accepted. The heroic exploits of their ancestors, the antiquity of the clan, the refpect for their chief, no longer held the people in fetters. They began to think, and to act for themselves. Whole groups of men, women, and children, paffed in continual fucceffion, to the fea ports, * and with fuch determined refolution, that those who could not pay for their paffage, fold themfelves to the captains, who were to tranfport them to the new world; and were, by these captains, re-fold. upon their arrival at the intended ports. • The Americans beheld this inundation of Britons with aftonishment, mixed with contempt of that government, which thus permitted a continued drain of its inhabitants; while the looks, the dejection, the poverty, and the tattered apparel of thefe unhappy wanderers, touched their feelings, and called forth the. exertions of humanity. * In my journies through the Highlands, I often met families or bodies of people travelling to the ports. They generally edged off the road, and hurried along, as if fhy of an interview; which, upon the other hand, I was equally defirous to procure, though I neither could fpeak the erfe, nor was furnished with that infallible recommendation a fnuff box. Upon finding their flight thus interrupted, not by a hoftile or dangerous force, but a fingle individual, without fword, piftol, or fpurs, upon a small horse, and in the midft of uninhabited wilds, he who could fpeak the best English stept forth, with a dejected countenance, while his companions, and especially the children, feemed to remain in eager fufpence. The motive of these interviews led to inquiries refpecting the hiftory of the people, the caufes of their emigrations, the state of their finances, and their notions of the country to which they were going. They reprefented their diftreffes with great feeling, moft generally in tears; and with a strict regard to truth, as appeared in the uniformity of the accounts delivered by different companies, ftrangers to one another. "O fir, we dinna leave our kintra without reafon, great reason indeed, fir. Sometimes our crops yield little more than the feed, and fometimes they are destroyed with rains, or dinna ripen; but fome of our lairds mak nae allowance for thefe misfortunes. They feize our cattle, and all our furniture; leaving us naething but the skin, which would be of no service to them. They are not Highlandmen-fo greedy, fir-but God will judge between them and us, in his own gued time. O fir, can you tell us ony thing about the kintra of America-they fay poor fok may get a living in it, which is mair than we get in our parts. We are driven, fir, with our poor bairns to a far land. We are begging our way to Greenock, and all our clothes, fir, are on our backs, as you fee. God forgive our oppreffors who have brought us to this pafs. We are ftrangers in the Lowlands; could you advise us, fir, how to mak our bargain with the captain of the ship? They fay that those who have no money to pay for their paffage, muft fell themselves to the captain. This is our cafe-O fir, what have we done-but it is God's will-blessed be his holy name." Such was, and fuch is at this day, the language of unmerited diftrefs in many parts of the Highlands, I 2 They They could fcarcely believe, that a people, whofe valour they had fo recently extolled, whom Wolfe admired, and whom Chatham applauded, thould be reduced to the fad alternative of perishing at home, or embarking, with their families, on a voyage of 3000 miles, upon the hope of finding that relief in a ftrange land, which their native and highly favoured island had denied them. Thus, what Britain loft, America gained; and it was not long before those very men became the involuntary inftruments of punishing the neglect of a country, which hath within itself the means of fuftaining a more numerous population. It is difficult to ascertain what districts have suffered most by emigration; but certain it is, that, between 1763 and 1775, above 30,000 people abandoned their habitations, befides great numbers from the Lowlands; and there is reafon to believe, that, in a few years more, the whole Highlands would have been greatly depopulated, except thofe diftricts under the paternal care of an Argyle, an Athole, a Breadalbane, and a few other patriotic chieftains. But, while the rage of emigration was thus depopulating the north, an order of Congrefs fhut up the ports of America, and prohibited, under fevere penalties, all intercourfe with Great Britain. To this fingular event, more than to the foftering hand of government, is owing the detention of those people, whofe calamitous fituation hath been the subject of the foregoing pages; and whom to reftrain at home, by fuitable encouragement, will be the subject of what follows." But our author fucceeds better as an historian than as a politician. His fchemes are not fufficiently digefted, and his pro-. jects are often wildly improbable. His writings, however, may tend to awaken his countrymen to a feeling of their fituation, and a fenfe of their duty. From the fpirited exertions of the Scottish representatives, in either house, the improvement of the Highlands may become an object of attention to the British parliament. Our author writes with earneftnefs; and, as he difclaims any pretenfions to elegance, it would be improper to criticife his tile. Peter the hermit, though neither remarkable for his wisdom nor his eloquence, roufed the powers of Europe to recover the Holy Land. The celebrated reformer of religion in Scotland was rude and illiterate; and we hope that John Knox, the fisherman, will be as fuccefsful in enlightening and converting his countrymen, as John Knox the apostle. ART. XV. The Exodus: a Poem. By the Reverend Samuel Hayes, M. A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Ufher of Westminster School. Cambridge printed. 4to. 2s. Dodfley. London, 1785. ECCE CCE iterum Crifpinus!" Will there never be an end to the annual effufions of Mr. Hayes? Can Cambridge offer yearly nothing better to the public tafte, than the fame cold cold and heavy mefs? This we cannot fuppofe, and are therefore at a lofs to account for the demerits of most of the poems which have appeared, "according to the tenor of Mr. Seaton's will." The Exodus is incorrect, and, what is worfe, dull and frigid in the extreme; neither does the author feem to poffefs the fmalleft portion of tafte. To fupport this judgment, a few of the faults in this compofition fhall be noticed; to collect them all would be tirefome and unneceffary. Speaking of the retreat of Mofes from Pharaoh's court, the author fays, • When the fierce paffions burn with tenfold rage, Awakens luft, and lights the wanton fire, Here Mr. Hayes revels in the fuperlative degree of pleonafm. We are informed that diffolute defire (luft) awakens luft; and, not contented with this, we are further given to know that it "lights the wanton fire, (luft)." What he means by the fon of Amram fpurning the "regal prize" we are at a lofs to conjecture; but, if it means any thing, it feems to allude to fome Egyptian gallantry, hitherto unknown, and not much to the credit of a princess, whofe virtue had remained unimpeached till the publication of The Exodus of Mr. Hayes. The effrontery of Potiphar's wife is fufficiently notorious; but, till the above discovery, the attempts of Pharaoh's daughter upon the chastity of Mofes had remained a fecret. The author thus tranflates, "Pharaoh fought to flay Mofes." - with wrath inflam'd, Pharaoh the bold offender's life proclaim'd."' Into what language it is tranflated we cannot tell, but we venture to pronounce, that it is not English. To fay that a person who seeks to kill another, who pronounces judgment of death upon him, proclaims his life, is confounding language; and, if the mode of expreffion must have a name, can only be called an Hayeifm. From the prolific river's flimy bed The legions march, and dim the face of day." In last year's production we recollect Mr. Hayes exhibited a fmiling lion, but he has now out-done his usual out-doings. Aided by the monfter-breeding Nile, he prefents us with my riads of flying frogs, that "dim the face of day." We advise him him to keep to the miracles, as related in the Old Teftament, without pretending to regale us with any miracles of his own, left" what fhould be grave he turn to farce." Why darkness should make it impoffible for a mother to fing lullabies to her infant, is not eafily discoverable, as it is an office which is often performed in the dark, but Mr. Hayes informs us that it was one of the effects of the plague of darknefs in Egypt. • And, spite of nature's iterated cries, The trembling infant unaffifted lies. Fain would the mother (ev'ry want fuppreft) Of smaller inaccuracies the following will ferve as an example. < E'en a whole nation moves in long array, Without entering into a more minute examination, we shall produce the description of the laft plague, which appears one of the most laboured parts of the work, as the fairest and moft complete fpecimen. • In darkness shrouded, from th' ethereal height, In his right hand he bears th' attefting word, And fmites th' Egyptian realm. Rous'd by the cries, Nor mourn'd the King alone; through all the land, First-born of man and beaft! Heaps of the flain But O! what words can paint the dire affright, Bleft Bleft by the prefence of her darling child, Where now, fad change! Where can the fuff 'rer find For ever loft is he, who could allay Life's varied ills, chafe ev'ry care away : Aw'd by the fprinkled blood, which mark'd the place, From them, in mercy's milder form array'd, The angel turns afide the reeking blade."' In this extract the ftriking features of the work, incorrectnefs, a heavy, cumbrous manner, and a confpicuous want of tafte, are all united. The fomniferous verfification must be felt by every reader; it will likewise be perceived by • Strew ev'ry field, and cover ev'ry plain,' that the favourite pleonafm is not forgotten. But the butcherly manner, in which the minifter of divine vengeance is made to execute the work of extermination, is beyond the utmost efforts of gothic barbarifm. He is indeed an executioner. He brandishes "the attefting fword," which foon becomes in his hands a "reeking blade." He fairly cuts the throats of all the firft-born in Egypt, "firft-born of man and beast." The "victims bleed". "Life's ebbing current ftreams upon the ground."" Heaps of the flain ftrew ev'ry field, and cover ev'ry plain."It is a "general carnage." Thus doth a teacher of the claffics defcribe the terrors of Jehovah, and travesty the word of God. From his long acquaintance with ancient authors has he not been able to acquire one spark of ancient taste? Midas, it is faid, tranfmuted every thing he touched into gold; but the author of "The Exodus" feems to poffefs the debafing faculty of converting the gold of fcripture into lead. The original appears, after it has paffed through his hands, like Deiphobus in Virgil, laniatum corpore totoinhonefto vulnere." A laudable anxiety for the honour of Cambridge, our Alma Mater, has led us to fpend more time on this performance than its merits required. For the future, fhould the author appear annually in the fame güife, viz. with no better claims to our attention, he fhall only be officially announced to the public by the quotation at the commencement of this Article, "Ecce iterum Crifpinus !" |