P. 6. A remonftrance is a petition in behalf of itself:' a definition entirely new and ingenious. 10. the notes, At the head of this department-ftood that PATRIARCH of ftar-chamber cruelty, archbishop Laud; with one Neile, archbishop of York; and Montague, bishop of Norwich; the finger of whofe right hand was one good Mafter Manwaring, afterwards a bishop himfelf;-and one good Mafler Sibthorpe, who wanted to be a bishop; and might not improperly be called their thumb.'-From this fpecimen of his abilities, our Author appears to be but a forry hand at a conundrum. P. 13. It is a melancholy truth, and the more fo for being one,' Reader! make what thou canft of this affertion: we can make nothing of it; not even by the help of the remaining part fentence, from which it is here detached, without the least injury to the fenfe of the Author: P. 19. Bleed on ye heroes in immortal fong, And bleed thou, WILKES! enroll'd thy patriot name 'Midft deathlefs heroes, and the fons of FLAME.'— It may feem by this exhortation that the Author wishes his hero to fall a martyr to the good caufe; but he does not prescribe the mode of his fuffering: whether from the fcaffold, the tripod, or a shot from the third regiment. From the verses relative to the Dover election, it appears that a man may, indeed, be a flave to Liberty: Dauntless, let the nation fee, That you vote unbrib'd and FREE! Free from ALL, but LIBERTY.' But there are paffages of another fort in this mifcellany, which, if felected alone, would have given our Readers an idea of the Author fomewhat different from that which they may have drawn from the foregoing fpecimens: for inftance, pref. p. 5. We may speak of dead princes FREELY-and it is one way of fpeaking to living ones.' P. 10. When he mentions bad princes, in his poem on reading the remonftrance of the H. of C. addreffed to Charles I. Dec. 1, 1641, he ftyles them, in the following admirable line, • Anointed worms! that fain would pafs for Gods!" In a note, in the fame page, is the following happy flight of republican enthufiafm; At length, a kingdom has vouchfafed to petition-I boldly repeat, has vouсHSAFED. What may be but a duty in individuals in a NATION becomes condescention; and that is doing honour to EMPERORS!' We are forry the flowers in this collection are not as plenteous as the weeds, POETICAL. Art. 16. The Remonfirance. A Porm. 4to, venhill, &c. 4to, 2s. 6d. Da, A fatire on the leaders of the prefent oppofition, written much in the ftyle of Mac Flecknoe, the redoubtable antagonist of the great Dryden. The Author particularly abufes the lord mayor (Beckford) the two fheriffs, lord Chatham, Mr. Wilkes, and Mrs. Macauley, the celebrated female hiftorian, whofe pathon for Liberty, we pre fume fume, is the fingle caufe which hath expofed her to the virulence of this rhyming Remonstrancer. The poetry of this piece does not merit particular notice; but, ftrange as it may feem, we here meet with a curious circumstance relating to the Natural History of Jamaica, which, we are very fure, is no where else to be found. That island, the Author affirms, has the extraordinary property of brutifying the human foul: for, fpeaking of the great magiftrate above-mentioned, he ftyles him a callous, bluftering proud CRIOLE : Bred in an ifle that brutifies the foul.' In vain have we tumbled over the voluminous leaves of the learned Sir Hans*, and of Doctor Patrick Brown † ; no fuch property in the climate or foil of Jamaica have they recorded.-Perhaps, however, this pamphleteer hath had more experience of the country here mentioned, than both these folio doctors put together: but then, is it not fomewhat strange that he should not know how to fpell the appellative Creole, by which the natives of that and other parts of the West Indies, of European extraction, are diftinguished from the Aborigines and Negroes? Art. 17. Sedition. A Poem. 4to. I s. Nicoll. In this fatire, too, Mrs. Macaulay, Mr. Wilkes, and the lordmayor, are lafhed and be-rhymed, in the very fpirit of the preceding Remonftrance. There is a compliment to the private virtues of the king, at the end of the piece, which is the best part of it: though the Author, we fear, carries it too high, in pronouncing his majefty a 'faultless model.' Princes, no doubt, are always more perfect than private perfons; nevertheless, a greater bard than the writer of Sedition, a poem, has told us, that a faultlefs man is a monster, which the world ne'er faw. Art. 18. The Summons for the 18th of April 1770. A Poem. 4to. I s. 6d. Steidell. Another dull and malignant invective against the oppofition. Art. 19. The Poetical Retrofpect; or, the Year 1769. A Poem. 4to. 2 S. S. Noble. The Writer of this unpoetical Retrospect of the principal public Occurrences of the last year, defires the Reader to kindly excufe The first flip of an youthful but well-meaning mufe.' When the faults of a young offender are forgiven, it is always on the condition that he offend no more in the fame way.—On that principle we here difmifs the prefent culprit, MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 20. A Dialogue of the Dead: betwixt Lord Eglinton and Mungo Campbell. 8vo. 1 s. Murray. In this short but excellent colloquy, Lord Eglinton and Mr. Campbell argue the fubject of their fatal quarrel, while on earth. The difpute is managed with great warmth and afperity on the part of his Lordship, but with perfect compofure, and a moft triumphant fupe. riority, on that of his antagonist.-We have here a masterly im Sloane's Natural History of Jamaica, &c. + See an account of his Natural and Civil Hift. of Jamaica, Review, vol. xv. - peachment of the game-laws; in which their grofs partiality, and their tyrannical fpirit, are fhewn in the moft ftriking light. This is, certainly, not the production of an ordinary pen; but the abstract of Campbel's trial added, by way of appendix to the dialogue, appears to be done by another hand. Art. 21. A true Narative of an unfortunate Elopement, in a feries of Letters. By S -, Efqr. 8vo. I s. 6d. Holdf worth. The attention of the public hath been much engroffed of late, by anecdotes of adulteries, elopements, and the like fashionable amufements of the age. This narrative, as it is called, confifts of the letters of Captain Simes, his wife, and their relations, occafioned by Mrs. Sime's elopement with lieutenant PAnd it appears that the unhappy deferted Captain, hath been induced to lay a state of his private misfortunes before the public, in order to prevent mif reprefentations of his own character and conduct, which might poffibly arife either through ignorance of the truth, or malevolence of defign. Art. 22. A Letter to the Right honourable William Beckford, Lord Mayor, and Confervator of the River Thames, and Waters of Medway, from Sir Stephen Theodore Janfen, Bart. Chamberlain of London. 4to. 1 S. Wilkie. The worthy Chamberlain here addreffes the prefent Lord Mayor, on a fubject every way proper for the confideration of the chief magiftrate of this great commercial city: and however mach his lordfhip may engage himfelf in more extenfive objects, the citizens would certainly pay chearful acknowledgments to the mayor who could find leifure effectually to remove the obftructions, and fecure the free navigation, of the port of London. This letter confiders the subject under three points, the navigation below London bridge; the preferving a clear channel above bridge; and the propofed new channel from Sunning-lock to Isleworth. For the firft, the appointment of a port mafter is recommended, to regu late the mooring of hips at their coming up the Thames, fo as to preferve a free navigation up and down, and prevent tiers of veffels from stretching across the river, beyond a limited number in each. Above bridge, the chamberlain recommends to confideration, how far the embankments carrying into execution may contribute to clearing the channel of mud; which he feems greatly to doubt. The alterations he obferves being expenfive to make; to be executed upon conjecture at beft, and will be ftill more expenfive to restore to the former state, if the fuppofed confequences fail. Concerning the intended new canal, Sir Stephen proposes the following queries: Q. Whether varying the course of the stream, will not alter the property, and confequently deprive the city magistracy of fo much of their power, rights and privileges? Q. 2. Whether the new cuts will not drain the old river, as there does not at prefent appear, that there is at all times, or on the average, a fufficient fupply of water for both, even with the aid of locks? Q. 3. At whofe expence are thefe works to be effected? As it ought to be made very clear, how much cheaper, and in what fpace of time, the craft may pass and repass the new propofed channel. Q. 4. Laftly, will the undertakers engage to make good every part of their respective propofitions?' He farther obferves that a direct line of navigation, will doubtless bring the craft fooner down, but if the return is in proportion retarded, the farthest way about will prove the nearest way home. This gentleman, whofe former conduct as a magiftrate procured him the merited esteem of the city, offers thefe confiderations to the attention of the various parties concerned, and therefore is as juftly entitled to acknowledgments for the continuance of his attention to the welfare of the metropolis. An Appendix is added, containing memorials on the former mentioned ftate of the river, during preceding mayoralties: and the chamberlain anticipates the question, why thefe matters were not remedied during his mayoralty pleading the extraordinary bufinefs which then lay on his hands at the eve of the approaching war; with the many feffions he had to attend for the rehef of infolvent debtors; added to the current bufinefs of the magiftracy. Art. 23. Letters from Snowdon, defcriptive of a Tour through the northern Counties of Wales; containing the Antiquities, Hiftory and State of the Country; with the Manners and Cuftoms of the Inhabitants. 8vo. 2 s. 6 d. Ridley, 1770. A frequent ufe of the fuperlative, and a laboured application of epithets, in writing, are certain marks of a weak style, as feeble bodies, in their efforts, appear to ftrain the moft, Numberless inftances of this are to be found in modern novels, in the Six Months Tour, in the multifarious writings of the Author of that book, and in the letters from Snowdon, which favour ftrongly of the fame hand. But, whoever may be the writer, the book is a mere piece of authorifm, confifting of anecdotes and defcriptions, which any induftrious compiler might pick up and give us, either from the top of Snowdon, or from an ale-house at the bottom, or from a garret in Field-Lane. In fhort, the writer's moral is infipid, and his defcription vifio nary. Art. 24. Critical Obfervations on the Sixth Book of the Æneid. 8vo. 1 s. 6d. Elmley, 1770. The Bishop of Gloucefter's attempt to allegorize the fixth book of the Eneid into the procefs of the Eleufinian myfteries, is generally known, and no lefs generally laughed at. The wildeft fymbolical vagary of the wildest Hutchinfonian cannot poffibly be more extravagant. The learned prelate might have afferted with equal probability that the paffage of the Children of Ifrael over the Red Sea was an emblem of thole myteries; for it has quite as much connexion with them as the defcent of Æneas into the dominions of Pluto. For our parts, we are convinced that the bishop threw out thefe curious difficulties only as a bait for the critics, and that in his own ftudy he never believed one fingle fyllable of the matter. What pity, that the ingenious Author of this pamphlet has bestowed fo much learned labour in refuting them! NOVELS. NOVEL S. Art. 25. The Fool of Quality; or the Hiftory of Henry Earl of Moreland. Vol. v *. By Mr. Brooke. 12mo. 3s. Johnfton. Mr. Brooke has now finished his extraordinary religious romance; and we have read this fequel of the ftory with the fame mixture of delight and difguft with which we perufed fome of the former volumes. While with pleasure we contemplate the amiable and worthy characters drawn by this able writer, it is with real concern that we fee them debased by the afcetic reveries of Madam Guyon, William Law, and the reft of the rapturous tribe.-What can we fay more of a performance which is at once enriched by genius, enlivened by fancy, bewildered with enthusiasm, and over-run with the vifionary jargon of fanaticism? We fhall only add our hearty with that the ingenious writer (if he can diveft himself of his monaftic robes) would give us an abridgment of this work, cleared from the fanctimonious rubbish by which its beauties are so much obfcured; and then, we are perfuaded, it would be perufed with pleasure by readers of every rank and age: but while it remains in its prefent motley ftate, we apprehend it will be a favourite with only Behmenites, Hernhutters, Methodists, Hutchinfonians, and fome of the Roman Catholics. Art. 26. Letters between an English Lady and her Friend at Paris. In which are contained the Memoirs of Mrs. Williams. By a Lady. 12mo. 2 vols. 5 s. fewed. Becket. Though we have inferted thefe letters under the denomination of novels, we know not whether the lady who has communicated them to the public, may not be justly offended with us for placing them in fuch company. For the gives the hiftory of Mrs. Williams (a feigned name) not as a fictitious tale, but as a narration of matters of fact. This, indeed, is the common, ftale, and hacknied pretence of thofe whofe bufinefs it is to entertain the world with imaginary biogra phy; but we muft obferve, in justice to a performance which hath greatly interefted and pleafed us in the perufal, that it differs totally from the common novels of the times. An air of reality, without the least intermixture of any appearance of fiction, runs through the whole, both of the letters and the memoirs; fo that if, poffibly, every circumftance related, be not strictly fact, this is more than the candid Reader will fufpect, in the perufal: for every thing wears the face of nature and probability. Here we have nothing of wonderful adventure, no extravagant achievements, no romantic incidents. The extreme diftreffes of an amiable and virtuous wife, are recited in plain but feeling language; and the unworthinefs of her husband, is fhewn by an artlefs difplay of his many indifcretions, his unaccountable follies, and bafe conduct. The whole forms a mot interefting, exemplary tale, abounding with affecting incidents, fenfible obfervations, and moral reflections: and fome of the letters are enlivened with a vein of pleafantry, which will afford an agreeable relief to fuch readers as are not fond of distressful events, and melancholy fcenes. See our accounts of the former volumes, Rev. vol. xxxv, xxxix and xli. In fome of which we have given ample fpecimens of this work. EATING. |