defigned imitation of them, it is made in fuch a bold and free manner, as rather to increase than detract from Mr. R.'s merit. We augur, indeed, very favourable things from this young writer's future attention to the Mufes, as they have smiled fo benignantly on the first public facrifice which he has made to

them.

Almost all the copies of the first impreffion, we understand, were fold on the day of publication. If the general curiosity fhould continue equally ardent, we dare venture to pronounce,. that it will be very fully gratified by a perufal of the poem.

ART. VII. Whift: A Poem, in Twelve Cantos. 8vo. pp. 194. 58. fewed. Harlow. 1791.

THE

HE author of the volume now before us is happy in the choice of his fubject; and he is peculiarly fortunate, confidering with what keennefs the hoft of modern bards have pursued every thing which appeared to poffefs the charm of novelty, that a theme fo univerfally captivating fhould have been referved for the exercife of his Mufe. The wrath of Achilles, or the rebellion of the Arch-apoftate, the wars of heroes or of angels, however fublimely fung by Homer and Milton, will not, in a modern bofom, create the intereft which will be produced by the painted ftrife of their pafteboard majefties and humble attendants. The latter comes home to the hearts of the Jadies and gentlemen of Great Britain. Nothing is now more fafcinating than the epic of the card-table; and as to the noble fcience of whift, it is efteemed beyond all the wifdom poffeffed both by ancient and modern grey-heards. We may affume it therefore for granted, that our author, who undertakes, as an able profeffor, to deliver lectures on this admired fcience, will excite the notice of the fashionable world; and that a Muse, who teaches them to play their cards and manage their trumps, will be patronized by the Fair: efpecially as it is a fprightly Mufe, more difpofed to laugh than to be grave, even at whift. Though the poem be didactic, it is not without poetic defcriptions and ornaments. The first requifite of good writing this author appears to have attained, viz. the knowlege of his subject; and confiderable ability and pleafantry has he displayed in the management of it. His hiftory of the origin of Whift, and his defcription of young Moody, the inventor of this filent game, may not improperly be exhibited, as a fpecimen of the creative genius of the author:

A Yorkshire dame invok'd the midwife's care,
And bleft her husband with a fon and heir.

His infant frame appear'd robuft enough,
But fcarcely made of penetrable stuff:
Nor bitter fquall, nor whimper deep and low,
Announc'd his entrance on the ftage of woe.
When on his face the facred fluid fell,
No cry escap'd, his fad furprise to tell.
With rattling toys he ftill refus'd to play,
* And from his coral tore the bells away.
When loud or piercing founds affail'd his ear,
Each look betray'd his horror and his fear:
But chief he feem'd to dread the ftrife of tongues;
For then alone he ftrain'd his little lungs,
And with a rueful face inceffant roar'd,
Till the florm ceas'd, and filence was restor’d.
Hard was the task and wearifome, to teach
His backward tongue the mimick art of fpeech;
Nor, when at laft your patience won the day,
Did he, like other babes, your care repay.
Ne'er did his prattle charm a parent's ear;
He fcarcely utter'd twenty words a year.
Oft would he fly to fome fequefter'd nook,
To pore in quiet o'er a pictur'd book;

Or fit whole hours immers'd in thought profound,
With eyes that fondly lov'd the fenfeleis ground;
Till nature's wants, from which no frame is free,
Rous'd the young Stoic from his reverie.

To fchool for once he went; but threat nor pray'r
Could force his feet again to venture there;
Not that, like fome, his talk had wrought him woe,
(His wit was quick, altho' his tongue was flow);
Nor that he fear'd the mafter's awful nod,
(Th'attentive scholar feldom dreads the rod):
His fear was only from the boift'rous noise
Rais'd by fo many wild unruly boys:
Their favage tumult tore his tender ear,

Diftreft him more than what his frame could bear;
And, had his parents forc'd him ftill to go,
Might foon have fent him to the fhades below.

A grave and fober tutor next was found,
To lead him foftly thro' the claffic ground.
One charge there was he never would obey-
A task of any length aloud to say:
The yielding tutor took it written down ;
But then he feldom read it with a frown.

His parents thus, of temper foft and mild,

In all his freaks indulg'd their wayward child;

I threw away my rattle before I was two months old; and

would not make ufe of my coral, till they had taken away the bells

from it. SPECTATOR, No. 1.'

Not

Not without hope that gravity fo young,
Such love of filence, fuch command of tongue,
When the wild feafon of caprice was paft,
Would furely rife to fomething great at last-
A judge perhaps, of ftern fevere renown;
Perhaps a bishop, dreft in hallow'd gown ;
Or at the worst a mayor in fome adjacent town.

When twice nine years had thus at home been spent,
The grave young Moody was to Cambridge fent ;
Where, led by no temptation's pow'r aftray,
He pafs'd the time in his accuftom'd way;
Seldom abroad, or in the common hall,
Read much, heard little, and spoke none at all.
But now ftern fate his father call'd away,
And fent him home, impatient to allay
Maternal anguifh for a lofs fo great,
And take poffeffion of his own estate;

In which he hop'd, remote from noife and ftrife,
To pafs in peace profound his future life-
Peace, the dear idol of his Stoic mind,

Which ev'n in Cam's retreats he could not find;
For there fome youths, who felt a barb'rous joy
Their graver neighbour's comfort to deftroy,
Each art employ'd that to their fancies rofe,
His ears to wound, and murder his repofe.'

}

Arrived at home, the filence-loving Moody found, with his mother, two virgin aunts- for fluent tongues o'er all the country fam'd;' and to stop the rapid movement of which, he was prompted to invent Whift, and even to swear his aunts to the observance of its laws.

Having delivered its poetic hiftory, and indulged himself in fome digreffions, the author proceeds to recount the excellencies of the game, and to lay down the rules and requifites for playing it well. In this didactic part of the poem, we were awufed by the following fimile, employed to illuftrate the abfurdity of trumping with an ace :

But oh, what words can paint the dire difgrace,
The fhameful crime, of trumping with an ace,
Until it lofe its relative degree,

And chance the fole furviving trump to be!

As well might George, when be in ftate appears,
Enthron'd with fplendor in the House of Peers,
Were fome rafh knave fo daring then to be,
As make with honourable pockets free;

As well might he, whene'er the fact was known,
Jump down indignant from his royal throne,
And feizing by the neck without delay,
Himfelf to Newgate haul the wretch away:

Nor would he thus a ftranger figure cut,

Than ace of trumps to fuch an office put.'

The poem, however, we think, is too much fpun out. We do not admire the ftory of Cardelia and Sir John Gormaw, introduced in canto vi.; nor fuch rhimes as man and one, one and can, fquire and pair, avoid and pride, one and plan, &c. Some lines are fpirited, and fome are feeble and profaic. The author abounds, moreover, in triplets, perhaps more than the licence of modern poetry allows: but, after many deductions, much poetic praife will be found his due; and whoever follows his directions must become a good whift player..

ART. VIII. Mr. Beloe's Tranflation of Herodotus.
[Article concluded.]

IN our laft Review, we gave a brief sketch of the character of Herodotus, as an Hiftorian; accompanied by a fpecimen of the old English tranflation, by Littlebury. We contrasted that fpecimen with a tranfcript of the fame paffage, from the version by Mr. Beloe; and we now proceed to fome farther extracts from the new tranflation,-by which our readers may form their own judgment of the general merit of the performance now before us.

A memorable account is given by Herodotus of the ancient Getæ, which is thus tranflated by Mr. Beloe:

• Before Darius arrived at the Ifter, he first of all subdued the Getæ, a people who pretend to immortality. The Thracians of Salmydeflus, and they who live above Apollonia, and the city of Melambria, with thofe who are called Cyrmianians, and Mypfæans, fubmitted themselves to Darius without refiftance. The Getæ obftinately defended them felves, but were foon reduced; these of all the Thracians are the bravest and the most upright.

They believe themselves to be immortal*; and whenever any one dies they are of opinion that he is removed to the presence of

their

They believe themselves to be immortal ]-Arrian calls these people Dacians. The first exploits of Trajan," fays Mr. Gibbon, were again ft the Dacians, the moft warlike of men, who dwelt beyond the Danube, and who, during the reign of Domitian, had infulted with impunity the majesty of Rome. To the ftrength and fierceness of Barbarians, they added a contempt for life, which was derived from a vain perfuafion of the immortality of the foul."

The Gere are reprefented by all the claffic writers as the most daring and ferocious of mankind; in the Latin language particularly, every harsh term has been made to apply to them: Nulla Getis toto gens eft trucilentior orbe, fays Ovid. Hume fpeaks thus of their principles of belief, with refpect to the foul's immortality :-" The

Getes,

their god Zamolxis*, whom fome believe to be the fame with Gebeleizes. Once in every five years they choose one by lot, who is to be dispatched as a meffenger to Zamolxis, to make known to him their feveral wants. The ceremony they obferve on this occafion is this: Three amongst them are appointed to hold in their hands three javelins, whilst others feize by the feet and hands the perfon who is appointed to appear before Zamolxis; they throw him up, fo as to make him fall upon the javelins. If he dies in confequence, they imagine that the deity is propitious to them; if not, they accufe the victim of being a wicked man. Having difgraced him, they proceed to the election of another, giving him, whilft yet alive, their commands. This fame people, whenever it thunders or lightens, throw their weapons into the air, as if menacing their god; and they feriously believe that there is no other deity.

This Zamolxis, as I have been informed by thofe Greeks who inhabit the Hellefpont and the Euxine, was himself a man, and formerly lived at Samos, in the fervice of Pythagoras, fon of Mne. farchus; having obtained his liberty, with confiderable wealth, he returned to his country. Here he found the Thracians distinguished equally by their profligacy and their ignorance; whilft he himself had been accustomed to the Ionian mode of life, and to manners more polished than thofe of Thrace; he had also been connected with Pythagoras, one of the moft celebrated philofophers of Greece. He was therefore induced to build a large manfion, to which he invited the most eminent of his fellow-citizens: he took the oppor tunity of the feflive hour to affure them, that neither himself, his guefts, nor any of their defcendants, fhould ever die, but should be removed to a place where they were to remain in the perpetual enjoyment of every blefling. After faying this, and conducting himfelf accordingly, he constructed a fubterranean edifice: when it was compleated, he withdrew himfelf from the fight of his countrymen, and refided for three years beneath the earth.-During this period, the Thracians regretted his lofs, and lamented him as dead. In the fourth year he again appeared amongst them, and by this artifice gave the appearance of probability to what he had before afferted.

To this story of the fubterraneous apartment I do not give much credit, though I pretend not to difpute it; I am, however, very certain that Zamolxis must have lived many years before Pythagoras: whether, therefore, he was a man, or the deity of the Getæ,

Getes, commonly called immortal from their steady belief of the foul's immortality, were genuine Theifts and Unitarians. They affirmed Zamolxis, their deity, to be the only true God, and afferted the worship of all other nations to be addreffed to mere fictions and chimæras: but were their religious principles any more refined on account of these magnificent pretenfions?"-T.

Zamolxis.]-Larcher, in conformity to Weffeling, prefers the reading of Zalmoxis.-In the Thracian tongue, Zalmos means the skin of a bear; and Porphyry, in the life of Pythagoras, observes, that the name of Zalmoxis was given him, because as foon as he was born he was covered with the Lin of that animal.'

enough