virtue.' Another brief observation on the character of ALEXANDER VI.,derived from Roscoe's Leo X., and a notice of ALONZO, that we expect to meet in the English under OJEDA, is the sum of the additions on biography. We know not, that the Editors on this side of the Atlantick could have introduced any other new head in this part of the first volume. We will however remark for their benefit, that, in the first part, the biography of SAMUEL ADAMS was unsatisfactory and that we hope more in the notices of BELKNAP and CLARKE, two of the brightest ornaments of American literature. ALIBI has gained a single sentence, which makes the description in the American Edition better than that of the English; but like the articles, of which we spoke above, it is all included in brackets, though not worth claiming from the foreign publishers.

ALIEN has acquired a paragraph, in which are two mistakes of the press, qua' for ' quasi, we presume; and 2 Ver.' for 2 Vez.'

The next addition is of the word ALLEY, a passage between opposite buildings, which proves the carefulness of our Philadelphia publishers to supply all the deficiencies of the original.

Several quotations of the use of the figure ALLITERATION do not, we believe, give any additional force to the remarks in the English Cyclopædia. It is a decoration of little value; though, unless eagerly introduced per fas et nefas, not indicative of false refinement. It lends considerable strength to an antithesis. What though he riots in the plunder of the army, and has only determined to be a patriot, when he could not be a peer.'

ALLUSION. The American editors have here made the best re

mark we find among their labours. The simile and the allusion from Goldsmith, are well placed in opposition, to discriminate their respective force. It is a species of comparison of great weight, and by its brevity is usually more interesting, than an allegory or a simile. Junius, the poignant writer of short sentences, abounds in the use of it. His reference to the Roman Catholick church denying the cup to the laity, if it may be thought free from levity, is an excellent instance. Lord Weymouth, he says, must have bread, or rather he must have wine. If you deny him the cup, there will be no keeping him within the pale of the ministry.'

In the article ALLUVION, a short account is given of the formation of the banks of the river Mississippi, and their gradual protrusion into the gulf of Mexico. Here we meet a very glaring mistake. 'At New-Orleans, three hundred miles above the present mouth of the river.' We had thought that every man, woman, and child in the United States, was so well acquainted with that part of our dominions, as to know, that that city is only thirty-five leagues from the river's mouth.

Of the last addition we have to mention, which is under the word ALVAH, we can only remark, that we do not apprehend the meaning of the sentence.

The American Editors can claim no great honours for the additions to this part of the first volume; yet we are not prepared to say, that they have not subjoined to every article whatever was wanting, and perhaps inserted every necessary subject, neglected by their prede cessors. In this number their addenda do not amount to more than four or five pages; but we hope the ensuing volumes will af

ford us more novelty to examine, and more excellence to praise.

The printer has most honourably performed his engagements to the publick. The type is much neater than the English; the ink, too, is better, and the paper whiter; but we fear the American, having a large mixture of cotton in its composition, will be less durable than the English. The typographical errours are less numerous, than might have been feared; yet sufficiently so, to afford us some vexation.

In AHLWAROT, immorality for immortality.

For АHUYS, read Ahus.

ST. ALBAN. A comma, carelessly inserted in the English verses, confuses their meaning, and we can learn it only by turning to the Latin.

Under ALCAIC ODE, the line sors exitura, &c., is quoted in two different ways, of which the last is right.

ALCMANIAN has two errours, cano for canto, and munere for munera; but both are borrowed from the English work.

ALCOHOL. The citation of the verses from Juvenal, is incorrect

in both editions.

ALHUYS, should read Alhus. SALLEVEURE, Half-öre.

ALMSTAD, Halmstad. In a work of this kind it cannot be excused, under any presence, to alter the spelling of a word, in a foreign language, for the purpose of assimilating the original pro

Poems by Richard B. Davis ; with a sketch of his life.

A simple, solitary bard was he.' New-York, T. & J. Swords. 1807. 12mo.

THE sketch of Mr. Davis's life, which is prefixed to this little collection, has prepossessed us much in his favour, as a man; but we shall be extremely careful, that this opinion do not interfere with our consideration of him, as a poet. This collection is very miscellaneous, and the poems, generally, of no inconsiderable length. An elegy on a broken flute' is the first in the series, and, we are told, the earliest production of our poet's Muse. In this performance, tho' altogether respectable for the first essay, yet we find very little to amuse, and nothing to cause our admiration. The versification, excepting an hiatus here and there, is tolerable; and the rhymes are invariably correct. The two next far inferiour to the first; they are poems are altogether negative, and remarkable only for four or five instances of bad rhyme, and one grammatical errour. We now come to the Hymn of the Morning Stars,' in which, there is an appearance of labour, and, we are sorry to say, to very little purpose. The design of this poem is truly happy; but the execution comparatively wretched. • Celestial

are tautological expressions. The word, beatifick, is misapplied, for it is appropriated to heavenly enjoyments after death. To say, 'en. throned in regions of uncreated light,' is ridiculous: we may as well say, 'placed on an uncreated stool'; and this rhyme,

ment, and this little production is the vilest, on the whole, that we have seen throughout the book: turpiter atrum, Desinit in piscem mulier førmosa superne.'

In the 'Summer Evening' there is this expression, evening sheds We can shed

Seraphs begin the sacred sound,
Empyreal echoes! bear it round,
Let world to world the joy convey,
Far as extends creation's day;
Cherubick harps! the notes prolong,
And fondly dwell upon the song.'

There are some others, but the performance is very unequal.

This poem is followed by a number of others, not worth an examination here; and, among these, one to a sleeping infant,' which begins prettily enough, and ends very prettily; but when the poet pronounced the following:

On his hard couch when restless

av'rice quakes,'

we presume the infant must have been very considerably roused, by the rough sibilation of the line.

The next in order, of which we can make up our mouths to say any thing, is the Exile.' From the first stanza, we were led to hope for a pretty little poem; but the hopes of man are blasted in a mo

our blood, a serpent can shed his skin, &c., but we do not conceive it possible to shed a smile. The ' Elegy on the death of Dr. Joseph Youle,' is very much like a sermon in verse, without possessing one characteristick of a good discourse. The verse is so inhar

monious, that it would have answered very well, instead of Demosthenes' pebblestones. Who can pronounce the second line of this performance, without some compassion for the society, before whom it was delivered?

'Sorrow, thy louder ecstacies restrain?

We next come to the Epitaph on my Grandmother,' which we cannot resist the pleasure of transcribing, it is so perfectly harmless: Sweet are the peaceful slumbers of the just,

And guardian angels watch their sacred dust;

Death is to them in richest mercy giv

en,

To them the tomb is but the gate of heaven.'

This is an epitaph on Mr. Davis' grandmother, although it would suit any other grandmother perfectly as well. We do not censure Mr. Davis for writing ridiculous and unmeaning verses on his grandmother; but we consider his editors highly culpable, for inserting, in this little volume, this and many other performances, which do not amount even to the dignity of trifles. In the Ode from Horace,' we were induced to hope for something classical, but we are

There is

obliged to apply the shepherd's admonition, in its full force, nim ium ne crede colori.' often too great distance between the design and execution, and this position is admirably realized in the translation of this little ode. It is intended as a translation of the seventh ode of the third book, Ad Asterien ;' which Dr. Francis has barbarously murdered with his clerical quill; and whoever will trouble himself to survey the Doctor's translation, will see how cruelly he has mangled poor Asteria, and that she expires, not without many groans. Now, that such a kind-hearted man, as Mr. Davis is represented to have been, should ever take it into his head to murder poor Asteria over again, is past all bearing; and we shall therefore be as just to his translation, as we possibly can. Mr. Davis has changed the name Gyges for Damon, because the latter was somewhat prettier and softer, &c., but he has here already stepped one foot out of the way of a translator. He knew well enough that Gyges did not mean Damon. Had he intended this as an imitation, he might have called him Cory. don, or Balthazar, or any thing he pleased; but, as a translator, he should have called him Gyges. In the translation of the first stanza, he has omitted Thynâ merce beatum.' In the second, he has omitted Ille notis actus ad Oricum.' What he means by Guided by the midnight star,' we can form no sort of conjecture; if he has contrived to weave this line out of Post insana Capra sidera,' he is truly a most ingenious weaver, for this passage is directly contrary to the signification he has given it. But we are tired of this: in short, thisode from Horace' is not from Horace. The fundamental rules,

established by Dr. Campbell, of Aberdeen, are three. 1...That the translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original. 2...That the style and manner of the original should be preserved in the translation. 3...That the translation should have all the ease of the original composition. In all these points, Mr. Davis has failed; and we are sorry, since the versification of this ode has given us the best example of his art, in the mechanicks of metrical composition.

The Elegy on an old wig found in the street,' might have been a much better elegy than it is. It is a good subject for mock-elegy, and Mr. Davis has, for the most part, handled it with palsied fingers. In justice to merit, howev-er, we cannot pass over these truly facetious stanzas without wishing, that the author had been as fortunate in the other parts of the poem, as in that, where he addresses the wig;

"Some judge sagacious, learned in the law,

Us'd thee, perhaps, his solemn frown t'improve;

rev'rend awe,

While culprits, jurics, courts, with Shook like Olympus at the nod of Jove. Some grave professor's head has been thy place,

Haply 'twas thine his office to bespeak; While, clinging closely round his clas sick face,

Each learned curl seem'd buckled stiff with Greek.

critick; for they will produce no effect upon the reader, either pleasant or otherwise. They belong to that numerous tribe of negative productions, that are published every day, which are read, and are forgotten; for they have no adhesive quality, whereby they can fasten themselves upon the mind, and perpetuate their remembrance. This collection of poems is, on the whole, hardly worth the trouble of perusing. The ideas are considerably poetical in some of these performances, although novelty is the least prominent feature on the face of this collection. The execution of these verses is by no means rude, and by no means polished. The versification, however, is very unequal. We are very far from saying these verses are composed, Musis et Apolline nullo,' but we do not hesitate to affirm, they are composed, Musis et Apolline parvo.

Wishing does not belong to our province, but we cannot prevent ourselves from wishing, that Mr. Davis had lived to a more advanced age; or that he had applied himself more studiously to poetry, in his earlier years. Had this been the case, we should have had the satisfaction of enjoying the fruits of a genius more matured, and the Muses would not have blushed when weeping on his grave.

ART. 25.

Letters to a young lady, on a course of English Poetry. By J. Aikin, M. D. Boston: Published by Munroe & Francis, and by Thomas & Whipple, Newburyport. 1806. 12mo.

THIS is a choice little work, and brings the pupil very pleasantly acquainted with the poets. It is

written with that even judgment and just taste, for which the Doctor is distinguished, and though less laboured,intentionally perhaps, than the popular Letters to his Son, is in no respect unworthy the author. To be at once easy, entertaining, and instructive, requires a union of talents, which is rarely possessed, and which the Doctor, not deserving perhaps of the first honours of criticism, may be allowed to enjoy in an eminent degree. If the performance of more than we promise entitle us to praise, we conceive ourselves indebted to the author to the amount of another compliment; for his present labour is not only worthy, as he would have it, of the attention of a young student of poetry, but may be read with edification by the oldest admirer of the Muses.

We understand that some of the wits of England accuse the Aikins of book-making; an employment, it seems, not the most honourary which letters afford, and in nowise, we should presume, appropriable to any branch of the family. If the lighter, but useful, publications, which Mrs. Barbauld and her brother have obligingly put together for the improvement of youth, are considered as specimens of this kind of manufacture, we can only observe, that we feel a respect for the craft, and wish success to its partners. It may appear rash in us to call in question the awards of our superiours, and we hope for our own sakes, that what we have heard may be traced in the end to the scandalous club; yet we cannot avoid expressing our disapprobation of any ungentle remarks upon the Doctor and his connexions. If they are not to be admitted on the valued file of authors, we should