this fituation. We hope, for the fake of human nature, that the picture is not like, or at least that the features are exaggerated with all the extravaganza of caricature. The fentimental mother is truly a monfter, who, without a grain of feeling, is for ever, upon the moft ridiculous occafions, difplaying her mock fenfibility; is grofsly lewd with the highest pretenfions to unfullied chastity; affected, vain, mean, a bad wife, a bad mother, incapable of friendship, an hypocrite, and a gambling cheat. Despicable indeed, and truly deteftable, is a woman of fuch a character. But has the painter, in the prefent cafe, drawn from the life, is there a resemblance between the portrait and the original? If there is not, as the author has fo plainly pointed out the original, we must say that he has been guilty of the worst fpecies of affaffination, and ought to be avoided as the pest of society. As a compofition the work has confiderable merit. ART. 15. Hartly Houfe, Calcutta. 12mo. 3 vols. 7s. 6d. DodЛley. London, 1789. The defign of these volumes is to exhibit a picture of English manners in the more ferene and fultry climate of India. The fcene lies in Calcutta, the capital of Bengal, the metropolis and feat of our government in thofe parts. But, as it ever will happen with all likeneffes taken at fecond hand, the painter fails in confequence of not confulting the original. For if any credit be due to those who have lived many years on the spot, and want not capacity for appreciating men and manners, who are in the habit of obfervation, and from their fortune and rank accustomed to affociate familiarly with people of the firft diftinction; the descriptions which our author gives of fociety, of pleasurable parties, of domeftic etiquet, and of local peculiarities, in the vicinity of Calcutta, and the fashionable places of Bengal, are totally unfounded. Thefe, however, are detailed with confidence, and are evidently meant to be impofed upon the public as real. The work, indeed, feems to have no other object than that of reprefenting our countrymen in that part of the world as mere triflers and infignificants, the female fex as fo many wax dolls, as prim as brittle, and imported for exposure in a market juft as capricious; and life as an endless rotation of the fame infipid gaiety, fatiety, and delirium, without business, and without decorum. Hartly Houfe, as a work of imagination, poffeffes no charm of attraction, either for the giddy or the grave. The thoughts are every where as trite as the language is inflated. The delineations it exhibits are without nature or vivacity; the story is without incident, novelty, or variety; and the whole, from beginning to end, worked up without ingenuity, intereft, or use. We often confider, in these our literary labours, whether moft writers of modern novels be not deftined for the fole purpose of punishing the fins of Reviewers, as it is hardly poffible, on any other principle, to find an apology for their existence. ART. ART. 16. A Word to the Wife; or, Britons beware. By Colonel Wilkins. 4to. 2s. Ridgeway. London, 1789. Colonel Wilkins, as is faid of ancient painters, employs but two colours; he works only with black and white, without any interme-` diate tints. With the black he bedaubs all the ins till they are of as dingy a hue as the arch fiend himself; while the outs are depicted as Queen Elizabeth wifhed, most reafonably, to be reprefented by her painters without a fingle fhade. The colonel either is, or wishes to be thought, a violent party-man, and gives us to underftand in very middling rhymes, that Britain will be ruined if the fent adminiftration remains in power, and can only be faved by thofe who have been standing so dd a while like Peter at the door." We have, in our official capacity, perufed volumes of fimilar prognoftications, and have found that, like our friend Mr. Moore the almanac-maker, they are much oftener false than true; we are therefore not greatly alarmed at Mr. Wilkins's political prophecy. pre ART. 17. The Baftile; or, The History of Charles Townley, a Man of the World. Small 12mo. 4 vols. ros. Lane. London, 1789. This is fo good a novel that we are forry the bookseller has required fo taking a title. The Baftile occurrences make but a fmall part of the work. The whole, however, is an interefting, wellconnected history, abounding with juft fentiments well introduced, characters well marked, and occurrences natural, though frequently novel. The denouement is managed with fuch artifice, that it is almost impoffible to anticipate it; and each fucceeding volume improves. incident, dialogue, and interest. ART. 18. A Sure Guide against Wafe in Drefs; or the Woollendraper's, Man's-mercer's, and Taylor's Afiflant; adapted also to the Ufe of Gentlemen, Tradesmen, and armers; fhewing the exact Quantity of Cloth, &c. necessary to make any Garment, from a Child to a full fized man: in Tables of the following Widths; half-yard, halfell, fix-quarters, feven-quarters, two-yards. With three different Widths in cach. Printed for the Author. 8vo. 5s. bound. Egerton. London, 1787. From this ample title-page the reader will judge of the nature of the work, which, as far as we are judges, does not give the lie to the title page. ART. 19. The Benevolent Planters, a Dramatic Piece, as performed at the Theatre-Royal, Haymarket. Written by Thomas Bellamy. Debrett. 8vo. is. London, 1789. As a dramatic piece, the Benevolent Planters cannot boast of much merit, as it is deficient in plot, incident, and character: but its un pretending fimplicity, and the moral it conveys, difarm the hand of criticifm. ART. 20. The Trifler; a new Periodical Mifcellany. By Timothy Touchfione, of St. Peter's College, Westminster. 8vo. 7s. 6d. boards. Printed for the Authors, and fold by Robinfons. London, 1788. For a review of this article, fee its title page. Bb 2 ART. ART. 21. The Froft: A Little Poem for Great Folks. Buckland. London, 1789. 8vo. 6d These ftanzas were written, as the author profeffses, in the severe weather of the last spring, to excite the attention of the great to the fituation and sufferings of the poor. From this declaration we expected an address to the feelings of thofe to whom it is directed, but it is, on the contrary, a ferio comic defcription of the amufements, as well as of the diftreffes of the feafon. Taking the author's word for his intention, we shall only fay, that the motive is better than the poetry. ART. 22. The Winter Assembly, or Provincial Ball; a Poem, infcribed to the Ladies of the Weft. 4to. 15. Bath, Crutwell.-Dilly, London, 1789. Whether the Ladies of the Weft feel indebted to their bard we know not, but certes we owe him not much: We expected to meet with a lively scene in gay description, fuch as may be expected • When mufic foftens, and when dancing fires.' Now let our Bard speak for himself; Oh, nymph of DEVON !. and oh, Weflern belle! Is this enough, gentle reader? If you think not, let your penance be-the perufal of the remainder! ART. 23. The Hiftorical Preceptor; or a Collection of entertain ing and Inftructive Paffages, extracted from the Works of the beft Hiftorians, for the Use of Schools. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Crowder. London, 1789. This is a judicious felection, and well fuited to the purpose for which it is profeffedly calculated. POLITICAL. ART. 24. Copies of the feveral Teftimonials tranfmitted from Bengal by the Governor and Council, relating to Warren Haflings, Efq. late Governor General of Bengal. 8vo. 3s. Stockdale. London, 1789. The fate of the gentleman who is the subject of this work is not a little fingular. Arraigned in his own country of crimes the mot atrocious, and adored for his conduct in the very country where thofe crimes were faid to have been committed. Of the teftimonials before us, we can only fay, that they bear every mark of authenticity. We fhall here give the first addrefs from Benares, as a fpecimen of the language which pervades the whole. Copy Tranflation of Perfian Addrefs from Benares. Tranflation of an Address marked A. under the Seals as under-ritten: All we, refiding, born,, or on,a vifit, at Benares, whether of the Hindoo religion, or followers of Mahomet, have heard that the gen tlemen in England are difpleafed with Mr. Haftings, on fufpicion that he oppreffed us inhabitants of this place, took our money by deceit and force, and ruined the country; therefore we, upon the ftrength of our religion and religious tenets, which we hold as a duty upon us, and in order to act conformable to the decrees of God in delivering evidence, relate the praiseworthy actions, full of prudence and rectitude, friendship and politeness, of Mr. Hastings, poffeffed of great abilities and understanding; and by reprefenting facts, remove the doubts that have poffeffed the minds of the gentlemen in England, that Mr. Haftings diftributed protection and fecurity to religion, and kindness and peace to us all. He is free from the charge of embezzlement and fraud, and his heart is void of covetousness and avidity; during the period of his government no one experienced from him other than protection and juttice, never having felt hardfhips from him, nor did the poor ever know the weight of an oppreffive hand from him. Our characters and reputations have been always guarded in quiet from attack by the vigilance of his prudence and forefight, and preferved by the terror of his juftice. He never omitted the smallest inftance of kindness and goodness towards us and thofe entitled to it, but always applied, by foothings and mildness, the falve of comfort to the wounds of affliction, not allowing a fingle perfon to be overpowered by despair-He difplayed his friendship and kindness to all—He deftroyed the powers of enemies and wicked men by the strength of his terror-He tied the hands of tyrants and oppreffors by his juftice, and by his conduct he fecured happiness and joy to us. He re-established the foundation of juftice; and we at all times during his government lived in comfort, and paffed our days in peace. We are many, many of us, fatisfied and pleafed with him.As Mr. Haftings was perfectly well acquainted with the manners and cuftoms of these countries, he was always defirous of performing that which would tend to the prefervation of our religion and of the duties of our fects, and guard the religious cultoms of each from the effects of misfortunes and accidents.-In every fenfe he treated us with attention and respect. We have reprefented without deceit what we have ourselves feen, and the facts that happened from him. The feals affixed to this addrefs, are 278. ART. 25. A Brief and Poetical Declaration from a recovering Minifter to his Friends, by the Right Hon. William Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, with Intelligence Extraordinary, &c. &c. 4to. Is. 6d. Ridgway. London, 1789. A mock rejoicing ode, attributed to the minifter, on the late recovery of the king, and his continuance in place. It is a parody on Comus, and particularly of the part beginning The ftar that bids thy fhepherd fold;" In point of execution it is below mediocrity. The intelligence extraordinary which follows is a fictitious account of the rejoicings of the members of adminiftration, and fome of their friends on the fame occafion. It is written in imitation of the Critique on the Rolliad and the Album of Streatham, but its merits are greatly inferior to thofe of either. Bb 3 ART, ART. 26. Tracts on Conflitutional Subjects confidered in nine Points of View. With a Difcourfe never before published, on the Powers that be. Written on various Occafions between the Years 1776 and 1777. By the Rev. Thomas Northcot, Chaplain on Half-Pay in the Royal Artillery. 38. 6d. Dilly. London, The abilities difcovered in these Tracts by a chaplain on half-pay, certainly entitle him to a better situation. We flatter ourselves the noble duke at the head of the ordnance would be of the fame opinion from the flighteft perufal of any one performance in the mifcellany before us. The author's mode of thinking in politics is well known to the public, but his eccentricities are thofe of genius, and his warmth that of fincerity. He may have committed himself too far, and with too little caution, in party altercation, but he has erred with millions. And judging there must be a right and a wrong in politics as well as in other matters, he may have deemed it impoffible to cleave to the one with too much tenacity, or to avoid the other with too much averfion. Amidft fuch diverfity of opinions as prevail in this country, even on conftitutional queftions, he is always the most upright who avows his convictions with fincerity. ART. 27. A Refutation of the Anfwer of Philip Francis, Efq. to the Charges exhibited against him, General Clavering, and Col Monjon, by Sir Elijah Impey, Knt. when at the Bar of the House of Commons, on his Defence to the Nundcomar Charge. Svo. .is. 6d. Stockdale. London, 1788. The fubject of this pamphlet is of fuch a nature, as is little adapted to the inveftigation of criticifm. That we may therefore not encroach upon the province of judicial authority, we shall difmifs it without any observation. ART. 28. A Vindication of the Shop-Tax. Addressed to the Landholders of England. 8vo. 1s. Gardner. London, 1789. This pamphlet, we are informed in an advertisement, is the production of a young writer; and the editor regrets, as a misfortune, that it was not published before the minifter had relinquished the fhop-tax. We cannot fo entirely coincide in opinion that it would have influenced the conduct of the minister in fo great a degree; at the fame time we acknowledge that the young author's arguments are ingenious: His principles, however, are fometimes too abstract to be admitted as the foundation of a political measure, against which fuch ftrong applications had been made, and would, no doubt, have continued to be presented to parliament. ART. 29. A Short and Accurate Statement of the late Difputes between the Board of Control and the East India Company, on the Subject of fending four of his Majefty's Regiments to India. 8vo. 6d. Debrett. London, 1788. In the multiplicity of temporary productions, this pamphlet has, by fome means or other, efcaped our notice, until the subject is now become antiquated. It contains a faithful account of the transaction mentioned in the title page. The conduct of the directors of the company |