fome length *. We need not, therefore, repeat what may be found in the feveral places referred to. Mr. Carr continues to deferve the character which we formerly delivered. He preferves the wit of Lucian in language neither formal nor vulgar:' there is an ironical archness in his manner, which he has happily caught from the original; and the dry folemnity, or rather the gravity, peculiar to true humour, is preferved amidst the roar of the applauding table. Mr. Carr hints, that he may continue his verfion; but, though this may be, in fome degree, unneceffary, fince we poffefs the complete tranflation of Dr. Franklin, yet readers of different difpofitions may be differently affected with each.-If we were carefully to appreciate the feveral merits of the rival tranflators, we might allege, that Dr. Franklin preferves the dignity and force of Lucian with greater fleadiness, and that Mr. Carr darts the flashes of his wit with more dexterity and effect: the one is a complete rhetorician, and a powerful logician; the other gives the full force of his author's fneers, and points his irony often with great fuccefs. regard for Dr. Franklin's memory and his works; but justice demands alfo for Mr. Carr the tribute of a wreath. We own our There are a few words, fuch as abfolute fright, throtling, &c. which approach to vulgarity: pray you avoid them;' and, if fome of Lucian's infipid and doubtful works are omitted, the tranflation will not lofe in its value. In ages far remote from the prefent, men of wit were fometimes very dull, and fometimes, wanted prudence. To creep after dulnefs, can only ferve to benumb the fenfes; and to revive the language of riot, is not the most decent attempt. Several drowfy difcourfes, with a competent allotment of ribaldry, have been attributed to Lucian, by his editors; the omiffion of which would have done his memory no manner of harm. Of this the reader may judge for himself: long differtations, nearly a-kin to the former, may be met with in almost any great book; and the latter is repeated every evening, with modern improvements, in the emphatical English of Broad St. Giles's.' This volume contains the Dialogues of Lucian, and the, Triumphs of the Gout, in the elegant poetry of Mr. Weft. A Letter to Robert Heron, Efq. Containing a fer Brief Remarks on his Letters of Literature: by one of the barbarous Blockheads of the lowest Mob, who is a true Friend to Religion, and a fincere lover of Mankind. 8vo. IS. Wilkie. a true This judicious author has properly called him felf friend to religion, and a fincere lover of mankind.' He ex¬ * The first volume of Mr. Carr's tranflation occurs in our Thirty-fixth volume, p. 125; the fecond in the Forty-feventh volume, p. 444. Dr. Franklin's verlion occurs in the Fiftieth volume, p. 419, and volume fifty-first, pages 81 and 257. H h 4 poftulates 1 of his poftulates with Mr. Heron, fometimes in an indignant, but always in a ferious tone, on the bad tendency of many opinions, particularly his apparent contempt of religion, and his difrefpectful treatment of royalty. We have felt much pleafure from this Letter, and receive, with great fatisfaction, the affiftance of fo able a coadjutor, fince we have alfo reprehended Mr. Heron, and endeavoured to direct his fplendid talents, for he really poffeffes them, to a road more honourable and adván tageous. We hope he will follow the advice of this author, whofe candour and good fenfe render him not a lefs pleafing than able guide, The barbarous blockheads of the lowest mob,' is one of Mr. Heron's polite appellations of the literary men of the prefent age. An Efay on the Pre-eminence of Comic Genius: with Obfervations on the feveral Characters Mrs. Jordan has appeared in. Small 8vo. Becket. IS. This is a pleafing little effay, and greatly fuperior to the ufual ftyle of thofe authors who wish to pay their devoirs to the merits of a favourite actress. The eflayift feems well acquainted with modern literature; and his ftyle is generally neat, and fometimes rifes into elegance. In fupport of the pre-eminence of comic genius,' because it comes more nearly home to men's business and bofoms' than the diftreffes of a princess or a king, he scarcely fteps out of the beaten tract; but, if he does not inform the reader, he entertains without offending by any impropriety. To Mrs. Jordan he is very complaifant, perhaps a little too partial, but that fault may be eafily forgiven. Let us extract a hort paffage. The feverity of criticifm has denied to this great actreis the attribute of perfonal beauty. To mere beauty her real friends will readily relinquish the claims which might be made in her favour; for fhe poffeffes those attractions which are beyond all beauty, and above all praife. Her countenance prefents to the fpectator a reprefentation of strong expreffion and animated diverfity: the vivid brightness of her eye illuftrates every fpeech with ineffable power and unerring brilliancy: her laugh is tinged with the most exquifite humour, exciting at once merriment and delight: fhe poffeffes in an eminent degree the power of impregnating her voice, in its various modulations, with the effufions of fentiment, and the viciffitudes of paffion. Her prcnounciation is beautifully correct, and with equal fuccefs deviates into levity, or rifes into eloquence. We may truly say of Mrs. JORDAN, that all her attitudes are expreffions, and that every gefture is a useful precept to prefent competitors and fu ture performers. She reprefents, with a new polish, "Thofe nameless graces which no methods teach, Her Her general action, her lively behaviour, and her serious deportment, are all fupremely graceful; the feems to poffefs that by intuitive elegance, which others arrive at by long ftudy and repeated application.' Her admirer, (we mean it not in an improper fenfe) describes her in different characters. In the Country Girl,-She would and he would not,-the Romp,-and the Virgin unmasked, fhe is the principal ornament of the fcene. To the Strangers at Home, and in the Trip to Scarborough, she is scarcely lefs effen. tial. Viola, in the Twelfth Night, the plays with exquifite fenfibility; and the Irish Widow, with equal fpirit. We agree, in general, with the effayift; and think more highly of Mrs. Jordan's talents, fince the can render, in many plays, even nonfenfe and obfcenity pleafing. De Motibus Planetarum in Orbibus Excentricis fecundum Theoriam Newtonianam Differtatio. Auctore Guil. Hales, B.D. Svỡ. 15. 6d. Faulder. The Corollaries to the Sixteenth Propofition of the First Book of the Principia, are no less intricate than important. Our author thinks that commentators have fcarcely elucidated it, or at least not clearly and happily. Indeed he might have extended his remark to many other paffages in that great work; for the Jefuits, the principal commentators, are frequently more unintelligible than Newton. Our author has not only explained thefe Corollaries, and his explanation is both clear and concife, but drawn from them a theory of the motions of bodies, in very eccentric orbits. Where a few words are fufficient, he has interweaved them with the text, included in brackets; but, where it required fo many steps as to distract the meaning of the author, he has fubjoined the neceffary explanation in the notes. His account of the comet in 1759, and M. Clairaut's well-timed publication, relating to its delay, is very juft. Mr. Hales next examines the variety of the orbits, which a change in the law of centripetal force, or of the velocity with which the body begins its revolution, at any given part of its courfe, will produce, in order to fhow with what precision the former laws of gravity are established. This task he undertakes for the fake of the minuter philofophers,' who object to the revolution of comets, because they cannot perceive by what power thefe bodies are prevented from falling into the fun when they defcend to their perihelion, and to convince them of the truth of the Newtonian fyftem. In this, as well as in the former part of his little work, he fucceeds well; and we are pleafed to think that we may receive more inftruction from him on fimilar fubjects: Si a gravioribus detum vacatio?' Quænam optime, dari poffint graviora ? Improved Latin Orthography. Phedrus; or, Phaidros' Fables, in atin, adapted to the Use of Learners and others, by fome Change in the Spelling, together with additional Vowel Characters and Marks, Et. being Volume the First of the Latin Authors ww ich all are intended by the Editor to be published fucceffively in faid Manner. tvo. 15. Debrett. ; Though, in purfuit of learning, we fhould not be terrified by appearances, and, anxious to attain the end, should not be fcrupulous about the forms; yet uncouth and aukward modes will often reprefs that ardor which is effentially neceffary to produce even a falutary reformation. Our author feems little affected by thefe appearances: he can probably contemplate, with the predilection of an improver, the work before us, from which we have more than once turned with difguft. This is not an unjust cenfure; for, even in his Introduction, the pages are deformed by more than one ungraceful mode of printing English words. The end in view is to diftinguish the long and fhort vowels by different marks, in the manner of writing or printing them, and not by accents; to afcertain the founds of fome of the confonants, particularly the C, which our author thinks should be always founded hard like K; to divide the diphthongs according to the analogy of Greek, from which the Latin is originally derived. Thefe changes, in our author's opinion, will not only facilitate the pronunciation, without the help of profody, but diflinguish between fimilar words of different mean. ings, and, in general, improve the found. There is a vein of good fenfe, and much real knowlege, in the Introduction, though greatly difguifed by the peculiari ties of the author, which we fuppofe will prevent his method from coming into general ufe; and the Fables of Phædrus will probably be the only claffic published in this way. We fhall conclude with a fhort fpecimen of his manner, and it fhall be the shortest that we can felect. The want of articles in the Latin being a source of frequent ambiguity, the general and particular acceptations of nouns being thus left undistinguished; also the suppression of prepositions oft rendering the cases less distinguishable (the terminations not being sufficiently varied); it is the more requisite to mark the diverse acceptations by the present changes: ex.. manys put for nom, and g. s. and nom. and acc. p. but here four ways diversified. To find out the case, number, &c. by the context, is to look for and evidence it by the help of middle terms, or mediately, i, e, circuitously, and oft conjecturally; but this mode is immediate and intuitive, or self-evident: Ex. ditis, ye cat, editis, ye put forth, edit'ois, ais, tois, tais, pub ifhed; edit'ois, ais, ois ais, left, in dat. and abl. pl. where ten acceptations are differenced, which are ordinarily confounded and expressed by cditis only. Could the Romans be so gross as Τα to pronounce these alike? or cœcæ, sese, saxi as sacci, &c. or scelestis and coelestis alike, and so of a multitude of words, The Greek has iw, fut. of exw to differ. from sw without.' Mifcellaneous Tracts by the late William Bowyer, Printer, F. S. A. and feveral of his learned Friends. Collected and illuftrated with occafional Notes, by John Nichols, Printer, F. S. A. Edinb. 4to. 1. s. in Boards. Nichols. The learning and abilities of Mr. Bowyer have been fuffici ently evinced by his various productions in literature, formerly communicated to the public. The prefent Tracts afford additional evidence of his diftinguifhed qualifications; though, like many other pofthumous works which owe their publication to partiality, they have not all an equal claim to our attention. Several of the pieces in this collection were written by Mr. Bowyer's friends; particularly Gale, Clarke, and Markham, and a great part of the volume confifts of extracts from his correfpondence with the two laft. The literary remains of eminent men are generally well received by the world; for which reafon Mr. Nichols, by the publication of these Tracts, has performed an office not lefs the effect of friendship, than acceptable, we believe, to the public. Obfervations on Live Stock. By George Culley, Farmer at Fenton, Northumberland. 8vo. 35. Robinsons. Thefe Obfervations are the refult of a very intelligent enquiry, and great knowledge. They relate to horfes, fheep, fwine, rabbits, mules and affes, goats, deer, and poultry. He defcribes the different kinds of these animals, enquires into their origin, and inftructs us in the comparative advantages of each variety. There is a blunt honefty in Mr. Culley's manner, by which we are strongly prepoffeffed in his favour: he relates his plain unvarnished tale' with great candour, and ftrong appearances of truth. We find nothing which would inftruct or amufe in an extract; but shall enlarge on a few par ticulars we muft obferve that our author's Obfervations are not complete; for he exprefsly tells us, and repeats it with an anxious caution, that he has never vifited Suffex or Devonfhire. Mr. Culley is very ftrenuous in recommending particular breeds, as they are adapted to different fituations; and thinks, that if this fubject was more carefully attended to, England might fupport double its prefent number of inhabitants; fo great is the difference between the times required to fatten, and the food neceffary to increase, the several varieties to a given ftate. We are glad to find that the Lincolnshire breeders are weary of their coarfe woolly sheep; but we fear the evil is now too deeply rooted to admit of a remedy. We have often foretold the fcarcity of fine wool, from this caufe, and we now begin to feel is effects. Mr. Culley is a great advocate for float |