as many verfes together as appear to her convenient for fuggefting fome illuftration or ufeful reflection. A fingle fpecimen will give our readers the best comprehenfion of the manner in which this task is executed. 66 7. Philip anfwered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not fufficient for them, that every one of them may take a "little. "8. One of his difciples, Andrew, Simon-Peter's brother, faith " unto him, "9. There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves and two "fmall fishes: but what are they among fo many? "10. And Jefus faid, Make the men fit down. Now there was "much grafs in the place. So the men fat down, in number about "five thousand. "And Jefus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he "diftributed to the difciples, and the difciples to them that were set "down; and likewife of the fishes as much as they would." "Here let me call your attention to the conduct of our Lord, in a point which, I am afraid, is too frequently neglected. Although exerciting the power of his God-head, in creating food, yet would he not omit the duty which, in his human nature, he owed to God the Father for the bleffing. The Son of God defcended from Heaven to be our pattern, as well as our faviour. Can any Chriftian, then, hope to be excufed, who prefumes to fit down to table without begging a bleffing upon the provifion, which the Almighty bestows upon him? "Nothing is more defervingly held in abhorrence than ingratitude and fhall we not thankfully acknowledge our conftant obligations to our kind and generous Benefactor? But there are ftill further advantages attending our begging God's bleffing upon the good things he has been pleased to provide for us: we all know that intemperance will convert the most wholesome nourishment, either of eating or drinking, into poifon ; and nothing is more likely to check our inordinate appetites, and to make us moderate in the use of God's bleffings, than the pious recollection and acknowledgment, that to him we are indebted for them. "The miracle of multiplying food was not, in reality, more wonderful than the manner in which God daily fupplies us: millions are conftantly fed, in a way no lefs miraculous; but as this happens regularly, it does not make the fame awful impreffion upon our minds. What can be more wonderful than the production of grain? The Almighty, who has been pleafed to feed us by the growth of corn, and the production of animals, might equally have fupported us without our own labour; but here we have a fresh inftance of eternal wisdom, in making the industry of man neceffary for fupplying him with the requifites of life: for much of wickedness as we now fee in the world, how greatly would it be increased if every thing were provided for us without any exertions of our own; induftry being (as Stanhope very juftly obferves in his comment upon this miracle) a great cik to vice." P. 232. It appears to us that all which was intended and profefled in this undertaking has been ably and faithfully exered; and we recommend the book as an excellent manual for families, and for every plain and pious Chriftian who reads the Scriptures with the best of all views, that of becoming daily a better man. It is written with the fimplicity, fervour, and ferioufnefs which become the fubject, and indicate a truly Chriftian fpirit. The author fpeaks diffidently, in her preface and in feveral parts of the book (as p. 104) of her own powers of compofition; yet we fee nothing that betrays ignorance or incapacity: and by drawing plain and excellent rules from hiftory for the conduct of life, with exalted fentiments of piety, avoiding controverfy, fhe has done much to promote the true fpirit of Christianity. BRITISH CATALOGUE. POETRY. ART. 18. Purfuits of Literature; or, What you will. A Satyrical Poem in Dialogue. Part I. 4to. 25. Owen. 1794• This writer makes honourable mention of the Baviad and its author, who, he fays," has taken fome pleasant trouble off his hands, the Albums, the Laura-Marias, &c.” But will not the Public think that he is endeavouring to take from that author's hands those " nobler and more reluctant animals," which he promised afterwards to alfail ? This, however, he will not be able to do; with no fmall fhare of poetic talent, and fome of wit, he cannot fo write as to preclude the efforts of one who is his fuperior in both thefe requifites, and greatly fo in polifh of ftyle, and the artifices of diverfifying a compofition. The famenefs in the whole tenor of this dialogue is fatiguing. It is all queftion- What! mult I," &c. a mode already ufed, as much as was judicious, in the Baviad itfelf. Many of the notes have merit. The following are fo much the best lines in the poem, that whoever forms his idea of the whole from them will be difap. pointed. Yet, to felect inferior lines, would be lefs favourable to the author, and lefs pleafing to our readers. What!-from the Mufe, by cryptogamic stealth, With lucid language, and moft dark defigns, In fweet tetrandryan, monogynian strains, Raife luft in pinks; and, with unhallow'd fire, Page 14. Had the whole been equal to thefe lines, it might have been pronounced a first-rate poem. We do not say that there are not other good lines; there are many; but the general tenor is by no means of this ftamp. As in fatires is too common, there are some wanton attacks in this compofition. The author feems to tell us that he is an old, and even a retiring candidate for fame. He begins I who once deem'd my race of labour run. But we do not attempt to withdraw the veil which, he says, ought to be worn by fatirists. ART. 19. The Genius of Shakspeare, a Summer Dream. 4to. 2s. 6d. Couch and Laking. This Dreamer is really a very extraordinary man. He has been favoured with a fight of all that Shakspeare ever faw, and more indeed than Shakspeare ever dreamt of. We liftened with attention to the author's relation of his Dream, through between 6 and 700 lines; and we fairly concluded that he must have mistaken the delirium of a fever for the vifions of fleep. In this opinion we were confirmed by a re-perufal of the first stanza, to which we had not be fore paid fufficient attention. "When ftretched upon the bank of Avon stream, Lapt and lull'd with airy fong, 66 My temples beat "With ardent heat, "The radiant fun's unbounded ray That verdant fields rejoicing fung, And rocky echoes rung; And while the mufic of the fpheres Delightful dwelt upon my penfive ears, "I funk into a dream." Now, not to mention the ftrong marks of derangement which the fines betray, it is manifeft, from his own report, that the author had put himself into a fituation where no Rational Dreamer would ever have been found. Who that was quite fane would have ftretched himfelf upon the parched bank of a river at a time when the fun's unbounded ray" was gilding (by which he means burning) "nature all fo gay?" The confequence was natural- His temples beat with ardent heat;" that is to fay, a brain-fever enfued; and what follows prefents the expreffions of his delirious moments. We cannot but for our own fakes, and that of the public, exprefs our wifhes, that if this 5 worthy worthy gentleman fhould indulge in any future dreams, he may either choose a fituation more favourable to Poetic Vifions, or that (which would in fact be better) he may have the good fortune, when he wakes, to forget them. ART. 20. A Crying Epifle from Britannia to Colonel Mack; includ ing a naked Portrait of the King, Queen, and Prince; with Notes, Political, Philofophical, and Perfonal. By Anthony Pafquin, Efq. 8vo. 25. Symonds, 1794. A few months ago we met with a fpurious Anthony Pasquin, (vol. III. p. 336). This, if we may truft the evidence of the ftyle, is the real Tony. In his portrait of the King, we read, "the intellectual endowments of a King, in a component State, like the govern ment of England, are but of trivial moment, when compared with the neceflity of fuch advantages in perfons whom Destiny has placed in a lower fphere of circumvolution." P. 27. Prefently we have," the dubiety of popular attachment is not," &c.; and, alas! this beautiful ftyle is disfigured by numberlefs errata. Thus we find the author in his profe; but in his verses we lofe him and as one great purpose of this effort is to recommend Lord Landfdown to the Royal Councils (p. 49), we cannot but fufpect that fome wit of that little fenate has improved his Epiftle. It is certainly, though doggrel, greatly fuperior to the unrhymed part. Under the aufpices of Generals Symonds and Ridgway, Pafquin, in fome of his notes, ufes all the weapons of that creditable party; and as it is difficult at prefent to distinguish the party he profeffes to join, from that which he thus appears to court, we fhall not attempt the difcrimination. The Frontifpiece reprefents Colonel Mack, a gro tefque figure, beftriding the world: and the Epiftle is in this ftyle and measure O chief! before whofe arm whole nations fled; Could the author have made Herculean answer his purpose, this would have been better: but we must not be too nice. DRAMATIC. ART. 21. The Maid of Normandy; or, The Death of the Queen of France. A Tragedy, in Four Acts. By Edmund John Eyre, Author of the Dreamer awake, &c. &c. late of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and now of the Theatres, Worcester, Wolverhampton, and Shrewsbury. Svo, s. 6d. Longman. 1794. We conjecture that the author of this piece is a respectable actor, whom the kindness of his friends has encouraged to write a play for his own benefit. So far all was well: but when he proceeded to printing, he certainly went a step too far. The performance is ex Y 2 tremely 304 tremely incorrect: it has fo little of plot, that the feveral acts and fcenes are almoft independent on each other; and it has not much that car Le called character. Some other title fhould have been chofen for it, inflead of the dignified one of a Tragedy. The perfonages are the late Queen of France, Roberfpierre, &c. &c. ART. 22. The Box-Labby Challenge. A Comedy, as performed at Crotcher, a very fprightly fellow, fon of a printer, contrives, by means of his friend, to pafs himfelf upon the family of the Grampuffes for a fcholar, in order to become bear-leader to the young fquire. By means of this introduction, he plays his cards fo artfully with the managing dowager, Lady Diana Grampus, that he becomes enamoured of him; and thus his fortune is made. This is the real ftory; and to this point, as principal, the labours of the Poet are directed. The other characters, though fuperior in rank, are fubordinate in dramatic effect; and the Box-Lobby Challenge, from which the Play is denominated, though it produces ve marriage, and fome dialogue, is but little fubfervient to the main end. The characters in this piece, without being novel, are amufing; the dialogue is fupported with much comic humour; and the defects are fuch as may be pardoned in a Drama, the characters of which are taken partly from low-life, and whofe object is, to catch and exprefs the manners of the paffing day. POLITICS. ART. 23. The Torfin of Britannia: with a novel Plan for a Confiitutional Army. By John Stewart, the Traveller. 8vo. 56 pp. 28. Owen. 1794. ART. 24. Second Peal of the Torfin of Britannia; or, Alarm-Bell of Svo. 25. 52 PP. Owen. 1794• This extraordinary gentleman, who makes occafionally more wonderful excurfions with his head than he has ever made with his feet, appears to be affected with a truly patriotic zeal to preferve his countrymea from the corruption of Jacobinical principles within, and from external invafion. He propofes (like Mr. Young) a conftitutional army of property, in which the qualification fhall be In this part of an acre of land, a houfe, or sool. fterling in effects. his tract, and in a hand-bill which he propofes to circulate among the lower claffes, he is temperate and worthy of attention. But there is floating in his head a wild theory, in the expreffions alluding to which we are forry to trace the jargon of a strange rhapsody of impicty termed The Book: and whenever that comes acrofs him he is left, beyond all trace of reafon. Who would fuppofe that the fame perfon |