The Rovers; or the Double Arrangement The Rovers; or the Double Arrangement, continued An affectionate Effusion of Citizen Muskein, to Havre-de-Grace Translation of a Letter from Bawba-dara-adul-phoola, to Neek- POETRY OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN. No. I. INTRODUCTION. November 20, 1797. IN N our anxiety to provide for the amusement as well as information of our Readers, we have not omitted to make all the inquiries in our power for ascertaining the means of procuring Poetical assistance: and it would give us no small satisfaction, to be able to report, that we had succeeded, in this point, precisely in the manner which would best have suited our own taste and feelings, as well as those which we wish to cultivate in our Readers. But whether it be that good morals, and what we should call B whether good politics, are inconsistent with the spirit of true Poetry— the Muses still with freedom found," have an aversion to regular governments, and require a frame and system of protection less complicated than king, lords, and commons ;— "Whether primordial nonsense springs to life "In the wild war of Democratic strife," and there only-or for whatever other reason it may be, whether physical, or moral, or philosophical (which last is understood to mean something more than the other two, though exactly what, it is difficult to say), we have not been able to find one good and true poet, of sound principles and sober practice, upon whom we could rely for furnishing us with a handsome quantity of sufficient and approved verse-such verse as our Readers might be expected to get by heart, and to sing; as the worthy philosopher MONGE describes the little children of Sparta and Athens, singing the songs of Freedom, in expectation of the coming of the Great Nation. In this difficulty, we have had no choice, but either to provide no poetry at all,-a shabby expedient, or to go to the only market where it is to be had good and ready made, that of the Jacobins an expedient full of danger, and not to be used but with the utmost caution and delicacy. To this latter expedient, however, after mature deliberation, we have determined to have recourse:-qualifying it, at the same time, with such precautions, as may conduce at once to the safety of our Readers' principles, and to the improvement of our own poetry. For this double purpose, we shall select, from time to time, from among those effusions of the Jacobin Muse which happen to fall in our way, such pieces as may serve to illustrate some one of the principles, on which the poetical, as well as the political, doctrine of the NEW SCHOOL is established-prefacing each of them, for our Readers' sake, with a short disquisition on the particular tenet intended to be enforced or insinuated in the production before them-and accompanying it with an humble effort of our own, in imitation of the poem itself, and in further illustration of its principle. By these means, though we cannot hope to catch" the wood"notes wild" of the Bards of Freedom, we may yet acquire, by dint of repeating after them, a more complete knowledge of the secret in which their greatness lies, than we could by mere prosaic admiration—and if we cannot become poets ourselves, we at least shall have collected the elements of a Jacobin Art of Poetry, for the use of those whose genius may be more capable of turning them to advantage. It might not be unamusing to trace the springs and principles of this species of poetry, which are to be found, some in the exaggeration, and others in the direct inversion of the sentiments and passions, which have in all ages animated the breast of the |