Near this bleak Waste no friendly mansion rears While Horror treads the scatter'd bones around. For WAR IS MURDER, tho' the voice of Kings For thousands ev'ry age in fight to fall; Here let him wander at the midnight hour, And call fuch dreary defolation, Fame. The genuine Muse removes the thin disguise, That cheats the World, whene'er she deigns to fing And full as meritorious to her eyes Seems the Poor Soldier, as the Mighty King! Alike I shun in labour'd strain to show, HOW BRITAIN more than triumph'd, tho she fled, Yet much my beating breast respects the brave; Nor think 'tis but in War the Brave excel, - .. Alas! Alas! the folemn slaughter I retrace, I can no more an agony too keen Absorbs my senses, and my mind subdues, But lo! thro' yonder op'ning clouds afar Shoots the bright PLANET's sanguinary ray From barb'rous Turkey to Britannia's shore, DELLA CRUSCA. We particularly admire the 7th stanza as containing a thought both new and just. His Muse is generally plaintive, and sometimes philofophical. Thus, to Anna Matilda: • When far off the night storm flies, Let not the studious Seer reply, ** This imperfect mode of expreffion can never be allowed. We are left to suppose that " millions of stars" is meant; but though this be inferable, it is not faid. Ggz Ah! Ah! quit thy toil, presumptuous Sage, The concealed Lady is not equal to her unseen admirer, either as a philosopher or poet, yet we lament that her book is clos'd her lyre is broke. Arley's poetry is entitled to the praise of being easy and elegant; the Invitation to Delia we would particularly refer to, in justification of this encomium; Benedict's Sonnets certainly have merit, and the fame might be said of the African Boy and the Ode to Prudence; the former by the Bard, and the latter by Edwin; but not a merit equal to the Sonnets. Our opinion of the pieces entitled Ancient Music, we shall neither say nor fing. As verbal critics, we might be induced to notice the words literate, isolated, fenfate, &c. which occur in these volumes, but we are not disposed at present to exercise our talents in this way. We shall rather observe that some of the poems, designed to be pathetic, tire by too much paftoral description; and that in those of Della Crufca, we several times meet with shades among and groves among, which, when often used by a modern poet of eminence, will excite some disapprobation. We, however, are infinitely more dissatisfied with the indecent lines on Lady T-rc-l's Ring, which certainly should not have been allowed a place in a collection of the chaste, plaintive, and elegant productions of ANNA MATILDA, and DELLA CRUSCA. A Tragic Drama, by Della Crusca, entitled Ambitious Vengeance, concludes Vol. I. On this we shall observe that it is indeed tragic, that the plot seems to have been suggested by Shakespeare's Macbeth, and his Romeo and Juliet; and that the outlines of the characters are for the most part derived from the same source. As a Drama it is defective, but the dialogue is not unworthy the elegant pen to which it is ascribed. ΜΟΝΤΗLY CATALOGUE, For NOVEMBER, 1788. ANTIQUITIES. Art. 15. Picturesque Antiquities of Scotland. Etched by Adam de Cardonnel. 8vo. 2 Vols. 18s. Boards. Edwards. 1788. T HE reception which a former publication * met with, has encouraged Mr. de Cardonnel to continue his labours in preserving from oblivion the ancient remains of Caledonian splendor, once so con * Numifmata Scotia. See Rev. vol. lxxv. p. 114. 12 fpicuous spicuous in the churches, religious houses, and castles, now mostly in ruins. The volumes before us contain neat engravings of several ruins, somewhat fimilar to those of Capt. Grose, with a short description in letter-press under the plate. The first volume, which is appropriated to religious houses, has an introduction describing the different orders of Monks, with their institutions in Scotland; and the second, in which are the ruins of fortifications, has a prefatory difcourse on ancient fortification, part of which is abridged from that of Capt. Grofe in his Preface to the English antiquities. Mr. de Cardonnel has bestowed no small labour in collecting the materials for this publication, and he seems to have executed his plan with judgment, in the historical part, and with elegance, in the engravings. The small scale on which the ruins are drawn may be objected to by those who are accustomed to larger plates: the author was sensible of this objection; but he wished to accommodate travellers with a pocket companion, that might give a concise account of fome of the principal circumstances relative to Scottish ruins:-and this purpose will be well answered by the present publication. TITHES. Art. 16. A Letter to Sir Francis Bluke, Bart. Wherein his Arguments for the Abolition of Tithes, and the Reform of the Church Revenue †, are candidly confidered, and their Futility exposed. Being a concise, but rational, Defence of the present System of Tithes. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Stalker. 1788. When Sir Francis Blake's Proposal for the Liquidation of the National Debt was first published, we were rather difsposed to pass over his ideas for the extinction of tithes, in a ludicrous way, than to avail ourselves of the opportunity of officiously touching on so tender a subject; and the present writer also might fafely have let them alone: for there are no indications that his schemes are going to be put in execution. Nevertheless we are now very loudly called back to the subject of tithes; and are warned of the danger of attempting to meddle with ecclefiaftical affairs, in a manner truly alarming: • The alliance between Church and State is so sacred and inviolate, that few instances can be produced, where the property of the former has been invaded, and its interests betrayed, without a manifest injury being done to the latter: the dependencies and relations of the one and the other being so minutely interwoven, that it certainly requires the nicest discrimination to determine how far the fuperior power may invade, or alienate the long-established rights of the inferior, without manifestly incurring the imputation of injustice. The many dreadful convulfions which have rent asunder, nay even overturned the most powerful empires, which have risen to the most tre + See his Proposal for the Liquidation of the National Debt, &c. Rev. vol. lxviii. p. 444. Gg3 mendous mendous heights, from very small beginnings, are warnings that Speak in thunder to the inconfiderate and precipitate, who thoughtlessly advise, or hastily incite others to execute, what may not only produce a temporary disorder, but overwhelm thousands in inevitable perdition.' What, cannot we wish to alter the mode of providing for one order of men in the nation, from a way that proves disagreeable to others, to a way more easy to themselves, without apprehending the ruin of the whole? A fat pluralift would " speak in thunder," even to a mild proposal to reduce the inequalities of benefices, and enjoin refidence: yet no thunder either from heaven or earth punished the daring resumption of abbey lands * ! To Sir Francis Blake's proposal for abolishing what he deems unnecessary dignities in the church, our Author replies, • Is not this doctrine of yours directly applicable to every rank in life, to the Peerage and Baronetage, as well as to the Clergy? Can you advance one fingle argument for the abolition of the different diftinctions in the Church, that will not militate with a double force against all the higher distinguishing ranks in life, and recoil upon your own head with fuch persevering fury, that I believe all your ingenuity will be found insufficient to extricate yourself from the impending blow? Destroy distinction, and you destroy subordination, order, and decorum. If it be absolutely necessary amongst one class of mankind, it is in another, for the rule holds good through the whole, and is invariably so in the time past, the present, and the future.' This does not appear prima facie, and is mere local argument. For, were the question to be decided at Edinburgh, Amsterdam, or Geneva, they might at either of those places argue, that as Christ's kingdom is not of this world, it is not fufficiently clear that his fer vants have any professional claim to a participation in worldly offices and dignities; nor why a hierarchy should be erected, rifing from the confefsedly useful station of a parish prieft, through feveral ex pensive degrees, until it reaches, and unites with, the highest poli * The above instance is full in point, confidering the scornful indiscriminate reproach which the writer cafts on ALL attempts at reformation. Referring to the fale of Sir Francis Blake's pamphlet, he observes, The third edition is, no doubt, sufficient evidence of its favourable reception with the Public, who is ever anxious to patronize the wildest chimeras, and the most improbable inconfistencies, if they be only fanctioned by the palatable word, Reform. This has been an ignis fatuus to mislead the credulous, from the earliest accounts of time, even to the present day. It favours their humours, and accords with their ill-grounded prejudices, by promising a speedy exemption from all their burthens, real or imaginary. This propofition, bowever improbable in the execution, or delufive in the event, readily finds a number of votaries, by indulging their hopes, and flattering their prepossessions. But how far the final issues of these ill-concerted reformations, have quadrated with their expectations, the bistories of paft ages inform us. Here is a leffon for the credulous, and a warning for the precipitate!' |