we may not acquiefce in the opinions ftarted, we applaud that fortitude without which no man will dare to differ from others, and speak as he thinks.

Of the third and fourth part of this work we fhall give a farther account in a future Review..

K-n-k

MONTHLY CATALOGUE,

For FEBRUARY, 1762.

POLITICAL.

1

Art. 1. Obfervations on the new Militia-Bill, now under the Confideration of Parliament; wherein the material Alterations are pointed out. 8vo. Is. Towers.

3

Senfibly fuggefted, by a friend to the Bill, and (we believe) to his Country; the honour and fafety of which he apprehends to be much concerned in the judicious regulation of the Militia..

Art. 2. A Letter to the Right Honourable Charles Townshend, Secretary at War. Being Thoughts on the Militia Laws, and for extending them to North Britain, and for making the Militia more ufeful. 8vo. 6d. Horsfield.

Well intended, but fomewhat intemperately, and very inaccurately written..

Art. 3. Tragi-comic Memoirs of the Origin, Progrefs, and Events of our prefent War against France. By a new Phænomenon in Politics. 8vo. Is. 6d. Pridden.

Written in the perfon of Harlequin, the new Phænomenon in Po. litics, and intended to fhew how fadly our affairs have been mismanaged, from the beg nning of the War to the present time.-What pity it is, that our Pamphleteers are not taken into the Ministry! for we have their folemn words for it, and very often repeated, that they can see much farther into the Mill-ftone, than any of our StateMillers, who have been grinding at it these forty years past.

Harlequin a political Writer!-There is fomething like a joke in the thought; but this Author carries it very little farther than his Title page. His attempt at humour, indeed, is a feeble one; his manner being, on the contrary, cramped, ftiff, and pedantic; and as to the matter of which his laboured production is compofed, it is little more than a repetition of the hackney'd objections to the German War, and Mr. P's minifterial conduct,-together with fome # angry reflections upon the meannofs of "conomical Reforms in a Royal Houfhold".

Art. 4: An Address to the City of London. 8vo. 1s. R. Davis.

Another fevere investigation of Mr. P's Conduct. It seems to be a fhaft from no vulgar bow, and takes the Citizens in its flight, on account of their warm attachment to the late popular Secretary, manifefted by fome extraordinary political Man xuvres of theirs, fubfequent to that gentleman's refignation: which are touched both in a ludicrous and ferious ftrain of reprehenfion.

POETICA L.

Art. 5. Artaxerxes. An English Opera. As it is performed at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. The Mufic compofed by Tho. Aug, Arne. Muf. Doc, 8vo. Is. Tonfon.

Tranflated from Metaftafio. Dr. Arne has been very fuccessful in this his first attempt of the kind.

Art. 6. Innocence, a poetical Essay, in two Books. Most humbly infcribed to her Royal Highness the Princess Augusta. By Abraham Portal, Author of Olinda and Sophronia*, a Tragedy. 8vo. Is. 6d. Dodfley.

'Mr. Portal asks admiffion into the Temple of the Mufes with fo much modefty, that we hope they will not abfolutely refufe him entrance. Thus, in a prefatory Ode, he addreffes his brethren of the laurel.

Yet, Oye fons of Phœbus, do not blame,
Tho' I, unworthy of a Poet's name,
Prefume with my unhallow'd feet to tread
The Mufe's confecrated fhade:

For tho' unblam'd ye fuffer me to ftray,
I shall not bear one laurel wreath away.

Deftitute, as he complains, of the advantages of learning, he fhall, for us, be exempt from criticism. The following lines may either recommend his poem, or his shop †, in the city. They are taken from his Addrefs to Innocence.

Nor fear, celeftial maid,
The Trader's fraudful wiles, for fooner here,
Shall Poverty, with her unhappy train

Of meagre wants, sharp griefs, and biting taunts,
Take up her hated refidence, than e'er
Difhoneft arts fhall drive her from my door.

Mentioned in the XIXth Volume of our Review, p. 94.
The Author is a Silversmith, on Ludgate-hill.

La

Art. 7. A Sketch of the prefent Times, and the Time to came: in an Address to Kitty Fisher. 4to. Is. Waller.

By the prefent times, the Writer means the gay life of Kitty, in her bloom; and the time to come, is the wre.ched reverse brought

on by age, poverty, and the contempt of the world. The first part of this pamphlet is a loose encomium on this celebrated Courtezan; the fecond part contains a mere fermon in thyme, on the Decay of Beauty, the Miferies of Poverty, the Terrors of Death, and the Neceffity of Penitence. As to the Poetry, it confifts of a ftrange medly of laboured lines, in a variety of unharmonious measure; through all the defects of which, however, we can difcern fome marks of Genius: and therefore we with the Writer's talents employed on a worthier occafion.

Art. 8. A Cruft for the Critics. nent Puppy on Earth.

Infcribed to the most imperti4to. 6d. Grinfel.

An angry invective against fome Critic or Critics, who probably excited the Author's refentment, by falling foul upon fome of his former productions. It does not appear who is meant by "the most impertinent Puppy on Earth;" but the Monthly Reviewers are happy that they have not incurred the enmity of fo vindictive a Writer.

Art. 9. Brown Beer, a Poem. By John Peake, Victualler, of Stoke-Newington. 4to. 6d. Williams.

་

John Peake appears to be a very clever fellow; and we would heartily recommend it to all lovers of Poetry and Porter, whenever they take a walk or a ride towards the pleasant village of Newington, to call in at honeft Peake's, and take a draught of his beft Brown. The Landlord, we conceive, (for we know him only in his prefent Verfes) must be a character worth notice. He acknowleges his having been born and brought up in the loweft indigency of life, and enured to labour from his childhood, which deprived him of all opportunity of fcholaftic learning. What little I obtained afterwards, adds he, was by the dint of application to books; and that did not begin till I was juft ftepping on the ftage of manhood"—But what diladvantages, what hardships will not Genius furmount? In short, Mr. Peake, with native good sense, had a natural vein alfo for Poetry, which he has evidently improved by reading, and particularly by reading Mr. Pope. Like a man of bufinefs, however, he has wifely chofen for his fubject the Commodity he deals in; and if the spirit of his Beer be equal to that of his Verfes, he deals in no bad Commodity, of either kind. The defign of his Poem is to fhew the Injury, which common people will fallain, by the new Tax on the Brewery, and the confequent Increase of the Price of Porter, to the Confumers, who are chiefly the industrious poor, the most laborious and most useful clafies of people; whofe characters and various fatiguing employments, with the Relief they find in a Draught of good Porter, he defcribes with fome Humour, and in a strain of Verfification, far exceeding what could be expected from a perfon in his station: notwithstanding, he has here and there a bad Rhyme, or a faulty Couplet, which it would be ungenerous and uncharitable to criticise.

Art. 10.

Art, 10. Florizel and Perditta; or the Winter's Tale, a dramatic Paftoral, in three Acts. Altered from Shakespear, by David Garrick. As it is performed at the Theatre-Royal in DruryLane. 8vo. Is. Tonfon.

The meannefs of the Fable, and the extravagant conduct of it, has been the chief objections to this Play; which, however, in regard to propriety of character and fentiment, is not unworthy of its great Author. The Action of this piece, as Shakefpear left it, compre hends the monstrous fpace of fixteen years, Mr. Garrick has cleared it of this abfurdity; reduced it from five, to a more regular piece, of three acts; added a pretty fong in the feftive fcene of Sheep-fieering; and to the whole has prefixed a very humorous Prologue.

Art. 11. Twa Lyric Epifles. 4to. Is.

Thrush.

The droll production of the ingenious Author of Fables for grown Gentlemen. See our laft, page 68, feq. where the Reader will find a fufficient fpecimen of the talents of this imitator of Greffet, la Fontaine, and other French Poets of their rambling eafy caft.

Art. 12. Britannia, a Poem.
Folio. Is.

9.1

By a young Gentleman, Gretton.

Silence, young Sternhold! Thou art not cut out for Singing, as the Irishman fays in the Farce. Ceale thy bawling, therefore, young Crifpin, and fick to thy laft. What a warm of wretched fcribblers have been buzzing about the court, fince the month of October, 1760! One would imagine they thought any fort of Verfes good enough for Kings and Queens.

* Addreffed to his Majefty.

Art. 13. The Mufe's Recreation. In four Poems, viz. 1. A Farewell to Summer. 2. The Queen's Arrival, a Paftoral. 3. Silence. 4. Devotion, a Rhapsody. 4to. Is. Johnson, oppofite the Monument.

If these Poems afford any recreation to the Mufe, it must arise from her indulging in a hearty laugh, at the pleafant mistake of their Author, who is fimple enough to imagine himself a Poet, For fhame, Mr. Wale! how could you fit down to defign that pretty Ornament in the Title? We fhall next expect to fee you decorating the Bell

man's Verses.

Art. 14. High Tafe, a Satire. Addreed to the young Tits of Pleafure. Folio. IS. Marthall.

Low, illiterate ftuff, concerning the Women of the Town; and might, from the meanness of the fubject, and of the writing, have been entitled, High Tafie below Stairs.

Art. 1S.

L 4

Art. 15. Four Elegies. 1. Morning. 2. Noon. 3. Evening. 4. Night. 4to. Is. Briftow.

From the name and date subscribed to the Dedication of thefe Elegies, (to Brooke Forrefter, Efq;) we find that they are the production of Mr. Stephen Panting, of Wellington, in Shropshire; a name. we do not remember to have met with before, in our poetical walks: but hope we may, not unfrequently, meet with it again. These Elegies were published feveral months ago; yet we happened to overlook the Advertisement, and might perhaps have been totally deprived of the pleasure of perufing them, had it not been for the information concerning them, kindly conveyed to us in a Letter, figned S. H. T.

We heartily congratulate our friends round the Wrekin, on the appearance of this Salopian Mufe, who it is hoped will not be unmindful of her native Parnaffus *; than which we do not know a finer fubject for poetic defcription.

The first three of the prefent Elegies are of the defcriptive kind, celebrating the moft ftriking rural objects and circumstances, that, diftinguish the feveral divifions of the day; and that which has Night for its fubject, is filled with beautiful moral reflections, which indicate the contemplative and laudable difpofition of the ingenious Author. We shall give the conclufive part of this last Elegy, as a fpecimen.

Hail midnight, hail, and thou the folemn scene,
The fadly-ferious Melancholy's cell,
Where nought of Folly's favage train is seen,
But where the fons of thought delight to dwell.

Let artful statesmen scheme the awful hour,"
Let empire wake Ambition's daring train,
To roufe Rebellion's fell-deftructive pow'r,
And give dire Difcord o'er mankind to reign.

Let Av'rice gore the wretched mifer's breast,
To watch with vulture-care his art-rais'd mine;
Let fierce Defire diftract the lover's reft,

-And Riot rules with wild defpotic fway,

Let lavish spendthrifts fwell the beftial train,
And thoughtless in life's fatal follies ftray.
Far other blifs, far other joys be mine,

O thought-befriending Contemplation sweet!

To where the midnight tapers dimly shine,
Conduct, benign, a ftudious votary's feet.

To figh fad plaints at cruel Sylvia's fhrine.

Or where the Bacchanalians hold their reign,

*We mention this circumftance, on the bare prefumption that Mr. P is a native of Wellington, (a town at the foot of that noble hill the Wrekin) or of its neighbourhood.