MONTHLY For FEBRUARY CATALOGUE 1791. POLITICAL. ART. 14. Tis faid to be a ftrong proof of a rotten caufe when its defenders begin to abuse their adverfaries, and to use fophiftical reasoning. To this fhort work is prefixed an addrefs to Lord Stanhope, in which the abettors of the revolution in France are, in two fucceeding fentences, twice called thefe wretches;' and his lordship is told, should the plan of his (the Revolution) Society fucceed, he would foon find himfelf at the tail of a mob.'' The pamphlet contains the author's opinion of liberty and government, in which he fpeaks plainer than Mr. Burke: fo far we are obliged to him. Both, he fays, are derived from God. Who can doubt but every thing is derived from God, even the prefent conftitution in France. It would be to very little purpose to follow this writer through all his fophifms, by which he endeavours to prove that the people, as fuch, have no right to any share in the governLet the following play on words fuffice to fhew the talents of the author, and the weakness of his caufe: ment. The people give the people power to exercise control and reftraint over the people; i. e. the people give the power, the people receive the power, and the people are the perfons over whom the power is exercifed.' It will be faid this is not a fair representation.' On the contrary, we are ready to allow that it is; and we will fay further, that whenever the Anacreontic Society chooses a prefident, whenever the livery of London choose a mayor or sheriffs, every thing takes place that our author confiders as abfurd enough to confute itself. All power,' continues our author, is from God; all inftitutions of government are his ordinance, be the particular form of them what it may; and they are inftituted for the regulation and wellordering of fociety, by the dictates of right reafon, and in subserviency to his divine law.' If this be the cafe, which we will take for granted, how wicked muft that series of French kings be who have gradually deprived the people of all their ancient privileges; and how meritorious the prefent race of fubjects who have recovered them? At first,' continues the writer, as we learn both by divine and human teftimony, government was in the hands of kings.' If this gentleman ever read his Bible he would find the firft government of the the Jews very different, and that nothing but their obftinacy, or, if he pleases, their determination to act in contradiction to the divine oracle, produced the kingly government. This is enough to fhew the intention of the author, and the fallacy of his reafoning, after which the reader will not be surprised to find the French revolution and its abettors, are, in every page, vilified and mifrepresented. ART. 15. Thoughts on the prefent Scheme of extenfive Taxation. 8vo. 18. Stockdale. London, 1791. The purport of this ingenious little pamphlet is to reconcile the minds of the people to Mr. Pitt's attempt at paying the expences of the late armament by four years taxes, rather than by the deftructive mode of loans and funding. The author fhews the inconveniencies England already labours under, from her enormous debt, the interest of which is paid by fo many taxes as to render it difficult to find new fources in cafe of a war of any continuance. We are next directed to France, the embarraffed ftate of whofe finances is faid to have produced a confufion no one can delineate but the masterly pen of Mr. Burke. By this pitiful evasion the author conceives he may screen himself from defcribing a state of order and harmony hitherto unknown in that country, and arifing from the people having learned their own confequence, and acquired their due power in the adminiftration of government. It is certainly true, that had the prefent monarch faved the immenfe expence that attended his interference in the American war, and had those about him been lefs lavish in other inftances, the prefent revolution would not have happened fo foon. But while our author infifts on this, he should remember that it only proves how unwilling the people are to refume a truft they have once repofed, till forced to it by long-continued oppreffion. We agree with him that it becomes those who wish to retain the constitution in its prefent form, to be careful how far the difficulty of raifing money to tranfact the neceffary bufinefs of government, may fet the people on inquiring into the nature of their prefent reprefentation, and the expences to government attendant on it. Let, therefore, the friends of liberty comfort themselves with this check against their enemies, and with the greater probability of meliorating the conftitution in proportion as it becomes more corrupt and oppreffive. ART. 16. Reflections upon Reflections; including fome Obfervations on the Conftitution and Laws of England, particularly on Preffing, on the Excife, on Libels, &c. In Two Letters to the Right Hon. Edmund Burke, in answer to his Pamphlet. By Robert Woolfey, Gent. 8vo. 23. 6d. Printed for the Author, and fold by Stewart. London, 1791. These Reflections, if not deep, are pleasantly written. The author feems too indolent to put his thoughts into that regular fyftem which true argument requires, and contents himfelf with indulging a vein of humour more natural to him. The reader, however, will find fome judicious remarks interfperfed, and may peruse the book without wearinefs, or spending his time unprofitably. ENG. REV, VOL. XVII. FEB. 1791. K ART, ART. 17. Obfervations on the political Life of Mr. Pitt. 8vo. 15, Ridgeway. London, 1791. These Obfervations are a proof the author does not think so meanly of Mr. Pitt as he pretends, or would have his readers to believe. Indeed, whoever can fuftain the important fituation of prime minister for fo many years as Mr. Pitt has done, must be in poffeffion of talents greatly fuperior to the detraction of any anonymous fcribbler. And, to fay the best of these Obfervations, they are trite, fuperficial, coarse, and inconclufive. ART. 18. The Critical Period; or, Seasonable Truths relative to the General Election in Great-Britain and Ireland. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Kearsley. London, 1790. This critical period being now over, the truths may be thought a little out of feafon. They are, however, worth perufing by fuch as are fond of political investigations. ART. 19. Reflections occafioned by the Frequency of Fires in the Metropolis. By Philanthropos. 8vo. 1s. Robinfons. London, 1790. This appears to us a feasonable and useful publication. The author addreffes it with great propriety to Lord Kenyon. It examines the law, and points out its incompetency to the prevention of fuch crimes, as it now ftands. And he fuggefts various regulations, which he thinks may be applicable, fhould the legislature ever condefcend to review our present fyftem of penal laws. A great deal of matter, relating to fervants, housekeepers, lawyers, and all concerned in fire-offices, is also thrown out in the course of these Reflections, which renders them generally interefting. And we believe few readers, who wish for information on the fubject, will repent the perufing this judicious and well written tract. ART. 20. The Trial at large of Edward Lowe and William Jobbins, before the Recorder of London, at the Seffions-Houfe in the Old-Bailey, October 30, 1790, for fetting fire and burning the House of Francis Gelding, the 16th of May, 1790. By E. Hodgson, Short-Hand Writer to the Old-Bailey. 8vo. is. Butters. London, 1791. This trial is worth reading, as it fhews the progrefs and extent of villany in minds altogether unprincipled. Black and daring as the fcheme was, the incendiaries continue, in oppofition to various checks and mifcarriages, with irrefiftible perfeverance, until their project is accomplished. The feveral ftratagems and shifts to which they have recourfe in bringing their depredations to bear, are here alfo expofed. The whole trial is given with great correctness. MISCELLANEOUS. ART. 21. An Epiftle to Peter Pindar. 4to. 25. London, 1791. Richardfon. This poet has chofen for his motto Æneas's address to Hector: Quibus Hector ab oris Expectate venis? He He did right not to give Hector's answer: Si Pergama dextrâ Defendi poffent, etiam lac defenfa fuiffent. There are, indeed, fome good things in this poem; but the greater part of it is much too tame to ftand in competition with Peter's lively muse. ART. 22. Modern Breakfaft; or All asleep at Noon. As performed as the Theatre-Royal in the Haymarket. 8vo. 1s. Debrett. don, 1790. Lon There is not a little smartness in this performance. The incidents are laughable, the dialogue fprightly, and the moral commendable. The oddest circumftance is, that the author is pronounced in the prologue to be only fifteen years of age. It ought to be remembered, however, that he poffeffes genius by a kind of hereditary right. He is a branch of a privileged family, who are feverally in the habit of being extolled as incomparable in their respective lines by prefcription. And when it is confidered that the poet refides in the court of Apollo, and has conftant access to all his choiceft favourites, that the child is evidently too full grown for fo young a father; and that in the literary, as in the natural world, the oftenfible is not always the real parent, our wonder may perhaps, admit of fome abatement. It can hardly be expected a fon of Mrs. Siddons would come forward thus prematurely as author of any thing much below par, or that Mrs. Piozzi, and the whole literati in her train, have not been confulted on the merits of the production. We fhould be forry to augur ill, but to us it does not appear the most promising presage of future excellence. ART. 23. An Account of the mutinous Seizure of the Bounty; with the Succeeding Hardships of the Crew. To which are added, fecret Anecdotes of the Otaheitean Females. 8vo. 2s. Bently. London; 1790. The account here given is not the lefs interefting that it has been felected chiefly from the prints of the day, where it was firft detailed. It is in this collected form, however, both more full and more correct. We are forry to see it debased and rendered unfit for the perufal of young minds by the beaftly trash, with which it is connected. The editor, by thinking this addition might add to its intereft, has destroyed its utility, and we hope blafted its fale. ART. 24. The Hiftory of Little Dick, written by Little John. 64mo. 1s. Harrison and Co. London. No Date. We recommend this little performance to all pretty mafters and miffes, because it is entertaining and inftru&tive, and embellifhed befides with nine copper-plates. 1 ART. 25. The Parifian Mafier; or, A New and Eafy Method of acquiring a perfect Knowledge of the French Language in a fhort Time; divided into Two Pa ts: containing the Rudiments and the Syntax of the Language, compofed, digefted, and explained, in a more concife, accurate, and ealy Manner than any ever yet attempted. By Dr. M. Guelfi Borzacchini, Prof for of the French and Italian Languages. 8vo. 6s. 6d. bound. Bath: printed for the Author. 1795. This grammar is more accurate and minute than feveral productions of the fame kind, but seems rather better adapted to the use of those who have already made fome progrefs in the French language than for perfons who have only commenced the study of that tongue. ART. 26. The Tufcan Mafter; or, A New and Easy Method of acquiring a perfect Knowledge of the Italian Language in a fkort Time; divided into Two Parts: containing the Rudiments and the Syntax of the Language; compofed, digefted, and explained, in a more concife, accurate, and eafy Manner than any yet attempted. By Dr. M. Guelfi Borzacchini, Professor of the Italian and French Languages. 8vo. 5s. bound. Bath, 1790. The Italian grammar, composed by Veneroni, about a century ago, for the use of the French nation, and tranflated into English, has hitherto preserved an ascendancy over several attempts of the fame kind in this country. It must be obvious, however, that an Italian grammar compofed for the French cannot be so well adapted to the British nation; and that although the Italian language has not, for this last century, varied fo much as other languages of Europe, yet that it has varied, both in phrafeology and orthography, is certain. We cannot wonder, therefore, that Veneroni's grammar fhould be now, in feveral intances, obfolete and deficient. The work before us is compofed with a confiderable degree of accuracy and perfpicuity, by a native of Italy, who feems to have added to a grammatical knowledge of his own tongue a degree of intimacy with the English language which few foreigners attain. The Tufcan Mafter is in many refpects well adapted to fupply the defects of Veneroni. ART. 27. A complete Course of the Italian Language, in Six Small Volumes, of which three are elementary, and the other three are intended for Exercifes, and may be used separately. By M. Curioni. Price 2s. 6d. each Volume, bound. To be had of the Author, at his House, No. 1, Park Street, Grofvenor-Square: alfo at Elmfly's, Strand, &c. Vol. I. contains Methode pour commencer Petude de la Langue Italienne, or, A Method for commencing the Study of the Italian Language. Vol. II. contains Methode pour fe perfectionner dans la Langue Italienne; or, A Method for perfecting one's felf in the Study of the Italian Tongue. Vol. III. confifts of Idiomes de la Langue Francoife traduits par des Idiomes Italiens literalement conformes aux Idiomes de la Langue Angloise avec des Commentaires, &c.; that is, Idioms of the French Language tranflated |