My penfive mind) I catch with greedy eye A far-ftretch'd mirror fpreads: it's bofom fhews And cliffs, a theatre immense! When we behold Alp piled above Alp in horrible magnificence, we even tremble for the hardy Traveller -who dares attempt The GLACIER'S flippery tract, or climbs the steeps Like one wide ocean fhews!-it breaks,-it fleets! Clear and more clear emerging; now distinct In the fair plain behold the lab'ring ox, The buried hufbandman, and fhepherd boys The progreffion of imagery in the above quotation is extremely beautiful. This is the peculiar excellence of poetry, and gives it the fuperiority over painting. But the poet himfelf feems not more delighted with the grand fcenery of thefe wild mountains, nor does he entertain his Readers more agreeably with that, than with the liberty and fecurity which the inhabitants of thefe regions enjoyed while the circumjacent countries were involved in war. The defcription here is extremely poetical and animated : Thrice happy regions! could we mount the winds, Parthe Parthenope: yet far more pleas'd I range Here ancient modes, And ancient manners fway; the honest tongue The heart's true meaning fpeaks, nor masks with guile The little temperance afks, and rofy health Sits at the frugal board. While the poet was contemplating the prefent happiness and liberty of the Swifs Cantons, it was natural for him to reflect on thofe times when that happinefs was more uncertain, and that liberty was unknown. This he does in a very pathetic manner, and celebrates the illuftrious founders of the Helvetian liberties, Werner de Staffac, Walter Furft, and Arnold de Melchtal, who in the beginning of the fourteenth century effected a revolution in the cantons of Uri, Switz, and Underwald, and threw off the affumed power of the house of Auftria. The circumftances of this revolution were very extraordinary. In 1315 the archduke Leopold, at the head of near 20,000 men, defigning to fubject their country, and attempting to enter it at a narrow pafs in the mountains called Mongarten, was by the bravery of 1400 men totally defeated. The above-mentioned three cantons thereupon formed a confederacy, and their example being followed, other ftates threw off their dependency, and leagued with them, till by degrees they attained their prefent number of thirteen cantons. Thus Staffac, Fuift, and Arnold not only became the founders of public liberty, but from the battle of Mongarten's being fought in the canton of Switz, gave name alfo to all that tract of country now denominated Switzerland, but before called Helvetia. The battle of Morat too, where Charles le Hardi, the last duke of Burgundy, was defeated by the Swifs, in 1476, is here celebrated; but we wonder that Mr. Keate did not avail himself of one very poetical circumftance in the hiftory of that event, viz. that the Swifs afterwards built a church near the place, of the bones of thofe Burgundians who fell in the battle. After thefe digreffions, which arofe naturally out of his fubject, the Author returns to the scene of his poem, and gives us a defcription of a thunderftorm in the Alps. • The ancient name of Naples. Cc 3 -hollow -hollow blafts Heard from the turbid weft, proclaim at hand In fainter murmurs: In this description there are fome good ftrokes, but we mu own that, upon the whole, it falls fhort of our idea of a thunder-ftorm in the Alps; what follows of the defcription is ftill more feeble, and we fhall therefore omit it. The following winter fcene is better executed: Far other views chill winter's hand difplays, Th' incumbent fnow. The tall fir's loaded branch And faithless levels This is aceurate painting, tho' the scenery is by no means peculiar; but it obtains that propriety from the fubfequent defcription of the ball or mafs cf fnow called the Avalanche, which is frequently of a prodigious fize, and rolls from the Alps in particular feafons, rendering the paffages dangerous to the Traveller : Nor let him unadvis'd the floping fide Of the steep mountain climb, left from above It is a commonly received opinion in thofe countries that any sudden agitation of the air, fuch as the firing a gun, loud fhouting, &c. will at certain times occafion the Avalanche. First First mov'd, augmenting flides, then nodding o'er The falling promontory-fees-and dies! This description is followed by an affecting ftory of two lovers' one of whom perifhed under the Avalanche, and the other in confequence of that misfortune. The ftory is prettily told, much in the manner of Thomfon, but we would advife the Author to correct or omit a feeble exclamation, which follows "their wifhes," in fome future edition. We now take our leave of this elegant and entertaining performance, which must be ranked amongst our most valuable defcriptive poems. 1 Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Perspective Views of the Gardens and Buildings at Kew in Surry, the Seat of her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales. By William Chambers, Member of the Imperial Academy of Arts at Florence, and of the Royal Academy of Architecture at Paris, Architect to the King, &c. Large Folio. 21. 28. Printed for the Author, and fold by Millar, Dodfley, Becket, &c. Tis with pleasure we obferve the confiderable progress which the polite arts have lately made in this kingdom. The encouragement they have received, indeed, from perfons of the firft diftinction, and particularly under the aufpices of royal favour and protection, redounds no lefs to the honour of their Patrons, than to the credit and emolument of the Artifts. Of this we have a magnificent inftance in the work before us; in the execution of which the talents of feveral of our ableft Defigners and Engravers are eminently difplayed; the architectural defigns being drawn by Mr. Chambers, the figures by Signor Cipriani, and the views by Meffrs. Kirby, Thomas Sandby, and Marlow. The engravings were done by P. Sandby, Woolett, Major, Grignion, Rooker, and other mafterly hands. We wish we could fay as much in favour of the subject of thefe Defigns, as of the plates themfelves. But we cannot help looking upon the greater part of them rather as objects of curiofity than tafte. The gardens of Kew, fays Mr. Chambers, are not very large, nor is their fituation by any means advantageous; as it is low, and commands no profpects. Originally the ground Cc 4 was was one continued dead flat: the foil was in general barren, and without either wood or water. With fo many disadvantages it was not eafy to produce any thing even tolerable in gardening: but princely munificence, and an able Director, have overcome all difficulties, and converted what was once a defert into an Eden. We shall not endeavour to depreciate the merit of overcoming difficulties of this kind: but, for our part, we think that art never appears fo graceful as when the acts as a fimple attendant, or humble hand-maid, to nature. Lewis the XIVth, indeed, is faid to have raised the fplendid gardens of Verfailles on as unfavourable a fpot; but we know not that his choice of it hath ever been attributed to the goodness, or elegance, of his tafte. As to the gardens of Kew, they may probably be laid out as well as the nature of the place would permit; but with regard to the ornaments and buildings, we cannot fufficiently regret, that a fondness for the unmeaning falbalas of Turkish and Chinefe chequer-work, fhould fo far prevail over a tafte for the beautiful models of Grecian and Roman architecture. There are fome designs, indeed, in the present publication, made after the latter but a very confiderable part of it confifts, Of Mofques, Alhambras, Temples, Tings grotesque, in the execution of which the Artists have been employed fomething like thofe of the noble Peer, to whom, as Mr. Pope says, Some demon whisper'd, "Timon have a tafte." By this reflection, however, we only mean to cenfure the prevailing influence of fashion; and by no means to drop the leaft invidious inuendo against the liberal Promoters of the polite arts, and ftill much less against the munificent Patronefs of this fplendid and masterly publication. Me: Letters of the Right Hon. Lady M-y Wy Written, during her Travels in Europe, Afia, and Africa, to Perfons of Diftin&tion, Men of Letters, &c. in different Parts of Europe. Which contain among other curious Relations, Accounts of the Policy and Manners of the Turks; drawn from Sources that have been inacceffible to other Travellers. Small 8vo. 3 vols. 6s. fewed. Becket and Dehondt. W 17HAT Pope obferved of Voiture's works, may, with equal truth, be faid of thefe Letters, that All the • Writer, |