"After this, particularly one day in the morning, about the rifing of the fun, as I was mufing on my bye paft furprizing fight, immediately the spirit of the Lord God fenfibly was poured upon me to fuch a degree, that I was thereby made to fee things done in fecret, and came to find things loft, and knew where to go and find those things which were loft." Poor man! happy had it been for him could he have known where to recover his loft reafon! The book of Revelations was not a likely place for him to find it in. There, however, unfortunately for him, have his researches been chiefly employed; and the refult is, that like Bell, the preaching Life-guard man, he is continually raving about the end of the world, and the great and terrible day of the Lord. But this is not the only fubject of his book. Original fin, the doctrine of the Trinity, the fall of Antichrift, and various other topics are difcuffed, in fuch a manner as may be expected from a perfon thus ftrangely qualified to fet up for an Author. It is a misfortune to many people, that ever they were taught to read. Had Alexander Clarke never known the ufe of letters, he might fill have kept his fenfes, and his place near Moffat in Anandale, which he loft by fetting up for a Prophet; he might alfo have faved the "confiderable expence" which he now feems to complain of, in his Apology, of printing the prefent volume, which he muft defray out of the little he has earned with the fweat of his brów." Indeed, we think it scarcely honeft in those Printers who are acceffary to fo many wrong-headed and crazy people throwing away their money, in a manner fo abfurd, and which can only ferve to proclaim to the world, the weakness or infanity of the unfortunate Scribblers who refort to them. MEDICA L. 14 Art. 4. Receipts for preparing and compounding the principal Medicines made uje of by the late Mr. Ward; together with an Introduction, &c. By John Page, Efq; to whom Mr. Ward left his Book of Secrets. 8vo. 6d. Whitridge, &c. Though we may reasonably fuppofe, the curiofity of the public after fecrets, and especially after fuch medical fecrets as have been thought of frequent and confiderable fervice, may have circulated a foxall pamphlet fufficiently, to render our account of it fuperfluous; yet, in compliance with our plan, we have judged it proper to fay, briefly, of thefe Receipts, that they are introduced by a fenfible Addrefs to the public: from which it is evident, Mr. Page could have no poffible motive, but the good of his fpecies, for publishing this part of Mr. Ward's book, the whole of which was left entirely to his difpofal. With respect to the efficacy of thefe Medicines, he relates only fuch events as had occurred either to himself, to a very few of his acquaintance, or to fome of his domeftics, who had taken them. With regard to the Pills, particularly, he cautions thofe who have unfound Viera, or Bowels, against the use of them. He acknowleges the Recipts for preparing the Pill and Drop, have not been as yet difcovered in the book. He has given them, however, according to the process communicated to him by Mr. White, a Che mift, who made the Glafs of Antimony for Mr. Ward; and who affured Mr. Page, he has long made and administered them in his own family, &c. and that upon a comparison of their operation, and by their analization alfo, he found them to answer exactly to thofe made by Mr. Ward. Upon this foundation, the generous Publisher of thefe Receipts gives them, as what he really believes to point at the genuine, and beft manner of preparing the Pill and Drop. We fhall just remark on this Medicine, that many eminent Phyficians have long afferted the extraor dinary efficacy of fome antimonial preparations, and recommended the emetic wine, which has a confiderable affinity with this Drop, to betaken in fmall dofes, as a great alterative and deobftruent. The proceffes of the other medicines, as tak n from the book, are attested by Mr. White, or Mr. D'Otterman, who formerly did, and are now employed by his Majesty's beneficence, to prepare them. Mr. Page jutly fuppofe, that even the faculty will thank him for one effect of this publication, as it will fupprefs the practice of ignorant Pretenders to the knowlege of Mr. Ward's fecrets. This, he fays, was a confiderable motive to his publication, and was certainly a very good one: fince a Reader with a fufficient ftock of credulity in phyfic, may incur the hazard of being perfuaded (by the multitude and effrontery of our empirical advertisements) to conclude, that among them they had arrived at the fecret of exterminating death itfelf. Whether thefe medicines will long preserve all the veneration paid to them when fecrets, and vended at very high prices, time only can difcover. We are told, in this pamphlet, that the prefent Receipts are not the whole contents of this bequest of Mr. Ward's; but of fuch as have been esteemed the principal, the most efficacious, and the best underflood. K POETICA L. Art. 5. The Tower, a poetical Epifle, inferibed to John Wilkes, Efq; 4to. 6d. Ridley. An empty bouncing cracker, intended as a Feu de joye, in compliment to Mr. Wilkes; whom he addrefies in the elegant ftyle of, - O DECIUS of exalted foul, Preof to difgrace, unknowing of controu!.-- If this be not a fufficient proof of the Author's fine genius, take, courteous Reader, another fpecimen, in the compliment he alfo here pays to the Reviewers : From fuch who build profeffion on abufe, They must be Conjurors, indeed, who can difcover any extraordinary merit in thefe rhymes; which, we are forry to fay it, appear to come. from the Author of the new paraphraftical Imitation of Juvenal. See Review, page 373 Art. 6. The Temple of Venus. Part II. 4to. 1 s. 6d. Moran. What we faid of the firft Part, is equally applicable to this SuppleSee Review for April, p. 318, art 12, ment. Art. 7. The Prophecy of Famine, Part II. Inferibed to C. Churchill. 4to. Is. 6d. Cabe. If Mr. Churchill's poetry needed a foil to fet it off to the higheft advantage, this anonyinous fupplement to his celebrated Scots Paftoral, would anfwer the purpose, to the utmost of his wifhes. Art. 8. The Poetical Calendar. Volume the fourth, for April. 12mo. Is.. 6 d. Coote. If we except Mr. Cawthorne's Abelard to Eloifa, this volume is more defpicable, more replete with rubbish, than any of the former. POLITICA L. Art. 9. An Appeal to Facts: In a Letter to the Right Hon. Earl Temple. 4to. 1S. Millar. The facts appealed to in this Letter, to fhew the prudence with which the fupplies for the prefent year were railed, may ftand unimpeached by us, but they would have appeared to more advantage, had they been urged in a more becoming manner. public with a fneering grin, worfe than that which Hogarth has beftowIn brief, they are toffed out to the ed on Mr. Wilkes. Arguments from facts can receive no addition I force by the heterogeneous mixture of humour; which will not procure them a better reception. Facts ought not to be fported with; and were the no better fupported than the ftrains of irony in which they are conveyed, the late Minifler, in whofe defence they are urged, would hardly fee caufe to boast of his Advocate. This Author's humour is very ill fuftained. In one place he pretends to tax Lord B. with corrupting all the good, and inflaming all the bad inclinations in a young unexperienced Prince;" and of infilling into him an indifference to, and contempt of, the eftablithed religion of his country, and of every private and public duty of morality and, in another, with the poor trite repetition of his conflant attendance on public devotion, and receiving the facrament. Will fuch coarfe daubing as this, pafs for the delicate touches of irony. +6 That man can with a very ill grace burlesque the opprobrium caft on his patron, as a Sco, at the fame time that himfelf defcends to reflect on another (Mr. W.) for the misfortune of fquinting! In fine, notwithstanding the commendations with which this pamphlet has been dif. tinguifhed, as the production of a GENTLEMAN above the common level of Writers, it bears few marks of gentility about it. Art. 10. Chronicle of the Reign of Adonijah, King of Ifrael. TranN flated from an Hebrew M. S. By Benaiah, a Jewish Rabbin. 4to. Is. Molock. A very infipid chapter and verfe-allufion to the late administration under Lord Bute, and to the profecution of Mr. Wilkes, who is here characterised under the name of Barzillai, who had a wife and understanding beart; and who was loved by all men becaufe of the wife things be bad Forten: written which, we imagine, is more than any wife man will fay of this "Chronicler of Small beer." Art. 11. Two new comic fatiric Dialogues, that latel passed in the The two dialogues make but a very inconfiderable part of this pamphler; the bulk of which confifts of tranfcripts from the public papers, of the feveral Letters, Speeches, &c. occafioned by the ar.eft of Mr. Wilkes, and his detention in the Tower. There is, however, fome tolerably fmart fcurrility in the Dialogues; abufing the late Minifter and his literary* Advocates -Paul Whitehead, Dr. Francis, Dr Smol. let, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Mallet, and the Author of the Wandsworth Epiftle; which Epifle, we are here told, in a very polite note, was written by one Olw-ld, a Scotchman, and Lord of the Treasury. Alfo Mr. Hogarth, for his print of the Times, and his caricatura of Mr. Wilkes for which, however, Mr. Hogarth had certainly ample provocation in the North Briton. ·· Art. 12. A Review of Lord Bute's Adminiftration. By the Author of the Review of Mr. Pitt's. 8vo. 2s. Pridden. We will not mifpend our own time, nor take up the Reader's attention, with a tedious comment on this dul, wire-drawn treatife of ore *hundred and fixteen pages. Le: it fuffice to obferve, that it is written in the true fpirit of party, inveighing against the late Minifter, often without reafon; and extoling his predeceffor, (who, as a Statefman, had real merit upon the whoi) for the mott exceptionable parts of his adminiftration. But this fleepy dofe, which is calculated for the lethargic Politicians who dream away their time at coffee houfes, would have fallen much fhort of its meafure, if it had not, by the ingenuity of Author-craft, been filled up with the dregs of news-papers, with tifling : anecdotes, and idle quotations from fenfelefs originals., Ra Art. 13. The Appeal of Reason to the People of England, on the prefent State of Parties in the Nation. 8vo. 9. Becket. This doughty Appellant obferves, in his preface, that a paraphlet on the fide of a Great Man, is generally Jpofed, if the Author is fupIf this pamphlet posed to have any addrefs, to fpeak his fent inents. (he continues) was fuppofed to speak the fentiments of the noble perfon fo often mentioned in it, it would give offence to many." From all these fuppofitions we may be at liberty to suppose, th: the Writer cannot be fpfed to be very expert in the art of haranguing the public. We may be at liberty to fupp fe likewife, that, in the foregoing extract, his matFor, in a pamphlet on the SIDE ter is as exceptionable as his manner. of a Great Man, if the Author is fuppofed to have any addrefs, it is generally Supposed, that he does not speak his fentiments. Few men, who Kk Rev. June, 1763. take take a party, fpeak their fentiments. But this Advocate, in the first fentence of his Appeal, loudly exclaims, that We have feen our fa cred Sovereign infulted, affronts thrown on one part of the united kingdom, and a Statefman equalling the magnanimity and moderation of Arittides injured." Injured, indeed! And why will this Writer heap injury upon injury? To be ferious, the Author appears to be a man of probity, and good natural fenfe; but one who writes from his clofet, without having drawn his materials from the living world'. Art. 14. A Letter to the Right Hon. the Earls of Egremont and This pamphlet is one inftance, among many, that when Writers evidently have truth and reason on their fide, they never have recourfe to buffoonry or fcurrility. The subject of this piece, which is of the moft ferious and interefting nature, is treated with great good fenfe, precifion, and moderation. Certainly nothing can be more injurious to liberty than an unlimited right of feizing papers: and if the fafety of the State makes it in fome cales neceffary, thofe cafes fhould be ascertained; that no Magiftrate may be intrufted with the difcretionary exercife of fo dangerous a power. But, on this head, we cannot do better, than refer the Reader to the ingenious and matterly piece before us, which is penned without any party heat, or political animofity, * ,12 1 **** ":"2 Art. 15. The Oppofition to the late Minifter vindicated, from the R-d Afperfions of a Pamphlet entitled, Confiderations on the present dangerous Crifis. 8vo. 1s. Bathoe. " A very fenfible and masterly reply to a pamphlet which we recommended to our Readers laft month; as we now, with the ftriéteft regard to truth and candour, recommend the prefent performance to all who have read the Confiderations: the ingenious Author of which is here' convicted of one or two capital mistakes; particularly in having afferted, that the late precipitate Cyder-bill paffed the Commons without a divifion whereas the contrary is notorious-the prefent Writer appealing to every Member of that honourable House, whether there were not at least six divifions upon it? .4 Art. 16. The Conflitution asserted and vindicated. 8vo. Is. 723 Nicoll. ds • This poor word Conflitution has been more abufed than any in the English language. Many have attempted to explain it ; few have been fatisfactory on the falject. But this fagacious Famphleteer, who has profeffedly undertaken to affert and vindicate this fame Conftitution, turns tail on his subject, and tells as, "There are myfteries in politics as well as religion, which a good Politician and a good Chriflian thould endeavour to believe, without attempting even to understand.' Indeed! Then pray, good Sir, what occafion to write about it? This is a droll way |