Thirdly, Forcing manures, as, Quick lime;-Fixt alkalis in vegetable alhes ;-Neutral falts which do not affiit putréfaction;→ Earthy falts as above.' POETICA L. Art. 16. Verfes addreffed to John Wilkes, Efq; on his Arrival at Lynn. 4to. 6d. Whittingham at Lynn. Baldwin in London. 1771. Amidst the lamentable defection of numbers of the patriotic band, a fon of Freedom and the Mufes has kindly ftepped forth, to cheer the deferted leader in his courfe, and to freiv, with the choicest flowers he could felect, the rugged, and now, alas! nearly defolate paths of patriotifm. He prophetically holds forth to his hero the noble and high-founding titles of patriot and guardian of the laws, which, he forefees, will be adjudged to him by pofterity; and makes it a matter of comfort to him that, in these our days, in this declining age,' he is in no danger of being curfed with grandeur, or difgraced by the favours of the crown: On thee shall favour ne'er its vengeance pour, No titled blockhead hail thee" brather peer." If Mr. Wilkes receives any confolation from this last declaration of the prophetic mufe, he is indeed a patriot of a very different complexion from any that have appeared within our memories. As to the event, however, we would take the mufe's word for a thos-' fand pounds. Though thefe verfes, as we have been informed, were actually prefented to Mr. Wilkes, on his late arrival at Lynn, to take up the freedom voted to him by that borough, they are by no means however, as their title may feem to import, of a private or local nature, nor bear any particular allufion to the object of that vifit. They may accordingly be understood, and read with equal proft and de light, in any part of the three kingdoms; Scotland perhaps excepted, from whence (if we are to believe our poet, defcribing the late fuppofed incurfions of defpotifm into this country) tyranny. who long had flept, In northern ice immured, now forward flept; accompanied by flavery, corruption, rage, with their attendant chains and fcorpions. Heaven however perceiving the danger of poor Britannia from this hellish crew, at length fends her guardian angel to her rescue : A Wilkes, a hero came :-ferenely brave, Chaftifed ambition with victorious hand, And once again with freedom bleft the land. If this be true, bleffings on him, we fay, with all his infirmities:" fuch public fervices would cover a multitude of private fins. We rejoice too to find our encomiatt acknowledging that, through his hero's toils, we enjoy freedom at laft. Few either of our rhyming or Brofeing patriots have the grace to confefs fo much. S 2 Though Though profüfe in the praises of Mr. Wilkes, our poet has, with fingular modefty, devoted only one folitary line to his own. After repeated fummons of Procul efte profani! addressed to the great vulgar,' the minifterial lordlings.' he reiterates the injunction, and thus chafely and concifely fpeaks of himself: Fly!-nor the vengeance of my fury truft, The man who writes is honeft, brave, and juft. We fhall take leave of our foi difant brave, juft, and honeft poet, with the lines immediately following the felf-approving couplet; which will furnish a not unfavourable fpecimen of his fatiric talents: No birth-day Whitehead here fhall tire the ear, Or make the reader curfe the new-born year: No penfion'd Johnfon's prostituted pen Shall varnish crimes, and praife the worst of men: We cannot queftion an unknown gentleman's bravery; but we may be allowed to doubt of his juftice, or at leaft of his difcernment, and of the decency of the latter part of this quotation. The Installation Ode, we apprehend, is here very unjustly or ignorantly claffed with madrigals, and the fubject of it indecently, at leaff, ranked with villains. Art. 17. The Exhibition in Hell; or, Moloch turned Painter. 4to. 1 s. Organ. Moloch is the devil of a painter indeed! He has pourtrayed the Carlton-houfe junto (under which denomination certain gentlemen who figure in the political world are generally understood) in the blacket and moft frightful colours.-We can fay nothing in praife of his performance, though honestly inclined to give the devil his - due. Art. 18. Carmen Arabicum, five verba Doctoris Audeddini Alnafaphi, de Religionis Sonnitica Principiis numero vin&a; nec non Perficu, nimirum Doctoris, Shaadi Shirazita operis, Pomarium dili initium ubi de Deo T. O. M. Edidit ac Latiné vertit J. Uri, 4to. 2 s. Oxford, printed at the Clarendon Prefs. Sold in London by White, &c. 1770. A new and tolerably correct edition of an Arabic and a Perfic poem, with a Latin profe tranflation on the oppofite page. There is nothing either new or curious in the poems themselves. Art. 19. Portical Effays, chiefly of a moral Nature, Written at different Periods of Time, by a young Man. 8vo. 1 s. 6 d. Wheble. 1770. The Author of thefe pieces appears to be a good kind of young man, who has written fome well-meaning verfes, and gratefully dedicated them to his mother. He alleges, as a reafon for their publication, that he had not hitherto rendered himself useful to fociety, For the credit of thefe matters we will give him our beft and fincereft advice. We affure him that he will never attain to any merit in. poetry; poetry; and we recommend it to him to think of fome other plan of making himself ufeful to the public. Art. 20. A Poetical Effay, on the Existence of God. Part I. By the Rev. W. H. Roberts of Eton, late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. 4to. Is. Wilkie. 1771. Some of the most common arguments in favour of the exiftence of the Supreme Being, are here given in blank verfe; and so expressed in general as not to do any difcredit to the Author. Two more parts are propofed, one on the Attributes, the other on the Providence of God. Art. 21. The Village Oppreffed; a Poem: Dedicated to Dr. Goldfmith. 4to. 1 S. Robfon. 1771. This is a feeble and unpoetical complaint of the imaginary miferies of a village oppreffed. DRAMATIC. Art. 22. The Drunken News-writer; a Comic Interlude: As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in the Hay-market. With a new Song, fet to Music, and fung in Character. 8vo. 6d. Smith, in Greek-ftreet. This interlude confifts only of one fcene; and the dramatis perfonæ affords but one character, the drunken paragraph writer: a fellow, not of infinite humour, but of fome drollery. The fong a pretty good Bacchanalian-piece. POLITICA L. Art. 23. An Anfwer to Junius: Shewing his imaginary Ideas, and falfe Principles; his wrong Pofitions, and random Conclu.. fions. 8vo. 6 d. Organ, in the Strand. We do not remember to have, at any time, read a publication which promised fo much, and which has performed fo little, as this attack upon Junius. The blows which it ftrikes are fo very innocent, that we can only fmile at the zeal and the weakness of its Author. Art. 24. A fuftification of the Conduct of the Miniftry relative to Falkland's Island. In a Letter to both Houfes of Parliament. Svo I s. Organ. This performance is verbose and pompous; but contains no ob fervations of any force or value. It loads with compliments thofe minifters who, in the opinion of many, have only difgraced their country, in their late tranfactions with Spain. Art. 25. Papers relative to the Negociations with Spain; and the taking of Falkland's Ifland from the English. 4to. 3s. Almon. The parliamentary debates afford the best account of thefe ftatepapers. Art. 26. Propofals to the Legislature for numbering the People. By the Author of The Tours through England. 8vo. I S. Nicoll. 1771. Great advantages would certainly refult from the project which is here recommended to the legislature; and with regard to the method and form of its execution, the hints thrown out in these propofale might be of fingalar fervice. NOVELS. NOVEL S. Art. 27. The Brother. By a Lady. fewed. Lowndes. 12mo. 2 Vols. 56. Prattling letters-fcraps of fongs-ends of verfe-and la belle paffion, to captivate the milleners apprentices; with a difmal tale at the end, to diffolve their pretty eyes in a pearly fhower. The two little volumes may easily be perufed in twice as many hours; and the Lady Fannys of the age, to whom we are obliged for most of the productions in this light eafy way of writing, will fpin ye one of thefe blond-lace and trally performances, we doubt not, in the fame time. Art. 28. Belle Grove; or, The Fatal Seduction. 12mo. Two If we may venture to conclude, from fimilitude of manner, this is the work of the fame fair hand that furnished the preceding article; but the manufacture feems to be of rather a more fubftantial texture, the fabric fomewhat finer, and the pattern richer. Inftead of the fimfey materials abovementioned, we here meet with what may comparatively be filed right Mecklin and Bruffels point. Yet all the parts are not of equal goodnefs: though the defects we have obferved in it, as well as thofe in The Brother, are lefs owing, perhaps, to want of ability in the artist, than to that bane of all excellence in workmanship, burry to get the business done, however imperfectly finished; or, to fpeak with more technical precifion, not finished at all. Art. 29. The Hiflory of Mr. Cecil and Mifs Grey. In a Series of Letters. 12mo. s. fewed. Richardfon and Urquhart. Very feber, very innocent, but, we are forry to add, when speaking of a moral production, very dull. To thofe, however, who can think good fenfe and virtuous fentiments a fufficient compenfation for any deficiency in point of tafte, or of spirit, this honeft and not wholly uninterefting work, may be acceptable. Art. 30. The Nun; or, The Adventures of the Marchioness of Beauville. 12mo. 2 s. 6d. Rofon. Like most of the tales of nuns and convents, this narrative abounds with scenes of lewdnefs and complicated wickedness, unfit for the eye or ear of a modeft and virtuous reader; though fome indifcreet Proteftants have, perhaps, promoted the circulation of fuch books, in the view of contributing fomewhat toward rendering Popery the more edious, by difplaying the ill effects of that fyftem of religion, in all its branches. Art. 31. The Hiftory of Sir William Harrington. Written fome Years fince, and revifed and corrected by the late Mr. Richardfon; now first published. 12mo. 4 Vols. 10 s. fewed... Bell. 1771. Imitation of Richardfon's manner hath been the prevailing mode in novel-writing, ever fince the extraordinary fuccefs of his works gave the hint that his prattling, goffiping file was peculiarly agreeable to the readers of that fpecies of compofition. By the foregoing epithets, however, we do not mean wholly to condemn Mr. Richardfon's productions. They have, undoubtedly, great merit, although that merit is not to be fought for in his endless verbofity, and innumerable minutie of circumstances. His excellence lay in admirably drawing, varying, contrafting, and fupporting his characters; 1 characters; joined to his extenfive knowledge of human nature; in which great and capital refpects, he may be juftly confidered as the SHAKESPEARE of Romance. The prefent performance appears to have been one of the earliest imitations of Clariffa and Grandifon. The anonymous Editor affures us it was written by an intimate friend of Mr. Richardfon's, who himfelf revised and corrected it. Admitting the truth of this declaration, notwithstanding it has been (not very fatisfactorily indeed) contradicted in an advertisement published by the widow and daughters of Mr. Richardfon, yet it will by no means follow, that Mr. Richardfon thought it, or by his corrections made it, a work of extraordinary merit. * In fact, although the hiftory of Sir William Harrington is far from being the most inconfiderable of the numerous imitations to which thofe celebrated models abovementioned have given birth, it is, however, at the beft, but a faint copy of Mr. Richardfon's juftly admired ORIGINALS; for fuch they unquestionably are, notwithstanding the imperfections we have hinted at. Yet, in all probability, this performance would have been thought to have poffeffed confiderable merit, had not Richardson wrote first, and left its Author, with all his other followers, under the disadvantageous circumstance of a comparifon which none of them have yet been able to stand. SERMONS. I. The Grounds of a particular Providence,-Preached before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in the Abby Church, Weftminster, on Wednesday Jan. 30, 1771. By Edmund Lord Bishop of Carlife. 4to. I s. Robfon. In this very fenfible difcourfe, of a learned and worthy prelate, the following parallel is drawn between the"figns of the times" in the reign of Charles I. and thofe of the prefent reign. After endeavouring to fhew that the affairs of this world are all under the direction of a particular Providence, and thence inferring, that we should look a little beyond fecond causes; that we fhould Tift up our eyes to the ORIGINAL DISPOSER of them; and that we fhould, with all humility, enquire what he may chiefly intend by each remarkable event, and what he would have us learn in the commemoration of it; he thus proceeds: We ought, in a particular manner, to reflect upon thofe crying fins which ufually call down his heavy judgments on a land; fuch more especially as once attended on this day; the history whereof is too well known to need explaining in this place. Nor are we lefs acquainted with the caufes that immediately produced them among the bulk of the people, at and fome time before this fatal period: namely, an eager impatience of reftraint and difcipline, a restless fpirit of difobedience to all order, law, and government; a refolution to fufpect and cenfure, to calumniate and expofe every action and intention of all perfons placed in fuperior ftations. And I heartily wish it were lefs obvious to remark, that these fame caufes ftill • To which the Fublisher of this work made a very proper and decent reply. fubfift |