ART. 36. The Adventures of Anthony Varnish; or, A Peep at the London, 1789. Lane. There is not much novelty of incident or originality of character in these volumes. The adventures are often without probability, unnatural, and detached. The addrefs of the hero at the fame time discovers, on feveral occafions, both ingenuity and archnefs. The ftyle is diftinguifhed by a certain glibnefs or volubility not unpleafant in this fpecies of writing; and Anthony has the art, notwithftanding many abfurdities, of placing himself occafionally in such fituations as particularly interest and affect the reader. ART. 37. Fairy Tales, felected from the beft Authors. 12mo. 2 vols. 6s. fewed. Lane. London, 1789. The editor of this collection gives his reafons in the introduction to the work; and whoever wishes well to the rifing generation must approve his motives for furnishing youth with an intructor at once fo pure and pleasing. The Tales are not without fimplicity and intereft. They are told in an easy ftyle, the incidents are feldom very extravagant, and the moral, for the most part, is plain and impreffive. There are few minds they will not entertain, and we truft ftill fewer they may not be the means of improving. ART. 38. The Tyranny of Love; or, Memoirs of the Marchioness Daremberg. 12mo. 2 vols. 6s. Hay. London, 1789. There is a vein of more than ufual ardour that runs through thefe volumes. The ftory is affecting and important; and it is impoffible to perufe the various epifodes which chequer it without feeling. The author feems no common fcribbler of novels. The company into which he introduces his readers are not low, but men of the world, and women both of birth and fashion. The scenes he defcribes are natural, but replete with novelty; his fentiments are manly and juft, and his language for the most part is elegant and correct. ART. 39. Zoriada; or, Village Annals. A Novel. 12mo. 3 vols. 7s. 6d. fewed. Lane. London, 1789. In the progrefs of these anecdotes, which chiefly relate to a beautiful young Indian fequeftered from the world in a country village, feveral picturefque fcenes of rural fimplicity are exhibited. To the poor parfon, however, as is often enough the cafe, the worst character in the farce is allotted. He is the pimp or pander to the paffions of his patron, and his guilt is adequately punished. The characters are well fuftained, and not deftitute of originality; and the fable, which is no common thing in modern novels, steals upon us as we proceed, and infenfibly engroffes the heart. ART. 40. Blenheim Lodge; a Novel. 12mo. 2 vols, 5s. fewed Lane. London, 1789. The plot developed in thefe volumes is the common one of love, in which the lovers, after a world of anxieties and difappointments, are married and made happy. The work is compofed of letters among various correfpondents, which are written in a style of peculiar flippancy and humour. Two or three of thefe verbofe epiftles, which fay much about nothing, are, from their sprightliness and vivacity, diverting enough. But the fame gaiety and prattle eternally recurring, without any thing characteristic prefenting itself to intereft and rivet the attention, this uniformity becomes ultimately fo tirefome, that it is difficult to read the book to the end. ART. 41. Gallic Liberty; a Poem. Occafioned by the Revolution in France. 4to. Is. Dilly. London, 1789. This poem, which is in blank verfe, appears to be the production of fome juvenile votary of the mufes. The author's defign is to celebrate the fpirit of liberty, fo confpicuous at present in France, Though the probable refult of fuch a revolution be a fubject more fit for political fpeculation than for poetry, yet this adventurous bard hefitates not to affirm that it will prove advantageous to GreatBritain, even in a commercial point of view. We only wish that a prediction fo pleafing may be verified. ART. 42. Epifle in Verfe to bis Moft Serene Highness the Duke of Orleans. 4to. 2s. 6d. Walter. London, 1789. The author of this epiftle addreffes the Duke of Orleans in a strain of panegyrical congratulation on the love of his country and of freedom, his munificent encouragement of the arts and fciences, his paternal affection, and the focial virtues, which are all reprefented as concentred in the character of his ferene highnefs. The epiftle is not deftitute of fentiment, and is written in middling poetry." ART. 43. The Ifland of St. Marguerite; an Opera in Two Acts, and firft performed at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane, 13 Nov. 1789. 8vo. IS. Debrett. London, 1789. This opera is founded upon the story of the man in the iron mask, who was at firft confined in the ille of St. Marguerite. The approbation with which the piece has been received on the stage is its best encomium. The author has very properly endeavoured to avoid every appearance of difrefpect towards a foreign country; and we understand that a few paffages, in which an indelicacy of that nature had been admitted, were profcribed by the lord chamberlain, The opera, in its prefent ftate, therefore, is happily calculated to afford entertainment, without any infinuation that can be construed into national offence. 4 ART: ART. 44. Andrews's New London Directory, &c. for the Year 1789. 8vo. 2s. 6d. fewed. Andrews and Son. London, '1789. This is the most complete directory of the kind of all we have hitherto known. The full title-page, which we find too long to tranfcribe, expreffes fufficiently its nature and contents; fo we have only to obferve that it cannot but prove highly useful to the manufacturing and trading part of the community. ART. 45. Defence of the Statute passed in the 43d Year of Elizabeth concerning the Employment and Relief of the Poor; with Proposals for enforcing it. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Debrett. London, 1789. Our author is of opinion that the act of Elizabeth, mentioned in the title, is of itself fufficient for regulating whatever refers to the poor. He points out the great outlines of this wife fyftem, and fhews in what particulars its utility chiefly confifts. To this delineation is annexed the skeleton of a bill for enforcing the practice of a code of laws fo well qualified for answering their end. The pamphlet is decently written, and well merits the perufal of all concerned in parochial bufinefs. ART. 46. The Law of Diftreffes for Rent. By T. Woodward, MiddleTemple. 12mo. Is. Hughs. London, 1789. Every member of the community is concerned in understanding Mr.Woodward has treated thoroughly the law of diftreffes for rent. the fubject in a clear and practical manner. This pamphlet, therefore, must prove generally ufeful; but is particularly calculated for the inftruction of ftewards, landlords, and tenants, who cannot but derive much neceffary information from perufing it. ART. 47. The Royal Tour to Weymouth and Places adjacent, in the Year 1789. Communicated by the Brace of White Greyhounds. 8vo. 2s. Ridgeway. London, 1789. One of thofe fquibs which the ready pen of the garreteer produces on all occafions, and which sputter for a moment, stink and dię. ART. 48. A Poem in Hudibraftic Verfe; with an explanatory Preface addreffed to the Nobility, Gentry, and others, curious in their Carriages, &c. 8vo. Is. Dickie, London, 1789. Some coachmaker, angry at the fuccefs of Mr. H- has laid afide his own tools, and taken up the pen, which he knows not how to handle. Of the merits of the fubject in difpute between these brothers of the trade we are not competent to decide; but with regard to the merit of the performance, we have no fcruple to pronounce that it has none; and we advise the author, almost in his own words, his pen to drop; Go, coachmaker, and mind thy fhop.' ART. ART. 49. Eliza Beaumont and Harriot Ofborne; or the Child of Doubt. Written by Indiana Brooks. 2 vols. 75. Robinson, London, 1789. This is literally a long ftory. The beginning is gloomy, fierce, leading, and repulfive; but after wandering through many an infipid fcene, the winding up of the plot brings all to rights. The language is every where eafy and flowing, and Indiana Brooks, for aught we know, may have the knack of faying pretty things in a pretty manner, but nature has not bleffed her with the faculty of writing to the heart; and of all things natural or unnatural, a novel without intereft is at once the most taftelefs and the moft ufeléfs. ART. 50. A New Sylph; or Guardian Angel. A Story. 2s. 6d. Lane. London, 1789. Here a scheme is difclofed which a young lady of rank and fashion devifed and executed, for fecuring the affections and fidelity of the man whom she had felected from her infancy for a husband. The various events which take place in the evolution of her purpose, as the reader will find, are abundantly romantic and incredible; and yet the reader who can dip into the ftory, and relinquish it before it is finished, cannot poffefs any great fhare of either tate or curiofity. The narrative is fimple and engaging, and the moral is fuch as renders it proper for the perufal of youth. It is, that a real attachment to an amiable and worthy woman is the fureft guardian a young man can have to defend him from every vice, and to preserve him from every levity. ART. 51. An Important Narrative of Facts, in answer to the erroneous Statement given by Dr. Withers in his pamphlet of Alfred, &c. In a letter to the publisher. 8vo. 2s. Ridgway. London, 1789. The facts here ftated, and the iffue of them, are now before the publick. The writer difcovers great candour, fincerity, and liberality of mind. We truft, the Reverend Doctor to whom they refer will draw inftruction and improvement from the confequences of the troubles in which his temerity hath involved him; and that his fufferings from the dereliction of profeffional purfuits may operate as a warning to fuch of his brethren as may unfortunately be the dupes of fimilar propenfities. DIVINITY. ART. 52. These letters are intended to difcredit and reprehend the fentiments of the people called Methodists, which it feems are propagated with zeal in the vicinity of Tunbridge Wells. The fact is, the author feems a difciple of thofe fectarians who arrogate to themselves the appellation of Rational Chriftians," and is evidently angry that his opinions, ftated in a former publication, have not met from the pious in his neighbourhood with a better reception. We know well what it is to ftand the brunt of an author incenfed by inattention to his merit. He is the most implacable bigot on earth, and challenges more implicit confidence than any Pope that ever filled the papal throne, To John Hampson we owe no difrefpect, and mean no incivility, but are forry to find him mifpending his time in a controverfy very little interefting to any readers, and in which he is certainly not qualified to fhine. His letters are replete with an affectation of wit and sarcasm, but it is hard to fay whether they difcover more deplorable ftupidity or petulent temerity. Rude and vulgar fentiments, conveyed in language loofe and clumfy, is the jufteft idea we can give of his compofition. He has addrefs enough to put himself out of humour, but by no means to irritate his opponents, and to appear abundantly virulent without rendering them ridiculous. In truth, we are not much entertained by feeing the failures or peculiarities of religious people expofed, even when done with pleafantry, as it is now but too much the fashion to treat every thing ferious with derifion; but we are always happy to find dulnefs on that fide which favours most of libertinifm and infidelity. ART. 53. Obfervations upon the Liturgy, with a propofal for its Reform upon the principles of Chriflianity, as profeffed and taught by the Church of England, &c. By a Layman: late an Under Secretary of State. 2S. Debrett. London, 1789. This reformer fets out with a great many apologies for interfering in an argument which he thinks rather in the clerical than political province. His fituation, however, in his own opinion, as making him more converfant with the ways of men, will enable him better to develope the mazes of celeflial and infernal polity than the most ftudious and contemplative way of life could have done. Such is the account he gives of himself, and fuch are the pretenfions upon which he comes forward to rectify all the errors in our religious establishment, and renovate the whole ecclefiaftical fabric. Enough in all confcience! Katerfelto, with all the charms of his black cat, could hardly have promised more, or done lefs! ART. 54 A Specimen of Sermons and Prayers of a late Divine, for the ufe of the young. By Edward Hall. 25. Johnfon. London, 1789. Of the mattter of these fermons too much commendation cannot be given. They discover both vigour of understanding and brilliancy of fancy. If they are any where defective, it is rather in taste than genius; and we fometimes think the conclufion cold, when compared with the animation which glows through the preceding parts of the compofition. Whatever opinion we may have of the prayers appended, we conceive no fpecimens fo proper to be put into the hands of youth as those of the church The publication, however, is calculated to do good, and may therefore be of use both to young and old. ART. |