With horror fill'd, yet glowing with disdain,
Scarce could th' indignant youth his ire reftrain-
Vengeance on all the daftard throng to pour,
And deluge with their blood the crimson'd floor;
A parent's rights and venerated name

Check'd at its height refentment's kindled flame;
Slow he retires from all his foul held dear,
While down his cheek defcends the starting tear;
That tear, which foreign to his foul was fhed,
That cheek, by rage with glowing crimson spread.
With bolts of fteel the mafly gates are barr'd,
Anft fiends, in human form, the entrance guard;

"Thus, from her loved EUGENIO rudely torn,
Thus, doom'd in endless folitude to mourn;
Debarr'd each joy the focial paffions bring,
When bounds the heart in youth's exulting fpring;
For ever bath'd in tears her beauteous eye,
And burfting from her breaft th' inceffant figh;
Of foul-diftracting pangs the hopeless prey,
Defponding MIRA pafs'd the tedious day;
While, direr than the dragon, famed of old,
That watch'd Hefperia's fruits of blooming gold;
Where'er fhe treads, a hideous hag is near,
Whose hoarfe invectives, tun her deafen'd ear.
No Cupids hover round her evening bow'r,
In painful vigils roll'd the midnight hour,
Or, oft invok'd to fuffering Beauty's aid,
Through the dire horrors of the incumbent fhade,
If Sleep her opiate balm indulgent shed,
Terrific phantoms glare around her bed:
In blood now wading o'er th' embattled plain,
She feeks her love mid heaps of warriors flain;
Or, wrack'd with all the tortures of despair,
Beholds him wedded to fome happier fair!
Graved on her breaft the gloomy vifion reigns,
And the high roofs refound her piteous strains!

"One fatal morn-ere yet the Fount of day
Illumed the mountains with his golden ray-
When by prolong'd, intenfe, diftracting thought,
To all the fever of delirium wrought;
Her guardian's eyes in leaden lumbers clos'd,
Thofe Argus eyes, that ne'er by day repos'd;
Soft from her tear-drench'd couch, unheard, unfeen,
Stole the fweet Maniac of admiring SHEEN-
To one belov'd balcony urged her flight,
Where boundlefs profpects charm'd the roving fight:
For o'er the skies, with glowing crimson fpread,
Her richest vernal tints Aurora shed:

Eager around fhe roll'd her ftreaming eyes,
While in her foul remember'd raptures rife ;
But chief thy bow'rs, enchanting SHEEN! invite,
The groves of blifs, the gardens of delight!
Where, with her vanquish'd heart's triumphant Lord,
She oft had ranged, adoring and adored!

"And now inciting dæmons ftronger drew
His pictured form before her phrenzied view,
A form, the fainted maid with love to fire,
Glowing with beauty-burning with defire-
Not great Alcides, in his lovelieft bloom,
Wav'd with more majefty his warrior-plume,
Than that fair Image which its outstretch'd arms
Impatient fpread, to clafp her bridal charms.
The glittering vifion fired her maddening brain,
Nor did the phantom ftretch its arms in vain-
With furious tranfport, from that dizzy height,

Headlong she sprang, and funk in endless night!" P. 84.

As a fpecimen of typography, our artists, diftinguished as they defervedly are, have feldom produced any thing of equal excellence to this Poem of Richmond Hill: The beauty of the ink, the paper, and the type, can hardly be exceeded. There are alfo two plates, one of the old palace of Richmond, fronting the river, as built by Henry VII. from an ancient drawing in the poffeffion of the Earl of Cardigan; the other, a view of Richmond Hill and Palace, from a picture in the poffeffion of Lord Fitzwilliam; the artift unknown, but two centuries old, exhibiting the dreffes and morris-dancers of the time. The book feems to us fo cheap, that we fear it will hardly compenfate the author for his trouble and exertions: we hope, however, that when the awful moment arrives of fettling with his printer and ftationer, the balance may be confiderably in his favour, and enable him to enjoy many pleafant excurfions to the scenes he loves fo well, and has fo fuceefsfully defcribed.

ART.

ART. IV. A Statistical and Hiftorical Inquiry into the Progrefs and Magnitude of the Population of Ireland. By Thomas Newenham, Efq. Author of feveral Political Tracts relative to Ireland. 8vo. 369 PP. 8s. Baldwins.

1805.

OF F the feveral branches of political economy, not the least important is that which relates to population, an accurate estimate of which, and of its increase or diminution at different periods, may have confiderable influence on the political measures and internal regulations of a state. Yet it is only of late years that any inquiry into the population of thefe kingdoms has been inftituted by government; and that of Ireland, in particular, has been fo imperfectly inveftigated that writers of talents and refpectability differ as widely as in the amount of two millions in eftimating the number of its inhabitants.

After a judicious preface, fhowing the neceffity of a much more accurate acquaintance with the internal circumftances of Ireland than the inhabitants of this country in general poffefs, intimating that the prefent magnitude of its population is far from being generally known, and stating the grounds which we have for diftrufting the returns of tax-gatherers, (upon which moft of the preceding estimates have been founded,) and the motives which have given rife to the prefent inquiry, the author treats, firft," of the Nature and Efficacy of the Caufes which accelerate the Increase of People." Thefe caufes he briefly enumerates, namely, "plenty of food, frequency of marriage, a falubrious climate, a mild and equitable government, and an increasing demand for labour." When all thefe advantages concur, he thinks that" population will double in less than twenty years, unless its progrefs be retarded by plagues or peftilen tial difeafes, by phyfical calamities, by wars, or by emigra tions." Several eminent writers are quoted in fupport of this opinion, and it is illuftrated by inftances of increase in the population of fome of the American States.

He next treats" of the caufes which appear to have operated in augmenting the population of Ireland during the last century;" for (he obferves) anterior to that period the circumftances of Ireland feem to have fignally ob ftructed the progrefs of population. The chief of these circumftances is ftated to be, the devaftating war which began with the maffacre in 1641, and lafted eleven years; and

t

which appears to have diminished the ftock and cattle of Ireland from about four millions fterling to lefs than half a million. But (he adds) during almoft the whole of the laft century, plenty of food and frequency of marriage, powerfully feconded by a climate highly falubrious, did, in an eminent manner, conduce to multiply the people of Ireland;" and hence, he thinks, "we might infer, a priori, the exiftence of a denfe population in that country."-The efficacy of the foregoing caufes is then fet forth in detail. Salubrity of climate is fhown to operate greatly in favour of longevity and the procreation of children; and the plenty of food which the inferior orders of the Irifh have enjoyed almoft uniformly during the laft century, is afcribed partly to the excefs of their peculiar food (potatoes), and partly to their prevailing cuftoms. According to the average produce of Ireland, the author (following Mr. A. Young) confiders one acre of potatoes as capable of fupporting eight perfons throughout the year, or, by proper economy, even a greater number. This quantity of land, it feems, has hitherto in moft parts of Ireland been attainable, in lieu of wages, by almoft all defcriptions of working people refident in the country. The general price of potatoes is alfo ftated before the year. 1799 not to have exceeded twopence per ftone; and in the year 1801, after two years of unprecedented fcarcity, the price of potatoes fell, in moft parts of Ireland, nearly twice as much as thofe of wheat and This abundance of food, and the affiftance which the children of the Irish give to their parents, the author confiders as the chief caufes of the extraordinary frequency of marriage among the people of Ireland, fo often remarked by ftrangers. It is alfo promoted by the Roman Catholic Clergy, who derive a great portion of their incomes from marriages and chriftenings.

oats.

It is further fhown, that the climate of Ireland has undergone a confiderable change for the better fince about the middle of the feventeenth century, the thick woods which covered the greater part of the country having ceafed to exift, and the rich deep foil, which pervades it in various directions, being no longer undrained or in a state of

nature.

The author next treats" of the circumftances which have tended to fruftrate, in a confiderable degree, the agency of the caufes of a rapid multiplication of people in Ireland."As to the first of thefe (the rigorous and vindictive government to which, according to him, the Roman Catholics were expofed during about three-fourths of the laft century)

we are not prepared to admit its exiftence, in the degree fuppofed; fince although fome of thofe laws undoubtedly were oppreflive, they had in general, we believe, lain dormant long before the entire abrogation of them. The illiberal and unwife fhackles impoled on the trade of Ireland are confidered by the author as another caufe that operated against population; and he alfo obferves, that during almoft as long a period as that throughout which these reftrictions continued, the pafturage of Ireland was ruinoufly difproportioned to its tillage. Owing to thefe caufes, the country was during many years annually drained by confiderable emigrations to America, and great numbers of the Irish were enlifted in the armies of France and Spain-á practice which (incredible as it may feem) the author flates, and in a great degree proves, to have been connived at by the English Government. Having enumerated thefe feveral caufes of depopulation, he concludes that " if, neverthelefs, the population did, as it is known to have done, increafe with confiderabie celerity," there can be no ground of furprize" at its having increased with rapidity, fince the removal of every obftruction to its progrefs, the different caufes of its increafe ftill continuing to operate with unabated energy." P. 66.

The author next proceeds to the more pofitive proofs refpecting the population of Ireland, and relies much on the affertions of Mr. A. Young, as to the increase in several diftricts which he vifited. Thefe affertions, however, are thrown out in very loose and general terms, neither specifying the amount of this fuppofed increase, nor the data upon which the opinion of its exiftence refts. We believe, however, the general fact, and agree with this writer as to the little reliance that can be placed on the returns of the collectors of hearth-money, and as to the defects and irregularities in the collection of the revenue in Ireland.

The period at which the population of Ireland doubles is next deduced from a combination of various Returns. The laft of thefe, made in 1791, contains 701,102 houfes, and (at 6 inhabitants to each houfe) 4,206,612 perfons, which exceeds the Return immediately preceding it, made in 1788, by 51,102 houfes, and 306,612 perfons. The author, however, reckons the average annual increafe throughout the last century, fuited to the average stock of people during that period, at 59,052, and fhows the average period of doubling to have been fomewhat lefs than 44 years. Here he goes into a train of reafoning, to which it is impoffible te do justice without giving the whole in detail, which our