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On this Advertisement we could make numerous observations; but, if it were really dictated by the feelings and not by the policy of the author, we fcorn to hurt thofe feelings which muft have hinted fome of our observations.

As to the merit of the Elegies, fince we take upon our felves the office of public cenfors in literary matters,' we must observe, that our author forgot the Horatian rule of nonum prematur in annum; in truth, when we recollect the recent death of him to whofe memory the firft Elegy is infcribed, the Elegy hardly feems to have been kept nine days.

Slow comes the verfe which real grief infpires,'

faid a real poet on the death of Addifon-whereas our poet, who chooses to lament the death of Foote, gives us his Elegy, likę a laft dying speech and confeffion, almoft before the party in question be dead.

The Elegies are not despicable, as compofitions; but they are much too general, nor can we find in either any new ideas. Mr. Foote is judiciously lamented under the name of Alexis, for the lamentation will be equally good and equally new for any other man who fhall happen both to play and to write comedynay, we queftion if it might not do for the author of it, fhoold he chance to be a boon companion, and fhould he have no objection to be lamented under the name of Alexis.

When we read the Elegy on Age,' which ferves up fuch old thoughts, and not in the neweft kind of ways, we exclaimed, Alas, poor human nature! -When we perufed the Elegy on the death of Mr. Foote, we exclaimed. with an eye both to his death, and to those by whom his death is doomed to be lamented, Alas, poor Yorick !'

The Park. 8vo. 6d. Goldney.

• But Hunger now the motly croud difperfes,

And breeds new folly, though it ends thefe verfes.'

We are of opinion that this fame Mr. Hunger began the verfes as well as ended them; and we beg of that gentleman (whom we proteft we know only by name) never to breed any more fuch follies as thefe.

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The Grove of Barzai, and bis Elegy. By Jofeph Smeeton. 410. Is. Dixwell.

A grove fit for nothing but being committed to the flames, in which it may be accompanied by the Elegy.

Verfes written on several Occafions between the Years 1712, and 1721. 410. 2s. 6d. Becket.

Those Verfes are faid to be the production of judge Burnet, fon of the bishop of that name. They are evidently juvenile, and ought ftill to have remained in the obfcurity in which they have lain fo many years.

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The Semi-Globes; or Electrical Orbs. A Poem. 4to. IS.

Webb.

An effufion of a congenial nature with the Torpedos and Electrical Eels.

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The Quaker; a Comic Opera. As performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane. 8vo. 15. Bell.

What merit this performance may appear to the profane to have in reprefentation it belongeth not unto us to fay, as we do never truft ourselves within that refervoir of the wicked called the play-house; but we do counfel thee fincerely, reader, unlefs thou fhouldeft be fond of low humour, disgusting double. entendre, and unnatural caricature, never to foil thy fingers with turning over the leaves of this publication. The author appears to have been moved by no spirit, but that of folly.

NOVEL S.

The Hiftory of Mifs Maria Barlowe. 2 Vols. 12mo. 55. Served

Wallis.

Gentle reader, did you ever in the courfe of your ftudies, meet with the Voyages of one Lemuel Gulliver? If you did not, in which cafe we recommend them to your diligent perufal, be it known to you that Mr. Gulliver once on a time did travel into a far country called Balnibarbi, fubject to the monarch of Laputa, the capital of which is Lagoda, wherein is a famous academy of projectors, which our traveller was permitted to vifit and infpect. In this academy he faw a moft curious and Ingenious engine, by means of which the moft ignorant perfon, at a reasonable charge, and with very little bodily labour, might write books in philofophy, poetry, politicks, law, mathematics, theology, &c. &c. without the leaft affiftance from genius or from ftudy. Of this machine a complete and minute defcription, together with an accurate engraving thereof, fuppofed to be executed from a drawing taken on the spot by the fame artist who attended the modern Gulliver into Abyffinia-Behold! are they not to be found in the History of the Voyages of the faid Lemuel? Now Lemuel was a robber, and moreover a falfe man -for lo! he did promife and vow unto his friend the Balni barbian projector, that, if ever he returned to his native country, he would do him juftice as the fole inventor of this wonderful machine; the form and contrivance of which Lemuel defired leave to delineate upon paper, as in the figure to his Voyages annexed. But this promife Mr. Lemuel Gulliver has certainly not fufficiently performed; for we do hereby declare to all the world, that the machine by which our modern novels are written, and especially this before us, does appear, as well as we can collect from the defcription and engraving, to be moft clearly and evidently borrowed from the famous machine of this Balnibarbian, to whom, if he be ftill living, or to his defcendants,

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fcendants, we fincerely think his majefty of Great Britain fhould immediately tranfmit his royal letters patent, which might be conveyed by the first veffel which the company fends to Tonquin and China.

The Child of Misfortune, or the Hiftory of Mrs. Gilbert. By Mr. Thistlethwaite. 2 Vols. 12mo. 6s. Murray.

The Child of Misfortune has contrived to get our hearts on her fide; but the author, by diftracting our paffions, has lefs command over them. The ftream of fentiment and feeling is diminished by being turned into fo many channels within so small a circle.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Trial, at large, of John Horne, Efq. upon an Information filed ex officio, by bis Majefty's Attorney-general, for a Libel, before the right Lon. William Earl of Mansfield, in the Court of King's-Bench, Guildhall, July 4, 1777. Fol. 35. Kearfly. Our reverend efquire would never, perhaps, have harangued for fo many hours if his vanity had not determined that his affair fhould make a folio, in order to bind up with the State Trials. Gurney might be confulted, for what we know, to calculate how many hours would make a folio. However, Mr. Horne fhould have given the laft polish to the Attorney-general's argument as well as to his own; for we can never fuppofe that the acknowledged ability of that gentleman made more flips of grammar and language in one hour than Mr. Horse in five.

23. Nicol.

A Sketch of the Life and Character of the right honourable and reverend Richard Trevor, Lord Bishop of Durham. With a particular Account of his laft Illness. 4to. Some of the most memorable events in the life of this excellent prelate, which his biographer has recorded, are the following:

Richard Trevor was defcended from an ancient and principal family in Wales. He was the fourth fon of Thomas Trevor, created by Queen Anne, Baron Trevor of Bromham, in the county of Bedford. He was born in London, Sept. 30, 1707; was first placed at Bishop-Stortford fchool, and afterwards at Weftminster; was entered a gentleman commoner at Queen's College, Oxford, and in 1727 elected from thence fellow of All Souls.

In 1732 he was prefented by Sir Robert Bernard to the living of Houghton, with Witton, in Huntingdonshire. In 1735 he fucceeded Dr. Terry in the canonry of Christ Church, and the year following took the degree of LL. D. In 1744 he was appointed Bishop of St. David's, and from thence tranflated to Durham in 1752. He died in London, June 9, 1771, in the fixty-fourth year of his age; and was buried at Glynd in the county of Suffex.

This fmall biographical performance is evidently the produc tion of a friend, and exhibits a favourable, and at the fame time

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a judicious reprefentation of the Bishop's character. Part of it is extracted from a fermon preached at Newcastle by Mr. Rotheram, in July 1771. The whole is ornamented with his Lordship's effigy, and other engravings.

A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library. To which are added, many Emendations and Additions. With an Appendix, &c. 8:00. 4.5. ferved. Hooper.

The publisher properly obferves in his preface, that the advantages which must accrue to literature, from facilitating the researches of the curious (the neceffary confequence of this publication) is too obvious to need any argument.

A Supplement to his Addrefs to the Inhabitants of the Parish of St.
Anne, Weltminster. By the Rev. Thomas Martyn. 15.
Corral.

This Supplement confifts of a Letter printed laft March in the Public Advertifer, by Dr. H. in anfwer to Mr. Martyn's Addrefs; Mr. Martyn's reply to that Letter, which appeared in the fame paper; and fome additional obfervations.

A Rural Ramble; to which is annexed a Portical Tagg, or Bright-
helmftone Guide. By G. S. Carey. 21. fewed. Baldwin.
It has lately become a fashion for almost every rambler to pub-
lifh his travels. Mr. Carey, in conformity to this prevailing
humour, has given the public the hiftory of an excurfion, which
he made, accompanied by a friend, from London to Bright-
helmftone. That our travellers might be the more accurate in
their obfervations, they chose to perform the greatest part of the
journey on foot. The narrative chiefly confifts of fhort defcrip-
tions of the country, and the villages through which they paffed;
with an account of the accommodation, and the occurrences
they met with on the road.

The author, though fometimes inattentive to the niceties of grammar, and very feldom afpiring to the character of an interefting writer, relates his trivial adventures with fome degree of fancy, vivacity, and humour.

A Key to the Lottery, 1777; containing a Set of Tables, whereby any Perfon may fee, by Inspection, the Price of Fair Infurance for every Day's Drawing, having the Price of Tickets given. 4to. IS. Millan.

This little piece confifts of fix Tables, each Table contains fix days, and fhews what premium ought to be paid on Infurance, in proportion to the price tickets bear, from 131. to 221.

As tickets (fays the calculator) during the time of drawing, are conftantly varying in price, and generally obtain a confiderable advance, the premium of infurance, of course, must be

See Crit. Rev. Vol. xliii, p. 239.

greater;

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greater; add to this, that as every day of drawing increases the rifque to the office-keeper, the premiua muft rife proportionate to the rifque. I have, therefore, for the benefit of adventurers, calculated a fet of Tables for thirty-fix days, at various prices for each day, by which an adventurer may, at one view, know the real rifque the office-keeper takes upon him, and confequently the premium of infurance he is juftly intitled to, or nearly fo.'

We have neither leifure nor inclination to examine into the juftness of the calculations; but fuppofing the author to be right, his Tables may be of ufe to the petty dealers in the Lottery Way.

*

CORRESPONDENCE.

** We have received a letter from Norwich, relative to the Pythagorean Verfes mentioned in our laft Number, in which the author informs us, that we have given a fpecimen of what made no part of his work; that the tranflation of thofe verfes was tranfcribed from an ancient publication; and that we might have avoided this error by reading his preface.'-We have read his preface; and this is the only paffage in it upon the subject : That the reader may fee, how clofely we have preferved the original, only making it fubfervient to the elegance and copiousness of our language and ftile, we give him a literal interpretation, which the anonymous tranflator of Hierocles's Greek Commentary has prefixed to that exquifite illuftration of the Golden Verses.'The first article in our author's publication is the translation of the Golden Verfes, which we have quoted; the fecond is a profaic Interpretation; the third is a Paraphrafe, &c. The Interpretation is attributed to the right owner. But there is not a fyllable of the Verfes; not the leaft intimation, which could poffibly tend to prevent what he calls our inadvertency. In fact, this obfcure, evafive paffage, to which he refers us, gives us reafon to fufpect, that it was his tacit intention to publish the tranf lation as his own; naturally fuppofing, that not one reader in five hundred would give themfelves the trouble to make any farther enquiries. But finding, that this performance has drawn a cenfure on his book, he triumphantly exclaims- Gentlemen, you are deceived! I am not the author!'-If he had honeftly and explicitly mentioned the author, or the year, in which the tranflation was published, as he should have done, he would have avoided all reprehenfion; and fome other piece would have been quoted, as a fpecimen of his poetical abilities.

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