no effect upon the blind bigotry and determined rancour of men enslaved by the furious spirit of JACOBINism, and hence these Poets are still at work; they still endeavour to show that the present state of morals and feeling are the result of prejudice, and to debauch the passions of the lower and middle orders of the people. Such poets can contemplate the downfall of an empire, the destruction of a nobility, and all the horrors which a revolution may produce, with pbilosophical tranquillity ; but the fight of a beggar, the fall of a leaf, and even the decay of an old tree, awaken in their tender bosoms the most exquisite emotions of sympathy. Some of our Opposition Prints are in the constant habit of conveying to the public the poetic effufions of these very fusceptible bards, and there are booksellers of congenial principles, who gather their flowers of feeling, and present them to the world in the form of an annual bouquet. The work before us is chiefly a collection of this kind; most of the pieces which it contains are of the tendency which we have de. fçribed. To new our impartiality we Mall select what may perhaps be deemed one of the best specimens of the kind of pathos to which we have al. luded, and the good sense of our readers will enable them to determine whether the distresses it represents arise from the imprudence of the supposed characters, or necessarily depend on the present state of society which such wri. sers are incessantly labouring to overthrow.

THE WEDDING.

TRAVELLER.
“ I pray you wherefore are the village bells
Ringing so merily ?"

WOMAN.

“ A wedding Sir,
Two of the village folk. And they are right
To make a merry time on’t while they may.
Come twelve-months hence, I warrant them they'd go
To church again more willingly than now
So all might be undone.”

TRAVELLER.

« An ill. match'd pair So I conceive you. Youth perhaps and age ?"

WOMAN. « Nc-both are young enough."

TRAVELLER.

Perhaps the man then
A lazy idler, one who better likes
The alehoose than his work ?"

WOMÁN.

" Why Sir, for that
He always was a well-conditioned lad,
One who'd work hard and well; and as for drink,
Save now and then may hap at Christmas time,
Sober as wife could wish.

TRAVELLER.

" Then is the girl
“ A Mrew, cr else untidy. One who'd welcome

Her

a

a

Her husband with a rude unruly tongue,
Or drive him from a foul and wretched home
To look elsewhere for comfort. Is it so ?”

WOMAN.
«« She's notable enough, and as for temper
The best good-humour'd girl! d'yee fee that house?
There by the aspin tree whose grey leaves shine
In the wind ? she lived a servant at the farm,
And often as I came to weeding here,
I've heard her singing as she milk'd her cows
So chearfully, I did not like to hear her,
Because it made me think upon the days
When I had got as little on my mind,
And was as chearful too. But she would marry,
And folks must reap as they have sown. God help her !"

TRAVELLER.
“Why Mistress, if they both are well inclined,
Why should not both be happy !"

Woman.
“ They've no money."

TRAVELLER.
“ But both can work; and sure 'as chearfully
She'd labour for herself as at the farm.
And he wo'nt work the worfe because he knows
That she will make his fire-fide ready for him,
And watch for his return."?

WOMAN.

“ All very well, A little while,"

TRAVELLER.

or And what if they are poor?
Riches ca'nt always purchase happpiness,
And much we know will be expected there
Where much was given."

WOMAN.

« All this I have heard at church!
And when I walk in the chureh-yard, or have been
By a death-bed, 'tis mighty comforting.
But when I hear my children cry for hunger
And see them liver in their rags-God help me!
I pity those for whom these bells ring up
So merrily upon their wedding day,
Because I think of mine."

TRAVELLER.

" You have known trouble, These haply may be happier."

WOMAN

> >

WOMAN.

" Why for that
I've had my share ; some sickness and some sorrow,
Well will it be for them to know no worse.
Yet had I rather hear a daughter's knell
Than her wedding peal, Sir, if I thought her fate
Promised no better things.”

TRAVELLER.

« Sure, fure, good Woman,
You look upon the world with jaundiced eyes!
All have their cares ; those who are poor want wealth,
Those who have wealth want more, so are we all
Dissatisfied, yet all live on, and each
Has his own comforts.”

WOMAN.

« Sir! d'ye see that horse
Turn'd out to common here by the way side ?
He's high in bone, you may tell every rib

,
Even at this distance. Mind him! how he turns
His head to drive away the flies that feed
On his gallid shoulder! there's juft grass enough
To disappoint his whetted appetite.
You see his comforts Sir!"

TRAVELLER.

" A wretched beaft!
Hard labour and worse usuage he endures
From some bad master. But the lot of the poor
Is not like his."

WOMAN.

16 In truth it is not Sir!
For when the horse lies down at night, no cares
About to-morrow vex him in his dreams;
He knows no quarter-day, and when he
Some musty hay or patch of hedge-row grass,
He has no hungry children to claim part
Or his half meal!"

TRAVELLER.

Tis idleness makes want,
And idle habits. If the man will go
And spend his evenings by the ale-house fire,
Whom can he blame if there is want at home

WOMAN.
" Aye! idleness! the rich folks never fail
To find some reason why the poor deserve
Their miseries! is it idlencss I pray you
That brings the fever or the ague

fit? That makes the fick one's fickly appetite 'Turn at the dry bread and potatoe meal ? Is it idleness that makes small wages fail

gets

For

For growing wants ? fix years agone, these bells
Rung on my wedding day, and I was told
What I might look for,--but I did not heed
Good counsel. I had lived in service, Sir,
Knew never what it was to want a meal ;
Laid down without one thought to keep me sleepless
Or trouble mein sleep; had for a Sunday
My linen gown, and when the pedlar came
Could buy me a new ribbon :-and my husband, -
A towardly young man and well to do,
He had his silver buckles and his watch,
There was not in the village one who lookid
Sprucer on holydays. We married, Sir,
And we had children, but as wants increas'd
Wages did not. The silver buckles went,
So went the watch, and when the holyday coat
Was worn to work, no new one in its place.
For me-you see my rags ! but I deserve them,
For wilfully like this new-married pair
I went to my undoing,"

TRAVELLER.
6 But the Parish”.

WOMAN.
" Aye, it falls heavy there, and yet their pittance
Just serves to keep life in. A blessed prospect,
To slave while there is ftrength, in age the workhouse,
A parish shell at last, and the little bell
Toli'd haftily for a pauper's funeral !”

TRAVELLER. "Is this

your
child ?

WOMAN.

“ Aye Sir, and were he drejt
And clean, he'd be as fine a boy to look on
As the Squire's young mater. These thin rags of his
Let comfortably in the summer wind;
But when the winter comes, pinches me
To see the litile wretch ! I've three besides,
And God forgive me ! but I often wish
To see them in their coffins.--God reward you !
Godbless you for your charity!"

”
TRAVELLER.

“ You have taught me To give fad meaning to the village bells !" *“ A farmer once told the Author of Malvern Hills, " that he almost constantly remarked a gradation of changes in those men he had been in the habit of employing. Young men, he said, were generally neat in their appearance, active and cheartul, till they became married and had a family, when he had observed that their silver buttons, buckles and watches gradually disappeared, and their Sunday's clothes became common without any other to fupply their place,—but said he, Jame good comes from this, for they will then work for whatever they can get,".

Note Cofile's MALVERN Hills.

We

We beg leave again to ask where the fault lies, after this lamentable peal of the parish bells? If a man can maintain himself decently before marriage is the legislature to blame if he and the woman he marries grow negligent, and he pawn all his little articles of finery ? Surely the result of their jointindustry would render them more comfortable than before, and to their own negligence, indolence, and vice they are indebted for the poverty and wretch. edness which attend their union. The invidious note only implies the opinion of one unfeeling farmer ; but, bad as the world is, men in general are glad to fee those whom they employ do their work chearfully, and make a decent appearance upon the produce of their industry. A Peep at Provincial Routs. A Poem. 4to. Pp. 16. 15. Wright.

London. 1801. GOOD intentions feebly executed. The poet justly deplores the vices of Gaming, Luxury, and Dissipation; but his verses are deftitute of point, harmony, and strength.

Ibe Challenge accepted. A Poem. By John Stewart. 8vo. Pp. 12.

Stewart. 1801.
WE should suppose this to be the production of a foremast man who fights
better than he writes. Never surely did loyalty wear a more homely garb.
Both matter and manner-set all description at defiance, Ex. Grat.

« Our true and loyal firm defenders,
With our immortal brave commanders,
To face those boasting, vain offenders.
United Irene with Briton's true,
Shellaly and steel face six to two.
Dauntless, faithful, our Islanders,
To Baltic's coaft, France, and Flanders,
Till laws of Nations doth prevail,
The sword of Justice guard the scale :
Let them approach our hulls and decks,
'Then hear who shall tow the wrecks.
When laws and compacts they have broke,
Then to our bull-dogs, fire and smoke.
Britannia, her main to plough,
What line can stop her breaking through!"

28.

More Wonders! an Heroic Epiftle to M. G. Lewis, Esq. M. P. Editor of

“ Tales of Wonder," Author of " The Monk"-" Castle Speatre," &c. &c. With a Præfcript Extraordinary, and an Ode on the Union. By Mauritius Mconthine, &c. &c. &c. 4to. Pp. 36. Barker,

1801. FORTUNATELY for us these Wonders do not bear so extravagant a price as those of Mr. Lewis of which we had lately occafion to speak, or, in. dependently of our utter aversion the old woman's tricks, which are coming into fashion, at once to frighten and to please the grown Masters and Misses of the age, and most woefully to corrupt the public tafte, we should have an ad. ditional motive for execrating the reign of Wonders.

“ Neither personal animosity," says the author in his Præscript,” nor en. vious pride, dictated the following Epiftle; it is a defence of poetical

property