Fancy, though perhaps it might more properly have been called an elegy, is a pleasing poem.

Art. 42. The Journey to Brighton; an Heroi-Comic Poem, &c. &c. By Thomas Griffies. 4to. 2s. 6d. Faulder.

SPECIMEN.

1788.

This Summer we went for to spend at Brighton
The cash that we'd fav'd for a journey thereon.'

HUMBLY IMITATED.

And wrote verfes about it, to make people fcoff,
At the bellman-like nonfenfe and dulnefs thereof.

Art. 43. Ode, by Dr. Samuel Johnson, to Mrs. Thrale, on their fuppofed approaching Nuptials. 4to. IS. Faulder. 1788.

It is a pity this piece of wit (for witty it is) had not a better foundation. Nature and probability are too much violated in the fuppofition of matrimonial views on the part of Johnfon after the death of his friend Thrale. Let us recollect the general tenour of his correfpondence with Mrs. T. lately communicated to the public, in which many of his letters were fraught with woeful complaints of his infirmities, and indelicate details of the operations of his medicines: if these were love-letters, they were very peculiar ones, indeed! Art. 44. Soliloquy in a Thatched Building in a retired Part of W— Gardens. 4to. 2s. 6d. Faulder. 1787.

We should have been wholly at a lofs, in what clafs of poetry to rank these verses, had not the author, in a note, informed us, that his original and entire aim was to give his poem under the uniform character of reflective and refined philofophy, expreffed with elegance and elevation. If the reader wishes for farther information, the following extract will give him an idea of the author's manner-for he is indeed a mannerift :

Me ne'er let cunning's falfe pretence
Or cheat, or tempt, with mask of fenfe;
Cunning! that paltry, wretched thing,
Encircled in its little ring;

Its object fingle, near, and fmall,
Itself, fhort fighted, fees as all,
And then, perhaps, as fquinting too,
Sees not that object ftrait or true:
CONSISTENCY ne'er gain'd its love;
With CONTRADICTION, hand and glove ;
Precipitancy too moft dear,

For that condemns before you hear;

Deceit and lies its only rule,

Itfelf at once both knave and fool;
And then its own dear Self-applaufe
The whole to one bright focus draws.
Thus have I feen a squirrel put
In corner of the room his nut,
Unconscious that myself could fee
Where the nut lay as well as he.'

This fquirrel is, to be fure, a cunning thief; but how he came here, or what he is like, or what the poet means to fay, we confess. we cannot tell.

Art. 45. Tales, Apologues, Allegories, Vifions, Epigrams, Epitaphs, &c. in Verfe. By William Walbeck. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Faulder. 1788. The writer of the Tales and Apologues before us, is a great admirer of La Fontaine, and particularly defirous of appearing as great as that diftinguished and capital wit. But all his puffing and fwelling is to no effect. As Mr. Walbeck is not deftitute of abilities, we should be forry to fee him, like the frog in the fable, loft in fo ridiculous an attempt; an attempt in which we have already affured him it is impoffible that he fhould ever fucceed.

The following quotations will exhibit our author in the character of a wit, and of an honest man; in the latter he will probably be thought by a many' to fine:

THE POETASTER AND THE POET.
One of thofe wretched fcribblers who recite
To every perfon every thing they write,
Meeting with Pope, faid-" Brother Poet, do
Give your advice, which of thefe Poems two
You'd have me publish?" and began to read
A part of one: Pope ftopt him-" There's no need
To wafte your breath; enough, enough, my brother,
You read that well, but prythee print the other."

Though the mention of JUPITER, and other ethnic names and phrafes, in modern ftories, may feem incongruous, I fhall use them whenever there is mention or implication of fupernatural agency, in any tale which has a burlesque turn. I would not, at fuch times, be thought even to glance at that great, tremendous, awful, and holy Power, which Voltaire dared to fpeak of as falfely as familiarly; nor would I indeed, for the reputation of wit ten thousand times as brilliant as Voltaire's, incur his impious character. Authors daily arife, whofe conceit carries them fo far as to make them think, they are the most profound and enlightened philofophers of any age; and they fet at nought all the fyftems of religion, not excepting the revealed one. Vanity has pretty deep root in all of us, but one would think felf-prefervation fhould have a ftronger hold; if he is not a downright madman, he is the worst of fools, or the worst of fcoundrels, who, by weakening our religious faith, would destroy the beft bond of fociety, and thereby endanger the temporal and eternal happiness of all mankind. I fhall make no apology to the reader for this or any other ferious notes; on the contrary, I fhall be glad if a many, not looking for religious inftruction in a work under a comic title, fhould benefit by it.'

How the man who had made the foregoing pious obfervation could ever become the imitator of La Fontaine, a writer whom the more

*Witness a tale or two in the prefent collection of poems; witnefs alfo Fables Ancient and Modern,' published about a year ago, and of which an account was given in our Review for September 1787. REV. June, 1788. `

O o

auflere

auflere part of mankind have always cenfured on account of his immorality, we are wholly at a lofs to conceive.

Mr. W. as appears by his prefaces, is diffatisfied with certain of the critical tribe. When, however, at the expiration of fome few years he may look over his feveral productions: and when he recollects that a true critic, as a celebrated writer expreffes it, though pleafed to praife' is NOT AFRAID TO BLAME,' he will, we think, no longer wonder at their decifion, or arraign their judgment in the cenfure of his works. The epigrams, which make a confiderable part of the prefent volume, are the most pointless (two or three excepted) of any we remember to have ever feen.

NOVELS, &c.

Art. 46. Augufta; or, the Dependant Niece.

fewed. Vernor. 1788.

2 Vols. 12mo. 55.

""Tis these that early taint the female foul,
Inftruct the eyes of young coquettes to roll,
Teach infant cheeks a bidden blush to know,
And little hearts to flutter at a beau."

So fays the poet when fpeaking of Sylphs, and fo fay we when fpeaking of Romances-fome few, fome very few, excepted. Thefe productions, while they contribute to the ruin of half our women, are the encouragers of foppery in the men. In the prefent performance, which is nothing but a mafs of impertinence, one of the heroes is known among the ladies by the appellation of the English Adonis,' another by that of the Handfome Conway,' &c. &c. And is it for the fate of characters whofe merit confifts in the whitenefs of their fkin that we are to be interested?

Art. 47.

Catharine; or, the Wood of Lewellyn. A Defcriptive Tale. 12mo. 2 Vols. 5s. fewed. Lane. 1788.

A fomewhat romantic, but not uninterefting tale. The parody of Dryden's celebrated Mufic Ode, and of the Elegy in a Country Church Yard, we cannot, however, in any fort approve. The main incident in this novel appears to be borrowed from Southern's tragedy of the Fatal Marriage. It has been much too frequently employed.

Art. 48. Augufta; or, the Female Travellers. A Novel. 12mo. 6d. fewed. Lane. 1788.

3 vols. 75. The heroine of this novel is reprefented, at the opening of it, as fo thoroughly accomplished both in mind and body, that we were naturally tempted to exclaim with a favorite poet :

"Sure fhe is all that painting can exprefs,

Or youthful poets fancy when they love!"

But when this lady, in giving an account of her adventures, informs us that her admirer had eyed her; that a gentleman, who was reproving his companion, opened upon him, &c. &c. ; we are compelled to withdraw the opinion we at nit had entertained of her, to acknowlege our difappointment, and to repeat with a fill more eminent author:

"Out on this feeming! we will write against it."

But however faulty this performance may be in point of compofition, it will, no doubt, be approved by many readers, on account of the variety of incidents of which it is compofed, and which are managed with fome degree of fkill. It is much more eafy to twift and entangle a story, than to inftruct or improve us by juft and noble sentiments, or to prefent us with faithful images of men and things. Art. 49. Features from Life; or, a Summer Vifit. By Miss Blower. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6s. fewed. Kearsley. 1788.

Mr. and Mrs. Conway, happy in the bofom of rural tranquillity, and in a numerous offspring, are fummoned to London on the marriage of Sir Harry Gaythorne, the friend and quondam companion of Mr. C. The lady of the baronet is a woman of Spirit, and being pleased with the manners of Mr. Conway, the contrives to wean his affections from an amiable wife. The latter, on difcovery of her husband's disloyalty, affects to be little moved at it, while fhe is fecretly tormented with the most pungent and exceffive grief. Mr. Conway, in confequence of his illicit amour, being at length engaged in a duel, is wounded, and expires in the arms of Mrs. C. The moral inculcated in this performance-a fteady and undeviating perfeverance in the path of honour-deferves particular praife; and the language, fome few ladyijms excepted, is fufficiently pleafing and

correct.

Art. 50.

Clara and Emmeline; or, the Maternal Benediction. By Mrs. Helme, Authoreis of Louifa, or the Cottage on the Moor. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6s. fewed. Kearley. 1788.

Clara and Emmeline, as a moral production, may be placed foremost in the lift of novels. The incidents, however, are trite and common; a few of the fentiments are ftrained and affected; and the language, to use a lady-like expreffion of the author's, is frequently faulty and inelegant to a degree!'-For an account of the pretty novel of Louifa, by the fame writer, fee Review for May 1787,

P. 449.

12mo. 2 Vols.

that these histories the dealers in diFairy Tales were

Art. 51. Fairy Tales, felected from the beft Authors. 55. fewed. Lane. 1788. While we readily acknowlege, with the editor, are felected from among the moft confiderable of minutives, we have little to fay in their praife. formerly thought to be the proper and almoft the only reading for children; it is with much fatisfaction, however, that we find them gradually giving way to publications of a far more interefting kind, in which inftruction and entertainment are judiciously blended, without the intermixture of the marvellous, the abfurd, and things totally out of nature.

Art. 52. Favourite Tales, from the French. 12mo. 35. fewed.

Robinfons. 1787.

These tales, with the exception of that intitled, Azef, or the Miftakes of Sentiment,' are light and trifling; and one is of the free and eafy kind. Productions like the present are extremely numerous on the continent, but we wish not to fee them encouraged here. The verbiage, the frothinefs of a Parifian petit-maitre, is no way fuitable to honest John Bull.

002

Art.

Art. 53. Authentic and interefting Memoirs of Mifs Anne Sheldon. Izmo. 4 Vols. 10s. fewed. Sold by all the Bookfellers. 1787.

Mifs Anne Sheldon, who was formerly of confiderable note in the pleasurable circles, has here prefented the public with her adventures; and the scenes fhe brings to view, excite at once our pity and disgust.

EDUCATION.

Art. 54. A Footstep to the French Language. Containing fuch Obfervations as will facilitate the Acquifition of it, and render its Study lefs difgufting to Beginners: Or, a fhort Introduction to a Work entitled, The complete Syftem of the French Language. By Nicholas Salmon. 4to. Is. 6d. Elmfley. 1787.

We know not in whofe footsteps Mr. Salmon may have trodden, but we cannot heartily perfuade our young readers to purfue his path; we mean as a philologer, or grammarian of the higher fort: which diftinction, from his talking of a Complete Syftem of the French Language, &c.'* he feems to claim. Of the following fentences, the first is not English and the fecond is not French:

He attaches himself to pleafing her. Il s'attache à lui plaire'.

I want a horfe that will go well. Je veux un cheval qui aille bien.' There are many equally faulty expreffions in Mr. S.'s work. Books of this kind are unneceffarily multiplied. Chambaud, Rogisfard, Boyer, and Restaut, have done enough.

SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

Art. 55. Sunday School Dialogues; being an Abridgment of the firft Principles of Religion, &c. adapted to the Capacity of the infant Mind. 12mo. 3d. Marshall.

Mrs. Trimmer has here abridged a work of M. P.'s, which has been held in no fmall degree of eftimation by thofe who are engaged in the important duty of conveying religious and virtuous principles into young minds. The fcarcity of books, adapted to the capacities of children in the lower claffes of life, has, fince the establishment of Sunday Schools, excited Mrs. Trimmer, and several others, to furnifh fuch as are neceffary for that purpofe; and, perhaps, literature is feldom more ufefully employed.

HISTORY.

Art. 56. Univerfal History, Ancient and Modern; in a Series of Letters to a Youth at School. Exhibiting a View of the Origin, Progrefs, Decline and Fall of every confiderable State, from the carliest Times to the prefent Period. With a copious Chronological Table of remarkable Events and Occurrences, from the Creation to the Year 1787. By the Rev. Richard Turner, Jun. L. L. D. late of Magdalene Hall, Oxford. 12mo. 3s. bound. Robinfons. 1787.

This little epitome being written in a plain and eafy ftyle, is, on that account, more fit for young readers than most of the books that are defigned for their afe.

The Complete System in our next.

The