sider the antient and modern odes which fall under each of these descriptions. Now it is obvious that many of the finest productions of antiquity fall under neither of these classes, and consequently escape observation. Many of Horace's odes partake of all these qualities; others might be termed moral; and the odes to the heathen deities, beautiful as they are, pertain to none of the Doctor's divisions. The odes of Anacreon, though polished by the hand of the Graces, are slightly mentioned; and, whatever our countrymen may think, we question whether the learned throughout Europe will place Gray and Collins on a footing with Pindar.-The result of Dr. Drake's disquisition is that, in the first class, the moderns least equal the antients, and surpass them in the pathetic and descriptive; while in the amatory he reluctantly admits the inferiority of modern productions. To the taste with which the various pieces are selected for the purpose of comparison, we readily offer our plaudits; yet, if the provincial poetry of Scotland were included, Burns' ode to a daisy, and another to a field-mouse, certainly deserve notice; and his "Cotter's Saturday Night" also claimed a tribute when the Doctor treated of pastoral poetry. If his intention were to exclude provincial dialects, it was scarcely worth while to infringe this rule for the "Braes of Yarrow," which is remarkable only for a simplicity that may be termed infantine.-The ode annexed to this dissertation is possessed of considerable merit.

No. 24. On the Poetry of Catullus.

The works of this agreeable libertine lately fell under our observation, when the sweetness of his verses and the tender-. ness of his expression received the commendation which was due to them; while the unnatural debauchery, which pollutes too many of his compositions, was noticed and condemned. We entirely concur with the present author in thinking that satire was not the forte of Catullus.

No. 25. Maria Arnold, a Tale: Horace Book 2. Satire 6 imitated.

This tragical story is related in glowing language, and exhibits the fatal effects of an illicit connection, where duty forbade one of a more honourable nature. The imitation of Horace is a spirited performance by the Rev. Francis Drake, B. D.

No. 26 and 27. On the Poetry of the Ages of Elizabeth and Charles I. and II. and of the present Reign.

A propensity to exalt the past, at the expence of the present age, is undoubtedly the source of an unfair depreciation of the poetical excellencies of our contemporaries; and we have derived much entertainment from Dr. Drake's attempt to REV. JULY, 1799. prove

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prove that they never shone more conspicuously, than during the present reign. We think that those who peruse these agreeable dissertations, without prepossession, will not hesi tate to acquiesce in the author's inference, however they may contest particular instances. They will doubtless exclaim against Ossian appearing to support the glory of modern epopea against Milton; they will remark that Shakspeare stands confessedly unrivalled; they will consider the Doctor as singular in his unqualified condemnation of the courtly Waller; and they will censure the omission of Butler, the wittiest of English satirists, who lived and died within the first of these periods.

No. 28 and 29. On the Superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland.

A firm belief in a future state, in the perpetual visitation of departed spirits, and in the existence of supernatural Beings who sported in the elements, and inhabited the mountain or the rock, form the outlines of the Celtic mythology as it is drawn in the poems of Ossian.' To this, indeed, is the whole reducible; for no expression occurs, indicative of a belief in the superintending agency of a deity. This system of mythology (if it may deserve that appellation) will not supply the poet with much novel imagery; and, as the subject of philosophic speculation, the first inquiry will naturally be, for what portion, even of this contracted scheme, are we indebted to Ossian, and for what to his translator?-We have so frequently alluded to Dr. Drake's prepossession for the melancholy and solemn, that it were almost superfluous to state that he is an enthusiastic admirer of Ossian. His readers will find many beautiful selections from the Bard of Cona in this essay.

No. 30. Agnes Felton, a Tale; Stanzas; Ode to Content. The tale exhibits the well-traced picture of a romantic scene, and an interesting family. The ode is highly poetical, and we insert it without mutilation.

ODE TO CONTENT. '

To thee, mild source of home-felt joy!
To thee I vow this artless lay,
For, Nymph divine! no cares alloy,
No griefs pollute thy halcyon clay.
Though soft the moon her mellow light
O'er yonder mould'ring tower hath shed,
Though soft as sleeps her beam on night,
Yet softer sleeps thy peaceful head.
For thee, the fairy sprite of morn,
Her sweet, her varied dream shall weave,

For

For thee, thy wood-girt thatch adorn
The calm, the golden light of eve.
For thee the cool stream murm'ring slow
The green, the winding, vale along,
For thee, where yonder wild pines grow,
The maiden breathe her village song.
• When wilt thou haunt my straw-rooft cot,
When wilt thou bless my longing arms,
When shall I claim thy lonely cot,
When shall I share thy modest charms?
I ne'er will ask of purple pride
Her gems that idly fire the night,
The gems that o'er her tresses wide
In lustre Aing their garish light.
Nor will I ask of power to whirl,
In terror cloth'd, the scythed car,
And mad with fury, shout to hurl
The dark, the death-fraught spear of war.
Then come, my little dwelling share,
A dwelling blest, if shar'd with thee,
From the proud far, from pining care,
From guilt and pale-ey'd sorrow free.
Ah! let the Great by error led,
To many a gorgeous city fly,
More blest with thee to eat my bread
In peace and humble privacy.
More blest to rove the heath along,
At grey-clad eve, from labour won,
To list the wood-lark's plaintive song,
And wistful watch the setting sun.
More blest by oak that, cleft and lone,
Flings o'er the stream his moss-hung bough,
As swells the blast in rougher tone,
To mark the mild wave dash below.

• More blest nigh yonder darkling dell,
Where sleeps the Bard by fame forgot,
Of many a lovelorn grief to tell,
And mourn till morn his cheerless lot.

But oh far happier if at night,
As onward rolls the sadd'ning morn,
I meet thy blue eye's glist'ning light,
I press thy gently yielding form.

I

Sweet as the first drawn sigh of love,

Content, thou mild, thou meek-ey'd maid!
Above bright pow'r, gay wealth above,
To thee my willing vows be paid.'

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This

This is a pleasing poem, but the attributes are not the attributes of Content. The votary' of Content should neither listen to the wood-lark's plaintive song, nor mark the waves dashing on the rocks; and still less mourn his cheerless lot. The skylark's merry note, the fields waving with golden harvests, and the innocent pastimes of cheerful industry, would have been more appropriate.

We have now analysed the contents of a volume which has afforded us much pleasure in the perusal, and which will probably become a favourite with the public, as containing an ample fund of valuable, amusing, and generally candid criticism. Ham.....

ART. VI. The Oriental Collections. 4to. Nos. III. and IV. 11. 1s. Boards. Cadell jun. and Davies.

WE E resume our account of this interesting and curious publication, of which the third and fourth numbers are now offered to the public, and terminate the first volume.

Number 3d.-The geography of Asia may undoubtedly derive important corrections from native itineraries; and we are pleased to find, by the present Geographical Extracts, that this object has attracted the attention of the editor.- At the foot of the mountain of Bisitûn, in the province of Curdistan, in a recess hallowed in the rock, three figures are to be seen, carved in relief on a large cornice, of which the middle one seems to represent a king, that on the left a queen, and the third an officer or person of high rank. Near these is an equestrian statue of gigantic size, armed at all points-besides trophies, camels, elephants, and the figures of shepherds with their flocks. In another recess of the rock are different figures, with various inscriptions; all these are close to a stream which gushes from the mountain, and runs in an artificial channel hollowed in the rock. Some of these sculptures represent archers-others, musicians performing on the harp, and others, hunters pursuing deer.' These antique remains are by some supposed to be the same which, according to Diodorus Siculus, were hewn out of the mountain of Baghistan by order of Semiramis. The Persic tradition refers them only to the 6th century; and involves a romantic story of the loves of Khusru Parviz and Shirin, which Nezami has celebrated in a very affecting poem.

The Reverend Mr. Gerrans has supplied some observations on the Persic language, which (he maintains) is the most descriptive, copious, and regular in the world.' To the last epithet it has an indisputable claim; the two former are more

doubtful:

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doubtful but, when he asserts that it is the same at present as in the times of the kings of Israel, (excepting in the introduction of Arabic words,) we cannot help wishing that he had favoured us with some proof of so singular a position. Among innumerable words purely Persian, (says Mr. Gerrans,) which have been always used in common both by the antient and modern inhabitants, there are two to be met with more frequently than others;' the first of which is "stan," signifying a station; and in this sense he finds it used by the prophet Hezekiah. We apprehend that this example is rather unhappily selected, the word being a Sanscrit one, and incorporated, with a thousand others, into modern Persic. That the latter was the original dialect will scarcely be affirmed; and it admits of easy demonstration that the Sanscrit has borrowed from no other. We must also confess our inability to discover any trace of the Persic "dar," in the proper name Oerotrus.

Among the translations comprised in this number, we find two odes of Hafiz; a tale from an original MS. of the Arabian Nights, and another from the Behardanish; the two latter by Capt. Scott.

Number 4th-commences with a paper from General Vallancey on the Oriental emigration of the antient inhabitants of Britain and Ircland.' The title is inaccurately expressed; for what the General undertakes to demonstrate is that the original inhabitants of Ireland were shepherds from the banks of the Indus, who, colonizing with the Chaldeans of Dedan, formed that body of Phoenicians which at length settled in these western islands. It is not, therefore, an Oriental emigration of British and Irish, as the title indicates, but an occidental emigration of Indians, that is maintained. The proofs adduced in support of this position are, 1st, the polar star being placed in the tail of the Dragon by the Brahmans, as well as by the Druids: 2dly, The constellation Argo has no derivation in Greek, yet that word signifies a ship in Irish and in Sanscrit. (This, however, is a mistake; Argha is the name of a dish used in sacrifice, and it is shaped in the form of a boat, in allusion to a mystery explained by Captain Wilford: but certainly neither boat nor ship were ever termed Argha in Sanscrit, but nav, whence the Latin navis.) 3dly, Other verbal analogies constitute the remaining proofs.

Captain Scott and Mr. Ouseley have enriched this number with a variety of pleasing translations: but we must not pass over in silence an extract from a Sanscrit book entitled Sri Baghavat, translated by John Marshall, anno 1677,' without remarking that it is not what it professes to be, an extract, but the substance of a portion of that work as explained to Mr. Marshall

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