collected, from different writers, many just and ingenious obfervations on the capacities of human nature; the powers of the mind; voice; the organs of fpeech; and the origin of language. To render the art, of which he treats, univerfally useful, he thinks it" neceffary that fome ingenious young men fhould be inftructed and qualified to affift and fucceed the prefent profeffors, and that a fund fhould be established under the direction of proper managers, to be applied to the purpofe of educating those whofe parents are altogether unable to defray fuch expence, and to affift others who can afford a part, but not the whole, by which means, all the deaf, however scattered, might be collected, and taught, and confequently rescued from ignorance, from idleness, and from want." There is nothing in this publication new or original, or that discovers any marks of genius. The object of it is, to celebrate the Academy of Meffrs. Braidwood; and, if poffible, to give them the command of the fund he talks of in the above quotation. Useful arts will never die away, as there will always be encouragement for their profeffors. Charity to the poor deaf and dumb is very commendable; and a fund for their education is much to be defired. The author of this differtation does not subscribe his name to it, but he gives us to understand, that he is a PARENT. This is a very general account of himself indeed! There are very few men, arrived at mature years, who are not pa rents. But this was deemed an interefting character; and it is of a piece with the whole of the publication, which looks eagerly to felf-intereft. It does not teach us how to inftruct the dumb in the knowledge of language; but proves that it may be done, and that Meffrs. Braidwood can do it! ART. VII. Aurelia; or the Conteft: An Heroi-Comic Poem; in four Cantos. By the Author of Modern Manners. 4to. 2s. 6d. Dodfley. T HE little piece we are now to examine, is a profeffed imitation of the incomparable Rape of the Lock. Like the chef d'œuvre of Pope, it has for its bafis a trivial incident of polite life; and it has one advantage over its celebrated model, that of inculcating a noble and invaluable moral. It is defigned to exhibit the abfurdity and baneful tendency of fashion and diffipation in the amiable fex; and the event, under which the agreeable author has chofen to couch the leffon he teaches, is that of the diffolution of the artificial complexion complexion of a young lady, by the immoderate heat of a country-dances The incident is in the extremeft degree fimple; but it is the art of the poet, and moft of all in bur lefque compofition, to fhow how much he can adorn the moft infignificant fubject, and how far it may be extended without palling upon the reader som 1 The most obvious of all ornaments, which was adopted by Pope, and has been employed by all thofe who came after him, is that of machinery. And in this lies the great ftrength of the Rape of the Lock. Not fo of the performance before us. We think the idea of Azael, a perfonage, who figures in the hiftory of Flavius Jofephus, as one of the offending angels, who, before the flood, became enamoured of women, and whom our author has made the genius of the toilet, is by no means fingularly happy. The gentleman, in .our opinion, would have made a more erect and refpectable figure, had he been totally stripped of all connexion with the Jewish hiftorian. But we must take the poem as we find it. The method then by which our author has elevated his fubject, is, by reprefenting it as the grand decifion of a conteft between the genius of the toilet, and the genius of female excellence, for the poffeffion of the charming Aurelia. Of course, the affair terminates to the advantage of the heroine. Such is the outline of the poem. For the execution we must confefs, that the author does not deal much in those foft touches of the pathetic and tender appeals to the heart, which conftitute the principal ex-. cellence of the rival author of the Triumphs of Temper. But then, on the other hand, he has his advantages over Mr. Hayley. It is the common defect of the poets whose turn has been levity and ease, nor are even Butler and Anftey exempt from it, though they frequently burft upon us with beauties of the firft magnitude, to write for pages together in a ftyle altogether flat and infipid. But the fpirit of the author of Aurelia never evaporates. His compofition is in a high degree polished, and there is entertainment and animation in every line of it. It is impoffible to write in a more perfpicuous, flowing, and agreeable ftyle. His verfification is full of the richest harmony without feeblenefs, and echoes to the fenfe without profaic roughness. His conceptions are elegantly gay, and his allufions beyond meafure happy and po Nor is he deficient in fome of the more important qualifications of a poet. His imagery is lively and diverfified; and he wantons in the luxuriance of defcription and the fertility of his fancy. His fimilies a longue queue, upon the model of Homer, which a certain French critic fo taftelessly condemned, and which are fo peculiarly proper in the heroiENGE. REV. Vol. III. June 1784. E e comic comic poem, are picturesque and beautiful. Perhaps however the thought of delineating common things, hair-pins, powder, caps, coaches, in novel expreffions, recurs fomewhat often, and is too much dilated. But it is time the poet fhould be permitted to speak for himself. We will lay before the reader two extracts; one, in the line of polite gaiety, the other, in that of imagination. The first shall be the complaint of Aurelia, in the beginning of the poem, upon obferving that Florio, the prince of beaus, has left her, to follow the inferior charins of Flavia. "Alas, my faithful girl!" the Beauty cries, "No fancied griefs have wak'd these heaving fighs," O may this fatal night through BRITAIN'S clime When at the board the rattling dice were heard, And heard him fwear he liv'd by FLAVIA's eyes, Such Such rage, fuch grief absorb'd my vital powers, Or modifh dames when mantua-makers err! To give new laws to fubjugated beaus ! And yet, methinks, fome joys may fure be found At least we'll try-My proper garb prepare, Awhile we'll quit this mind-enfeebling air, Roam through the woods, or tread the fpangled mead, The fecond extract relates a vifion by which Aurelia is inftructed, fubfequent to her fatal difgrace. And now before the virgin's mental eyes, An arch of maffy filver feems to rife; On either fide appears an ivory gate, Around the freeze foft flowers in many a fold Twine careless, the bright cornice flames with gold ; A fingle ruby blaz'd her burning throne ; Her veft emits a many-colour'd ray, And waving flames around her temples play; "Daughters of Earth, who crowd the plain below, And crown deferving worth; appear, afcend!" Swift at the found unnumber'd bands are feen, E e 2 Stands Stands on the turf and calls his youthful mates Some fix high ladders to the fhining wall, Strikes, the firm bafe obedient opens wide; They mount the narrow stairs; at length on high She fprings to gain the prize, th' extended crown The flumbering maid, who fcarcely thinks the lives; ; Glare pendent, through rough arches howls the storm; And, trembling, lifts her heaven-imploring eyes; |