fpects, as thofe of more modern artifts. The ancient Gothic letter employed in most of thefe, is cut with the utmoft nicety; the colour of the ink still remains in full perfection; and the texture of the paper is perhaps more compact than any at present in ufe. Mr Baskerville, one of whofe publications lies now before us, is the only modern printer who has even ftrove to introduce novelty in his art; and may indeed be faid to have united ele gance with accuracy, in all his publications. To his Virgil, Juvenal, and Perfius, he has now added this fplendid edition of Horace; and though fome are willing to fpeak of his paper in the fame terms as our author fpeaks of his miftrefs's face, that it is nimium lubricus afpici;

ge.

yet the uncommon clearness of his types, together with the neral beauty of his page, cannot fail to entitle this, like the reft of Mr. Baskerville's performances, to a place in every library or collection, whether public or private, as famples of typographical excellence.

24. The Book of Nature, a Poem. 4to. Is. Carnan.

There are some authors who contrive to give their sentiments to the public in a language which partakes neither of the nature of verfe nor profe, but is fomething beneath them both. Among thefe unfuccessful candidates for literary fame, the writer of this poem may be claffed, who has not even the common requifites of apt rhyme or grammatical English, to fupport his pretenfions. In the first page we meet with the two following lines:

Spontaneous rife the lilies of the vale

The king-cup, primrofe, vi'let, daffodil

and a specimen of his accuracy in grammar may be found in the fucceeding paffage :

As many letters in this book are seen

As there are flow'rs or dew-drops on the green,

Trees on the hills, or herbage on the plains.'

As many letters as there are herbage! No, good Mr. Scribbler, fuch nonfenfe will scarce entitle you to expect lenity at the hands of the Critical Reviewers. Thank your itars, however, that our enquiries extend no farther into the merits of the Book of Nature, of which you are a moft wretched publisher.

25. The Temple of Compaffion, a Poem, addressed to a Lady by an Officer of the Guards, 4to. 1s. Ridley.

If this be really the work of one of our military men, we cannot help faying, with major Dennis O'Flaherty, in the laft new Comedy, that we wish his country had a little more employment for him.'

This performance, which is at once irregular, languid, and incorrect, is a kind of cento from other authors, whofe fentiments are fometimes fo difguifed, that had they occafion to claim their own property, they would hardly know it again. This puny rhymer, however, fometimes plunders openly, and withput the least acknowledgement, as in the following inftances: The bleak winds whittle round her naked head, Her helpless infant cries in vain for bread.'

Thefe

Thefe two lines are, we believe, almost entirely the property of Dr. Smollett, and appear to have been taken from a beautiful little poem, entitled The Tears of Scotland, written soon after the jaft rebellion, where they ftand thus:

• The bleak winds whistle round her head,

Her helpless orphans cry for bread.'

Every reader must perceive, that the word naked, inferted in the firft of these borrowed verfes, has a wonderful effect; and that her infant cries in vain, adds greatly to the distress represented in the second.

• Will feal thefe eyes, &c.

Thou art the laft dear object they behold.' Thefe are almoft the words which Califta, dying, addreffes to Altamont.

Fair Penitent,

And yet my eyes take pleasure to behold thee, Thou are their last dear object !' Any feribbler, who is not afhamed to be a plagiarift, may become fomething like a poet, on terms like these.

This modeft Officer of the Guards, fpeaking at once of himself and the lady for whofe fake this poem was written, introduces the following note.

*Note, Even in this condition he difdains to Ask affistance, the goddefs being obliged to SEEK him; whereas all the others fought her, and gladly accepted that relief, which He would have refufed, had the not bestowed it in a peculiarly noble manner.'

All the obfervations we fhall make on this vain-glorious excrefcence to the work before us, is, that poverty and pride agree but ill together; and that the author's miftrefs feems to have been kinder to him than the Mufe, who, we are afraid, will never approach him either with or without folicitation. 26. Poetical Essay, chiefly of a Moral Nature. Written at different Periods of Time. By a Young Man. 8vo. is 6d. Wheble.

Advertisement. The writer of thefe little Effays is induced to fend them into the world by two reasons. It has given him fome concern that he has been able to contribute fo little to the benefit of society hitherto; and he is difpofed to imagine that he might do fomething more of this kind, were he fo happy as to hint pure thought (Mr. Thomfon's phrafe) to thofe who may be willing to read what he has written, and were he to do this in a manner not unpleafing. Whether he has hit upon fuch a manner he cannot well know, till he has the public opinion; the defire of which he acknowledges to be his other inducement. He has only to add, that his attempts are fub mitted to the candour of the good natured reader.'

By reprinting this author's prefactory obfervations, we have given him an opportunity of fpeaking for himself; and have an undoubted right to claim an hearing in our turn. As he is folicitous to contribute to the benefit of fociety, we make no doubt but that very folicitude will conduct him to the discovery of fome more fuccefsful method of effecting his very charitable purpose, The best poetry, alas! is not likely to amend the world in any great degree; but from fuch cold unanimated ftrains as thefe, no greater advantage can be derived to morality, than fuch as

refults

celebrated by all profeffing chriftianity, who are free from fcandalous vices, as Dr. Priestley maintains, but only by true believers. This point he endeavours to prove from the nature of the ordinance, and from fcriptute, from the parable of the wedding-garment, from thofe paffages which condema hypocritical profeffions of religion, and warrant the excommunication of fome befides the fcandaloufly immoral, from what is faid by St. Paul of those who eat and drink unworthily, and of the neceffity of a previous felf-examination, &c. He pleads for the right of churches to admit or reject mem bers, and to judge of their qualifications. He points out the advantages which, he thinks, arife from celebrating the Lord's Supper, viz. that it tends to confirm the christian's faith, ftrengthens our obligation to a life of holiness, excites abhorrence of fin, promotes the christian's comfort and peace of mind, is an eminent means of enjoying the prefence of God, and the Redeemer, &c. And lastly, he confiders the preparations requifite to a proper attendance upon this facred ordi

nance.

On these points the author, though in fome instances he may appear to have built his notions upon puritanical principles, has advanced many obfervations, which merit the confideration of Dr. Priestley, or any one who would entertain a proper notion of this religious inftitution.

34. The Pretences of Enthufiafts, as grounded in the Articles of the Church, confidered, aud confuted :-A Sermon preached before the University of Oxford, at St. Mary's, on Sunday, Auguft 6, 1769. By William Hawkins, M. A. 8vo. 6d. Rivington. Mr. Hawkins takes for his text this paffage in Job xxxvi. 26. Behold God is great, and we know him not; and having shewn the incomprehenfible nature of the Supreme Being, he says,

it is the highest presumption to attempt by fearching to find out God in this ftate of mortality; to bring infinite to a finite test; to call in queftion certain discoveries he had been pleased to make of himself or his difpenfations, merely because they lie above the level of our finite apprehenfion: and therefore our belief, our notions, and our fentiments concerning divine truths, ought to be regulated and circumfcribed by the letter, or the evident tenor of revelation.'

This may be very true; but to whom is it applied? furely not to those who embrace Chriftianity, and only differ from this orthodox divine, concerning fome points of theology. No Chriftian pretends to call in queftion the difcoveries which God has been pleafed to make of himself and his difpenfations, when he knows the fenfe of divine revelation.

But the

queftion

question is, What is the fenfe of fcripture? Every defender of Athanafianifm has no right to fay, that his judgment is. the standard of truth, or that his fentiments are regulated by the tenor of revelation, when perhaps he is adopting the groffeft abfurdity.

Our author fays, Faith cannot have a furer foundation in human reason, than in divine authority. As if human reafon and divine authority ought to be feparated! They,who talk in this manner, or perfuade themfelves that we ought to cap tivate our reason to the obedience of faith, can have no objections againft the doctrine of tranfubftantiation, which is founded upon the literal interpretation of Scripture, and may be eafily digested by fuppofing that it is a mystery, refolvable into the acknowledged incomprehenfibleness of the deep things of God.'

Behold God is great, and we know him not, is a fufficient reply, as Mr. Hawkins affures us, to any man who fhall deny the existence of the three perfons in one divine nature, the incarnation of the fecond, &c.-The greateft bigot in a popish country, when his most ridiculous and incredible tenets are called in question, may make the fame reply, Mr. Hawkins is qualified to preach on the other fide of the water, and we. bid him adieu,

35. The fecond Chapter of the Prophet Joel, verfified. By T. A Student of Trinity College, Cambridge, 4to. 6d. Beecroft. This piece is easy and poetical, though in fome parts it deviates from the fimple elegance and juft defcription of the ori ginal. It gives us much more pleasure to encourage laudable ftudies and modeft merit, than to condemn rhapsody and arrogance.

36. An Efay on Laughter, wherein are difplayed, its natural and moral Caufes, with the Arts of exciting it. 12mo. 25. Davies., This is a tranflation from the French, which, in the original, may be ftiled a tolerable production, as the Author has not unhappily hit off Des Touches, Fontenelle, and Montesquieu's manner, in a fuppofed converfation upon the fubject; which, however tends to eftablish this maxim, that felf-love is the fource of laughter. We cannot help diffenting from this pofition, for two reasons; first, because the rifible faculty would be found, ed in a degree of vanity, which, we hope, very diftant from common sense; and, fecondly, because the fuppofed author*, though as much addicted to self-love as any man breathing, has never been able, either upon the ftage, or in any of his productions, to raise a, mufcle in fupport of the hypothefis.

* This piece, though not mentioned as a translation in the title-page, is done into English by the facetious Dr. H—ffern-n.

Ifta eruditus quifque, atque cordatior irridet: cæteri autem peffundantur dolis. Unum verò falvum effe, dum intereunt mille, quid tandem juvat rempublicam? Per hanc urbem ampliffimam ambulanti, iftiufmodi quot undique in os objiciantur tela? adeò ut nonnunquam mihi videor Priamo inermi fimilis, per caftra Achivorum infeftiffima iter facere, unde non patriæ fubfidium, fed Divina vis me falvum præftat.'

Though we have quoted this paragraph as a proof that our approbation has not been bestowed without reafon, yet as we are well convinced that more money is every day acquired by writing bad than good Latin, we fincerely with the doctor may meet with lefs frequent opportunities of exerting his rhetorical than his medical accomplishments. In prefcriptions, few grammatical errors are ever made; because that careful fuppreffion of almoft all terminations which is conftantly obferved in these laconic paffports of health, cannot fail to exempt every writer from the chance of falfe concords or leffer folecifms in the Roman language. Some members of the College are however, able to ftrike out blunders independent of cafes, genders, or tenfes; as the following paffage, very faithfully copied from a brother doctor's Harveian Ŏration, may ferve to prove; wherein it is pofitively declared that those who were already dead, and those who were dying, expired at the fame infiant :- - Mortui et moribundi fimul animas efflarunt:'-Sir WILLIAM BROWNE, even thou art great, when brought into comparison with this last named author!

35. An Efay on the Ufe of the Ganglions of the Nerues. By James Johntone, M. D. 8vo. 25. Becket.

The first draught of this Effay was published formerly in the Philofophical Tranfactions; but it is now confiderably improved. The opinion of this ingenious author concerning the use of ganglions is, that they ferve as fo many fubordinate brains, and are the more immediate fource of the nerves, fent to the organs of involuntary motion. Whoever perufes the Effay, muit acknowledge, that Dr. Johnftone fupports his hypothefiswith much learning and ingenuity.

36. The Female Phyfician; or, Every Woman her own Doûrefs. By John Ball, M. D. 12mo. 25. L. Davis.

This treatife may be useful to those for whom it is intended, in the fame way as the Ladies Difpenfatory, which we had formerly occafion to recommend; the prefent performance differing from the other in being more copious on the diseases of which it treats, but comprehending thofe of women only. 37. Impartial Remarks on the Suttonian Method of Inoculation. By Nicholas May, junior. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Brown.

The new method of inoculation has been already fo often difcuffed, that little room is now left for an author to appear with advantage on the fubject. We therefore find nothing of confequence in this treatife, which we have not met with in former publications.

2

38. Virtues