We are pleased with the author's tender attachment to his wife. The first and laft of his poems are addreffed to her; nor is fhe forgotten in other parts of the work.

Without entering into minute criticifm, we fhall only observe of these poems, that they are nearly on a level with most of the fonnets that have lately made their appearance.

Art. 17. The Words of the Songs, Duets, Glees, Choruses, 3c. in the Nunnery. A comic Opera of two Acts. The Mufic by Mr. Shield. London printed for T. and J. Egerton, 6d. 1785. To write a good fong has been confidered as an arduous task.→ The lyric compofitions in our operas, ferve only to confirm this sentiment; and the prefent fongs, though fuperior to many that we hear upon the stage, fall fhort of that excellence which good tafte demands.

Art. 18. A Treatife on the Principles of Hair-dreing. In which the deformities of modern hair-dreifing are pointed out, and an elegant and natural plan recommended, upon Hogarth's immortal fyftem of beauty. Illuftrated by examples from the paintings of the most celebrated artists, and confirmed by the remarks of the most elegant and famed poets of the different ages from the thirteenth century to the prefent time. By William Barker, hair-dreffer, No. 6, King's-ftreet, Holborn. 8vo. Is. 6d. Bew.

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Mr. Barker is a learned and intelligent hair-dreffer, indeed.-Making allowances for a confiderable dafh of affectation, his pam phlet is well written. His intention throughout his work, in which he enters into the most minute detail, is, To guide, not alter Nature:''This,' he fays, is the bufinefs of a hair-dreffer." We recommend his work to the attention of our fair country-women, and heartily with fuccefs to his plan of reformation; but are afraid that our wishes and his labours will be in vain. Art. 19: The Demoniad, or, The Pefts of a Day. difplayed from various characters; in a poetic epistle to HS, Éíq. London, printed for the author, and fold by J. W. Fores. 4to. 25. 1785.

H

Abuse against Mrs. Siddons, Lord North, Mr. Lunardi, Lord George Gordon, &c. &c. conveyed in harsh and incorrect rhymes. Art. 20. Sufan and Ofmund. A Lyric Poem. 4to. is. 6d. T. Kearfley. 1785.

We have often had occafion to put authors in mind of the difficulties of the legendary tale; but no one will take warning by the failure of his predeceffors. Every ftripling in verfe ftill attempts to bend this bow of Ulyffes. The author of Sufan and Osmond, is' amongst the leaft fuccefsful.

Sufan and Ofmund are both very handsome and very virtuous ! they have a reciprocal paffion, which is thwarted by the avarice of the lady's father, The lover, unable to obtain the hand of his miftrefs, is fent to America by his father. Sufan foon after dies of a confumption; and Ofmund, whofe life had been preferved only by

4

by the maiden's prayers, is killed in battle. The two fathers are reprefented as eally miferable for the death of their children; and the poem concludes with fomething like a paraphrafe on the laft ftanza of the ballad of Chevy-Chace.

We can difcern neither invention nor poetical expreffion in the ftory; it refembles the difagreeable monotony of the drone of a beg-pipe. In one part of the tale, however, our poer is original :

When he is to defcribe the parting his lovers, he tells us, Here language proves too weak; and instead of endea vouring to paint the fituation, we are prefented with a stanza of blanks, which the reader is to fill up by the help of his own ima gination. After giving us the argument in plain profe, it would, perhaps, have been as well, had he treated the whole story in the fame manner.

Art. 21. Birth Day Converfation anticipated; or a Peep into the Drawing-Room on the 18th of January. 4to. 1s. 6d. Kearfley, London, 1785.

Dull, fcurrilous and obfcene. The author has never approached nearer the Drawing-room than King's-place.

Art. 22. The Profpe&t; or Re-Union of Britain and America. A poem. Addreffed to the Right Honourable William Pitt, 4to. 1s. 6d. Bew, London, 1785.

This publication, we fuppofe, was intended as a counter-poifon against A Poem, addrefied to the Armies of the United States of America," by Colonel Humphries. The Colonel himself is not among the higher clafs of poets; and this American officer must be placed ftill lower in the fcale. But though we cannot bestow much praife upon his poetry, and are not fo fanguine as to hope that his vifion will be foon realized, yet every attempt to foothe the minds of the late contending powers, muft proceed from a benevolent heart, and deferves applaufe. Of the author's ideas of re-union, of the confequences it is likely to produce, and of the merit of the poetry, our readers may judge from the following extract :

;

Yon town, where peace and all the virtues live,
From the great Chatham did its name receive
Immortal Chatham! glory's favour'd fon,
Whofe mortal race in virtue's paths was run.
Now from his loins a fecond PITT ptoceeds,
To emulate his father's mighty deeds:

His foul fhall frame the great, the blefs'd defign
Again Britannia's fever'd fons to join:

Stern fate propitious on his wifh fhall fmile,
And crown with fair fuccefs his generous toil.
Then haughty France fhall rue the fatal hour,
When firit, mifled by boundless luft of pow'r,'
To crush fair Albion all her arts were tried,

*Review for April. page 212.

+ Pitt's-burg.
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To tear the western empire from her fide:

Spain, too, fhall curfe the part her monarch took,
And every tyrant from his throne be SHOOK.'

The publication is dedicated to Mr. Pitt; and through the whole of the poem, this American officer is not fparing of his panegyric on the King and the prefent administration.

We have our fufpicions, from internal evidence, that “The Profpect" was not written at Pitts-burg, nor by an Officer of the United States.

Art. 23. Sonnets and ather Poems; with a Verfification of the Six Bards of Offian. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Wilkie, London, 1785.

These poems appear to be the production of a feeling and cultivated mind; but they are not works of genius. They confift of original poems, a verfification of the fix Bards of Offian, and fome tranflations from Horacc. As a fpecimen, we prefent our readers with

WRITTEN BY MOON-LIGHT.

Sweet gentle angel, not that I afpire
To win thy favour, tho' ambition raise
My wishes high, I wake anew my lays ;
But that thine image may adorn my lyre
With beauty, more than fancy could infpire.
As, when behind the filver clouds the trays,
The moon peeps thro', and sheds a mellow blaze,
Till woods, hills, vallies, with enchantment fire;
So does thy foul, tho' pent in mortal mould,

Break thro' the brighten'd veil; illume thy form;
In thy fweet manners all its powers unfold;
With foften'd lights each varied feature warm;
And in thine eyes fuch fairy radiance hold,

That on each object round they beam a magic charm. Whether our language have not fufficient pliability for the struc ture of the fonnet we fhall not pretend to determine, but there is a ftiffness in thefe, as well as in almost all the other English fonnets we have feen, which proves at least the difficulty of this fpecies of compofition.

The verfification of Offian's Bards is in imitation of Gray's tranflations from the Norfe. Our author would have fucceeded better in this measure had he employed lefs inverfion and fewer expletives. "Doth howl, doth fafe remain, doth fhade," are to be met with in the fpace of eight lines. The tranflations from Horace are below mediocrity.

Art. 24. Liberty-Hall; or a teft of Good-fellowship. A Comic Opera, in two Acts. As it is performed with the greatest applaufe at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. Is. Kearfley, 1785. Liberty-Hall is not one of the worst of the Comic Operas which have lately appeared. Though there be no originality in the characters, yet the dialogue is tolerable, there is fomething like

poetry

poetry in fome of the fongs, and the moral tendency of the piece is commendable.

Art. 25. A brief Account of a Seminary of Learning, eftablifhed at Margate in Kent, for the reception of Twelve young Gentlemen. By a Clergyman. 12mo. 6d. Murray.

The Rev. Mr. Wells, chaplain to the Right Hon. Simon Earl Harcourt, and rector of Leigh, in the county of Worcester, is the the author of this effay. His plan is extenfive and commendable. He proposes to educate ten or twelve pupils for the univerfity, the navy, the army, or the commercial walks of life. The mode of inftruction to be followed by him is that which is fo fully recommended by Mr. Knox in his effay on Education; and while he expreffes it as his wifh to attend very particularly to the proficiency of his pupils in their studies, he is to exert an equal anxiety in confulting their health, their diet, and exercife. It must be confeffed, that Mr. Wells, exhibits a very promifing idea of his feminary of learning; and that his treatife difcovers his ability for compofition.

Art. 26. Adelaide; or Conjugal Affection. A Novel. Tranflated from the French. 12mo. 2s. 6d. fewed, Lane.

Here we are amufed with the endless frivolity of French manners. Every thing is childish and affected. The author keeps himfelf at an awful diftance from what is natural, fenfible or proper. Art. 27. The Vale of Glendor; or Memoirs of Emily Weftbrook. Vols. 12mo. 5s. fewed. Noble.

The demerit of this performance is uncommon. In its ftory it is infuperably infipid in its ftyle it is incomparably turgid. It pretends to amufe, and to inftruct. It can excite however no emotions, but thofe of difguft and contempt.

Art. 28. The Fatal Marriage; a Novel. 2 Vols. 12mo. 55. fewed. Hookham.

This unfortunate publication has not one claim to praife. The narrative, the characters, the manner, and the incidents are all of fenfive. The author is even far below the mediocrity of novelifts. Art. 29. Practical Benevolence, in a Letter addreffed to the Public by a univerfal friend; to whom perfons of all ranks and denominations may have recourfe for Advice, in the most critical fituations, and moft delicate circumftances of human life. 8vo. I's Murray.

An ami ble philanthropy reigns in this publication, and does honour to the heart of the author. That the offer he makes to the public of his affiftance, may be fuccefsful is a matter devoutly to be wifhed for. The novelty of his plan ought to be no objection to it. In our opinion it is a recommendation to him; and we must acknowledge that his compofition is eafy and flowing.

Art. 30. A Key to the Parliamentary Debates; being an humble attempt to render them intelligible. 8vo. 15. 6d. Debret. London.

The author of this performance affects to be knowing in the debates of parliament; but he is entirely a stranger to them. He af

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fects

fects wit, and has no pretenfions to it. His work has nothing to recominend it with regard to fentiment, information, or point. As to 'diction, it is alfo wildly reprehenfible.

Art. 31. Plain Facts,

the

Submitted to the common Sense of the People of England. 8vo. 1s. Jarvis.

Here the oppofition is vindicated and administration culumniated. The performance is acrimonious without argument, and difgraces the caufe it would defend. The ignoble train of the generality_of pamphlets, is a ftrong proof of the integrity of men of letters. For puny efforts both for and against government, can proceed from no individuals who have been cultivated by study and reflection. Art. 32. Loofe Thoughts on the very important Situation of Ireland. Containing a Diftinction between the Catholics and Proteftants; and Strictures on the Conduct of Minifters. Addreffed to the Right Hon. Lord Thurlow. By Jofeph Williams, Efq. 8vo. 15. 6d. Southern, 1785.

The great body, and what we may call the real natives of Ireland, are the Catholics. Thefe have long been, and ftill are, in a state of fubordination to the Proteftants, who look upon themfelves now as the people of Ireland. They were chiefly tranfplanted into that kingdom from England; and Mr. Williams fhews, from history and parliamentary records, that until the unfortunate American war, they always acknowledged their dependence upon England. He reprobates, in terms of indignation, the factious views of our orators in parliament, and the weak and pufillanimous conduct of minifters. He advifes all parties to unite, and with a firm determined voice, declare their refolution to fupport the authority of this em pire over the depending state of Ireland.' Amidst a number of ob fervations, arranged with little regard to method or order, we now and then meet with a thought fhrewdly conceived and bluntly expreffed.

• What avails a boafted economy in the Treasury, if the nation is betrayed in greater things, and the dignity of the state betrayed to the schemes of a party, whether that party is an abettor of prerogative, or oppofition.-If a minifter gives no other proof of his abilities than a futile harangue in the Houfe of Commons, the nation will foon pronounce him fitter for a fpouting-club, where his declamation may meet with applaufe.'

English patriotifm is of a very peculiar caft; it confists of oppofition to the measures of government; fupporting and patronizing the discontented. To this we owe the lofs of America; and to this we owe the conduct of Ireland. When a peer in parliament indulges fpeculative ideas, in oppofition to a minifter, and afterwards becomes a minifter of the cabinet himself; he fupports those ideas as points that concern his honour; and from one conceffion to another, violates the dearest part of the conftitution.' Art. 33. We have been all in the Wrong; or, Thoughts upon the Diffolution of the late, and Conduct of the prefent Parliament; and upon Mr. Fox's Eaft India Bills. 8vo. 2s. Debrett.

The fpirired, eloquent, and learned author of this performance,

having