Art. 39. Elegy written at the Hot-Wells, Briffol. Addreffed to the Rev. William Howley. 4to. pp. 9. 15. Dilly. 1791. This is a fhort and elegant compofition. The concluding lines will not, we imagine, be unacceptable to our readers :

Perhaps to these grey rocks and mazy springs

Some heart may come, warm'd with the purest fire;
For whom bright Fancy plumes her radiant wings,
And warbling Mufes wake the lonely lyre.
Some beauteous maid, deceiv'd in early youth,

Pale o'er yon fpring may hang in mute diftrefs;
Who dreamt of faith, of happiness, and truth,
Of love that virtue would protect and bless.
Some mufing youth in filence there may bend,
Untimely stricken by fharp forrow's dart;
For friendship form'd, yet left without a friend,
And bearing ftill the arrow at his heart.
Such was lamented RUSSEL's hapless doom,
The loft companion of my youth's gay prime;
Ev'n fo he funk unwept into the tomb,

And o'er his head clos'd the dark gulph of time!
Hither he came, a wan and weary guest,

A foftening balm for many a wound to crave;
And woo'd the funfhine to his aching breaft,

Which now seems fmiling on his verdant grave!
He heard the whifpering winds that now I hear,
As, boding much, along thefe hills he past;
Yet ah! how mournful did they meet his ear

On that fad morn he heard them for the Jaft!
So finks the fcene, like a departed dream,

Since late we fojourn'd blythe in WYKEHAM's bow'rs ta
Or heard the merry bells by Ifis' stream,

And thought our way was ftrew'd with fairy flow'rs!
Of those with whom we play'd upon the lawn
Of early life, in the fresh morning, play'd,

Alas! how many, fince that vernal dawn,

Like thee, poor RUSSEL, in the ground are laid.
As pleas'd awhile they wander'd hand in hand,
Once led by friendship on the fpring-tide plain,
How oft did Fancy wake her tranfports bland,
And on the lids the ftarting tear detain!

I yet furvive, now mufing other fong

Than that which early footh'd my thoughtless years;
Thinking how days and hours have pafs'd along,

Mark'd by much pleasure fome, and fome by tears!

• The Rev. Thomas Ruffel, Fellow of New College, Oxford, author of fome ingenious poems, died at the Hot Wells, 1788, in the twenty fixth year of his age.' See Monthly Rev. vol.lxxx. p. 331. + Winchetter College.'

Thankful,

Thankful, that to these verdant fcenes I owe,

That he whom late I faw all-drooping pale,
Rais'd from the couch of fickness and of woe,

Now lives with me their mantling views to hail.
Thankful, that till the landfcape beaming bright,
Of pendent mountain, or of woodland grey,
Can wake the wonted fenfe of pare delight,
And charm awhile my folitary way!

Enough:-Through the high heavens the proud fun rides,
My wand'ring tteps their filent path pursue
Back to the crouded world, where fortune guides;
CLIFTON, to thy white rocks and woods, Adieu l'

Art. 40. An Elegy on the Death of James Sutherland, Efq. By
Eunohoo. 4to. 15. Jordan. 1791.

A pathetic tribute to the memory of ill-requited merit. The lines are not of the first rate of claffical componition, but PATHOS is not wanting. The author, it appears, was prefent at the me, lancholy scene, when poor Mr. Sutherland bad adieu to an ungrateful world:

I faw him fall ;-the victim of diftrefs

To rolling ROYALTY had bent the knee :

But Mifery in the garb of MERIT's dress,

POMP pafs'd with fcorn; and grandeur would not fee." The two words in the third line, printed in Italic, argue an extraordinary degree of inattention in the writer.

ART. 41. Earl Goodwin, an Hiftorical Play, by Ann Yeardley, Milk-woman, of Clifton, near Bristol. Performed with general Applaufe at the Theatre-royal, Bristol. 4to. pp. 89. 35. 6d. Robinfons. 1791.

Nil admirari-fhould be the maxim with Reviewers: but when milk-women write tragedies, is it poffible to refrain from a little vulgar wonderment? Every production of this extraordinary poetefs has excited our admiration; and the work now before us, though it neceffarily forces a comparison with the writings of our immortal dramatist, has that degree of merit which increases our astonishment:-not that we can think Earl Goodwin at all equal to the hiftorical plays of Shakespeare, but, in feveral fpeeches, we recognize an happy imitation. Some of these we shall felect for the entertainment of our readers.

GOODWIN, complaining of the inattention of King Edward to the miferies of his people, fays,

Already do the groans of lab'ring hinds

Make the winds heavy, while their troubles roll
Like billows to the foot of Edward's throne,

And dashing there, are loft in wide difperfion.' P. 5.
At p. 51, CANTERBURY gives the following defcription of Time:
Time, thou art the steed

On which fools ever fleep laden with schemes,

Dull fears and lazy wishes. To the wife
Thou art the light'ning of o'ertaken thought,
Embodying and throwing into act

The mind's more cool and latent meaning.' Shame is as happily described by LUDOWICKE, P. 55. • Shame! :

Thou limping fubftitute of the foul's worth,
Thou com'ft not but in fecret, to our aid,
Nor aid'ft us till we're loft!

As is alfo Life, by SIWARD, p. 82.

What is life,

But an odd fcene of many-coloured hours,
Wherein the good, the ill, the fad, the chearful,
Are blended with promifcuous throw fo fully,
That each man chooses what he may.'

Mrs. Yearfley alfo endeavours to copy Shakespeare, in mixing what appertains to comedy with her tragedy: but in this the is not fortunate. It is more eafy to imitate Shakefpeare's gravity than his wit.

Earl Goodwin is a play without love. Its conclufion is rather fiat; and we do not altogether approve of saving the life of LupoWICKE:-but we congratulate Mrs. Y. on the fuccefs which her play experienced on the Bristol ftage, and on the brilliant and crowded audiences that have fo generously supported her.

SCHOOL-BOOKS.

Art. 42. The Parifian Mafter; or a new and eafy Method for acquiring a perfect Knowlege of the French Language in a fhort Time, divided into two Parts: containing the Rudiments and the Syntax of the Language; compofed, digefted, and explained, &c. By Dr. M. Guelfi Borzacchini, Profeffor of the French and Italian Languages, at Bath. 8vo. pp. 487. 6s. 6d. Bound. Dilly.

Art. 43. The Tufcan Mafter: or a new and easy Method of acquiring a perfect Knowlege of the Italian Language in a fhort Time, divided into two Parts: containing the Rudiments and the Syntax of the Language; composed, digefted, and explained, &c. By Dr. M. Guelfi Borzacchini. 8vo. PP. 320. 5 s. Bound. Dilly. 1791.

We clafs thefe performances together, that one character, like the author's title, may ferve for both Works. Dr. Borzacchini is, indeed, fond of his words, whether they are originally his own, or only made fo by adoption; for not only his title, but his preface, which he has borrowed, fuits both grammars. Refpecting the contents of the books, they are, like the titles, long and defultory, though they are faid to be concise and accurate; nor do we perceive that they poffefs any advantages over fimilar works. However, as each master can teach beft according to his own fyftem, we advise thofe, who take Dr. Borzacchini's inftructions, to adopt his gram

mars.

Art.

Art. 44. Excerpta Poetica ex Ovidio, Propertio, Virgilio, Horatio, Juvenali, &c. in tres partes divifa. 8vo. pp. 330. 39. 6d. Bound. Dilly. 1790.

These felections are, without doubt, very proper for the use of Schools; yet, if it be intended that youth fhould be well informed in the Latin language, it is at least questionable, whether it may not be most useful to have recoarfe at once to the originals. The principal advantages of the prefent work are, that it furnishes fome moral fentences, or thefes, attended with suitable verses, and also some inftructions relative to the different metres.

BIRMINGHAM RIOTS, and CLAYTON's Sermon. V Art. 45. A Letter to the Rev. John Clayton; containing a Defence of the Proteftant Diffenters, from the Afperfions thrown on them in his late Political Sermon. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Dilly.

Under the refpectable character of A FRIEND TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, this able writer vindicates the Diffenters from the charges brought against them, or infinuated, in Mr. C.'s fermon, preached on occafion of the late infamous riots at Birmingham. We think the letter-writer thoroughly underftands the subject; and we scruple not to add, that, in our opinion, he is completely victorious over the preacher. As a fpecimen of his manner of writing, we shall here transcribe fome part of his friendly * expoftulation with Mr. C. at the end of his letter:

You came from intimate connexions, and communion with the Church of England, into Chriftian fellowship among the Proteftant Diffenters. You were kindly received, and few men among us have been honoured with more teftimonies of refpect than yourself. You have been placed, according to your own confeffion, in circumftances very fuperior, in point of emolument, to the laborious clergy in the establishment.” And you have condescended, whenever it faited your purposes, to call yourfelf a Diffenting Minifter. It was natural to fuppofe, that you would have been friendly to our intereft, and that you would have fupported the principles of our diffent from the national Church. But the fact is far otherwife. You have come in among us to spy out our liberty, which we have in Chrift Jefus; to corrupt our minds from the fimplicity of the truth; to draw us away from our first principles, that you might bring us into bondage; and, where you fucceeded not, to traduce our characters; to defame our reputation; to leffen our influence; to degrade us in the eyes of government; to thrust us out from the common rights of fociety, and from the protection of the laws of our country; and to attempt these things at fuch feasons as fhall be moft humiliating to us, and most favourable to your own dishonourable purposes. You attack all Proteftant Diffenting Minifters, of every denomination, that are known to be friends to religious liberty, and to a repeal of the Teft Act; and you mark them out to the public, as if you intended a profcription, or directions to a mob. Those who hold theological tenets different from your own, you

*He frequently expreffes himself in the friendly ftyle of an old acquaintance.

defcribe

defcribe by their peculiar opinions, and by fuch other circumstances as are most likely to point out their perfons. Against those, whofe religious fentiments you cannot well condemn, you labour to infinuate charges of immorality, with a fpecies of malice peculiar to yourself. There are indeed, you say, among sound preachers, political men; but thefe, for the most part, are idle, goffipping, convivial perfons, who are, it must be allowed, very orthodox on Sundays, yet live the rest of the week as much out of the spirit of their profeffion, as the most erroneous in opinion." What, Sir, ca!! you this? Sacheverell never went beyond it; and yet Sacheverell profeffed no connexions with those whom he reviled.'

Art. 46. Chriftianity confiftent with a Love of Freedom: being an Answer to a Sermon lately published by the Rev. John Clayton. By Robert Hall, M. A. 8vo. pp. 80. 16. 6d. Johnfon. Mr. Hall has entered with fpirit and judgment, into the main points of this controverfy, and has given, in our apprehenfion, a full refutation of every thing advanced in the Weigh house* fermon, to the prejudice of either the principles or conduct of the Dif fenters, refpecting the government of this country.

As Mr. Hall declares that he is not a Unitarian, and that the religious tenets of Dr. Priestley appear to him erroneous in the extreme,' we fhall quote a paffage from that part of his pamphlet where, as a friend to fcience, he teftifies his abhorrence of that bigotry which would fuffer any difference of fentiment to diminish our fenfibility to virtue, or our admiration of genius.'

Dr. Priestley's enlightened and active mind, his unwearied affiduity, the extent of his refearches, the light he has poured into almost every department of fcience, will be the admiration of that period, when the greater part of those who have favoured or those who have oppofed him, will be alike forgotten. Diftinguished merit will ever rife fuperior to oppreffion, and will draw luftre from reproach. The vapours which gather round the rifing fun, and follow it in its courfe, feldom fail, at the clofe of it, to form a magnificent theatre for its reception, and to inveft, with variegated tints, and with a foftened effulgence, the luminary which they cannot hide.'

In brief, without entering on particular arguments advanced in this pamphlet, or attempting to follow Mr. Hall, in his regular chain of reafoning, (for which we have, at prefent, no room,) we fhall content outielves with obferving, that we think the friends of freedom, both civil and religious, will have reafon to thank Mr. Clayton, as fome of them have already thanked Mr. Burke, for having excited thofe able investigations, the tendency and confequences of which may prove highly beneficial to mankind. Art. 47. A Confolatory Epifile to the Rev. John Clayton; from Fidelia. 8vo. 6d. Johnson.

The epithet, confolatory, is ironical. Fidelia attacks Mr. C. both feriously and ludicrously; grounding her provocation on the

Mr. Clayton's fermon was preached at a place called the King's Weigh-houfe, Eaft-cheap, London.

affront