Art. XVI. Napoleon, a Poem, in which that Arch Apostate from the Cause of Liberty, is held up to the just Indignation of an injured Peo ple, concluding with an Address to France, dedicated to the British Army in Spain. By the Rev. C. Colton, M. A. Fellow of King's Col lege, Cambridge. 8vo. pp. 32. Hatchard and Co. 1812.

WE hope Mr. Colton has now relieved himself, and that he will be able

to resume his professional duties in tolerable tranquility. His specific object, it appears, is to lower Buonaparte in the eyes of the French people; and for the more effectual accomplishment of it, his poem either is, or is to be, translated into the French tongue. If Napoleon can stand against it, he is abuse-proof. The delineation of his character here given, is both general and particular. The former is expressed in the following concise yet comprehensive terms.

Past, present, future crimes, have met in one
Hail great assemblage! hail Napoleon!'

On the latter it would be premature to pronouce a final decision, before we have received a copy of the French Emperor's defence. In the mean time, to console Mr. Colton for the delay which must of necessity result from this our impartial proceeding, we will try to find room for some of the best lines in his deepmouthed diatribe.

Say, Tragi-comic Harlequin of Fate!

What mad, yet monrnful pranks, the world await?
Dread Pantomimic Proteus of the age!
Strut thy poor hour on Europe's bloody stage;
Kings and their armies for thine actors have,
And Fortune for thy Cymbeline and slave;
Then wield awhile her all-subduing wand,
Decree this throne to fall, and that to stand;
Change with a frown or smile, the face of things,
Make Monarchs Mendicants, Adventurers Kings,
Proud Cities Ruins, Wealth and Property,
A sapless, rootless, shorn transplanted tree.
Triumph, a little space, by craft and time,

Two foes thou canst not conquer-TRUTH and TIME.

Art XVII. The Country Pastor, or Rural Philanthropist; a Poem. By .H. Holloway. 12mo. pp. 130. Price 58. Gale and Curtis. 1812. THIS volume will reflect no discredit on Mr. Holloway's previous ef

forts. The poetry though not remarkably spirited is generally in pretty good taste, while the sentiments are, for the most part, correct and liberal. The following may be regarded as no unfavourable specimens. O! by what ties the faithful Priest is bound

To his belov'd parishioners around!

A thousand mutual obligations tend

Their hopes, their joys, their sympathies, to blend.
They know his worth, and, while they well attest,
Striye who shall honour, and reward, him best.

For them he labours in the work of grace:
His tender care baptized their infant race;
Confirmed the rustic lover's bridal vows,
And blest the virtuous wife and constant spouse;
In sorrows hour sweet consolation gave,

And laid their kindred in the peaceful grave.-p. 68.

On wild Spitzbergens melancholy shore,

Where, chained in icy caves, the north waves roar;
Where, half the year, sepulchral twilight reigns,
Or midnight suns illume the twinkling plains;
Even there so Fame reports-a patient race
Unwearied labour in the work of grace;
In loathsome huts, beneath eternal snows,
The sacred fervour of devotion glows;
While the poor savage lifts his eyes to heaven,
Clings to the cross, and feels his sins forgiven.
Where, 'midst her ancient forests, dark and damp,
Columbia's fire-fly lights her sparkling lamp,
Oft is the child of slavery kneeling found,
And prayer, and praise, in lonely wilds resound.
The sable outcasts of Angola's shore,

Lost to their country, have one hope in store :-
By faith they view, beyond their present state,
A better country, and a happier fate.

Where the proud column in the desert stands,
Half buried in the depth of burning sands,
'Mid ancient temples, awful in decay,

Or mouldering tombs, impervious to the day,
The tribes no human power could yet o'erawe-
Strangers and aliens to the moral law

With bow unstrung, and leaning on the spear,

Of justice, truth, and mercy love to hear. pp. 18, 19, 20.

Art. XVIII. A Discourse occasioned by the Death of Maxwell Garthshore, M. D. Physician to the British Lying-In Hospital, F. R. S. F. S. A. To which are added Notes Biographical, Devotional, and Miscellaneous. By George Greig. 8vo. pp. 52. Conder. 1812.

WE

E are glad to receive this affectionate tribute to the memory of a man so truly amiable and respectable as the late Dr. Garthshore. The points on which Mr. Greig, chiefly insists, in delineating his charac ter, are, his fervent and habitual piety-his temperance and self-denialhis diligent improvement of time and his conscientious charity and benevolence. Among many interesting particulars in this part of the sermon we observe the following.

It was his regular custom, to the close of his life, to rise every morning, at or soon after four o'clock, and repair to his study; where these early moments of each day were spent with God, and in reading religious books of a devotional or practical tendency....Piety such as his so unaffected, simple, uniform, and consistent-nust have a pure

and powerful internal spring. It would only be influenced by the faith of the Gospel and ardent love for the Saviour. Thus in him, as a professional man, piety and science were found happily to unite He did not like some would-be literati, of the present day, find any thing in Christianity repugnant to his taste and feelings as a man of science. Nor did he consider it beneath the dignity of his profession to avow himself a disciple of the despised Nazarene, and to take his station under the banner of the cross.

For nothing, perhaps, was our deceased friend more remarkable than for the benevolence of his disposition. I know, for I had the means of knowing, that his beneficence was eminently diffusive.... His heart glowed with generous warmth to suffering humanity, while his hand was open to every fair claim on his bounty. A cursory observer, a stranger to his real character, might have judged him parsimonious to an extreme. But if he was parsimonious, it was only to himself. He was afraid, conscientiously, of an abuse of trust in needlessly throwing away a single shilling on himself, whilst he would cheerfully contribute to any amount where the cause of God and Christian charity required it. It is with the fullest confidence I can state, that in acts of charity he expended not less, and frequently more than £1000 per annum.'

The diary of this excellent man, which he kept the whole period of his residence in London from 1763-1806 is said to illustrate in every page (and it amounted to many thousands, closely written) the devo tional habit of his mind abounding in daily ejaculations of praise and thanksgiving, with fervent prayers to be kept steady in that cause of well-doing, essential to happiness in the present life and in that which is to come. The tone and temper,' it is added, elevation' and energy, acquired by this sublime heavenly intercourse, appeared indispensible to this good man, not only as the consolation of sorrow, and the disposer to patience and resignation under the ills of life, but as the spring and principle of unwearied perseverance in active virtue; the diligent, liberal, charitable exercise of the profession to which he was devoted.' The extracts which Mr. Greig has produced are highly interesting.

Mr. G's text is Psalm cxvi. 15. It is needless to add any express commendation of the discourse.

Art. XIX. Rules for English Composition, and particularly for Themes. Designed for the Use of Schools, and in aid of Self Instruction. By John Rippingham. 12mo. pp. 112. Price 3s. 6d. Longman and Co. 1812.

WE have no particular objection to urge against the manner in which

Mr. Rippingham has executed his undertaking: but we have considerable doubts whether he has not over-rated the value of it. • Rules for composition will never make a fine writer, though they may a correct one and we have no occasion to go to the schools for examples to prove that the art of composition is a very distinct thing from the art of thinking. It is far from being a paradox to say that the taste may be formed too early.

Perhaps Mr. Rippingham might have omitted some of his own discussions, and curtailed his introduction to advantage. As a writer we must

say he appears to us, little better than a young gentleman of a higher formAt all events there was no occasion to go out of his way to be-praise the religious discipline of Westminster school!

Art. XX. The friendly Call of Truth and Reason to a new species of Dissenters, or Nominal Churchmen, but Practical Schismatics, to which are prefixed a few Observations on the Expediency of Parliamentary Interposition, duly to explain, and if necessary to amend, The Act of William and Mary, commonly called "The Toleration Act." By the Rev. Edward Barry, M. D. Rector of St. Mary's and St. Leonard's, Wallington, Berks, with the chapel of Satwell annexed. 8vo. pp. 179. Price 5s. 4th Edit. Rivingtons. 1812.

THE poor Doctor's case seems more hopeless than ever. The friendly professions of the title page are still at open war with the contents of the book; and by extending the range of his discussions, he has (as might have been expected) only furnished "more matter for a May morning."

Art. XXI. Practical Arithmetic, &c. By J. Richards. 2nd. Edit. Price 3s. Baldwin.

IF there were any dearth of books on arithmetic, the present little volume would be a valuable acquisition, but though we do not see any reason why it should supersede some of its predecessors, we have no doubt that it may be used with equal advantage, where it has been introduced. It contains some good practical hints on mental calculations, an arithmetical exercise too frequently neglected in public schools.

Art. XXII. Physiological Reflections on the Destructive Operation of Spirituous and Fermented Liquors on the Animal System. By Thomas Forster, F.L.S. 8vo. pp. 58. Underwood. 1812.

THERE was a time when Physicians flattered mankind with the

hope, that, within the limits of their Pharmacopeias there existed or might exist, elixirs of power, to assuage every disorder and even to prolong existence to an indefinite length. In this more enlightened age we laugh at the notion of immortality in a pill box or a phial: But the fashion has only altered; and instead of attempting to cure the gout, tooth-ache, phthysis, and palsy, by the same remedy, it is now become customary to attribute gout, toothache, phthysis, and palsy, with all the other ills to which our frail bodies are liable, to the same cause. The modern discovery, however, has a decided advantage over the antient, it affords an equally diversified topic for the display of wisdom and learning, and it is quite unanswerable. For let any circumstance common to the major part of mankind be chosen as the obnoxious source of evil; it is evident that this major part of mankind is afflicted with most or all the diseases incident to humanity, ergo, dicit doctor, all the diseases incident to humanity are occasianed by that circumstance which so many have in common. You may alledge, that your next neighbour who broke his leg, had never tasted meat in his life, and that you conse

quently are humbly disposed to attribute the fracture to the fall which he had from his horse, rather than to animal diet. But you are grossly mistaken to think you will get off thus: for the gentleman's ancestors impru dently indulged in the preter natural inclination for roast beef, and this was the sole cause of the separation of the ends of the bone. You may possibly express some surprize, how a glass of wine can occasion a polypus of the nose, without producing any sensible derangement or inconvenience in other parts of the system, but will soon be silenced by a certain something called sympathy; and should you be so slow of apprehension as not to understand the meaning of the word from the sound, you will perhaps be referred to Mr. F.'s pamphlet, where the following explanation occurs:

A man standing opposite to a looking glass throws the rays of light on its plane surface, and the glass throws them directly back on him: thus he sees himself: but if there be any irregularity in the mirror, it may throw certain of the rays off at angles, and so cause another person standing afar off to see this man's shadow. Thus this second person may be said to sympathize with the first.'

Now as there are many who demand an out-of-the-way hypothesis as the indication of out-of-the-way abilities, and as to many, the credit of possessing uncommon abilities, answers every purpose of said abilities themselves, we have no objection that medical men should ring changes on this theme, provided they do not take passion or intemperance to assist them. Our author deserves particular praise for having adapted the tune of his song to the praise of sobriety. So far from apprehending that he will do mischief by this attack upon our breweries, we fear that more powerful arguments, and more persuasive rhetoric than he has employed, will be required to bring many of his readers to moderȧtion-setting abstinence quite out of the question. It is, however, with regret we perceive, that intoxication may be produced not only by fermented liquors, from which Mr. F. must be supposed to abstain altogether, but by intemperate meditation on a darling hypothesis; witness the following paragraph:

The drinking spirituous and fermented liquors, together with a diet of irritating food, are practices which have been reprobated by the common sense of all ages, as injurious to the welfare of mankind, and which the strictest physiological inquiry has shown to be the principal cause of that combination of bodily and mental disorder, which exhibits itself under every conceivable form of human misery; which appears to be every where increasing, and which, in its twofold operation of destroying the power of procreation, and subsequently the individual, must be condemned as an evil which strikes at the root of existence; and which, if it should ever become universal, seems capable of cutting off man from the face of the earth.'

Nor can we attribute to any thing but a similar sober inebriety his uniting with Dr, Lambe, in condemning that food as unnatural which has been deemed the reverse by five hundred millions of the human race and their forefathers for three thousand years past.