ed with elegant vignettes, engraved by Zucchi. The dedication to cardinal Fleury, is dated London, 1729. This is followed by a complimentary address to Maffei, and a potical one to Frederick, electoral prince of Hanover.

The translation is followed by the life of Milton, and annotations by Addison, to which are annexed, critical observations, &c.

XII. Bibliotheca Literaria: bc ing a collection of inscriptions, medals, dissertations, &c. London, 1722. 4to.

"T. H. has had the honour to send one copy of this work to the library of Harvard College already. But the work is so curious and valuable, especially for the Memorial concerning the Desiderata in Learning,' that he could not forbear sending another copy of it to the college.

"In the beginning, he sent books on government, beside stray books, to Harvard; for, if government goeth right, all goeth right. Then he sent grammars, dictionaries of root and other languages, with critical authors, in hope of forming first rate scholars, the noblest of all men! Now he dribblets out the like; and thinks to take his leave."

The memorial is by the Rev Mr. Wasse, Rector of Aynho in Northamptonshire, and discovers vast reading and extensive erudition.

XIII. View of a literary plan for the retrieval of the Ancient Celtick 4to.

::

"It is very doubtful whether this ingenious, learned and valuable work will get published, the subscription to it proceeding slowly but T. H. has subscribed for a copy of it, with hope of sending it to Harvard Col-, lege, a help to those ingenuous, first rate students and scholars, who, he makes no doubt are forming there.

The Celtick seems clearly to be the root of our own mother tongue, if not of every other."

The author himself expresses his fears of the want of patronage, and refers to some instances, in which the works of the learned had been treated with neglect. The following is one: "The celebrated Dr. Hyde boiled his teakettle with almost the whole impression left upon his hands of that profoundly learned treatise De religione veterum Persarum; admired by all literary Europe, and neglected at home; so low was the taste for literature already sunk in this country! For the republication of this work, we have, however, the obligation to the publick spirit of Dr. Sharpe, that patron and promoter of literature, of which himself is at once an ornament, a judge, and a support, with the greater merit for not deserting it in its present state of disgrace."

Na

XIV. PANCRAZI (GIUS. M.) Antichita Siciliano spiegate. pol. 1751. fol. 2 vol.

There was something very affecting in the fate of Father Pancrazi. The learning and merit of this excellent and hospitable man were known and admired throughout Italy. But his resources, every day lessening in acts of charity, and in the purchase of rare and expensive books, were at length exhausted. Many' who read and applauded his magnificient work, on the Antiqui ties of Sicily, knew of his necessities, yet no one relieved them. "In the autumn of 1752, says Mr. Hollis, he lodged in a Theatin convent, the convent of his order at Naples. There he was attacked by a violent fever, which impaired and broke his constitution. In that feeble state however he applied to his work; and, in order more speedily to publish the third volume of it, found

means in the year 1753, to sell a few rare medals, which he had collected, to the king, by whom he had the honour to be personally known and respected. The superiour of the convent somehow got intelligence of that transaction, claimed the money arising from the sale of the medals for the uses of the convent, and obtained it. When Father Pancrazi became apprized of this event, he went distracted directly; and, after languishing, with intervals, miserably some years, at length ended his wretched life.

"This good man rendered me hospitality, and by his letters I travelled throughout Sicily and Malta."

XV. MEMOIRS OF THOMAS

HOLLIS, Esq. F. R. and A. S. S. LONDON 1780. 2 vol. 4to.

We refer to this singular work for a circumstantial account of the life, and of the various donations to publick libraries, of the munificent benefactor of Harvard College; in whose death, "Liberty lost a Champion, Humanity a Treasurer, and Charity a Steward."

The volumes also contain much curious information upon antiquities and literature, and many interesting anecdotes of authors and books.

ERRATUM.

In the preceding number, page 140 of the Anthology, at the close of the first section, for variety, read rarity.

THE world has long been sick of formal disquisitions on the merits of the classical and established authors. Horace, Juvenal, and Persius, Boileau and Pope: their claims to praise have now stood the test of ages; nor can any new observation be expected on their intellectual powers, or moral utility. It may be more novel and curious, to examine the pretensions of those poets of our own time and country, whose minds have been directed to satire; to weigh their several faults and excellences; and ascertain, as far as possibility will permit, what works of the present age seem doomed to perish with their perishable subjects, and which of them bid fair for a portion of that immortality, which the well exerted powers of genius, on whatever subject employed, have uniformly exacted from

the applause and admiration of mankind.

In this list, we apprehend that the academical maxim of seniores priores, entitles the voluminous Peter Pindar to priority, whether we consider the age of the individual, or the length of time, during which he has been known to the publick as an author. Thirty years have elapsed since he first held up to ridicule the false taste, the faulty stile, and still more culpable disputes and intrigues of the royal academicians, with a force of humour and grave quaintness of expression, which no writer ever excelled. It would be superfluous to mention, how soon his muse directed her attacks against a nobler prey, or to specify those works, of which the notoriety and popularity were, for a time at least, unbounded. The august object of

Peter's gibes and jeers, is said to have given proof of unaffected magnanimity, by heartily joining in the laugh, so disloyally, and, we must add, unjustly, excited against himself. The pleasure men take in ridiculing their superiours in rank, and the curiosity to obtain anecdotes of the foibles and follies of the great, have conspired, with the genuine wit and drollery of the pieces them selves, to place these political satires in the first rank of Peter's works.

We are, however, inclined to think, that some of his sallies, on more general and more appropriate subjects, are possessed of greater in trinsick merit, and, for that reason, more likely to survive to posterity. Every schoolboy is delighted with the Pilgrims and the Razor-seller; the story of Van Trump is infinitely amusing; and where can we find a more exquisite vis comica, than in the magical adventure of the President of the Royal Society, in his pursuit of the Emperour of Morrocco? In our judgment, however, the chef d'auvre of this eccentrick bard, is the pair of eclogues, in which Bozzy and Piozzi, the rival biographers of Johnson, contend for superiority in alternate strains, like Pan and Apollo; and Sir John Haw. kins is most appropriately placed, like Midas, in the judgment seat. Three fairer objects of legitimate satire never existed; the bucolick design is admirable, and the execution displays throughout, a strain of dry humour and ironical solemnity, which is absolutely Cervantick. The high popularity which Boswell's work has obtained, in spite of its absurdities, and the permanent interest attached to Johnson's character, make it probable, that these eclogues will enjoy a more lasting reputation than any of the other works of this author.

It is universally known that Peter Pindar's real name is Wolcot, and that he is a doctor of physick. lf we are not mistaken, he has lately aimed at medical celebrity, by declaring himself the inventor of a nostrum for the cure of deafness! which of course is as efficacious as other nostrums. We are sorry to say, that for some years past his Pegasus has borae every appearance of a wornout and jaded hackney. Of the late affair, which afforded so much employ to the minor wits, and introduced Peter to the publick in the new characters of a defendat in a court of justice, and a wild gallant in the annals of crim con., we shall only observe, that Lord Ellenborough and the jury were perfectly satisfied that the charge originated in a foul conspiracy against the character and purse of a harmless old

man.

Of the work which we shall next notice, few of the authors fall under our title of "living satirists." The Rolliad has long been admired as one of the finest satires ever produced by politicks, and is well known as the united composition of almost all the wits of Mr. Fox's party, though it is singular that Mr. Sheridan, indisputably the first wit among them all, had no share in it. His brother-in-law, Tickell, the celebrated author of the humourous pamphlet called " Anticipation ;" Mr. Hare, the early friend of Charles Fox, in whom that great orator thought he discovered more splendid talents, than in any of his contemporaries, but who, sinking under the expectation those talents had excited, could never be provailed upon to open his lips in the House of Commons; and Joseph Richardson, joint-patentee of Drury-lane theatre, whose dramatick works had more than ordinary success,

and who particularly excelled in the graceful ease of conversation : these three accomplished scholars, the principal contributors to the Rolliad, are now no more. Most probably all the more distinguished members of the party must have lent occasional assistance; but we believe that the two surviving of the " Rolliad Club," who were most active in their exertions, are lord John Townshend and General Fitzpat rick. Though the fugitive interests, and prejudices, and passions, resulting from the then state of parties, have long vanished and passed away, there is so much of the true essence of wit, refined by the most perfect taste and scholarship, in the several poems which form the volume of the Rolliad, that no lapse of time can render the perusal of it uninteresting to any mind, capable of true satirical relish. The descriptions of lord Thurlow, the duke of Richmond, lord Sydney, Mr. Brook Watson, and many other publick men, who then occupied a conspicuous station in the political world, are masterpieces of finished humour, which must command lasting admiration. Some of the eclogues abound with admirable characteristick strokes; and there is hardly one of the Probationary Odes which would not convulse the most rigid stoick with laughter.

The modern satirist, who appears to have caught the mantle of Pope, is Mr. William Gifford, frequently, but most injuriously, confounded with Mr. John Gifford. It is now full twenty years since a false taste and incorrigible affectation, aided by great harmony of numbers, and the tinsel of glittering phrases, and veiled under the appearance of an excessive delicacy and refinement, had completely perverted the publick mind, in respect to poetry.

The effeminate conceits of the Della Crusca school, threatened to undermine the old English admiration of our noblest authors; and Merry and Mrs. Robinson, under the names of Lorenzo and Laura Maria, bade fair to drive Shakespeare, Dryden, and Otway from our minds and our libraries. Mr. Gifford has the merit (and a great merit it must be allowed to be, by all who know how long the publick mind may be blinded by follies, that have once become fashionable) of being the first to detect and expose these absurdities, which were daily gaining credit in the world. The Baviad, an imitation of the first satire of Persius, lays them open to universal contempt and ridicule, with a grave severity of sarcasm, that reminds the reader of the classical ages. The same attack is vigorously repeated in the Mæviad; and we are strongly impressed with the opinion, that these two short works will convey their author's name, with honour, down to succeeding ages. We think their conciseness, favourable to their contin. uance; for, undoubtedly, there is much truth in Freron's bon mot, applied to the variety of volumes, in which Voltaire's works were comprised: "This luggage is too cumbrous to travel to posterity." The only publications, besides those before mentioned, to which Mr. Gifford has affixed his name, are an Epistle to Peter Pindar, and a translation of Juvenal.

In proportion to the attention originally excited by the "Pursuits of Literature," must be the darkness and oblivion in which it will be, or rather is, involved; since the gross personalities which commanded interest and gratified malignity, have died away. Its career is completely at an end. The verses have no pre

tensions to be considered as poetry; the cumbrous notes in which the text is enveloped, written in imitation of Burke's worst stile, are equally offensive to the taste of the scholar, and the feelings of a gentleman. Under the cloak of religion, he has indulged a spirit of rancour at perpetual variance with that charity, which it is the first duty of religion to inculcate with the love of order and morality on his lips, he constantly violates the first principles of humanity and justice with professions of the highest respect for the laws of his country, he has filled every page with such malignant libels, as would have drawn down the severest vengeance of those laws on his head.

The poetry of the Antijacobin is in all men's hands, and it would be superfluous labour to attempt to make it better known to the publick. It exhibits every requisite for vigourous and successful satire, combined with the most diverting playfulness of sentiment and manner. The Progress of Man and the Loves of the Triangles are the most whimsical, spirited, and classical parodies we remember, and we do not hesitate to pronounce the mock of German play, the very happiest burlesque that ever was produced. The authors, Messrs. Canning, Frere, Ellis, &c. having proved their talents as writers in the Antijacobin, are now enjoying a reward which few satirists can expect for their most powerful sallies, in the highest offices, honours, and emoluments of the state, where their talents are equally conspicuous. We have understood that Mr. Gifford, the author of the Baviad, often united his exertions with this knot of political

wits.

Mr. Shee, by the poem, which he has modestly entitled, "Rhymes on

Art," has evinced, that genius can attain perfection in more than one pursuit. As a painter, he has long been admired; and we venture to prognosticate, that as a scholar, a poet, and an able satirist, his name will be remembered with honour, when his pictures, like the hand that traced them, shall have mouldered into dust.

In ascertaining the probable quantum and durability of literary reputation, to which a satirical work may aspire, two things should be considered: first, whether it has a sufficient temporary interest, to attract general notice and popularity at its appearance; secondly, whether it possesses enough of solid, genuine, and intrinsick merit to fix a certain continuance of applause, independently of the accidental circumstances to which it is indebted for notoriety at the outset. The pursuer of literature has founded his claim on the worst and blackest passions of our nature; but uniformly mistaking malice for humour, and arrogance for power, he has built his house on a sand, which must be washed away when the calumniated characters shall perish and be forgotten. We may, therefore, safely predict, that these poems cannot possibly survive, both from the nature of their subjects, destitute of all general and permanent interest, and from the mode of execution, calculated, as it is, for a state of mind inflamed by prejudice, and incapable of appealing from "Philip drunk to Philip sober." Peter Pindar has a better chance; for though his subjects are often extremely confined, his humour is genuine, and is founded in general nature; his faults are an excess of drollery, which is often in danger of degenerating into buffoonery, and a length of narrative, in his stories, approaching to prolixity.