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ricans is paffed over; the disease which made fuch trash palatable begins to abate.-We are come to à folemn pause in our affairs-and may perhaps now be inclined to open our ears to the voice of reafon and humanity; which has been too long drowned in the over-bearing clamour of interested and hireling politicians.

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The prefent difpute can never be ended to the advantage of either party, unless Britain shall prescribe the terms. To point out the propriety of generofity in thefe terms, is one great design of the following effay. The nobleft feelings of a conqueror are, when he refolves to adopt the vanquished into liberty and freedom.' So fays our Author; and confidering the prefent ftate of things, thinkeft thou not, gentle Reader, that it is right feasonably, generously, and nobly Spoken! T-n-J.

Art. 21. Remarks upon General Howe's Account of his Proceedings on Long Island in the Extraordinary Gazette of October 10th 1776. 8vo. 1s. Fielding & Walker.

Blames general Howe for not permitting the troops to storm the lines at Brooklyn; by which this Author thinks our opportunity was loft, of crushing the rebellion at once. He fays, Had the commander in chief chofen to follow the judgment of the other generals, and ftormed the lines, the rebel army was at their mercy, and the war would have been at an end.-The terror of the foreign troops was then fresh, and operated in its full force; and the rebels never would have got men to enlift in another army to oppose theirs.-Whe⚫ ther general Howe acted wifely, in not expofing the troops at that time to the attack of a place which he might gain poffeffion of with less rifque, must be left to the difcuffion of military men who were upon the fpot, and knew all the circumftances of both armies; but the opinion that the entire defeat of the army in Long Island would have put an end to the rebellion, is mere prefumption; and, confidering the ftate and temper of America at that time, deftitute of probability. The Gazette referred to is printed at length, and makes up above one-third part of this puny production. Art. 22. Confiderations on the prefent State of Affairs between England and America. 8vo. I S. Nourse.

B-n-y

Against the American war; fenfible, not violent in favour of the colonies; totally against allowing their independency; abounding in new remarks, and offering heads of a plan for an accommodation, the terms of which, perhaps, will be deemed, as matters are now fituated, more favourable to the mother country, than fhe has, at prefent, any great reafon to expect. We approve the independent fpirit of the Author, and we will give his dedication to Lord North, entire, as a fpecimen of his ftyle, which is rather free than elegant,

My Lord,

HAVING, on a former occafion, expreffed an approbation and confidence in your lordship, as a minifter, which your Lordship very foon after convinced me was TOTALLY unmerited; I take this occafion to retract that praise which I am forry, for the interest of this country, was fo ill founded! In fuch a fituation, your Lordship cannot wonder that I do not subscribe myself

January 1778.

Your Lordship's most obedient humble fervant,
The AUTHOR.

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PHILOSOPHICAL.

Art. 23. An Analysis of the Electrical Fire; fetting forth, from the Lecturer's own Experiments, that it neither attracts, nor repels; nor is attracted, or repelled, by points; or, any other way; is not material, nor inherent in bodies, nor in the clouds, &c. &c. &c. By Thomas Kirby. Printed for the Author. 8vo. 6d. Sold by White. 1778.

This is a poor, ignorant, and, inoffenfive creature, who speaks ill of nobody, except us Monthly Reviewers †,—and that is next to nothing-whom he charges with having had malevolent defigns against Science itself, in the account we formerly gave of fome namelefs and forgotten pamphlet of his; which was, fays he, attacked by the Monthly Reviewers, in one of the moft malevolently defigned criticisms, against Science, that ever difgraced literature. He tells the Reader, however, that he expects to hear from these gentlemen again.' He does not feem to be aware that he has taken an infallible method to procure a fecond audience.

The Royal Society feem to have joined us in this confpiracy against Science. Speaking of the caufe of the preceffion of the equinoxes, he fays that Julius Cæfar, Pope Gregory, and our own aftronomers, have all foiled themselves at it.-In my Effay on Criticism, I published the real caufe, and fent one of the pamphlets to the Royal Society; and although it is eighteen years fince, the truth of it has never been acknowledged by any one, that I have heard of, excepting my unknown friend, Philomath.-But fome, who have feen it, perhaps are ashamed to own it, as it explodes all the spheroidical nonfenfe of Sir Ifaac.'-He talks too of having there evinced the abfurdity of the theory of the tides, more perhaps, than it deferves; the nonfenfe of which is all Sir Ifaac's own."

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In the prefent treatife, Mr. Kirby, to ufe his own language, gives us plenty of electrical nonfenfe, all his own. The Lecturer mentioned in the title page, it is to be obferved, is not the Author himself, as seems to be there intimated; but a perfon at whofe courfe he faw fome electrical experiments exhibited above thirty years ago; at which time, he tells us, most of these remarks were made; and fince which time he has never, he owns, been master of an electrical apparatus ; nor indeed appears even to have feen one. He talks of steel and iron being, perhaps, in one of the firft claffes of electrics;-of his having heard that a flight fhock was once produced from rubbing on a gun barrel;-of fire not being material, &c.' In short, the poor man is totally ignorant of the moft common experiments in electricity; and we take this opportunity of telling him fo, not out of malevolence,' but REAL KINDNESS.

DRAMATIC.

Art. 24. Poor Vulcan; a Burletta, in Two Acts. formed at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden.

Kearly. 1778.

Bow-y,

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A very tolerable imitation of the popular dramas of Mr. O'Hara. C. † Our critic here forgets that Sir Ifaac Newton comes in for a share

of Mr. Kirby's abufe. Edit.

Vid. Rev. vol. xviii. p. 181.

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Art.

Art. 25. The Cozeners; a Comedy, in Three Acts. As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in the Haymarket. Written by the late Samuel Foote, Efq; and now published by Mr. Colman, 8vo. I s. 6d. Cadell. 1778.

Art. 26. The Maid of Bath; a Comedy of Three Acts. By the late Samuel Foote Efq. 8vo. 18. 6d. Cadell.

A greater critic than the Reviewers, we mean the Lord Chancellor, having paffed his judgment on one impreffion of thefe comedies ; the proprietor, Mr. Colman, has fubmitted the prefent impreffion to us and to the Public. Of his own edition he fpeaks thus:

Some copies of fpurious impreffions of this comedy, and of the Maid of Bath, having been printed and circulated before the application to the Court of Chancery for an injunction, it has been thought advifable, in vindication of the property of the Editor, as well as in juftice to the deceafed Author, immediately to commit to the prefs genuine editions of the two dramatic pieces abovementioned, together with the Comedy of the Devil upon Two Sticks, which had been alfo, without authority, advertised for publication.

On inspection of the fpurious impreffions, it appears that all. the errors of careless and ignorant tranfcribers are there religiously preferved; and all the additions and improvements, made by the facetious Writer, are omitted. Many inftances of this will occur on perufal of this Comedy; in which, befides the refloration of feveral paffages always spoken on the ftage, the Reader will find a whole fcene, at the end of the First Act, and another, ftill more entertain ing and popular, at the beginning of the Third; both which were wholly wanting in the fpurious impreffions.

Unauthorized publications are not only always detrimental to private property, but commonly prove injurious to the Public; for the copies being obtained by clandeftine and indirect means, are, for the most part, as has happened in the prefent inftance, incor rect and imperfect.'

Thefe two Comedies, in confequence of their having been orally published on the ftage for fome years paft, are fo familiar to the Public, that a comment on them is almoft fuperfluous. They abound with that whim and pleafantry which diftinguished the Author, who was as negligent in the conduct of his dramatic fables, as he was warm in the pursuit of character. The comic perfonages of Aircaftle in the Cozeners, and of Flint and Lady Catherine Coldstream in the Maid of Bath, are conceived and written in a vein of humour peculiar to the facetious and irregular Writer.

POETICA L.

C. Art. 27. Bagley; a Defcriptive Poem; with the Annotations of Scriblerus Secundus. To which are prefixed, by the fame, Prolegomena on the Poetry of the prefent Age. 4to. 3s. Bew.

1778.

Not Scriblerus Secundus, but Scribleras Nothus, Scriblerus Vagrans et Suppofititius. It is highly difagreeable to us to find the name and honours of our old friend and correfpondent affumed by fuch a pigmean critic as this: and, certes, were he not now investigating the interior parts of Ethiopia, he would feel fore wrath and excandef

cence.

The

The poem itfelf is one of the moft foolish things imaginable. No fewer than thirty-fix dull, difmal pages are employed (as it appears from the notes, for it is impoffible to find it out from the text) to burlefque our modern poetry, particularly the prevailing tafte for figurative expreffion. In fhort, the Author is fuch a fumbler in his attempts on that fhy nymph IRONY, that we would advise him to give up the idea of publishing his next proposed Scriblerus Secundus,. for fear of the flagellations of our venerable friend. L Art. 28. Sonnets and Odes, tranflated from the Italian of Petrarch; with the original Text, and fome Account of his Life. -12mo. 3 s. fewed. Davies. 1777.

To tranflate Petrarch is a task for the first poetical abilities, fupported by the trueft and most delicate judgment: but it is a task of the forbidding kind. Interwoven with the finest poetical imagery and fentiment, there are fo many trifling conceits, that the labour of felection and exclufion would be at once tedious and difficult. The little that this author has done toward tranflating him, is done badly, and what he calls fome Account of the Author's life, would difgrace the pen of an apothecary's apprentice. L.. Art. 29. Prayer; a Poem. By Samuel Hayes, M. A. late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 4to. 1 s. Dodiley. This Writer complains of the wayward flesh' and original fin, and the Pope, and of a pharifaic knave' called Claudius; and, in truth, we maft own that his complaints are very heavy! The poem, however, obtained Seaton's prize, for the year 1777. L. Art. 30. Prophecy; a Poem. By the Rev. Samuel Hayes, M. A. 4to. I s. Dodfley.

Mr. Hayes feems determined to fart from the winning post, and begins here, too, with original fin; but when he speaks of our good mother Eve's fuffering • the forrows of conception,' we apprehend he forgets himself.-Having been Fellow of a college, he mistook conception for childbearing. Any one elfe would have known that forrow had little to do with the former. The poem ranks in merit. with that on Prayer, and, of courfe, obtained the prize *. L. Art. 31. The Fate of Lewellyn; or, the Druids Sacrifice: a Le gendary Tale. To which is added, the Genius of Carnbre, a Poem. By a young Gentleman of Truro-School. 4to. 2 s. 6 d. Dilly. 177

School-boys fhould be encouraged to fcribble, but fhould not be fuffered to print. The exercife of young imagination is always ufeful, but the indulgence of youthful vanity is often dangercus. We have here nothing to praife but the Author's diligence; and all, we fhall condefcend to blame, is the conduct of his matter, who' ought to have faved his bloffoming pupil from the public eye.

For the year 1776;-Matter Reviewer has put the first laft.

Printer's Devil.

L..

Art.

Art. 32. The Garrulous Man; a Parody upon L'Allegro of Mil-
ton. Addreffed to Mr. and Mrs. Miller. 4to. 6 d.
printed. Sold by DodЛley.

Bath

Vive la bagatelle! fhould this Writer have put on his title-page; for a more empty bagatelle have we no fear of finding. Art. 33. The Auction; a Town Eclogue. By the Honourable 410. I s. Bew. 1778.

I

Mr.

Half-drefs'd and unberoug'd she hastes away,

And weeping, bellows, in diftracted tone.'

Somebody has called Patience a fleepy virtue, but that Somebody was never, certainly, a Reviewer. In fhort, we have been fo pertered with this fort of trash, that, though proclamations have not of late been very fuccefsful, we must iffue the following,

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BY THE REVIEWERS,

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it hath been represented to us, upon the oaths of several of our trusty and well-beloved book fellers, that certain journeymen taylors, fhoemakers, barbers, Spitaldfields-weavers, and other handicraftfmen, and that certain appprentices, fhopmen, &c. have affembled in certain clubs, called Spouting-clubs, and, having there intoxicated themselves with porter and poetry, have prefumed to make rhymes, and discharge them on the Public, under the title of 'Squires and Honourables, &c. &c. to the great annoyance of faid Public, and of us, the faid Reviewers; WE do hereby ordain and decree that every fuch journeyman taylor, fhoemaker, barber, Spitalfields-weaver, or other handicraftsman, and that every apprentice, fhopman, &c. fo offending in future, fhall, for every such first offence, be chained to the compter, for a space, not exceeding twelve, nor less than fix days; and that they and each of them fhall, for every fuch fecond offence, be not only chained to the compter for the faid fpace of time (more or lefs) but be obliged to wear bobwigs, and flapped hats without girdle or buckle, for the space of fix months.

Given under our hands at the corner of the Adelphi, this 16th day of February, in the 29th year of our reign.

Signed,
MISCELLANEOUS.

L..

SCRIBLERUS. L.

Art. 34. The Cafe of the Commiffary General of Provisions, and
Stores of the Province of Quebec, &c. 8vo. 6d. Fielding and
Walker.

In June, 1768, John Chriftopher Roberts, Efq; was appointed, under the Great Seal, to the place abovementioned; but, in 1776, he, to his great furprize, found himself fuperfeded, by a new appointment of a Mr. Day to the faid office; without any reafon affigned, to the complainant, for fuch treatment.

This Pamphlet fets forth, more particularly than our limits will allow us to do, the nature and extent of the injury sustained by Mr. Roberts; with fome aggravating circumstances; among which, the infolence of office is not the leaft.-As, however, his deprivation does not appear (according to the opinion of Meff. Danning, Glynn, and feveral

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