ART. IX. Philotoxi Ardena; The Woodmen of Arden; a Latin HIS poem is introduced to the reader by the following TH The following lines were written merely for the amufement of a private circle; but, an ingenious friend having honoured them with. a double verfion, I hereby fubmit them to the eye of the public, in hopes that any languor in the original will be atoned for by the fpirit of the tranflations, and the judicious criticifm contained in the manly effay that accompanies them. Should they tend, in the leaft degree, to promote the truly British exercife of ARCHERY, the author's most fanguine expectations will be answered. The landscape described in the opening fhews that they were written in a fummer month, and the fcene is laid in the FOREST OF ARDEN, near PACKINGTON HALL, the feat of the Right Hon the EARL OF AYLESFORD. J. Morfitt. Birmingham, Dec. 15, 1788.' This Latin poem celebrates the Warwickshire heroes and heroines of the bow and arrow. It contains about fourfcore verfes in long and fhort metre, not inelegantly written; but, as the author acknowledges, more adapted to the amufement of a private circle, than calculated for general publication. The tranflator however, with double diligence, has fwelled them into an half-crown pamphlet by two different verfions; the last accompanied with an effay in praife and vindication of Dryden. Thefe tranflations have each their merit and defects. There are fome ftiffneffes in the blank verse, and no very happy imitation of the manner of Dryden in the rhyme, though otherwife not void of fpirit. Ulmea flat feries,’ is rendered There flands an elmy row,' meaning a row of elms; but we do not believe that there is fuch a word as elmy in the English language; yet if the next line had not added Which may protect me by abundant shade,' we should have fuppofed Que magna PROTEGAT umbra,' to be an error of the prefs; and we ftill think the verfe would have been more neat and elegant with protegit in the indicative; and certainly more agreeable to the cicada CREPAT,' in the pentameter following. This Latin diftich takes up four lines of of rhyme; and we cannot hold the two laft as very like Dryden, or very close to the line of the original. Languida dum nimio fole cicada crepat.' • While the parch'd grafshopper, his little throat Diftending, chirps his plaint with feeble note.' In page 6 of the rhyme are two lines, equally inferior in fpirit and expreffion to the original Latin (p. 8.) • Fallor? an auriculis modò ftridet arundo volucris ? Do I then bear-or only feem to bear- We do not admire Mr. Wefton's modern dashes either in verfe or profe, nor the multitude of italics. Hear and ear are fcarcely legitimate rhymes. They are, we may fay, the fame word; nullum fimile eft idem. In this effay, which appears to be a needlefs vindication of Dryden, and as groundless an attack on Pope and Johnson, who have both warmly acknowledged the poet's tranfcendent merit, he confiders Pope and his imitators as enemies to the ufe of Alexandrines. But the fact is otherwife, Pope only cenfures the mechanical ufe of them: "ANEEDLESS Alexandrine ends the fong." Mr. Wefton, intending, as we fuppofe, to imitate Dryden, clofes almost every fection (if we may fo call it, fpeaking of a poem) with an Alexandrine, many of which are needlefs, and "Like a wounded fnake, drag their flow length along." Exempli gratiâ: And books, which Attic honey plenteously distil:' or what is better, • With dignity enjoy'd, while copying from his KING!' and then a roaring couplet, TAME-who, of triple augmentation proud, • Rolls his united streams, and roars bis joy aloud? And then, Exulting YORK, distinguish'd from the rest, Difplays the corneous glory on his verdant vest.' The corneous glory, unintelligible in English, fignifies a horn Spoon, affigned to the fhooter of the arrow within the target, but fartheft from the center. In Latin it is not ill expressed, • Cornea dum viridi gloria vefte nitet.' But Dryden would not fo have tranflated it into English; and, what is whimfical, the prefent poet in his Miltonics, familiarly writes, and nearer his original, Firm is the footstep of exulting York, While on his green veft fhines the SPOON of HORN.' • Yorkius exultans firmat veftigia greffu, • Cornea dum viridi gloria vefte nitet.? Not to fatigue the reader with more of thefe needlefs Alexan drines, we shall only cite one other paffage from the poem and the translations. The The victor archer is thus elegantly described in the Latin poem : • Multâ laude fedens viñor dat jura, bibendi Aloft the conqueror fits, with glory crown'd! We do not much admire the Sparkling beverage, nor perfectly recollect the Grecian fritnefs; and looking back to our days of conviviality, cannot recognife the expreffion of flies, applied by any toaft mafter, whom Mr. Morfitt properly ftyles bibendi arbiter. Where is Mr. Wefton lord of the feaft, and used to iffue his commands in fuch terms? We shall now take leave of all this Latin and English, this private and public poem, by allowing confiderable merit to the original and to the tranflations; and hoping our readers will not fay that the Latin and English are both Greek to them. Colon. ART. X. Sonnets and Mifcellaneous Poems. By the late Thomas Ruffel, Fellow of New College, Oxford. 4to. 62 pages. 35. Rivington, &c. 1789. HESE elegant trifles are the production of a muse evidently bleffed with genius and tafte; and the plaintive language which breaks forth in most of them, proves that the author (as hath been too often the cafe with other poets) was "A man of many forrows." In this collection, are feveral tranflations from the Greek, ItaJian, and Portuguefe: indeed the original pieces are ftrongly tinctured with the poetry of the Italian school. We expected to have feen fome verfes in this collection, be ginning To a friend fo fincere, a companion fo Who brought cares on himself, to drive our's away:" of which Mr. Ruffel was faid to have been the author. gay, After perusing these poems, we venture to pronounce, that, with a few exceptions, they poffefs the elegiac foftness, and harmonious periods of Gray, without his tendency to obfcurity and fuftian. As a fpecimen, we will felect the tenth fonnet: Could then the babes from yon unfhelter'd cot Too thoughtless youth! what tho' thy happier lot What tho' their Maker doom'd them thus forlorn A hope A hope perhaps more heavenly bright than thine, A faith more fix'd, a rapture more divine, Shall gild their paffage to eternal reft.' The editor's fhort account of the author, informs us that he Was the fon of an eminent attorney at Bridport* in Dorfetfhire. After spending fome years at a grammar-fchool in that county, he was removed to Winchefter, and in 1780 elected fellow of New College, Oxford. In this fituation he was eminently distinguished by his claffical knowledge, and an extenfive acquaintance with the belt authors in the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German languages. But his progrefs in literature was checked by a lingering illness, which terminated in a confumption of the lungs.' He died at Briftol, July 31, 1788, in the 26th year of his age. Tranquillas ART. XI. Arundel. By the Author of the Obferver. 12mo. 2 Vols. 55. fewed. Dilly. 1789. IT is well known that the author of the Obferver is Mr. Cum berland, who has given feveral dramatic and other performances to the world; and to whom, although he has not always fucceeded in his endeavours to please, we must on the whole acknowlege ourselves indebted for no inconfiderable portion of entertainment. Arundel, if we mift ke not, is his coup d'effai as a novelift. We cannot compliment him on its pofitive excellence; but if we compare it with the equivocals which have lately, and in fuch prodigious numbers, ftarted into exiftence-an infect kind of exiftence occafioned by the beams emitted from the eye of beauty, and which, when that eye hath withdrawn its influence, prefently return to their original nothingness,—in such a comparison, we fay, the writer of the prefent work will appear to confiderable advantage. But ftill the production before us poffefes not the requifites of a legitimate novel. The characters (with the exception of Arundel) are only faint and imperfect fketches, and fuch as we have long been accustomed to fee. The fentiments which are put into the mouths of the principal perfonages, it must be owned, are often manly and fpirited, tender and pathetic; they manifeft a confiderable knowlege of. the human heart, yet what we have to complain of is, that thefe perionages are not fufficiently drawn out or called into action. They talk about virtue and vice, and they defcribe the effects of the paflions fometimes with confiderable energy: but in performances in this line of writing, which confiderably partakes of the nature of the drama, we expect to fee the characters *We are informed that Beamifter, in that county, was the place of his birth. 6 ★ Mr Newman, a lurgeons brought brought forward in a bold and spirited manner: we expect to see them virtuous or wicked, as different circumftances may operate on their different inclinations and tempers; and we likewife expect to be left, for the most part, to our own reflections on the matter. This is what we are defirous of feeing; and if this be neglected, the novel lofes its diftinguishing feature, and becomes didactic.-It inftructs by precept inftead of example. Of Arundel, the gentle yet magnanimous Arundel, we must fay a word or two. He is reprefented as a man of genius, poor, and confequently in fome fort dependant, yet poffeffing at the fame time that nice fenfe of honour, that just and laudable pride, which fpurns at the leaft indignity that is offered to him spn account of his fituation in life: for it is an undoubted truth, that indignity ever is, we had almost faid that it ever must be, offered to the unfortunate -Man of virtue! enquire not why this fhould neceffarily be; the problem is not to be refolved here. Now fuch being the character of Mr. Cumberland's hero, we find him continually involved in difficulties which the more prudent and the more complaifant among mankind will certainly avoid. Placed by his father, who is of a mean and groveling fpirit, as private fecretary to a man in power, he receives, on quitting the paternal roof, the following truly humiliating charge: Be always ready at the call, nay at the very nod of your principal. Study his looks fo as to anticipate, if poffible, his wishes, before he can give them utterance. Make friends with all that are of his family or connections: none are to be neglected by you, not even his domeftics, for they have much to fay, and many opportunities to fay it in. His lordfhip, you well know, is of a lofty nature, high in blood, rich in honours, and replete with power, authority and wealth. His humour therefore must be your law, and in all things you must accord to it: if you thwart it, you are undone if you foothe it, your fortune is made.' To this he answers, in the language of a Chriftian, • The leffons of humility which you are pleafed to beftow upon me, I fhall ftrive to profit by.' At the fame time adding, But I fhall hope to find Lord G. too noble to demand thofe abject affiduities which would degrade my character, and reflect no honour upon bis.' An admirable obfervation; and originating in fo refined and generous a principle, that we hope it may operate, in fome degree, on the monied upftarts of the day; fo that by awakening a fenfe of noblene's in their bofoms, or, failing in that, a fenfe of fame, they may be deterred from infulting, in any grofs degree, the man of talents who may be in want; and who, being fo, is neceffarily deferted by the world: we fay in any grofs degree, for when we reflect on the general depravity among man |