Taught, amid Athenian schools, "Bright was Swift's meridian pride, Gloom'd pale frenzy's haggard mien. The concluding lines of the poem, in which, with true parental folicitude, the directs the attention of her child to the grand fource of true knowledge, the fcriptures, exhibit the author in a most favourable point of view, and entitle her to more than critical commendation. ART. XIII. Nelfon Triumphant: or, The Battle of the Nile, a Poem. By William Thomas Fitzgerald, Efq. 4to. Pp. 16. Price Is. Stockdale. London. OF Mr. Fitzgerald's poetical talents and political principles, and of his conftant readiness to apply the former to the beft of purposes, we have before had occafion to fpeak in terms of praife, not more warm than merited. The Battle of the Nile was an event that could not fail to draw forth thofe talents to advantage; and although it had already been celebrated in a masterly manner by Mr. Sotheby and Mr. Bowles, it is here so managed as to excite undiminished inte reft. Of the capture of Malta, the bard thus fpeaks, in most appropriate terms : "To that proud rock, for deeds heroic known, When glory calls to conquer or to die? ---Was fuch their conduct? Truth, alas! records, That to the infidel betray'd the cross, And, at the Gallic atheist's ftern decree, The farther progrefs of the Gallic marauder is defcribed until hist arrival at Alexandria, when his victorious career was checked by the hero of this poem. "As long as Egypt's pyramids shall stand, So long the voice of never-dying fame, Shall add to England's glory, NELSON's name." There is a frequent transition from the paft to the present tense in the defcriptive parts of this poem, which we have not remarked in the former productions of the fame author, and which, when his attention has once been directed to it, he will, we are perfuaded, fee the propriety of avoiding in future. The fhort extracts which we have given will fuffice to fhew that the bard has loft no portion of his wonted animation and spirit. ART XIV, Britannia Triumphant over the French Fleet, by Admi- THE fame event is here celebrated by a bard of inferior note, but of equal zeal. The poem before us is the production of a villagemufe, in other words, a humble peafant. Instead of being furprized that the performance is not better, we only wonder that it is fo good as it is. What is wanting in the fpirit of poetry is well fupplied by the spirit of patriotifm, and ftill better by the fpirit of piety that per vades the whole book. Prefixed to the book is the Gazette account of the victory of the Nile, and it is followed by a numerous and refpectable lift of fubfcribers. Ff3 ART. ART. XV. Extracts from Poems, on Naval and Military SubjeƐs. By the Rev. W. Tasker. 8vo. Pp. 15. Price is. Meyler. Bath. 1799. .IT is impoffible not to laud the fpirit which dictated the verfes contained in this little book; nor will the author, we truft, be dif pleafed with the declaration, that we rate his patriotifm much higher than his poetry. To the former he was, probably, indebted for the extenfive circulation of the "Ode to the warlike Genius of Great Britain;" which, we are told," has gone through many editions ;" and, if our wines have any effect, his "extracts" will be equally fuccefsful. ART. XVI. The Revolution; or, the Bleffings of French Liberty. A true Story, in Verfe. Addreffed to the People of Great Britain. 12mo. Pp. 11. Price 2d, or 1s. 6d. per dozen. Hatchard. London. 1799. LITTLE tracts of this defcription, which blend rational amuse ment with wholefome inftruction, and are written in a ftyle fuitable to the capacities of thofe for whofe perufal they are more immediately intended, are calculated to answer a very beneficial purpose, and, therefore, deferve univerfal encouragement. After a brief difplay of the prominent evils which have refulted from the French revolution, the book concludes with the two following admonitory Addrelles ta the French and the English: "Frenchmen, thefe ills afflict your land, By change of conftitution; Such the calamities that brand Your fatal revolution. "Grave leffon to capricious men, Who think with flippant speech, or pen, "Monition awful to repel The grumbler and the fretter, Who, not content with being well, "Dread warning to reformers wild, Who power transfer from monarchs mild, "Syftems, though faulty, to derange, Since those who bleffings feek in change, ! "Britons, "Britons, of flatt'ring friends beware, Of boafting innovators; "Refpect the venerable pile, "Grand monument of human skill, And fence from mifcreants wild "Moft happy, if content, ye knew Your blifs moft free from harms; THE DRAMA, Kotzebue's VIRGIN OF THE SUN, PERUVIAN ROLLA, and Sheridan's PIZARRO. IN N reviewing these works we propofe first to confider the Virgin of the Sun; fecondly, Kotzebue's Rolla, with the three different translations, by Mifs Plumptre, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Dutton; thirdly, Pizarrro, formed upon Rolla, altered by Mr. Sheridan, represented at Drury Lane, and fince published. ART. XVII. The Virgin of the Sun. A Play, in Five Acts. By Auguftus Von Kotzebue. Tranflated from the genuine German Edition, by Anne Plumptre. 8vo. Pp. 96. Price 2s. 6d. Phillips. London. 1799. WE have frequently and ftrongly expreffed our opinion concerning the tendency of German literature, nor have our fentiments been changed by the perufal of Kotzebue's works. We think his moral principles unfound, as well as his political. In holding up to efteem and respect, women who have deviated from the paths of virtue; and in rendering the characters of rank vicious, and in confining goodness to low ftations, he is very culpable. He mistakes fa&t; for loofe women are not in real life held in that eftimation which Kotzebue Ff4 Kotzebue reprefents them to enjoy; VIRTUE IS NOT EXCLUDED FROM THE HIGHER RANKS, and confined to the lower. Thus, that author, profeffing to exhibit likeneffes of human nature and fentiments, gives to the public what is not a likeness of human nature and fentiments; and, in fo doing, IS AN INACCURATE PAINTER. But his pictures are not only not taken from exifting originals; they are calculated to encourage immorality and infubordination. His notions of the motives to virtuous conduct are very incorrect; his characters are guided by the impulse of feeling, and not by the impulse of rectitude; feeling is pleaded as an excufe for deviations from the moit facred duties of religion and virtue. His perfonages are, befides, extravagant and exceffive in their qualities; they difplay little of that difcrimination which marks the fhades of good and evil, and distinguishes them in all the intermixture which they exhibit of life. The author's dedication to a German lady gives the following account of the origin of the play: "It has frequently been faid, that poetry, like love, cannot be commanded. This, my very amiable friend muft now acknowledge to be an error; fince, if her memory be accurate with regard to trifles, fhe will recollect, that this drama owes its origin folely and entirely to her commands. One evening at Pyrmont, the weather being too wet and melancholy to permit of her enjoying the charms of nature, to which her pure foul is so closely allied, fhe had recourfe to the Temple of Thalia, where Naumann's opera of Cora happened to be reprefented. The performers were of a very inferior kind, and the only thing that pleafed me during the evening was, that I had the good fortune to fit behind my friend, who fometimes condeicended to favour her humble fervant with a little converfation. Ainong other remarks which the occafion called forth, fhe obferved once, when the conclusion of an at gave us a fhort refpite from being merely auditors, that the opera, at which we were prefent, contained excellent ground-work for a drama." After a number of compliments to the lady, in a very florid ftyle, he declared that he would not write unless the faid lady commanded it. She accordingly did fo. The author made a low bow; and, in obedience to her orders, produced the Virgin of the Sun. Mifs Plumptre felected the Virgin of the Sun as the third of her propofed series of Kotzebue's plays. The great reputation this drama has acquired in its native country, gives her hopes that it will not be found lefs interefting to the Englith reader under its prefent form. In reviewing thefe works of Kotzebue, it will make no part of our confideration whether they were or were not applauded in his own country, or any where else, but whether they really reprefent human life, character, and fentiments, and inculcate principles, doctrines, and conduct agreeable to morality, and beneficial to fociety. The following are the outlines of the fable: Cora, a daughter of a noble Peruvian, and beloved by Rolla, the chief General of Peru, had been appointed a Virgin of the Sun; an honour or punishment equivalent to that of the Roman veftals, with a fimilar injunction and employment; to preserve her own virginity, and the holy fire under fimilar penalties. Don Alonzo, a refugee from the army of Pizarro, |