MR. ELPHINSTON'S TRANSLATION. Him twice a victor hails dhe Muze, Ignofcito fæpe alteri nunquam tibi. Anoddher dhou must oft forguif, Dhyfelf not wonce hwile dhou fhalt liv. DRAMATIC. ART. 18. The Siege of Meaux, a Tragedy, in three Acts; as it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, by Henry James Pye. 8vo. Is. 6d. G. Nicol, 1794. "After the battle of Poitiers, more than an hundred thousand peafants refolved to extirpate the nobility, ravaged their eftates, burned their houses, and without distinction of age or fex, treated all of that order whom they could feize with the most brutal and favage barbarity. The Duchefs of Normandy, the Duchefs of Orleans, and three hundred ladies, married and fingle were at Meaux, with the Duke of Orleans. Several detachments of this furious rabble, joined by others from Paris and its environs, thought themfelves certain of dividing this prey. The inhabitants had opened the gates, and in conjunction with the rebels, had reduced the ladies to the neceffity of intrenching themfelves in a place called Le Marché de Meaux, a poft feparated from the reft of the town by the River Marne. The danger was extreme. There was no excefs of brutality which might not be expected from these unbridled hordes. The Count de Foix, and the Captal de Buche, who, during this event, were returning from the Pruffian Crufade, heard of their distress at Chalons. Though with an inconfiderable force, they immediately refolved to join the small party who defended the fortrefs of Meaux. The honour of the ladies neither fuffered the Count de Foix to reflect on the danger or the Captal de Buche to remember that he was an Englishman. He eagerly availed himself of the liberty which a truce between France and England afforded him, of following fentiments more facred in the breast of a knight than national animofity. They threw themselves into the place where our brave knights and their followers had no other apparent refource than inevitable death, nor any other rampart to oppofe the rebels than the banners of the Duke of Orleans and the Count de Foix and the pennon of the Captal de Buche. They ordered the gates to be opened, and marched refolutely against the enemy. At this fight. the infurgents were feized with terror, the knights cut through their broken ranks, killed 7000, and returned triumphant to the ladies." This is a fpirited compofition, but will probably rather fatisfy the judgment of the reader in the closet, than intereft the paffions by its exhibition in the Theatre, ART. ART. 19. The Siege of Berwick, a Tragedy. By Mr. Jerningham, 1794 The following advertisement informs the reader of the subject of this tragedy. "In the reign of Edward the Third, Sir Alexander Seaton refused to furrender the town of Berwick even at the peril of lofing his two fons, who being taken prifoners in a fally, were threatened with immediate death unlefs the town was delivered up.” The tragedy confifts of four acts only, and, though not a standing play in the books of the Theatre, was not without its portion of fuccefs. Mr. Jerningham's character as a Poet is fufficiently established, yet we are compelled to fay, that in this tragedy many very profaic lines occur. P. 28. Still more bitter by the infufions of reproach 31. Decide of two affectionate and duteous Children, which, &c. 33. To confer alone, that free from all restraint. Some lines are defective, as P.41. Reach my children that the tyrant may. Mr. Jerningham has often written better things, and, doubtlefs, will again. NOVEL S. ART. 20. Things As They Are; or, the Adventures of Caleb Williams. By William Godwin. In 3 Vols. 12mo. 9s. Crosby. 1794. This piece is a ftriking example of the evil ufe which may be made. of confiderable talents, connected with fuch a degree of intrepidity as can infpire the author with refolution to attack religion, virtue, government, laws, and above all, the defire (hitherto accounted laudable) of leaving a good name to pofterity. In this extraordinary performance, every gentleman is a hard-hearted affaffin, or a prejudiced tyrant; every Judge is unjuft, every Justice corrupt and blind. Sentiments of refpect to Christianity are given only to the vileft wretch in the book; while the most refpectable perfon in the drama abhors the idea of "fhackling his expiring friend with the fetters of fuperftition." In order to render the laws of his country odious, the author places an innocent prifoner, whofe ftory he (avowedly) takes from the Newgate Calendar of the firft George's reign, in a dungeon; the wretched, unhealthy ftate of which he steals (as avowedly) from one of the benevolent Howard's painful defcriptions of a worfe gaol than common. We will only add, that the character, on which the author feems to dwell with most pleasure, is that of a leader of robbers, one who dwells in a ruinous retreat, and difpatches telons and murderers, in parties, around the country. When When a work is fo directly pointed at every band which connects fociety, and at every principle which renders it amiable, its very merits become noxious as they tend to cause its being known in a wider circle. ART. 21. The Adventures of Hugh Trevor. By Thomas Holcroft. 12mo. 3 Vols. 10s. 6d. Shepperfon, 1794. It has often been faid, that the best writers are apt to range themfelves on the fide of Oppofition in politics. At prefent we are forry to remark, that the oppofition to revealed religion and to civil fociety can boaft of two very amufing novelifts among its advocates. The ftric tures, indeed, which we have made on the preceding work, will, with a very little alteration, ferve to denote our opinion of the Adventures of Hugh Trevor; who, like the ill-fated Caleb Williams, meets with brutality and infolence in every Clergyman, from the Curate to the Bishop, and injustice, coupled with want of humanity, in every perfon whofe ftation is fuperior to his own. Different provinces feem, however, to have been undertaken by Meffrs. Godwin and Holcroft, in their joint attack on all that mankind have been used to term good and laudable. As the former has ridiculed honour, and the love of ftanding well in the opinion of mankind, the later levels his fatire chiefly at Univerfity difcipline, and at matrimony. We agree with the author, that thofe objects of his averfion, are each (in fome degree) fetters on what he calls the Rights, we, the wild Liberty, of Man. But as he has offered no fubftitute for either, we apprehend that his reafoning on both fubjects, particularly the latter, will, by no means, tend to the improvement of either man or woman kind; and that the length of the tale (for thefe three volumes are only the be, ginning of Trevor's forrows) is the only chance it has of not rendering its writer anfwerable for a great deal of mischief. MEDICINE. ART. 22. Pharmacopaia Chirurgica; or Formula for the Ufe of Surgeons; including, among a Variety of Remedies adopted in the private. Practice of the most eminent of the Profeffion, all the principal Formu la of the different Hofpitals. 2s. 6d. Robinfons. 1794. The deficiency of former Pharmacopoeias in remedies for the particalar ufe of the Surgical practitioner, is what every Medical man wilt allow to fupply this, the author Mr. Houlton) informs us, is the intention of the prefent work. We here find a very copious collection of a great part of the Formula of private practice, and of the London Hofpitals, arranged alphabetically with obfervations upon each. The utility of a work of this kind is fufficiently obvious, but that our readers may form a better judgment of the author's method, we infect the following fpecimen. "Linimentum olearum "This is one of the formulæ of Guy's, and has indeed been used in all the London Hofpitals, as a remedy for burns and fcalds. In the former, however, it is much more suitable than in the latter, which are more conveniently and effectually relieved by the repeated effufion of cold lotions, or if practicable by a continual immersion of the part in cold water alone. In burns, where the skin is fcorched and deftroyed, the foftening qualities of this remedy prove highly ufeful. This liniment was originally prepared with linfeed oil, but certainly with less propriety, as it poffeffes fome ftimulatory properties.” POLITICS. ART. 23. Antipolemus; or, the Plea of Reafon, Religion, and Humanity, against War. A Fragment, tranflated from Erafmus, and addreffed to Aggreffors. 8vo. 183 pp. 3s. 6d. Dilly. 1794. This treatife upon War, now given to the public in an English drefs, ftands in the original among thofe lucubrations which Erafmus, occafionally produced under the titles of his Adagia; and compofe one complete folio in the Leyden edition of his works. The tranflator has prefixed to it a name which it never bore, but which, as well for the reafons affigned by himself, as for that, which though not affigned, is fufficiently difcernible, namely, difapprobation of the prefent war, is not improperly bestowed upon it. A Preface of 44 pages announces to the world the reasons which induced the writer to tear from its shelf a treatise, which has enjoyed a flumber of near three hundred years. We lament, as feriously as this writer can do, the continuance of wars in a period which should have appeared fufficiently enlightened to avoid them; yet, alas! in doing this, we are but lamenting the continuance of thofe violent and malignant paffions which embroil fociety, and call into the field, the beft of men and the purest of Chrif. tians, for the very neceflary purposes of national defence. With refpect to the fragment itfelf, which forms the body of the pamphlet, it ftands fufficiently recommended by the name of its illuftrious author. The tranflation is (fo far as we have had opportunities of comparing it with the original) faithful; and if it depart in any inftances from the letter, it uniforinly preferves the fpirit of Erafmus. The very numerous italics and capitals with which the pages are crowded, may serve the purposes of party zeal, but they certainly contribute no beauty to the text, nor do they convey the most favourable impreffions to the mind of the reader, The tranflator affures us, that in bringing forward the present tract, he has been actuated by the beft of motives. "I am one," fays he, "who thinks in the fincerity of his foul, that reasonable creatures ought always to be coerced, when they err, by the force of reafon, the motives of religion, the operation of law, and not by engines of deftruction: in a word, I utterly difapprove all war but what is ftrictly defenfive." Pref. p. 44. To these fentiments we can without hefitation fubfcribe. They are in the prefent, and in all circumstances, our own. But then the inter pretation pretation must be rational, for it would be madness to defer resistance to an enemy upon a falfe humanity, or a punctilio of opinion, till the means of defence are wrefted from our hands. But if the author intends by this pacific declaration, to conclude against the prefent as a war of aggreffion; if he means to infinuate that our adverfaries might have been foftened by remonftrance, or won over by fyllogifm, he muft poffefs a higher degree of credulity, or better fources of information than have fallen to our lot. The malady of our enemies is, in our judgment, not to be cured by the mild and gentle prescriptions with which this writer prefents us.— With them the force of reafon has been refifted, the motives of religion thrown off, the operation of law defeated, and engines of deftruction fubftituted in their place; nor is any evidence wanting to fhow, that if we had liftened to those who diffuaded refiftance, the haughty barbarians would ere now have incorporated Great Britain among their Departments, and rendered this happy foil the theatre of every crime. ART. 24. The Errors of Mr. Pitt's prefent Administration, many, recent, important, and dangerous. By a Gentleman totally unconnected with foreign Interefts or internal Parties. 8vo. 84 pp. 2s. Ridgway, 1793. All the errors of Mr. Pitt's prefent Administration, according to our author, have originated from the war with France; eighteen feparate accufations are brought against the Minifter, fome for having involved ourselves in a war, others for involving neutral powers in it: fome for impolicy of conduct in the war, and others for the fubfidy of our Allies in it. No one can be more zealous for peace, and the univerfal prevalence of it round the globe than ourselves; but we fear the prefent pamphlet can claim but little merit to itself as a medium of pacification. ART. 25. A Letter to the Right Hon. Earl Stanhope, in which the Neceffity of the War is confidered, and the Conduct and Views of Great Britain and her Allies vindicated. 8vo. 98 pp. 2s. 6d. Miller, 1794 The writer of this letter is neither much above nor much below the common rank of pamphleteers. He fingles out Earl Stanhope as the fubject of his addrefs, from the decided oppofition in which his Lordfhip has been found to those measures that appeared to demand the concurrence of every Patriot. In the courfe of this pamphlet many points are difcuffed in application to the theory maintained by the noble Earl. The grounds of the war are reviewed, and the charge of aggreffion on the part of Great Britain fuficiently refuted. In the courfe of this inveftigation, the progrefs of French intrigue is diftinctly marked out; and the chain of circumftances affigned which ultimately produced the prefent hoftilities. The demand for peace, as preferred by Lord Stanhope, is properly remarked upon; and his Lordship is challenged to connect with his demand fom: fpecific plan for rendering it effeciual. In oppofition alfo to his Lordship's affer |