attentive examination of the work itself, which contains fuch a variety of matter, condensed in fo fmall a compafs, that we have been able to do little more, than to give a general notion of it. And though we do not prefume to prefcribe to our readers the part which they should take in respect to the Bible Society, yet as the welfare of the church, and confequently of the ftate, is involved in the momentous question which is now before them, we earneftly requeft them not to decide upon trivial and fuperficial, much lefs on interested grounds, but to select every folid argument, and then, to determine from the dictates of their own confcience. ART. XIII. The Remains of Jofeph Blacket; confifling of Poems, dramatic Sketches, the Times, an Ode, and a Memoir of his Life. By Mr. Pratt. 2 vols. crown 8vo. Sherwood and Co. 1811. 11. WHEN we call to mind that thefe volumes were published very principally for the purpofe of procuring affiftance for the orphan daughter of the very ingenious author, we regret even the fhort delay which has unavoidably taken. place in our notice of them. When we connect them alfo with the name of our truly valued and lamented friend, Mr. W. Bofcawen, who, to the full extent of his ability, patronized the author while living, and his child when he was no more, we feel a ftill more lively wish to make amends for our omiffion. The pleasure of wondering at efforts, apparently difproportioned to the means enjoyed, is often the chief attraction to the works of untaught or felf-taught authors. This is not altogether the cafe in the productions of Blacket; in whom is feen a great verfatility of genius, and a livelinefs of imagination, united with a character very fingularly benevolent and pleafing. Jofeph Blacket bad few advantages of education, and when he left the country was apprenticed to his brother in London, to learn the trade of a fhoe-maker. Here, unfortunately, perhaps for himself, though not for his fame, he imbibed a taste for dramatic writing, from feeing Shakefpeare played by Kemble; and from that time was affiduous in his endeavours to qualify himself for the character of an author. There can be little doubt that the extraordinary efforts which he made to find time for study or writing, without negle&ting his bufinefs, tended to undermine his Q 3 conflitution. From these caufes, his life was thort and eventful. He was born in 1786, in Yorkshire, married in 1804, loft his wife in 1807, and died August 22, 1810, leaving an orphan daughter and an aged mother, The whole of his hiftory is included in lefs than 24 years, and yet he has left materials for two volumes (not very fmall) of letters and poetical effufions, of which the fecond volume is principally dramatic. His very kind and affectionate friend, Mr. Pratt, has taken care to give his volumes the advantages of an elegant form, with the embellishments of an engraved title, a portrait of the author, and an illuftrative frontispiece to the fecond volume. But by these ornaments the useful profits of the edition are not to be diminished; and it is right that the public fhould know what the editor has very properly told, that "Mr. MASQUERIER Complimented him with the sketch of the author's portrait, the engraving from which presents to the reader a moft excellent likeness of the original. Mr. James Ward favoured the editor with the vignette, taken from a paffage in the poems; as did Mr. Jones, of Portland Street, with the very fine drawing, from which the engraving is made, in front of the fecond volume, illuftrating a fublime exertion of Mr. Blacket's Mufe. The liberal fpirit here acknowledged has influenced Mr. Freeman and Mr. H. R. Cook, the engravers, both of whom, I am informed by competent judges, have wrought for confiderably lefs than their ufual prices; and the laft, affuredly not leaft, in that combination of kindnefs in a good caufe-the protection of the fatherless child of a man of worth and genius, is unquestion. ably fuch-the Publifhers have, on this occafion, voluntarily refigned a confiderable fhare of their eftablished profits, to augment the fund of the orphan, after difbursement of the inevitable expences of publication, which they take upon themfelves. In k word, there is not a perfon concerned in thefe volumes, of any defcription, who has not teftified a very generous defire and en. deavour to promote the aim and end for which they are brought before the public." P. lxv. All this is extremely gratifying and honourable to every perfon concerned. A letter from Blacket to Mr. Pratt, dated April 19, 1810, evidently paints him as very near his end; but it exhibits fo many pleafing features of his character, that we are tempted to infert it. "You must not attribute my filence to neglect-no! believe me, Sir, I am, and ever have been, proud of holding the pen to addrefs you. "I know you will first ask me, how I am? To which kind question I answer, moft lamentably! Worn, worn, my dear friend, friend, to a thread! My poor legs and arms mere drumsticks! My refpiration thick-fometimes fhuddering in ice; fometimes barning with fever.-A fate worse than that of Tantalus! "Dr. Fearon has juft dropt in-he ftaid not five minutes. Well, Dr. Fearon,' faid I, I fuppofe you will now allow that I am verging faft towards the grave? Why Sir, anfwered he with kind motives, we have an approaching fummer, and on that we must at prefent reft our chief hopes the fine warm months frequently produce in your cafe the moft beneficial effects." "Alas! when will this fine weather arrive? April, instead of the 'fweet breezes of the fouth, blufters on us like the Boreas of December,' bellowing around like a difordered fpirit'; and I cannot so much as look out at my window to catch a funbeam. "You must excufe me for not writing at large, my poor dif. tracted head will not bear it; and Dixon's hand is fo difficult to read, that I doubt you would make little of him. "I fuppofe this will find you in the cottage circle ?-May its inhabitants be happy! and may the fympathetic heart, which drops its generous tear for the fufferings of others, never, never experience the pang of fhedding one for the fufferings of its own. "The good Duchess of L is ftill bufily employed in pro. curing me fubfcribers; but, as you communicate, I need not fay much on this fubject. "I would have you fend her Grace one dozen and a half of poems; fhe will foon fend them adrift, good and gracious being that the is! "Remember me to Mr. Marchant most kindly. "Your letter firft gave me the awful and important intelli. gence of the disturbance in your city :-'tis well that Fortune placed Blacket in an humble fituation. "I glory in rational, (not riotous,) legitimate, not 'mobled' liberty-dear is the name of freedom to my heart!-weak and miferable as I am, I yet would cross the bayonet with Oppreffion, and give ftab for ftab with that wretch, who dared to infringe on the JUST privileges of my countrymen and my country. I have faid too much, my head is dizzy. "Very dear Sir, your faithful J. BLACKET." Vol. i. p. 90. In the great variety of his poetical compofitions here collected, we are inclined to infert one, which, from the ori ginality of its flyle, and force of its expreffions, feems to mark the ftate of the author's mind when he wrote it. To dwell, in realms of endless light, With God on high! My troubled hours, that here roll'd by, For those who creep, and Then, what's this giddy Were fcarce a breath; What? but a fpacious field And, what are you, who, On which we tread? Draw your harth breath? The rich, the poor, the mighty, all Are dufty death!" P. 250. The fecond volume, befides fhorter poems of various merit, contains three Sketches of Dramas," which are nearly, if not entirely, completed; and in the firft volume is a fragment of a burlefque tragedy, evincing no fmall share of humour. On the whole, though we cannot pronounce that the poems of Blacket were of the highest order of excellence, yet we can fafely affure our readers, that his volumes contain much to commend as ingenious, much to afford amufement, and much to intereft the best feelings of our nature. BRITISH BRITISH CATALOGUE.. POETRY ART. 14. Jofeph. A Religious Poem. Hiftorical, Patriarchal, That a poem on a facred fubject may be both beautiful and attractive, we have fufficient inftances to prove beyond all doubt; and the plea of this author, against certain critics, is fo far valid, and almoft fuperfluous. But that his poem anfwers that defcription, or would have proved the point, had it not been exemplified before, we cannot fo far compliment him as to affert. The history of Jofeph, as related by Mofes, is, in all its circumftances, one of the most touching and interefting that exist; but as the particulars are, for that very reafon, almoft univerfally known, no curiofity or fufpenfe can be introduced into the nar rative; and the magination must be fingularly gifted, which could invent new, yet proper, incidents and embellishments. This felicity is affuredly not poffeffed by Mr. Lucas, nor will his mode of narration be preferred by many to the fimpler, but more affecting ftyle of Mofes. Jofeph, when bought by Potiphar, is thus made to tell his own story.. "My name is Jofeph. I derive my race From holy Abraham. Jacob my fire If yet he live! if no fad filial [rather parental] pang grey And ten more fons fojourn in Canaan's land; But none among them, tho' our elder all Claim'd the fame mother's love! There, valued stores Nor leaves his home for war or merchandize. Vol. I. p. II. Here certainly is no rival of Mofes. Afterwards we find him writing what Mofes, without a very extraordinary gift of pro phecy, |