And of the contraft made a handle,
To make them learn and love to fcandal.
Of painted faces then they hinted,
Of borrow'd shapes and looks that squinted.
Mifs Thalia, nettled by fuch joking,
Declared 'twas fhameful, rude, provoking,
And prinking up her head and ftomach,
Vow'd, fhe their meaning could not come at.
Although unus'd to vaunt her own,
She wish'd her merit fully known,
And hence appeal'd to better judges
For the award, that Envy grudges.
The action brought-no matter how
At Venus' court-observe them now
Before the umpire standing fearless,
Give tokens each of beauty peerless.
One often laugh'd, her teeth to fhew,
In ruby fet a pearly row;
And all the charms of dimples prove,
Those very hiding holes of love.
Another's fighs and lifpings tell,
She has a heart fufceptible-

While this fo leer'd and danc'd fo wild,
As every limb and feature spoil'd ;
That fcowling fat, as if she ftrove

To terrify them into love.

The queen, at length impatient grown,

Veil'd all her beauties in a frown,

And ver'd, they fo mistook their natures,

Upftarting cri'd," out, out, you creatures→→→

Think ye fuch ftudied airs delight us,

Such tricks of monkies-out, you fright us!
And come, when next you aim to please,
'Ray'd in fimplicity and ease.
Difmifs dull art, that painted favage,
So watchful beauty's form to ravage;
Nor be the moral hint defpis'd
Within this accident compris❜d.

For Envy 'twas, that first began
To difarrange fair nature's plan;
Effayed by more distinct grimace
To rival e'en celestial grace;
And fpurious ornaments invented
To make the vain be discontented.
Hence Folly wears her cap and bells,
And Fashion all the rout impels;
While scarcely Virtue dares to linger,
When Grandeur becks with gilded finger.
By no relenting softness check'd
From poisoning, while he can infect,
The flippery fiend delights to glide
Unfeen within the weaker fide.
Surprising thus the heart of youth,
Ere principle attains its growth.
From that original were fent,
False wit and false accomplishment,
With fabrications that difplace

Both native fense and native

grace.

CINDELERUS.

REMARKS ON NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The Peafan's Fate: a Rural Poem; with Mifcellaneous Poems, by WILLIAM HOLLOWAY.-Published in London, 1802; in Bofton, 1802; and in Philadelphia, 1804.

THE aim of the "Peafant's Fate" is a lamentation for the modern changes in the life and manners of the populace in England. The author implies in this poem, that avarice, or the spirit of monopolizing, has there gained fuch general and powerful influence, that benevolence and focial virtue feem to be almoft totally fuppreffed. The engroffing of small farms, by compelling the hereditary tenants to a military or a maritime occupation, or by forcing them to fervitude in the very places, that were formerly their own domains, is here reprefented, as the chief cause of the inquietude and fufferings of the peafantry. Refinement and luxury, though they obviously promote trade Vol. I. No. 4.

Z

and commerce, are held forth as greatly injurious to the inferior grades of fociety, and as wholly inadequate for indemnifying the nation in their inattention to agricultural improvements.

But whether the changes, which Mr. Holloway attempts to deplore, have actually happened; or whether his complaints are in any respect reasonable, we fhall not here pretend to decide. Our purpose is merely to point out and confider a few fpecimens. of his poetry.

In the "Peafant's Fate," we perceive a mifcellaneous feriesof narratives, reflections, and defcriptions of fcenes and manners, which in all are, ages, more or lefs obfervable in the country. Thefe fubjects, fortuitoufly arranged and loofely combin-ed, are feparated into two books; but the reason of this divifion is not eafily difcerned, unlefs the author defigned it as a conve-nient place for the wearied reader's repofe.-He begins the languifbing frain by invoking his mufe, with the appellation of "Bleft companion of my happiest hours! Divine directrefs of my infant powers!"

and immediately attempts thus to celebrate her attributes: "Whofe prefence charm'd me in the wood-land shade, When autumn's fhivering leaf began to fade,

Or fpring profufely, from her rofeate horn,

Difpens'd the flowers that fcent the bumid morn.”

But here, it will be readily obferved, he foon forgets his object, and wantonly forfakes the control of common fenfe. At length, recollecting his intention for fupplicating a mufe, he thus ex

claims :

"Muse of my native valley! hafte along !” Any one may conclude from the "hafte along," that ever he himfelf believed the mufe to be at an incommodious distance, and the conclusion will be strengthened by this immediate application to another agent:

"Awake, remembrance, and infpire the fong;
Let fond attachment dwell on pleasures past,
By abfence weakened, nor by time effac'd."

But in this petition he quickly gives an unlucky affront to gram-
mar, and then peaceably retires to his "woodland fhades," and
"autumn's fhivering leaves," in thefe halting steps of profe:
"But while I mark the changes that appear

In country manners, O, forgive the tear!"

Having thus ftepped forth with his addrefs, he undertakes a defcription of former profpects, in which it appears, that he had

gained but little affistance from the mufe, and that remembrance had presented her images under a dark and confufing veil.

"Where yonder thymy down expanded lies,
And spreads its purple bofom to the skies,
There many a shepherd-boy was wont to keep
His father's fcanty flock of fcatter'd sheep :"

These lines may pass without animadverfion: but the incongruity of these which follow, is intolerable from any one, who pretends to genius and correct taste.

"I've seen them oft their narrow track purfue,

And wind adorn thofe knolls to paftures new,

Or, group'd beneath the folitary thorn,

That lends new fragrance to the breath of morn,
Lie panting-feltered from the peflering fy,

The fmothering duft, and day's refulgent eye."

They, who have feen many a feanty flock of fcattered fheep on a thymy down, winding adown thofe knolls, or grouped beneath the folitary thorn, that lends new fragrance to the breath of morn, and that shelters them from the peftering fly, the fmothering duft and day's refulgent eye, can alone defend Mr. Holloway's poetical vifion. He now proceeds to complete his picture of former times.

"Young Ralph's domain to yonder maple hedge
Extended-Edmund's to the common's edge-
The common, clad with vegetative gold,
Whofe well-dried Alones allay the wintry cold;
Whence ev'ry family its portion claims
To fence the hovel, or recruit the flames-
From path to path, that winds along the plain,
The cheerful Stephen held his ruftic reign;
While, ftill obfervant of his due commands,
In at to fart the faithful keeper stands.
Numbers befide, there led their bleating charge,
Enjoyed their paftimes gay, and rov'd at large."

Such is the dim, uninterefting feene, prefented to this poet by remembrance;

"O, memory, thou fond deceiver !

Still importunate and vain,

To former joys recurring ever,

And turning all the past to”

-confufion and nonsense!

He next attempts a contrast between thofe times and the prefent, the first line of which, we think, is very appofitely introduced:

"But now no more these rural fcenes invite."

We believe this is a truth, that will be pretty generally acknowl

edged. He then continues:

"Far different objects meet the aching fight;

In all the pomp of fanguinary war,

I fee the military bands, afar,

Extend their glittering lines, or, wheeling wide,

In parallel divide and subdivide,

While, through the opening ranks, loud martial strains
Progreffive, roll along the dusty plains."

When the reader's curiosity and attention have in this manner
been called to the "military bands," that scene is suddenly clof-
ed for the exhibition of this vexatious fpecimen of bathos.
"Which yield no pasture to the fleecy kind,
That distant range their juicy meal to find."

Again the profpect opens, and we here fee for what purpose the armies were fo pompously displayed on the field.

"Scar'd from her haunts the twitt'ring linnet flies,
The quivering lark afcends the fmould'ring skies,
And finches, that on downy thiftles feed,

Spread their gilt wings and feek the filent mead."

If Mr. Holloway had made himself acquainted with the precept of Horace ;

"Nec Deus interfit,nifi dignus vindice nodus ;"

in its full meaning, he might have avoided the trouble of raising the bands of fanguinary war merely for the idle task of scaring away a few harmless birds.

Thus far have we particularly noticed the former part of this poem, and think it is now time to defist from any farther quotation. In perufing it to the conclufion, we find it generally a dull, unanimated performance, without method, without elegance of diction, distinctness of imagery, or harmony of numbers. If we must acknowledge, that there are glimmerings of genius fometimes. difcernible, even candour will allow, that they are,

"Like angel vifits, few and far between."

The Miscellaneous Poems may justly hold the rank of mediocrity among modern compofitions of the kind. That entitled, "Radipole" has given us no fmall pleasure in its perufal; its two firft ftanzas deferve the praise of poetical merit.

Obi; or the Hiftory of Threefingered Fack: in a series of Letters from
a Refident in Jamaica to his Friend in England.
I vol. 12mo.
Published in London, 1800-in Bofton, by B. & J. HOMANS, 1804.

IN this lively and interefting little history are related the exploits of that wonderful adventurer, "who," as the writer obferves, "had he been fituated in a higher rank of life, would have proved as bright a luminary, as ever graced the Roman annals, or ever boldly afferted the rights of a Briton." For the gratification of thofe readers, who are unacquainted with the fto