them coming towards him, and flatters himfelf, that they are. come to help him out. This, in fact, they do; but, being of the tame domefticated kind, as foon as they have pulled him out by means of ropes, they make him prifoner, and deliver him up into the hands of their leader. If he appears difcontented at this treatment, and endeavours to regain his liberty, he gets well threshed : and is difciplined in this manner, till he fubmits with a good grace 'to be fettered and led any where, juft as his driver pleaies. That he may be got out the eafier, the pit is made rather fhallow, and thelving on one fide, fo that he can in fome measure help himfelf out; otherwise it would not be poffible to draw out fuch a large. and heavy animal, without doing him fome damage.

III. The third and laft fpecies of capture, is that practifed by the Moors (as they are called in thofe parts, from their following the doctrines of the Koran) who by thefe means are enabled to pay, their rents to the lords of the manor, the Dutch Eaft-India Company. It confifts of the following manœuvres; in times of drought, when the elephants, being in want of water, are used to haunt certain particular spots, where they know they fhall find water to quench their thirit, thefe people (a ftrong and hardy race of men) go a hunting in parties, confifting of four men each, accompanied by fome ftout young lads, their children, whom they have brought up to this bufinefs; and in this manner fearch the wood through, till they have found a herd of elephants. Having attained this point, they pitch on the largest of these animals, and keeping continually hovering about him, endeavour to get him away from the reft. The elephant, on his part, wishes for nothing fo much as to get rid of thefe troublefome vifitors, and accordingly ftrives to drive them out of the wood. On the other hand, the boldest and most expert of these fellows, with an ebony ftick which he carries with him, about two feet long, begins a fham fight with the ele phant, who bangs the stick heartily with his probofcis. But the Moor parrying the ftrokes, and taking care to avoid coming to clofe quarters, by leaping nimbly from one fide to the other, the elephant grows extremely angry, and does every thing in his power to difarm this ftrange fencing-matter, and take his life. But befides this more adventurous enemy, he finds he has two more to cope with, one on each fide of him; and while he is engaged with thefe, comes a fourth behind him, and watching his opportunity, throws a rope, made into a noofe, round one of his hind legs. At this inftant, the lads, knowing that the animal has work enough cut out for him before him, and that his whole attention is taken up by the stick, approach him with the greatest boldness, and faftening the noofe as quickly as poffible round his leg, drag him on till they find a tree fit for their purpose, to which they taften him, and let him ftand. In the mean time, two of the men run home, and bring a tame elephant, to which having coupled the wild one, they lead. them together to the table.

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By one of these three methods, are all the elephants taken in Ceylon; and he who thinks otherwife of this matter, is certainly yery much out in his judgement. It is not my custom to dispute with any man, for I would have every man enjoy his own opinion;

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and I am not in the least hurt, if others confider as fufpicious, what from experience I know to be fact; or think otherwife of me, than I am confcious that I deferve. However that be, as I have had occafion for the space of twenty years, not only to fee a great number of elephants in their wild ftate, but have likewife been in the way to obferve clofely and accurately the methods of capturing them, the management of them, the methods of felling them, and the various ufes they are put to, I make no fcruple of pretending to as much knowledge in thefe animals, as the beft jockeys in Ger many can poffibly have in horfe flesh; and fhall therefore take the liberty of mentioning fome more particulars relative to them, which have come within the compafs of my own experience.

There is a fale for these animals in the kingdom of Jaffanapat nam every year, in the month of July. The merchants of the coaft of Malabar and Bengal are invited to it by advertisements, in which the fize and fex of the animals that are put up to fale, are fpecified. On the appointed day, all the beafts are brought into the market, diftributed into certain lots, each lot containing the dif ferent fizes, great, middling, and finall. Each lot is likewife num bered, and the numbers are drawn by the merchants out of a golden or filver bafon. This being finifhed, the whole amount of each lot is reckoned up according to a table of the current prices laying before them, and a proper deduction at the fame time is made for defects; in one beast, perhaps, a nail, of which when the num ber is complete there are eighteen, being wanting on the foot; another having a cleft or ragged ear; another again a fhort and ftumpy tail, &c.

"In the courfe of all these transactions, the Secretary and his clerks never meet with the leaft contradiction or oppofition of any kind from the merchants, as these former are known to be thoroughly acquainted with the current prices and the customary abatements. This bufinefs being finished, and the refpective fums of money, which have been previously paid into the Company's coffers, being counted over, the Governor, by way of conferring a particular honour on the merchants, after having fprinkled them with rofe-water from a golden font, prefents each of them with a nofegay with his own hand; and orders his porter, who is a native of the country, to rub them with powder of fanders-wood. In return, and by way of fhewing their deep fenfe of the honour done them, the merchants make each of them a low bow and in this manner the fair is finished. In fome years above a hundred elephants have been fold at once; by which the Company has been a great gainer: for one of these animals, that is twelve feet high and has no blemish, and at the fame time has two tusks of an equal fize, will fetch above two thousand dollars.

:

The decoy-elephants are never fold; and throughout the whole ifland, none are used for this purpose but fuch as are blemished. The natives of the country never buy any elephants, as they cannot make ufe of them. And the purchafers of them come from other countries, where these animals can be of more fervice. One of the ufes to which they are put, is to keep up the state and pomp of the nobility, who have always one or two of them standing before their palaces.

palaces. Thefe yeomen of the guards are generally clad in a coftly covering of tapestry; and their tusks are tipped with gold or filver, fet round with jewels.

"They are likewife ufed for the purpofes of war, by the inland princes, in which cafe they are generally brought into the field coupled together, and having heavy chains faftened to their trunks. The Indians are wont with this view to make them furious and almoft mad with a drink prepared from amfium, fo that they are afraid of nothing that can poffibly be opposed to them: and they have this advantage, that neither darts, nor even bullets from fmall arms, have the power to wound them. This animal is likewife made ufe of as the public executioner; and it must be owned, that he performs this office to perfection, when he is properly educated for it. He usually executes his commiffion by taking the criminal (fuppofing this latter to be condemned to death) up with his proboicis, and throwing bim up in the air, in which cafe he catches him on the point of his tufks, and thus makes an end of him. But if the malefactor is not decreed to fuffer torture, he then lays him down on the ground, and with one of his fore-feet treads him to pieces at one smash. When the fentence does not amount to death, he then takes the criminal, and toffing him up in the air, gives him a fair fall without interpofing any farther: in this cafe the poor delinquent fometimes gets off fafe and found; but it is an equal chance if he is not a cripple for life. This animal is likewife ufed for labour. He is made to drag the heaviest pieces of timber faftened to one of his hind legs; and in general, to carry on his back all kinds of heavy burthens.

He is alfo frequently made ufe of for riding. I have myfelf made fome trials of him in this way; but cannot fay, that I experienced any pleasure in it, as by his fideling way of going he jolts one exceffively.'

To the narrative of our author is fubjoined a very good geographical defcription, with other particulars of the island of Ceylon by Mr. Efchelfkroon.

As Mr. Wolf every where difcovers a lively fense of a fuperintending providence, and as his life illuftrates the connection between steady virtue and fuccefs in the world, his book is a very fit companion for youth, and fitted to afford moral inftruction.

ART. V. Landscapes in Verfe. Taken in Spring. By the Author of Sympathy. 4to, 2s. 6d. Becket, 1785..

WE fhall not be fufpected of delivering a very novel and

uncommon truth, when we obferve, that the excel, lencies are various and diftinct that go to the conftituting perfect poetry. But there are fome fpecies of the imperfect kind (and indeed where fhall we find an example of the perfect?) that are calculated to afford us unmingled pleasure. There is a fort of excellence fo entire in its kind, that it

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enables us by a fort of magic to fet out of our view all that merit of which it does not partake. This is particularly the cafe with that fimple and unaffected poetry, which, flowing in an artlefs and eaty ftrain, and full of the genuine and attractive touches of nature, without afking leave of the judgement, wins upon and makes itfelf mafter of the heart. It is alfo true of that elegant and polite compofition, which, without borrowing any thing from the loftier powers of the imagination, deals in elegant allufions, graceful expreffions, an harmonious verfification, and a fonorous and polished ftyle.

But there are other branches of poetical compofition, which, though they cannot make their boat of affording unmingled pleafare, yet excite a much higher degree of complacence and delight, than they do of pain, difguft, and averfion. And it often happens that thefe kinds of poetry are more excellent and more honourable, contribute more to the entertainmentor elevation of the reader, and refle&t greater luftre upon the nation that produced them, than any of those kinds which excite no pain at all. One touch of fublimity, of the grandeur of moral truth, of the terrible graces of the imagination, or the melting ftrokes of the pathetic, is worth all the uniform elegance, and all the paftoral fimplicity that ever exifted. It ufually happens indeed that thete beauties of a more elevated defeription are accompanied with the moft glaring inequalities, and the groffeft blemishes. But as light is ever more powerful than darknefs, and truth more permanent than falfehood, fo blemishes, however grofs, and inequalities, however mortifying, are fwallowed up and forgotten in the contemplation of fuperior and uncommon eminence. It is upon this eftimate that Shakespeare is by all readers preferred to Pope, and that the Paradife Loft will never endure a competition with the Pastoral Balląd.

It will not be perhaps to venture too much to confider this as a perfect diftribution of genuine and legitimate poetry; and it will not be to act with undue feverity, to pafs an unfavourable judgement upon any performance that will rank under neither of thefe heads. An inattention to this maxim, we were going to fay has done much harm in the fcience of criticifm. But we retract our obfervation. Criticism, as an abstract fcience, may have fomething to do with the outline of a poem, with the regularity of its conftruction, and its conformity to the unities, but the 'firft decifion respecting ftyle, metaphor, and all the minuter and more concentrated beauties of compofition, lies before another tribunal. The tribunal, we mean is that of taste. Tafte however has its measure and its ftandard; and if we can at any time perfuade burselves to relifh beauties, which, when analyzed, appear to

be

be neither eafy, natural, nor unaffected, we may affure ourfelves that we have no taft at all.

It is as the guardian of taste that fuch publications as ours are valuable. There is at all times, in every thing of human inftitution, a tendency towards corruption. And this is perhaps more true of poetry than of any fubject in the world. Poetry, in its original idea, is embellishment and ornament. And there is nothing more to be feared than that, in the progrefs of refinement, fick of genuine and legitimate ornament, we should foek after all that which is dazzling, unexpected, and glaring. If indeed we must wait till a literary journal be uniformly conducted upon the principles of true tafte, there is good ground to apprehend that our expectation would be both tedious and unfuccefsful. But we had been almoft tempted to fay, that the thing would be just as useful, though falfe, as when truc in its decifions; efpecially if it poffeffed fufficient variety, and contradicted itfelf fufficiently often. It is difcuffion and not judgement, it is debate rather than a formal and authoritative fentence, that is moft to be defired. Truth will be ftruck out amidft the collifion of opinions, and the eftablishment of a tyrant can never be effected in a country, which has preferved freedom of debate and freedom of the prefs.

In the author and in the poem before us, we perceive the 'evidences' of that corruption of tafte which may fo naturally be expected in a period of refinement fo late as the prefent. The characteristic of his compofition, which would have equally fubfifted in every period, is a kind of feebleness and imbecillity, ever grafping at fomething comprehenfive, and never fecuring it. This neceffarily difqualified him for the higher departments of poetry, but might have proved only a Imall difadvantage in pure defcription, and the agreeable fportivenefs of a trifler. He indifputably poffeffes, in our opinion, fome fancy and fome touches of elegance and affection worthy of a more diftinguished pen. But that which has accomplished his ruin, is the undue and unreafonable attachment he has contracted to what Dryden calls the "Dalilas", the gaudy and bedizened harlots of the mufe. He is ever labouring after fomething fine, far fetched, and unnatural. His ftyle is fo adorned with bugles and tinfel that it is often as difficult to discover his meaning, as it would have been to have found the texture of Lord Peters coat, under all its accumulation of heterogeneous ornaments. There is one other defect under which the author labours but which we could more eafily pardon, as it certainly cannot deftroy the higher beau ties of poetry. We mean his total ignorance and flagrant

breaches of the rules of grammar.

Having