Smutted with English libel, Latian profe,

Foul as the fmoke which from his pipe arofe;

That fmoke, which once, near old Norvicum's towers,
Cloud capp'd' his Bufby, and didactic powers;

While truant fchool-boys trembled at his nod,

And felt his might in grammar and in rod:
If he, illumin'd by thy patent Gas,

Had clear'd from dirt his prefatory mafs,

His pages (now to ftalls obfcure confign'd)

Had blaz'd like PHOSPHOR on the claffic mind."

We fhall have a bad opinion both of Mr. Winfor's difpofition, and of his inventive powers, if he do not immediately fet his wits to work in order to carry this notable plan for enlightening Bond-ftreet loungers, ancient fcholiafts, and modern politico-claffic divines, into effect. As its advantages would be incalculable, fo, it is to be prefumed, would be the profit. Mr. Winfor, therefore, has every inducement to adopt it. As to the firft clafs of thefe gentry, they are a fpecies of non-descript in natural hiftory, exhibiting, as it were, an anomaly in the creation; they have fome of the external features of the human race, but in habits and manners they are more nearly allied to the monkey, for they are pert, impudent, and mifchievous. At' all events they are a nuisance to the public, and a difgrace to human nature; and if they cannot be enlightened, they certainly ought to be confined.

The bard proceeds to enumerate the benefits which will accrue from the adoption of Mr. Winfor's plan to various other defcriptions of men; especially to the epicure, the poet, and the politician.

"E'en quidnuncs to the skies applaud thy scheme, And make the virtues of thy Gas their theme;

Thy patent-plans with politics combine,

And England's cafe affimilate to thine;

Say, party heat is coal-ignited fmoke,

And patriot zeal caloric drawn from coke;
That oppofition's rant, and Gallic roar,
Is but a black bitumen boiling o'er;

་

That when dim-burning lamps refign'd their poft,
"Twas but the light of ALL THE TALENTS' loft;
And that, to meet the ills of northern war,

Thy fcheme can hufband oil, and furnish tart.”

"A WIG of the fame family and intereft decorates the Doctor's prefent portrait in the print-fhops."

"Mr. Winfor's plan will furnish one hundred thousand tons of empyreumatic oil tar."

The ufe of this Winforian gas to the philofophic Miffes, who, like their inferiors in country villages, crowding to hear and to admire moft what they leaft underftand, flock to the Royal Institution, where fashionable feience bears the fway, is briefly explained by the bard in the following lines.

"See from the INSTITUTION's crowded fane,
Where cradled Science holds a goflip reign;
Where fage profeffors of hermetic lore
To babes and fucklings dale a weekly ftore;
Feed infant Genius, mewling in the lap,.
With chymic caudle-philofophic pap;
Where LADY LOUNGERS (hopping laid afide)
Affume the pedant part of letter'd pride,
Quit Beauty's foft purfuits, and pleasing cares,
For foul experiments on filthy airs*:
Raife the galvanic pile with moiften'd hand,
And bid metallic forms by heat expand;
'Midit chymic oxydes, fluids, fæces, poke,
Now try the electric fpark-and now the flroke:
See thence enlighten'd Miffes come to provet
That Winfor's gas beft feeds the flame of love;
And whilft poor Hero's haplefs fate they mourn,
Whofe lamp was trimm'd with oil that wouldn't burn,
Say, if thy patent lamps, whofe beacon light
Guides to KING'S PLACE Leanders every night,
Had from the watch-tow'r beam'd o'er HELLE'S wave,
The lovers had not found a watery gravet."

We must not indulge ourselves or our readers with any farther quotations from a poem which is deferving a place in every library; and fhall therefore take leave of the bard, with the expreffion of a cordial wish to meet him again, in our literary or critical rambles, and to renew our acquaintance with him. We must conclude, however, with his own parting addrefs to Mr. Winfor.

"And when, ah Winfor!-diftant be the day Life's flame no longer fhall ignite thy clay;

*For an illuftration of this line, fee Mr. Gallray's excellent caricature print of the Royal Inftitution."

+"Quære, whether the Mifs PARTHENON, of Old Bond-ftreet, whofe but is placed over the back door of the Royal Inftitution, is one of thefe enlightened young ladies, or only a neceffary affiftant to the Greek profeffors of the houfe."

"This is a miftake; Hero's lamp was not trimmed at all that night. See the nurfe's affecting report of the cafe in Ovid de Trilibus."

Thy phosphor nature, active, ftill, and bright,
Around us fhall diffufe poft obit light;

"Perhaps, tranflated to another sphere,
Thy fpirit like thy light, refin'd and clear,
Balloon'd with pureft hydrogen fhall rife,
And add a PATENT-PLANET to the fkies.

"Then fome fage Sidrophel, with HERSCHEL eye,
A bright WINSORIUM SIDUS fhall defcry;
The vox STELLARUM fhall record thy name,
And THINE outlive ANOTHER WINSOR's fame!"

The Knights :-Tales illustrative of the Marvellous. By R. C. Dallas, Efq. In three volumes, 12mo. Pp. 826. 15s. Longman and Co. 1808.

"HAVING written Tales illuftrative of the Simple and the Surprising, I confented to try my pen on the Marvellous. I found my mind ill fuited to the attempt; but having undertaken it I refolved to perfift, and I have not fcrupled to borrow largely from foreign fources." Thefe are the author's own words, and we are too well acquainted with his writings. not to give him full credit for all that they affert : we believe the Marvellous uncongenial with his mind; that he rather confented than wifhed to enter upon enchanted ground; and that he has borrowed largely from foreign fources. But as reviewers we hall, as much as poffible, lofe fight of the author, and confider 'thefe volumes as what they profefs to be, a work of entertainment and light fatire.

There are two diftinct tales: The Knight of Tours, and The Knights Errant. The former takes its title from the hero, Egremont, being a young warrior at the court of the Count of Tours; and the events, whether the poffible or the marvellous, are referred to the time of the Crufades. The reader who expects a regular connected romance will be difappointed the Knight of Tours is a ferio-comic tale, in which the latter quality predominates fo much, that the former fails to produce very ferious feelings. Egremont, the young Knight, virtuous and valorous, has once been deficient in duty and in virtue: a mutual paffion, with which the God of Love infpired him and the Princefs Hippolita, the daughter of Sigifmund, Count of Tours, was the caufe. Egremont's promotion to knighthood was entirely owing to his bravery and accomplishments; no noble blood could be traced in his veins: accordingly to have afpired to the hand

of Hippolita, whofe page he had been, would have been a defire upon a par with that of the child who cries for the moon. He refolved, like a true and loyal knight, to conquer his paffion; but he did not do what he refolved. Vincit amor, and the discovery exafperates Sigifmund to pronounce the death of Egremont, who, however, effects his efcape. At this juncture Sigifmund, at the head of his troops, joins the standard of Philip of France, to proceed to the Holy Land. Egremont embarks from a different part of the kingdom, refolved to lofe his life in battle, or perform fuch wonders as, by raifing him to the fummit of honours, fhall give him fome ground to hope that the Count of Tours may receive him as his fon-in-law. His hip joins that of Sigifmund in the Mediterranean, and they fail together towards Palestine, in fight of which the Count is fhip-wrecked, and faved by Egremont: but in vain; refentment prevails over gratitude. In Paleftine he faves the life of Sigifinund twice more, and performs wonderful actions, which excite univerfal admiration. Still hated by Sigifimund, he leaves Paleftine in defpair, and is directed by an old hermit to return to Tours, which is attacked by the Bretons, and which he arrives in time to fave by his prowefs and fkill. This overcomes the Count's haughty fpirit, and the marriage takes place. Such is the main ftory with which the wonderful adventures of Egremont's friends are interfperfed, and which are too various for us to follow here. In the account of the Enchantrefs Strigilina and her palace, we have a metaphorical but too true picture of thofe who yield themselves to their fenfes. The Enchantrefs and her court are defcribed, as the Sirens of old, to be feathered ladies; and all who fall into their hands lofe reafon and are transformed into feathered monfters. The defcription of the island of the Melologues, who have loft the use of fpeech and fubftituted inftrumental mufic, contains much general and excellent fatire; as do the company of yawning heads at the Enchantrefs Bagalora's palace; and the Beau's fearch after his leg. The following extract is taken from the account of the Melologues:

"Madam," faid he, "I will difclofe the fecret of the appearances which aftonish you. In this country the inhabitants have abfolutely loft their fpeech, and fupply the lofs of it by the ufe of mutical inftruments. What is fingular is, that not being able to fpeak themselves, they cannot endure that others fhould fpeak here.

"This calamity is faid to have originated in the anger of a magician; but as I have no faith in fuch ftories, I fhould be tempted to think that these people had been denied by Nature a faculty granted

o the rest of mankind, if the monuments of the country did not evince that they spoke here as elsewhere about a century ago.

"I was born a subject of the court of Provence, and thrown about four years ago on this unknown ifland, which, being furrounded at fome distance by a chain of rocks, is rendered inacceffible to foreigners; none but fuch as are fhipwrecked ever landing here. Being myself profeffionally a mufician, I eafily caught the idiom which has been adopted in the country, and became interpreter to thofe who, like you, have been accidentally caft on the island; a circumftance, however, which very rarely happens. You now understand the reafon of your being furrounded by the ftrange affemblage of inftrumental performers who efcorted you to the palace. On your alighting I conducted you to the King's cabinet; his majefty, on the report that had been made to him of your beauty, being very impatient to fee you.

"He was at that moment holding a council of state. The perfon with fpectacles, whom you faw fitting at a harpsichord, was a fecretary, inftructed to make a report to the council, the members of which were ready to give their opinions; one on his baffoon, another on the violoncello, and fo on: for I fhould tell you by the way, Madam, that there are inftruments adapted to all ranks and ages. It would not be decent that a fenator fhould exprefs himself by a fife, or hurdy-gurdy. The clergy have their appropriate inftruments; and when you have learned the language, I think, if curiofity should lead you to the mofque, you will be delighted to hear the Turkish fervice recited on harps, and be charmed with a verse of the Koran paraphrafed on the trumpet marine.

"There are not only inftruments for different ranks, but for character likewise. A man given to love readily takes to those that are best suited to tender expreffion. A great talker lays hold of a violin, bows away in arpeggio, fhifting up to the very bridge.

"Well educated men, and fuch as have their fortunes to make, ought to poffefs to a certain degree every ftyle. You will fee the reigning monarch, in giving audience to his fubjects, answer each on an inftrument fimilar to the one used by the perfon addreffing him. When I first saw him going out, followed by his pages carrying inftruments of every kind, I thought he was going to give a ferenade. "There are people ready to speak on every fubject before they have taken pains to gain a knowledge of it, and defirous of making a figure in the world before they have been prepared for it. The mufical inftrument-makers here, who are very ingenious, have invented an inftrument for them, called the court hand-organ, containing a great variety of airs on feveral barrels. Grave airs, for example, where it is neceffary to be confequential; lofty airs, for giving a great opinion of one's felf and credit; low airs, for addreffing perfons in office, with fourdines to be taken off on quitting a levée; natural airs, to gain confidence; flattering and even wheedling ones, to amuse morning drones; tender ones, paffionate ones, fad ones, merry ones, &c. to intereft, foften, please, and feduce; noify ones