and dignified in human nature to gloss over the corruptions and palliate the injustice of their tyrants, in order to degrade men, who so justly deserve our gratitude and admiration, merely because their zeal had been inflamed by a sense of injury, and, in vindicating the rights of humanity, they betrayed the ardour and enthusiasm of partizans, rather than the coldness of sceptics, or the indifference of selfish philosophers and politicians.

Art. IV. Epistles on the Character and Condition of Women, in various Ages and Nations. With Miscellaneous Poems. By Lucy Aikin. 4to. pp. viii. 142. price 12s. Johnson and Co. 1810.

IT is difficult to say what a poem on Women should include. It appears to us, that the fair and ingenious author of these Epistles, has too much circumscribed her theme, by confining her attention almost wholly to woman, as she has been, and as she is, in various ages and nations, in her relationship to man as the weaker part of the species, oppressed by his tyranny among barbarians, and raised by his courtesy to her due rank, in proportion as he became civilized. Woman in her more abstract and universal character, woman as she is with respect to herself, as well as with respect to her helpmate, woman in her individual sphere, fulfilling her duties as daughter, sister, wife, and mother is only incidentally mentioned; and scarcely celebrated with the commendation that is due to her, even from one of her own sex, who has most laudably and successfully undertaken to vindicate her dignity-and to prove both by argument and illustration, that as man himself sinks or rises, in society, by the ascendancy which belongs to him, he depresses or elevates his partner. But we are not disposed to find fault with the plan of this work. Had a hundred writers, male and female, chosen the same subject, each would have taken a different view of it. In every one we might have found peculiar traits excelling the corresponding traits in all the rest; in none perhaps harmoniously and perfectly assembled all the beautiful features and enchanting graces that belong to woman,-to woman as she is in our country, at our own home, by our own fire-side. Where it may be asked, should the poet find a prototype, for such a delineation? Truly we know not where a lady ought to look for for it,-unless where she who might find it there, would certainly not look for it, in her glass. But were the poet of the other sex-young-in love-and full of hopes, chastized by fears that make even hope more exquisitely precious, then we would tell him to shew us the woman of his heart, as she appears to him in those en

trancing moments, when he thinks on future happiness; and with happiness, in every state, and under every form, associates her dear idea, as the companion of his life, the friend of his bosom, the mother of his children, his portion on earth, his partner even in the joys of heaven. Woman thus lovely and virtuous, thus amiable and exalted, would surely be the most inspiring Muse, the most delightful theme, that ever prompted the numbers, or warmed the fancy of a poet worthy to be her admirer and panegyrist. We have had enough in verse, of the agonies and raptures of love, in youth and before marriage: but love in all the holy, sweet, and generous forms which it assumes, when the exchanged affections of two are centred on a third object, equally near and dear to each-when a family of children grow up together-and connubial, filial, parental, and fraternal feelings are so divided and diffused, as in one small circle at least to

"form with artful strife

"The mingled harmony of life;"

love thus enlarged, refined, and ennobled, has been but rarely, and at least but imperfectly sung by poets. The poet therefore, who should chuse woman for his theme, and represent her as the mother of such multiplied and abiding blessings to her species, might produce a work of far deeper interest, if not of far higher merit, than any that we have seen on the subject, in our own or other languages. It is at present, however of no consequence to enquire how the subject might have been adorned by another; it only behoves us to inform our readers, how the sex has been exhibited in these elegant epistles by one of its living ornament; and for this purpose we seleet, from the introduction, the following candid and curious avowal of the scope of the fair author's reasoning, on the character and condition of women in the various stages of society, among the principal nations of the earth.'

Convinced that it is rather to the policy, or the generosity of man, than to his justice that we ought to appeal, I have simply en deavoured to point out, that between the two partners of human life, not only the strongest family likeness, but the most complete identity of interest subsists: so that it is impossible for man to de grade his companion without degrading himself, or to elevate her without receiving a proportional accession of dignity and happiness This is the chief "moral of my song;" on this point all my exam. ples are brought to bear. I regard it as the Great Truth to the sup port of which my pen has devoted itself; and whoever shall rise from

the perusal of these epistles deeply impressed with its importance, will afford me the success dearest to my heart,....the hope of having served, in some small degree, the best interests of the human race.

From the arguments of the four epistles that constitute the poem, we select the following list of topics descanted upon by Miss Aikin, as affording a better idea of the strain of her work, which is varied and excursive, than any literal analysis that we could present.

Epistle I. The fame of man extended over every period of lifethat of woman transient as the beauty on which it is founded-Man makes her a trifler, then despises her, and makes war on the sex with Juvenal and Pope-A more impartial view of the subject attemptedWoman's weakness and consequent subserviency-General view of vari ous states of society-Adam and Eve, &c. &c.

Epistle II. Sundry sketches of savage life-no perfect Arcadia found on earth-all pastoral and hunting tribes deficient in mental cultivation-hence the weaker sex held by all in some kind of subjection.

Epistle III. Dawn of civilization-Troy taken-Spartans-character of their women-Athens-degraded state of the married womenRome-modern and ancient-its women contrasted-The scene of vir tue and glory unfolded by the promulgation of christianity-its fa vourable effect on the condition of women-their zeal in its defence equal to that of men-Female martyrs-Marriage rendered indissolu ble, &c.

Epistle IV. Ancient German women-inhabitants of the HaramHindoo widow-fascinating French woman-English mother-fatal effects of polygamy-Man cannot degrade the female sex without degrading the whole race-Chivalry-gallantry-Swiss women-French -English ditto-Exhortation to Englishmen to look with favour on the mental improvement of females-to Englishwomen to improve and principle their minds, and by their merit induce the men to treat them as friends, &c.'

Such are the principal subjects interwoven through these epistles; which are written with great vigour of thought, in a style of spirited versification, and embellished with incidents and characters from history, in general happily and successfully applied. The following sarcastic, and almost indignant, homage to the superiority of man, will afford a fair specimen of the general execution of the work.

No Amazon, in frown and terror drest,

I poise the spear, or nod the threatening crest,
Defy the law, arraign the social plan,
Throw down the gauntlet in the face of man,
And, rashly bold, divided empire claim,
Unborrowed honours, and an equal's name:
No, Heaven forbid! I touch no sacred thing,
But bow to Right Divine in man and king:

Nature endows him with superior force,
Superior wisdom then 1 grant, of course:
For who gainsays the despot in his might,
Or when was ever weakness in the right?
With passive reverence too I hail the law,
Formed to secure the strong, the weak to awe,
Impartial guardian of unerring sway
Set up by man for woman to obey.

In vain we pout or argue, rail or chide,
He mocks our idle wrath and checks our pride;
Resign we then the club and lion's skin,
And be our sex content to knit and spin:
To bow inglorious to a master's rule,
And good and bad obey, and wise and fool:
Here a meek drudge, a listless captive there,
For gold now bartered, now as cheap as air;
Prize of the coward, rich or lawless brave,
Scorned and caressed, a plaything and a slave,
Yet taught with spaniel soul to kiss the rod,

And worship man as delegate of God.' p. 5.

We regret that the fair author should have so coldly sung the benignant influence of christianity on the condition of her sex in society, while she so warmly denounces superstition, at the end of the third epistle: not that we deny the justice of her indignation against the latter, but that her eulogium of the former is comparatively feeble, and loses much of the little force that it possesses from the contrast that follows and which makes the reader almost imagine that fanaticism is a necessary, or a natural consequence of religion.

The following bold and animated passage is from the third The simile of the epistle. The subject explains itself. traveller's shadow is apt and ingenious, if not entirely original.

Mark where seven hills uprear yon stately scene,
And reedy Tiber lingering winds between:
Ah mournful view! ah check to human pride!
There Glory's ghost and Empire's phantom glide:
Shrunk art thou, mighty Rome; the ivy crawls,
The vineyard flaunts, within thy spacious walls;
Still, still, Destruction plies his iron mace,
And fanes and arches totter to their base:
Thy sons....O traitors to their father's fame!
O last of men, and Romans but in name!
See where they creep with still and listless tread,
While cowls, not helmets, veil the inglorious head.
If then, sad partner of her country's shame,
To nobler promptings deaf, the Latian dame

Nor honour's law nor nuptial faith can bind,
-Vagrant and light of eye, of air, of mind,........
Whom now a vile gallant's obsequious căres

Engage, now mass, processions, penance, prayers,...
Think not 'twas always thus:....what generous view,
What noble aim that noble men pursue,

Has never woman shared? As o'er the plain
The sun-drawn shadow tracks the wandering swain,
Treads in his footsteps, counterfeits his gait
Erect or stooping, eager or sedate;

Courses before, behind in mimic race,

Turns as he turns, and hunts him pace by pace;...
Thus, to the sex when milder laws ordain
A lighter fetter and a longer chain,,

Since freedom, fame, and lettered life began,
Has faithful woman tracked the course of man.
Strains his firm step for Glory's dazzling height,
Panting she follows with a proud delight:
Led by the sage, with pausing foot she roves
By classic fountains and religious groves;
In Pleasure's path if strays her treacherous guide,
By fate compelled, she deviates at his side,....
Yet seeks with tardier tread the downward way,
Averted eyes, and timorous, faint delay.
In mystic fable thus, together trod

The dire Bellona and the Warrior God;
The golden Archer and chaste, Huntress' queen,
With deaths alternate strewed the sickening scene;
And Jove-born Pallas shared the Thunderer's state,
The shield of horror and the nod of fate. p. 37.

It is hardly necessary to point out either the faults or merits of the miscellanies that follow the Epistles on Women. That intitled necessity, might have pleased us better, if we had been fatalists ourselves. We do not think the lyric measure of Miss Aikin, equal to her heroic verse, either in sprightliness. or harmony.

Art. V. An Inquiry into the Seat and Nature of Fever; as deducible from the Phenomena, Causes, and Consequences of the Disease, the Effects of Remedies, and the Appearances on Dissection. In two parts. Part the first containing the general Doctrine of Fever. By Henry Clutterbuck, M.D. 8vo. pp. 440. price 9s. Boosey. 1807. THERE are few sciences in which a strict and disciplined

:

mode of reasoning is more indispensably required, than in pathology; and yet there are few in which it is less attainable. In most other sciences, we may deduce our conclusions from phenomena fully cognizable by the senses, and from the operation of laws which the judgement can fairly appreciate. But in that which has for its object the na.