Humbly addressed to the Public at large, but more particularly to James Sanderson, and Brook Watfon, Efqrs. Sheriff's elect. 8vo. Davis, London, 1786. This author has turned his attention to topics of public police; and he delivers his fentiments with great moderation. He has, however, no turn for literature; and it would oblige the public, if those patriotic citizens, who have any thing now to communicate, would be careful not to employ their own pens, but those of men who have made fome advances in the art of compofition. ART. 27. The Way to Keep Him: a Comedy, performed at the Theatre in Drury Lane. 8vo. 15. 6d. Cadell, London, 1785. A critique of a comedy which the public has been in poffeffion of for many years, and on which a decided opinion has been long formed, would be contrary to the defign of our publication. We have only to notice, that this edition has been retouched by the author, who has likewife prefixed to it a well-written addrefs, or dedication to Mrs. Abington; replete with compliment to her, and breathing nothing but humility with regard to himfelf. We have our doubts, however, whether Mr. Murphy would be pleafed fhould his expreffions of felfdenial be interpreted à la lettre. ART. 28. Genuine Memoirs of Jane Elizabeth Moore; Late of Bermondley, in the County of Surry. Written by herself. Containing the fingular Adventures of herself and Family. Her fentimental Journey through Great Britain; fpecifying the various Manufactures carried on at each Town. A comprehenfive Treatife on the Trade, Manufactures, Lars and Police of this Kingdom, and the Neceffity of a Country Hofpital. Ta which is prefixed, a poetic Index. 3 vols. 12mo. 7s. 6d. fewed. Bew, London. 1786. The intentions of the author were to amufe, to inftruct, and to reap profit by her performance. In the laft we hope fhe has fucceeded, as, from what appears in the work, her finances do not feem to be in the most flourishing condition. On the amusement and inftruction which are to be drawn from this publication, the friends of the lady will thank us for our filence. We fhall only just hint to Mrs. Moore, that the appears more fitted for the bustle and detail of bufinefs, than calculated to fucceed in the labours of the closet. ART. 29. Royal Tears! Sacred to filial Piety. By William Whitmore. 4to. 2s. Printed for the Author, at the Logographic Prefs. Sold by J. Debrett, R. Baldwin, J. Bew, and J. Sewell, London, 1785. To explain the quaint title the author has chofen for his performance, it is neceffary to inform our readers, that "Royal Tears, &c." means to paint the ftate of mind of James II. on the night of his abdication. His queen likewife, and his natural fon the Duke of Berwick, are introduced. The poem confifts of narrative, monologue, dialogue, long verfe, fhort verfe, and no verfe; it is in every refpect, down to the prefs-work, (over which we conjecture the author has prefided) a child of whim and affectation, where not a spark of genius is difcernible. To give an idea at once in what manner it is written and and printed, two ftanzas, exactly copied from the publication, will be fufficient. A trumpet blew !-He ftarted!-Strove to go !- Again the trumpet blew-Tremendous hour!- A fhout from thoufands, blefs'd the new made Pow'r- To enter into more minute criticism is unneceffary: that attention can only be claimed by works of fome merit, ART. 30. The Hiftory of a Revolution that happened at Naples, owing to an oppreffive Tax. Small 8vo. 1s. Ridgeway. The kingdom of Naples, in the year 1647, was under the dominion of Philip IV. King of Spain, of the houfe of Austria. The Duke of Arcos was viceroy. The Spaniards had long exercised over their fubjects all oppreffion of conquerors; and the Neapolitans had long felt and refented their injuries. They had not only the mortification of being governed by a neighbouring country, and of feeing their first offices filled by foreigners, but laboured under the most heavy taxes. Not only every elegance of life, but almost every neceffary was taxed their houses, their clothes, their bread. Maffaniello, a young fisherman, about four-and twenty, endowed with all thofe qualities that are the most fitted to gain upon the populace, with great warmth joined the people, on the occafion of a new tax which was impofed on fruit, joined the people in their curfes against the government, and cried aloud that he would deliver them. A concert was formed among the people; and Maffaniello, whofe mind expanded with his fituation, and who difcovered the latent powers of an orator, a general, and a statesman, led them on with fuccefs, in oppofition to all the force and fraud of the Spanish viceroy, to freedom. The oppreffive taxes were abolished, and the liberties of the people by the most folemn edicts recognized and confirmed, and the storm subsided. The ftory of Maffaniello is at this moment revived, for it has many years fince appeared in English, manifeftly to inflame the public against the fhop-tax, which is undoubtedly both partial and oppreffive. ART. 31. A Trip to Holland. Small 8vo. 2s. 6d. fewed. Becket. London. 1786. The title of this volume promifes little pleasure to a reader of voyages and travels. The influence of a Belgic fky is not fuppofed to be very favourable to genius; Batavia was never efteemed claffic ground; nor does the character, the manners, or the customs of the Dutch, offer very inviting materials for defcription or imitation. But, whoever can bestow half an hour on this "Trip to Holland," will find himself agreeably furprised, and meet with very innocent, though not rapturous recreation. The following chapter will ferve as a fpecimen of the author's manner. ⚫ Packet Packer at Sea. A very heavy gale. The voice, however, of a Frenchman, finging a petit chanfon, ftruck upon my ear. Strange! exclaimed I, that a man fhould be thus eafy, nay, even merry, during a ftormand a form at fea! My curiofity was raifed. I inquired for the finger, and was conducted to him by the mate. He was lying on the bed, and evidently difordered by the motion of the veffel. Stranger ftill, thought I, that the animal fpirits fhould thus triumph over the bodily affections; and I rallied him accordingly. Ah! Monfieur, cried he, en m'a dit que le vaiffeau eft en danger, c'eft pourquoi je chante pour chaffer la peur. Pour chafer la peur ?" Oui, Monfieur, car je n'ai jamais l'air trifle-en un mot je ne fuis pas Angleis. You think an Englishman, then, the dulleft of human beings? Sans doubte, returned he, loud enough to be heard by his friend, a Dutchman, who was not a little pleased with the reply. I complimented him on his voice, and on his excellent file in finging. Is it poffible that you can be ferious, faid he ?—I am an Englishman, replied I. He fmiled, and faid no more; but he was evidently pleased. I had gained his favour by commending his voice. O flattery !-foft, infinuating flattery!-how eafily doft thou wind thy felf about the heart of man!-how pleafing, how foothing art thou to the foul! I was ever afterwards his friend-his bon ami. Charmed with being thought a finger!-Be it fo. And if friendships may be thus eafily purchafed, tell me, I pray ye, O fons and daughters of humanity! would you ever live without a friend?' This trip is profeffedly written in the manner of Sterne; a most alluring, but dangerous model to follow. It is eafy, indeed, to copy his oddity, his eccentricity, his breaks and paufes, his table of contents, his lubricity, and his digreffions; but to imitate his wit and humour, his ftrokes of fatire, and tones of fenfibility, requires a genius equal to that of the original. There is, neverthelefs, much merit in the prefent attempt; and we recommend to the author to proceed in the execution of his plan. NATIONAL ON N the other fide, it was faid, that the profpect of all that profperity, which was prognofticated to Ireland, was diftant, vague, indeterminate, and uncertain; and therefore that it ought not to be confidered as a ferious fubject of political and commercial jealoufy. Habits of industry are not fuddenly, nor eafily, acquired by individuals and it is with ftill greater difficulty, and after infinitely longer intervals of time, that habits of application are acquired by nations. Even in Scotland, a kingdom more famed for industry and fobriety of manners, than Ireland, in which taxes are as light, the neceffaries of life as cheap, and the price of labour as low, as in Ireland, we do not find that manufacturers have migrated thither, fince the union of the kingdoms, from England. In fact, there is a fallacy in our reafoning concerning the comparative prices of labour in England and in Ireland. You may hire a labourer, or an artifan, in Ireland or Scotland, for one-third part of what he will coft in England; yet, fuch is the difference in their fkill application, and fuftenance, that an Englishman will double the work of the Irishman or Scotchman in their own countries A tranfition from the intermitting idleness and fimplicity of agriculture and pasturage, to the perfevering induftry and genius requifite in the arts, will not be inftantaneous, and is not to be expected in this, nor yet in the next generation. Even the linen trade of Ireland is, at this day, carried on by English capitals, and English credit. Withdraw thefe, and the manufacture falls into immediate decay. And, as this manufacture is chiefly carried on by English capitals, fo the greatest share of its profits centres in England Indeed, while the two nations are fo nearly connected by vicinity, language, manners, cuftoms, religion, laws, intermarriages, and general intercourfe; and while London continues to be the feat, if not of government to fuch an extent as formerly, yet of government to a certain extent, and certainly of the common fovereign, the fountain of honour and preferment in both; while it continues to be the feat of polite and fashionable re. fort, and of varied and elegant pleasure; the wealth of Ireland will be the wealth of England: for the riches of the former kingdom will circulate through a thousand channels into the latter. What the lapfe of ages may produce, and what may be the face of affairs in Ireland fome centuries hence, it concerns not us, at the pre Lent fent moment, very anxiously to inquire. Let us grafp at objects within our reach, and judge of facts that come under our eye; left, by endeavouring to embrace too extenfive a fphere, we lose ourfelves in the immenfity of space, and become unable to distinguish the clouds from the tops of diftant mountains. Ireland may one day be, in comparison with England, what England is in comparison with the Auftrian Netherlands. But, amidst the viciffitudes of nations that muft precede fuch a state of affairs, whatever regulations we may now make for preventing it, must be swallowed up and loft in fome other revolution. Upon the whole of this unfettled ftate, and the attempts that have been made to bring about a fettlement of affairs between Great Britain and Ireland, we fhall make two obfervations. Firft, We difcern, both in England and Ireland, the ufual jealoufy which actuates nations, on occafion of any new arrangement for uniting, or bringing them closer together than before. When the union was in agitation between England and Scotland, the English were jealous of the Scots, and the Scots of the English. When the crown of Great Britain devolved to the Elector of Hanover, the Hanoverians were greatly alarmed left the union of the Electoral and British crowns fhould deprive them of their ancient laws and cuftoms, and afflict them with the introduction of English liberty into the dominions of Germany. Secondly, At the fame time that it must be confeffed that the part which the English miniftry had to act, when it was their object to fettle a lafting connection, and good agreement, between England and Ireland, was full of difficulty; yet it muft alfo be owned, that they have not difcovered, in their endeavours to effect that object, any of those masterly ftrokes of policy which have fometimes brought order out of confufion, and faved states from impending danger and difafter. Our miniftry have good intentions, but not fuperior talents: fuppleness rather than dexterity, activity rather than vigour, and good fenfe, but no refources of enlarged capacity. They leem well enough fitted to conduct the affairs of a regular eftablished government, but by no means to divert, to manage, or to fubdue the paffions of popular affemblies, and to extricate the ftate from perilous fituations. We fhall give one example of that maflerly genius which is requifite, and which has often been found equal to the task of compofing infurrections, and establishing regular and fixed authority. In the beginning of the prefent century, the people of Scotland, at that time warlike, and in the poffeffion of arms, were as generally averfe to the union, as the Irish are at this day, to the propofed commercial arrangements; and an armed refiftance to that most important measure was, with great reafon, apprehended by both the English and the Scotch miniftry. By the advice of the Duke of Qucenfbury, Major Cunningham was directed to lead on an infurrection in the western parts of Scotland, and to hold a correfpondence with the Duke of Athol, and other Scotch chiefs, who were moft difaffected to the union. Cunningham, who was fecretly in the pay of the court, proceeded in the business committed to his care, and |