*

fpecimens, we would advife her to write only for her own amefe. ment, or for that of her partial friends.

We are truly forry that we can afford no greater encouragement to a young writer, who, we doubt not, poffeffes an amiable character-which is of infinitely more value than poetic reputation, detitute of private worth.

POLITICAL.

Art. 27. Buff; or a Differtation on Nakednefs: A Parody on Paine's
Rights of Man. 8vo. 6d. Mathews. 1792.

By fubftituting, in a few fentences of Mr. Paine's work, for fome of his molt important words, others of a very different import, and leaving the leis fignificant parts of the fentence as they were, he is here made to plead in favour of naked nefs. By a like dexterity, it would be just as easy to make Mr. Paine's opponents argue in favour of putting the people into ftrait waistcoats. Some readers may fancy that there is wit in thefe attempts. To them we shall confign the prefent performance; after remarking, that fuch witticifms will have no effect in perfuading the world, that there is no happiness in every man's being at liberty to cloath himself as he shall judge most fuitable to his own comfort and convenience.

MISCELLANEOUS.

E.

Art. 28. A Letter to James Bofwell, Efq. With fome Remarks on Johnson's Dictionary, and on Language, &c. 8vo. pp. 87. 2s. 6d. Kirby. 1792.

It feems a very fair maxim, that he who undertakes to correct the writings of others, ought himfelf to know how to write. What attention may be due, on this maxim, to the remarks of the author of this pamphlet, will be beft perceived by an extract: -which we need take little pains to felect; for in point of ftyle (if fuch writing can deserve the name,) the writer clofely adheres to the rule of Horace; Servetur ad imum, &c. Much difpleafed with the honours which have been paid to Johnson's powers, and particularly with the authority which has been given to his Dictionary, after quoting Mr. Bofwell's encomium of Dr. Johnson's lexicographical excellence, the letter-writer thus proceeds:

All this is faid of the Dictionary, and much more; (I hope the reader will not lofe fight of it, though I do not comment on it now) and if authority could alone prevail, (and does it not; and, am I to ask, when, where, and how?) we need go no farther. But to use a very vulgar, fince a very comprehenfive, nay proverbial expreffion -and whenever I meet with a proverb, Mr. Bofwell, I heartily embrace it, and do affure Mr. Bolwell that Sancho himself did not love proverbs more than his humble fervant, who would heartily recommend the embraces of them all, and all around, for they are wifdom: Yes, to use fuch phrafe, I would fay," the proof of the pudding is the eating;" and that proof, or teft, my readers fhall foon have; whereby fairly, and honeftly, and truly to judge for themselves, and to compare it with this account of the work, as bere given in by Mr. Bofwell; I mean a small felection, and a very small one it shall be, not to tire themselves or me, from the work in question ; ✩ By Bulke Greville, Esq.- as appears, without any doubt, from internal evidence.

queftion: but I depart from the confideration of the language itfelf, and what I would fay of it, in general, is, that it is, I fear, radically and per fe, a lefs perfpicuous one than we Englishmen might wish it to be.'

From this fpecimen of the familiar involution and evolution of phrafeology, with which this letter abounds, our readers will easily conclude, without any laboured critique on our part, that if Johnfon is to be chaftifed, it must be by a more able hand than the author of this letter. He detects, it is true, fome errors in Johnson's Dictionary: but what human production is free from errors? He points out fome foibles in his character: but what human being is perfe&t? Let his imperfections be acknowleged but let not this tiny fcribbler again have the prefumption to fay of Dr. Johnfon, This is a poor creature,' left echo from every corner of the temple of criticifm fhould reply-POOR CREATURE!

The pamphlet concludes with a large dofe of dull small-talk upon fundry topics, critical, political, and topographical. E. Art. 29. Silva Critica. Sive in auctores facros profanofque commentarius philologus: concinnavit Gilbertus Wakefield, A. B. et Coll. Jefu apud Cantab. nuper Socius. Pars tertia. PP. 197. 35. 6d. Boards. Deighton. 1792.

8vo.

Of this volume of Mr. Wakefield's Critical Mifcellany, our numerous debts to the public will not allow us to take farther notice, than by making a general acknowlegment, that it abounds with. fruits of laborious ftudy, and ingenious conjecture; which, at the fame time that they will not fail till farther to establish the author's reputation, will afford the fcholar a new courfe of claffical entertainment. In this volume, the learned writer makes the facred epikles the ftem, around which he entwines many beautiful wreaths of flowers, gathered from the garden of claffical learning.

As we think that farther fpecimens of the Silva Critica are now unneceffary, we shall content ourselves with a reference to our account of the two former parts of this work; viz. Rev. vol. v. New Series, P. 54.

At the clofe of the prefent publication, the author encourages his readers to expect another volume. E. Art. 30. Thoughts on Dancing; occafioned by fome late Tranfactions among the People called Methodists. By M. Davis. 8vo. PP. 30. 6d. Law, &c. 1791.

Mr. Davis defcribes himself as a fcoolmafter at Laytonflone in Effex, and as a preacher among the Methodists; and this publication is an appeal to the public, against a late decree iffued by the leaders of that perfuafion, that all fchoolmasters and miftreffes, who employ dancing-mafters in their schools, and all parents, whofe children are taught to dance, fhall be excluded their fociety.

To this four, narrow minded, and impolitic restriction, we are indebted for a fenfible and liberal juftification of the accomplishment of dancing, as an article of education: fuch a defence as, we imagine, if it fhould produce a pofitive repeal of the act, will operate to its oblivion. Mr. D. is manifeftly fuperior to the generality of his

brethren

brethren of this perfuafion: but they may, perhaps, be provided with a confolatory plea, and may contrive to convert ignorance into a recommendation. N. Art. 31. The Literary Museum; or Ancient and Modern Repofitory. Compriting icarce and curious Tracts, Poetry, Biography, and Criticism. 8vo. 63. Boards. Sold by the Editor, No. 24, Drury-lane. 1792.

The advertisement to this volume of old tracts is figned Francis Godolphin Waldron: but it does not fufficiently explain either the nature or extent of the undertaking. It appears to confift of articles entirely detached and feparately paged; and as the Literary Mufeum, Nos. I. and III. are incidentally mentioned, we are war. ranted to conclude the volume to be made up from fome publication in numbers, of which we know nothing, but which either is, or ought to be, going on, as two or three of the tracts are imperfect. Under proper management, there is fufficient opportunity to carry on a republication of old, fugitive, and valuable productions of the English prefs, that have been overwhelmed by the crowd which fucceffively folicits the public attention. In all the pursuits of life, a rage for novelty is predominant. Even in the productions of nature, a monkey, brought from remote parts, and for which we have no ufe, is more highly prized than our domeftic cats, who have the misfortune of being too prolific to have their merits regarded. In gardens, general admiration first renders a beautiful flower common, and then we defpife it for being common! It is the fame in literature; many a valuable tract is elbowed out of notice, and even out of remembrance, by an unceafing fucceffion of new productions; numbers of which, after all, are only old ideas in a new drefs. We therefore are difpofed to look favourably on any well formed plan for refcuing the good fenfe and fententious advice of our forefathers, from that unmerited oblivion to which their brevity expofes them. The editor's notes must be confidered as forming not the leaft entertaining part of this volume.

N. Art. 32. A Melancholy Tale; Dark Sentences; and a Vifion. 8vo. PP. 20. 18. Ridgway.

This melancholy tale relates, in a profaic elegy, the grief of a widow'd mother for the lofs of a child, who was accidentally drowned: the vifion, equally profaic, celebrates the praife of religion as the only road to happinefs; and the dark fentences confift of a string of thoughts and reflections alphabetically arranged, which are neither very dark, nor very profound.

Art. 33.

Maxims and Morals for our Conduct through Life. By Lieutenant Furley. 12mo. PP. 92. 2 s. ftitched. Ridgway.

1791.

This work may, on the whole, be ftyled a collection of innocent and instructive apophthegms. The author has occafional recourse to the excellent proverbs of Solomon to increase his flock, but, for the greater part, he has found different refources. When we are told, that he who cultivates one acre of ground, is of more real fervice to his fpecies than all the philofophers who ever exifted,' we must pro

tel

E.

test against fuch a maxim;' for, certainly, agriculture is indebted
to philofophy for inventions, and improvements, as are most other
arts and fciences. Industry, indeed, cannot be too much com-
mended: but philofophy must not be depreciated; for the true and
ufeful philofopher is not idle, though he may not drive the plough.
In another place, we read- God delights no lefs in a killing
mercy, than in a pitiful juftice.'-This we hardly comprehend.
Page 59. 1. 14. the word ingenious is inferted instead of ingenuous. Hi...s.
Art. 34. Short Expoftulations and Thoughts on Suicide. Svo. 6d.
J. Evans.

The principal topic of this addrefs, (which, except that it wants
a text, may be properly called a fermon,) is the impiety of fuicide,
inferred from the confideration that man, having received his being
from God, has no power over himself, beyond what is granted to
him by his Maker. The fubject is important, and the argument is
urged with much folemnity: but the pamphlet is deficient in those

graces of compofition, which are requifite to captivate attention. E.
Art. 35. The Benefit of Starving; or the Advantages of Hunger,
Cold, and Naked nefs; intended as a Cordial for the Poor, and
an Apology for the Rich. Addreffed to the Rev. Rowland Hill,
M. A. By the Rev. W. Woolley, M. A. 12mo. 6d. Terry, &c.
An unbeneficed clergyman here complains of neglect, and (yet
worfe!) of not being duly rewarded for his paft labours in the vine-
yard. He fates the ungenerous, unjust, and even cruel treatment
which he has experienced; yet he recites the particulars of his woe-
ful tale in fo lively a ftrain, that we cannot help confidering him as
a man of good abilities, [as a writer,] and worthy of better fortune
than that which has, hitherto, awaited him.
We wish he may,
hereafter, have lefs reafon to cry out, in the words of his motto,
"My bowels! my bowels! I am pained to my heart!" Jer. iv. 19.
Art. 36. Mifcellanies in Profe and Verfe. By Captain Thomas
Morris. 8vo.
fewed. Ridgway. 1791.
This truly mifcellaneous volume contains entertainment for
readers of various tastes. For the lover of hiftorical narrative,
it furnishes a journal of an expedition among the American Indians
in the year 1764, full of furprizing incidents. For the dramatic

PP. 180.

49.

connoiffeur, it provides fome bold strictures in a Letter to a Friend
on the Poetical Elocution of the Theatre, and the Manner of acting
Tragedy, in which Mr. Garrick's method of playing is cenfured,
and Mademoifelle du Menil is held out as a pattern of theatrical
excellence. For the claffical fcholar, a very pleafing verfion is given
of the fourth and the fourteenth fatires of Juvenal;-and for the
friend of liberty, feveral pieces are added on this fubje, written on
one fide in English verfe, and tranflated on the other into French
profe.

E.
Art. 37. Two Treatifes by Henry Ainsworth. The first, Of the
Communion of Saints. The fecond, entitled, An Arrow against
Idolatry, &c. To this Edition is prefixed, fome Account of the

THEOLOGY and POLEMICS.

Life and Writings of the Author. Printed at Edinburgh. 8vo. PP. 344. 2s. 6d. fewed. Strachan, London.

The name of Henry Ainsworth is at prefent almost forgotten, except when the fcripture critic occafionally confults his annotations on the Pentateuch. He belonged to the fect of Puritans called Brownifts; whofe chief diftinction was, that they were enemies to religious establishments; and who about the end of the 16th century were driven by perfecution into Holland:-for many years, Ainsworth refided among them in Amfterdam. The works here reprinted, while they afford pleasure to readers who retain the religious tenets of the Puritans, may engage the attention of the critic, as curious fpecimens of the manner of thinking and difcourfing, which prevailed among the Puritanical preachers of that period. The editor expreffes a purpofe of pablishing a more authentic and interefting account, than has hitherto appeared, of the fect of the Brownifts, collected from their own works, and from other good authorities. E. Art. 38. The Sentiments of a Member of the Jacobins, in France, upon the Religion of Reafon and Nature; carefully tranflated from the original Manufcript, communicated by the Author. 8vo. pp. 99. 25. Stace. 1792.

The philofopher Anaxagoras, of the fchool of Thales, acquired an immortal name by introducing a fyftem of nature, in which mind was feparated from matter, and which taught that, from eternity, an infinite intelligent power must have exifted diftinct from body, having within itself the principle of motion, and being capable of communicating it to the material world. On account of this doctrine, this philofopher was honoured with the appellation of Ne, or mind. There is a fet of modern philofophers, who are fo fond of fimplicity, as to be ambitious of eftablishing a theory which is the reverse of that of Anaxagoras. Thefe philofophers, and, among them, the author of this publication, afk whether it be not probable, "that univerfe, nature, God, are not all one and the fame thing, one Being poffeffing one mind, unchangeable, occupying infinite fpace, and enduring through endless time; who, perceiving diftin&tly the infinite number and extent of the parts or portions in him, which are of the fame intrinfic nature, and alfo his own infinite power, has employed that power to conduct thefe portions of himself in a regular, uniform, and eternal ftate of circulation and change, from one ftate or form, to another." A doctrine, which thus abfurdly confounds the Deity with the universe, the world with its Creator, evidently annihilates all religion. Yet the writer who teaches this doctrine, fays that we are not more certain of our own existence, than that there is a fupreme God the creator of the univerfe; that is, he afferts the grofs contradiction, that the univerfe created itself; and withal undertakes to teach a fyftem of religion, which is to confit in ftudying and performing the part allotted to man by his Creator. This pamphlet contains good moral obfervations, but they appear under great difadvantage in connection with fo fanciful and contradictory a fyftem of theology.

E.

Art. 39. Several Difcourfes on Special Subjects, preached before the University of Oxford, and upon other Occafions. By William

Parker,