not understand that the poet compares himself to a parroquet and a nightingale, and his friend to a fugar merchant and a rofe, the emblems of fweetnefs and beauty. The fable of the nightingale and the rofe is univerfally known, and it is to the fame that Hafiz makes the elegant allufion. The Author of this Differtation does not affect to make any comparison between thefe two odes. He pretends not to prescribe to the taste of the Reader. He would only ask which of them has a claim to that charming fimplicity which is the first ornament of poetry and the fine arts? He aflures the Reader, that the greateft part of the Perfian odes are compofed with the fame delicacy and eafe.' Here let us stop a moment to ask the Author of this Differtation what he means by fimplicity in poetry, and how low he allows his idea of it to defcend? If he praifes the Perfian ode for its fuperior fimplicity, furely he betrays a want of tafte to determine between what is fimple and what is low. This, indeed, is a general error. It is fomething like connecting the ideas of poverty and nakedness; but fimplicity, though naked, is not poor. She defcends to nothing inelegant. Her air, her port, her language, are true, not to favage, but to civilized nature. She follows her, not through rugged defarts, but through plains that wear the afpect of cultivation. The fugar merchant and the parroquet !—It is not her language. It is the language of a nurse, and therefore filly, not fimple. By this objection to the Perfian ode, we would not mean to infinuate that the Eastern poets are deftitute of tafte in general. The following obfervations on poetry, written in the Turkish language by Nabi Efendi, a celebrated poet, who died about the beginning of the prefent century, and tranflated by M. Cardonne in his Mélanges de Literature Orientale, are in favour of the contrary. "My fon, before you attempt to run the painful race of poetry, examine your ftrength. If you perceive within yourself that divine fire which glows in the bofoms of great poets, give yourself up to your genius. Firft enrich your mind by reading the works of those who have excelled in verfe. Nefi and Baki are in the firk rank of the Turkish poets. Perfia, the fruitful mother of genius, has produced a great number of good poets. What ftrength and purity in the works of Saib and Kelimi! Giami, Nouri, and Khakani abound with beauties innumerable and inexpreffible. Sadi, like the foft nightingale, fills the groves with founds of melody. Chevket, like the eagle, bears his ambitious wing to heaven. Hafiz fings of love and the fweet juices of the vine, while Atter aids the caufe of virtue by the fublime precepts of morality. The Arabs have been no lefs ardent in the cultivation of poetry than the Perfians. They Ff3 They have even more of that enthusiasm, that poetic_furor which feizes, inflames, and elevates the heart. Their ftyle is impetuous: their ftrong imagination paints every object with force; and their poetry is impregnated with all the warmth of their climate. Their works are like diamonds that dart a thoufand rays; but, to tafte their beauty, it is neceflary thoroughly to understand their language. Whoever would attain to perfection fhould have a confummate knowledge of the Arabic and the Perfian. Thofe two languages are the wings on which a poet muft rife into the air: without them he will grovel on the ground. "Would you with, my fon, that your verfe fhould not only be admired by your cotemporaries, but pafs to pofterity, never facrifice fenfe to rhyme. Convey fome ufeful truth under fome ingenious emblem or fine allegory. Let your works have a general tendency to promote the virtues of mankind. The gar den of poetry is dry and ungenial, if it is not watered with the ftreams of philofophy. "The greater part of our ordinary poets fpeak only of lilies, locks of hair, and nightingales and wine. If they defcribe fome imaginary beauty with which they are fmitten, they compare her fometimes to the fpring, fometimes to an enamelled mead. Her lips are like the rofe, and her complexion resembles the jeffamine. Cold and fervile imitators, their languid imagination fupplies them with nothing new. They cannot march except in a beaten path. Truth, my fon, has no need of feverity to make us hear her voice. Never employ your mufe in fatire. A profeffed fatyrift is feared by all mankind: all are apprehenfive of the malignity of his pen. He has hatred and envy to encounter, and many reafons to repent his cauftic genius." Thus we have feen Nabi Efendi in the character of a fublime philofopher and a judicious critic, let us contemplate him in the light of a poet, and read his verfes On the SPRING. Spring, my fon, is the most beautiful of all the feafons. Nature, that feemed expiring during the rigours of winter, is now re-animated, and affumes fresh life. The whole creation appears to be put in motion, and every thing announces a general revolution. The fap in the vegetable, and the blood in the animal world circulates with greater rapidity. The trees put on their new apparel, and the meadows are enamelled with a thoufand fresh-born flowers. The ftreams, whofe captive waters were held in chains by the wild North winds, break thofe chains on the arrival of the foft zephyrs. The birds chaunt their pleafures, and the woods echo to their amorous warblings. • Indulge Indulge yourself, my fon, in all the delights of the fair feafon. Leave the pomp of cities, and live in the humble fields. These were the first abode of man. The pleasures you will taste may, poffibly, be lefs brilliant, but they will be more pure than those which towns afford. Here the philofopher, while he contemplates Nature, muft admire the magnificence of God in his works. The meadows and the forefts leave no heaviness in the heart of man. No fcenes more favourable to the lover! none where he may better enjoy his sweet reveries! All the fenfes are flattered at the fame time; the fight with verdure, the finell with fragrance; and, on the fufceptible ear, how sweetly fall the notes of the nightingale! Let mufic affert her empire over your foul! Give yourself up to her enchanting influence. Let her fnatch you from yourfelf. Mufic, no lefs than poetry, paints the objects of the mind. She expreffes the different paffions. She has the fecret art of infpiring tenderness and rage. Surely the heart has fome correfpondence, fome intelligence with the ear.' This is really poetry, genuine poetry, heightened and en- O, yield thy hours, to this fair feafon yield! No pale chagrin fhall plains or groves impart, With her the lover feeks the lonely vale, Breathes his fond vows, and trufts his tender tale. Ff4 While While every charm that every fenfe can know, TO MUSIC's voice, to MUSIC's foft controul, While the rapt ear holds commerce with the heart. We must now recommend the remainder of this ingenious pamphlet to the attention of our learned Readers. L.. ART. II. The Duty, Circumftances, and Benefits of Baptifm, determin d by Evidence. I. The Teftimonies in the New Teftament ranged under proper Heads. II. Those from the first Chriftian Writers in Dr. Wall's Method improved. III. The Evidence of the whole fummed up. With an Appendix, fhewing the Meaning of feveral Greek Words in the New Teftament. By Thomas Barker. 8vo. 3s. 6 d. fewed. White. 1771. W E agree with this Author (and happy were it if chriftians had generally been of the fame mind) in suppofing, that there may be fome matters of opinion, wherein a man may fafely fufpend his judgment, if he finds them not clearly revealed, or too deep for his understanding or leisure; and may find no difficulty in acting as a good chriftian, though he be not fully fatisfied about the meaning of fome fuch proprofitions.' But we perceive that he will not join with us in a farther fuppofition, that this may be the cafe as to the subjects, and the mode, of baptifm, upon which it does by no means appear, after all that has been faid, and fometimes with fo great. confidence, that the fcriptures have exprefsly determined; it is probable that while baptifm is itself commanded, these particuJar points and circumftances are left indifferent, and the perfon who determines on either fide, determines fafely. I his Writer has a different view of the matter; Baptifm, fays he, is a point of practice; it is a thing which either ought to be practifed, or it ought not: either infants fhould be baptized, or it fhould be delayed till they grow up: the method, alfo, either ought to be by dipping or not. Many fuch cafes might be put, wherein a man who is not fatisfied which is right, will be in a great ftrait, if a cafe happens wherein he must act either one way or other. It was chiefly (he proceeds) on this account that I examined the matter; and in the search I aimed to keep keep clear of all prejudice, which like an ignis futuus is so aptto mislead men; afked of God affiftance in my enquiry, and endeavoured to conform my opinion to the evidence, not to reconcile the evidence to my opinion.' He writes in a manner becoming a worthy man, who candidly enquires for truth, and diligently applies to obtain it: he likewife discovers a very confiderable fhare of that kind of learning which is requifite for difcuffing fubjects of this nature to advantage; as he appears to have recourse to the fountain head for his authorities, and does not merely retail them at second-hand from the writings of others. In his extracts from the ancient fathers, befide remarks on the meaning and fitnefs of what they fay, he farther gives fome obfervations on the inferences which Dr. Wall and Dr. Gale have drawn from them, to whom therefore he frequently refers; telling us, that he has rather chofen to remark on them than on more modern writers, because they principally proceed in the fame order with himself, and lay together all that the ancients fay, methodically, before the reader. The ftrong impreffion, fays he, the first principles received in childhood make on the mind of man, greatly hinders the difcovery of the truth in this and many other cafes; and but few overcome that prejudice, which, like a coloured glass, tinges all objects feen through it. By this falfe light was Dr. Wall, a very good man in himself, mifled: for though I greatly approve of and imitate his method, of quoting the feveral writers in order of time, yet whoever reads his remarks on the quotations, will plainly fee their aim is not fo much to fearch out the author's real opinion, as to reconcile it to the practice of infant baptifm, which he firmly believed to be right. By the fame rudder, only. fet the contrary way, his oppofer, Dr. Gale, was turned afide, who, though he well detects many falfe colourings in Dr. Wall, is not clearer from the like himfelf; his aim being not as a moderator, to fhew where he had hit or miffed the truth, but as a pleader, to fay what he could for the caufe he efpoufed. And I must own, though I am nearer his opinion as to the fact, yet I like Wall's methodical way of writing better than Gale's irregular one, from which his plan of feparate letters can hardly be kept clear. But while I complain of the power of prejudice over others, fome will perhaps fay to me, are you any clearer from it yourself? It may be I am not a proper judge in my own cafe but having taken all the proper precautions, of diligent fearch, careful examination, and application to God for direction, which either prudence or religion dictate; and having no interest to suppose the church of England, whose service I conftantly attend, is in an error, unless where it really appears to me to be fo; I hope to be found for the most part clear, and to ftand |