out of five hundred inoculated died of it, though the death of this child is not, in our opinion, fairly imputable to the cow-pox. Several were, however, feriously ill. When the disease has been violently puftular, it seems to have been communicated by effluvia; but our author thinks, that, by a proper choice of matter, the number of puftules may be in a great degree diminished, and will be very easy to separate a patient, who has many puftules, from those whom he may be likely to infect. We fhall tranfcribe Dr. Woodville's ac count of the comparative effects of the small-pox and cow-pox on the human body.

The vaccine difeafe, as it has lately been called, affords a ftriking example, and perhaps the only one yet difcovered, of a diforder which can be transferred from brute animals to man, and carried back again from him to the brute. A remarkable inftance of this is related at page 62, which shows, that the matter of the cow-pox, as reproduced by inoculation in the human animal, and inserted into the teat of a cow, produced the disease. Similar attempts were also made with variolous matter, which had no effect; hence in this refpect these two morbid poisons appear to differ. The cow-pox alfo differs from the small-pox in acting upon the conftitutions of those who have undergone the latter difeafe, as was fully exemplified in the cafe of Frances Jewel. However, I am difpofed to think, that the matter of the cow-pox is not fo capable of affecting perfons, who have had the fmall-pox, as has been represented. I made feveral trials to inoculate this disease in patients at the hospital, who were recovering from a full eruption of the natural small-pox, but in no inftance did any tumour appear on the arm; neither does the infertion of the variolous matter, in fuch cafes, excite the leaft inflammation in the skin. It is probable, therefore, that the matter of the cow-pox, like that of the small-pox, does not manifest any local action upon perfons who have lately undergone the variolous disease. If a perfon has cafually received the infection of the smallpox, and be inoculated with variolous matter three or four days before the eruptive symptoms fupervene, the inoculated part does not tumify, as in other cafes, but becomes a fimple puftule; on the contrary, if a perfon has been inoculated, and the progrefs of the inoculation be so far advanced that the patient is within one day of the approach of the eruptive fever, and be then inoculated a fecond time, the tumour produced, from the fecond inoculation, will become nearly as extenfive as the first, and be in a state of fuppuration a few hours after the fever commences. Hence it appears, that the procefs of variolation in the natural and in the inoculated small-pox is ditferent. The cow-pox, in every cafe with which we are acquainted, has been introduced into the human conftitution through the medium of external local inflammation, and is therefore to be confidered as an inoculated disease: the virus of it seems alfo to affect a fimilar mode of action, and to be governed by the fame laws as that of the fmallpox. Thus, if a perfon be alternately inoculated with variolous

matter, and with that of the cow-pox every day till fever is excited, all the inoculations make a progrefs; and, as foon as the whole fyftem becomes difordered, they appear to be all equally advanced in maturation. However, the local tumour excited from the inoculation of cow-pox is commonly of a different appearance from that which is the confequence of inoculation with variolous matter; for if the inoculation be performed by a fimple puncture, the confequent tu-mour, in the proportion of three times out of four, or more, affumes a form completely circular, and it continues circumfcribed, with its edges elevated, and well defined, and its furface flat throughout every ftage of the difeafe; while that which is produced from variolous matter, either preferves a puftular form, or fpreads along the skin, and becomes angulated and irregular, or disfigured by numerous veficulæ.

Another diftinction, ftill more general and decifive, is to be drawn from the contents of the cow-pox tumour; for the fluid it forms, unless from fome accidental circumftance, very rarely becomes puriform, and the scab which fucceeds is of a harder texture, exhibits a smoother furface, and differs in its colour from that which is formed by the concretion of pus. All the appearances here defcribed, however, do not conftantly attend the difeafe, but are fometimes fo much changed, they can in no refpect be diftinguished from those which arife from the inoculation of the small-pox. When the difeafe thus deviates from its usual appearance at the inoculated part, its effects upon the conftitution have commonly, though not always, been felt more feverely than where the tumour was distinctly characterised.' P. 143.

POETRY.

Saint Paul at Athens, a Seatonian Prize-Poem. By William Bolland, M. A. &c. 4to. 15. Rivingtons. 1800.

To this publication we have nothing to object but its brevity. It is animated by the true poetic fpirit, and is at the same time chaftely correct. Happily for the author, he is not infected by the falfe taste of the times, which betrays fo many of our poets into the turgid when they aim at the fublime, and into carelessness when they condefcend to the familiar. His verfification flows fmoothly, and his paufes are happily varied; his topics are aptly chofen, and his ornaments are appropriate. Upon the whole, we hefitate not to pronounce that this fpecimen of the powers of Mr. Bolland's early genius will juftly excite in the lovers of genuine poetry a high expectation of his future accomplishments.

The poem opens with an invocation to the holy martyrs who have fuffered in the caufe of religious truth. Among thefe Paul holds a diftinguifhed rank. From tender compaffion for his forrows, the poet is roufed to the contemplation of the holy energy with which he explained the mystery of godlinefs at Athens.

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Upborne on tow'ring Fancy's eagle wing,
Methinks Imagination's piercing eye
Darts through the veil of ages, and beholds
Imperial Athens-views her fumptuous domes,
Her gorgeous palaces, and fplendid fanes,
Infcrib'd to all the various deities

That crowd the pagan heaven. Amid the rest,
An altar, facred TO THE GOD UNKNOWN,
Attracts my gaze; I fee a lift'ning throng
With eager hafte press round a rev'rend form,
Whofe lifted hands and contemplative mien
Express the anxious feelings of a mind
Big with momentous cares: 'tis he! 'tis he!
Methinks I hear the apoftle of my God
From blind idolatry to purer faith
Call the deluded city: nought avails
The rude abuse of jeering ignorance,
Nor all the fcoffs that malice can invent;
To duty firm, their mock'ry he derides-
And with intrepid tone, divinely brave,
Proclaims the bleffed JESUS, tells his power,
His gracious mercy, and unbounded love
To finful man; tells how the Saviour fell,
Awhile a victim to infulting Death,
Till, bursting from the prifon of the grave,
He rose to glory, and to earth declar'd
Thefe joyful tidings, this important truth—
There is another and a better world.' P. 4.

After touching on the prominent features of Paul's difcourfe, the nature of God, and of the fervice which he requires from man, he apoftrophifes the court of Areopagus, reproaching it for its folly in treating the meffage of the Apoftle with contempt. He then proceeds thus:

'Who fhall defcribe the fenate's wild amaze
When the great orator announc'd that day,
That folemn day, when from the yawning earth
The dead fhall rife, and ocean's deep abyss
Pour forth it's buried millions? When, 'mid choirs
Of angels thron'd, the righteous God shall fit
To judge the gather'd nations. Vice, appall❜d,
With trembling fteps retir'd, and guilty fear
Shook evr'y frame, when holy Paul pronounc'd
The awful truth: dark fuperftition's fiend
Convulfive wreath'd within his mighty grafp,
And Perfecution's dagger, half unfheath'd,
Back to it's fcabbard flunk; celeftial grace
Around him beam'd; fublime th' Apostle stood,

In heav'n's impenetrable armour cloth'd,
Alone, unhurt, before a hoft of foes.
So, 'mid the billows of the boundless main,
Some rock's vaft fabric rears its lofty form,
And o'er the angry furge that roars below,
Indignant frowns: in vain the tempeft howls;
The blaft, rude fweeping o'er the troubled deep,
Affaults in vain: unmov'd the giant views
All Nature's war, as, 'gainst his flinty fides,
Wave after wave expends it's little rage,

And breaks in harmless murmurs at his feet.'

Mr. Bolland now inftitutes a comparison between the fage of Tarfus and the illuftrious philofophers and orators of Greece. From the ancient heathens he is naturally led to the confideration of modern infidelity, which he laments in plaintive and indignant numbers; and concludes by an addrefs to his native Britain, exhorting her fons to place their hopes of mercy, in the day of trouble, on God alone, and to hold him in remembrance in the feafon of profperity.

Epifle from the Marquis de la Fayette to General Washington. 8vo. 25. Longman and Rees.

1800.

The heroic epiftle is one of the most pleasing vehicles of fentiment. We are delighted by the versatility of mind which ena❤ bles the poet to identify himfelf, as it were, with various characters, to enter into their griefs, and to exult in their joys. But it is obvious that this fpecies of compofition is moft likely to be fuccefsfully cultivated when the author chooses for his hero fome eminent perfon who has paid the great debt of nature. When the entire outlines of a man's life have been presented to our contemplation, ftill it is frequently a matter of no small difficulty to imagine the train of his ideas in any given circumstances: bold, therefore, is the man who endeavours to penetrate the heart of living eminence, and to trace the concealed current of its thoughts: ftill bolder is he who affumes the character of one of the most diftinguifhed living actors in a moft diftinguifhed æra, and in his name makes a recantation of his principles, and laments the confequences of thofe measures which he once regarded as the bafis of his future glory: yet this has been the cafe with the author of the epiftle under our confideration, which might juftly have been entitled the amende honorable of La Fayette. Whether the marquis will acknowledge the fentiments which are here attributed to him we know not. Should he, by any future declaration of his political faith, controvert them, the foul of the poem will be annihilated. Ignorant as we are of the notions which have been entertained by the ci-devant commandant of the national guard, fince he first thought it expedient to quit the French army, we cannot

pretend to decide upon the accuracy of the fentiments of this poem, as attributed to him; we can only fay, that these fentiments are expressed in easy fluent verse, which feldom rises to any extraordinary pitch of merit; but which still more feldom finks below the standard of approbation.

The following analyfis, prefixed to the poem, will at once prefent to our readers a detail of its topics:

Fayette, released from his dungeon at Olmutz, perceives his health rapidly declining, and feels fymptoms of approaching decay. To vindicate his fame, he addreffes general Washington; reminds him of their ancient friendship; afferts his own upright views in the French revolution; defcription of the horrors and crimes which attended it; contrafted with the virtue and happiness of America. Folly of thinking fo corrupted a people as the French were capable of liberty. Character of Necker; his prefumption; his fate. Character of the Illuminati; their fate. Final deftiny of France. Addrefs to Great Britain; to America. American war. Conduct of British generals. Eulogium on General Washington; his parting with his army; anticipation of his fate. Fayette's mifery; his expiring prayer. The conclufion.'

As a fpecimen of the author's poetical powers, we infert the following quotations. He thus expreffes the fenfations of La Fayette on his deliverance from captivity

• Imperial Juftice, blufhing at my wrongs,
Blazon'd abroad by Fame's ten thousand tongues,
Relents at laft: I breathe celestial air,

And view the face of heav'n, divinely fair.
Woods, hills, and dales, delight my ravish'd eye;
I tafte each gale that breathes along the sky:
Whilft anxious friends each tender care bestow,

To foothe the fad remembrance of my woe." P. 2.

In the following lines he defcribes, in energetic language, the exceffes of the French revolution :

But ah! what horrid fights around me rise!
What fcenes difcordant meet my mournful eyes!
What hideous paffions fill this gloomy stage!.
The monkey's frolic with the tiger's' rage."
Wild fhrieks are blended with foft mufic's tones,
And laughter mix'd with agonizing groans:
O'er ftreams of blood we fee the banquet fpread,
And phrenzy dancing 'midst the mangled dead.' P. 4.

It is prefumed that all parties will agree in adopting the following fentiment :

The mind that ftoops, to fordid vice a flave,
Is neither truly free nor truly brave.

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