author upon Mr. Pitt; and we have peculiar pleasure in giving a place to the following verfes, written in praise of that exalted ftatefman, and with the idea of their being infcribed on a public monument.
"To thee, great Orator, whofe early mind
Broke forth with splendour that amazed mankind;
To thee, whofe lips with eloquence were fraught,
By which the aged and the learn'd were taught;
To thee, the wonder of Britannia's ifle,
A grateful Senate rears this marble pile,
Convinced that after-ages muft approve
This pious token of a nation's love.
"Here, though the Sculptor fimply graves thy name,
He gives thy titles, and records thy fame;
Thy great endowments had he aim'd to trace,
The fwelling catalogue had wanted space.
Though vaft the range of thine expanfive foul,
Thy God and Country occupied the whole:
In that dread hour, when every heart is tried,
The Chriftian triumph'd, while the mortal died;
In the last gafp of thine expiring breath,
The pray'r yet quiver'd on the lip of death:
Hear this, ye Britons, and to God be true,
For know that dying pray'r was breath'd for you." P. 14.
There is, after all, little or nothing of narrative in this Supplement it confifts chiefly of characters, and eulogies of perfons known to the author, or efteemed by him. The account of the origin and mode of compofition of the Exodiad, is pleafingly given in page 53. The author very neatly notices the attacks of the Edinburgh Reviewers upon his Memoirs, and repays them with a few rather elegant than fevere farcafms.
To his other Reviewers he is candid, and even grateful, even when they ventured to notice flight defects: and we feel particularly gratified at being thought to have merited his thanks, by pointing out a trifling error in a claffical fubject; which is abundantly excufed by the plea, that the author was writing, at the time, without the aid of books. Mr. C. dates the beginning of this Supplement Feb. 19, 1806, on which day, he fays, he was entering his 75th year. Two more years have fince elapfed, and we truft that he enjoys, at the approach of his 77th year, the fame vivacity of fpirit and vigour of intellect, which he then poffeffed. To enjoy thefe bleffings to fo late a period is a rare indulgence. May they be continued to him as long as he himself can wifh!
ART. III. Richmond Hill, a defcriptive and hiftorical Poem, illuftrative of the principal Objects viewed from that beautiful Eminence. Decorated with Engravings. By the Author of Indian Antiquities. 4to. Price il. 1s. Miller.
MR.
R. MAURICE has appeared before the public with
various claims for literary diftinction, and in all has
been received with complacency and applaufe. His works
on India are now become ftandard books, referred to as
authorities by all who have either intereft or curiofity in what
relates to that portion of the globe. . His poetical abilities
have been fuccefsfully exercifed from his earlieft years,
have grown with his growth, and ftrengthened with his
ftrength. On the prefent occafion he has felected a fubject
of peculiar delicacy and difficulty, it involves fo many
fcenes, fituations, circumftances, and perfons, as to require
no ordinary judgment in their difpofition and arrangement.
He has produced, however, a beautiful poem, a poem which,
nevertheless, must be contented to fhare the fate of all human
productions, not to give fatisfaction to every body. Some
will wonder that certain names are omitted, while fome may
exprefs both aftonishment and displeasure that others are in-
troduced. We fhall, however, fubjoin a fpecimen, which
may proudly defy all cavil, and challenge the moft acrimo-
nious acutenefs. Which of us has not liftened with com-
placency and tenderness to the popular ballad of the Lafs
of Richmond Hill? Mr. Maurice thus pathetically and har
moniously relates the whole of the interefting tale.
"Amid this confluence of fublime delight,
That bursts upon my foul, and charms my fight,
What deathful fhrieks my ftartled ear invade,
And turn the blaze of noon to midnight shade?
Ye blooming virgins that, delighted, rove
SHEEN's bow'ry walks, and Ham's fequefter'd grove,
Pause in exulting pleafure's full career,
To mark the martyr'd MIRA's paffing bier,
And o'er yon pavement, ftain'd with veftal blood,
Heave the deep figh, and pour the cryftal flood."
"Oh! Rubens, for thy pencil's magic skill,
To paint the LASS of RICHMOND's beauteous HILL
Oh for the moaning dove's impaffion'd ftrains,
Or her's, who to the filent night complains,
The forrows of difaftrous love to fing,
And beauty blafted in it's dawning fpring.
Well, RICHMOND, might thy echoing fhades bemoar
Their glory darkened, and their pride o'erthrown;
For SHE was fairer than the fairest maid
That roams thy beauteous brow, or laurell'd fhade;
Than all the rofes in thy bow'rs that bloom,
Or lilies that thy bloffom'd vale perfume.
Her form was fymmetry itself-defign'd
The perfect model of her lovely kind-
Angelic sweetness, every nameless grace,
Beam'd in the beauteous oval of her face.
Loofe to the gale, in many a careless fold,
Redundant flow'd her locks of waving gold;
Her eye, whence love's refiftlefs lightning ftream'd,
The dazzling brilliance of the diamond beam'd;
While like the virgin blush Aurora fheds,
When genial Spring its opening bloffoms fpreads,
In charming contraft with her neck of snow,
On her foft cheek the bright carnations glow.
"This radiant Wonder was Mercator's pride,
For whom the winds, with every fwelling tide,
Wafted rich gems from India's rubied fhore,
And from Columbian mines the glowing ore:
The fatal hour that life to MIRA gave,
Consign'd her beauteous mother to the grave.
Thus, when the gorgeous bird Arabia rears,
The radiant fymbol of revolving years,
That loves to bathe amid the folar stream,
Hatch'd by its heat, and cherifh'd by its beam,
Stretch'd on its coftly bed of rich perfumes,
Amidft the blaze of burning gums confumes;
A lovelier Phoenix from its afhes fprings,
Rears its bright creft, and spreads its purple wings.
"Where-e'er fhe trod, admiring crowds purfued,
Her fex with envy, man with rapture
view'd,
Beauty that might the frigid Stoic move,
And melt the frozen Anchorite to love!
Like the bright ftar, that gleams around the pole,
Its central beams on all attractive roll;
The shining point that fix'd each gazing eye,
The 'cynofure of SHEEN's ferener sky.
Pierc'd by this lovelier Helen's fatal charms,
Each youthful Paris throbb'd with foft alarms;
RICHMOND through all her bounds, like Troy, was fired,
And in feverer flames her fons expired.
"Foremost and comelieft of th' admiring train,
Thus bound in beauty's adamantine chain,
The brave EUGENIO fued; nor MIRA fpurn'd,
The generous flame that in a foldier burn'd-
With love united, a fublimer gueft,
Unfullied honour reigned within that breast—
While in the glow of life's exulting prime,
Of afpect dignified, of port fublime;
Skill'd equally to weave the mazy dance,
And in the battle wield the thund'ring lance,
His manly beauty every virgin charm'd,
As MIRA's every youth to rapture warm'd.
Full twenty rolling fummers fcarce had fhed,
Their ripening honours on his youthful head.
In war's enfanguin'd field with conqueft crown'd
That head a wreath of radiant laurel bound,
For, fired with high ambition's noble rage,
He gave to war's rude toils his tenderest ag
And ftill, where Glory fhow'd the radiant way,
Braving the polar ice, or tropic day,
His fabre in the front of battle raised,
Flamed in the trench, or on the rampart blazed-
His foul no fear could daunt, no danger move,
He own'd no victor, but all conquering Love.
"With kindred virtues, kindred paffion fired,
For different, but refiftlefs charms admired,
Far from the curious crowd's obtrufive gaze,
In the deep windings of the impervious maze;
In the dark umbrage of the deepest glade,
EUGENIO and his lovely MIRA ftray'd;
Or, wand'ring flow by Thames' majestic stream,
When Cynthia lends to love her guiding beam,
And confcious orbs, on high, unnumber'd roll,
Breathe the foft tranfports of the impaffion'd foul.
But who the unutterable strain shall tell,
That from the lips of raptured valour fell?
Or paint the fcarlet on her cheek that glow'd,
As through each vein the thrilling accents flow'd:
Titian! the task tranfcends thy vaunted pow'r,
And ever feal'd be Love's myfterious bower!
"On fuch diftinguifh'd worth, fo fond a pair,
So valiant this, and that fo paffing fair;
To doubt that Heav'n would look benignant down,
And virtuous love with full fruition crown;
Seem'd impious to the Pow'r that reigns on high,
And holds the balance of the impartial sky-
But who, myfterious Providence! fhall fcan
Thofe deep defigns that mock enquiring man!
Dark rolls the tempeft through the turbid air,
And through the gloom enfanguin'd meteors glare;
Cimmerian hortours fhade th' Idalian grove,
And furies revel in the bowers of love.
A ravening dæmon, from the loweft hell,
Avarice! ftalk'd forth from her infernal cell-
On ftern Mercator rush'd the haggard wight,
And each fair profpect veil'd in endless night,
While Hymen with his purple train retires,
With lamp inverted, and extinguifh'd fires.
"Girded with triple fteel, his favage heart
Was dead to love, and callous to his dart;
No charms in valour could his eye behold,
Nor worth but in Potofi's treasured gold;
Ardent, but fecret, was the flame that prey'd,
On the adoring youth, and matchlefs maid;
In vain with pureft fires EUGENIO burn'd,
And ardent love with ardour was return'd;
No Indian gems were his, nor treasured ore,
His only fortune was the fword he bore-
Yet in his veins his generous lineage beam'd,
And on his face no blood ignoble stream'd.
Thus to defpair's unpitied pangs confign'd,
Full many a moon with wafting fires they pined;
On MIRA's cheek the living rofes fade,
Corroding cares deftroy the beauteous maid;
Nor more with feftive joy EUGENIO glows,
While round the board the fparkling nectar flows-
Defpair, at length, and grief, refolve infpire,
With rembling fteps they feek the haughty fire;
Submiffive at his feet the lovers bow,
And all the guilt of fpotlefs love avow;
The pangs that heav'd EUGENIO's ftruggling breaft,
With manly eloquence the youth exprefs'd;
While fighs, and burfting tears too well declare
The keener anguifh of the afflicted fair-
But who the tiger's fury fhall affuage,
Who check the fouthern whirlwind's wafteful rage?
The bare avowal of their cherish'd flame,
With horror fhook MERCATOR's trembling frame-
He faw his treasured hoards, that buried lay,
Dragg'd from their deep receffes into day-
In air Ambition's tow'ring projects blown,
And all the labours of his life o'erthrown:
With frantic afpect, and terrific tone,
He bade EUGENIO from thofe walls begone-
Then from his ftruggling arms his daughter tore,
Never to clafp thofe angel beauties more-
Obfequious myrmidons rufh in-and bear,
Far from his longing fight, the fhrieking fair-
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