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reach its designation. As it happened, the prediction has not been verified. Soon after the publication of Gray's sister odes, "The Wonderful Wonder of Wonders," a pair of poems was published in ridicule of them, which, like the work of Rousseau, have been delivered according to their direction. They were addressed by their authors, Colman and Lloyd, to Obscurity and Oblivion, and the address has been most scrupulously followed. Both of them are equally and total. ly obscure, and forgotten.

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MODERN POETRY.

THE fondness of the present age for the tales of ignorance and superstition, for the ghosts and goblins of the nursery, might give rise to much curious speculation. Is the progress of taste and knowledge similar to that of the human body, and have we arrived at second childhood? Whatever may be the cause, the fact is certain. This propensity to the marvellous, united with an affectation of ornament or of plainness, of glittering epithet or of childish simplicity, has rendered the greater part of modern poetry disgusting to a classical taste. The following lines, it is presumed, will agree with the prevailing fashion. Some apology may be necessary for their in

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On the summit of Keasarge meteors were gleaming,

And voices were heard on the echoing breeze.

Stranger ! thou sigh'st for the blush of the morning,

Thy wearisome path-way with pleasure adorning-

In vain, for the spirit of Mariton warning,

Bids the storms and the tempest around thee increase.

Ah, desolate stranger! no fond doating

'mother

Shall soothe in sweet accents thy wildthrobbing breast ; :

No sister is near thee, no pitying brother

The murderer's conscience is never at

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POETRY.

ORIGINAL.

** ***...

HYMN ON DEITY.

ASCRIBED TO ORPHEUS.

[ORPHEUS was one of the heroes who embarked in the Argonautick expedition, in the 79th year before the taking of Troy. The poems, which pass under his name, are, by Aristotle, attributed to a Pythagorean Philosopher, named Cecrops. Most of the moderns ascribe them to Onomacritus who lived in the age of Pisistratus, Tyrant of Athens, B. C. 516. The author, whoever he was, had, undoubtedly, some acquaintance with the Jewish Scriptures.]

I SPEAK to ears initiate. Far remov'd

Be every vulgar eye. Thou only, Moon,
Rolling full-orbed in silent majesty,

Witness my song. I utter truths sublime;
Truths, which the soul exalt. In mute attention

Listen; for I proclaim a DEITY!

The Almighty One, self-born, all glorious,
Exists; Creator blest, wide nature's sovereign,
Invisible to mortal eye; but he,

Watchful forever, guards his boundless works.
He, of his goodness, chastens man; he sends
War, famine, pestilence. He, he alone,
Uncounselled, governs and directs the whole.

O, come with me, my friend, adoring trace,
In all his works, the footsteps of a God.
His hand sustains, his powerful arm upholds
Creation; he himself invisible;

For clouds and darkness shroud him. He, remov'd
High in the heaven of heavens, dwells not with man ;
No eye beholds him, save the Son belov'd,

Of wond'rous origin, Chaldea's hope.

God in the heavens resides. The rolling world,
The star-bespangled firmament, the sun,
Evening's mild lamp, creation's utmost bounds
Extended lie before him. He directs
The ceaseless flow of ocean. He, in storms,
Rides on the whirlwind, hurls th fire of heaven.

God in the heavens resides. He spreads his arme
To ocean's utmost bounds. At his approach
The mountains tremble; from their bases leap
The everlasting hills. To his high power
Earth bows submissive. He, the first and last.

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THE BOSTON REVIEW.

FOR

OCTOBER, 1808.

Librum tuum legi & quam diligentissime potui annotavi, que commutanda, que exigenda, arbitrarer. Nam ego dicere verum assuevi. Neque ulli patientins reprehenduntur, quam qui maxime laudari merentur.

PLIN.

ART. 30.

Modern Chivalry: containing the Adventures of a Captain, and Teague O'Regan, his servant. By H. H. Brackenridge Philadelphia. J. Conrad & Co. 2 vols. 12mo. 1804.

(Continued from p. 508.)

THE author's creed in politicks is democratical. Yet it is founded on the true, genuine, unadulterated principles of democracy, and is generally free from any factious opin-, ions, which, in modern times, may have been supported under the sanction of that appellation. The personal character of the man gives weight to the declaration of his opinions. When his brother Judges of opposite politicks were impeach ed for an obnoxious sentence, Judge Brackenridge requested that he also might be included, as his opinions perfectly coincided with theirs, though he was not present to deliv er them publickly. This measure produced an address from the legislature of Pennsylvania to their Gov. ernour, to remove him from office,

which was justly unsuccessful. A man that could thus act from the

dictates of conscience, without lis tening to the yell of party, or the still small voice of interest, is no fac. tious demagogue, norintriguing pol itician. Those that may differ from him on some points in politicks, must revere his integrity, and look upon his ostensible sentiments, as the honest feelings of his heart. He is a friend to democracy as pure as is consistent with quiet. Like all other rational men, he sees the most obvious evil attending on this form of government, that by fre quént elections, the rabble are exalted, and virtue and talents are de pressed. This he endeavours to expose by the ridiculous elevation of a vagrant Irishman to offices of respectability and honour. It is painful to see that in many instances the enthusiasm of an honest mind, warm with schemes of liberty, rises in its projects above the scope of human means. Under a similar influence, Judge Brackenridge expresses his opinion on certain meas. ures of government, and parts of the constitution. He advances, for in

stance, the idea, that it would be better for the country that all restraints on naturalization should be removed, that every foreigner on his first entrance into the country, whether wealthy or indigent, should immediately have a free right to elect or be elected. This country, he considers, as the great asylum, where the unhappy and the oppressed of every clime are to find repose. "Here the wicked are to cease from troubling, and here the weary be at rest" Here liberty has blown a trumpet, whose voice has gone forth to the four winds of heaven, to invite the slave of despotism, and the victim of popular fury, to cross the ocean and sing his "Io triumphe 'before the altar of reason and in vement. Neither the nature ofor work, nor the limits of our mination, invite to political disCussion. Yet we cannot but observe, that the conduct of many foreigners, who have taken advantage of this happy asylum. ought to prove the necessity of strong and operative restrictions. While we thus animadweit on the excess of some of his theories, we would give most unfeigned approbation to the candour and moderation of the author as a political partisan. It is a virtue, that, in times like these, shines forth with peculiar lustre. When the spirit of party is found, not only rioting in personal abuse, but openly discussing the separation of the United States, an event that ought not be thought on without horrour, we almost blush for our opinions. The rational investigation and respectful censure of the Judge deserve to be regarded and imitated. ab boste doceri."

"Fas est

However general a man's knowl edge may be, it is natural, that he should succeed best in discussing subjects connected with that profes. sion; that he has made his particular

study. That part of this work, and it is no small one, that has a legal aspect, is perhaps better executed than any other. He has treated judicial matters in both a serious and a burlesque style. In one part, he gives directions to the barrister concerning the best method of managing his cause, and arranging his argument, in another, he introduces a dissertation on the duties and behaviour appropriate to the bench. Several law cases, reported in different parts of the book, are intended to ridicule the quibbles and frivolous distinctions of the profession. One of these has already been extracted: the following is another instance.

The Captain, having been led to think so much of law, of late, was struck with the idea of visiting courts of justice, and hearing some of those cases argued, which come before them. Understanding that a court was then sitting, he resolved to take the opportunity of the interval of to amuse himself with the pleading of the Teague's purgation, in the work-house, advocates. Accordingly, repairing to the court house. he took his place amongst the crowd, and listened to what was going forward

What came before the court was a motion in arrest of judgment. A Jonathan Munn had been indicted, and found guil ty of “feloniously taking and carrying away water out of the well of Andrew Mab." It was moved in arrest of judgment, that larceny could not be com mitted of water in a well, it being real property; for it was a distinction of the common law, that larceny could not be committed of things real, or savouring of the realty, Black. 232. 2 Ray. 470. Hawkins, &c. So that taking away the soil was merely a trespass; and taking away the water could be no more.

It was answered that water being f itans, et mobilis could not be considered

as

real property; that an ejectment would not lie for water, but for so many acres of land covered with water, Yelv. 143. 1 Burr. 142. Because it was impossible to give execution of a thing, which is always transient and running, Run. 36, quotes Cro. Jac 150. Lev. 114. Sid 151 Thence it is that, in a grant of the soil,

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