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Art. 16. A Free and Candid Addrefs to the Right Hon. William Pitt, on the prefent Posture of Affairs, both at home and abroad. Folio. 6d. Cooke.

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Mr. Pitt is here warmly folicited, in the name of the dinterefted and truly loyal fubjects of Great Britain, in Europe, Afia, Africa, and America,' to refume the reins of adminiftration. The Author appears to be of opinion, that nothing lefs than the influence and credit of this great commoner can reitore our diforder'd national affairs to that hopeful and profperous ftate in which they were, at the time of that minifter's retirement, particularly in regard to the difcord which hath unhappily broke out, in the American colonies. We truft, however, that this is a miftake; and that means will be found to restore the wonted harmony between the mother and her children, whether Mr. P. doth or doth not chufe to refume the feals,—as it is here expreffed,-with too little refpect to the dignity of the crown.

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Art. 17. The Grievances of the American Colonies candidly examined. Printed by Authority, at Providence in Rhode-Ifland. London, re-printed. 8vo. I S. Almon.

A modeft yet pathetic recital of the hardships laid on our American brethren, by an act, limiting, restricting, and burthening the trade of the colonies, as alfo for greatly enlarging the power and jurifdiction of the courts of admiralty in the colonies,--and likewife eftablishing, by another Act, certain ftamp duties.'Much hath been faid in regard to the laft mentioned act; but, perhaps that for enlarging the power of the admiralty.courts, (though it will be lefs generally felt) is not of a lefs grievous nature; if we may depend on the account here given of the hardships which individuals may experience, from the natural tendency of an act which will let loofe upon the people, a swarm of those worft of vermin INFORMERS for the jake of the reward: wretches who have been the peft of every fociety, and the curfe of every country which they have infefted.

Art. 18. A Letter to a Member of Parliament, wherein the Power of the British Legislature, and the Cafe of the Colonists, are brief and impartially confidered. 8vo. Is. Flexney.

The fenfible writer of this letter, endeavours to prove, that, in point of law, the colonists are bound to pay obedience to every act of the parliament of Great Britain, wherein they are expressly named. He confiders the extent and diffufivenefs of parliamentary jurifdiction, throughout all the British dominions; he adverts to that chain of connexion and dependance which has ever fubfifted between the mother countries and colonies of ancient and modern times; he examines the plea of non-reprefentation, fo much urged by the advocates for our North American colonies, in regard to their oppofition to the ftamp-act; and he finally concludes, that the legislature hath done nothing but what it had full and conftitutional power to do: confequently, that the colonists, by hav ing denied and refifted this power, have been hurried into a conduct, Stured with an offence, bordering too nearly upon the werft fpecies of

treafon ;

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treafon;-a treafon against the ftate.'-So far, as to Law. With refpect to POLICY, the Author is clearly on the other fide of the question. He condemns the ftamp-act, as one of the worst measures of the late miniftry; a fatal addition to the blunders of their inglorious predeceffors, the peace-makers; and he speaks with the highest refentment of that plan of policy which aims at the attainment of an end, at the fame time that it profcribes the means ;- - the exaction of a payment in money, when the most effectual minifterial ftratagems had been pursued, to incapacitate the colonists from getting any. He conceives hopes, however, that the present administration will apply themselves diligently to the removal of all our inteftine troubles and perplexities; and that ⚫ however arduous and difcouraging their predeceffors in office may have contrived to render this duty, yet they will enter upon this great work, affured of the hearty concurrence and co-operation of all good men.'We fincerely believe all good men will concur in wifhing and hoping that our Author's expectations may not be disappointed.

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This alludes to what our Author calls, the ' degrading the British navy into fmuggling cutters and pirates upon our own commerce;' and depriving the colonists of the enjoyment and profecution of a trade, not only lucrative to themselves, but in which the whole traffic of this kingdom is deeply and effentially interwoven.'

Art. 19.
The Neceffity of repealing the American Stamp-act demon-
Atrated: Or, a Proof that Great Britain must be injured by that
A. In a Letter to a Member of the British House of Com-
mons. 8vo. Is. Almon.

This is one of the most confiderable publications on the subject of the prefent difagreeable fituation of affaits in our North-American colonies; and contains, indeed, more information than all the rest put together. Among other important particulars, the very ingenious and ipirited Author thus takes notice of the popular affertion, that the colonies are faid to be greatly in our debt, for the blood and treafure we have fpent on their account, during the late war:' that we may be able to form a proper judgment on this fubje&t, it will, fays he, be neceffary to review the cause and event of that war: the facts are these: Our North-American colonies, fays he, are extended along the fhore near 2000 miles, and backward not 200 miles, upon an average: the limits of these colonies are fixed by charter, and feveral of them are already full, though not very thick fettled. An immeafurable territory lies behind thefe colonies, which is not theirs, nor did they ever claim it; their charter gave them no pretenfions to fuch a claim: it is the territory of Great Britain, never yet located, nor granted to any particular fubject. It was natural to fuppofe and expect, that as foon as the bounds of her prefent colonies were all peopled, the would alfo divide this wilderness into other colonies, which might become a new fource of riches and power. But the French had perfidiously furrounded our prefent colonies by a chain of forts, and thereby muft have cut off all hopes of future increase to our dominions: in this cafe it was the intereft of Great Britain, it was abfolutely neceffary for her to remove the French; and removed they were, by a glorious and fuccefsful conflict; but did the Britons

alone

alone bleed during that war, or did they alone bear the expence? No, Sir, brave and generous as the Britons were, the colonists have not been a whit behind them.

A fingle colony which was planted about ninety years ago, paid near half a million towards the general expence: the four New-England colonies alone raised and fupported 20,000 men per annum, and it appears from good evidence, that they loft near 30,000 men during the fervice. In general, this war has made fuch havock from one end to the other of our infant colonies, that the flower of their youth are deftroyed, and the furvivors loaded with taxes, to pay the debts which were then contracted. In return for this profufion of blood, our colonifts have obtained the fecurity of their prefent eftates; they have alfo acquired per petual honour to the British arms, and a vast addition of empire to the kingdom, whofe fubjects they are. But all thefe acquifitions being chiefly imaginary, can never help them to pay greater taxes than formerly; and I confefs, it does not appear that they have made any other acquifitions. It is true, that feveral French and Spanish colonies are added to our dominions upon the continent, together with a vast extent of wilderness, but that is nothing to the prefent colonifts: their land is decreafed, and not increased in value by these additions, and their trade is worse instead of better; for the more land is to be purchased on the continent, fo much the lefs will any purchaser give for what is now occupied; the greater poffeffions we have on the continent of North Ame rica, and the greater quantity of indigo, rice, tobacco, hemp, flax, fur, and timber that are thence imported, fo much lefs muft each colony gain by her trade in these articles, and these are the commodities with which they pay their taxes. Who then have been gainers by our late war in America? The anfwer is plain, Great Britain has gained exceedingly.'

There are many other particulars, of great curiofity, as well as importance, in this very valuable tract; to which we muft refer our Readers for farther fatisfaction. The fum and conclufion of the Author's whole chain of reasoning is this: that our English fubjects on the continent of America are very little in our debt.-That if the debt were much greater, we should recover no part of it by the late ftamp-act; on the contrary, that we fhall lofe, inftead of gaining by that tax, because the colonists being univerfally difcontent, not without fome appearance of reafon, will no longer confume our manufactures, and even though they were defirous of confuming them as formerly, they cannot poffibly pay for them under so heavy a tax, but whatever fums we receive in the way of tax, we fhail lofe at least as much in the way of trade, and with this immenfe lofs of trade we shall fuftain a fimilar lofs of our best fubjects. Therefore repealing the stamp-act is the most probable way of fe curing the ftrength, and increafing the riches of Great Britain and America.'

POETICA L.

Art. 20. Pollio, an Elegiac Ode, written in the Wood near R—
Caftle, 1762. 4to. Is.
Is. T. Payne.

There is genuine enthusiasm, vigour of thought, and natural expreffion in this little poem, which is a tribute to the Author's brother.

The defcription of the caftle, that is a principal object in the fcene, has dignity and characteristic propriety:

High

High o'er the pines that with their darkening fhade
Surround yon craggy bank, the caftle rears
Its crumbling turrets: ftill its towery head
A warlike mien, a fullen grandeur wears.
So midft the fnow of age, a boastful air

Still on the war-worn veteran's brow attends;
Still his big bones his youthful prime declare,

Though, trembling o'er the feeble crutch, he bends.
Wild round the gates the dufky wall flowers creep,

Where oft the knights the beauteous dames have led;
Gone is the bower, the grot a ruin'd heap,

Where bays and ivy o'er the fragments spread.

These, and every other object in those retreats, where the Author had experienced with his brother the happy amufements of young Simplicity, naturally renew his grief and complaints for his lofs, which, indeed, appear by no means unreasonable, when we are told of this brother, that Him with her purest flames the Mufe endow'd, Flames never to th' illiberal thought allied; The facred fifters led where Virtue glow'd

In all her charms; he faw, he felt, and died.

Nervous, and elegant both in the fentiment and expreffion!-There is,
Likewife, confiderable merit in the following ftanzas:

How dreary is the gulph, how dark, how void,
The tracklefs fhores that never were repast!

Dread feparation! on the depth untried

Hope faulters, and the foul recoils aghaft.
Wide round the spacious heaven I caft my eyes;
And fhall these stars glow with immortal fire,
Still fhine the lifeless glories of the fkies,

And could thy bright, thy LIVING foul expire?
Far be the thought-the pleasures most fublime,
The glow of friendship, and the virtuous tear,
The towering wifh that fcorns the bounds of time,
Chill'd in this vale of death, but languish here.
So plant the vine on Norway's wintry land,
The languid ftranger feebly buds and dies:
Yet there's a clime where virtue fhall expand
With godlike ftrength, beneath her native skies.
The lonely fhepherd on the mountain's fide,
With patience waits the rofy-opening day;
The mariner at midnight's darkfome tide
With chearful hope expects the morning ray.

Thus I, on life's storm-beaten ocean tost,
In mental vifion view the happy fhore,

Where Pollio beckons to the peaceful coaft,

Where Fate and Death divide the friends no more."

This Poem was printed at the Clarendon prefs in Oxford, and is, therefore, probably the production of fome gentleman of that university.

Art. 21.

Art. 21. The Scourge, a Satire. Part I. 4to. 1 s. 6d. Almon.

The Author fets out with lamenting the death of Churchill, who, he tells us, left him his SCOURGE, as a legacy; and he seems determined not to let it lie unemployed: but whether the lafh will be plied with all its wonted force, this fpecimen, alone, will not, perhaps, enable the Reader abfolutely to determine. Yet this we may venture to pronounce, that the livin dog may at leaft prove as terrible as the dead lion. The prefent objects of the Author's poetic fury, are the great men w whofe names are numbered among the outs; while, on the other hand, his pa negyrics are lavished on the zons: but, as a specimen, we shall give fome lines from the Satirift's account of himself:

I am a Man,

Born a ftaunch Whig, and bred on Freedom's plan;
I love my King, his realms would die to fave,

But hate a Tyrant, and defpife a Slave.

Blunt in my manners, fimple in my sense,
I like plain dealing, and abhor pretence;
I never ftoop to irony, not I,

For I'm no Joker, and I hate a Lye;

I can't, not ev'n in jeft, turn white to black;
I call a Spade a Spade, and Hill a Quack,
Johnson a Penfioner, the Home a Scot,

George a young King, and Bute-I well know what.

I'm much too dull for metaphor, or trope,
But think of S, when I see a rope;
If Ranger talks of wedded dames made Punks,
The name, that firft occurs to me, is D.
Lo! two clench'd fifts, which each a purse contain!
Bullface the Bruifer rushes on my brain;

If W— is nam'd, I fay, perhaps I swear,
That certain ears should not be where they are;
But if the name be Smollett's, or Shebbeare's,
I only ftroke my face, and scratch my ears.-

I cannot think, be who will out or in,
To drink the Glorious Memory is a fin;
Or, having no great faith in Right divine,
To add, Confufion to the Stuart Line.
Accurfed Race! whom Heav'n, in direft rage,
Call'd up from hell, to plague an impious age;
And fuffer'd, fpite of groaning Albion's tears,
To wield their iron rod an hundred years;
O! may they ne'er revifit Britain's fhore,

But Brunswick reign till 'Time shall be no more!

Perhaps it will be deemed no great compliment to this Author, to fay that he poffeffes more than Churchill's Harmony; we wish we could

Born a whig! indeed!-fome philofophers might, perhaps, difpute this fact with our Author; but, certainly, every gentleman knows beft how he came by his own principles.

fay

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