REVIEW OF LITERATURE. Shall we for ever make NEW BOOKS, as apothecaries make new mixtures, bý pouring only out of one vessel into another? Are we to be for ever twisting and untwisting the same rope? for ever in the same track---for ever at the same pace? Tristram Shandy. Poems. By Sir John Carr. 8vo. pp. 228. London. Mathews and Leigh. 1809. If the author of " My Pocket Book" had published this mass of dulness" under the name of [Sir John] Carr," instead of the little book with which the Knight quarrelled, the laws of the re public of literature, would have given him good right of action. From the following paragraph of his preface to the present fifteen sheets of good paper, spoiled by the impression of random types, and prettily boarded with coloured wrappers, the contents bearing as much proportionate value to the continent, as the freedom of the city of London, does to the gold box, in which it is sometimes presented, we learn, that "These verses lay no pretensions to the depth and solidity of the effusions of the Muse in her elevated flights; they are the few wild notes of the simple shepherd, and do not even affect to imitate the rich cadence of the scientific musician." "The simple shepherd! Sir John Carr, shepherd! "Wild notes! A mere Shakspeare! "Mark the humility of shepherd" Carr ! In the very next paragraph, however, we have "If the author might, without the imputation of vanity, select for them a place in the Temple of Poetry, he would endeavour to class them in that niche, which is appropriated for the re ception of the light and playful vers de Société." "Vers de société !" Sir John Carr, knight! But how's this? Knight and shepherd too! gentle and simple! "Wild notes" and Société !" No, that will never do, thought we, as we read this passage: the verses cannot be cultivated and uncultivated too; they cannot be both wood-notes and parlour-notes. Be this as it might, the next paragraph of the preface promising that they had at least "brevity" to recommend them, we knew by experi ence that we had no reason to be alarmed at Sir John Carr's brief, and therefore, without objecting to the Knight-shepherd that the 66 very head and front" of a vers de société "had this extent, no more," that it was to be confined to MS. and the hands of friends, we determined to read our way through his whole volume. "Courage!" said we, as we turned the leaves, "there seems to be a great deal of fat, as the trade call it, in the book; but, as another Sir John says, "if to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean kine are to be loved;' and who knows but that this book may be like those meats, whose lean is better flavoured in proportion to the quantity of fat by which they are encased?" 66 Well! (as those lady-novelists who write in letters resume) we have read Sir John Carr's poems; they are almost all occasioned by some such incidents as "a lady's presenting the author an Irish pebble," (p. 157). "Delia's wearing a muslin veil," (p. 64), or "timidity frequently agitating a lady when pressed to gratify her friends by her musical talents," (p. 39); and we cannot help thinking how much all these parties will have to answer for, at the judgment-day of literature, for giving occasion to such afflicting jeux-d'esprit as the pen of Sir John Carr pours forth. The author's deceased “brother, W. T. P. Carr, Esq." will have to do penance for six pages of "elevated effusion:" “ an auricula belonging to ——” has doubtless long since withered at six stanzas which have been written at it; " Lady Warren's" affliction at "the departure of Sir John Borlase Warren, K. B. to take the command of a squadron," could not have been mitigated by the thoughts that she was guilty of having occasioned the "lines" which Sir John Carr addresses to her; "Miss" has reason to curse the day when the Knight-shepherd sent her " a rose and a lily;" "Anacreon Moore" should have looked to see whether Sir John Carr was at his elbow or not, before he said "he disliked singing to men;" if "Miss -" will give the Knight "watchstrings," she must take the consequences; "Miss C. M." is greatly to be pitied that she could not wear a diamond cross on her bosom" in peace; "" a very amiable and generous friend" of the author “munificently presents Miss E. S. with a donation of 15,000l." the author should not discourage his friend's generosity by "moralizing the spectacle" in rhyme. But the time would fail us to tell how "an idiotis youth" had the misfortune to be ❝ caressing a broom in a cottage by the sea-side, in which the author had taken shelter during a violent storm," or to pity " Miss --" for "sending the author a laurel-leaf," and "Lieutenant J----- who was killed by a pistol shot, accidentally discharged by his friend, Captain B--;" the lines" occasioned by" this incident, conclude with the following conceit― "And Pity, who stood trembling near, Knew not for which to shed, So claim'd by both, her saddest tear- Now, we can prevent the hesitation of Pity, in a moment, and bid her tear to flow away, for Capt. B. He lived to read these verses. Sir John Carr's volume contains about fifty other "wild notes of the simple shepherd,"* upon similar "light and playful occa We are frequently tempted to exclaim with Sneer, " Haven't I heard that line before?" but here the Knight shews his modesty and taste, ex. gr. lal es. "Say, Delia, why in muslin shade, Ah! why dost thou conceal those eyes, Such little stars were never made, I'm sure, to shine thro' misty skies." P. 64. To tear each other's eyes." Watts. "Oh time, thy merits who can know, The absent lover calls thee slow 'Too rapid,' says the happy lover." P. 68. "What bard, O time, discover, With wings first made thee move? Ah! sure it was some lover, &c." Sheridan. "So if Pomona's golden fruit descend, Shook by some breeze* into the lake below, N. B. What the nightman calls breeze, is what a Dutchman plumps into the sions. Really it must be a serious misfortune to be one of Sir John Carr's friends; you are never free from having verses made upon you; and to ask him a question is to be as surely guilty of The centre mov'd, a circle straight proceeds, Another still, and still another spreads." Pope. "As what a Dutchman plumps into the lakes, One circle first, and then another makes." Ibid. Dunciad. "But yet if here my warm fraternal love Transplanted springs, and lives beyond the tomb ; Thy pitying soul shall smile upon my grief, Along this gloomy wilderness of woe, On earth my brother, and in heaven my guide." P. 9. "O thou with whom my soul was wont to share, If thy blest spirit still unites above, Still o'er my mind exert thy mild control, Correct my views and elevate my soul." Rogers. "Then quick from the door let the lion be torn, "Madam! you ask what marks for beauty pass, Would yon but see a perfect ass, Behold him in this looking-glass." Every Country Inn. "These bays be there, and tho' not form'd to shine, "O lasting as those colours may they shine, "And ruthless winds thro' clefted temples roar." P. 222. * There are no female angels, except on earth, and they have no wings. being the occasion of a poetical answer, as to ask a man for his "Lips that I never kiss'd, and never shall." PETER PINDAR. THE translation will be free, not for the sake of being loose, but to be brief. A Venetian, who had never been out of Venice, where they journey by water in gondolas, and never see a horse, one day made an excursion, and mounted a nag. Finding him plunge and prance about, he got off, saying, the weather's very tempestuous to day, I can't go. Baron Tott observes that the Turks, before they give themselves up to the pleasures of the table, take a quantity of opium; for, to enjoy oneself, they say, it is necessary first to forget. The builders of the new bridge in Paris observed, as they were going to dinner one day, a man observing it very attentively. One supposing he knew something about the matter, intreated him to communicate his opinion, but, said the architect, we are just about to dine; if you will do us the honour to partake of our fare, after dinner we shall have more time to converse. The stranger ate as much as four, and drank in proportion. The meal over, they all repaired to the bridge, each anxiously, waiting to hear the stranger's sentiments. Being pressed, he said-It strikes me that you have acted with great judgment, in making the bridge across, for if you had made it long-ways, you would never have got to the end of it. |