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DRAMATIC.

The Choleric Fathers. A Comic Opera. Performed at the TheatreRoyal in Covent Garden. By Thomas Holcroft. 8vo. 15. Odr Robinson.

Mr. Holcroft deferves all poffible commendation, for the ardour of his industry, and the versatility of his exertions.-The piece before us has as ftrong claims to approbation as moft of the modern productions of the like name and description. The characters are whimfically imagined, the humour of most of them well fuftained, and their conduct laughable: that of Isabel, however, feems to require a little improvement. The incidents, in general, are natural, and comic. Perhaps that which is calculated to facilitate the catastrophe, is rather improbable; but, in the compofition of operas, custom has fanc tioned liberties that would not be allowed in the conflruction of a regular drama.

The fongs of this Opera are written with greater attention to poetry and fenfe than is ufual in works of this nature, which are more frequently intended for entertainment, by the medium of ftage-reprefentation, than for perufal in the clofet. The thoughts in many of the fongs are well conceived, and the expreffion often neat and pointed. Where they are fongs of humour, calculated to produce a laughable effect only, the aim is happily attained.

The mufic is exquifitely compofed by Mr. Shield; and can not fail to add to the reputation of that ingenious artist.

Appearance is against them. A Farce, in Two Acts, as it is alled at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. 8vo. 1s. Robinfon.

This farce is the production of Mrs. Inchbald, an actress in the Covent Garden company. It poffeffes fufficient merit to make us hope for fomething more from the fame pen.-The principal incident is flight, and the ufe made of it not quite natural; but every confequence that follows from the freedom ufed with the Shawl of lady Margaret Magpie, is poffible to have happened: of this circumftance it cannot be denied, that the fair author has ingeniously availed herself. The dialogue is fprightly, and the equivoque in the fecond act, where a fimple clown and lady Margaret are at crosspurpofes, in confequence of an error into which they have been eventually led, is extremely diverting.

The Lawyer's Panic; or Weftminffer Hall in an Uproar. A Pre lude, acted at the Theatre Royal, Covent-Garden. By John Dent. 8vo. 15, Bladon. :

It is probable that this author fympathifed with the panic which he defcribes; for though the incident, which forms the

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bafis of the prelude, was no doubt ludicrous, it is worked up in this production with very little humour.

NO V E L S.

Adventures of George Maitland, Efq. 3 Vols. 12mo. 75. 64. Murray.

If it be a pleasure to meet an old acquaintance in an unexpected manner, it is disagreeable to find him in a disguise, on no very good defign. This is the fituation in which we behold James Ramble, efq. metamorphofed into George Maitland. The names are changed; the ftory, with the minuteft incidents, is the fame. Lord George is now lord William; Mr. Pounce is Mr. Kelly; and almost all the inferior personages of the drama are adorned with new titles. Mrs. Gentle is tranf formed to Willis, and an excellent characteristic pun of the old fteward's is loft by the change: as the fpeech now appears, it is nonfenfe. The tranfcriber, by his inattention, has difcovered himself: Kelly, the quondam Pounce, tells Maitland that lord George will be glad to fee him. It is fo in the original; but when we proceed farther, no lord George appears. This literary impofture deferves the fevereft reprehenfion; and the harfheft term in our language may be aptly applied to it. We have done our duty in detecting the plagiarist; and now, fir, to breakfaft with what appetite you may.'

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Conftance. A Novel. By a Young Lady. In Four Volumes. 12mo. 125. Hookham.

In this artless narrative, the incidents are numerous and firiking, the fituations interefting and pathetic, the morality unexceptionable. The story is intricate without confufion; and the mistakes are explained without violence. We have felt, in the perufal, the author's power to harrow up the foul, or, in turn, to expand it by the warmeft, the moft benevolent and focial feelings in many of thefe refpects our young lady' does not yield to female novellifts of the highest rank. It is, however, from incidents and fituations, that our greatest interest and entertainment are derived: the ftory is common almost to tritenefs, and the characters are not new. Is it from want of in

vention, faid a gentleman (fpeaking of an eminent painter's landfcape) that he ufes no more than two colours; or from an excefs of it, that he can produce fuch great effects by means of two only Indeed we think the author of Conftance might make every literary quid-nunc afhamed of his eagerness after novelty.

If the young lady pursues this line of writing, we would advise that her language fhould be less embarrassed, and her plan lefs extenfive. A few typographical and historical mistakes alfo, of little real confequence, if avoided, would, like the birth-place of the king of Bohemia, make the ftory look better in the face.'

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Francis

Francis the Philanthropift; an unfashionable Tale. In Three Volumes. 12mo. 95. Lane.

This is a fcyon from a venerable flock, which fprouts with vigour, if not with luxuriance. In plainer English, the author has left the fashionable mode of expanding his ftory, by the uninterefting exclamations of infipid correfpondents, and adopted that of difcriminated defcription, and interefting fituation. His language is free and eafy; his obfervations neither tritely fuperficial, nor affectedly philofophical; and his drawings preferve a roughnefs, not perhaps effential to good pictures, but not unfuitable to characteristic sketches. The author chiefly excels in fhrewd, unexpected remarks; but good fenfe animates the whole, and he is occafionally pathetic and moral. We have been much entertained with the work before us; and wish to see the author again engaged in a fimilar undertaking,

Warbeck. A pathetic Tale. In Two Volumes. 12mo. 15s. fewed.

Lane.

This is a translation from the French, of the ftory of Peter Warbeck, who, under the femblance of the duke of York, endangered the throne of that gloomy unfeeling tyrant, Henry the Seventh. The conduct of the novel closely imitates the real events; but the force is weakened by exclamations, by converfations, and reflections, Some parts are related with addrefs; but the whole is not very interefting. English literature would have fuftained little lofs, if the French work had been still neglected.

The Quaker. A Novel. In a Series of Letters. By a Lady. Is Three Vols. 12mo. 75. 6d. fewed. Lane.

There is little merit in the management of the ftory, or novelty in the characters. The Quaker is diftinguished by her drefs and her language, but has no great connection with the most interesting parts of the work. We hope that a fcrupulous and nice fenfe of honour is not confidered by the author as peculiar to this fect; and we can find no other diftinction. The Epifode of Mifs Moftyn is interefting; but poffeffes no other merit. On the whole this is, in our opinion, an indifferent performance.

Love in a Cottage. A Novel. By B. Walwyn, Author of the Errors of Nature. In Two Vals. 12mo. 55. Shepperson and Reynolds.

This is an interefting little ftory, though fome of the inci dents are scarcely within the bounds of probability. The ladies are, however, little obliged to Mr. Walwyn for the examples of the weakness and mutability of their fex. The lions are, in their turn, painters; but they do not feem difpofed to retaliate the tender texture of the female mind does not per

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haps allow of any very lafting refentments. These volumes are not very full of incident and intrigue, and the morality is lefs exceptionable than the language: there are no very great errors or inelegancies in the latter, yet we think it is not polished with fufficient care.

The Duped Guardian; or, the Amant Malade. A Novels In a Series of Letters. By Mrs. Cartwright. Two Vols. 12mo. 6s. Cafs.

The English, the French, and the Latin of thefe little vofumes are equally exceptionable; and the greater part of the flory is that of Mrs. Cowley's laft comedy, viz. More Ways than One: we mean fo far as relates to the artlefs niece of the artful phyfician. Yet Mrs. Cartwright has avoided one exceptionable part of the plot, which we noticed; for Luttrel's honour, and the propriety of his conduct, render him a real acquifition. In other refpecs, there is fome contrivance in the conduct of the ftory, and we are interested in the event. The characters

are the threadbare perfonages of a modern novel.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Life of the Rev. Ifaac Watts, D. D. By Samuel JohnJon, LL. D. With Notes; containing Animadverfions and Ad ditions. 8vo. 25. 6d. Rivington.

There is fomething uncandid in the conduct of this publica tion. The title-page carries with it the appearance of fome defire that the public fhould believe the work to be Dr. Johnfon's. Having made their parchafe, they find about one-fifth of it only what they expected; which is the account of Dr. Watts, taken by the editor from the Lives of the English Poets. The notes, which are at least equal to the text in quantity, are ftrictures, animadverfions, and corrections of Dr. Johnson's account, conveying fome additional information relative to Dr. Watts's character, connections, &c. Dr. Johnfon being treated in thefe notes with fome degree of harfhnefs, we cannot help abferving, that whilst his name is made fubfervient to the fuccefs of the work, and his matter borrowed to increase its bulk, it feems ungenerous that the biographer fhould be brought forward for little elfe than to receive correction, Is it hot enough to condemn a man, without making him erect the fcaffold for his own execution?

Dr. Johnson's Life of Dr. Watts is followed by an authentic account of this refpectable divine's laft avowed fentiments concerning the doctrine of the Trinity, the deity of Chrift, &c.

Thefe opinions being, to all appearance, carefully and accu rately flated, and being the confcientious refults of fo profeffed a reafoner as Dr. Watts, on these important fubjects, cannot but defervedly excite curiofity, although they will not be found entirely calculated to fatisfy it. To this article, pretty largely treated, fucceeds Dr. Watts' Solemn Address to the great and ever

bleed

Bleed God, on a Review of what he had written in the Trinitarian Controversy. This little piece is by no means uninterefting, and bears teftimony to that fincerity and earnestnefs, which feems to have been characteristic of the doctor's mind.

The book concludes with a mifcellaneous Appendix, fome parts of which will not be refufed their fhare of merit by the admirers of this learned and worthy perfon.

A candid and impartial Sketch of the Life of Pope Clement XIV. 12mo. as. 6d. ferved. Printed at Dublin.

The author of thefe letters fets out with taking a general view of the inftitution and early government of the fociety of Jefuits; after which he gives an account of the life and reign of Clement the Fourteenth, by whom it was abolished; the grandfon, as we are told, of a man who earned his fubfiftence by felling fkins. The temper of this amiable pontiff is faid to have been eafy, open, and affable; his converfation was tinctured with wit and humour. The author infinuates that Ganganelli was not averse to an amorous intercourse with the fair; but as this charge is totally unfupported by any fact, we are inclined to confider it as the fiction of malignity against a refpectable character.

Memoirs of George Anne Bellamy. 12mo. 35. Walker.

Mrs. Bellamy's Apology having been found a popular production, this gentleman, for fuch the author ftyles himself, has thought proper to make an abridgement of the work. How far this conduct is fuitable to the character he has affumed, we shall not determine.

An Heroic Epifle to Major Scott, with Notes Hiftorical and Expla natory. 4to. 15. 6d. Kearley.

This Epiftle, it feems, has been written with the view of expofing to ridicule fome ill-founded pretenfions to an honourable descent, faid to have been uttered in a certain affembly. If even the virtues of ancestors cannot confer any hereditary honour on their pofterity, much lefs can the latter expect to derive esteem from oftentatious and falfe eulogiums on their progenitors.

The Degeneracy of the Times. 1s. 6d. Kearsley.

This pamphlet is otherwife named in the title-page, "A Difgraceful Tale of the Hon. Captain F-zr-y;' but the occurrence which it mentions is fuch as reflects honour on the captain's generofity, who, out of his own private fortune, compaffionately relieved the 'extreme distress of a brother officer.

Reflections on the Study of Nature. 8vo. 1. Nicols. This is a tranflation of the celebrated Linnæus's Preface to his Mufeum Regis Adolphi Frederici, one of his moft magnificent

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