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* none. This opens too the grounds of that excellent cau⚫tion, which the Apostle administers to his early converts, against being seduced by the rudiments of this world; but • that vain Philofnphy, which was then working, and, as he might easily foresee, would work afterwards incredible mif< chief to the Christian Religion. Dr. Patten indeed stepsin, ⚫ and tells us, that St. Paul had no such meaning, as we • ascribe to him; or, at least, that he did not mean the Græcian Elements only, but likewise those first and fimple principles of Reason and Common Sense, which we have made ⚫ the foundation of all Religion. But we may affure this • Doctor, that he knows as little of Human Nature, as he • does of the state of the world at the promulgation of Chrif• tianity; or else he would fee the extreme propriety of the * admonition, in the sense we understand it. For the best, ' and indeed the only preservative against vain Philosophy, is a • sober exertion of our Natural Powers, and a firm adherence • to the dictates of Common Sense: it would therefore have • been strange in St. Paul to have denied us the use of these • Powers, and to have bid us stifle those common notions, that • result from the exercise of them, if he meant to guard us • against that Philosophy, which might probably seduce us from • Chriftianity itself.

• Thus it appears from this general view of it under Plato • and Aristotle, how Christianity has fuffered by being re< moved from its proper basis of Natural Religion, and by • being engrafted upon Systems and Opinions. And were we ⚫ to view it under the management of private men, who • were not attached to any particular Philosophy, but yet • who deferted the principles of Nature and Reafon, we • should find it undergoing still the same fate. We should • find, for instance, eminent Lights and venerable Fathers of • the Church, mistaking it as grossly, and enforcing it as ab• surdly, as if they had had no possible means of difcovering • what was the real Nature and End of its Institution. Thus • we might fee Tertullian, at the conclufion of the second • century, running out into all the wildness and frenzy of • Enthusiasm, and inculcating such rigours for Christian du⚫ ties, as were utterly incompatible with human life. We might fee the Fathers of the fourth century, such as Bafil, • Chryfoftom, Athanafius, or Jerom, declaiming against marriage, establishing Monkery, and sending men to worship ⚫ at the tombs of martyrs. And we might fee the Fathers of every fucceeding century, teaching fuch doctrines, and en* couraging such superftitions, as have not only no relation REV. July, 1756.

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• to Chriftianity, but plainly contradict the nature and design ' of it. Now to what is it possible to ascribe all this, but ⚫ only to a desertion of Reason, or the dictates of Common • Sense?

And, What shall we say now to this Doctor of Ours, • who has laboured with all his might to destroy Natural Religion, to difcredit and explode the use of our intellectual ' powers, and to represent Reason, or the dictates of Com• mon Sense, as nothing better than the suggestions of the • Devil? and what shall we say to the extreme propriety of • his doing this in the face of an University; a place, originally instituted for the improvement of Reafon, and the • culture of Common Sense?"

We could have wished that our Author had not given his antagonists any reason to complain of him, for omitting some words in a citation from their writings. Speaking of Mr. Hutchinfon, they say, "That he never offended with his tongue,

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never spoke with more warmth than was strictly justifiable, " we say not." It should feem as if Mr. Heathcote looked upon this as denying that he ever did offend in the manner there related. So he has represented it in two places, p. 87, 99. If he understood "we say not," as meaning, "say he did not"-tho' this makes the sentence as oracular as

Aio te Æacidem Romanos vincere poffe,

" we

Yet, in justice, the whole paragraph should have been recited. However, he could not mean to reproach Mr. Hutchinfon by it; for, on the contrary, he makes his disciples, by this reading, speak better of their master than they own he deserved.

ΜΟΝΤHLY

CATALOGUE

For JULY, 1756.

POETICAL.

I. A New Translation of Telemachus, in English Verse. By Gibbons Bagnall, Vicar of Home-Lacy, Hereford

shire. No. I. 12m0. 6d. Owen.

The merit of Archbishop Fenelon's Telemachus having been long established in Europe, we shall only observe, that it is ftill difputed, among fome Critics, under what denomination that excellent work should pass. Some maintain, that the Telemachus is a mere Romance, written, indeed, in the spirit of antiquity, but no poem: while the Chevalier Ramfay, and others, contend, that it is a poem, and only wanting in Numbers to make make it a compleat Epic. Of this opinion is Mr. Bagnall; yet however highly he esteems the work, he thinks 'it capable of • some improvement, from Harmony and Numbers. For want of this variety, (especially in the didactic parts, which frequently take up almost a whole book together) the senti*ments, however excellent in themselves, are dry and tedious. • To diverfify, and give a life to these, was one of the principal things I had in view; and what was attended with the greateft ' difficulty. It was like travelling for many miles over a dead flat, with no variety of prospect to entertain the fight. A • ftrict literal translation, in these cases was not to be expected:

a paraphrafe was often necessary, often unavoidable; and the * best Translators we have (even Mr. Pope, the Prince of them) • have given a fanction, by their practice, to this kind of liberty. * It is sufficient, in works of this nature, if nothing inconfiftent • be introduced: if we never deviate so far as to lose fight of * our author."

As the Archbishop had much recourse to antiquity to embellish his work, the Translator has referred to those passages, in his *margin; and has not only felected notes from the different editions of Telemachus, but has now and then added a comment of his own.

For a specimen of the improvement that the Telemachus is likely to receive from Mr. Bagnall, we shall, from this his first Number, present our Readers with his description of Calypso, which is by no means the least beautiful passage of the book.

She said. And compass'd with a beauteous band
Of Nymphs, obsequious to her great Command,
Herself the fairest; onward, led the way
Erect and taller by the head than they.
So the fair oak upon the spacious plain,
Luxuriant Queen, extends her awful reign;
Pleas'd on the lawn her ample shade to throw,
And nods superior to the shrubs below.
Charm'd with her beauty, and becoming grace,
The heroe follow'd with fubmissive pace.
Her robe, which true Sidonian dye declar'd,
Carelessly pendent from her neck appear'd.
Her tresses gathered in a knot behind,
Neglected fell, and wanton'd in the wind.
Her sparkling eyes Divinity confefs'd,

Join'd with a sweetness not to be express'd.

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Altho' the preceptive part of Telemachus might gain some advantage from Numbers, yet we doubt if this tranflation will fucceed. What the world admires in Fenelon, is his language; which Voltaire happily calls a cadenced profe; and if the Archbishop is tedious in his descriptions, which the best judges are now agreed he is, we cannot expect to see that fault rectified in the circumlocution of Rhyme.

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When Gentlemen have taken much pains to little purpose, and are likely to reap neglect instead of applause, we always feel fome concern for their misfortune; but the principle from which our commiferation arises, also prompts us, now and then, to throw out a friendly hint, that they may turn their attention to more profitable, or more fuccessful studies. It is not enough, that they have confulted their friends; for, in general, friends either cannot, or will not, tell them the truth; the bookfeller is generally the first who lets them into the unwelcome secret.

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These confiderations have made us the less severe on the tranflation of Telemachus; especially too, as the Author seems, by his preface, to be a man good sense, and real modefty: of which our readers will be convinced when we inform them, that he frankly recommends his work only as a Narcotic, that may administer comfort to those who want fleep.

II. Britannia and the Gods in Council. A Dramatic Poem. By Mr. Averay. 4to. Is. Kinnersley.

We are at fome lofs to say, whether Mr. Averay has most fuccessfully imitated the manner of his great predeceffor Mr. Antient Pistol, or of the renowned Hurlothrumbo. In some places he seems to have strongly caught the fpirit of the former, in others, of the latter; and, now and then, he even out-Hurloes the one, and out-Pistols the other. In a word, his performance seems fo well adapted to yield the highest delight, to every real admirer and judge of heroic-poetry, that we cannot do better justice between the Author and the Public, than to recommend it to every one who has tafte enough rightly ro relish the following morselswhich cannot fail to make the reader lick his lips, and long for the whole piece.

Britannia addresses Jupiter.

• O thou Supreme! unlimited in pow'r!
Who formdit and rowlit in the unbound abyss,
From nothing glitt'ring the celeftial orbs,'-&c.

Thus much for invocation; now for a fimile.

• Like gaping earthquakes lofty mountains gorg'ng'

From Jupiter's charge to the inferior Gods, in council:
• Therefore, ye Gods, who Gallia's cause espouse,
And ye, who Britain's warlike ifsle intend
In this affembly most august to fav'r
Proceed alternate, I your voice will hear'

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Bacchus declares for France, on account of her wine; and avers, that

• To Love it is the best and surest friend
And to old age a cordial life-restor'ng:-

Mars declares for Britain, and afferts, that

• One British warrior will in combat beat
Three ftouteft heroes of the Gallic race!'

Minerva is much in the same sentiments. In her panegyric on the Britons, the informs Jupiter, that

• Their swords of purest steel, and horrid edge Well temper'd, flaming, they high circling wave, Then with diftended nerves, and swifter force Revengeful strike, and cleave their foes afunder. O Rare Averay!

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III. A British Philippic. Inscribed to the Right Hon, the

Earl of Granville. 4to. Is. Kinnersley.

The Author of this poem is neither a Tyrtæus nor a Demofthenes; for inftead of using every motive to rouse the courage of his countrymen against their perfidious foes, he very coolly tells them, that

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Th' immortal Bard,

Who fightless sung, in never dying strains,
Revolted Angels, and fair Eden's loss,
In vain would strike his Epic lyre, to raise
Th' inactive spirit of this drowsy ifle,
To that unconquerable height, to which
Our venerable ancestry afpired.

Altho' we may, without poffeffing the spirit of prophecy, prognofticate, that the Numbers of our Briton and Bard [1. 42.] (were he ever so fo well disposed to inspirit us) will never transform a coward into a brave man, yet are we far from thinking, that the British Courage is fo greatly funk, as he represents it. Sure we are, if it is, this writer ought not so publicly to have told us so. A dastard may be impelled by praise, to something; but when told, that nothing is expected, his pufillanimity will never make an effort.But abstracting from this error of plan, the sentiments are, in general, just, tho' common; and most of the characters are drawn with truth, thơ not with any masterly diftinctions. Some wit the poem certainly shews, but little poetry; some fatyr, but no elevation of fentiment. The diction never rises to the fublime, and is often unharmoniously profaic. The poem confifts of 321 lines, of which

Mille die verfus deduci poffe.

At the beginning of the late Spanish war, we remember a British Philippic, which tho' no very extraordinary poem, yet furpassed this. The following passage, however, from the present production, merits some attention.

See that assemblage of the fons of wealth,
Whose pity and humanity extend
To dumb creation! With what costly care
They study to preserve the brutal race
From vulgar persecution! Truly great
Were such benevolence, could their design
Deserve so laudable a name! - Alas!

What are they but monopolists in blood,

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