than Belcher, and Burriffa the wife of the Rev. Mr. Burr, and the Baron of Clenawley who was flain in a fkirmish.- -Moreover, Bofcawen, Wolfe, Lawrence, Whitmore, Hardy, Amherft, Saul, Jonathan and Joshua are feverally ftirred round in this poetical cauldron; and Penfylvania, Guadalupe, Niagara, Louifburgh, the lamentation of Louis the Fifteenth, and Balaam and his Afs are occafionally confidered. The Spanish war is put into a fong, and Mr. Secretary Pitt into an acroftic. 4 Art. 15. Ode on her Majefty's Birth-day being kept the Eighteenth of January. By the Reverend Mr. Hudion. 4to. 6d. Davis and Reymers. We cannot by any means approve of the tafte in which this ode is written.Roving, abftracted imagery, stiff and ungraceful compound epithets, and a glare of colouring make but a poor amends for a barrennefs of fentiment, and a want of native cafe, and unlaboured dignity. Now let the fky-plum'd father of the flowers With fragrant feathers leave the fpicy bowers, Where the fine tropic warblers fing; And hither ftretch his rofeate wing, And foftly foothe the rifing year, While fnow-drops gay in virgin-robes appear. We have feen other productions of this gentleman's pen, which we have perufed with more fatisfaction. Art. 16. The Conflituents, a Poem. By P. Stockdale. 4to. Is. Flexney. The fubject of this poem is the late election at Berwick. It may be fufficient to fay, that it plainly appears to be the work of the fame extraordinary genius, who, after being dubbed an Angel, was hanged and buried in a Fish-town. See Review for laft month, p. 76. Art. 17. Ode in Imitation of Horace, Ode III. L. III. Juftum ac tenacem propofiti virum. Addreffed to the Right Honour able Sir Robert Walpole: on ceafing to be Minifter, Feb. 6, 1741. Defigned as a juft Panegyric on a great Minifler, the glorious Revolution, Proteflant Succeffion, and Principles of Liberty; to which is added the original Ode, defended, in commentariolo. By Sir William Browne, M. D. 4to. I S. Owen. Your most obedient humble fervant, Sir William Browne Quod nemo promittere Volvenda dies en! attulit ultre. To see you here again, fo foon, Sir William, was what we could neither with nor hope. How fuperior is your conduct, in this refpect, to that of great men in general, fince, far from being worfe, you are better than your word! In your late profound and fcientific publication of the Firft Ode of Horace, you gave us to understand that if it were favour Sce Review, Vol. XXVIII. page 4co. ably ably received, it fhould be followed by others, and now another follows it, tho' it was not received at all.This is the more generous, as the engraving of your arms, creft, motto, devices, &c. on the title-page muft have been attended with fome expence. All this is mighty well, and fo likewife is your acknowledgment to the Earl of Orford in the dedication, for making your worship a juftice of the peace. But alas, worthy knight, thefe fame gracelefs Mufes have not the least notion either of arms or honours, and, notwithstanding all your dignities and faculties, inftead of giving you the refined elegance, and the great fublimity of your ori. ginal, they have put you off with the pooreft doggrel, made you talk of fcarlet whores, chopping off heads with axes, and have even blinded you fo far as to degrade your verfe by giving George the First the cant term of Old Steady! an expreffion which cannot boaft of much greater dignity than Old Difmal, the name of a noted oyster-woman. Art. 18. The Meffiah; a facred Poem. In Four Books. By Mr. Weekes. 4to. 10s. 6d. Coote. We have already mentioned this work, in the course of its publication in feparate books: fee Nativity, Crucifixion, Temptation, &c. Review, Vols. XXIX. XXXI. THEATRICAL. Art. 19. The Platonic Wife, a Comedy. By a Lady. As acted at the Theatre - Royal in Drury-Lane. 8vo. Is. 6 Johnston. That Maiden Ladies, deeply read in romance, may have fallen into the Platonic fanciful fcheme here exposed to ridicule, there is no room to doubt; but we apprehend that matrimony muft ever have had the power to diffolve fo flimfy a charm. It may be therefore juftly queftioned, whether there now is, or ever did exift for three weeks together, fuch a character as a Platonic Wife. Such a character, however, has been drawn by Mrs. Griffith, author of the letters between Henry and Frances; wherein the Reader will find, if we rightly recollect, a confiderable portion of the fame kind of fpirit.-The town was fo candid and indulgent as to bear with the imperfections they could not but difcern, in this unfortunate production of a female pen, during a run of fix nights. We will not fhew ourfelves lefs courteous to the ingenious lady, by too rigid an examination of a performance the may poffibly wish to forget. Let the curtain therefore defcend, and all deficiencies of plott, character, fentiment, language, and moral, be for ever veiled from the eye of Criticism. * See Review, Vol. XVII. p. 416. The story is borrowed from one of Marmontel's tales, entitled L'Heureux Divorce: The Happy Divorce. Art. 20. The Maid of the Mill; a Comic Opera: formed at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. The Mufic As it is per compiled, compiled, and the Words written by the Author of Love in a It will be no ill compliment to Mr. Bickerstaff, the Author of this performance, if we fay that, in our judgment, it is poffeffed of more merit as a comedy, though of the lower caft, than as an opera; yet, in all probability, he, as the compiler of the mufic, will not thank us for the diftinction here made, and the preference given. Perhaps he will proteft against our judgment and taste in mufic; and it is confeffed that he may have reafon for making this objection: as we really are not admirers of French mufic, any more than Mr. Rouffeau, who hath fo highly condemned it. We do not wonder, however, that this piece hath fucceeded fo greatly on the ftage. It was fo well performed, in general, that it must have fucceeded; even if it had been lefs indebted than it is, to the abilities of the Author: who feems to poffefs a genius well fuited to this, at prefent, fashionable fpecies of compofition. Mr. Bickerstaff will pardon us, if we take the liberty of recommending to him, in refpect of his future productions, to be more attentive to one capital circumftance-their TENDENCY: that of his prefent performance having been justly objected to, by even the admirers of the piece, as a mufical entertainment. To encourage young people of family and fortune to marry fo very difproportionately, as, in the prefent inftance, Lord Aimworth with a miller's daughter, is even worse than the ftory of Mr. B. and Pamela, on which this opera is founded; and very little better than Lady - -'s running away with her footman.Ought fuch grofs indifcretions to be countenanced on the public stage? Art. 21. The Man of the Mill, a Burlefque Tragic Opera. The Mufic compiled and the Words written, by Signior Squalini. 8vo. 1 s. Cooke. A wretched thing, intended to burlesque the Maid of the Mill. Art. 22. Pharnaces: An Opera. Alter'd from the Italian. By We hazarded our fentiments in general on the fubject of English NOVEL S. Art. 23. The Surprizes of Love, exemplified in the Romance of a Day, and the Romance of a Night. The Second Edition; with the Addition of Two Stories, never before in Print, entitled, The Romance of a Morning, and the Romance of an Evening. 12mo. 3s. Lownds, &c. We have already recommended to our Readers the two first of these natural, cafy, chafte, and elegant tales. The two new ftories, added See Review, vol. XXIII. and XXVIII. 1 1 in this addition, are not unequal to the two former, in merit especially the Romance of a Morning; which might be eafily turned into a dramatic form, and could hardly fail of fucceeding on the stage, if not unfkilfully or unnaturally alter'd. MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 24. A Complete Hiftory of the Origin and Progress of the late War, from its Commencement, to the Exchange of the Ratifications of Peace, between Great Britain, France, and Spain: on the 10th of Feb. 1763. And to the figning of the Treaty of Hubertfberg, between the King of Pruffia, the Empress-Queen, and the Elector of Saxony, on the 15th of the fame Month, 8vo. 2 Vols. 10s. bound. Knox. The degree of attention to an anonymous hiftory, efpecially an history of our own times, is obvious to every perfon of common understanding. Whoever may be the prefent Writer, he does not feem quite deftitute of every qualification for the weighty tafk he has undertaken. He appears, in general, to be, not a genius, but a judicious kind of an biftorian-body, as a northern fchoolmaster exprefs'd himfelf; but he is by no means capable of fupporting the dignity of this noble fpecies of compofition: neither is he fo much in the fecret of affairs, as to be able to communicate to the public any thing of which it was not fufficiently acquainted before. If we allow him the character of a diligent compiler, it is the most he is entitled to. With regard to his ftile, it is chiefly that of plain unftudied narrative; though fometimes we meet with an expreffion a little out of the way: as, where, in the warmth of his patriotic zeal for the honour of Mr. Pitt's administration, he fays, Should any one be difpofed to write a panegyric on this minifter, he has no more to do than to relate this fact, that, whilft he was concerned in the affairs of government, this country carried on the most important war England was ever engaged in without an ally, more to her honour, and with greater fuccefs, than fhe ever did before, in the moft fuccefsful war, and with the most powerful affiftance.'- -So far, all is decent enough; but what follows? Yet this great man has his calumniators; but when their memories as well as their carcaffes fhall STINK, his memory will be odoriferous with the wife and good.' This is not very odoriferous language, whatever may become of our Author's prediction. Art. 25. The Hebrew Text confidered; being Obfervations on the Novelty and Self-inconfiftency of the Maforetic Scheme of pointing the facred Hebrew-Scriptures: With a reasonable Account of the Author's Plan of reading and conftructing the fcriptural Hebrew without Points. Founded upon an attentive Confideration of the Genius of the Hebrew Text itself, unpointed, as at first written; the obvious Dictates of Nature; the known ufage of Language in general; and the unexceptionable Authority of the Ancients. By Norman Sievwright, A. M. a Prefbyter of the Church, and Minifter to the authorized Epifcopal Congregation in Brechin. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Millar. • The The following difcourfe, fays the Author, is intended as a prelimi mary introduction to a grammar of the fcriptural Hebrew language, founded upon a new (though in reality the oldeft) yet obvious and reafonable plan; of which plan the fubitance is here proposed (but illuf trated fully in my grammar by quotations from the Hebrew fcriptures themselves, and from them only, in every inftance of primeval formation) and humbly fubmitted to the confideration of everywell-meaning enquirer into truth. These obfervations I have been advifed to publish, previous to the publication of my grammar, that the world might fee the reasonablenefs (I might fay, the neceffity) of fuch an undertaking, and be convinced that no impofition is defigned.' Mr. Sievwright has divided his work into five fections; in the two first he takes a view of the arguments for and against the Maforetic points; in the third he confiders the opinion of Dr. Prideaux, with regard to the authority and neceffity of the Maforetic punctuation; in the fourth he endeavours to prove the Maforetic scheme of quiefcent letters, and the affigning different powers to one and the fame letter of the Hebrew alphabet, to be a grofs corruption of the Hebrew language: and, in the fifth he treats of the fundamentals of the natural and confillent reading, conftructing, and interpretation of the fcriptural Hebrew, agreeably to the plan which appears to have been adopted by the ancients, and which is agreeable to the genius and uniformity of the language. With interefting remarks upon paffages wrong tranflated.' Such of our Readers as are converfant with works of this kind, will find many of this learned Writer's obfervations worthy of their at tention. Art. 26. An authentic Narrative of fome remarkable and interefting Particulars in the Life of *******. Communicated in a Series of Letters to the Rev. Mr. Haweis, Rector of Aldwincle, Northamptonshire; and by him, at the Requeft of Friends, now made public. Small 8vo. 2s. few'd. Johnfon. We look upon this as a genuine account of one who, from being a profiigate common failor, became a fober, ferious, religious perfon; and who, having had the advantage of a pretty good education, quitted the fea-faring life, took a turn to books, induftrioufly taught himself feveral of the learned languages, and at laft entertaining thoughts of the mi niftry, follicited ordination from the late Archbishop of York, but was refufed.The Author appears to be a man of good natural parts; though ftrongly tinctured with that fort of enthufiafm which has been fo widely spread by the writings of Harvey, and others of the methodiftical amp. Art. 27. Orthography New Modelled; or, Dixwell's New Method of Spelling. The whole conftructed on a new Plan, for the Improvement of Learning in English Schools. 12mo. 1 s. Dixwell, &c. From the plainnefs and fimplicity of the Author's method, we think this Spelling-book promises to be more useful to children, than most of thofe which have been introduced into our common day-schools. 3 Art. 28. |