-
Articles/Ads
Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 7 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
jijty and virtue : the composition is tolerably good , ancl the language more c ' orreft than in several productions of the same class . Poems , on several Occasions . 5 >' Catherine Livingston . Triceps . Ogilvy . HORACE has told us that mediocrity in poetry is what neither Gods , man , jior booksellers cm bear . With all due submission to such great authority , we must beg leave to express adisbelief of this maxim . There certainly is a species
of poetry , which , though not en titled to distinguished praise , is yet equally distant from deserving censure . Of this kind are the poems now before us . To pomp of diClion and sublimity of thought they make no pretensions .- there is nothing of
' The long majestic march and energy divine : ' but they are pleasing , from their unaffeCted simplicity and the virtuous sentiments which they contain . The verse is in general harmonious , and the few errors which are to be found are evidently typographical . We have given an extraCl in the poetical department of this month , and the remainder of the volume is of equal merit . If ourlimits would have permitted , we would gladly have presented our readers with the ' Lines addressed to a Friend ; ' they are
very elegant , but the poem is too long for our circumscribed space . Knave or Not , a Comedy , in five Acts , hy Thomas Holcroft . as . Robinsons . 179 S . AN analysis of the plot has been already given in our last number . We shall confine ourselves , therefore , to the character and tendency , . In a preface the author imputes the unfavourable reception his production
experienced to the prevalence of party sentiments and notions . We certainly by no means approve of" carrying political differences to places of amusement : wit , humour , knowledge , and ability , if not hunfully direfled , d . 'serve to be cherished , without any regard to the opinions of their owner .
We should think very poorly of the liberality of Whigs , who should reprobate the Rape of ihe Lock , or Gulliver's Travels , because the authors were 'lories ; or of Tories , who should discountenance Love for Love and the School for Scandal , because written by Whigs . Those who should disrelish a performance merely because the production of Mr . " Holcroft , must be very uncandid critics . But the fad must be proved , that such was the ground of animadversion , before we can censure its illiberally . _ A sufferer often
ascribes to extrinsic causes what is really the effect of his own conduct . A Whig , during the Tory Ministry of Queen Anne , when going to be hanged for setting fire to a house , called from the tree to the audience , ' You see , my friends , what I get for sticking to my principles . '
We shall bestow more time , because of its political tendency , on this production , than its literary importance deserves . Two things in this play merit consideration : —the effeCt which it is calculated to produce , and the talents displayed in the execution . There is in its scope a sufficient cause for its rejection by persons attached to the present establishment and the existing orders and gradations , without any additional inducements , from the history of the author . The machinations of demagogues and seditious writers have
excited in the lower ranks a dislike of their superiors , which a friend to THIS constitution will by no means attempt to increase . A friend to truth and justice will not intentionally exhibit any class of men in a worse light than they deserve . The doctrine of the comedy before us is , that riches " and even reputation , are the result of successful roguery : that lords are abandoned , profligate , and unprinci p led : that the vices and villainy of the rich and noble are the causes both of the misery of" the poor , in their oppressions , and distresses ; and their wickedness , from example , self defence , or retaliation . Every impartial examiner of the whole play
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
jijty and virtue : the composition is tolerably good , ancl the language more c ' orreft than in several productions of the same class . Poems , on several Occasions . 5 >' Catherine Livingston . Triceps . Ogilvy . HORACE has told us that mediocrity in poetry is what neither Gods , man , jior booksellers cm bear . With all due submission to such great authority , we must beg leave to express adisbelief of this maxim . There certainly is a species
of poetry , which , though not en titled to distinguished praise , is yet equally distant from deserving censure . Of this kind are the poems now before us . To pomp of diClion and sublimity of thought they make no pretensions .- there is nothing of
' The long majestic march and energy divine : ' but they are pleasing , from their unaffeCted simplicity and the virtuous sentiments which they contain . The verse is in general harmonious , and the few errors which are to be found are evidently typographical . We have given an extraCl in the poetical department of this month , and the remainder of the volume is of equal merit . If ourlimits would have permitted , we would gladly have presented our readers with the ' Lines addressed to a Friend ; ' they are
very elegant , but the poem is too long for our circumscribed space . Knave or Not , a Comedy , in five Acts , hy Thomas Holcroft . as . Robinsons . 179 S . AN analysis of the plot has been already given in our last number . We shall confine ourselves , therefore , to the character and tendency , . In a preface the author imputes the unfavourable reception his production
experienced to the prevalence of party sentiments and notions . We certainly by no means approve of" carrying political differences to places of amusement : wit , humour , knowledge , and ability , if not hunfully direfled , d . 'serve to be cherished , without any regard to the opinions of their owner .
We should think very poorly of the liberality of Whigs , who should reprobate the Rape of ihe Lock , or Gulliver's Travels , because the authors were 'lories ; or of Tories , who should discountenance Love for Love and the School for Scandal , because written by Whigs . Those who should disrelish a performance merely because the production of Mr . " Holcroft , must be very uncandid critics . But the fad must be proved , that such was the ground of animadversion , before we can censure its illiberally . _ A sufferer often
ascribes to extrinsic causes what is really the effect of his own conduct . A Whig , during the Tory Ministry of Queen Anne , when going to be hanged for setting fire to a house , called from the tree to the audience , ' You see , my friends , what I get for sticking to my principles . '
We shall bestow more time , because of its political tendency , on this production , than its literary importance deserves . Two things in this play merit consideration : —the effeCt which it is calculated to produce , and the talents displayed in the execution . There is in its scope a sufficient cause for its rejection by persons attached to the present establishment and the existing orders and gradations , without any additional inducements , from the history of the author . The machinations of demagogues and seditious writers have
excited in the lower ranks a dislike of their superiors , which a friend to THIS constitution will by no means attempt to increase . A friend to truth and justice will not intentionally exhibit any class of men in a worse light than they deserve . The doctrine of the comedy before us is , that riches " and even reputation , are the result of successful roguery : that lords are abandoned , profligate , and unprinci p led : that the vices and villainy of the rich and noble are the causes both of the misery of" the poor , in their oppressions , and distresses ; and their wickedness , from example , self defence , or retaliation . Every impartial examiner of the whole play