfity, already fufficiently increased by the prevailing luxuries of the age, were thus unreasonably augmented; and, confequently, thofe young men, whofe finances would not allow them the affiftance of private tutors, muft enter the lifts at no fmall difadvantage. Another was-that, at the time of taking their degrees, many of the private tutors being among the number of examiners, an indecept conteft, which open led the way to confufion and partiality, perpetually arofe, from a defire of preferring their refpective pupils. And it was further objected-that, by confining the firft ho

Kawn, and the danger, to the interests of the Company, from his extensive views, and enterprifing difpofition.- -The Colonel thus fpeaks of this hero of the Eaft: Heider Ally Kawn feems to have refolved that pofterity should draw no parallel between him and any of his native cotemporaries; and the distance at which he has thrown all of his day proves, that the refolution has not been hitherto formed in vain. He poffeffes conftitutional bravery in common with many of his complexion; but courage, the quality of the foul which ditinguishes the general from the grenadier, has raifed him far above the common level of Indians. Cool judgment, acquired by long and mature experience, has fixed due bounds to his great military ardour; and, though a refpect for the English name and arms may have hitherto contributed to check his natural impetuofity, yet he has never fuffered his activity to be restrained by the reins of an ill-timed caution'-&c. &c.

*Whatever is propofed for the confideration of the members of the fenate, in order that by their approbation it may pass into a katute, is denominated a Grace.

+ Thefe inftructors were familiarly ftiled Feeders, a metaphor borrowed from the cock-pit, and not injudiciously; it being generally thought, that what their pupils were on these occafions crammed with, was feldom of much use after the day of competition was over.

noure

nours of the fenate to those who most excelled in the abstruse parts of mathematics, the folid and more useful branches of natural philofo phy were too frequently neglected. This grace, therefore, was paffed to prevent thofe who, either directly or indirectly, had the affiitance of private tutors for the two years preceding their degree, from receiving thofe honours which they would be otherwise entitled to, They who maintain the contrary part of the argument, affert, that when the paths of learning are made cafy by private tuition, even the diffident and the idle may be fimulated to exert themfelves in purfait of academical fame, who would too frequently be difcouraged by the difficulties they muft otherwise encounter, Whether the learned promoters or opposers of this Grace were in the right, is not in our province to determine.

As a fpecimen of this writer's verfifying talents, which we before'
obferved are by no means despicable, we shall present our Readers
with the following reply to Dulness, which is put into the mouth of a
Tutor of a College; premifing, at the fame time, that the Tutor and
Dulness are, we believe, no where connected but in this poem; the
character, if we guefs rightly, being intended for one who is little
intitled to it a gentleman of well-known ingenuity and learning;
"I fly, great Queen, I fly
At thy command, to conquer or to die:
Oft have I strictly fworn (and thou haft heard
The folemn found, and ratify'd the word)
Should Senfe or Science e'er affault thy throne,
I'd shake my Gorgon wig, and ftare them into ftone a
Since thou and Arnold bade St. John's* be mine,
(Let parents judge) I've ferv'd no caufe but thine,
Sooner fhall Md † quit a T―t's throne,
Preferring England's intereft to his own;
Sooner fhall Watson, from his courtier wings,
Shed balmy flatt'ry in the ears of Kings;
Sooner fhall Margret's herd forfake their mud,
And feek the lavings of the crystal flood;
Sooner black, bearish, H- -, with brow ferene
Shall gently fmile, than I defert my Queen.
Marshall'd, whene'er I call, thy Johnian fons
Shall form a phalanx firm as Macedons;
Fix'd as the basis of the marble rock,

Shall ftem whole tides of wit, and brave the furious shock
Nor think on us thy only hope depends,
Far diftant roofs conceal as zealous friends.
Blow loud the trump, immortal war proclaim
'Gainft brilliant wit, and fcientific fame;
Dunce fhould'ring dunce shall rife in deep array,
And firew with Folly's choiceft flow'rs thy way,

Mr. C fucceeded the fub-preceptor and tutorship of St.

John's.

Md, Fellow of K-'s College, M-r for the Univer

fity, and S. —r G—————do

But

But far above the reft, with large fupplies
Triumphant Queen's fhall greet thy wond'ring eyes,
Queen's, where enthron'd the great Goliah rules,
The fenate's terror, bugbear of the schools: '
This is the champion fare, by Fate decreed,
In gloomy ranks thy martial troops to lead :
Himself an hoft, thy empire's best defence,
Arm'd with the mail of harden'd impudence.
Be mine the task to win him to our caufe:
Tho' fierce his foul, and unreftrain'd by laws,
As tygers favage, rude as troubled feas,

Pow'r fcarce can tame him, pleasure fearce can please,
Be thine, my much-lov'd Miftrefs, round his head
Damp thick'ning fogs, and murky mists to spread;
Quench in his breaft each spark of genius' fire,
Till Senfe and Science with a hifs expire."
Well pleas'd, the Goddefs rais'd her leaden eyes,
And yawning loud, approv'd his fage advice;
The yawn divine o'er all the hallow'd ground
In magic circles flowly crept around,

Low fleepy murmurs fill'd the dark abode,
And elm-trees nodded, and confefs'd the God;
Thro' Margret's courts the potent opiates fly,'
And ev'ry Johnian yawns by fympathy.

Bevil.

Art. 13. Poems for the Vafe at Bath Eafton, &c. &c. De-
dicated, with profound Refpect, to Mrs. Gell of Hopton in Derby-
fhire. By a Derbyshire Highlander. 4to. 2s. 6d. Rivington.

1781.

Thefe pieces are ufhered into the world by a Prefatory Epiftle from
the Author to his Publisher, in which he modeftly difclaims any title
to the character of a poet. It is, indeed, evident that he has not
been much exercifed in compofition. There is, nevertheless, a vein
of grotesque humour running through many of his performances, not
ill-adapted to the embellishment of a ludicrous fubject.

Spleen is the eldest daughter of the Gout;
To him Hysterics this ftrange bantling bore,
And Dropfy wet-nurfe was in days of yore;
Gripes were dry-nurfes, Chilblains matrons were,
And Itch and Scurvy fed the little dear:

To call papa, pale Night-mare taught him foon;
To fay mamma, Cramp brib'd him with a boon:
Care of its fpeaking moon-ftruck Phrenfy took,
And Hypochondria taught the child its book."
Of its religion Megrims had the care,
And the blue Devils took the moral share:

This name was given to the reverend tutor in a fcurrilous pamphlet, which was treated with merited contempt by every one; but fo agreeable are feveral traits in this gentleman's character to fome in Goliah's of old, that the Univerfity has ever fince dignified him with this title.

Each

Each tutor blam'd the etiquette of France,
So good Saint Vitus taught the boy to dance.
In mufic, Ague learnt him how to shake,
And Tooth-ach taught him refts and beats to make;
Him torpid Head-ach taught his moods and tenfe,
And Spalms learnt him attitudes to fence.
Thus well accomplish'd, now he goes at large,
And all his tutors ftraight give up their charge;
Now wide o'er worlds, like Milton's De'il he flew,
And like Pandora plagues mankind anew.
If to the Lawyer in the night he steal-

The harpy dreams of Grenville's acts repeal:
When after meals the Parfon takes his nod,
Spleen then prefents the De'il and Doctor Dedd:
If cross the valiant Captain's nofe spleen crees,
He fwears, and takes the Congress in his fleep;
Starting! he finds he never crofled the main,
So damns his body, and then fleeps again.
In flumbers next he frights the Jew of pelf,
Then Shylock dreams that Charles has shot himself;
Theu farts and fumes, then dreams and starts again,
And damns Annuitants, the motley train.

Next, in light vision round the Poet's head
He floats, and whispers, "Sir, your lines were read;
Impartial Miller tells me they were damn'd,
Nor worfe within the Vafe were ever cramm'd."
Next in view hollows, thro' the night, Spleen goes,
And then dream Foxhunters of frofts and fnows:
Next night he perches on a modern bed,
And fings, Cuckoo, Cuckoo, thy wife is fled ;
Laft night the loft more cafh than she could pay,
To-night fhe makes it up-another way.
Then honest Benedict, thy beft refource
Is, get up ftraight, and fue for a divorce:
Hie to the Commons-Fashion paves the road,
The great world bids Adultery be mode.
Now fee Spleen perch'd behind a Doctor's wig,
Calling out, Doctor! Doctor! you're a Prig!
Your trade's a farce, each day's experience fhews'-

C..t..t.

Art. 14. Poems by the Rev. Mr. Logan, one of the Minifters of Leith. 8vo. 2 s. 6 d. Cadell. 1781.

This collection principally confifts of Odes, Tales, and Hymns." Though there may now and then be met with, in them, a pretty thought, not inelegantly expreffed, the general character of thefe pieces is, that they feldom rife above mediocrity. And yet, even this lenity of cenfure extends not to the Hymns-loft in the profundity of Sternholdian bathos, they do not fo much as afpire to the flender praife that mediocrity might confer upon them.

Do

RELIGIOUS.

RELIGIOUS.

Art. 15.

A faithful Narrative of God's gracious Dealings with Hiel. Now firit carefully felected; Englished from the HighDutch. By Francis Okely, formerly of St. John's College. Cambridge. 8vo. 1 s. 6d. Lackington. 1781.

The writings of this extraordinary myftic received fome distinction from the patronage of Montanus, the great Hebrician, and Christopher Plantin, the learned Printer of Leyden. Both were the friends, admirers, and, in fome degree, the affiftants of Hiel; and the latter was the original editor of his works.

The ecclefiaftical hiftorians have, in general, been filent about this writer. Mofheim doth not fo much as mention his name. Lampe in his Synopfis barely mentions it in the Catalogue of the Enthufiafts of the roth century. But Godfrey Arnold, who was tinctured with a congenial Spirit, hath given a pretty ample account of this fanatic, ia his ecclefiaftical and heretical hiftory. From this writer we learn, that the perfon characterised under the denomination of HIEL (which is a Hebrew-compound, and fignifies The life of God) was a fimple, illiterate man, and of a handicraft trade.' His education, we find, was as contracted as his natural understanding; for by his own confeffion, in a poftfcript to one of his best treatises, it appears, that

he could only peak his own mother tongue, and write a little at a pinch.' This man would never disclose to the world his real name or fituation: nor would he fuffer it to be discovered by those who were charged with the publication of his works. However, it was afterwards found out, that the fictitious name of Hiel was affumed by an obfcure perfon, called Henry Janson, who lived in the Netherlands about the year 1550; and had been engaged in fome occupation in the clothing bufinefs. Speaking of himself in one of his Letters, he says, that he was advanced in years; that he had no certain dwelling, or conftant place of refidence, being sometimes here and fometimes there with a friend: that in the view of the world he was loft, but found in the fight of God.'

But as to his having chosen to be known under the Hebrew name of Hiel, importing as much as God's life, the Translator, in the Preface to the first part of his Letters, gives the following account and explanation of it: It fignifies the author's life of the Divine Nature re-awakened from death; pretty much as Paul teftifieth concerning himself, that he durft not fpeak a word further than what Chrift spoke in him."That of confequence thefe writings, having not been the produ&t of reason, could hardly, if at all, be underfood, unless by fuch only as the Spirit of God hath taught, and who have felt the truth of it within their ownselves.'

Thus are we alfo informed, that Benedi&us Arius Montanus hath openly testified of this author, "that he was a witnefs of the living Chriflian truth, whom the very virtue and truth of Chrift himself hath enftamped with the name of Hiel." [Chriftianæ veritatis viventis telis, cui nomen ipfa Chrifti virtus et veritas Hiel indidit.]

With refpect to the writings themselves, a good part of them were already printed and published in the Netherlands about the year 1580, and farther down. But efpecially "The Treasure hid in the Field," with fome others, had even gone through three editions, both