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this Writer had taken his leave of the prefs long ago; having heard nothing of him for fome time paft: but now he threatens the world with more publications. How much are Kings and Reviewers to be pitied!

Did not Mr. Pooke affure us that he is quite difinterested in the entertainment he occafionally affords the Public, and that the thoughts of gain is the leaft motive of his writing, we fhould be apt to fufpect he had a diftant view of being fome time or other promoted at court; of obtaniing a penfion; or of being made, perhaps, PoctLaureat to the Queen: this latter, indeed, may poffibly be the height of his ambition. There is one piece of advice, however, we would give him; and that is, not only to make a proper choice of his fubjects, but to time his performances with the fame propriety. His conduct in the former point is, indeed unexceptionable. An Elegy on the old King, a Panegyric on the new one, now an Aides on the Queen's arrival, and we are promised foon an Epithalamium on their Majesties Marriage, together with a Panegyric on the Coronation. All these are notable fubjects, and fo far to the purpofe; but, Sir, they come the Day after the Fair. Inftead of being behind-hand with your pieces for the Marriage and Coronation, you ought to have fet forth a Lyric Ode on the Birth of the Prince, a week ago, and a Pindaric on the Chriftening ready cut and dried in your pocket. What do you think, man, to make of your poetry at this rate ? All the places will be filled up, and the penfions given away, before you have fufficiently difplayed your talents, to be taken notice of. Or fhould you be fo lucky as to fucceed in obtaining the Laureat, only think what a figure you will make, coming out with a New-Year's Ode at Midfummer; or a Birth-day Compliment on her Majetty, when, the good Queen being down in the ftraw, your Mufe fhould have celebrated the birth of an Heir to Brunswick's royal Line. Think on these things, and fpur your tardy Pegafus, or de. pend on it, he will be beat all hollow, by the other galloway Nags and ambling Jades of Parnaffus.

But, to give our Readers fome idea of the qualifications Mr. Pooke poffeffes, for the poft of which we have been fpeaking. The following is his defcription of the fleet fent to conduct her Majelly; with a relation of its voyage, and the arrival of the noble Peers at Mecklenburg, &c.

Soon were the yachts new deck'd in rich array,
To hail the Confort of our holiday;
And the who was great Caroline's of fame,
Is christ'ned after Charlotte's royal name:

Stock'd with collations, fweatmeats of the best,
Madeira found; but French wines none in cheft:
Plate, a fine fide-board, and a foft down bed
For our fair Queen, whereon to lay her head;
Hung all around with crimfon velvet rich,
By our own hands compleated ev'ry ftitch;

Waiting

Waiting equip'd, to enter on the Main,
While numbers view'd her in a pleasant strain.
Then join'd the fquadron of her convoy'd guard,
Few moments did the winds her courfe retard :
Anfon foon fteered her to the German fhore;
Where Helm-a-lees with chearful fhouts did roar.
Quick did the news at Mecklenburgh arrive,
And quicker our Nobles to their Court did drive:
Harcourt did then the facred business tie,

By his right leg, the Court's bound by proxy.

Euge! magne Poeta! There's a Poet for you!

Art. 16. 4 Collection of Mifcellaneous Elays. By Thomas
A
Mozeen. 8vo. 5s. Briftow, &c.

Mr. Mozeen is a tolerable hand at a fong for Sadler's Wells, or a ballad for Vaux-Hall; and may do very well in the capacity of Poet Laureat of Covent Garden.

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University of Oxford, at St. Mary's, on A&t. Sunday, July 11, 1762. By Thomas Fothergill, D. D. Fellow of Queen's College. Rivington.

2. The duty of a People's remembering their deceafed Paftors,—Occafioned by the Funeral of the late Rev. Mr. Thomas Hall. By John Conder. Dilly.

3. A Spittal Sermon, before the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Governors of the feveral Hofpitals of the City of London, at St. Bridget, on Wednesday in Eafter Week, 1762. By Lewis Bruce; Preacher at Somerfet-house, and Chaplain to the Lord Mayor, Kearfly.

4. The Bleffedness of living and dying in the Lord, proved in a Sermon preached upon the Death of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Jones, Chaplain of St. Saviour's, Southwark, who departed this Life, June 6, 1762, and printed for the Benefit of bis Widow. By W. Romaine, M. A. Lecturer of St Dunstan's in the Weft. Worral.

The religion of Christians has not fuffered fo much from any external injuries as from the folly and the treachery of its profeffors. When they lofe fight of reafon, and give into the abfurdities of fanaticifm, well may they expofe it to the attacks of ridicule. To read the fenfelefs Sermon before us were enough indeed to give the Reader a furfeit of all religion. But it is really not more an object of ridicule than of indignation; and the author of it is not less profane than ftupid when he talks of binding up Mr. Jones's Soul in the Bundle of Life with the Lord his God.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For SEPTEMBER, 1762.

The Works of Nicholas Machiavel, Secretary of State to the Rea public of Florence. Newly tranflated from the Originals; Illuftrated with Notes, Anecdotes, Differtations, and the Life of Machiavel, never before published; and feveral new Plans on the Art of War. By Ellis Farneworth, M. A. Vicar of Rofthern in Cheshire, Tranflator of the Life of Pope Sixtus the Vth*, and Daviia's Hiftory of the Civil Wars of Francet. 4to. 2 vols. 11. 16 s. bound. Davies.

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T happens unfortunately for the interest of Civil Society, that the fcience of Politics has generally been treated rather with the narrow view of fupporting, or overthrowing, fome particular form of government, than with the noble and generous defign of eftablishing a fyftem for the public good of the community. Writers of this clafs have, for the most part, been influenced by private pique or refentment against the Governors, or elfe have been biaffed by the alluring profpect of those preferments, which the ruling powers alone have the privilege of difpenfing.

In the number of political Writers, however, we would not be thought to include the fcurrilous advocates of contending parties, in whofe writings there is not a fingle idea. which can be properly termed political, or which bears the leaft relation to the Art of Government. We fpeak of thofe only who have been Oppofers or Defenders of Systems, not of temporary Adminiftrations: and even among fuch, how few are there, who have confidered Government as an Art which has the fecurity and happiness of mankind for its end! + Ibid. vol. XVIII. p. 625. L Plato

See Review, vol. XI. p. 268. 2 VOL. XXVII.

Plato, Sir Thomas More, and others, who may be deemed vifionary Projectors, feem indeed to have had this Ultimate in view, but alas! their zeal has overleaped the bounds of difcretion, and before their fchemes can be adopted, human nature must undergo a total revolution. Some of our countrymen, however, have made a confpicuous appearance in the political circle; and we may venture to fay, that the world is indebted for the best treatifes on Government to the English Writers of the last century.

To counterbalance, in fome measure, the cruel calamities which are infeparable from civil commotions, they are generally attended with this advantage, that they call forth men of bold fpirits, and ftrong talents, into action. Times of trouble neceffarily draw the attention to folid and ferious confiderations, and leave no room for idle gallantries, and trivial amusements, which diffipate, and enervate the mind. It was the unhappy divifions which proved fatal to the mifguided Charles, and their confequences, which gave occafion to the writings of Hobbes, Harrington, Sydney, Nevil, and others, whofe talents we must respect, even where we cannot embrace their tenets. If the three last must yield to Hobbes in depth and fubtilty of argument, yet they have the merit of having beft explained, and defended, the principles of political Liberty; though it must be confeffed, that they have fometimes pushed their reasoning too far; which cannot be wondered at, when we confider the times in which they lived, and the inftances of oppreffion which they had seen and felt.

But of all the Authors who have treated of the Art of Government, Machiavel fhews the leaft regard to the general welfare of human fociety: and though his writings, like thofe of Hobbes, feem, with fome, to be growing out of reputation, yet too many of his maxims are ftill adopted and defended, by infidious enemies to the civil rights of mankind.

Machiavel always confiders Government as an inftitution calculated merely to fwell the pride, and gratify the pleasure of ambitious and voluptuous Rulers. He fpeaks of kingdoms, as of territorial fubjects of property; and of fubjects, as fo many cattle grazing on the Sovereign's demefnes. He is very copious in his inftructions how to acquire kingdoms, and to keep poffeffion of them; but wholly omits the more ufeful precepts, how to improve them, for the mutual benefit of Prince and People.

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His flavish and horrid doctrines, have not efcaped the cenfure they deserve; though, at the fame time, he has not wanted Apologists, who have endeavoured to justify or palliate his principles. Many would perfuade us, that he does not deliver the real dictates of his heart; but that his reflections are penned in a vein of farcastic irony: that while he is laying down rules for establishing and confirming ufurpation and tyranny, he only meats to fneer at Tyrants: in fhort, that he only tells us, what Princes do, not what they ought to do.

With refpect to this apology, we are ready to admit, that Machiavel does not always exprefs his real fentiments, which may be fafely inferred from the glaring contradictions which fo frequently occur in his writings. But, at the fame time, we think it evident from the whole tenour of his works, and from the characters of the feveral perfons to whom they are addressed, that he never intended they fhould be taken ironically, or conftrued as a fatire upon Princes. In order, however, to comprehend Machiavel's defign as a Politician, we need only examine his treatise entitled the Prince, in which he has reduced all the wicked and abominable reflections, interfperfed through the feveral parts of his works, into one regular fyftem. To this treatise the Tranflator has annexed an Examen, generally afcribed to the King of Pruffia; and which proves his Pruffian Majefty to be (in theory at least) what a wife and good Prince ought to be.

If Machiavel meant to be ironical, he certainly was not fo little acquainted with Ariftotle, as not to know, that the irony ought to be fupported, if not through the whole work, at least through a fingle fentence. Now let us apply this rule of judging to the following obfervations.

Speaking of mixed principalities, he obferves, that "Dominions newly acquired and annexed to the ancient territories of the conqueror, are either provinces of the fame nation and language with his own fubjects, or they are not. When it happens that they really are fo, they are very eafily maintained, efpecially if the people have not been too much accuftomed to liberty. For, to fecure the poffeffion of them, little more is required than to extirpate the family of the Prince who left reigned over them: after which, the natives will live quietly enough, provided they are fuffered to enjoy their former privileges, and there does not happen to be any remarkable and material difimilitude in the manners and cuf

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