aqueducts. The winding road; the woody valley, and broken ground below ; the mountain beyond; the form of the bridge, which gave a claffic air to the fcene; and the obfcurity which melted the whole into one bar monious mafs; made all together a pery pleafing view.

"But it foon grew too dark even for the imagination to ruam. It was now ten o'clock; and tho' in this northern climate, the twilight of a clear fummer-evening af fords even at that late hour a bright efful gence, yet now all was dark.

A faint, erroneous ray Glanced from th' imperfect furface of things, Threw half an image on the ftraining eye. While wayering woods, and villages, and ftreams

And rocks, and mountain tops, that long

retained

Th' afcending gleam, were all one swimming scene,

Uncertain if beheld

"We could just discern, through the dim, nefs of the night, the shadowy forms of the mountains, fometimes blotting out half the fky, on one fide; and fometimes winding round, as a gloomy barrier on the other. "Often too the road would appear to dive into fome dark abyss, a catara& roaring at the bottom: while the mountain-torrents on every fide rushed down the hills in notes of various cadence, as their quantities of water, the declivities of their fall, their diftances, or the intermiffion of the blast, brought the found fuller or fainter to the ear; which organ became now more alert, as the imagination depended rather on it, than on the eye for information.

"Tiefe various potes of water-mufic, anIwering each other from hill to hill, were a kind of translation of that paffage in the Pfalms, in which one deep is represented calling another because of the naife of the waterpipes.

"Among other images of the night, a lake (for the lake of Baffenthwait was now in view) appeared through the uncertainty of the gloom, like fomething of ambiguous texture, fpreading a lengthened gleam of wan dead light under the dark shade of the incumbent mountains: but whether this light was owing to yapours arifing from the valley; or whether it was water and if water, whether it was an arm of the fea, a lake, or a river to the uninformed traveller would appear matter of great uncertainty. What ever it was, it would feem fufficient to alarm

his apprehenfions; and to raife in his fancy, (now in queft of dangers) the idea of fomething that might stop his farther progrefs,

Speaking of the village of Patterdale, he fays, "Among the cottages of this village, there is a house, belonging to a perfon of fomewhat better condition; whofe little eftate, which he occupies bimfeif, lies in the neighbourhood. As his property, inconfiderable as it is, is better than that of any of his neighbours, it has gained him the title of King of Patterdale, in which his family name is loft. His ancestors have long enjoyed the title before him, We had the honour of feeing this Prince, as he took the diverfion of fishing on the lake; and I could not help thinking, that if I were inclined to envy the fituation of any potentate in Europe, it would be that of the King of Patterdale. The pride of Windfor and Verfailles would fhrink in a comparison with the magnificence of his dominions."

Having defcribed the component parts of a view of the LAKE OF ULLESWATER, Mr. G. continues : "Such were the outlines, and compofitions of the view before us; but it's colouring was ftill more exquifite.

The

The fun was now defcending low, and caft the broad fhades of evening athwart the landscape while his beams, gleaming with yellow luftre through the vallies, (pread over the enlightened fummits of the mountains, a thousand lovely tints-in fober harmony, where fome deep recefs was faintly fhadowed-in fplendid hue, where jutting knolls or promontories received the air was ftill: the lake, one vait expanfe of fuller radiance of the diverging ray. crystal mirror, The mountain-fhadows, which fometimes give the water a deep, black hue (in many circumstances, extremely picturefque) were foftened here into a mild, blue tint, which fwept over half the surface, The other half received the fair impreffion of every radiant form that glowed around. The inverted landfcape was touched in fainter colours than the real one. Yet it was more than laid in. It was almost finithed. The laft touches alone were wanting.

"What an admirable study for the pallet is fuch a scene as this! infinitely beyond the camera's contracted bounds. Here you fee nature in her full dimenfious. You are let into the very mystery-into every artifice of her pencil. In the reflected picture, youíce the ground fhe lays in-the great effects preferved-and that veil of expreffive obfcurity thrown over all, in which what is done nishing touches, you with them only by the is f exquifitely, that if you with the fi fame inimitable hand that gave the sketch.

Turn from the fhadow to the reality, and you have them. There the obfcurity is detailed. The picture and the sketch reflect mutual graces on each other."

Of a view from HACKFALL (an ap. pendage of Studley Park in YORKSHIRE) our Author gives the following animated defcription.

"It is a circumftance of great advantage, when you are carried to this grand exhibition (as you always should be) through the clefe Janes of the Rippon road. You have not the leaf intimation of a defign upon you; nor any fuggeftion, that you are on high grounds; till the folding-doors of the building at Mowbray-point being thrown open, you are ftruck with one of the grandest and most beautiful burfts of country, that the imagination can form.

"Your eye is first carried many fathoms precipitately down a hold, woody Reep, to the river Ewer, which forms a large femicircular curve below; winding to the very foot of the precipice on which you and. The trees of the precipice over-hang the central part of the curve."

left, rifes fmooth from the water, and is fcattered over with a few clumps. The peninfular part, and the grounds alio at fome diftance beyond the ifthmus, confift of one intire woody scene; which advancing boldly to the front of the precipice, puites itfelf with it.

"This woody fçenery on the banks of the river may be called the first distance. Beyond this lies a rich, extenfive country— broken into large parts-decorated with all the objects, and diverfified with all the tints of distant landscape-retiring from the eye scene after scene-till at length every vivid hue fading gradually away, and all diftinc, tion of parts being loft, the country imperceptibly melts into the horizon; except in fome parts, where the blue hills of Hambledon close the view.

"Through the whole extent of this grand fcene-this delightful gradation of light and colours-nature has wrought with ber broadest and freest pencil. The parts are ample; the compofition perfectly correct. She hath admitted nothing difgufting, or even trivial. I fcarce remember any where an extensive view fo full of beauties, and fo free from faults. The fore-ground is as pleafing as the back-ground; which it never can be, when plots of cultivation approach the eye and it is rare to finu fo large an extent of near-ground covered by wood, or other furface, whofe parts are alike grand,

NOTWITHSTANDING the claffical

allution in the title, we have not often perused a work with lefs pretension to clafficality in expreffion, candour in manner, or judgment in matter, than this gloomy pamphlet. The Author is, we inderitand, a Mr. Paine, heretofore cejebrated for his work entitled Common Serfe, which was published early in the unfortunate American contelt. He appears to us a moody difcontented fpirit, Ever boding evil and ruinous misfortune, and labous with all his ability to perfade the Nation that her final deftruction is juft at hand. But we have heard too much of this fenfelets croaking for many years, to be at this day the dupes of it; and, notwithstanding the good-natured prophecy of Mr. Paine, we do not defpair but England may yet furvive even to, what he seems to think the will never reach, the end of the year 1788.

It is much easier to pull down than to

build-A labourer with a mattock may demolish a palace, but it requires an Inigo Jones to erect a Whitehall,-Mr. Paine wields his pickaxe in a defperate manner indeed. The Minifter is a young Minifter, fond of himself and deficient in experience." "The management of Lord Chatham muit have been bad indeed, to have done lefs in the war of 1763 than he did, confidering the force and money employed; betides, he took the French teamen in multitudes before the declaration of war, which was very unfair, because it was like a mun a iminifiering a difabling dofe over-night to the perfon whom he intends to challenge in the morning." This is one of the flowers of rhetoric of which there is an infinite number through the work; in fhort, no matter what is the fubject, Mr. Paine is still one of those unfortu nate Genii that would not baye it fo.

The

The Author appears to labour under a kind of Taxophobia: Taxes, Taxes, nothing but Taxes, is his cry. "A Tax is to be laid on fhoes and boots, for the fervice of the Stadtholder of Holland: this will undoubtedly do honour to the nation by verifying the old English proverb, Over fboes, over boots." If a Tax were laid upon all blundering politicians and miferable pamphleteers, poor Mr. Paine might with justice raife this outcry; but we apprehend, that while measures are carried on with the decifion and energy, and the confequent fuccels, to which we have lately been witness, our countrymen will not murmur at purchafing an addition of honour and muchwanted refpectability, even at the expence of accumulated taxation.

But what becomes of the prophetic wifdom of this discontented fpeculift, when we have seen the dignity of Great Britain afferted, the peace of Holland reftored, the friendship of Rufiia and Pruffia fecured, the pride of France humbled to the duft, and all this without a fixpence of additional taxes? Mr. Paine may, it appears, ftill wear his fhoes in peace, undisturbed by the terror of a three-penny ftamp, notwithstanding that the Miniffer is a young Minifter, and England a defperate and a ruined nation.

But it is not to our pockets only that this Genius in politics appeals; he mounts the flack-rope of fentiment, and exhibits at a most prodigious rate.

"Ye gentle Graces, if any fuch there be, who prefide over human actions, how muft ye weep at the viciousness of man !

"When we confider, for the feelings of Nature cannot be difmiffed, the calamities of war, and the miferies it inflicts upon the human fpecies, the thousands and tens of thousands of every age and fex who are rendered wretched by the event, furely there is fomething in the heart of man that calls upon him to think! furely there is fome tender cord, tuned by the hand of its Creator, that fill struggles to emit in the hearing of the foul a note of forrowing fympathy. Let it then be heard, and let them too feel, that the true greatnefs of a nation is founded on principles of humanity; and

that to avoid a war when her own existence is not endangered, and wherein the happiness of man muft he wantonly facrificed, is a higher principle of true honour than madly to engage in it."

After this pathetic effufion of philan thropic wildoin, we hope, that hence forward Contention fhall be dumb, grimvisaged War fhall fmooth his wrinkled front, our fwords be hammered into ploughfares, what gunpowder is now in the kingdom be only used to blow up the mills, and one universal scene of peace and harmony reign over this diftracted globe'; for lo! at the word of this prophetic peace-maker, ́" Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna." But as this world must be peopled by men, and

as where there are men there will be diffenfion, we fear that all this fine writing is thrown away. Let it be therefore our policy to be prepared for the worlt; to face with cool but steady refolution, the threatening brow of our infidious adverfaries, nor for a pitiful faving in the beginning of a conteft, involve ourselves in the lofs of eventual millions; but above all, let us be cautious of the treacherous advice of oftenfible friends, who feel for us fo much more than we do for ourselves; who "hear a voice we cannot hear," and cry out on every emergency, "There is a Lion in the way, a Lion in the streets." Let us not liften to the gloomy fuggeftions of difcontented malevolence, even though vented through the refpectable medium of an eighteenpenny pamphlet, but as an irrefragable demolition of their affertions, and more particularly thofe of our prefent fubject look to the fact. Three-fourths of Mr. Paine's pamphlet are spent croaking over the national debt of England, and contrafting it with the powerful finances of France; yet a loan of 120,000,qoq livres has been open thefe three months in Paris, for which by no exertion can be procured more than 7,000,000. that be the cafe in London? and if not, why is the common fenfe of Englishmen to be thus attempted by impudent affertion, or delufive fophiftication.

Could

IS. 6d.

change characters. The Banker of courte obtains a " New Peerage," and the Nobleman, by impofing himself as bis fon on the father of his friend, proves that "Our Eyes may Deceive Us." Such a deception is however in our fober judgment utterly too improbable. That a father fhould in a few years fo far forget the lineaments of his lon, is very unlikely. That a Peer of Great Britain hould be fo little known, that a stranger returning and calling himfelf by his name fhould deceive all the world, even his very guardian, is ftill more fo; yet on thefe impoffibilities the whole plot turns. The obfervations on life are the obfervations of one who has read more than fhe has feen, and whofe reading has not been the most judiciously directed: they favour, as fome one has obferved, more of the circulating library than of human nature. The principal characters conftantly fuggeft fomething to us we have heard or read before; they are elegant but not natural sketches, and we are fre

The Midnight Hour. A Comedy.

quently able to anticipate their fentiments and their actions. Novelty in character, Mifs Lee has not, fave in one inftance, attempted; we mean old Vandercrab, the Banker, about whom hangs an air of originality which the other perfonages of the Drama are devoid of. The fentiments are in general well applied; the dialogue fprightly, polifhed, and elegant; the wit, what there is of it, pure. We mention this, because the pens of female authors are, by fome strange perverfion, more apt to run riot than thofe of male fcribblers; it is therefore to the credit of Mifs Lee's delicacy, that there is not the fmalleft thadow of impurity or double entendre all through her piece. But the charins of diction however polifhed, or fentiment however pure, will never in dramatic compofition compenfate for the abfence of what in the New Peerage we heavily mifs; an accurate difcrimination of character, and a thorough knowledge of human nature.

THIS is like all the French petites pie

tes, a lively intricate buttling Farce. The fituations are monftrous, but whimfical: the characters unnatural, but ludicrous. The ftory, in few words, is, A Marquis wishes to carry off the daughter of an old General, who promifes his confent to their marriage, provided he can produce the Lady in his cuftody before iwelve at night: the Marquis lays divers

plots; the General like a good officer countermines him, but is at laft outwitted; and before the "Midnight Hour" ftrikes, the young Lady is happy with her lover.

The dialogue is fprightly, and rather fuperior to the ordinary language of Farce; and, on the whole, we think it a piece not deftitute of merit.

THIS Gentleman is likewife author of

The Law of Lombardy, Braganza, Count of Narbonne, and other pieces, which have strutted their hour upon the Stage, now fleep in peace, and are heard no

more.

The prefent Tragedy is, in our judgment, decidedly a contemptible work, whether we regard character, fentiment, diction, or contrivance.

For the diction, Mr. Jephfon has, with a confidence more to be admired than imitated, prefumed to emulate the language, of Shakespeare-and fo far with fuccefs, that every one may fee who was his archetype. It may well be doubted, whether the language of Shakespeare be his forte. Eminently adapted however

as it is to his ideas, the fame phrafeology in Mr. Jephfon is ridiculous.-It is indeed "the armour of a giant in a dwarf's cuftody."

Here and there occur paffages intole rably trifling. In the fecond act Durazzo comes to vifit his daughter with the following wife fpeech in his mouth.

Dur. "I come, Olympia, to this chamber door,

To learn my deftiny. As we inquire From thofe who wake us, if the fun looks bright,

Or clouds obfcure him, and then fuit our garments

To meet the changeful temper of the sky,
So, by the colour of my daughter's health,
My mind is drefs'd for gladness or dejection."

Το

In this tragedy, however, we find fome paffages which rife into the genuine fpirit. The foliloquy of Mentevole in the garden, is among the moft fhining.

bound;

at a picture.

As dainty woman's lovom

breath,

ship.

Ment. "Falfely our poets deck the barbarous god

With 1ofeat hue, with infants' dimpling fmiles,

With wanton curls, and wings of downy gold:

He dips his darts in poisonous aconite,
The fiery venom rankles in our veins,
Infufes rage
and murderous cruelty.
Mar." The richest juice poured in a
Turns to a naufeous and unwholsome draught,
tainted jar,
But we condemn the veffel, not the wine
So gentle love, lodg'd in a favage breast,
May change his nature to a tyger's fierceness.
Ment. "Away with vain disguise! Mark
me, my Lord,

I long have lov'd this lady with a passion,
Too quick and jealous, not to find a rival,
Too fierce to brook him. She receives my

vows;

Her father favours them. Wealth, titles, honour,

My rank in the state, and many fair addi

tions