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Whom neither wealth, nor grandeur can allure;
With whom our choicest blessings are secure;
Arise to save, once more, your native isle,
And Virtue still on Alfred's realm shall smile.

• Ye the despotic rescript can rescind,
And give the cruel edict to the wind,
Repair the honoured paths of old renown,
Transmit our rights to diftant ages down,
Recal our armies o'er the Atlantic flood,
(Compelled no more to shed a brother's blood,)
Commerce, and ancient amity, restore,

While shouts of joy resound from shore to shore.' GENIUS facrificing to VIRTUE is an object which must ever be contemplated with pleasure and veneration; and yet, we are not to let our veneration for the action make us inattentive to the manner in which it is performed. This poem is certainly not so highly finished as it might have been: had this amiable Writer exerted himself, we doubt not but that he might have produced a poem which would not have been deficient either in strength or elegance. Art. 20. The Noble Cricketers. A poetical and familiar Epistle, addressed to Two of the idlest Lords in his Majesty's Three Kingdoms. 4to. 1 s. Bew.

The two idlest Lords in his Majesty's three kingdoms are undoubtedly very fair objects of fatire. Were our Author as happy in the execution of his performance as in the choice of his subject, he might possibly be entitled to some praise; as it is, we doubt whether SAM SMALL, LUMPY, or even HORSEFLESH, would not blush to have written such ribaldry.

Art. 21. The Auspices of War; an Ode. Inscribed to the Memory of Admiral Boscawen. To which is added, the Prophecy of the Union; a narrative Poem. 4to. 18. Dodiley. 1779. As this Writer' pleads that he is not an old offender,' we are the less disposed to be severe in our sentence upon him. He is to observe, however, that as this apology will not avail him in future, he muft, when he next appears before the tribunal of the Public, bring with him some more effectual plea to entitle him to its indulgence; of which, indeed, we by no means despair. The present specimen of his abilities is far from being unpromifing. Art. 22. Poems on various Subjects. By Ann Murry, Author

of Mentoria. 4to. 5 s. fewed. Dilly, &c. 1779. The greater part of these Poems, as the Writer tells us, were defigned to describe the advantages resulting from rectitude of manners; to impress on others the conviction produced in her own heart of the instability of human happiness; and to direct the mind to what ought to be the chief object of its attention, the hope of attaining a state, "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at reft." That they may answer the ends for which they were written, cannot but be the wish of every good mind. In some of these pieces, though there be inaccuracies to which the faftidious will object, and in others a gravity, which, for the diffipated and thoughtless, may have no great charms of allurement, yet there are many readers to whom they will prove both inftructive and amusing.

Art. 23. The Belles of Bury; a Poem. 4to. 6d. Bury

printed, by W. Green. 1779.

'Miranda first, amidst the splendid throng,
Claims all the merit of my advent'rous song.'

Aye, good Miranda! do, take the Gentleman's fong.-Nothing, you know, like poetry for curling the hair : " it makes it so pure and so crips!"

Art. 24. Meritorious DISOBEDIENCE: An Epistle to a Minifterial Marine Favourite, on his late unexpected Escape from the Hands of Justice. 4to. 2 s.

Bew.

Our old friend again!-Again! and again, Crispinus!-Sir Hugh Palliser now takes his turn * for a scalping: and the Reviewers come in, en passant, for a scratch or two.

Art. 25. Ode on the present State of English Poetry, occafioned by reading a Translation of select Parts of Shakespeare, Milton, Thomson, Warton: Simonides, Sophocles, and others. By Cornelius Scriblerus Nothus. With Remarks. To which is added, a Translation of a Fragment of Simonides. 4to. Is. 6d. Oxford printed; fold by Elmsley, &c. in London. 1779.

We are glad to find this Writer has thewn so much deference to our authority as to assume his right name t. As a farther proof of his obedience, we shall expect him to cancel the present title to this filliest of all filly productions, and to substitute in its place its true one, namely,

A Progress to the Pastry-cooks.

Art. 26. The Temple of Prostitution; a Poem. Dedicated to the greatest ***** in her Majesty's Dominions. Written by a Woman of Fashion. 4to. 1 s. 6d. Harrington.

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Impure description holds the place of sense ‡." If we may trust to the evidence of style, this licentious publication had not a woman for its parent.

Art. 27. The Priestess of Devonshire-wall. A poetical Satire. Embellished with Characters of distinguished Personages, &c. &c. 4to. IS. Dixwell.

Obscure, low, and filly. We cannot discover who is meant by The Priestess: but some female of distinction seems to be aimed at, under the name of W**t*n.

Art. 28. Patriotic Perfidy; a Satire. 4to. 2 s. Bell. 1779.

A furious invective against some leading men in what is called The Opposition Party, or The Patriots. The names upon which the Author empties his Jordan of scurrility are, the Dukes of Rd

* Vid. last month's Review, p. 396, Art. 29. Reviewers Reviewed. † See Bagley, a descriptive poem; with annotations by Scriblerus Secundus. Monthly Review, vol. lviii. p. 160.

Sense.

Of one

‡ There are, indeed, many forts of kind there is enough in this pamphlet; but that is not the fort meant by Mr. Pope, in the foregoing line, which we have prefumed to adapt to the present occafion.

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and and B-n, the M

the Earl of B

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fs of Rm, Lord C-n, and

"Rebels, the damn'dest of rebellion's crew,

As boldly base as England ever knew."

If the Reader wishes for more, he must buy the pamphlet, for we think it neither safe nor decent to transcribe any farther. Art. 29. Fanatical Converfion; or, Methodism displayed; a Satire. Illustrated and verified by Notes from J. Wesley's tanatical Four. nals, &c. 4to. 2s.od. Bew. 1779.

Are we for ever * to be teazed with the nonsense and (alleged) impostures of Methodistie Saints,' and 'Perfectionists? Spare us, good Bard, and turn, at length, thy invective weapons on other objects. The nation abounds with knaves and hypocrites, of numerous claffes, and various denominations: wherefore, then, expend all thy poetic ammunition only on a particular set of fanatics, and let all other culprits escape?-But what do we see-yet another piece levell'd at the Moorfields game! Vid the succeeding Article : Art. 30. Voltaire's Ghost to the Apostle of the Sinless Foundery : A familiar Epistle from the Shades. 4to. 2 s. 6d. Bew. 1779. The fame hot fatirift (fee the preceding Article) here puts the rod into the cold hand of the deceased Voltaire: this being the mode in which dead men are enabled to flog their surviving enemies -The memory of the celebrated Bard of Ferney having been lately infulted in some of our news-papers, by the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, the affront is resented by our Author, and repaid with an Hudibraftic cat-o'nine-tails. - The Ghost of M. de Voltaire may, indeed, condescend to cope with an itinerant preacher; but the living Voltaire would not have deigned to notice so unequal an antagonist :

'Goliath's spear ne'er kill'd a louse.' GHOST, p. 46. **This antimethodistic Poet continues to employ the hoftile graving tool, as well as the fatiric pen: thus affailing the foe from a battery of two presses at once.

Art. 31. Satire for the King's Birth-day. By no Poet-laureate,

410. 1 s. Wilkie. 1779.

Ironical, complimentary, and dull as a laureate's panegyric.
Art. 32. Spirit and Unanimity; a Poem: Inscribed to his Grace
the Duke of Rich-d. 4t0. 2 s. 6d. Piguenit. 1779.
As this Writer seems to mean well (viz. to promote unanimity
in the operations of government), we could with his powers were
equal to his will.

Art. 33. A new Plan to fave the State; addressed to the Ladies.
By a Gentleman of the University of Cambridge. 4to.
Dodiley.

LS.

This rhyming planner has attempted what, we apprehend, his ftrength is no way equal to, His project will not be much regarded by those to whom it is addressed, and the poetry will not greatly recommend it.

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This is our Author's fixth attack on the Foundery-Saints,' and their Hierophant, as he terms them: see the Love-Eeaft, Sketches for Tabernacle Frames, the Timple of Imposture, &c.

Art.

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Art. 34. The Bostonian Prophet: An Heroi-comico-serious-parodical-pindaric Ode, in Imitation of The Bard. With Notes critical, fatirical, and explanatory, by the Editor. 4to. I S. Etherington. 1779.

Not a bad parody of Mr. Gray's celebrated ode, and yet not good enough to entitle its Author to much praise. Much praise, indeed, is more than any parody seems entitled to. Of all literary efforts, the Parody is not only one of the most humble but also the feeblest. Where little exertion is required, little praise can be expected. Art. 35. The Works of Hugh Kelly. To which is prefixed, the Life of the Author. 4to. 11. I s. Widow; and fold by Cadell, &c. 1778.

Printed for the Author's

This handsome edition of the poetical works of an ingenious and much esteemed Writer, comprehends his Dramas, his Thespis, in two books, and Fugitive Pieces. By the former, which were his most confiderable productions, he acquired no small reputation. They are False Delicacy, a Comedy; A Word to the Wife, a Comedy; Clementina, a Tragedy; The School for Wives, a Comedy; and The Romance of an Hour, a Comedy of Two Acts. His Thespis, which contained a critical examination into the merits of the principal performers at the theatres royal, was an imitation of Churchill's Rofiad; to which it was equal in point of elegance, if not of strength.

Art. 36. The Satires of Perfius paraphrastically imitated, and adapted to the Times. With a Preface. 8vo. 2 s. fewed. Dodfley, &c. 1779.

Imitations, as well as translations of the ancients, have been happily attempted in our language. Some of the fatires of Horace have indeed been so fuccefsfully modernized by Pope, that they almost dispute the palm with the Roman original: but it required the skill and genius of Pope to produce such an effect, which must not be expected from the efforts of Edward Burnaby Greene, the paraphraftical imitator of Perfius.

It is a maxim laid down by Roscommon and others, that the talents of an original author, and those of his tranflators or imitators, ought to be congenial: but the kindred defects of Persius and Edward Burnaby Greene militate against this doctrine. On the fide of excellence, there is no appearance of poetical confanguinity.

Difficulty of construction, and obscurity of allution, have generally been considered as the chief objections to the satires of Pertius; objections which even an able translator would have endeavoured to remove, and which a paraphrastical imitator cannot possibly be justified in fuffering to remain valid against a manner of version, whose scope and freedom afforded ample room for ease and perfpicuity. In Mr. Greene's work, however, the Reader will find no traces of Perfius, except his obscurity; no sparks of his fire, but a volume of fmoke.

By a perufal of Dryden and Brewster, an English reader may form a tolerably adequate idea of the fix fatires of Perfius; but in the paraphrafe of Mr. Greene he will rarely discover any idea at all; for the work is so ancient, yet so modern all the while, the colours fo run into each other, that the result is nothing but confufion.

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To add to this chaos, there are, prefixed to these imitations, we know not why, a medallion, very well executed, of the late Earl of Chatham, a monumental inscription, and an argument on the American contest. With the fame propriety are subjoined a sonnet and epigram on Admiral Keppel!

DRAMATIC.

Art. 37. The Dramatic Works of Philip Maffinger, complete. Revised and corrected, with Notes critical and explanatory. By John Monck Mason, Esq. To which are added, Remarks and Observations on the old English Dramatic Writers; and a short Effay on the Life and Writings of Massinger, inscribed to Dr. Johnson. 8vo. 4 Vols. 11. 1s Boards. Davies, &c. 1779. Old authors, who do not foar with NATURE in her SUBLIMEST flights, nor follow her through the various freaks and changes of her humour, but only copy the wit and character of the times in which they wrote, are like old coin, not so much admired for their intrinfic value, as for the mint from which they are dated: and the ruft of antiquity, perhaps, has more charms than the beauty of the impreffion.

Masinger has, undoubtedly, an equal claim to esteem with moft writers of the fame age and class: and Mr. Mason, the ostensible Editor of these dramas, has, like the generality of commentators, elucidated fome pafiages, and explained away others, as his judgment has bit or missed the true reading of his author.

Mr. Davies, the publisher of the volumes before us, discovers a confiderable share of biographical industry, and judgment, as well as critical tafte, in his Life of Massinger, prefixed to this edition; which alone gives it the preference to all former impressions.

On a candid review, we may venture to affert, that those ladies and gentlemen who have a relith for the ancient literature of this country, may gratify their taste, in the perusal of these volumes; and as the present impression is the fairest we have hitherto feen of the Author, we can fo far recommend it to those curious collectors, for a place on the dramatic shelf in their libraries.

NOVELS and MEMOIRS.

Art. 38. The Indiscreet Marriage; or, Henry and Sapbia Somerville. In a Series of Letters. By Miss Nugent and Miss Taylor, of Twickenham. 12mo. 3 Vols. 9s. bound. Dodsley, &c.

1779.

A novel which appears before the Public under the sanction of two female names, feems entitled, if not to favour, at least to lenity. Instead, therefore, of entering into a particular enumeration of the defects of this work, we shall only express a with, that those females i who think themselves poffeffed of fufficient genius and invention to write for the entertainment of the Public, would not content themfelves with that moderate share of literary reputation which a tolerable facility in the art of epistolary writing may have obtained among the circle of their friends, but by converting intimately with the best models of good writing, acquire that elegance and refinement of tatte, which will neither be capable of being pleased with, nor ex. pea to please by, mediocrity.

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