to carry with them great force. To the prefent edition is fubjoined the fubftance of three Letters to admiral Pigot, relative to the cenfure which he paffed on fir Hugh Pallifer in the house of commons. The author vindicates the behaviour, and afferts the merit of the laft-mentioned officer with irrefragable arguments and we cannot but highly applaud both his love of juftice, and zeal for the national honour, when he enforces the expediency of again calling forth that gallant admiral to the service of the state.

An Effay, fhewing the extreme Ignorance or Malice-prepense of the late Rioters and Patrons. 4to. 6d. Kearly.

The author of thefe Letters, though not an elegant writer, appears to be a well meaning apologift for the Roman Catholics; whofe principles he endeavours to vindicate from the reflexions thrown upon them by the members of the Proteftant Affociation A View of the Prefent State of the Dutch Settlements in the Ealt Indies. 8vo. 15. 6d. Robinson.

This pamphlet contains a circumftantial account of the poffeffions, government, trade, navigation, &c. of the Dutch in the Eaft Indies. It appears to be written by a perfon thoroughly converfant with the fubject; and from the reprefentation he gives, it is evident that the profperity of the Dutch in thofe parts is haftening faft to its diffolution.. Corruption, oppreffion, and weakness, feem to prevail in every department.

POETRY.

The Candidate; a Portical Epifle to the Authors of the Monthly Review. 4to. 1s. 6d. H. Payne.

The anonymous author of this Poetical Epiftle is, it seems, an unfortunate gentleman, who having long laboured under a cacoethes fcribendi, humbly requests the advice and affiftance of Dr. G-, and his brethren of the faculty, concerned in the Monthly Review. The patient, it is obfervable, takes no notice of us Critical Reviewers, though we have been pretty famous for eradicating diforders of this kind. When the difeafe, however, in creases, as it probably will, there is no doubt but we shall be called in. In the mean time, though we have received no fee, we shall (like the noble-minded phyfician to a certain news-paper) give our advice gratis. Temperance in this, as in almoft every other cafe, is the grand fpecific, we fhall confine our prefcription, therefore, in a very few words; viz. Abftinè à pluma atramento; a safe, an eafy, and we will venture to add, an infallible remedy. For the too vifible fymptoms of this poor man's malady, we refer our readers to the poem, where he fays,

We write enraptur'd, and we write in haste,

Dream idle dreams, and call them things of taste;
Are feldom cautious, all advice deteft,

And ever think our own opinions best.'

If these are not marks of what we call the incurable METROMANIA, we know not what are. He then breaks out into the following mad questions:

Say, fhall my name, to future fong prefix'd,
Be with the meanest of the tuneful mix'd?

Shall my foft ftrains the modest maid engage,
My graver numbers move the filver'd fage,
My tender themes delight the lover's heart,

And comfort to the poor my folemn fongs impart ?”

To which we answer, No, no, no.—I grant it true, says our distracted bard,

'that others better tell

Of mighty Wolfe, who conquer’d as he fell,

1

Of heroes born their threaten'd realms to fave,
Whom fame anoints, and envy tends whofe grave."

Inftead of, Whose grave envy tends. This, we are afraid, is a bold ungrammatical tranfpofition, which even the licentia poetica can never excufe, any more than it can the following, where he fays, others can better tell,

How Spanish bombaft blufters-they were beat,
And French politeness dulcifies defeat.

When he was young, he informs us,

'No envy entrance found,

Nor flattry's filver'd tale, nor forrow's fage."

Sage, we fuppofe, is meant for another epithet for Tale, but furely this is a ftrange kind of fubintelligitur, and our author, we believe, has no authority for it. Pretty early one morning, the Mufe tells us,

The vivid dew hung trembling on the thorn,

And mifts, like creeping rocks, arofe to meet the morn.' How mifts can be like rocks, and what is meant by creeping ones, in particular, we cannot comprehend. Still lefs are we pleafed with the unintelligible expreffions of freuds well shrouded, and Hermes's own Cheapfide; nor are we fond of fuch compound epithets as, woe-taught, fate-lop'd, Jong-invited, pine-preft, virtue-/corn'd, croud-beffitting, &c. Whatever this writer may plead in his own behalf, we cannot entirely acquit him of pride, when he fays,

• My fong

Shall pleafe the fons of taste, and please them long.' Though he is afterwards modeft enough to add (peaking of himself),

Faults he muft own, tho' hard for him to find.' Hard, however, as it is for him, faults may poffibly be found by others in this poem. For our own parts, we cannot but be of opinion, that if this Candidate (which we fuppofe is his intention) fets up for the borough of Parnaffus, he will most probably lose his election, as he does not feem to be poffeffed of a foot of land in that county.

6

Mufic

Mufic in Mourning: or Fiddleftick in the Suds. A tragic comic, poetical Burlefque, neither in Profe nor Rhime. 4to. 1s. Faulder. Who would have thought fo worthlefs and infignificant a creature as Dr. Fiddleftick would ever have crept up into fuch confequence in the world, as to become the fubject of a poem, which, with fome humour, and in tolerably good Miltonics, defcribes the grief of all parties, occafioned by the departure of the doctor to Peterburgh!-We will not pretend to point out who this Fiddlestick is our readers muft fuppofe he is fome great and learned man, whofe abfence, according to our poet, is univerfally regretted. Let us hear a little of our bard's pathetic lamenta. tions on this melancholy occafion.

But fee! the mourners come! flowly they march,
In mock-proceffion, the piazzas round,
Where he was daily wont to bounce and strut,
And vainly boast of magifterial pow'r.

"Ev'n butchers weep," and moft fincere their woe,
For they lament the lofs of bills unpaid;

Bills long as taylors, now of utmost use,

To fave th'expence of handkerchiefs moft clean.'
He's gone to wade the Baltic's ruffled fea,

And stretch through Finland's gulph to northern climes,
Where, for a while, at Petersburgh's dull court,

His trifling tricks may please.-There let him stay;
There may he e'er remain !'

In this with all who know any thing of the coxcomb here alluded to will moft fincerely join. To thofe who are entirely unacquainted with him, this little poem, though not ill-written, muft appear uninterefting.

The Cafile of Infamy. A Poetical Vifion. In two Parts. 4to.

2s. 6d. Bew.

A kind of political pamphlet in verfe, very tedious and unentertaining, full of malevolence, abufe, and feurility, on almoft every well-known character that has figured in public affairs for fome years paft. The reader will meet with a large portion of fevere farcafm, violence, and afperity in every line: but, luckily for the perfons cauterized and fcarified, not a grain of wit, humour, or poetry throughout. That the author (who threatens us hard in his notes) may not have any reafon to condemn our want of candour, or fay that we cry down his wares without fhewing them, we fhall prefent our readers with a short fpecimen of his ftyle and manner; and for this purpose, as he is very fond of drawing characters, we will give one of them, which runs thus:

Next, fleek Sir Grey, when flabb'ring North blurts jokes,
With wonder notes his lordship's Attic strokes;
Fans him, like Gnatho, with foft Flatt'ry's gale,
Gives him apt hints for fpeeches by retail;

Mimics

Mimics his master's follies in all shapes,
"And thrives by those abfurdities he apes;
With parafitic patience feems to fit,

Charm'd by his lordship's common-place of wit;
In a choice manual digefts his puns,

And circulates them with a laugh that stuns.

Surely there is not merit in thefe lines fufficient to countenance or authorize the magifterial and felf-fafficiency affumed by this mock Juvenal, who attacks all ranks and degrees of men, without mercy. Obferve, good readers, how elegantly and genteelly he speaks of the clergy.

• While right divine to prieftcraft will allow
Full scope, to right divine these Aarons bow;
The better half of all dominion's theirs
By lot; the reft to crowns the mitre spares.
In fov'reign rule priests merit the first place;
For Heav'n (they fay) has founded pow'r on grace.
All grace is lavish'd on the crofier'd tribe;
Who then shall dare their pow'rs to circumscribe ?
While on the necks of princes priests can tread,
Under themselves they grant their king the head:
With his their facred fuffrages accord,

While he endures thefe claimants in the Lord;
But, fhou'd he once difpute their holy sway,
Thefe faints throw meekness, and her mask away,
And like true Doegs, damn, torment, and slay.'

Can any thing be more flat, dull, and profaic, as well as illiberal and unjust? and yet our author thinks himself a phoenix, and wonders that we should rank him among the * vulgus avium.'

We will not trouble our readers with any more quotations from this contemptible performance, which we shall leave to fink into oblivion. We are only forry that fo poor an architect fhould be fo fond of building † temples, which in a very short time muft moulder into ruin,

"And like the baseless fabric of a vision,

Leave not a wreck behind.'

An Elegiac Ode to the Memory of David Garrick, Efq. 4to. Printed at Cambridge, by Archdeacon.

Thefe compliments of condolence, fent to the public on the' death of Mr. Garrick, though extremely well-meant, come rather of the latest; and as they bring nothing with them that has not already been faid over and over on the fame fubject, might as well have ftill remained locked up in the author's bureau. As the writer's paffion, however, for elegiac odes, feems to be ftrong and irresistible, we would recommend to him, as good

* See Critical Review, vol. xlix. p. 393.

† Our author wrote another Vision, called the Temple of Imposture, and threatens us with more. See his note at the bottom of p. iv. of his dedication prefixed to this poem.

materials for his next performance, an Epitaph on General Wolfe, fome Confiderations on the Death of Charles I. or an Elegy fa cred to the Memory of Queen Elizabeth.

The Gray's Inn Affociation. 410. 6d. Bew.

Black coats dyed red, or lawyers turned foldiers, is not a bad fubject for a poetical fquib, and if it had fallen into good hands, might have afforded fome entertainment. Nothing, however, can be more dull, or void of wit and humour, than this little poem, which has no merit but that of being very short. Two lines from it may ferve as well as twenty to convince our readers that it is not worthy of a moment's attention.

In fair white jackets fometimes they appear,
Sometimes, in scarlet cloath'd, our eyes they cheer.'

Tony Lumpkin in Town: a Farce. As performed at the Theatre Royal in the Hay-Market. By J. Keeffe. 8vo. 1s. Cadell. The title page informs us that this farce was performed at the Theatre Royal in the Hay-market: we hope for the honour of the audience, but once.

CONTROVERSIAL.

A Slight Sketch of the Controverfy between Dr. Priestley and his Opponents, on the Subject of his Difquifitions on Matter and Spirit. 8.vo. IS. Becket.

Dr. Prieftley, in the Preliminary Effays to his edition of Hartley's Theory of the Human Mind, which were published in 1775, afferted, that man is not compounded of matter and spirit, but totally and fimply a fyftem of material mechanifm; and that there would be no hope of furviving the grave, if we were not affured of it by the pofitive declarations of the holy fcriptures.' This doctrine he fome time afterwards endeavoured to fupport in an elaborate treatise on that fubject, entitled, Difquifitions on Matter and Spirit.

The pamphlet now before us is principally written with a view to convince the infidel, that Dr. Priestley is no partizan of his caufe, no advocate for any doctrine that has the most remote tendency to unfettle the laws or fanctions of religion; but, on the contrary, has exerted his best talents in fixing them on the only foundation on which they can fecurely ftand, that is, the gofpel of Jefus Chrift, whofe refurrection alone has begotten us again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away.'

In the first part of this tract, the ingenious author gives us a flight sketch of the controverfy between Dr. Priestley and his antagonists, relative to the doctrine of materialism, and, which is an effential part of the fame fyftem, neceffity.