them here. It might feem extraordinary, that Dr. Priestley fhould have fo far forgot the common decorums of fociety, as to have given to the world the name of his antagonist. Every author has a right to remain anonymous; the merits of no controverfy ought to be affected by the perfonal character of the difputants; and the very exiftence in a manner of a periodical review, depends upon the impoffibility of afcribing cach article to its particular writer. This is Dr. Priestley's reafoning upon the fubject.

"As a writer, no man, I will venture to fay, has been more obfervant of punctilios than I have been; but when a man's moral character is arraigned, as mine very materially is in this publication, he certainly has a right to the name of his accufer, if he can come at it. Indeed, no man of honour will advance fuch a charge against another without, at the fame time, giving his own name."

But perhaps, a much better defence, than any Dr. Prieftley could have fet up, is afforded him in the reply of his antagonist.

The name of an Author is of little confequence to the public; and to his argument it is of no confequence at all. Its obfcurity will not leffen the force of his reafoning, in the estimation of a judicious and unprejudiced reader: And were it as fplendid as your own, it would give no weight to what is frivolous, and no authority to what is falfe.

Names, however, have great influence with readers of another defcription; and you who have written fo copiously on the affociation of ideas, know the ufe of the doctrine perfectly well, and can apply it to your own purpofe with a dexterity which does great credit to your art and skill in manœuvring a controverfy. The great difficulty lies, in doing all this with an appearance of chriftian meckness and fimplicity; and in throwing the ferpent into the back ground of the piece, while all the dove is brought forward in full relief. Ars eft celare artem: And it is the utmost point of art to keep up this "covert and "convenient fecming;" for fimplicity, in trying too much to look like berfelf, looks fo much like fomething elfe, that we are ready to fufpect that the ferpent bath only been guilty of one of his old tricks, and hath fiolen a foreign fhape in order to play bis game with more fuccefs?

While Mr. Badcock remained a Monthly Reviewer, it would have been wandering extremely from our province, to have faid any thing of his pretenfions as a writer. Now that he has come forward in a feparate publication, it would be as cowardly to refufe a verdict, as it would before have been childish to pronounce it. He has certainly fome ability, and confiderable facility of language. There is a

flippancy, and a fluency in his ftyle. which will always command the admiration of fome, and excite the ignorant wonder of many. But this readinefs of expreffion is polifhed with no grace, and ftamped with no character,

He

He is fierce without being terrible, and his rage is unattended with either dignity or ftrength. Upon the whole we cannot help recommending to his attention the latter part of the prediction of Dr. Prieftly. "If he fhould ever really ftudy the fubject of this controverfy (which it is evident enough he has not done yet) he will find that he is mistaken with refpect to every part of it; and if he ever comes to reflect upon bis conduct in this bufinefs in a moral light, he will feel more than Ifhould wish him or any man to do, except for his own good." M.

ART. IX. The New Annual Regifier; or General Repofitory of Hitory of Politics, and Literature, for the Years 1780, 81, 82, and 83. 8vo. 6s. each, boards. Robinson.

THE general value of performances of this kind is fuf

ficiently obvious. They are calculated alike for inftruction and entertainment; and they ferve to accumulate for pofterity, very ample materials of intelligence and inforination. They are a fource from which the Hiftorians, the Philofophers, and the Antiquarians of future times may derive the most important topics upon which to employ their penetration, their refearch, and their eloquence.

No period could poffibly be more interefting than that at which the prefent undertaking has commenced. The contefts between France and Spain, the profecution of the American war, the agitated condition of Ireland, the rise of county affociations, and a variety of other objects of moment attracted curiofity, But that this work fhould be as perfect as poffible within itself, there is prefixed to the first volume, A Review of all the principal tranfactions of the prefent reign.' This introduction while it is allowed to be mafterly as a compofition has the effect to prepare the reader for the full exhibition of the public affairs for the year feventeen hundred and eighty, with which the authors of the prefent undertaking thought it proper to begin their career.

The Annual Regifter' published for Mr. Dodfley had previously obtained a very confiderable reputation. But while it degenerated from its original merit, it adopted very ftrenuously the language of faction and party; and its mode of publication became fo uncertain and dilatory, that it was impoffible to guefs at what period its compilers were to fubmit their efforts to the public.

There thus arofe a neceffity for the publication of A New Annual Register' which fhould exhibit the advan tages of the old, without its defects. The conductors of this new work were apprized of the difficulties they had to encounter; and they had the courage and the ability to furmount them.

The

The great divifions of this undertaking have a reference to the following departments-to British and foreign Hif tory, to principal occurrences, to public Papers, to Biographical anecdotes and characters, to Manners of Nations, to Philofophical Difcoveries and Speculations, to Antiquities, to Mifcellaneous Effays, to Poetry, and to domeftic and foreign Literature. Thefe points are equally fertile and important; and it has been the endeavour of the conductors of the New Annual Regifter to exercise with regard to them, the utmost perfpicuity, copiousness, and impartiality.

While we remark that thofe portions of the volumes before us which are chiefly to be confidered as collections are managed with propriety and fkill, it is our duty to obferve that in the original departments there are exhibited a highdegree of information and the exercife, not only of ability, but of candour. The domeftic and foreign Hiftory is doubtlefs the most important branch of the undertaking; and fuch it has been attended to with a proportioned effort. It even appears to us that this branch has uniformly improved. The laft vo lume poffeffes in this article fuperior advantages, affumes a form more united and compact, and exhibits a brighter and a happier narrative.

In the Review of domestic and foreign Literature there are ftrong traces of extreme labour, joined to critical acumen But what renders this article particularly confpicuous, are the interefting brevity with which the author points to the ftrength and weakness of different productions, his judicious impartiality, and the zeal he infpires for the cir culation of knowledge.

It is alfo to be obferved, that to the fecond volume of the prefent undertaking, there are prefixed difcourfes concerning the progrefs of erudition, literature, and tafte in. Great Britain. Thefe difcourfes are able and judicious, and we shall amuse our readers with a fhort extract from that which appears before the fecond volume.

The elegance of the pulpit forms no great object in our prefent furvey. The difcourfes of our beft and most celebrated divines were rational, fenfible, and judicious: they contained excellent inftructions, conveyed in plain, clear, and fometimes elegant language: they are a valuable part of English literature, have eminent moral and practical merit, and excell in explications of fcripture: but they feldom afcend to dignity or pathos; they feldom attain that fublimity, variety and tenderness which might, perhaps, be expected from the important and interesting fubjects which the preacher has to recommend. If any one is to be diftinguished from the reft of the pulpit orators of his time, it is bifhop Sherlock. The general character of his fermons, like that of thofe of contemporaries, is the calm and perfpicuous mode of compofition. But they have ufually a greater elegance; and they occafionally rife to a certain degree of

grandeur.

grandeur. We remember that the conclufion of one of bishop Sher lock's difcourfes is uncommonly striking and fublime. There is, likewife, in him, a refinement of fentiment and reasoning, which we are not fure to be always founded on truth.

Another matter, well deferving of our confideration, is the state of Historical Writing. The light in which we before mentioned Rapin, was only that of his political value and influence, and he is not an object of attention in the point we have now in view. The circumftance in which our country had long failed, and wherein it had little title to fame, was the compofition of hiftory. Many works, indeed, we had, of great ufe with regard to information, but they were deftitute of elegance and dignity. It was referved for the latter end of king George the Second's reign, to enable England to vie with foreign nations, and even with the authors of antiquity, in this mode of writing. To Mr. Hume and Dr. Robertfon we are indebted for fo noble a revolution. But we fay the lefs of them at prefent, as they will come before us hereafter, when the name of a Gibbon will be added to them, and when, perhaps, fome other names will not be found unworthy to be recorded.

It was a long time before this kingdom fhone in biography. A number of fingle lives had been written, and there were a few general collections; but they were not recommended by any uncommon excellence, either with refpect to choice in felection, neatnefs of compofition, or fagacity of reflexion. The tranflation first of Bayle feparately, and then another tranflation of him, with the addition of a multitude of lives, extending the work to ten volumes folio, introduced a more general tafte for biographical knowledge. "The Bi"ographia Britannica" fucceeded, being confecrated to the worthies of our own country. Both the "General Dictionary," and the Biographia Britannica are works of very unequal execution; but, notwithstanding this, they are confiderable objects in the literary history of the period. Of the fingle lives which were published, few could be compared with that of Cicero, by Dr. Middleton. Mallet's account of lord Bacon might have deferved to have been diftinguished, if he had been more particular in his furvey of that great man's philofophy. Biography hath lately become a favourite tudy with the public, and our future furvey of it will hold it out in all its luftre.

• We may observe, by the way, that the age was marked by fcientific, as well as biographical collections. Harris's and Chambers's Dictionaries are works of no fmall confequence, and the latter hath been remarkably popular. The productions of this kind, in which univerfal fcience has been thrown into the alphabetical form, for general inftruction, have enabled the bulk of the people to acquire fome little portion of knowledge, upon any subject that excites their curiofity, or requires their attention.

Another fpecies of writing, hiftorical in its nature, but fictitious in its foundation, Romance Writing, was carried to a fingular degree of perfection, by two extraordinary men in this way, Fielding and Richardfon. Thefe gentlemen were remarkably different in their talents, but both were excellent in the kind of compofition they adopted. Fielding, taking Don Quixote and Gil Blas for his mo

3

dels,

dels, was admirable in the humorous novel, and in the representation of the characters of common and familiar life. He was, likewife, without rival, in what may be called the epic contrivance of his ftory, efpecially in his principal work. Richardfon, whofe genius was truly original, fhewed the deepest penetration into the human heart, difplayed a furprising power in defcribing it, and exhibited an inftance of pathetic narration, which has not been equalled in any age, or in any country. He may justly be entitled the Shakespeare of Romance. Both the authors we have mentioned had fome not unfuccessful followers. Smollet came next to Fielding; and Ri-, chardfon has been the most happily imitated by ladies. As for the common trash of novels, under which the prefs has groaned, which. have introduced fo wretched a taste of reading, and have been fo hurtful to young minds, particularly of the female fex, they are unworthy to be named, excepting in the way of cenfure..

"Among the various objects which engaged the attention of a learned and inquifitive age, it was not likely that polite and poetical criticism should be wholly neglected. It was far from being neglect ed: there were many pleafing and useful productions in this mode of literature; though the authors of them feldom went farther than Addison had done in a philofophical inveftigation of the beauties of writing. One of his moft elegant and fuccessful difciples was Spence. At length, a more refined fpirit entered into critical difquilition. Warburton made feveral attempts in this way, fometimes happily. enough, but frequently with more ingenuity than fuccefs. Hurd difplayed equal ingenuity, with fuperior judgment, and with greater purity and correctnefs. Lowth, in his Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, attained to the highest rank of eminence as a critic. Lord Kaims explored the beauties of compofition in the inmost receffes of the human mind; and in the depth of his researches, occafionally carried refinement to an exeefs. The Wartons followed: but we fay no more, at prefent, upon a subject which will hereafter appear in its

fulleft iuftre.

If we look back to the state of the arts of Painting, Sculpture, and Defign, in the period we have been confidering, we fhall not, in this refpect, find much caufe for triumph. The two firft Georges, though excellent monarchs, were no patrons of these arts, being deftitute of taste with regard to them, and ignorant of the glory which they reflect upon a country. Nor had the nation, in general, though growing in wealth, fplendour, and luxury, acquired that delicacy of difcernment which is neceflary to excite a proper emulation among the artists, to animate their exertions, and to push them on to perfection. There were, however, fome portrait and landscape painters, and fome engravers, who might deferve to be applauded in a more particular history. The inimitable Hogarth it is needlefs to mention, whose humours and moral paintings, which are almost fufficient of themselves to compenfate for the defects of the age, are univerfally known, admired and felt. Sculpture is not only gaining ground, but making great advances under Roubiliac; and Architecture was much improved by the knowledge and patronage of Lord Burlington. Gardening was the art that was the most diftinguished by its rapid progrefs to the height of tafte and elegance.

The