: "A certain Man," fays M. de Lolme, had entered into a compact with the Devil, by which it had been agreed that the Devil should gratify all the Man's withes during thirty years, and then was to carry him off. At the end juft of fifteen years, as the Man was celebrating the anniversary of his compact, and giving a fumptuous entertainment to his friends, perfectly confident that fifteen years of his time were yet to run, one of his fervants came and whispered to him that a tall lean perfon, dreffed in a black worn-out coat, wanted to speak with him he added, that the perfon had fomething extraordinary in his appearance. The hearing this meffage, and the account given by the fervant, greatly alarmed the Man, in the midft of his entertainment; he at once understood that the bufinefs was of fuch a nature that he must go and give perjonal anfwer. The Devil (for it was really he, as the Man had gueffed) told him he wanted to fpeak with him in a private room; and therefore informed him that he was come to fetch him. The Man expreffed much furprife, and remonftrated with fubmiffiveness, My Lord, your claim upon me, at this time, is quite contrary to our bargain: We have agreed for THIRTY YEARS; and only FIFTEEN this very day are* clapfed. Very true, the Devil answered; but there have elapfed fifteen years of days and fifteen years of nights. Does not that compleat the number of thirty? With all due deference, I think quite differently, the Man replied; I never heard, in all my life, of such a method of computing time as that mentioned by your Lordship.-I cannot help that, the Devil rejoined; it is the mode of reckoning which we now and have always used in Hell.-Saying this he fratched him off; and the Man never was feen any more. Even after fuch conduct as this, M. de Lolme inclines ftrongly to plead for the Devil in preference to the British Government, when it gave a fanction to the obnoxious Act in queftion, and afterwards, by additional claufes, rendered it more obnoxious fiiii. From the fluid called light our author makes a very natural, or rather, we fhould fay, a very political, tranfition to the fluid called water; in the course of which, though fill at the expence of Government, man compliments are paid to the Gentlemen of the New River Company. But abfurdity is not the only defect with which he is difpofed to reproach the window-light tax. It carries with it, he fays, an appearance of infult on the understandings of people. Being made to pay for the light of day, gives too obvious an appearance of flavishness to the whole frame of the Government; nor does M. de Lolme fcruple to add, that the tax upon windowlights has a tendency to endanger by its com pany, the whole mafs of the other taxes. [To be concluded in our next.] Domesday-Book Illuftrated. By Robert Keiham. 8vo. 6s. Brooke. printed by order of the House of Lords; which, being a curious imitation of the characters ufed in writing the original record, is from that circumftance, as well as from the total defect of tables and indexes to the feveral particulars and parts of its valuable contents, lets extenfively nfeful than is to be defired in a work of fo much general importance. Mr. Kelham's publication is alfo defirable to the general reader, as containing much historic and authentic information, and as an affiftance to the perufal of the more Are and have, employed as auxiliaries to one and the fame verb, form a grofs folecifm in language. M. de Lolme well knows the difference between the two French auxiliary verbs, Avoir and Etre. That difference is the fame in our English auxiliaries ; and it could alone proceed from a flip of attention, when our author confounded them together. As a foreigner, we have, in general, reason to admire his language, while we venerate his principles. antient law writers, hiftorians and records. It confifts of, 1. An account of the original compilation and general contents of this record. 2. The order in which the feveral counties are arranged in Domesday, with proper references. 3. A lift of all the tenants in Capite or Serjanty in the feveral counties therein mentioned, with historic notes concern IF ing them. 4. A tranflation of the difficult paffages in Domesday, with explanations of the arbitrary characters, and of the terins and abbreviations therein ufed. 5. An alphabetical table of the names of all the tenants in Capite and Serjanty, with hiftorical notes, and references to the pages in Domesday where they are mentioned. Henrietta of Gerftenfield: A German Story. 12mo. 2s. 6d. La ne. there were as much probability in the fable of this little piece as there is intereft in the few incidents of which it is compofed, we fhould not hesitate to pronounce it a masterly performance. The ftory may be comprifed in a very few words, and is briefly as follows. A veteran officer in the Pruffian fervice happens to be quartered under the roof of a clergyman. In this fituation, the officer, confiderably as he is advanced in years, infenfibly forms an attachment, unaccountable as it is irresistible, to a young lady, who had been a foundling, but whom his reverend hoft had generously made a daughter by adop tion. The fair foundling is reprefented to be poffeffed of many fine accomplishments, for which she is chiefly in debted to the care that had been taken of her education by a lady in the neigh bourhood, who kept a fchool. length it appears that these ladies (who never, it is to be obferved, had the fmallest knowledge of their relationship to each other) are the officer's own wife and daughter, whom, amidst the calamities of war, he had loft, in confequence of the deftruction of the town in which they lived, by the arms of a triumphant enemy. From that period, having been in conftant fervice, he could never receive any fatisfactory intelligence concerning either of them, till the prefent happy difcovery; which, it must be confeffed, the author manages with considerable skill and addrefs. At All the characters in the piece are amiable, because they are virtuous; and, having ourselves experienced no fmall pleasure from the story of Henrietta of Gerftenfield, we feel a fatisfaction in recommending it to the general notice of our readers. Advice to Mothers, Wives and Husbands: With Admonitions to others in various Situations in Life. By a Lady. 2s. 6d. Belli. WE took up the performance now before us with a fincere difpofition to believe it in reality, as announced, the production of a female pen; but, from the perufal of a very few pages, foon vere we convinced that we had been egregiously duped, and that our pretended lady never had a right, under any pretext, to affume petticoats, unless it might be at a nocturnal hop within the purlicus of Billingfgate or St. Giles's; where, like their betters in the more fafhionable circles, the inhabitants often appear in masquerade. Of the language of thofe regions he feems to be fo highly enamoured as frequently to ufe it in addreffing perfonages of the firft diftinction in the kingdom. With the merits of Juvenal and Horace, nevertheless, fe affects to be perfectly familiar; and, as a proof of her taste, as well as difpofition, he not only prefers the fplenetic aufterity of the former to the good-humoured courtesy of the latter, but declares herfelf better pleafed with the rancorous malignity of a Kenrick, than with the polifhed gentlenefs of an Addifon.-Whether there be any thing like female delicacy or foftnefs in expreffions and fentiments like thefe, we fubmit to the decifion of every intelligent reader, who is not himfelf, like the writer of the pages un der confideration, an actual Cynic. Poems and Effays. By a Ladv, lately deceafed. 2 vols. fmall 8vo. 7s, fewed. Gruttwell, Bath. THE pieces that form this collection (which is published for the benefit of the Hofpital at Bath) discover the author to have poffeffed a delicate mind, fraught with the pureft principles of morality and religion; and highly dues it Dilly, London, intereft our fenfibility when we hear, that they were written to relieve the tedious hours of pain and fick nefs, to which he was doomed for ten years in the prime of life, The Animadverfions on the political Part of the Preface to Bellendenus. Svo. 1788. THI Debrett. HIS is a very flimfy production. Indeed more has been faid both for and against the extraordinary preface to Bellendenus than the importance of the fubject demanded. As an elegant and a claffical compofition, it ranks very high; but furely they over-rate its merit, who fuppofe the arguments, or rather declamations contained in it, are such as would fway the judgment of any difpaffionate man; and if fo, why need it be anfwered?-There is as little fpirit as fenfe in combating an imaginary giant. The author has put himself in a heat in the purfuit, and after all has caught a phantom. Fatal Follies: Or, the Hiftory of the Countefs of Stanmore. 4 vols. 12mo. 108. fewed. Robinsons. The Adventures of Numa Pompilius, Second King of Rome. Tranflated from the French of M. de Florian. 2 vols. fmall 8vo. 6s. Boards. Dilly. THIS is the firft inftance, we believe, in which the hiftory of an ancient Roman King has been exhibited to the world in the form of a modern French novel; but from the specimen now before us, we are far from wishing that it may be the laft. We recollect to have read the work with no fmall delight, when it originally appeared in French. M. de Florian is truly an elegant, as well as a fpirited writer; and the tranflation is executed not only with fidelity, but with tafte. The Happy Art of Teazing. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. Boards. Jamefon. TEAZING!—Yes, reader, fo has this wretched novel proved to us; and fo infallibly will it prove to thee, fhouldft thou, like us, be doomed to the perufal of it. The author pretends to poflefs the "happy art;" but in no part of the work do we difcover a felicity of execution. It perpetually, on the contrary, tends to excite what, vulglarly, we hear styled, the horrors, and ought to have been entitled-as a truly admirable work, of a very different complexion, was, almoft half a century ago-" The Art of Tormenting."-With that Art, instead of being either teazed or tormented, we recollect to have been fingu. larly delighted. *The Countess of Stanmore, gentle reader, is neither more nor less than the famous Lady St-th-e. Stanmore is the reprefentative of her fon, the Earl of St—the ; as Lord Lindores is of her Ladyship's quondam cecifbeo-or gallant, as the fcandalous world styled him-Mr. Gy. In the character of Sir John Seabright, he that runs may read that the author intended to delineate the very features which fo ftrikingly diftinguish the manners and difpofition of the grand Hero of the piece, Mr. B- -es himfelf. Brother Peter to Brother Tom. An Expoftulatory Epiftle By Peter Pindar, Efq. 4to. 2s. 6d. Kearsley. PETER ETER's wonted fpirit appears in this production to have completely evaporated. We have neither the quaintnefs, the ridicule, nor the humcur of his former works. Whether it be that his fubject is too barren to furnish him longer with ideas, or that, as has been infinu. ated, the edge of his fatire is rebated by a golden fhield; certain it is, his Mufe fingeth not as heretofore. As admirers of her former ftrains, we are forry for her hoarfeneis, tho' it fhould partake of the nature of Demofthenes's Arguranchina, or Silver Quinfey. After all, perhaps, we have had enough of Peter Pindar. Let him remember old Horace, "Solve fenefcentem mature fanus equum ne "Peccet ad extremum ridendus et ilia ducat." The Country Book-Club. A Poem. Printed for the Author. 4to. 2s. 6d. Lowndes. WITH the characters and hiftory of this little poem we profefs ourselves unacquainted. If we estimate its merits by its fubfcription, they are confiderable, for the names fill four quarto pages. The fubfcribers, if they are fatisfied with their bargain, must have bet ter eyes to difcover and better taftes to relish the beauties of the work than we. It reminds us of Goldfmith's Deferted Village in more places than one; but, alas ! it is no more like to Goldfmith, than we to Hercules. Midfummer Holidays: Or, a Leng Story. Written for the Improvement of Young Folk. 8vo. 18. A Mifnomer--a palpable misnomer !-- We have read the Midfummer Holidays with fo much pleasure, that, far from thinking the ftory long, we are inclined to regret that it fhould be fo Jhurt. Our feelings--what is beft of all too, our moral feelings--are perpetually kept alive by it. Yet is it a story without plot, and almoft without incident; the grand object of the author being to exhibit in a contrafted light the very contrafted manners that refult from the education of one youth on principles of de The Progrefs of Mufic: An Ode. Marshall. cency and moral order, and of another who has experienced no tuition, but what had been fuggefted by the dictates of folly, of fashion, or of caprice. There are readers who look down upon fuch diminutive works as that before us; but we are by no means inclined to be fo fupercilious; and this we affert as a fundamental truth, that nothing ought to be efteemed little which tends in any degree to enlarge in the heart of man the principles of virtue. Occafioned by the Grand Celebration at the MUSIC has indeed made a very rapid progrefs in England for fome time paft; but we are afraid that with this progrefs Poetry,---which to us is the very foul of mufic---has by no means kept pace; nor does the God of Verfe feem in any degree difpofed to affift our prefent Ode-Maker in accelerating the fteps of our too tardy Mufc. Perpetually does he offend against the laws of grammar, as well as of rhyme; and often, when he evidently intends that we fhould hold up our hands with an admiration of the fublimity of his lays, producing a very different effect, he makes us ready to thake our fides with laughter at himself. In a word, if this gentleman knows as little of the harmony of mufic as he manifeftly does of the harmony of poetry,. he knows nothing. The Mufe of Britain. A Dramatic Ode. "ECCE iterum Crifpinus! ---Yes, gentle reader, here have we again had an opportunity of enjoying a hearty laugh at the expence of another ode maker, or rather, like a fecond illegitimate defcendant of King Crifpinus--another cobler of odes. The author of the Mule of Britain, and the author of the Progrefs of Mufic, are certainly bro thers. They bear a strong family-re. femblance to each other; and, truth to tell, in all our intercourfe with the poetical world for a confiderable time paft, we recollect not to have beheld fuch another par nobile fratrum. ACCOUNT ACCOUNT of the TRIAL of WARREN HASTINGS, Efq. (late GOVERNOR, GENERAL of BENGAL), before the HIGH COURT of PARLIAMENT, for HIGH CRIMES and MISDEMEANORS. (Continued from page 281* J. FIFTEENTH DAY. MR. Pelham informed their Lordships, that it had fallen to his lot to make fome obfervations upon the answer delivered by Mr. Haftings to the Second Charge. And here he lamented their Lordships' rigid adherence to a refolution, which introduced a practice fo very different from that which prevailed in the Courts below, and which obliged him to take notice of this answer before any evidence had been brought by the accufed in fupport of it. The Managers laboured under difficulties unknown to any former Committee of Managers; and thofe difficulties were increafed by the number of friends by whom the prifoner was countenanced and protected. He did not mean to impute it as a crime to Mr. Haftings, that he had many friends and great connections. In private life, friends were a comfort; and powerful connections were in public life a prefumption, if not a proof, of great merit. But the friends of Mr. Haftings did not come within this honourable defcription. India having become of late years a place of refuge to thofe who had neither talents nor abilities by which they could raife themfelves at home, it was not furprizing, that thofe who had fled to that diftant country fhould make the accumulation of wealth the principal, if not the only object of their purfuit; and fhould be totally indifferent about the MEANS, provided they led to that ENDBut ftill lefs furprizing was it, that perfons of fuch a defcription fhould combine to crush all enquiry into thofe means. The forward zeal of fuch perfons in fupport of one another, was more like a conspiracy to ftifte truth, than a love for justice, and an eagerness that the accufed fhould be fairly tried. True friends, who wished for the honourable acquittal of the object of their friendship, would require that every fource of evidence should be explored, and laid open to the judges; for by fuch means ONLY could an HONOURABLE acquittal be produced. But thofe who confidered not the HONOUR of their friend, but the IMPUNITY of his PERSON, and the PRESERVATION of his ill-acquired WEALTH, Would wish to keep back every particle of evidence that might throw light upon the cause. Against fuch friends of Mr. Haftings the Managers had to contend; and from the VOL. XII. mouths of fuch men were they to endeavour to draw forth truth; and confequently he was warranted in saying, that the Managers had difficulties to encounter, which had never before occurred to any fet of men ap. pointed to conduct an impeachment. He begged, however, to be understood, that he did not mean to extend this cenfure to ALL the perfons who had been in India; some of them, whom he should call as witneffes, were men of fair character and unblemished honour: it might be invidious to point out any of them by name; but ftill he could. not help mentioning Mr. Stables, a gentleman who had been already examined, when the charge relative to Cheit Sing was under confideration, and whom he should have occafion to call again. This gentleman, he said, had contributed, both in the field and in the cabinet, whilst he was a member of Council, to fupport the character of his country, for bravery, juftice, moderation, and good faith. Having premifed this, he observed, that the defence fet up to the fecond charge by Mr. Hattings himfelf and his friends, both in Parliament and out of it, rested entirely upon the plea of NECESSITY. This was in general the TYRANT's plea; and though it might fometimes be used with fairnefs and truth, ftill it rarely happened that it was urged, but to cover a wicked purpose. If a General of an army feized upon treasure, or destroyed a town, folely for the purpose of faving an army, upon which the fulvation of the country depended, his grateful fellowcitizens would not impute it to him as a crime; but then the exiftence of fuch a neceffity ought to be apparent, and not imaginary. The feizure of the treafures and jaghires of the Begums could not be defended by such a plea; because the prisoner was not obliged by neceffity to commit this act of injuftice: on the contrary, that neceffity, whatever might be its degree upon which he rested his defence, was the confequence of his own malverfation, and therefore it became him to urge one crime by way of justifying another. The great fource of all the evils that had befallen the country of Oude, was in the refolution the GovernorGeneral had formed to make the Nabob take the temporary brigade into his pay to this measure might be afcribed and traced all the fubfequent calamities and diûreffes of that country Xx : |