The laft book is taken up with the adminiftration of police in the different ftages of the plague; and the author clofes his wok, by an appendix, containing a number of cafes of the plague, an account of the weather in the pestilential feafon, and an index to the whole. poffeffed by his love of the charming Adelaide, who was entirely under the influence of the Prieur, should not detect the fallacy of reafoning drawn from fources, and expreffed in language, far above the capacity of any peafant to comprehend. Deficient, however, as this argumentative tale is, in found reafong, it is not deftitute of good writing, nor of fome interesting situa 2. Lindor and Adelaïde, a moral Tale. In which are exhibited the Effects of the late French Revolutions. The affecting agony, and the tion on the Peafantry of France. fubfequent death, of poor Adelaide, By the Author of "Obfervations on on being witness to the laft moments Dr Price's Revolution Sermon." of her expiring and beloved Lindor, 12mo. pp. 358. 3s. 6d. Boards. are, in particular, naturally conceived, Stockdale. 1791. and well defcribed. THIS tale abounds more in argu. ment, (fuch as it is,) than in incident. The characters, which are few, are of two defcriptions, of very oppofite complexion and caft of features. The enemies to the Revolution are made, in every way, amiable. Their perfons are handfome and attracting, their manners are arilefs and engaging, and their morals are pure. The favourers of the Revolution, on the contrary, are distorted in body, and corrupted in mind. They are rendered fhocking by their vices, and difgufting by their ignorance. They have neither elegance of behaviour to varnish their defects of principle, nor fincerity of heart to atone for their vulgarity of deportment. They are made not only mean and despicable in themselves, but their very taste in externals is low and groveling. The chief perfonage, in this little drama, is a Prieur, who is made to talk Lindor, a peasant, not only out of his love for the new liberty, but into fuch an imprudent ze for the old flavery, that he wantonly provokes the brutish villagers, (fuch they are here rep efente,) all eager for the Revolution, to murder him in a tumult. To us, the Prieur's arguments appear very flimfy-but we are not furprized that Lindor, blinded and pre 3. The Hiftory and Antiquities of Claybrook, in the County of Leicester; including the Hamlets of Bitefby, Ulefthorpe, Wibtoft and Little Wigston. By the Rev. A. Macaulay, A. M. 8vo. pp. 140. 35. ferved. Dilly. 1791. To liberal and cultivated minds, the ftudy of rational topography opens a wide field both of inftruction and entertainment. It is the province of the topographer to trace the hiftory of property, and the colour which the different modes of it have given to the complexion of the times. It is his province to connect ancient and modern inftitutions civil and ecclefiaftical, and to compare their effects on character, manners, and customs; to add to the stock of biographical knowledge, to explore the curiofities of the animal, the vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; to illuftrate the remains of genius in the fine arts; and to point out the monuments of ancient grandeur;-to preferve the remembrance of thofe fpots which have been the fcenes of remarkable events; and to mark the progrefs of population, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. Thus the labours of the pa-rochial antiquary may be rendered fubfervient to public utility and refined, amufement, as amufement, and greatly facilitate and affift the researches of the naturalift, the biographer, and the hiftorian.' Inquiries employed to fuch purpofes will hardly be condemned " inconfiftent with a tafte for polite literature;" fince what is termed polite literature is in fact of little worth, if it does not, in fome way or other, contribute to our real improvement, or rational entertainment. This writer fpeaks with a little harshness concerning collections of parish-regifters, genealogies, infcriptions, fac-fimiles, rully-fwords, armorial bearings, &c. yet we obferve that he does not entirely overlook fuch fubjects; nor do we perceive how a parochial history can be properly conducted without paying fome attention to them. To difpofe of them in an inftructive and agreeable manner, is indeed the bufinels of a man of taste and fcience; otherwife he may become, what this writer terms, "a mere antiquarian virtuofo, who afpires to no higher prize than that of collecting names, dates, and inferiptions," and whofe employment is confequently trifling and infignificant. The tract now before us, allowing for an abridgment of fome few parts, has already appeared in the collections for Leicestershire, which Mr Nichols has f industriously gathered; but it is a diftinct performance, which Mr Macaulay has executed with arten tion, and, we doubt not, will be ac ceptable to many readers. 4. Ariftarchus, or the 'Principles of Compofition. Containing a methodical Arrangement of the Improprie ties frequent in Writing and Converfation, with felect Rules for attaining to Purity and Elegance of Expreffion. 8vo. pp. 432. 6s. 6d. Boards. Bourne, Panton-street. THIS work is the production of the late ingenious and learned Dr U VOL. XIV. No. 8o. Withers, whofe eccentricities, and whofe misfortunes, are equally known It was originally publifhed in numbers, which are now collected into a volume. The book carries with it indelible marks of its extraordinary author: full of fpeculation, which is fometimes ingenious, but more often vifionary; replete with fent ments, which are frequently inftructing, but not always accurate; and crowded with matter which is fometimes good, frequently unconnected with the fubject, and seldom harmonizing with what precedes or follows it. Its good parts are either obfcured by haste and negligence of compofition, or rendered ludicrous by the flights and whimsies of the writer, while throughout the whole, notwithstanding the inftances of levity, caprice, and obfcu rity, we trace a mind highly capable of thinking and judging righ ly; equally able to detect faults, and to diftinguish beauties. At the end of the volume are added, Remarks on Dr Johnfon's dic tionary, with propofals for a new Englifh dictionary. The remarks are shrewd, and often juft: whether Dr. Withers's performance would have been a great improvement on his original, it is needlefs now to inquire, as his progrefs has been ftopped by the irrefiltib'e hand of death.The prefent work is foid for the benefit of the author's family. 5. Report of the Commiffioners appoint ed to inquire into the State and Condition of the Woods, Forefts, and Land Revenues, of the Crown, and to fell or alienate Fee Farm, aud other u improveable rents; to the Right Hon. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in purfu nce of an order, dated the ft day of April, 1799. 8vo. pp. 28. 1s. Debret. 1790. This Report is fummed up in the following manner: We fhall conclude this Report with with obferving, that in the courfe of our inquiries we have found, that the wafted condition to which the royal forefts are reduced, is chiefly to be imputed to three caufes : Ift, To the ill-defined and improvident grants of the Crown, by which oppofite and jarring interefts are ereated in the fame forefts: 2dly, To the prefent confufed and abfurd fyftem of management, in which the officers are not paid by falaries proportioned to the duty they perform, but by fees, poundages, perquifites, and advantages, which in creafe according to the wafte, extravagance, and deftruction, committed or allowed; but not one of which is calculated to excite attention to the intereft of the Crown, or the improvement of the forefts: and, 3dly, To the neglect and relaxation of Government, during the prefent century, refpecting this part of the public property; in confequence of which, no effectual check has been given to the misconduct of the refident officers, nor to the intrufions of the neighbouring inhabitants and proprietors: and we have endeavoured, to the utmost of our power, to acquire fuch a knowledge of the fubject as to be able to give the Legiflature a clear view of the prefent ftate of this part of the public property; to fuggeft fuch al terations only in thofe rights of individuals, which are mixed with the rights of the Crown, as feem neceffary to admit of the whole property being improved, with reciprocal advantage to all the parties interested; to propofe a better and more fimple fyftem of management, in which the officers fhould be paid by adequate falaries, and all fees, poundages, and perquifites of every kind, fhould be abolished; and to point out the means of preventing future incroachment or wafte, fo as to bring thofe forefts into fuch a general ftate of improvement as may, in time, provide a fupply of tim ber for our navy. Thefe are objects of great importance; but they are attended with fome difficulty, and require deliberate confideration. 6. Hluftrations of British Hiftory, Biography, and Manners, in the Reigns of Henry VIII. Edward' VI. Mary, Elizabeth, and James I. exhibited in a Series of original Papers felected from the Manufcripts of the noble Families of Howard, Talbot, and Cecil, . By Edmond Lodge, Efq; Purfuivant at Arms, and F. S. A. 3 Vol. 4to, 31. 35. Boards. Nicol. 1791. THE introduction to this interesting work offers fome remarks upon the utility of fuch collections to hiftory in particular; and Mr Lodge juftly blames the neglect of original dos cuments fhewn by modern hiftorians, who feem to regard ftyle, which ought only to be confidered as the dress of their productions, more than accuracy and authenticity. He then explains the fources from which these papers were drawn; namely, the Talbot collection, confifting of fifteen volumes, preferved in the library of the College of Arms; that of Howard, in the duke of Norfolk's pofleffron; and that of Cecil, which came into the hands of the editor's father, as refiduary legatee to a lady, and which the editor, conceiving to have been illicitly withdrawn from the proper repofitory, has now refto ed to the Marquis of Salisbury. An account of the Earls of Shrewsbury, who are confpicuous actors in this feries of pers, clofes the introduction. pa We recommend this little work to c. &c. By Edward Umfreville, 8vo. 4s. Boards. Stalker 1790. MR UMFREVILLE informs us, in the title, that he was eleven years in the fervice of the Hudfon's Bay company, trade. He (peaks like a man well and four years at the Canada furacquainted with the fubject; plain, unadorned, and honeft. The company, in this narrative, are feverely avaricious; oppofing every attempt cenfured, as fecret, interested, and, municate the knowledge of the interi to improve, to increafe, or to comour parts of the continent. We have fome reafon to believe that this has and the late establishment of a fupebeen the cafe, but it is no longer fo ; rior province of Canada, a measure highly politic and judicious, reflecting equal luftre on the fpirit and difcernment of the prefent administration, will entirely destroy every remaining the attention of the profeffion, and fpark of monopoly, if it fhould still mufical readers in general. 8. The prefent State of Hudfon's Bay. Containing a full Description of that Settlement, and the adjacent Country; and like wife of the Fur Trade, exift. We have good authority for declaring, that the Hudfon's Bay and the north-weft Canada companies have but one view, and they will probably co-operate in one great defign, a permanent establishment on the weftern coaft, and a ready communication with the eaftern. Leander and Adelifa; a Tale *. DELISA, poffeft of beauty, fortune, ment that genius and education could beftow, was withal fo infupportably capricious, that the feemed born to be the torment of every heart which fuffered itself to be attracted by her charms. Though her coquetry was notorious to a proverb, fuch were her allurements, that very few, upon whom the thought fit to practise them, had ever found refolution to refift their power. Of all the victims of her vanity, Leander feemed to be that over whom the threw her chains with the greatest air of triumph; he U 2 was indeed a conqueft to boast of, for he had for a time made as many reprifals upon the tender paffions of her fez as the raised contributions upon his: her better star at length prevailed; the beheld Leander at her feet, and though her victory was accomplished at the expence of more tender glances than fhe had ever bestowed upon the whole fex collectively, yet it was a victory, which only piqued Adelifa to render his flavery the more intolerable for the trouble it had coft her to reduce him to it. After fhe had trifled with him and tortured him in every *From the Observer, Vol. way and made fuch public difplay of her tyranny, as fubjected him to the ridicule and contempt of all the men who had envied his fuccefs, and every woman who refented his neglect, Adelifa avowedly difmiffed him as an object which could no longer furnish fport to her cruelty, and turned to other purfuits with a kind of indifference as to the choice of them, which feemed to have no other guide but mere caprice. .. way that her ingenious malice could devife," fuch humours must be infupportable to a "hufband.""Pardon me,' cried Leander, "if ever I fhould be betrayed into the " idle act of marriage, I must be in one of "thofe very humours myself: defend me "from the dull uniformity of domestic life! "What can be fo infipid as the tame ftrain of nuptial harmony everlastingly repeated? "Whatever other varieties I may then debar myfelf of, let me at least find a variety of "whim in the woman I am to be fettered to ""Upon my word," exclaimed Adelifa, you would almost perfuade me "that we were deftined for each other."'This the accompanied with one of those looks in which he was most expert, and which was calculated at once to infpire and to betray fenfibility: Leander, not yet fo certain of his obfervations as to confide in them, feemed to receive this ouverture as a raillery, and affecting a laugh, replied-“ I "do not think it is in the power of destiny "herself to determine either of us; for if you was for one moment in the humour to promife yourself to me, I am certain in the "next you would retract it; and if I was "fool enough to believe you, I fhould well "deferve to be punished for my credulity: Hymen will never yoke us to each other, nor to any body elfe; but if you are in "the mind to make a very harmless experi"ment of the little faith I put in all fuch 66 Leander was not wanting to himself in the efforts he now made to free himself from her chains; but it was in vain; the hand of beauty had wrapped them too closely about his heart, and love had ivetted them too fecurely, for reafon, pride, or even the ftrongeft ftruggles of refentment to throw them off; he continued to love, to hate, to execrate and adore her. His firft refolution was to exile himself from her fight; this was a measure of abfolute neceflity, for he was not yet recovered enough to abide the chance of meeting her, and he had neither spirits nor inclination to start a fresh attachment by way of experiment upon her jealoufy. Fortune however befriended him in the very moment of defpair, for no fooner was he out of her fight, than the coquettish Adelifa found fomething wanting, which had been fo familiar to her, that Leander, though defpifed when poffeft, when loft was regretted. In vain the culled her numerous admirers for fome one to replace him; continually peevish and difcontented, Adelifa became fo intolerable to her lovers, that there fcemed to be a fpirit conjuring up amongst them, which threatened her with a general defertion. What was to be done? Her danger was alarming, it was imminent: the determined to recal Leander; the informed her felf of his haunts, and threw herself in the way of a rencontre; but he avoided her :chance brought them to an interview, and fhe began by rallying him for his apoftacy : there was an anxiety under all this affected pleafantry, that he could not thoroughly conceal, and he did not fail to difcover: He inftantly determined upon the very wileft meafure which deliberation could have formed; he combated her with her own wea pous; he put himself apparently fo much at his cafe, and counterfeited his part fo well, as effectually to deceive her: fhe had now a new talk upon her hands, and the hardest as well as the mof hazardous fhe had ever undertaken fhe attempted to throw him off his guard by a pretended pity for his pafted to rely upon the other for a difcovery of fuffers, and a promife of kinder ulage for the future: he denied that he had fuffered any thing, and affured her that he never failed to be amused by her humours, which were perfectly agreeable to him at all times. "Then it is plain," replied fhe, "that you never thought of me as a wife; for promifes, here is my hand; 'tis fit the propofal fhould fpring from my quarter "and not yours; clofe with it as foon as "you pleafe, and laugh at me as much as you pleafe, if I vent one murmur whee you break the bargain."" Well then," faid Adelita, "to punish you for the fauci"nefs of your provoking challenge, and to "convince you that I do not credit, you for "this pretended indifference to my treat"ment of you, here is my hand, and with "it my promile; and now I give you warn"ing, that if ever I do keep it, 'twill he only from the conviction that I fhall tore "ment, you more by fulfilling it than by flying from it."" Fairly declared," cried Leander, " and fince my word is paffed, I'll "ftand to it; but take notice, If I was not "perfectly fecure of being jilted, I fhould "think myself in a fair way to be the moft egregious dupe in nature.' In this ftrain of mutual raillery they proceeded to fettle the most ferious bufinefs of their lives, and whilft neither would venture upon a confeffion of their paffion, each feem it. They now broke up their conference in the gayeft fpirits imaginable, and Leander, upon parting, offered to make a bet of half his fortune with Adelifa, that he did not ftand to her engagement, at the fame time naming a certain day as the period of its taking place." And what fhall I gain," |