enjoyment. If this order, however; deferves the eulogium of our author, and we have not the fighteft reafon to doubt it, we ought not to d-fils the fermon without expreffing our higheft approbation of the conflitution,

The antiquity, the preacher remarks, of your order claims refpect; the moral excellency of its conftitution demands vene tation and praise. Industry is a prime object of your encou ragement and regard. The cultivation of benevolence is your principal characteristic. The facred name of religion is protected in your lodges from impiety and profanenefs. The whif per of calumny is not heard. S earing and licentious wit are banished from your convivial board; nor is its harmony dif turbed by the unt iendly and pernicious intrusion of gaming.'

This difcourfe is, in general, practical and pop lar. Mr. Hughes contrafts the rate of that nation, where focial union and benevolence prevail, with fome of the vices of the pretent age. To cultivate the first and avoid the last is the neceffary conclafion, a confummation which we devoutly join with the preacher in wishing for.

Obfervations on the Four Gofpels; Shewing their Defects, and how far thefe Defects, toge her with the Writings of St. Paul, have mifled the Compilers of our Church Service, &c. thereby evinc ing the Necefity of revifing the Whole by Authority. By a Friend to Truth. 800. 8vo. 65. fowed. Kearsley.

We have feen the Harmony of the Gospels, but this work may be styled their contraft. The author is faid to be a ferious, candid, filk manufacturer at Lyons; but, in many paffages of this work, he difplays little judgment, and ftrongly fupports what we formerly remarked, that free enquiry, without judg ment and ability, will millead inftead of intructing.

The

friend to truth,' finds the Evangelifts not only contradicting each other, but almost always the compilers of our church-ser-vice; and, in his zeal for reformation, leads us to the confines (perhaps b yond the confines) ot Deifm. Difcuffions of this kind are unfuitable to a popular journal, and we shall leave Our author to the reforming Unitarians of the prefent age,

POETRY.

Happinef, a Poem. 4to. 15. 6d. Ridgeway. This is a first attempt, and the author pleads youth and the want of a liberal education to mitigate the leverity of criticism; bur, as he fays, what is that to the public? We mean not however to difcourage him: and, if his years and fituation allow it, we would advife him to acquire what literary inftruc tion he can, and to be a reader for fome time before he makes his fecond attempt as an author. He does not appear to want abilities, and his diction is fmooth and easy.

Cheyt Sing, a Poem. By a Young Lady of Fifteen. · 4100 - 250 Woodhouse.

This young lady writes with fpirit and feeling; but her poem, like the preceding, will not often stand the teft of criticifm. Sunday, a Porm. 4tos 13. Dilly.

There are no marks of a vigorous fancy or warm imagination in this little performance, but we meet with many just obfervations, delivered in a clear and perfpicuous ftyle. A fhort fpecimen may not be unacceptable:

1

Free to enjoy repofe from toil and care
Now vacant man a cleanly afpect wears,'
The fruitful mother of a num❜rous race
Wakens to call her progeny around,

To lave their blooming cheeks, and clothe their limbs
With garments fpbtlefs as the breast they hide,
And youth and age the gen'ral law.obey.
Lovely in fimple charms the village maid,
Her now with happier eyes her lover fees,
Or as the kneels at chureb, or treads the green.
The chimney-fweeper fabler e'en than he
Who plies laborious at the fcorching forge,
Nor plies his trade, nor wears its fable hue;
But mindful of the day that frees from toil,
He wipes his footy face, well pleas'd to feel
Fresh o'er bis frame the grateful folace glide.
Delightful folace! kindling health and joy.

Hail cleanliness! thou cheaply-purchas'd blifs,
Virtue's ally, whofe foftly-ftealing pow'r

Reaches the mind, and makes us clean within.'

The óbfervation in the laft three lines is happily conceived and expreffed.

1.4.

Specimens of the early English Poets. 8vo. 6s. Beards. Edwards.

It was intended to comprife within the compafs of one vofume, all the most beautiful fmall poems which had been publiffed in this country during the fixteenth and seventeenth cen turies; but the completion of the author's plan has been prevented by the difficulty of procuring a fufficient flock of matter. The editor defigned to arrange them under the reigns in which their authors flourished, to unite the advantages of a poetical common-place book with those of a history of English poetry:' this plan he has adhered to in the prefent fpecimen; and the poems are fo well chofen, and printed with fo much beauty and care, that we hope he will be enabled, by a more diligent fearch, to fill up his outline. The prefent collection begins at the reign of Henry VIII. and ends with the merry days of the fecond Charles.

We had intended to felect different fpecimens, in order to trace fome of our latest poets in the veftiges of their fucceffors, and to have shown, that in works of fancy and elegance, æras fo little diftant fcarcely gave any room to afcertain the progress of

the

the art. But we found the collection too inconfiderable to admit of a plan fo extenfive. This volume is, however, a very pleating companion; and we must repeat, that the poems are felected with great taste, and printed with much elegance.

The Prifon, a Poem! 4ta. 23, 6d. Stalker.

This performance appears to be written from a benevolent principle, and is entitled to approbation; particularly, if the author is in reality entirely deftiture of all thofe acquifitions that education beltows;' and which he pleads in mitigation of critical feverity for any inaccuracies into which he may in advertently have been betrayed.,

Louifa, a Nowel. 3 Vols. By the Author of Melia and Marcia, qr the Sifters. 12mo. 95. Hookham.

The author of this pleasing and interefting story has fixed her eyes on Cecilia, and, from this charming model, founded her history. The changes of fortune are frequent; the characters well diversified, though not strongly marked or pointedly contrafted; and the intereft moft feelingly fupported. If there is a fault it is perhaps in the frequent changes: the difficulties are fcarcely farted, but they are explained; and a miffortune feldom happens without a remedy being foon at hand. If this conduct leffens the force of the impreffion, it adds to the variery, and renders the work more amufing. A few of the characters alfo feem to be drawn from life, with peculiarly characteriio traits. We may mention Bangrove, Mrs. Gillinby, lady Rofeville, and fir Ralph Random. The character of fir Charles Rofeville is not always, we suspect, confiftent; and the peculiar traits of his fon fhould have been brought forward more pointedly than by defcription. Yet, on the whole, we have been highly entertained by this novel, and think it much beyond the ufual works of this clafs.

The Fate of Velina de Guidora, a Novel. 3 Vol. 12mo. gs.

Lane.

The Fate of Velina is a happy one; but it is brought about by common incidents, and the characters differ only from the works whofe fcene is laid in England in the names and titles. The Letter on Suicide, and the Sermon in anfwer to it, contain few arguments that are not hackneyed, and few remarks that, in fimilar fituations, will have any influence. The circumftances of the ftory are alfo improbable, and the denouement is improperly hurried.

བཞིན།།

rley; or, the Faithless Wife. 2 Vols. 12mo. 55. Barr, The adventures of Arley are not without fome contradictions and improbabilities. The characters alfo of the citizen and his family, as well as of Manfel, too nearly border on fome correfponding ones in Cecilia; but the parhmony of Briggs, united

5

to

to the vulgar familiarity of the Branetons, are not well applied to the opulent inhabitant of Mincing-lane. When we have faid that this novel is amuting, we have nothing farther to add in its praife.

Caroline; or, the Heroine of the Camp, a Novel. z Vols. 12mo* 55., Beilby.

This lady has no great right to the name of heroine, for the remains quietly at New York, in peace from all attacks but thofe of love. Though the story is told in a plain eafy manner, and amufes for the time, we cannot avoid ftyling it a trite, hackneyed tale, while reflection does not furnish one hint or character to induce us to make a fingle effort to rescue it from oblivion.

Plexippus; or, the Afpiring Plebeian. 2 Vol. 12md. 6s. Dodfley.

Our author is greatly fuperior to the common rack of profeffional novellifts. His narrative is written in elegant language, without the affectation of ornament, and occafionally, difplays not only the attractive neatnefs of Mr, Graves' ftyle, but fometimes the fhrewd farcafms, which we admire in Columella and the Spiritual Quixote. There is no attempt at humour; and the author feems rather to aim at copying from nature, without diftorting the features, to render the pictures ridiculous, or the portraits carricatures. He has greatly entertained us, and it is a debt of gratitude, on our fide, to recommend his work, We truff our recommendation will not be in vain.

Sidney and Eugenia, a Novel. By a Lady. 2 Vols. 12mo. 65. Wilkins.

We perecive neither novelty nor merit in thefe volumes: it is the hackneyed tale ten times told; 'told till it disgufts. As it is from a female pen, we can excufe the profufion with which Hymen fcatters his favours; but we cannot excufe, from a lady, the great fufceptibility of each fair one introduced. Every lady is quickly in love, and no lady fcruples to own it: almost every one gives fufficient intimation of it to the gentleman fhe diftinguithes.

Norman and Bertha; or, Exalted Attachment, a Novel. Writ ten by a Lady. 2 Vol. 12mo. 65. Walter.

If the lady who wrote Sidney and Eugenia diftinguified her felf by love and matrimony, our prefent fair one delights in fudden deaths, and unexpected changes of character and conduct. In short, probability is violated every moment, and we meet with nothing to reconcile the difguft which this inatten. tion must neceflarily produce.

MISCELLANEOUS. Mammuth, or Nature displayed on a grand Scale, in a Tour suith the Tinker's into the inland Parts of Africa. By the Man in the Moon. 2 Vol. 12mo. 65. Muray.

In this ftrange, whimfica', excentric, and unequal performVOL. LXX. July, 1799.

H

ance,

ance, we could find fubject of both praife and blame, if it were of importance to difcriminate its different features. The leading idea of virtuous moniters, and a race of giants, who are both just and benevolent, is not new; and, in the work before us, it is not expanded with skill, or rendered very interefting by additional fituations, or new remarks. Some detached parfages in this work deferve our applaufe, for the author foars to political cabinets, and finks again to the art and mystery of reviewing. Occafionally he inftructs us by juft and pertinent iemarks; again he difgufts us by trifling, by indelicate, and improper allufions. The reader feels little interest for the hero; and if he were devoured by a Mammuth, conveyed to the moon, or placed again on the gypfey throne, it would be heard with equal indifference.

Hints on producing Genius. By J. W. Parfons, A. B. 8vo. 15. 6d. CadeH.

After much diligence and application we can but in few places afcertain with precifion our author's meaning. Where, however, we can perceive it, we find no reason to blame. What we understand is good, and we conclude the reft to be fo also; but Mr. Parfons' ideas feem not to have been originally clear, and his language is fo perplexed, his phrafcology fo distorted and unnatural, that he would in many places bid defiance to Arif totle, if he were to return to this world, in order to interpret his meaning. The fubjects of this work are, the difproportionate ftate of genius to fcience; the revolution in English education; genius dependent on the animal powers; and conftitutional culture.'

Invocations, addreed to the Deity, the Ocean, and to Woman. To which is added, the Diffolution, a Fragment. Small 8vo. 15. 6d.

Stalker.

In poeti al-profe of this kind, the imagination often hurries reafon from her throne, and wanders without a guide, through unknown regions. In other words, the inflated language of fimilar effufions conveys few diflinct images, and among the diftoried reprefentations it is difficult to find the femblance of nature and reality, while, infiead of poetical phrafes, we find in general uncommon, and often ludicrous expreflions. Our author foars, as ufual, in these invocations, but with more attention to truth and nature: yet, whether from a diflike to thefe attempts, or that he has not fuccceded, we found little pleafure from the perufal of this volume: in too many places, profelus grandia turget.

A Treatife on the Strangles and Feuers of Horfes. With a Plate, reprefenting a Horfe in the Staggers, flung. By Thomas Proffer. 35. 6d. Boards. White and Son.

800.

Mr. Proffer feems not to have been deficient in labour, for

8

he