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acquainted, and became a prey to unprincipled men.' How with the arts of gaming he became a prey it is the business of our young author to explain. His plan of publifhing an Univerfal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences was, we learn, rejected by the bookfellers, though he had the promise of articles from Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Garrick and Dr. Johnfon; and this he confidered to his dying day as one of his greatest misfortunes. If thefe gentlemen really promised their affistance, it is a proof that they were either little acquainted with the nature of fuch an undertaking, or knew not their man; for his knowledge of Mathematics, a fcience indifpenfible in fuch a work, was next to nothing. Among many examples of his deficiency in this refpect that might be given, we fhall produce but one. Difcourfing once with him at the Chapter Coffeehouse, about the caufes of the exceffive cold experienced towards the Antartick pole, we happened to advance as one caufe, that in the courfe of the year, the fun is about eight days longer in the Northern than in the Southern figns. This affertion he at once pronounced with all the airs of fuperior science to be a palpable abfurdity. We referred him to Maupertuis's letter to the King of Pruffa for a confirmation of the doctrine. Maupertuis !' faid he; I know more of the matter than Maupertuis.' We, who did nor then know that he was in treaty with the bookfellers, who were prefent, about the compilation of an Univerfal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, immediately demonstrated the propofition, and directed him and all that were prefent to the page of Rutherforth's lectures whence the demonftration was taken. His vanity was mortified, and his effrontery confounded. The project of the Dictionary perished in embryo; and we believe that he never ventured afterwards to boast of his mathematical learning before ftran gers. But why fhould we talk of the mathematical skill of a man who afferts in one of his pieces that the two angels of a triangle are equal to two right angles, or of the abfurdities of an author whofe merit depends much upon his abfurdities? Like his countryman Swift, he feems to have had fome loose water floating in his head, and to that accident we probably owe the greatest part of the oddities and laughable combinations of ideas to be found in that mafs of rubbish left us by both. It is a pity that his head was not diffected, as the operation might have led us to the genuine origin of much Hibernian wit, If this hint be adopted with regard to a certain Irish orator, we shall

perhaps

Perhaps be able to trace to their fountain head fome of his notions of the fublime and beautiful.

The next remarkable occurrence in this great man's life. was, to ufe an Irish idiom, his death. Whether it was that the battle with the bookfeller had cracked his fkull, or that he had an inclination to fhew how little he underftood of his profeffion, he muft needs fwallow a dose of James's powder; and accordingly he fell a victim to that naufeous and dangerous remedy. But who would not do as much to have a marble monument in Weftminster Abbey in Poets Corner, adorned with a Latin infcription by Dr. Johnfon Oliveri Goldfmith-Hoc Monumentum memoriam coluit, fodalium amor, amicorum fides, lectorum veneratio. Mark the philofophical precifion of making the monument the principal in this fentence, and the attachment of his friends and readers the acceffory; and you will acknowledge that the poet and his panegyrift deserved a place in Poets Corner; and that Westminster Abby is not prostituted to the vanity of impotent bards and taftelefs. critics. There are too ways of acquiring literary fame in this metropolis. The firft and the most difficult is by really deferving it; and the second is by affociating with a knot of bookfellers and fecond-rate authors, who are in poffeffion of Newspapers, Reviews, and Magazines, deal out praise or cenfure according to their intereft, and lead the herd of vulgar readers by dint of impudence and noife. Such was the rife of Goldsmith, and upon fuch foundation does his reputation now ftand. We do not mean to infinuate that he is totally without merit, as every character is mixt. We only contend that in all his pieces mediocrity preponderates, and that every now and then you are difgufted with a dafh of folly. Mr. Evans certainly will not fubfcribe to this opinion; but we prefume the foregoing ftrictures will enable every reader to make a juft eftinate of his critical tafte and fkill. If due allowances be made to the partiality of a friend, to whom he had, as the butt of convivial ridicule, often afforded much fport, the following character of him by Mr. Garrick will be found as exact and juft as it is picturesque and pleasant.

Jupiter and Mercury, a Fable.

Here, Hermes, fays Jove, who with nectar was mellow; Go fetch me fome clay-I will make an odd fellow;

Right and wrong fhall be jumbled,-some gold and much

drofs,

Without cause be he pleas'd, without cause be he cross;
Be fure, as I work, to throw in contradictions,

A great love of truth, yet a mind turn'd to fictions;
Now mix these ingredients, which, warm'd in the baking,
Turn to learning and gaming, religion and raking.
With the love of a wench, let his writings be chafte;
Tip his tongue with ftrange matter, his pen with fine tafte;
That the rake and the poet o'er all may prevail,

Set fire to the head, and set fire to the tail:

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For the joy of each fex, on the world I'll beftow it,
This fcholar, rake, Chriftian, dupe, gamefter, and poet:
Though a mixture fo odd, he fhall merit great fame,
And among brother mortals-be GOLDSMITH his name;
When on earth this ftrange meteor no more shall appear,
You, Hermes, fhall fetch him-to make us sport here.

A Candid Examination of the Reafons for depriving the East India Company of its Charter contained in the History and Management of the Eaft India Company from its commencement to the prefent Time, together with Strictures on feme of the Self-contradictions and Hiftorical Errors of Dr. Adam Smith, in his Reafons for the abolition of the faid Company. Bew and Sewell, Is. 6d.

has

The author of the hiftory of the Eaft India company in our opinion clearly proved what he attempted to prove, the injuftice of the company to the nabob of Arcot; and neither this author, nor what is more, the directors have pretended to controvert his facts or conclufions. Whence then this pamphleteer's outcry?Unlimited power, fays the writer of the hiftory of the Eaft India company, may in the hands of a fingle perfon be prevented from the degenerating into acts of tyranny by the terrors of ignominy or by perfonal fears. But a body of men vefted with authority is feldom fwayed by reftraints of either kind.' Now this poffible cafe depending upon the verb may, our pamphleteer by exchanging may for muft has made the foundation of groundless invective against the hiftorian, and of tedious argument to the reader. "Our hiftorian," fays he, "having thus given his philofophical reasons why arbitrary power must be juft and humane," &c. &c. After the detection of fuch an impofition, who can pay any regard to an author who has built his whole fuperftructure on fo fandy a foundation? He feems to be equally unfortunate in his attack on Dr. Adam Smith, who has afferted VOL. XI. N n

that

that the Portuguese carried on an open free trade to the Eaft Indies for a century with great advantage. To disprove this pofition the pamphlet appeals to the hiftory of Portuguese Afia, prefixed to the English Lufiad, where, he fays, the copy of the king's commiffion to the viceroys of India evinces it to have been a regal monopoly. For this commiffion we have fearched in vain; but, though we did not find the commiffion, we found that this is not the only inftance of his inaccuracy of quotation. Therefore, till bettef authorities are quoted, he will allow us to entertain our doubts concerning the juftnefs of the charge against Dr. Smith. In fpite of all his quotations, and his pamphlet confifts of little elfe, we cannot help agreeing in opinion with the hiftorian, whom he arraigns, that, if the Eaft India trade was open, and the revenue collected by the king's officers, the controul would be much more immediate and complete; as there would be no wheel within wheel, no enormous machine to be moved in order to come at delinquents, but the whole would be fimple and uniform. At prefent the company, which is in many cafes deftitute of the neceffary powers, muft act firft, and then the parliament, in whom the fupreme controul refides, muft frequently come to its aid, before any adequate remedy can be applied to fome evils. How operofe and difficult is this circuitous procefs! And yet this aspect of the affair is not the worst. The company afraid of parliamentary interference opposes every enquiry, and screens every delinquent,

The Hiftory of a French Loufe; or the Spy of a New Species, in France and England: containing a Defcription of the most remarkable Perfonages in thofe Kingdoms. Giving a Key to the Chief Events of the Year 1779, and thofe which are to happen in 1780. Tranflated from the fourth Edition of the revised and corrected Paris Copy. 8vo. No Price. T. Becket.

Our author has made ufe of this little animal as a means of connecting in one book many fatyrical remarks and anecdotes of a variety of perfonages, which without fome fuch aid could not be brought together with even the fhadow of probability; we think notwithstanding he might have made a more delicate choice. The hero received his birth on the head of a courtezan, from whence he escapes to avoid a dreadful plague which had deftroyed most of his kindred; he fhelters himself on the head of a clerk to the parliament of Paris, and thence removes to a countefs who carried him

to

to court where he gets feated on the queen, but foon falls into difgrace. After different adventures he obtains a lodging on the head of Madame La Chevaliere D'Eon, on whom our hero is very fevere; fhe brings him acquainted with Dr. Franklin.

"The day after I had been acquainted with all these fine anecdotes, my landlady was invited to dine at Paris, with a man of great note, who came from a diftant part of the world, and was a minifer plenipotentiary from a confiderable people, who had lately raised the standard of rebellion against their mother country. I was rejoiced at this opportunity of feeing fo extraordinary a perfon, whom I had often heard of, and was defirous of knowing more. particularly.

"We arrived at his excellency's houfe about two o'clock, but was not able to distinguish him till the end of the repast, so much time was neceffarily taken up in emerging from my retreat. However at last I effected it; and in order the better to obferve him, I fastened upon a flower which adorned my fair mistress's hair. By good fortune I found myself placed directly oppofite to monfieur ambaffador; and here I must acknowledge that I was not able to forbear laughing heartily when I contemplated the grotefque figure of this original, who with a vulgar perfon and a mean appearance, affected the air and gestures of a fop. A fun-burnt complection, a wrinkled forehead, warts in many places, which might be faid to be as graceful in him as the moles that diflinguished the sweet face of the. Countess of Barré, With these he had the advantage of a double' chin, to which was added a great bulk of nofe, and teeth which might have been taken for cloves had they not been set fast in a thick jaw. This, or fomething very like this, is the true picture of his excellency. As for his eyes I could not diftinguish them, because of the fituation I was in; and befides a large pair of fpectacle hid two-thirds of his face.

"I obferved that the company was very merry; they laughed much, and threw out many farcaims againit meffieurs the English. I counted only thirteen healths that were drank; and among them heard with pleasure thofe of the king of France and the queen my former miftrefs, her whom I have always loved more than any other, and whom I shall remember as long as I live,

"Thefe thirteen healths being drank in quick fucceffion, encreafed the liveliness of the guests. My heroine left her feat to place herself close to the master of the house, to whom the fung fome verfes of her own compofing, which I fhould not have thought. excellent but for that circumftance; however they were greatly applauded. I plainly obferved his excellency exprefs his gratitude to his Apollo by an ardent kifs, but without quitting his fpectacles; at the fame time he whifpered in her ear, Shall it be this evening, my Goddefs?

From these few words I gueffed a little teté à teté was going forward; it was what I wifhed for, as I fhould have been of the

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