That to themselves endeavour to preserve Of flaughter and deftruction? What is this The herbage of thy freehold, whose will be By thy oppreffive pride!-When danger comes, "Who are th' oppreffors Shall I hazard life. "That privilege, which Heaven and Nature meant IV. The Robin Hood Society: A Satire. With Notes Va riorum. By Peter Pounce, Efq; 8vo. 2s. Withers, &c. The defign of this poem is to reprefent the Weekly Society for free Enquiry, &c. who meet at the fign of the Robin Hood without Temple-Bar, as an affembly of illiterate, deistical mechanics, and profligate perfons; who indulge themselves in an unwarrantable, illegal, abufe of the liberty we enjoy, of freely debating upon facred fubjects. Whether the character here given of this fociety, be a juft one, or not, we leave thofe to judge who better know what ufually paffes at the Robin Hood, than we, who have not the honour to belong to this fociety, can pretend to do. All, therefore, that will be expected from us, is to confider the merit of this performance, merely as a literary production. If, as Shakespear fays, The man who has not mufic in himself, is fit for treafons, &c. this Squire Pounce must be a very bad fort of man, who could admit, into a poetical compofition, such lines as thefe. Whome'er, ་ Whome'er, or impudence, or ignorance infpires- Of mad intoxication; to him averse Does any here Adopt the foundling? if not, it goes from me, Illume; but fpiking up his reason for a fun.- To ufe; Samian, Theban, and Athenian.-- That Heav'n had made me fuch a man, Had giv'n fuch ornaments Call them the treasures of truth-and-fay they keep To hear deep Mys'try's voice, And Trinity, pronoun'd; since -deeper draughts--we drink-But to do Squire Pounce even handed juftice, we shall introduce his own apology from the preface; where he thus bespeaks the favour of the patient reader. I fhould here make fome apology for the badness of the following poem, with refpect to deficiency of language, meannefs of expreffion, and barrenness of invention, but that I am fenfible, no apology can make a bad poem a good one, or add a grace to what is intrinfically ungraceful-For my part, I fhall only alledge, that blank verse is what I am unacquainted with, this being my first attempt in that fpecies of writing, and which, as it is a juvenile performance, I am confcious is but mean; &c.' Then he afferts the piety of his intentions; but as we cannot conceive how piety and fcandal should lodge in the fame breaft, we fhall pass that circumftance, and proceed to felect a few of the beauties of the performance, as recommended to our attention by the poet himself. The first thing we are to be charmed with, is the introduction. Upon this he affumes the title of the Well informed Bard; and having tried, but in vain, for two pages, to emulate himself in profe, refers us back again for the fame fentiment to the flowing Numbers of the Poet. ३ By Porter, and by Lemonade infpir'd, Of Ignorants, to chatter Dulnefs' praise. Has taught the ftamm'ring voice of fools to please! So in the bottom of the pewter vase, Each minion of the goddess Dullness, deems We come now to an inftance of the beautiful propriety of allufi en, for fo our Bard calls the following lines. Follow the Mufe; the Muse shall lead you safe: Lo! how we mount! how irkfome to forfake Of bright-ey'd Reafon, and her pleafing form! Been crown'd with thorns, been fcepter'd with a reed, Thefe paffages are fufficient to apprize our readers, concerning the poetical talents of Squire Pounce. For the rest, the grofsnefs of his fcurrility will excufe our farther exhibition of his performance; for fcurrilous it is, in many parts, to fuch a degree, that we cannot but be forry that any Clergyman fhould patronize fuch ribaldry: the Divine to whom this Satire is dedicated, is the Rev. Mr. Romaine; and the man who infcribes this worthy performance to him, is Mr. Richard Lewis. POLITICA L. V. A Short State of the Progrefs of the French Trade and Navigation: Wherein is fhewn the great Foundation that France has laid, by Dint of Commerce, to increase her Maritime Strength to a Pitch equal, if not fuperior, to that of Great Britain, unless fome-how checked by the Wif dom of his Majesty's Councils. Humbly infcribed to his Royal Highness William Duke of Cumberland. By Malachy Poftlethwayte, Efq; Author of the Univerfal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce. 8vo. Is. Knapton. Mr. Poftlethwaite, in his preface, informs us, that this publi cation is owing to the defire of a person of diftinction; and takes notice, that the subject is more fully treated of in his Dictionary. Such as may not have an opportunity of confulting that voluminous work, may from this pamphlet, attain a tolerable idea of the French fyftem of commercial policy.- -See alfo our ac count Count of Mr. Poftlethwayt's Dictionary, Review, vol. XII. and XIV. VI. Obfervations upon Mr. Fauquier's Effay on Ways and Means for raifing Money to Support the prefent War, without increasing the public Debts. To which is added, an Account of feveral national Advantages derived from the Nobility and Gentry of the prefent Age living in London a greater part of the Year than their Ancestors ufed to do. By J. M. 8vo. 1s. T. Payne. As we did not enter into much explanation of Mr. Fauquier's propofal, we cannot, with propriety, be more particular in our account of these Obfervations; which, nevertheless, appear to deserve an attentive confideration, especially by thofe who have read and approved that Gentleman's fcheme. Our Obfervator, who writes fenfibly, and feems to be no ftranger to the real interefts of his country, principally objects, that the carrying such a tax into execution, would drain the counties of so much current cash, without a probability of its return, that within a few years there would not be enough left for the payment of other taxes, nor for procuring the neceffaries of life, unless the price of them be greatly reduced; the confequence of which will be, the impoffibility of keeping up the rents of land. In the latter part of his pamphlet our Author endeavours, and we think fuccessfully, to refute fome popular prejudices with refpect to the refidence of the Nobility and Gentry in London; which, he pretty clearly fhews, is, on many accounts, of real advantage to the commu nity in general. * See Article XXIII. of our Catalogue for March. VII. An Essay on the prefent State of our public Roads; fhewing the abfolute Neceffity of a total prohibition of the Ufe of narrow Wheels on all Carriages drawn by one Horse length-ways; and the Benefit that will accrue thereby to Farmers and Carriers, to Trade and Manufactures, as well as Eafe, Pleasure and fafety to Travellers. 8vo. 6d. Baldwin. This pamphlet contains a fummary of all the arguments that have been urged in favour of Broad Wheels, with pertinent replies to the common objections against the use of them. As the oppofition to Broad Wheels has more frequently proceeded from obftinacy than judgment, our Author employs Ridicule in their defence, as well as Reason. MISCELLANEOUS. VIII. A Faithful Narrative of the most wicked and inhuman Tranfactions of that bloody-minded Gang of Thieftakers, alias Thief-makers, Macdaniel, Berry, Eagan, Sal mon, and their notorious Accomplice Mary Jones, &c. By Jofeph Cox, High Conftable of the Hundreds of Blackheath. 8vo. Is. 6d. Mechell. Tho' there is little or nothing in this pamphlet more than we were pre-acquainted with, by the industry of our News-writers, yet is Mr. Cox entitled to the grateful thanks of the public for the fhare he bore in the detection of this most infernal gang of Thief-makers, as he very rightly stiles them. IX. The Obferver obferved. Or, Remarks on a certain curious Tract entitled, Obfervations on the Faerie Queene of Spencer. By Thomas Warton, A. M. &c.' 8vo. Is. Crowder, The anonymous Author of this Hypercríticism has fome just ftrictures upon Mr. Warton's performance, and a great many that are a little out-of-the-way. He is certainly a man of letters, but yet he has a moft illiberal way of writing: Had he expreffed himfelf more like a Gentleman, and not run fo much into fcurrility, we should have allowed him a more honourable place and mention, than we can now prevail on ourfelves to afford. One thing, however, we have done for him; we have made his title-page intelligible, by printing part of it with Quotation Commas : but as it runs, in the front of his pamphlet, the reader might well have imagined that Mr. Warton himself was the Author of this abuse of his own Obfervations. X. The Conduct of the Military Gentlemen, infpected by a Lady. With a fhort Address to the Ladies. 4to. Is. Ŕo binfon. This Lady declaims, very warmly, against the Flashes and Debauchees of the Army; particularly for their deceit and cruelty towards the credulous and kind fair ones who have the ill-luck to fall in their way and exhorts them to amend their manners and morals and to become [what nature never meant them to be] -Men of true Worth and Honour,-efpecially to the Ladies. XI. The Deformity of Beauty, a Critical Effay. Addressed to Mr. John Green. 4to. 6d. Hooper. This is an exceffively farcaflical examen of Mr. Green's performance, of which, we apprehend, our Readers had enough in our laft. Vid. P. 558. XII. The Importance of the Island of Minorca, and Harbour of Port-Mahon, fully confidered, &c. &c. 8vo. 1s. Baldwin. Purloined from former accounts, particularly Armstrong's Hiftory of Minorca ;-with the addition of fome common-place politics. XIII. A Defcription of Minorca and Gibraltar, &c. 8vo. 6d. Cooper. |