of age, my father was afflicted with a paralytic ftroke. which took from him the use of one fide, and disabled him from working at his bufinefs; but ftill retaining the ufe of his right hand, and his diforder not affecting his mental faculties, he taught me the art of writing, from copies in the fpellingbook. My father was now obliged to go about felling garden-ftuff for a living, till (a few months before his death) he obtained the place of bookkeeper to the London Coach, which then fet out from the King's Head, in the Market-Place. His lameness continued till his deceafe, which happened by a fecond ftroke of the fame diforder, on the 25th of January 1783, in the 48th year of his age; I being then about fifteen years old. My father died in the parish of St Stephen, in which place my mother and I have continued ever fince. About two years after my father's death, I dif. covered in myself an inclination for writing verfes, which I had no thought nor defire of being feen; but my mother fhewing my firft productions to fome acquaintances, they encouraged me to proceed. Soon after I purchafed a small grammar-book, fecondhand, from which I attained the art of expreffing myself correctly in my native language. My mother's maiden name was Lawrence; her father, when living, kept a cooper's fhop in St Stephen's parish.' From this fhort narrative, it appears that this poetefs of nature enjoyed few advantages of education, and had few incentives to ftudy: but she must certainly have read more than the enumerates, for the mentions no books of poetry, and fome of these she doubt lefs had seen. The editor affures us that the poems are the genuine and fole productions of E. Bentley; that neither correction nor addition has been made nor fug gefted but by her; and he concludes his preface with obferving, that he is not lefs refpectable for her modeft virtues, than for her fuperior ablilities. 6. Report of the Lords of the Committee of Council appointed for the Confideration of all Matters relative to Trade and foreign Plantations; fubmitting to his Majesty's Confideration, the Evidence and Information they have collected in confequence of his Majesty's Order in Council, dated February 11th, 1788, concerning the prefent State of the Trade to Africa, and particularly the Trade in Slaves; and concerning the Effects and Confequences of this Trade, as well in Africa and the Weft Indies, as to the general Commerce of this Kingdom. Folio, a large Volume, illuftrated with a Map of Africas fhewing the route of the Caravans, 21. 21. fewed. Debrett. THIS valuable State-publication is arranged under the following heads : 1. A view of the evidence that the Committee has obtained of the prefent ftate of thofe parts of Africa whence flaves have been exported, taking each country that lies upon the coaft feparately, beginning from the river Senegal, and defcending fouthward to the eaft of the European fettlements, on the faid coaft; with fuch information as has been obtained of the interior countries fituated behind each of the faid countries on the coaft refpectively. 2. View of Evidence concerning the manner of carrying flaves to the Weft Indies, &c. 3. The treatment of flaves in the Weft Indies, and all circumstances relating thereto, digefted under certain heads. 4. The feveral accounts which have been called for in order to fhew the extent of the trade in all its branches, and the number of white people and flaves in each of the islands in the West Indies, as far as the accounts could be procured. 3 R2 '5. The 5. The advantages which the French West India iflands are fup-' pofed at prefent to enjoy over the Britifh islands, and the reafons on which thefe fuperior advantages are founded. 6. View of the information that has been obtained concerning the extent of the trade of other European nations to Africa, and the manner in which the fame is carried on, and concerning the treatment of flaves in the foreign inlands or colonies in America or the West Indies; and concerning the trade in flaves carried on from the northern, eaftern, and fouthern coafts of Africa, or in the interior parts of that country, as connected therewith either by Europeans, or by the different people of Alia and Afri ca' Thefe documents will be deemed of great importance by thofe who with to be poffeffed of the most authentic and moft comprehensive evidence and information, hitherto obtained, relative to the actual ftate of Africa, and the real nature and circumftances of the flave-trade. So extenfive and fo well-digefted a mafs of materials, on this very interefting fubject, and published under fo high a fanétion, muft, indced, be confidered as exceedingly valuable and interefting. We may add, that there who may take up this volume merely with a view to that rational entertainment which naturally refults from the acquifirion of ufeful knowledge, (and, efpecially, from the intelligence which may be collectedfrom authentic accounts of this kind,) will not be difappointed: hiftorians and geographers, in particular, will alfo confult it with advantage. 7. The Theatre, by Sir Richard Steele. To which are added, The AntiTheatre; the Character of Sir Jolsa Edgar; Steele's Cafe with the Lord Chamberlain; the Crifis of Property, with the Sequel, two Pefquins, & Hafrated with Literary and Iff, torical Anecdotes, by John Nichols. 2. Vols. crown Evo. As long as clegant Literature fhall be cultivated in this country, the name of Steele will always have a refpectable portion of efteem and praife. it has been, till very lately, the fafhion to regard him more as the friend of Addifon and Pope, and as borrow. ing a reflected fplendour from their luftre, than as entitled to great repu. tation, on his own account, as an original writer, as poffeffed of genius diffufing no inconfiderable light from felf, as improving our language, and as a warm fteady friend to liberty and morals. But at this period, when prejudices of all kinds are the more rigoroufly examined, the more fixed they feem, and the more ancient they are, it is clearly afcertained and acknowledged that Steele's talents as a man, and kill as a writer, required no adventitious aid. To the Editor of the prefent work the friends and admirers of Steele owe many obligations. His induftry, and, we may add, his acutenefs, have been fuccefsfully excrcifed to render the cloud which obfcured Steele's repu tation lefs and lefs denfe. His partial care has railed him from amongst the groupe in which he was sometimes confounded and often overlooked, and placed him on a feparate pedestal, where he attracts and obtains his proper share of attention and praife. There are but very few, partial as they may have been to Steele's writ. ings, or curious in collecting the periodical publications of that period, who have feen an entire collection of the Theatre; and yet we may be juf tified in afferting, that it would be difficult to produce better writing from either the Spectators, Tatlers, or Guardians. To thofe who are curious in inveftigating the hiftory of the Englith ftage, they must be peculiarly in terefting. The 501 [By Mrs CHARLOTTE SMITH.] Y father was a native of Scotland, engaging in it. She had no acquaintance "M of the noble family of Douglas. He in England, and not in the world any was a younger brother of a younger branch, friend who had at once the power and the wili to aflift her. "Almost the first circumdance which made any impreffion on my mind, was the agonies of paflion with which my mother clafped me to her bofom, and wept over me, while fhe called on the spirit of her departed Donglas to behold the wretchedness of his widow and his orphan. At that age, however, it is only a flight fketch now and then of fome violent pattion, or ftriking circomitance, that refts on the memory of an infant. I have no recollection of any thing elfe till the fcene was greatly changed, and, in my childish eyes, greatly amended. "It was fummer; and though at that period the mercantile inhabitants of London were lefs accustomed than they now are to go to country villas, yet my uncle, who was growing rich, had one near Hammerfmith, where he ufually repaired with his family on Fridays, returning again to town the begining of the following week. The weather was uncommonly hot, and my mother, who was never of thefe parties, but was left in London to fhare the dinner of the folitary fervant who took care of the houfe, fancied that I had for many days drooped for want of air; and, alarmed by that idea, fhe took, after the family were gone, an hackney coach, and directed it to carry her to the gate of Hyde Park. "Though the fun was declining, it had yet fo much power, that in walking through the Park with me in her arms, that I at leaft might not fufer, the became exceedtremely fatigued. She faw people geing into Kensington Gardens: thither he went alo; and to avoid obfervation, betook herfelf to an unfrequented part of them, where, quite overcome with bodily fatigue and mental anguifh, fhe threw herf if on a feat, and training me to her besom, began with a torrent of tears to lament, not fo much her own hard fate as that which awaited the infant of he loft Douglas, whose name sh: frequently repeated, broken by the fobs and groans which a thoufnd tender recollertions of him, and ignant fears for me. extorted from bei. From this dehzium of fruitless forrow he was awakened by the appearance of a perloman about thasty, who fuddenly approached her, and enquir ed with great politenes, yet with great warmth, whether her diftre's was of a na ture he could mitigate or remove? "Alarmed by this addreis from a ftranger, my mother arofe, and, makin an el fort to conquer her emotion and conceal her tears, the thanked him in a hurried voice for his politenefs, but affured him that the was inerely fatigued by the heat of the weather, and should now haften home. "He was not however to be fo eafily fhaken off. If my mother had at Erft ftruck him as a very beautiful young woman, he was still more charmed when the fpoke, and when, amidst the confufion fhe was under, he obferved as much unaffected modefty as natural elegance. It was in vain that she entreated him to leave her, and affured him that the lived in a very diftant part of the town with a brother, into whofe houfe fhe could not introduce a stranger, and that the fhould be otherwife much diftreffed by his attention. He would not leave her, but taking me up in his arms, he carried me out of the gardens, and then delivering me to my mother, he ran towards the place to procure, as he said, a coach. My mother, who trembled the knew not why, at the politeness fhe could not refent, now hurried on in the hope of her efcaping from her new acquaintance; but he had not proceeded an hundred paces before he was again at her fide, and again took me in his arms, and under pretence that there was no coach to be had where he had been, but that one would be probably met with if they walked on, he engaged her to proceed, till a coach overtook them: not fuch as he pretended to have fought, but one on which was an Earl's coronet, and the arms of Douglas quartered with those of an illuftrious English family. 66 Now," faid he, ftopping as it came up, "here is a carriage, which fhall convey you and this little cherub to your home. You will not, I think, refufe me the honour of accompanying you, that it may afterwards take me to mine." Again my mother urged every thing the could think of to prevail upon her new friend to defift from a proof of attention which could only diltress her. He would heat Bothing; and the warmth of his importunity forced her, in fpite of every objection, to get into his coach, where he feated me in her lap, and himfelf by her fide. "He then attempted to quiet her fears, by entering into difcourfe on the topics of the day; in which he exerted himself to effectually, his manners were to eafy, and his converfation fo entertaining, that the agitation of her fpirits gradually fubfided. The foothing voice of friendship, of pity, of fympathy, which she had not heard for many, many months, again made its way to her heart; and when he infenfibly turned the difcourfe from les interefting matters to her own condition, the tears flowed from her eyes, fofunefs pervaded her heart, and the confided to this ftranger, whom the had not yet known above an hour, the unhappy uncertainty of her fituation, the ac tual mifery the fuffered herself, and the anguith which weighed down her spirit when The reflected that he had no other portion to bequeath me than poverty, fervitude, or perhaps dependence, more bitter than either. in making this avowal, fhe had named her family, and that of her father. "Yes," interrupted her protector, ".) heard, as I liftened to you in the gardens, the name of Douglas. I am myself of the race; for my mother was a Douglas! fuch a circumitance, added to the captivating beauty of the fair mourner to whom I liftened, made my curiofity invincible. Dangerous curiofity to gratify it, I have, I fear, loft my peace!" "Not to dwell too long on the recital, let me fay that this nobleman profeffed himself paffionately in love with the young widow; and though the infifted on his gi ving up fo wild an idea, he declared before he left her that he would by fome means or other introduce himfelf to her brother, fince to live without feeing her was impoffible. It was with difficulty he was at length prevailed upon to leave the house; and without extorting permiffion from my mother, he was there again the next day, and every day, till the family returned; after which he managed fo adroitly, that in a few days he made an acquaintance with my uncle, and was in form invited to dinner; while neither himself nor his wife at all fufpected for whofe fake the acquaintance was fo anxiously cultivated, but were extremely clate at the notice which a man of rank took of them, aud the compliments he paid to the refpectability and intrinfic worth of men of bufinefs. "The attention, however, which he found himself obliged to pay to the mistress of the houfe, and the few opportunities of feeing or converfing with my mother which this method of visiting allowed him, became very uncafy to him; and at length, after a long struggle with himfelf, he determined to hazard telling her his real fituation. He probably knew that he had by this time fecured fuch an intereft in her heart, that it was no longer in her power to fly from him, whatever her, honour might dictate. Having with fome difficulty obtained an opportunity of speaking to her, he told her, that he knew the myt long have feen his ardent and incurable pattion; which perhaps continued he, I ought never to have indulged; but, alas! from the first moment I faw you, my heart was your's! while rafon in vain condemned me, and repeated the fatal truth which you mult nov hear. I am already married-l am not villain enough to attempt to deceive you, but liften to what I have to add in extenuation extenuation of my conduct, before you condemn me to defpair." The indignation with which my mother received this acknowledgment, the attempts of her lover to appeafe and foften her, I need not relate: having at length prevailed on her to hear what he had to urge, he told her, that to gratify his family he had, when little more than twenty, married the heirefs of a rich and noble family; plain, and eveu deformed in her perfon; with a temper foured by ill-health and the confcioufnefs of her own imperfections, and with manners the moft difgufting. For upwards of three years he dragged on a life completely wretched with a woman whofe malignity of temper deadened all pity of her perfonal misfortune: at the end of that period fhe was feized with the fmall-pox, attended with the worst fymptoms; but the diftemper acting on an habit conftitutionally bad, failed to deprive her of life, which would have been a blefling to them both; but left behind it violent epileptic fits, which, continuing with increafing violence for many months, had deprived her of the flender fhare of reafon fhe ever poffeffed, and threw her at length into confirmed ideotifm, in which ftate fhe had invariably remained for the laft fix years. Thus fituated, he confidered himfelf, though the fatal tie could not by law be diffolved, as really unmarried, and at liberty to offer his heart to the lovely object who now poffeffed it, though the cruel circumftance he had related made it impoffible for him to offer her that rank, in which it would otherwife have been his ambition to have placed her, and to which the would have done fo much honour. "I was then in my mother's arms: he took me tenderly in his, and faid, "Intercede for me, lovely Caroline, with your mother! Ah! foften that dear inexorable heart, and tell her that for your fake the fhould quit an abode fo unfit for you both, and accept the protection of a man, who will confider and provide for her Caroline as for a child of his own." He then hurried away, leaving a paper in which he had repeated all he had before faid; and protefting that his first care fhould be to fettle a fortune on me. That evening, my uncle and his family, who had been abfent, returned, and it happened that his wife, who was always rude and unfeeling, treated my mother with an unufual degree of afperity. Her brother too, whether from accident or from fome intelligence he had received of his Lordfhip's vifits, fpoke to her with great acrimony, reproached her with having been now above twelve months a burden to him, and adviied er to try if the could not procure a place as companion to a lady, or governefs in a family; adding coldly, that he would in that cafe take care of me, and put me out to nurfe, till I was old enough to procure a livelihood. "Honour, and refpect for the memory of her husband, had made in the breaft of my mother a ftruggle, which this inhuman treatment rendered at once ineffectual. On one fide, affluence, with the man whom the already loved more than fhe was aware of, and a certain provifion for the infant on whom fhe doated, awaited her; on the other, poverty, dependence, and contempt; her child torn from her, and herself fent to fervice. The contraft was too violent : She retired to her room, and without giving herfelf time for reflection, wrote to Lord Pevenfey, and the next day quitting her inhofpitable and felfth relations, without giving them any account of herfelf, the fet out with his Lord hip for Paris. A fervant was provided for me: all that love and fortune could offer were lavifhed on her; and at an elegant houfe on the banks of the Seine fhe was foon eftablifhed; with a fplendour which however ferved not to make her happy. Still confcious of the impropriety of her fituation, fhe could never conquer the melancholy that preyed on her mind; though the fometimes thought, that to have the daughter of Douglas educated and provided for, as his Lordfhip's fondnefs educated and provided for me, was in reality a greater proof of attachment to his memory than the would have shown, had the fuffered me to have remained in the indigence and difgrace to which the penurious and fordid temper of my uncle would have expofed me. The two fons, whom the brought my Lord, tha red her tenderness without leffening it; and while the utmost care was taken of their education, as foon as they were old enough to receive instructions, I had the best mafters which Paris afforded; and, with fuch advantages, almoft every European language, at an early age, became familiar to me. Lord Pevenfey, who was as partial to me as if I had been indeed his daughter, and in whofe fondefs for my mother time inade no abatement, faw with pleasure the progrefs I made, and flattered himself that he fhould eftablifh me happily, though the fituation of my mother (who, though the was treated in France with great refpect, was well underftood not to be the wife of Lord Pevenfey) was a very unfavourable circumstance to me even in that country. The world, however, called me handfome; and I had received an education very different from that which is ufually given to young women in France. On the day on which I completed my fourteenth year, Lord Pevenfey came to me, as I was dreffing for a little entertainment which he had ordered on the occafion, and withing me joy of my birth day, |