or authors of thefe lives (for whether there is one or more engaged, we do not pretend to determine) have been in fome inftances too lavish of their praises. We cannot agree with them in their encomiums paffed upon Daniel and Browne, to their fuil extent. Many ftraggling beauties are certainly to be met with in thefe writers; and the famous paffage of Daniel on the entrance of Richard II. into London, is of fuperlative beauty and pathos; but to get at thefe, the reader is forced to traverse a long and cheerlefs waste of rhyming profe. Their chief excellence is their eafy language; but the latter author, though ingenious, is quaint and puerile in an extreme degree, and the former has written much mo e than his industry could fupport, with the vigour belonging to his natural genius.

Upon the whole, if the proprietors give the more modern poets of Great Britain with the fame care and judgment in the felection, as they have done the more ancient, we cannot helitate to pronounce the prefent the most perfect collection that has hitherto appeared: and however plain its garb, when contrafted with many recent fpecimens of typography, we must commend the defign, as tending to diffufe a knowledge of the poetical ornaments of our country among the generality of readers, by enabling them to purchase their works at an expence comparatively trifling.

ART. IX.

Poems on

Poems on feveral Occafions. By Maria Logan. Quarto. 35. Second edition. York: Printed for the Author, and fold by Cadell, London; Todd and Wilfon, York; and Robinfon, Leeds. 1793,

THE

HESE Poems are prefaced by the following address :"To those friends whofe tender and unremitted attentions have enlivened feven tedious years of uninterrupted ficknefs, the following trifles are infcribed by their fincerely grateful and affectionate friend, Maria Logan.'

From the pompous puffs with which the tinfel and trumpery of many modern Khymefters is introduced to the world, this modeft and unaffuming dedication, may lead fome of those readers who judge comparatively, to imagine, that though the Poems thus prefaced, may be read and admired by a private circle of the lady's friends, they will be only tolerated by the public. This is by no means the cafe. Though the fair author fo uoftentatiously calls them TRIFLES, many of them

beam

beam with elegance, feeling, and fentiment, that must charm every reader who rather wishes to fee the mufe clad in her native robe of taste and fimplicity, than flaunting in the Mafquerade drefs of an Eastern Princefs, with every feature tutored to attract, every motion difciplined to feduce, and every ornament fo placed as to dazzle rather than delight. In this gaudy finery, the may be applauded by the mob, a thousand of whom can fee, for one that can feel; but the proper province of Poetry is an appeal to the heart, and the fympathetic tear, filently let fall, is an higher praife than the deafening fhouts of a clamorous crowd. To this beft of praise the writer of thefe Poems is fairly entitled; they evidently fpring from a fufceptible and delicate mind. The book contains eighteen Poems; the first stanzas are,

TO IMAGINATION.

"Thou fair enchantrefs; whofe delufive charms
Oft-times have drawn my wand'ring feet aftray,
Oft-times feduc'd me from Reflection's arms,
Beyond the light of Reafon's fober ray-

Forego thy pow'r, and leave me to fepose,
Ah! tempt me not in Fancy's fields to rove;
Her flow'ry paths oft lead to hidden woes,
Then fade the airy forms her hand has wove.

No longer bend on me thy wanton eye,

Nor fmile refiftlefs, as thy waving hand
With graceful motion beckons from on high,
And the light spirits mount at thy command.

As late my eager feet thy fteps purfu'd,

Thro' fcenes created by thy magic pow'r,
Where each bright object fmil'd but to delude,
And poifon lurk'd in ev'ry fragrant flow'r,-

How did my dazzled eye delighted rove

Thro' every rofeate bow'r and verdant shade!

There trace the winding ftream, the nodding grove,
The folitary path, the op'ning glade!

"And here," I cried, "for ever will I ftray :

"Here drink, unmix'd the fparkling cup of Joy;

"Delight fhall brighten ev'ry rífing day,

"And not a care the peaceful night annoy."

But foon, alas! the fairy vifion fled,

The fmiling forcerefs vanifh'd from my fight,

And haggard Difappointment, in her ftead,

Way'd her black wand, and quench'd Hope's radiant light."

Some

Some "Verfes on an airy and pleasant fituation near a populous and commercial town, being furrounded with new buildings," have fo ftriking a reference to many fituations round this great metropolis, that we cannot refist presenting them to our readers.

"There was a time! that time the Mufe bewails,
When Sunny-Hill enjoy'd refreshing gales;
When Flora fported in its fragrant bow'rs,
And ftrew'd with lib'ral hand her sweetest flow'rs!
Now fable vapours, pregnant with disease,
Clog the light pinions of the fouthern breeze;
Each verdant plant affumes a dusky hue,
And footy atoms taint the morning dew.
No more the lily rears her spotless head,
Health, verdure, beauty, fragrance, all are filed:
Sulphureous clouds deform the rifing day,
Nor own the pow'r of Sol's meridian ray;
While fickly damps, from Aire's polluted ftream,
Quench the pure radiance of his parting beam.
Thefe are thy triumphs, Commerce!-these thy fpoils!
Yet fordid mortals glory in their toils,

Spurn the pure joys which fimple Nature yields,
Her breezy hills, dark groves, and verdant fields,
With cold indiff'rence, view her blooming charms,

And give youth, ease, and health to thy enfeebling arms.

With the ftanzas to Opium, we were much pleased, but to multiply quotations from a book of 64 pages, would be injurious to the author. Had we feen or heard of the first edi tion of these Poems, they would have been noticed at an earlier period.

ART. X. Marfb's Tranflation of Michaelis's Introduction to the New Teftament.

(Continued frem Vol. III, page 608.)

WE proceed to lay before our readers a diftinct view of the

matter contained in the remaining parts of this valuable work; and to this, as the topics on which we might be tempted to enlarge, are fo very numerous, we fhall chiefly confine ourselves. The notes of the learned tranflator, which occupy nearly a third of the firft, and the whole of the third volume, prove how difficult it is to fay very little on subjects of fuch interest and importance to every ferious Chriftian.

In treating of the infpiration of the New Testament, which is the fubject of his third Chapter, the author begins

by

by explaining the difference between canonical and apocryphal books, and very judicioufly cautions his reader not to confider the latter as a term of contempt. Though not actually infpired, fome of them are highly deferving of our efteem." The first book of the Maccabees is a most valuable historical monument, written with great accuracy and fidelity, and a work on which more reliance is to be placed than on the writings of Jofephus, who has borrowed from it his materials, and frequently mistaken their meaning. The fame may be faid of Jefus Sirach, and the Book of Wisdom.” Thus alfo an Apocryphal Gofpel may not be a fpurious production, or a work of evil tendency, but a hiftory of the life of Chrift, fo ancient, that it might pretend to a place in the Canon but not admitted there, because not infpired. In this clafs the diftinctions of Michaelis feem to place the Gofpels of St. Mark, and the Gofpel and Acts of the Apostles, by St. Luke. He divides the received books of the New Testament into two claffes, thofe written by Apofties, and those written only by companions or affiftants of Apoftles. To the former he allows infpiration, to the latter he is inclined to deny it but it is evident that the former clafs comprises all the books of the New Teftament, excepting thofe three that have now been mentioned. This pofition, and the arguments on which it is founded, will certainly admit of controverfy: we are fatisfied at prefent with ftating it. In the opinion of Michaelis, no disadvantage would arife from this conceffion refpecting these two Evangelifs; their books would still be authentic histories, and at the same time, not liable to the difficulties which attend them as inspired narratives.

"The chief historical objections which are drawn from profane authors, have refpect to St. Luke: and if we can abandon the infpiration of his writings, as well as thofe of St. Mark, we, fhall effentially ferve the caufe of our religion, and difarm our adverfaries at once, by depriving them of that pretext to deny the truth of Chrif tianity, which they derive from contradictions not wholly to be removed." P. 97.

This Chapter is divided into three fections; the first on the general fubject of infpiration; the fecond on the books that bear the names of Apoftles; the third, on thofe written only by affiftants to Apostles.

The third Chapter, on the language of the New Testament, takes a wider fcope, and is fubdivided into fourteen fuctions. In the first of thefe fections the author anfwers the question,

Why was the New Teftament written in Greek?" in the most simple manner" Because it was the language best un

derstood

derstood both by writers and readers." Not, in his opinion, on account of the greater univerfality of that language. It was, however, certainly, at that time, molt univerfal, fince the greater part of thofe who talked Latin understood Greek also, which is partly his own folution of the question, why St Paul wrote to the Romans in Greek. The curious reverie of the fanciful, though learned, Hardouin, that the books of the New Teftament were originally written chiefly in Latin, employs the author in its refutation, rather unworthily, throughout the fecond fection. The third fection decides, that the style of the New Teftament is Hebraic Greek, like that of the Septuagint. The difputes concerning the purity of ftyle in the Greek Testament are ably touched in fection the 4th, while feveral of those that follow are occupied in examining into the Hebraifms, Rabbinifms, and other peculiarities or provincialities obfervable in various parts of thefe Sacred Books; from which confiderations, the author very properly lays down in fection 13, the knowledge requifite to make a complete critic in the New Teftament. The following fuggeftion is fo important that we extract it, in hopes that fome learned man may be induced by it to execute the wish of the judicious author.

"The ineftimable treafure which lies hidden in the ancient infcriptions might be of fingular fervice, particularly in explaining the provincialms and idiotifms. They have hitherto been seldom or never applied to this purpofe; and as the books in which they are contained are frequently too expenfive to be purchafed by the learned, it is to be wished that fome one, who has leifure and abilities, would compose a Lexicon, containing the words ufed in the Greek infcriptions, not only in fuch as have been collected in feparate volumes, but in those which are found fingly in the defcriptions of travellers. A work of this nature would be an invaluable guide to a commentator in his critical refearches." P. 177.

But," adds the author," the book moft neceffary to be understood by every man who ftudies the New Testament is, without doubt, the Septuagint, which alone has been of more service than all the paffages from the profane authors collected together." To this opinion we fully fubfcribe, as allo to the utility of the Concordance of Trommius, which is recommended immediately after. The 14th fection of this Chapter contains a judicious confideration of what has been performed or neglect in the matters above-mentioned: and concludes with certain queries, p. 195, in the folution of which the learned author and his translator are not perfectly agreed. We shall not enter into the detail of thefe difficulties, but we point out the paffage as affording a proper exercife for the fagacity of ftudents in facred criticifm, to folve the doubts propofed, or to decide between the author and his commentator.