Are laboured under several disadvantages, of which, in justice to himself, he gives the following account, in a familiar dedication to the present writer, omitted in this edition. "Ovid is far from being explicit. Had I known at what time the lovers lived, I might. have introduced some of the public transactions of that period into the poem, and given it a greater air of probability. But all I could learn from him was, that they lived after the Trojan war. Perhaps my account of the matter may scarce appear an ingenious one, but I could positively give no better without running into novel intrigue, which the dignity of my numbers would not allow. Even where Ovid is explicit, I did not always find it convenient to follow him. Ovid has the Nurse in the secret. I, out of pure regard to Hero's tranquillity, have given her no knowledge of the matter. Ovid makes Leander, at the approach of winter, intermit his visits, which was absolutely necessary to his plan of epistolary correspondence. I had no such view, and therefore drowned him in the first storm I could conveniently raise. The reasons I give for the catastrophe, or in other words, the moral of the poem, may probably awake a laugh in a modern fine gentleman, but if you don't join him in it, a fine gentleman's laugh won't put me out of countenance." His version is in many parts happily executed, but is extremely unequal; the metre was, perhaps, injudiciously chosen, for a tale so romantic in itself, swelling with all the pomp of blank verse, is apt to grow into the idea of burlesque. But an easy flow of numbers, and a pleasing harmony of expression, make considerable amends for the diffusion which this occasions. Some of the speeches are exquisitely delicate and tender, and the description which opens the second book, is animated and poetical in an uncommon degree. The moral of the poem contains a fine eulogium on conjugal love, which does honour to his sensibility and his virtue.

• The celebrated love-tale is not the production of Museus of high antiquity, but of a grammarian of that name who lived in the 5th century. It was partly tranflated by Marlow, in his admirable performance entitled " the Sestiad," 1593, which was finished by Chapman, 1606, and highly merits republication. It was afterwards translated by Sir Robert Stapylton, 1647. The subsequent versions are too numerous to be specified.

• To expatiate farther, in the strain of friendly panegyric, on the moral and intellectual character of Græme, would be neither difficult nor unpleasing.

- Juvat usque morari

Et conferre gradum-

Virg. V. 487.

But to accumulate yet more instances, of his amiable worth and poetical genius, would extend this preface to an undue length. The present writer is loth to part with his subject; which, there are a few who know, is by no means exhausted. To Græme, and to every thing connected with him, he acknowledges he is partial; and they who have experienced the loss of a beloved friend, will not think the worse of him for having this infirmity. He can gain, alas! but little from his praise; but in stating his pretensions, and estimating his worth, he finds a pleasing, though a melancholy subject of remetubrange

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membrance. His mind is painfully soothed by a tender recurrence to those events which helped to fill up the vacuum of youthful studies and amusements, by the reciprocal exchanges of confidence and friendship. To him, his memory and his fame will be ever dear and precious, till his own remembrance, and other faculties, shall fail him,

" And o'er his head close the dark gulf of time!"

• From the general commendation bestowed, by the partiality of friendship, on the compositions of Græme, particular criticism may make many deductions. Many of his performances, written hastily, at the age of eighteen, and of which his promiscuous studies and early death had prevented the revisal, can scarcely be inspected with all the severity of criticism; and there is no reason to fear that it will ever be exerted against them. But, when every deduction is made which criticism requires, the general poetical merit of his compositions will be allowed to be considerably above mediocrity. That he had great force of genius, and genuine poetical feeling, cannot justly be denied; and there are scarce any of his performances that do not display a tenderness of sentiment, an energy of expression, a vivacity of description, and an apposite variety of numbers, which evince the vigour of his imagination, and the accuracy of his taste, and reflect much honour both on his heart and his understanding.

• Whatever rank may be due to Græme, among the poets of our nation, his correctness of taste, variety of erudition, vivacity of imagination, tenderness of sentiment, felicity of invention, and facility in numbers, will be allowed to afford indications of a poetical genius, which, when matured by years, and improved by practice, might have produced something considerable, and to furnish an example of unnoticed ingenuity aspiring to literature and to poetry under the pressure of indigence, sufficiently interesting to learning and to benevolence, to justify the bringing his compositions forward to the attention of the readers of poetry, which may be the means of doing justice to his merit, and of preserving his memory.

• His saltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani

Munere

Virg. VI. 815."

We were surprised to find that the Athenaid of Glover was omitted among his works: we have observed similar omissions in other instances, and we mention this circumstance to prevent the public from expecting all the productions of those poets who have been admitted into this collection. Of the remaining lives in this volume we must shortly remark, for we have extended the article beyond our intention, that they appear to be carefully and judiciously compiled from other publications. This observation is not confined to the facts which are related, but extend to the criticisms which are passed, and not unfrequently to the very expressions in which those criticisms are conveyed. Of the life of Dr. Johnson, which has been published in a separate volume, we gave an ample account in our 20th vol. N. S. p. 18.

From

Fram what we have already said on the subject of this work, its general character may easily be inferred. It appears to us an useful and comprehensive collection of English poetry; and the editor has uniformly evinced diligence and judgment in collecting and arranging his materials;-where the subject admitted, he has also frequently discovered taste and ingenuity.

We must not omit to inform our readers, that the twelfth and thirteenth volumes are entirely filled with translations; nor to intimate that sufficient care has not been bestowed on the correction of the press, the errors of that description being numerous.

I

ART. III. Dr. Bisset's Life of Mr. Burke.

[Article concluded from p. 387.]

on

the

N 1782, the opposition recommenced their attack ministry, by Mr. Fox moving an accufation against Lord Sandwich. Mr. Burke supported the motion; and, though it was lost, the minority appeared so strong as to indicate the speedy fall of the minister. General Conway, a few days afterward, led on another assault, by moving for an address to his Majesty to put an end to the war. Burke supported this motion also with all his powers, and it was lost by a majority of ONE only. Five days afterward, the same motion in a different form was moved, and carried by a majority of nineteen : the minister then resigned, and a new administration was formed, of which the Marquis of Rockingham was the nominal and Mr. Fox the real head. Burke was appointed Paymastergeneral.

Of the new ministry, the first step was to offer peace to the Dutch, which they received very coldly; the next was a message from his Majesty recommending a retrenchment of expences, which was followed by an adoption (with several modifications) of Mr. Burke's economical reform bill,-The proceedings of the House on the Middlesex election were expunged from the Journals, and the legislature of Ireland was declared independent. The head of this popular administration lived not long to enjoy the thanks of his country; the Marquis dying July 1, 1782. The celebrated inscription on his Mausoleum, in Wentworth Park, was the composition of Mr. Burke.

On the death of the Marquis, it was supposed by the party that the Duke of Portland was to succeed him. Lord Shelburne, however, without consulting the other members of administration,

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ministration, procured the appointment for himself.-Messrs. Fox and Burke immediately resigned; each in an able speech detailing the reasons of his resignation.

Lord Shelburne was known to be adverse to the independence of America, which Mr. Burke and Mr. Fox considered as a necessary preliminary to peace. In the Rockingham administration, Mr. Pitt had been offered a high appointment; which he did not accept, his sentiments on the subject of American independence being opposite to those of that party. He abstained from much connection with Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke; and, while they were in power, he brought forwards his celebrated motion for a reform'in parliament. When Lord shelburne was made First Lord of the Treasury, Mr. Pitt was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. He did not then repeat his motion for reform.

During the winter, a negotiation was opened for peace, which was concluded in January 1783. Previously to the meetingof parliament in December 1782, the coalition of Mr. Fox and Lord North was arranged, and commenced their opposition to the new ministry by an attack on the principles on which it was formed; and some time afterward they severely arraigned the terms of peace. Though the coalition of two parties, which had so virulently opposed each other on principles, was odious to the nation, it was yet strong in the House; and a vote of censure was passed on the ministry, in consequence of which the ministers resigned. A new administration was again formed, consisting of the Duke of Portland, Lords Loughborough and North, Messrs. Fox, Burke, and their friends - Burke filling his former place of Paymaster-general, which, we are told, he accepted for the sake of reform. Several popular and useful measures marked their first session. East-India affairs began to be a subject of discussion, but no bill on that subject was yet proposed.However strong this administration appeared, from its numerous supporters and its great weight of aristocratic influence, there yet was, as Dr. Biffet tells us, a latent flaw in its constitution:- it was forced on the sovereign; and we may add that it had lost, by the coalition, the confidence of the people. Mr. Fox's India bill put its strength to the trial. With the history of that measure the public are well acquainted:- the object of the bill was to vest the management of the territorial and commercial affairs of the Company in the hands of commissioners appointed by the legislature, and approved by the crown, and who were to hold their offices by the same tenure as the judges of England.-Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas opposed the bill in the Commons, (where, however, it passed,) as an infringement of the Company's charter, and as dangerous to the crown and constitution

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constitution by the establishment of an influence independent of the legislature. Burke made, at the second reading of the bill, a speech equal to any that he had ever spoken, and alluded to those crimes of the Company's servants which afterward formed the ground of his impeachment of Mr. Hastings. In the House of Peers, without any new arguments against it, it was thrown out. It was understood in the House of Commons that many Peers had been told by authority, that those would not be considered as friends of the sovereign who should vote for the bill. Of this most unconstitutional influence, the Commons complained, but ineffectually: a change of administration was then resolved: the principal members were dismissed; and a general resignation of employments followed. Mr. Pite was again made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and became the first instance of a new minister without a majority to support him. The House of Commons remonstrated, but Mr. Pitt continued in office. To ascertain the sense of the people, parliament was dissolved; and the experiment succeeded: for, in the new parliament, Mr. Pitt had a considerable majority,

The new parliament met in May 1784, and Mr. Burke's first business was to oppose a scrutiny into Mr. Fox's election; which, however, was carried. Soon afterward, he made a motion for a representation to the King; vindicating opposition, and censuring the minister: this motion was negatived without a division. Mr. Pitt was now engaged in preparatory measures to smooth the way for his India-bill, which he afterward introduced. He differed from Mr. Fox's bill, in allowing the Company to retain the management of their commercial concerns, and placed the territorial possessions under the conduct of the executive government, instead of the independent board of Mr. Fox. This gentleman and Mr. Burke opposed it, as tending to increase the influence of the crown, while it was inefficient as to its great object.

From this period, Mr. Burke's reputation seems to have begun its decline. Dr. Bisset complains that his talents and eloquence were treated by many in the House with a disrespect which they never before experienced; and indeed he seems to grant that the prolixity and inaptitude of the orator's 'luxuriantexpatiations' were sometimes an interruption to the public business. His passion and irritability, which often hurried him into the most violent expressions, tended to provoke the treatment which he experienced. While he spoke, several members made a point of coughing, beating the ground with their feet, and even hooting: which increased his irritation to such a degree, that

he frequently fell into the most outrageous fits of passion.