After mentioning the epigrams against this learned body, we may say a word of those aimed at some of its individual members. Thirty we have counted up against La Harpe, and Marmontel is lashed in nearly an equal number. La Harpe had treated our poet roughly in the Mercure, and it was not his disposition to remain passive under injuries. Some one had compared his, opponent to a serpent. "No," says Lebrun, And again, Non, La Harpe au serpent n'a jamais resembļé' Recette pour le manque de glace en 1791. It seems that his resentment was not transient, since La Harpe having written, during the revolution, an eulogium on the liberty of the press, our epigrammatist suggested, in answer, this curious mode of repressing it. Ce petit rimeur qui sans cesse Imprime maint ouvrage en courant fagoté; La Harpe veut que de la presse L'abus même soit respecté. Soit; mais jusqu'à l'excès s'il porte son délire, Opposons, pour le réprimer, A sa liberté d'imprimer La liberté de ne point lire, He is not less sparing of La Lande; Sur Lalande, Lui! courtiser Pallas! A quoi veut-on que serve A la sage déesse un aussi triste fou? A moins qu'elle ne lui réserve La survivance du hibou. But the best of his epigrams, seems to be that on the damning of Cleopatra, a tragedy by Marmontel; Au beau drame de Cléopâtre Où fut l'aspic de Vaucanson, Tant fut sifflé, qu'à l'unisson Croyant encor souffler, siffla. All this is excellent. Academies and academicians, damnings, and dull works, are the fair game of satire. But may not Lebrun be accused of insulting the misery of poor d'Arnaud, without provocation? Are natural deformities the legitimate objects" of ridicule? A hunch, for instance, however oddly shaped, is, in our opinion, no laughing object; and even that of Theodore Desorgues, which formed his only prominent characteristic, which, by the bye, was not very large, should have been shielded from the sneer of an epigram. But since this subject, bad as it is, has so happily inspired our author, we see no reason for our being more squeamish than his editor. La bosse de Désorgues. Lui-même a grimpé sur Désorgues. The subjects of the following are much fairer game. A..., qui exaltait mes épigrammes pour déprécier mes odes. Dans l'épigramme au moins j'ai su te plaire: Là je suis bon; tu le dis, je le croi; En prose, en vers, Lubin compose, Sur un rimeur prolixe. Ce rimeur a du bavardage Un tel usage. Que même en un distique il a su trouver l'art Sur Flins. Des léthargiques rimeurs Lui seul vaut mille endormeurs; A un nouvel académicien. Contre un fâcheux. O la maudite compagnie Dont la nullite vous ennuie! On n'est pas seul, on n'est pas deux. Lebrun, who appears to have sought for enemies, has unfortunately rendered himself obnoxious to a very numerous and respectable portion of society, who are easily provoked, and who seldom, if ever, forgive-we mean the ladies. Not content with laughing at their foibles, he had the hardihood to question the morals of our fair countrywomen, and to stigmatize their infidelity. This perhaps might have been borne, as the sex is generally indulgent to calumniators on that head; but he even went further, and absolutely debarred them the privilege of writing books! He thought that a woman might be far more usefully employed in superintending her household and her family. But to this we may reply in the words of Madame Genlis, that if a woman devotes one hour, daily, to the regulation of her house, and giving orders to her servants (when she has any) there is no reason why the remainder of her time, may not be employed in enlightening the world. In giving publicity to the epigrams against certain ladies, Mr. Guingené has cautiously abstained from throwing out any clue to their names. In general, the initials only, are given, or else the fictitious appellations of Chloe, Lise, &c. We know not, therefore, who was the object of the following: Chloé, belle et pöete, a deux petits travers; Grand embarras. Dans l'art de plaire, ou le talent d'écrire, Qui lit Delphis aimerait mieux la voir. Ce qui donne à la femme une idée de Dieu et du diable, Sans lire ni bible ni fable, Portrait de Madame de... Tu dis qu'on te dispute et tes vers et tes charmes; This piece of discretion in the editor, is praiseworthy; as is also, Fraternité ou la mort. Bon dieu! l'aimable siècle où l'homme dit à l'homme: Soyons frères, ou je t'assomme! If our remarks had not already extended too far, we would say something of Lebrun's correspondence, which occupies near ly the whole of the fourth volume. The editor has been very moderate, as to the number of his notes, and we think he has acted with judgment. In less discreet hands, the works of Lebrun would have swelled probably to seven or eight volumes, instead of the four, in which they are now comprised; for we have not forgotten an unlucky "Ode," printed in 1806, which having fallen in the way of an unmerciful scribbler, was made the pitiable vehicle of a preface and body of notes, occupying not less than seventy-eight pages. CRITICISM-FOR THE PORT FOLIO. CUM TABULIS ANIMUM CENSORIS SUMET HONESTI.-Hör. THE works of Mark Akenside, M. D. in prose and verse, with his life, a fac-simile of his hand writing, and an essay on the first poem by Mrs. Barbauld, 2 vols. 12 mo.-T. & J. Swords, Newyork; Bradford & Inskeep, and A. Finley, Philadelphia; Thomas and Andrews, Boston. Printed by William Elliott of New Brunswick, N. J. THE name of Akenside is justly held dear by every English. man who sets any value upon the literary reputation of his country, for he contributed to raise it high in the estimation of the world, and his want of general patronage during life, excites the sympathy of every feeling person, to whom the fact is known. The poor rewards bestowed upon literary men in republics, has long been deemed one of the objections to that form of government, by the friends of monarchy; but the reproach seems to be as unjust when applied to men of letters, as to the military or civil servants of the state. The literary biography of the European kingdoms, shows that poverty was the lot of most of them, and even in England, the boasted seat of Science and the Muses, it is sufficent to select from the long list of unfortunate authors, the names of Thomson the sweet poet of Nature, and Dr. Johnson, that Colossus in literature, both of whom long struggled with poverty, and were never enabled by the patronage of the public, or of the government, to enjoy more than a scanty subsistence. The minutes of the "literary fund" likewise show |