in the grave.' He therefore proposes in the sequel to speak of sleep, and of waking-of death, and of rising again.'

The other subjects, which we have not already recited, are " the Transfiguration'_ the State of the Departed' _' the Vanity of Human Wishes' _the just Judgments of God' the Foundation and Promise of Christian Hope,' &c. &c.

Re.s.

Art. XVI. The Equality of Mankind: a Poem, by Michael Wod.

hull, Esq. Revised and corrected, with Additivos. 8vo.

pp. 40. London. 1798. WHE

HEN this poem was first printed by its respectable author,

we paid due attention to it, in M. Rev. vol. xxxiv. p. 23. Having then treated the subject as a mere poetic fiction, and delivered our opinion of the impossibility of forming social systems ou so Utopian an idea, we shall here abstain from repeating it; choosing rather to refer to sentiments on such a topic which were given by us in a calm, unagitated period :- not need we repeat our idea of the 'merit of Mr. W.'s poem as a composition. We shall therefore content ourselves with pointing out the alterations and additions which distinguish this new impression.

Poets write more frequently from the head than from the heart, and are not so much bent on making converts as on gaining admirers. Mr. W.'s despair of producing any practical effect, by this effort of his muse, may be inferred from the new motto which he has chosen :

" Carmina tantum
Nostra valent, Lycida, tela inter martia, quantum

Chaonias dicunt, aquila veniente, columbas." VIRGIL. Neither does he seem desirous of provoking controversy, for the short advertisement prefixed thus concludes :- Whether the opinions of those to whom the author takes the liberty of sending copies accord with or differ from his own, in regard to the auspicious or malignant influence of those signs which still continue to retain their ascendant in the political Zodiae, he flatters himself they will be received as marks of personal respect.'

The present poem commences with the 7th line of the original edition ; the first six being very properly expunged ;

Untaught to bend the pliant knee, and join'The passage exten:ling from line 36 to line 44 inclusive in the first edition is transposed, and now follows line 6.

The ten lines following line 26 in the original edition are omitted.

For “ War a needful trade" in l. 61. of the original edition, we now read War a licens'd trade.'

• The lines which followed, reflecting on Frederick of Prussia, are expunged. For (at line 109. original edit.)

“ Craft with prowess join'd Soon tam'd the generous fierceness of mankind," we now read (see l. 93. new edit.).

• Craft with prowess join'd Subdued the liberal spirit of mankind.' • Callid him a King," is altered to Call’d him a Monarch, Line i24 of original edition

“ Set up a little idol of their own" now stands

• Fashion'd these iduls to their Sires unknown.' For these two lines after line 130 in the first edition,

“ No; 'twas their baffled pride whose last resource

Dragg'd this perdition on their heads by force," we have these four,

• No ; 'twas their pride which knew not how to yield,
Their

rage for conquest in the tented field,
To slight Heaven's Umpire warp'd th' untoward crew,

And on their heads a just perdition drew.' The word “ bewaild" at l. 177 of the old edition is now judiciously exchanged forbehold.' “ Merit a sound" l. 182, is changed to

• Good works an empty sound.' Line 189, for “ ruthless joy” we now read matchless joy.' Line 258, for

“ Murders and sorceries, and men whose heart

Ne'er prompted one hunane, one generous part," we read at l. 245 of the present edition,

• Murders, and sorceries, and th' obdurate heart

Ne'er prompting one humane, one generous part.' Line 261, “ While some vain mortal, arbiter of ill,

Govern'd the rest,"-altered to • While some capricious arbiter of ill

Govern'd the pliant nations.'
Line 278, “Fomenting some unnecessary strife,” is changa

Impelld to perish in some idle strife.'
The coupler following line 280 in the original edition,

Stoop then, ye sons of reason, stoop, and own

The veriest beast more worthy of a throne,” is happily exchanged for

• Stoop then, ye vain Philosophers, and own
Reasou from man to happier beasts is flown.'

ed to

L. 301.

Line 292, for “ Partaking of the soil which gave him birth," we now read • And venerates the soil which gave him birth,' l. 278, new edit.

“ Where Commerce never rears her impious head," is altered to

• Where Rapine never lifts her impious head.' After having gone through the several classes of society, and pointed out their dependence on each other, like the several links of what is called an endless chain, where extremities unite, the view in the original edition thus concludes, on describing the Eastern monarch:

6 Is not a wretch like this, to either side

Of Life's perverse extremities allied ?
Here to its source the line revolving tends,

Here close the points and here the circle ends."
In the new edition (1. 313.) it is thus improved :

• Stands not a wretch like this, on either side,

With Life's perverse extremities allied ?
Here at its source the line revolving meets,
This the huge circle of thy wheel completes,
O Fortune, thus contiguous dost thou place
The rich, the poor, thillustrious, and the base.'
“ Monarchs, we see, were then at first design'd

A general good, a blessing unconfin'd,"
we now read (1. 323. new edit.)

• In ancient days was Monarchy design'd

To guard the menac'd rights of Human Kind.' A line or two below, Kings were said, in the old edition, to « vindicate the laws :" the new edition makes themrectify the laws.' For “ Stung by a snake, the pious Priest expir’d,

While Folly gaz'd and ignorance admir’d,” we now read

• By venom'd serpents stang, the Priest expir'd,

While Folly gaz'd and awe-struck throngs admir'd.' Clarendon, in his account of Lord Brooke, as the first edition of this poem tells us, l. 376,

“ Shews half the Royalist and half the Saint ;" here he

Shews half the subtle Lawyer, half the Saint.' Then follow twelve additional lines, containing a spirited comparison between the Hero and the Historian, for which we must refer to the poem.

There are also some additions and alterations in the account of the exertions of Caledonia for her religion.

The following couplet (l. 433, 4)

- L. 335.

* At Truth's historic shrine shall victims smoke,

And a fresh Stuart bleed at every stroke,” in the present edition stands thus :

Then, boldly entering Truth's historic fane,

Will Britons ever loathe à Stuart's reign.' 1.435. The address to 'perfidious Albemarle,' which concludes with

“ Șhall meet the felon's undistinguish'd fate,

Sure of contempt, unworthy of our hate,' l. 442. is altered to

• Shall meet the Traitor's doom, borne down by Fate,

Sure of contempt, too abject for our hate,' 1.443. At l. 457 in the first edition we read,

“ Succeeding Kings extend the generous plan,

And Brunswick perfects what Nassau began;" now it stands,

· The Brunswick line improv'd each generous plan

Ordain'd to perfect what Nassau began.' The author's sentiments respecting the politics of the day are pointedly expressed by the alteration which the following lines have undergone :

6 But if in Faction's loud and empty strain, (1. 465.)

Yon frontless rabble vex a gentle reign,
In peace itself ideal dangers find,
Provoke new wars and challenge half mankind;
Who tho' another Tully at their head
From breast to breast the rank contagion spread:
Say what are we? some pension'd patriot's tools,

Mere artless, unsuspecting British fools."
In the new edition, we read at l. 467,

• But if thy Children, to themselves untrue,

With jaundic'd eye, through false perspectives, view
The rising sun of Liberty display,
O’er long-benighted realms his chearing ray,
And league with Despots to replace that yoke
Which Ğallic tribes in thousand fragments broke,'
While, measuring right and wrong by gold alone,
Under State Quacks thy trampled cities groan;
Soon fall thou must, though myriads guard thy shore,

As Tyre and Carthage fell, to rise no more.'
The sons of Albion are said in the first edition, l. 484, to be

“ Untaught to serve, unable to be free.” In the present edition, the poet is still more displeased with his countrymen ; for he tells them that they are

• Too proud to serve, too abject to be free.' The poet asks whether the peasant be to rise from his grave to slavery, and the monarch in a future state be to wield a mimic sceptre ?-but, not contented, as in the first edition, with proposing these queries, he now adds the two following lines:

11

• If on these terms, to thee, O Truth, we live,

What joys, what honors, what hast thou to give ?"
To the new edition are subjoined the lines which follow,
25 a

• PostScript.
• Long ere the martial progeny of France

'Gainst banded Despots hurl'd th' unerring lance,
Drove Superstition from her wide domain,
And rais'd to Liberty a votive fane,
These artless notes the rustic Musc began,
Chanting with feeble voice the Rights of Man:
Now age o'ershadowing damps poetic fire,
And Time's rude hand hath Snatch'd away her lyre,
When for its gratulating strains might call,
O Babylon, thy long-predicted fall;
Still sooth'd by Hope, disdaining abject Fears,
She stands collected in the vale of years,
Imploring Him who bids the tempest cease
To wrap th' infuriate world in lasting peace,
Nor suffer Statesmen, rancorous, vain, and blind,

For Priests, or Peers, or Kings, to sacrifice Mankind.'
There is certainly elegance in this rustic muse: but it does not
appear, by this specimen, that age has either abated its fire,
or taught it prudence and moderation. A great part of the poem
has little relevancy to the title ; and the motto to the post-
script would have served as a motto to the whole :

Quod Regum tumidas contuderit minas.”
To this poem on the Equality of Mankind, are annexed
Verses on Mr. Hollis's Print of the Rev. Dr. Mayhew, the first
sketch of which, we are told, was published in the Gentleman's
Magazine ; and a Poem on the Use of Poetry, part of which has
already appeared in the Morning Chronicle, under the title of
« The Origin of Fable.”—In these, Mr. W.'s prominent senti-
ments are vigorously expressed: he laments that poetry should
ever have wreathed a garland but for the brow of Liberty; and
he hopes that, in future, the Muses may only be employed in
exalting the fame and embalming the memory of the good and
the wise.

Mo.y.

Art. XVII. An Examination of the leading Principle of the New

System of Morals, as that Principle is stated and applied in Mr.
Godwin's Enquiry concerning Political Justice. 8vo.

Is. 6d.
Longman. 1798.
TH

He fallacy of ingeniously constructed and seducing systems

generally conceals itself in their assumptions and most prominent principles. To allow the leading proposition, which

stands