best feelings of our nature. Of this kind, among others, are the little narrative of the impressed Sea-boy, (p. 6.) the Child Robbery, (p. 37.) where Mr. Grahame has borrowed the mother's sensations from the Lady Randolph of his countryman, Home. "Nor does even time-- Assuager of all other woes-bring balm To this: each child, to boyish years grown up, The feelings of a mother on the loss or absence of a beloved son, is a subject to which the author seems to take a mournful delight in recurring. He has adverted to them in no less than three little episodes in the course of this short work. The following interesting picture of maternal anxiety must not be omitted. After relating the fate of a poor youth who fell in battle, and whose body is left to the birds of prey on the Banks of the Danube, the author thus proceeds: "Ah, one there is Who fosters long the dying hope, that still Or strives to mould the distant traveller Into the form of him who's far away. Hopeless, and broken-hearted, still she loves To sing, When wild war's dismal blast was blawn." The animated allusion to the African Slave Trade, of which we now begin to entertain a well-founded hope of the abolition, we should take a pleasure in quoting, had we not already occupied more room than we can well afford. The extent however to which we have carried our remarks, will testify our sense of the merit of the Birds of Scotland. The other poems consist of Biblical pictures, which are short and animated representations, in blank verse, of some of the interesting events recorded in scripture. These are followed by a poetical view of the several months in the year, under the title of the Rural Calendar. They are, as Mr. Grahame modestly denominates them, faithful sketches, and as well as the remaining pieces, are highly honourable both to the talents and sensibility of their author. The notes possess considerable interest. With respect to the laying out of grounds, &c. Mr. G. much to the credit of his taste, is an Anti-Brownist. In the Birds of Scotland he pointedly censures the levelling-system, and supports his opinion by several extracts from Mr. Uvedale Price's Essay on the picturesque. Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, Governor of Nottingham Castle and Town, Representative of the County of Nottingham in the Long Parliament, and of the Town of Nottingham in the first Parliament of Charles II. &c. with original Anecdotes of many of the most distinguished of his Contemporaries, and a Summary Review of Public Affairs: written by his Widow Lucy, Daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, Lieutenant of the Tower, &c. now first published from the original Manuscript. By the Rev. Julius Hutchinson, &c. &c. To which is prefixed the Life of Mrs. Hutchinson, written by herself, a Fragment. royal 4to. pp. 446. Longman and Co. 1806. These Memoirs contain an abundance of information and amusement, and, as their genuineness are undoubted, and the talents and experience of the writer considerable, the historian may collect many new facts, relative to the times in which she lived, and some fresh data, which may serve to clear up such points as have been mistaken, or left in doubt by preceding writers. Colonel Hutchinson was one of those who signed the deathwarrant of King Charles I. Among a variety of other curious matter, some additional circumstances are related, respecting the motives and proceedings of the party attached to Cromwell; the return of Charles II.; the trial of the Regicides; and the hopes and fears of those who were concerned in bringing his father to the block. It does not fall within our plan to enter fully into the merits of a work of this kind. It is to be recommended, however, as a very useful publication, containing as it does," a history of a period the most remarkable in the British annals, written one hundred and fifty years ago, by a lady of elevated birth, of a most com prehensive and highly cultivated mind, herself a witness of many of the scenes she describes, and active in several of them." Mrs. Hutchinson seems, indeed to have been a very extraordinary character, and her name deserves to stand high on the list of illustrious females. The volume is ornamented with portraits of herself and the Colonel, very finely engraved by Neagle and Freeman. Authentic Narrative of the Death of Lord Nelson: with the circumstances preceding, attending, and subsequent to that event; the professional report on his Lordship's wound; and several interesting Anec dotes. By William Beatty, M. D. Surgeon to the Victory in the Battle of Trafalgar, and now Physician to the Fleet under the command of the Earl of St. Vincent, K. B. &c. &c. &c. large 8vo. 78. Cadell and Davies, 1807. So many contradictory and unfounded rumours had got abroad respecting the nature of Lord Nelson's wound; its situation; the quarter from whence the fatal shot proceeded; his sufferings, observations, and last moments; that Dr. Beatty has felt it incumbent on him, as the professional gentleman who attended his Lordship on this mournful occasion, to give an authentic statement of all the circumstances. In doing this he has paid a respectful tribute to the memory of the immortal hero of the Nile, and rendered a very acceptable service to the public, who will not read without strong emotion the affecting particulars which are here recorded with equal simplicity and feeling. The account includes the most interesting incidents which occurred on board the Victory from the time of her sailing from England, in the month of September, till the day of battle inclusively; and also a detail of the mode adopted for preserving his revered remains during the subsequent long passage of the Victory to England; and the condition of the body when it was deposited in Greenwich Hospital. Some observations are likewise made on the state of his Lordship's health for some time previous to his fall; with his habits of life, and other circumstances, strongly proving that few men had a greater prospect, in the common course of events, of attaining longevity. To quote what is interesting in this narrative, would be to transcribe the volume. Admiration and grief alternately fill the mind of the reader as he traces the progress of the battle on which the fate of our country probably depended, and the bodily agonies, noble fortitude, and pious resignation of the conqueror, as the hour of death approached. This Narrative will be republished in the Life of Lord Nelson, by the Rev. J. S. Clarke, and Mr. M'Arthur, for which it was originally intended. Dr. Beatty has shewn a proper consideration for the public in printing it in this separate form; since the magnificent biography in preparation, will probably not make its appearance for several months. The portrait prefixed is one of the best likenesses we have seen of Lord Nelson. There is also a plate representing the ball in the exact state in which it was extracted; and in its present state, as enclosed by Dr. Beatty in a glass case. A Vindication of Mrs. Lee's Conduct towards the Gordons; written by herself. Greenland and Norris. 4to. 3s. 1807. This mysterious transaction cannot yet be forgotten. The conduct of the Gordons is to be regarded with abhorrence; but Mrs. Lee's account of the affair is far from satisfactory. Notwithstanding this vindication, her behaviour seems to have been so ambiguous and extraordinary, that we cannot acquit her of imprudence, and even of folly; and there is still a mystery in the whole business, which, like the History of Betty Canning, Mrs. Margaret Rudd, and Miss Blandy, may hereafter furnish ample room for conjecture to those who shall think such investigations of importance. Our motive for noticing this pamphlet at all is, to caution females against indulging wild and speculative opinions on the subject of religion, and entertaining the absurd notion, that to deviate from established principles, and the prescribed regulations for human conduct, is an evidence of an original and penetrating character. An eccentricity bordering on insanity, seems to have marked the whole course of Mrs. Lee's history, as she has herself set it down; and, considering the injuries and insults she affects to have received, and recollecting what is supposed to have passed at Tetsworth, we know not whether to smile, or be angry at the consolatory deduction which she draws from a review of the singular incidents in which she has been engaged. "They (the public) have been a little amused; I have been much instructed, having seen the human character in a new point of view !” Poetical Amusement on the Journey of Life, consisting of various Pieces in Verse; serious, theatric, epigrammatic and miscellaneous. By William Meyler, 8vo. 6s. Robinson, London, 1806. THIS volume really affords what it promises, much "Poetical Amusement." We have frequently been pleased with Mr. Meyler's compositions, as they have met our view in the daily prints; we are therefore glad to find them collected into a volume. Some of the pieces are excellent, and all above mediocrity. As a taste of his quality, we subjoin the Invocation to Sleep, from the Latin. Emblem of death! come soothing, balmy sleep, Friend of my pillow! o'er my eye-lids creep; Soft let me slumber, gently breathing, sigh, Live without life, and without dying---die! -Sic sine vita Vivere quam suave est, sic sine morte mori! The Elements of Greek Grammar, with Notes for the use have made some progress in the Language. 8vo. pp 200. of those who Pridden. A Grammarian was 'i' th' olden time,' what we now understand by the word Critic, and his.functions were the same. At present, however, the distinction no longer maintains that high ground on which it once stood; and even grammar itself, amongst many authors of our day, miscalled men of letters, is held in no estimation. Voluminous writers, well known to the devouring appetites of modern readers, have most ingenuously made their opinions public on this subject. The Rev. Mr. Noble, F. A. S. who writes memoirs and topography by the hundred weight, has a sovereign contempt for the acquisition of grammar, and prefers one fact, however unimportant, to all that Wallis or Lowth ever wrote or knew about it. Mr. D'Israeli, another independent author, who has compiled anecdotes, described (how, no one knows) what a literary oharacter should be, and scribbled poetry and romances by the cart load, has often, in as many words, most freely confessed and proved his sentiment to have always been, that grammar is a study beneath the dignified parts of a man of genius! It has been said, however, that grammar is the door or gate of the arts and sciences.' Now, as these gentlemen, and numbers like them, have assuredly the art of book-making, it is fair to conclude that they have, by means of the ladder of genius, got in at the window. This is the genius of the Egyptians, who made bricks without straw. To be serious. Grammar, says Quintilian, is that to eloquence, which the foundation is to the building; they who despise it, as only dealing in low, trivial things, are exceedingly mistaken; it has really more solidity than shew. And Scaliger owned that it was his desire to be a good grammarian. Sufficit enim ei, said he, qui omnes auctores probe vult intelligere, esse grammaticum.' But he wished to be a grammarian to understand authors who 6 |