Each mafk'd affailant of thy envied blifs. The three last of thefe lines are ill-constructed, and those that follow are better intended than exccuted, but the spirit of the whole pallage is eminently laudable. Subjoined to the Hop-Garden, is a Poem on Ale; which, employing more opportunities for defcription, is more poetical than the former, and paints the fellivities and hofpitality of an English Christmas, in a pleating and truly moral strain. ART. 18. Tre metrical Romances, and other original Pieces, with a Parody from Shakspeare; and a Tranfiation of a Part of the Fourth Act of Kotzebue's celebrated Tragedy, called Die Spanier in Peru, Se. 25. Alien. 1799. 4to. Now in real danger, fierce and undifmay'd That with his Knights they might their skill display, And found i'th' Spanish ftyle a table fpread. Perhaps the reader may not like this fpecimen; let him then take the following ftanza on leaving Oxford. Thefe fcenes I leave, I now mufi cease to roam, Midft thefe fair feats, and breathe collegiate air, And to the bufy capital repair. ART. 19. Lukle and Yarico. A Poem. By Mr. C. Brown. Small 410. 55 PP. Is. 6d. Glendinning. 1799. We fhall exhibit a few proofs of the author's poetical ear and fpirit; and then leave his poem (as he calls it) to be purchased by those whofe taite it may fuit. "When come to proper age, his father said, 'Tis time, my fon, t'inrich youfelf by trade." P. 4. 66 P. II. With all the figns of forrow, amaz'd they ftand." P.G Ah, me! fo miferable-how great my grief; Which hopes no comfort, nor expects relief!" "The time will come, when you'll a father be, And, oh! (affecting thought) a mother me." P. 39. "Thou moft-obdurate wretch, all words are weak, To ftile thee proper, or thy crime to speaks" P.42. "The foolifh fhe informs me he's with child, Expecting hence to render me more mild,” P. 42. Authors (poe's efpecially) often plead thus with the public, for the necefiity of bringing forth their conceptions. Mr. C. Brown may adopt alfo the pathetic lamentation of his heroine, Yarico. My child, who ne'er receiv'd the gift of breath, Is pais'd before me through the gates of death." P. 48. DRAMATIC DRAMATIC. ART. 20. ler. 1799. "On a Whoever is acquainted with the drama of Schiller, entitled the Robbers, will know that it must require confiderable alterations to adapt it to the tafie, the feelings, or the morality of the English ftage. This Mr. Holman tells us he first attempted, without changing the effentials of the original plan; but the licenfer would not fo admit of it. The following paffage is very honourable to the candour and good fenfe of Mr. H. Surprifed at first at the decifion, as he had carefully expunged all fentiments that appeared to war against eftablishments and good order," he re-examined his work. more difpaffionate inveftigation of the play, however," he fays, "I found much to justify the licenfer's decifion. Compunction for villainy feems the peculiar feature of Charles: the rest of the Robbers combine brutal infenfibility of their enormities with the most heroic attachment to their leader. This junction of fublime virtue with confummate depravity, though it may be found in nature, fhould never be dragged into view :-the heroifm dazzles the mind, and renders it blind to the atrocity." As a complete remedy to the objection, Mr. H. made his Robbers into Knights errant; a material change indeed. In this ftate the public received it; with what degree of fatisfaction, it was not our lot to witnefs, but certainly without danger to morals. Mr. Calcott's delightful mufic of the Red Cross Knight, which is fung in the fourth act, could not fail to produce an admirable effect. ART. 21. The Naval Pillar, a Mufical Entertainment, as performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent Garden. By T. Dibdin, Author of the Few and Door, &c. 8vo. 27 pp. IS. Barker, Ruffel-Street, Covent-Garden. 1799: A flight effufion, on a patriotic defign, is not a fubject of regular criticifm. The fongs in this little performance poffefs fome humour, and the dialogue gives them a fort of connection and propriety. ART. 22. Spaniards in Pern; or the Death of Rolla: a Tragedy, in Five Acts. By Auguftus von Kotzebue. The Original of the Play performing at the Theatre-Royal Drury Lane, under the Title of Pi zarro. Tranflated from the German, by Arne Plumptree, Trayflator if Kotzebue's Virgin of the Sun, Ec. Sixth Edition, revifed. 8vo. 93 PP. 2s. 6d. Symonds. 1799. In the fixth edition revifed, we should hardly expect to fee that Pizarro was performing at Drury-Lane, unless Pizarro were a living actor in that company. As to the tranflation, it is probably good enough, and has the merit of not being disfigured by foolish notes; which perhaps is one reason for its attaining fo large a fale. We have lately feen a boaft from an author, that he was the first to introduce the taste for German dramas; much more should we rejoice to fee a writer, who could put an end to that tafte by producing, which feems not very difficult, better things of original growth, NOVELS. ART. 23. The Hiftory of the Amtfrath Gutman. Written by Himself. Published by Adolphus Baron Knigge. Tranflated from the German. 12mo. 312 pp. 35. 6d. Vernor and Hood. 1799. In the tranflator's Preface to this work, the well-known Baron Knigge, who is called in the title-page the publisher, is confidered (we prefume juftly) as the author, and this book is announced as a complete refutation to the charge brought against him by the Abbé Barruel and Profeffor Robifon, of being a Jacobin, an Illuminé, and an Anarchift. We expected therefore to find a ftory expressly contrived to recommend the principles of legal fubordination, to illuftrate the advantages of civil fociety, and enforce the precepts of Christianity. Even this would have been far from difproving an accufation fupported by fo ftrong a body of evidence. It might have arifen from an artful defign to glofs over the author's real character; it might be the effect of a temporary caprice, or the palinodia of fincere repentance. The reader will not, however, have the trouble of conjecturing the caufe of what has little foundation in fact. Few paffages in this book are hoftile to thofe anarchical doctrines which the fect of Illuminés (of which Knigge is proved to have been one of the chiefs) took so much pains to diffeminate. On the other hand, the corruptions and abuses of regular governments (at least of thofe in Germany) are much dwelt upon, and, we believe, much exaggerated. There is also (in p. 23) a fneer at the facred hiftory. Upon the whole, however, this tale does not appear to be written with a mifchievous defign; and, if it were, it is too infipid to have any effect. This Amtfrath (a word which fignifies a man who rents lands of the fovereign in any German state) is a very honeft good fort of perfon, but neither fays nor does any thing extraordinary or interesting; nor does any thing of that nature happen to him, except that, after he has become poor, he luckily finds a long-loft brother who is rich. The tranflator (who, if we may judge from fome of the notes, feems to be a female of the Woolftonecraft fchool) will no doubt rank us with those, "whose taste is vitiated” by modern novels. We muft fubmit to the imputation. It is not indeed neceffary, that every tale fhould abound in wonderful incidents; but furely either the events should be varied and interefting, or the characters very skilfully delineated, or the obfervations on life and manners ftriking and juft. Not one of thefe qualifications belongs, in any great degree, to the work before us. Not having feen the original, we cannot judge whether the tranflaion is faithful or not; but the language is, excepting a few Galli. fms, tolerably accurate and expreffive. ART. ART. 24. The Efcape, a Narrative; from the German of Kotzebue. This is an interefting tale, relating the particulars of an almoft miraculous escape from the dungeons of the Inquifition. Whether it is authentic, or an effort of invention, we pretend not to determine. We are inclined to fuppofe the latter, MEDICINE. ART. 25. An Efay on the medical Properties of the Digitalis Purpurea, or Fox Glove. By John Ferriar, M. D. Phyfician to the Manchester Infirmary, Difpenfary, Lunatic Hofpital, and Afylum. 12mo. 66 pp. 1s. 6d. Cadell and Davies. 1799. Some years ago the digitalis purpurea was recommended in cafes of dropfy, particularly in hydrothorax, and for a fmall time it was a fashionable medicine in London; but a few trials of it, on perfons who enjoyed fome degree of public character, proving unsuccessful, the use of it declined very faft, and we believe there are not many phyficians in this place, who now recommend it. Still, however, it continued to be employed in different parts of the country. Dr. Ferriar, among others, has ufed it frequently and liberally, he says, for more than nine years, and the pamphlet before us contains the refult of his experience. "I have been careful," the Doctor fays, "not to overeftimate the powers of digitalis, and I hope that I have not been miftaken in repeated obfervations; at prefent I regard it as a remedy of the highest clafs; its exhibition has become as familiar in my practice, as that of Peruvian bark, or opium, with which it deferves to be rank. ed, and I give it with as little dread (though never without caution) as either of thofe medicines. If I am not greatly deceived, it will be found eminently ferviceable in a wide range of difeafes; and in the prefent ftate of our knowledge, the investigation of its effects promifes ample fcope for the exercife of skill and ingenuity." Pref. p. iv. This is certainly rating its virtues very high, higher, we think, than the ob fervations adduced to prove its efficacy admit; as the digitalis was rarely given, but in company with other powerful medicines, and as effects fimilar to thofe produced by the digitalis, were often found confequent to the ufe of other medicines, not ranked among the moft powerful. This the author particularly notices to have happened after taking a compofition of myrrh and falt of steel, ferrum vitriolatum, "I have remarked," he fays, " that the cough and dyspnea were relieved, and the frequency of the pulfe was diminished, by the use of this mixture alone, when opium and digitalis had produced but little effect." P. 29. Although in the course of thefe observations, the author takes occafion to notice the power of digitalis in curing dropfy, yet its efficacy in checking active hemorrhage, and in relieving phthifis pulmonalis, is more immediately and particularly treated of. The known known property of the fox glove to retard the circulation, which i evinced by its reducing the velocity of the pulfe, led to the trials here recited. A perfon who had been bleeding from the nostrils very profufely, for three days, and was greatly reduced by the difcharge, was cured by two dofes, containing a grain of the digitalis, and half a grain of opium, in each; and a woman, thirty years of age, who had been long fubject to menorhagia, was cured in the pace of a fortnight, by taking half a grain of digitalis, with the fame quantity of opium, every night; and every four hours during the day, a few drops of tincture of opium, with tincture of caftor. Many other patients afflicted with menorhagia, were cured, the author fays, by a fimilar treatment. In fome cafes, he tells us, the difcharge was fiopped, by a fingle dofe of the fox glove. Dr. Ferriar always begins by giving half a grain of the digitalis in powder, for a dofe, and at firft joins with it an equal portion of opium. In active hemorrhage, he gives half a grain every four, five, or fix hours." But at the fame time," he says, " that I vouch for the fafety of this method, it must be observed, that great attention is neceffary, on the part of the phyfician and attendants. The patient's pulfe must be felt every hour, and on its first tendency to flag, or on the flighteft indications of fickness, the exhibition of the medicine must be fufpended. The practice in fuch cafes is extremely critical; if the fox glove be properly given, we ftop [may stop] the progrefs of an alarming, perhaps a mortal disease, in a few hours; but the remedy, if incautionfly exhibited, may become as certainly deftructive as the diforder." P. II. In the first cafe of phthifis pulmonalis in which Dr. F. tried this medicine, he gradually increafed the quantity of the dose, until the patient took, he fays, two or three grains a day. The disease seemed fufpended for a time, but this calm did not laft long, the patient being at length overpowered by it. Several other cafes," he fays, "of a fimilar nature, were treated in the fame manner, and without the leaft temporary fuccefs. But, in most instances, I was difappointed. The remedy feemed for a while to retard the progrefs of the difeafe, but the fymptoms at length burft out, and feemed only to proceed with more rapidity, in confequence of the tranfient delay." P. 19. The progrefs of confumption, it is well known, is frequently checked by change of air, riding on horfeback, voyages at fea, by frequent fmall bleedings, mild emetics, the vitriolic acid, opium, and by va rious other means and medicines, and cures are even fometimes effected by these means, although in the greater number of cafes the difeafe proves too ftrong, and the patients die. That more fuccefs will attend the exhibition of the digitalis, we can hardly promife ourselves, from the account this author gives. We with not, however, to deter from further trials, but hope they will be conducted with prudence, and the refults given with the fame candour that appears in every page of the little production before us, which we venture to recommend to the attention of medical practitioners. DIVINITY. |