L poetry; and we recommend it to him to think of fome other plan of making himself ufeful to the public. Art. 20. A Poetical Effay, on the Exiftence of God. Part I. By the Rev. W. H. Roberts of Eton, late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. 4to. Is. Wilkie. 1771. Some of the most common arguments in favour of the existence of the Supreme Being, are here given in blank verfe; and fo expreffed in general as not to do any difcredit to the Author. Two more parts are proposed, one on the Attributes, the other on the Providence of God. L.. Art. 21. The Village Oppreffed; a Poem: Dedicated to Dr. Gold fmith. 4to. I s. Robfon. 1771. This is a feeble and unpoetical complaint of the imaginary miferies of a village oppreffed. DRAMATIC. Art. 22. The Drunken News writer; a Comic Interlude: As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in the Hay-market. With a new Song, fet to Mufic, and fung in Character. 8vo. 6d. Smith, in Greek-street. This interlude confifts only of one scene; and the dramatis perfonæ, affords but one character, the drunken paragraph-writer: a fellow, not of infinite humour, but of fome drollery. The fong a pretty good Bacchanalian-piece. Art. 23. POLITICA L. An Anfwer to Junius: Shewing his imaginary Ideas, and falfe Principles; his wrong Pofitions, and random Conclufions. 8vo. 6d. Organ, in the Strand. We do not remember to have, at any time, read a publication which promifed fo much, and which has performed fo little, as this attack upon Junius. The blows which it ftrikes are fo very innocent, that we can only fmile at the zeal and the weaknefs of its Author. St, Art. 24. Afuftification of the Conduct of the Miniftry relative to Falkland's Island. In a Letter to both Houses of Parliament. 8vo. 1 s. Organ. This performance is verbofe and pompous; but contains no obfervations of any force or value. It loads with compliments thofe minifters who, in the opinion of many, have only difgraced their country, in their late tranfactions with Spain. St. Art. 25. Papers relative to the Negociations with Spain; and the taking of Falkland's Ifland from the English. 4to. 3 s. Almon. The parliamentary debates afford the best account of these statepapers. Art. 26. Proposals to the Legislature for numbering the People. By the Author of The Tours through England. 8vo. I S. Nicoll. 1771. Great advantages would certainly refult from the project which is here recommended to the legislature; and with regard to the method and form of its execution, the hints thrown out in these propofals might be of fingular fervice. st. NOVELS. NOVELS. Art. 27. The Brother. By a Lady. fewed. Lowndes. Prattling letters-fcraps of fongs-ends of verse-and la belle paffion, to captivate the milleners apprentices; with a difmal tale at the end, to diffolve their pretty eyes in a pearly fhower. The two little volumes may eafily be perufed in twice as many hours; and the Lady Fannys of the age, to whom we are obliged for most of the productions in this light eafy way of writing, will fpin ye one of thefe blond-lace and trolly performances, we doubt not, in the fame time. Art. 28. Belle Grove; or, The Fatal Seduction. 12mo. Two Vols. s. fewed. Noble. If we may venture to conclude, from fimilitude of manner, this is the work of the fame fair hand that furnished the preceding article; but the manufacture feems to be of rather a more fubftantial texture, the fabric fomewhat finer, and the pattern richer. Inftead of the flimfey materials abovementioned, we here meet with what may comparatively be ftiled right Mecklin and Bruffels point. Yet all the parts are not of equal goodnefs: though the defects we have obferved in it, as well as thofe in The Brother, are lefs owing, perhaps, to want of ability in the artist, than to that bane of all excellence in workmanship, burry to get the business done, however imperfectly finished; or, to speak with more technical precifion, not finished at all. Art. 29. The Hiftory of Mr. Cecil and Mifs Grey. In a Series of fewed. Richardfon and Urquhart. Letters. Izmo. 2 vols. Very fober, very innocent, but, we are forry to add, when speaking of a moral production, very dull. To thofe, however, who can think good fenfe and virtuous fentiments a fufficient compenfation for any deficiency in point of tafte, or of fpirit, this honeft and not wholly uninterefting work, may be acceptable. 5 s. Art. 30. The Nun; or, The Adventures of the Marchioness of Beauville. 12mo. 2 s. 6d. Rofon. Like most of the tales of nuns and convents, this narrative abounds with scenes of lewdnefs and complicated wickedness, unfit for the eye or ear of a modeft and virtuous reader; though fome indifcreet Protestants have, perhaps, promoted the circulation of fuch books, in the view of contributing fomewhat toward rendering Popery the more odious, by difplaying the ill effects of that fyftem of religion, in all its branches. Art. 31. The Hiftory of Sir William Harrington. Written fome By the foregoing epithets, however, we do not mean wholly to condemn Mr. Richardfon's productions. They have, undoubtedly, great merit, although that merit is not to be fought for in his endless verbofity, and innumerable minutiae of circumstances. His excellence lay in admirably drawing, varying, contrafting, and fupporting his characters; SERMONS. 263 characters; joined to his extenfive knowledge of human nature: in which great and capital refpects, he may be justly confidered as the SHAKESPEARE of Romance. The prefent performance appears to have been one of the earliest imitations of Clariffa and Grandifon. The anonymous Editor affures us it was written by an intimate friend of Mr. Richardfon's, who himself revised and corrected it. Admitting the truth of this declaration, notwithstanding it has been (not very fatisfactorily indeed) contradicted in an advertisement published by the widow and daughters of Mr. Richardfon, yet it will by no means follow, that Mr. Richardfon thought it, or by his corrections made it, a work of extraordinary merit. * In fact, although the hiftory of Sir William Harrington is far from being the most inconfiderable of the numerous imitations to which thofe celebrated models abovementioned have given birth, it is, however, at the best, but a faint copy of Mr. Richardfon's juftly admired ORIGINALS; for fuch they unquestionably are, notwithstanding the imperfections we have hinted at. Yet, in all probability, this performance would have been thought to have poffeffed confiderable merit, had not Richardson wrote first, and left its Author, with all his other followers, under the disadvantageous circumftance of a compariJon which none of them have yet been able to ftand. SERMON S. 1. The Grounds of a particular Providence,-Preached before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in the Abby Church, Westminster, on Wednesday Jan. 30, 1771. By Edmund Lord Bishop of Carlifle. 4to. I s. Robfon. In this very fenfible difcourfe, of a learned and worthy prelate, figns of the times" the following parallel is drawn between the " in the reign of Charles I. and thofe of the prefent reign. After endeavouring to fhew that the affairs of this world are all under the direction of a particular Providence, and thence inferring, that we should look a little beyond fecond causes; that we fhould lift up our eyes to the ORIGINAL DISPOSER of them; and that we fhould, with all humility, enquire what he may chiefly intend by each remarkable event, and what he would have us learn in the commemoration of it; he thus proceeds: We ought, in a particular manner, to reflect upon thofe crying fins which usually call down his heavy judgments on a land; fuch more especially as once attended on this day; the hiftory whereof is too well known to need explaining in this place. Nor are we lefs acquainted with the caufes that immediately produced them among the bulk of the people, at and fome time before this fatal period: namely, an eager impatience of reftraint and difcipline, a restless fpirit of difobedience to all order, law, and government; a refolution to fufpect and cenfure, to calumniate and expofe every action and intention of all perfons placed in fuperior stations. And I heartily with it were lefs obvious to remark, that these fame causes still * To which the Publisher of this work made a very proper and de cent reply. fubfift 1 fubfift among us, and in fo high a degree, as may be justly appre hended to draw down the like, or greater vengeance on our heads. So far are we from having profited by former examples, that wo have the very fame principles and practices revived in church and ftate, which upon this day completed the deftruction of them both; on one hand appears the fame, or rather a more flagrant and avowed contempt of every thing that is ferious and fhould be held facred; on another, the very fame wild enthufiaftic notions in religion are prevailing; the fame violent measures are purfued, and unfound maxims of civil policy too frequently advanced on every hand. One cannot but obferve the fame notorious, or even a yet more undifguifed infult upon Majefty, and open ridicule of every ordinance divine or human;-that fuperior growth of Atheism and profaneness; -those bold attacks on the foundation and first principles of piety and virtue ;-that enormous height of luxury, and lewdnefs and corruption; that almost universal diffipation, and abandoned dissolutenefs, which it is difficult to parallel in hiftory. When crimes like these become extenfive and predominant, 'tis eafy to foretel where they muft end. When by fuch ways any nation renders itself ripe for destruction, then does Divine Providence, concurring with and aiding natural caufes, proceed to inflict the judgment fuch a nation has deferved, by raifing up fome foreign enemies to infult and invade it; or by permitting its own unnatural fons to weaken and diftra&t it; or by both these together, which indeed ufually excite and inflame each other, completing its decay, and haftening its diffolution. What reafon we have from appearances to expect that this may fhortly be our cafe, unless prevented by a thorough reformation, a happy would it be for us were we wife enough to understand, and well enough difpofed to confider :-to difcern the "figns of the times," and take due warning by what befel our forefathers, that the like iniquity may not prove our ruin.' This is not the vague rant of an enthusiastic pietist, but the folid obfervation of a rational divine, well qualified for clearly difcerning, and rightly interpreting, the "figns of the times." II. Before the Houfe of Commons, at St. Margaret's, Weftminster, Jan. 30, 1771. By James King, M. A. Chaplain to that Hon. Houfe. 6d. Wilkie, &c. III. Before the Governors of Addenbroke's Hofpital, June 28, 1770, in Great St. Mary's, Cambridge. By Samuel Hallifax, LL. D. Profeffor of Civil Law in the University of Cambridge. Sold for the Benefit of the Hofpital. I S. White, &c. We are obliged to TYRO MEDICUS for his friendly notice of fome errors of the prefs, and fuch little overfights as every candid Reader will expect, and excufe, in a work which is obliged to be hurried through the prefs, in order to keep time with the stated returns of periodical publication. THE MINSTREL in our next. +++ Erratum in our laft.-P. 114, par. 3, 1. 2, for having se curing,' read,' having secured.' ART. I. The Minfiret; or, the Progress of Genius, 4 Poem TH 4to. 1s. 6d. Dilly. 1771. By Dr. Beattie. HE effects of ENTHUSIASM in poetry are fo very different from its influences on religion, that, though poifon to the latter, it is nutriment to the former.: Nothing can be more ftrongly characterized than this genuine enthufiafim! Nothing more eafy to be diftinguished Pope never knew it; he had wit, he had elegance, harmony,band vivacity; but he never was a fecretioribus naturæ confiliis, The ingenti perculfus amare feemed to be wit he did not underftand; was certainly what be did not feel. in Spenfes there is hardly a page which does not bear visible marks of it; and what but this could now re concile us to the, dry perplexity of his allegory, the frequently naufeating circumftances of his imagery, and the tiresome uniformity of his measure? It is fortunate for the Author of this poem, that, as he has thought proper to adopt the latter, he has the fame happy enthufiafm to: fupport and render it agres able. He gives the following account of his performance; ! My defign was to trace the progress of a poetical genius, born in a rude and illiterate age, from the first dawnings of Fancy and Reason, till that period at which he may be thought capable of supporting the character of a Minstrel, that is of an itinerant poet and musician; a character, which, according to the notions of our forefathers,, was not only respectable but fas cred. A poetical illuftration of fuch a fubject feemed to promife variety of amusement, and even fome topics of inftruction both moral and philofophical. Perhaps I miftook it, as well as my own abilities; however, in making a trial there could not The first hint of this performance, the Author fays, was fuge gefled by Mr. Percy's ingenious Eay on the English Mingrels, preAzed to his 1A volume of RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY, VOL. XLIV. T be |