have about an hundred thousand new fubjects, all Roman catholics, enthufiaftic, bigotted, and fuperftitious, in proportion to their ignorance. This, undoubtedly, is a circumftance that the Adminiftration will duly attend to; as popish Priests in general, are too well known to be much trusted by Proteilants; efpecially thofe Prielts who, as our Author juftly remarks, have not only corrupted the native honeft fimplicity of the Indians, but added the horrors of French Chriftianity to the barbarism of Savages.

As to the main question concerning the Reduction of our Forces, and the number expedient to be kept up in time of peace, it is not debated in this little pamphlet; in which the Author is rather intent upon ridiculing the tim dity of those who are afraid of a standing army; and on vindicating our military Gentlemen from the afperfions of popular Declaimers, who reprefent them as enemies to civil liberty,—as the ready inftruments of tyranny and oppreffion.

Art. 7. A Letter from a Gentleman in Town, to his Friend in the Country, occafioned by a late Refignation. 4to. 6d. Becket, &c.

This is one of the moft fhameless Advocates who have yet appeared on behalf of the late Minifter. He prelages that "fome hard-ruled King will one day arife, and more than revenge the wrongs of his predeceffor." We are not among thofe who are terrified by this prediction; and we will venture in our turn to foretel, that whenever fuch a King comes, he will find a hard mouthed people. Among other merits which he afcribes to the late Minifter, he tell us," He has retired without place or penfion, difdaining to touch thofe tempting fpoils which lay at his feet." Who but the molt flagrant Zealot could prefume to make a merit of this circumstance? What pretence could the Minister of a day, make to a place or penfion on his retirement from fuch a fhortlived administration ? Away with fuch impudent infults on the undertanding of a free and intelligent people!

Art. 8. Le Montagnard Parvenu; or the new Highland Adventurer in England: His accidental Rife from Obfcurity; his glaring Progrefs to Power; the Ways and Means. 8vo. IS. Morgan.

The Author rails at Lord Bute, and the Scots, with some spirit; but it is the spirit of Billingfgate. He is a harsh, uncandid, and indelicate Writer: if it be not too great a compliment to flyle him a Writer. Poor Scotland! how unfortunate art thou in having produced a B- ! Poor B! how unhappy art thou in being a Scotiman!

Art. 9. A Definitive Treaty of Peace and Friendship, between his Britannic Majefty, the most Chriflian King, and the King of Spain. Concluded at Paris the 10th of February, 1763. To which the King of Portugal acceded the fame Day. 4to. 2s. Owen and

Harrifon.

A fubject of difcord.

Art.

Art. 10. A Letter to the Right Hon. the Earl of Halifax, on the Peace. 8vo. is. Newbery.

Moft plentifully lauds and praises the Earls of Halifax and Bute: his Majetty too, coming in for a royal fhare of adulation.

To what purpofe thefe effufions of flattery are fo abundantly poured forth, may easily be gueffed. But is not this a mean unmanly way of foliciting a great man's favour? In general we may obferve, that did the great man poffefs but half the genuine worth and virtue with which his Flatterers are pleafed to compliment him, his delicacy would never bear with fuch fulfome daubing.

If fatires and libels are deemed an abufe of the prefs, we think thefe flavish, fawning productions are ftill more intolerable.

Some Rakes and Libertines are moft fond of preying on beauty and innocence; and fo it is with thefe diabolical Corruptors of the mind, who often endeavour to debauch the most amiable and worthy characters. It is true, their manner is generally fo grofs, and their selfish views are so obvious, that fhallow, indeed, one would think, must be the penetration of those who are duped by them. But, nothing fo credulous as felf-love.

POETICA L.

Art. 11. Every Man the Architect of his own Fortune: Or, the Art of Rifing in the Church, a Satire. By Mr. Scott, Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge. 4to. Is. Dodfley, &c. "The plan of this poem, fays the Author, confifts of two oppofite characters; one, that of a bafe, venal, time-serving Scoundrel, who would defh through thick and thin, to come at preferment; the other, that of a worthy confcientious, honeft man, who cannot pull down his thoughts to the wicked, dirty, pelting bufin fes of life."Very good! though, to be fure, not very elegantly exprefied.

The worthy, confcientious, honeft man here spoken of, is the Author himself, of whom we are obliged with the following favourable por

trait:

No fly Fanatic, no Enthufiaft wild,

No Party-tool beguiling and beguil'd;
No flave to pride, no canting pimp to power,
No rigid churchman, no diffenter four,
No fawning flatterer to the bafe and vain,
No timift vile, or worshipper of gain;
When gay not diffolute, grave not fevere,
Tho' learn'd no pedant, civil tho' fincere;
Nor mean nor haughty, be one Preacher's praise,
That-if he rife, he rife by manly ways;
Yes, he abhors each fordid, feififh view,

And dreads the paths your men of art pursue.

But who are thofe Scoundrels, who dash through thick and thin to preferment? Why, thofe are any, or all of the Clergy befide, except the Author's father, who, he tells us, dignifies the gown.--We are really forry to fee a young man, of no mean parts, fo entirely poffeffed with the cæcus amor fui, as this Writer feems to be, in almost all his works.

Y 3

Sorry

Sorry we are likewife, that he ftands not in more credit for his confiftency than for his modefly; fince, at the fame time that he has taken upon him to abuse his brethren for their temporizing arts, and unmanly flattery, he has caft about to compliment the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl of Bute. And it is remarkable enough, that this very Mr. Scott feems to have gone out of his way, a patron-hunting, in almost every poem that he has published.

As to the piece before us, it is a feeble imitation of Pope, brightened up a little in fome parts, with fcraps of fentiment, and half lines parodied or picked out of the original. Unas et alter affuitur Pannus.

Art. 12. The Temple of Venus, a gentle Satire on the Times. By the Author of the Meretriciad. 4to. Is. Moran.

A dull dirty rhapfody." Fruits of falle heat, and footerkins of

wit."

Art. 13. Poems on facred Subjects, viz. the Benedicite paraphrased, the Lord's Prayer paraphrafed, Nunc dimittis paraphrafed, Ba-: laam's Bleffing on Ifrael, Numbers xxiv. v. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. A Hymn, the Trials of Virtue, the Ignorance of Man, Verfes written originally in Perfic, Matthew xi. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour, &c. By James Merrick, M. A. Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. 4to. Is. Dodfley.

The intention of these poems is good, and the execution is tolerable.

Art. 14. The Foundlings, an Elegy. 4to. 6d. Flexney.

Scriptorum Chorus omnis amat Nemus et fugit urbem. This Foundlingman locks the door of his garret, as foon as he feels the mufe coming upon him, flies down five pair of flairs, and runs with fuch prodigious hafte out of town, that when he gets into the fields, he is quite out of breath :

Far from the madding tumults of the town,

Which where bright thought fhould reign ufurp the feat;

Far from those tempefts which reflection drown,

I feek with breathlefs hafte a calm retreat.

As foon as he is arrived at this caim retreat, down he lies, fupine upon a mofs-grown bank, where Phoebus himself durft not fhew his face, except when conducted by the master of the ceremonies, Mr. Breeze: There on fome mofs-grown bank fupinely laid,

Where clofe entwining boughs exclude the day;

Save when by quick fhort fits amid the glade,
Sol feebly darts a breeze-conducted ray.

Sol, however, is not the only impertinent intruder. Mrs. Luna, proud of her filver fpangled pettycoat, makes her appearance, and, like another Lady ***, brings a whole train along with her. Nay, fhe raifes fpecies and devils and all, enough to fright an innocent Bard out of

his wits:

.

Or

Or when the filver-mantled Queen of night,
In filent pomp leads forth her fhining train;
When fancy'd fpectres guilt-ftruck minds affright,
Then wakeful ftretch'd along the defart-plain.

The

But ample amends are made him by the enjoyment of Lady Lonely Contemplation, who acted as midwife at the birth of Mrs. Science. heavenly sweets of this Lady it feems, unlike thofe of other Ladies, never cloyed our vigorous Bard in the least:

Thee, lonely Contemplation, to enjoy,

To whom fair Science owes her humble birth;

Thy heavenly fweets to tafte, which ne'er can cloy,
And rapture-borne range far above the earth.

That confounded noife which drove him fo precipitately out of town, is now fo dwindled away, that it has fcarce more effect upon the air than the found of St. Paul's clock upon Windfor terrace :

Now the hoarfe murmurs of the diftant throng
Subfiding, faintly strike the diftant air;

And that rude din which erft impell'd fo ftrong,
Now fcarcely undulates the whispering air.

Now it is that lonely Contemplation begins to work, and the poor town pays for it; a fad fcene, a giddy scene of wretched grandeur and glit tering woe; over which a black cloud is fufpended, like Sancho Pancha hanging by his breeches from the oak:

Here let me rest hence view with thought ferene,

Those realms of wretched grandeur, glittering woe;

A fable cloud o'erhangs the giddy fcene,

-And fheds dark influence on each mind below.

It is not long, however, before he difcovers a chimney on fire, in a houfe that was built by Mr. Virtue, an ingenious Defigner; and the light ftreaming from thence is a great confolation to him. The name of the mistress of this houfe was Charity, and the maid's name Inno

cence.

But fee-pure glory ftreams along the plain,

From yon blett pile which Virtue's hand did raife;
Where Chasity extends her welcome reign,

And Innocence her tender rule obeys.

In the yard belonging to this houfe were two large maftiff bitches, called Cruelty and Neceffity, that wanted to devour a number of poor children, who were (creaming out to Heaven, in the apartments:

From Cruelty's enfanguin'd jaw fecure,

Whole rage too oft Neceffity commands;
There reft the helplefs offspring of the poor,

Thence lift to Heaven their aid imploring hands.

These fame children being fnatched from the soot from whence their exiftence rofe, as links broken from the long chain of nature, are like faplings which the tempeft blows down from an oak, and fcatters abroad, till the weft wind drives 'em into a fnug corner; where they foon forget to mourn, and are ready to burft with gratitude.

Y 4.

Snatch'

Snatch'd from the fource whence their existence rofe,
(Links broke abrupt from nature's lengthen'd chain)
Like tender faplings which fome tempeft blows,
Torn from their oak, and scatters on the plain.
Till on the Zephyr's friendly bofom borne,
Into fome fhelter'd covert of the grove;
Where taking root they foon forget to mourn,
And feem to burft with gratitude and love.

Anne fatis eft, Lector? fi plus velis, cape Libellum.

Art. 15. Matthæi Prioris Alma Libri tres Latino verfu donati Opera et ftudio Thomæ Martin, A. B. &c. 8vo. I S. Hawes, &c.

Had Prior's Alma been originally written in Latin verfe, a good reafon might have been given for tranflating it into English; but why Mr. Martin has given himself the trouble to turn it out of a living language into a dead one, we cannot fo easily conceive. If he did it in order to embellish Prior's thoughts, by the fuperiority of claffical expreffion, we doubt he has mifcarried in his defign:

Art. 16. The late Adminiftration epitomised; an Epistle to the Right Hon. William Pitt, Efq; 4to. Is. Bathoe.

Worfe, a thousand times worse, if poffible, than the Bell-man's verfes.

Art. 17. A Song to David.

4to. Is.

By Chriftopher Smart, M. A.
Fletcher.

From the fufferings of this ingenious Gentleman, we could not but expect the performance before us to be greatly irregular; but we shall certainly characterite it more jutly, if we call it irregularly great. There is a grandeur, a majefty of thought, not without a happinefs of expreffion in the following ftanzas.

Sublime-invention ever young,

Of vaft conception, tow'ring tongue,
To God th' eternal theme;
Notes from yon exaltations caught,
Unrival'd royalty of thought,

O'er meaner ftrains fupreme.

His mufe, bright angel of his verfe,
Gives balm for all the thorns that pierce,
For all the pangs that rage;

Bleft light ftill gaining on the gloom,
The more than Michael of his bloom,
Th' Abihag of his age.

He fung of God, the mighty fource
Of all things, the ftupendous force

On which all ftrength depends;

From