of your Lordship and the great Doctor Hill. Tragedy, under Malloch and the Home, has here rivalled the Greek model, and united the different merits of the great moderns. The fire of Shakespear, and the correctness of Racine, have met in your two countrymen." He now proceeds to abufe Mr. Murphy, on account of his former connections with the theatre, and his fuppofed late connections with a political paper, written in defence of the prefent Minifter; who, he intimates, has likewife fome claim to the honours of the buskin and fock: having, a few years ago, frequently exhibited at the Dutchefs of QueenfDerry's. "In one part, fays he, which was remarkably humane and amiable, you were fo great, that the general exclamation was, here you did not a&t. In another part you were no lefs perfect. I mean in the famous scene of Hamlet, where you pour fatal poifon into the ear of a good unfufpecting King. If the great names of Murphy and Bute, as Players, penfantur eâdem trutinâ, it is no flattery to fay, that you, my Lord, were not only fuperior, but even unrivalled by him, as well as by all who have ever appeared on the great stage of the world. As a Writer, I take Mr. Murphy, rather to excel you, except in points of orthography: as an Actor, he can form no pretenfion to an equality. Nature, indeed, in her utmoft fimplicity, we admire in Mr. Murphy; but art, art, characterizes your Lordship." Our Dedicator proceeds in the fame ftrain to rally his Lordship for the real or fuppofed countenance he hath given to fome other favoured Writers; while we fuppofe he hath neglected the Dedicator.Hinc illa lachrymæ, no doubt! Art. 23. A Report from the Committee appointed (upon the 27th Day of January, 1763) to Enquire into the State of the Private Madhoufes in this Kingdom. With the Proceedings of the Houfe theretipon. Published by Order of the House of Commons.. Folio. Is. Whifton, &c. It appears from this Enquiry, that there are perfons who keep private Madhouses, (as they are called) who do not require any affurance, or even pretence, of the infanity of those who are committed to their care; taking upon themselves to keep perfons confined, when charged with drunkennefs, or other mifconduct, by the friends or relations bringing them. One of the Keepers of these houses, being asked by the Committee, upon what authority he received and confined such persons ? frankly replied, upon the authority of the perfons who brought them; adding, that out of the whole number he had confined during fix years, he had never admitted one as a lunatic. The particular cafes here enquired into, are but few. To obviate, however, any objection which might thence arife, that fuch cafes are rarely to be met with, and only the abuse and misconduct of fome few perfons, the Committee report, that a variety of other inftances, arifing in other houfes, offered themselves for examination. But that the Committee were restrained, out of a regard to the peace and fatisfaction of private families, from entering into the examination of more cafes than they judged to be neceffary to establish the reality of the abufes complained of in the prefent ftate of fuch houses. The The Refolutions of the Houfe on this Report was, that the cafe before it, required the interpofition of the Legislature: in confequence of which, a bill was ordered to be brought in, for that purpose.. Art. 24. Some Confiderations on the proper Means of regulating Private Madhouses. 4to. 1s. Dodfley. As the Author of thefe Confiderations hath offered nothing but what will very naturally occur to every person of common fenfe, who employs his thoughts on this fubject, we think it needless to enter into the parti culars of his propofals; the Gentlemen appointed to bring in the bill which hath been moved for in the Houfe of Commons, relating to this interefting affair, will, doubtlefs avail themselves of all hints that may be likely to answer the purposes of prevention, as well as of redrefs, in regard to the grievances reprefented, and which aro fo justly the object of complaint. Art. 25. A demand, fays this Recapitulator, being now made by the King of Pruffia for damages and ravages committed by us, while we poffeffed Eaft-Friesland, it may not be amifs to fet this affair in a clear light; and I am the better able to execute this,, as I was at Embden on the first eftablishment of their India Company, was an Officer in that department there, and ftaid many months after the English garrison were taken by the French." We would not advise the Reader, however, to lay too much ftrefs on the circumftance of this Writer's refidence in Embden: the advantages he feems to have reaped from it, being only fuch information as he picked up from his communication with people of the lowest rank; as ignorant of the motives as incompetent Judges of the actions of their fuperiors. That the city of Embden might fuffer fome inconveniences from a garrifon of foreign troops, ignorant of the customs and laws of the country, is not to be doubted. But that the damage the province of Eaft Friefland fuftained by this means, can amount to any thing near the fum faid to be demanded in reparation, (viz. 200,000l.) is incredible. We are told in this pamphlet, indeed, that a certain perfon, paid the Eaft-Frieflanders for forage, waggons, boats, &c. what he thought was their due, namely, by cutting their bills in half: by which we fuppofe he means, he paid them half what they demanded. And this, in all probability, was the full value; for the Writer of this article is not unacquainted with East-Friesland, and knows how confcientiously fcrupulous the inhabitants of that country are, of impofing on Arangers. Indeed, this Writer feems, in the very next page, to conclude as much; where he tells us, that" a few oxen roafted whole, and a quantity of beer diftributed to the feveral Claimants, would have gained receipts in full from every Creditor to our Government there." A likely ftory, if they were paid no more than half their just demands! Again, with refpect to the misbehaviour of the English Officers, in violation of the laws of nations, of the country, and of the privileges of Embden in particular, we must acquaint this Recapitulator, that he appears to be a very incompetent judge of fuch matters. He thinks it, for inftance, a most enormous affair, that the Captain of one of our men of war, fhould infift on preffing into his Majefty's fervice, an English Sailor found on board a Pruffian privateer; and of course, therefore, fays he, a burgber of Embden. Now, to take no notice whether a native of England, by ferving on board a Pruffian privateer, becomes of courfe a burgher of Embden, certain it is, that whatever privileges his burghership (were he really fuch) might entitle him to, among the Frieflanders, he was, nevertheless, as much a fubject of Great Britain as before. We cannot help thinking alfo, that our Officers were perfectly at liberty to keep what tables they pleafed, be his Majefty's bounty to them, for that end, what it would at leaft, this being a point relative folely to the garrifon within itself, the inhabitants had no concern with that matter. In short, before we credit any thing of the violence pretended to have been committed in East-Friesland, we must have better authority for it than that of our Author, or even the corroborating testimony of his friends of Chelfea Hofpital, at the King's Head and eight Bells near the church, or even the venerable Taylor at the upper end of St. Anne's Lane, : Io lay truth, we are apt to fufpect our Author himself, by his style and manner, to be fome grumbling Invalid, or illiterate Out-penfioner, of the college: for, notwithstanding he talks fo familiarly of the Frederician Code, of Grotius de jure Maritim, and scatters up and down his fcraps of Latin, he is by no means qualified to appear in print. We hope, therefore, he is not in earnest when he tells us, this pamphlet is only" a prelude to a much greater work hereafter, namely, an impartial Hiftory of the late War." What an inundation of hiftories may we not expect, if the cacethes fcribenti should fucceed to the ardo belli, and every disbanded Soldier lay down his fword, only to take up the pen! We would advise the prefent Writer in particular, in the words the old adage, Ne futor uliva crepidam; at least we would have him reflect, that there is a wide difference between a Pamphleteer and an Hiftorian. Art. 26. The Statutes at large, Anno fecundo Georgii III. Regis; being the firft Seffion of the twelfth Parliament of Great Britain. By Danby Pickering, of Gray's-Inn, Efq; 8vo. 3s, 6d. in boards. Bathurst. This publication contains eighty feven public, and fixty-nine private, As being the first part of the twenty-fifth volume of the Cambridge edition of the Statutes, now printing by fubfcription; the prefent collection being publifhed, as we are told, at the particular request of the Subfcribers to that undertaking. It is, nevertheless, to be feparately fold for the general use and convenience of the public; a like volume being intended to make its appearance annually, containing the feveral Acts paffed in the current feffions. Art. 27. The Hiftory of the Excellence and Decline of the Conflitu tion, Religion, Laws, Manners, and Genius of the Sumatrans. And And of the Restoration thereof, in the Reign of Amurath the third, furnamed the Legiflator. Vol. IId. By John Shebbeare, M. D. Svo. 4s. Kearfly. In this volume the Author prefents us with the bright fide of the profpect; exhibiting the happiness of the Sumatrans during the reign of Amarath the third. The fcene, however, is, we fear, too defireable to be real indeed, we have more reafons than one to conceive, this Writèr to be no Prophet. But whatever be his pretenfions to prophecy, he certainly hath very little to panegyric; which, it must be allowed, is not the Doctor's talent: this volume being one of the most infipid and amentertaining of all his literary performances. Art. 28. Publii Virgilii Maronis Bucolicorum Ecloga decem: or, Publius Virgilius Maro's ten Eclogues of Bucalicks; made exceedingly eafy, and rendered familiar, by the private Tutor. The Words being reduced to their natural Order of Conftruction, and a very clofe and literal Tranflation. With Accents to regulate the Pronunciation in both Languages; together with a geographical, poetical, and hiftorical Index; the Arguments of the feveral Paftorals; and marginal Letters referring to a scanning Table for measuring the Verfe of every Line. For the Ufe of Schools, and private Gentlemen. By a young Adventurer in the claffical Way, upon the Plan of Dr. Stirling and others. 8vo. 2s. Davis, in Piccadilly, The title-page of this performance gives a fufficient account of, the work. Art. 29. The Loves of Carmi and Iphis; a Novel, founded on the Story of Jephtha's Vow. 12mo. Is. 6d. Field. The faccefs of Fingal, and Gefner's Death of Abel, feems likely to overwhelm us with a deluge of the new-fashioned measured profe, or profe verfe, or what fhall we call this motley fpecies of writing? Ere long, no doubt, we shall have the History of our own Times written in Fiugalian or Gefnerian ftrains; and be told, how Pitt arofe, fierce as the eastern blast! loud was the storm of war, low was laid the head of the Gaul, his teeth gnash'd on the ground, his hillies were dyed in blood. Then Peace profe; foft was the down of her wings: fmiling Love, and balmy Friendship went before her; and laughing Plenty, feftive Mirth, and youthful Joy, compos'd her happy train. Thefe, or strains ten thousand times finer than thefe, will, perhaps, diftinguish the age of George the third; while the genius of Milton, and Pope's harmonious Mufe, fly, blufhing, to fome other clime, where caprice has lefs influence, and talle is lefs arbitrary. Nevertheless, if our tribe of Imitators fhould, in general, acquit themselves no better than this Gentleman, or rather Gentlewoman, has done, the public will foon te fick of their fuftian performances, and exclaim with the Poet imitatores, fervum pecus! for never, except in Erskine himself, did we meet with a stranger hotch-potch of flowery flowery nonfenfe, bombaftic fanaticifm, and pious blafphemy. The Writer has taken Milton's Paradife, Solomon's Canticles, and Gefner's Abel, and from them all has composed such a hash as would almost turn even the stomach of a Moravian. Yet, it must be confeffed, there are in the compofition fome fugar-plumbs of the right Zinzendorfian kind, that would hardly fail to please the Moravian's palate: fuch as the following, which, we doubt not, will make his mouth water for more of the fame fort, and, perhaps, tempt him to purchase the whole. Thus, for inftance, The Devil eyeing Adam and Eve. "O ye lovely pair, doubtlefs ye were formed to partake fome unknown, fome fweet delight. Differing in fexes, there must be fome reciprocal pleasure; fome endearing ties, fome rich banquet-that angels were not favoured with." And thus the amorous ferpent embraces the wife of (according to this Writer's broad hint) the first cuckold: "the wily ferpent, [the Beau he should have faid] with burnished head and eye of carbuncle; a circle of crimfon girted his neck: his purple train, fpire above fpire, floated redundant on the ground. He lovely then, and not as fince, beheld with dread and terror, in sportive play and amiable delight, fprang round her middle, ran over her whole body, clafped round her arm, her hand: infolded her neck, and fhone in the purple rays of his vivid colours; faluted her lips with his filver mouth.". -There was a dog of a snake for ye! It was well for him that old Adam was not prefent at this fcene! it might have provoked him to make fuch an ufe of his pruning knife, as might have spoilt his rival's harlequin tricks for the future. Would you have any more Reader? You shake your head-we underftand you. You are in the right to decline all farther acquaintance with fuch a Writer; Eja! fudabis fatis, Si cum illo incæptas, bomine: ea eloquentia eft! Art. 30. A View of the Earth: Being a fhort but comprehenfive Syftem of modern Geography. By the Rev. Mr. Turner, late of Magdalen Hall, Oxford; now Rector of Comberton, Vicar of Elmley, and Teacher of the Mathematics and Philofophy at Worcester. Folio. 2s. 6d. Crowder. Of the many attempts we have met with, to render the science of Geography eafy and familiar to young Beginners, the performance before us appears the moft judiciously calculated to answer the end propofed. By confining himself to a few effential points, and illuftrating them in an easy and perfpicuous method, Mr. Turner hath happily avoided that confufed multiplicity of objects, which ufually deter young persons from the study of geographical fyftems. He fets out with a general defeription of the figure, fize, motion, &c. of the earth; with the ules and height of the atmosphere; proceeding to such geographical definitions, fchemes, and defcriptions, as form a neceffary introduction to this fcience. He particularizes next the fituation and extent of the feveral kingdoms and nations in each quarter of the world, with their chief cities, distance, direction and difference of time from London. All thefe are exhibited in tables, so as to be feen at one view; a farther account 3 |