His Satanic Majesty makes so bad a figure in this ballad, and is so affronting to the party in whose cause he appears, that he must be as little satisfied with the boiling of the Middlesex Porridge-Pot as the satirist himself. This is unfortunate.

In the admonitory Nod', which is merely personal, the poet himself nods: but he cunningly endeavours to help out the satire by some caricature prints.

Art. 32.
Delays and Blinders; a Comedy, in Five Acts. As
performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. By Frederick
Reynolds. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Longman and Rees.

This play is in the usual style of Mr. Reynolds's compositions. With incidents often at variance with nature and probability, and characters boldly caricatured, it is supported by lively and whimsical dialogue, a few lucky strokes at the times and popular sentiments (ad captandum), and an occasional pun or equivoque.-Par exemple:

a sailor

says;

Psha-don't talk of it-she's a charming creature!—but a wife!-do you know, in all the storms and battles I've encounter'd, that was my consolation-says I-" Never mind-blow on, my boys! you're nothing to the gales of matrimony."

Now for a picture of high life:

Sapling. Last night at Lady Squeeze's route, I shew'd the most barbarous ignorance-my wife told me if I play'd at cards, I must pay for them-very well!-so far I did right-I pop'd down my half crown for card-money-but, as luck would have it, a man came round with cakes and lemonade, and, thinks I, if Lady Squeeze can't afford to pay for one thing, of course she can't for another, and so, Ecod!-I pop'd down half a crown for them also.

Henry. And I should have done the same--they can get nothing by cakes and lemonade-but I thought they got enough by cards without charging their friends for them. Well!-and the farmhouse, Honoria? Is the old farm-house as much beautified as its owner?

Honoria. Quite.-Isn't it, guardian?

Sapling (with a satisfactory smile). Yes:-the barn is turn'd into a ball-room-the pigeon-house over it into a billiard-room-the calfhouse near it, into a concert-room-and the house for cows and horn'd cattle, into a state bed-room for me and Mrs. Sapling Then the parlour is so enlarg'd-do you know, it will now sup a hundred enemies?

Henry. Enemies !-You mean friends.

Sapling. No-I don't-I mean enemies-to be sure I thought as you did, and so I told Mrs. Sapling.-Says I, “Now's the time, my life, to be reveng'd on your enemies-mortify them, by not asking them."-"No," says she, "I'll mortify them by asking them!-the delight of visiting people is to vex each other, and my superior rooms will goad them to the soul!-Oh, yes:-and for friends, Mr. Sapling-never enlarge your parlour on their account -a closet will at any time hold them !”

We know not whether the lawyers will, on the whole, deem themselyes obliged to Mr. Reynolds: for, though he has drawn the cha

racter

Mo-y.

racter of a conscientious attorney in the musical Mr. Paul Postpone, his Delays and Blunders are so dangerous and absurd, that he would certainly ruin most of his clients and disgust all the rest.

G.2. Art. 33. A Tale of Mystery, a Melo-Drame; as performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. By Thomas Holcroft. 2d Edition. With Etchings after Designs by Tresham. Svo. 2s. R. Phillips.

We have here a species of drama which is rather new to the English stage, and which, as well as its name, is derived from the French but Mr. Holcroft has refrained, in his prefatory advertisement, from saying any thing of the nature, powers, and scenic effects of the Melo-Drame, because his thoughts must necessarily be given with too much brevity and haste.' It may be described, in brief, as a pantomime with the admission of dialogue: for so much depends on the music, the scenery, and the gesticulation of the actors, that this term must form its principal characteristic; and we should have witnessed the representation of it, in order to speak fully and decisively of its powers and effects. The scene is laid in Savoy, and the incidents depend on the common story of plots and assassinations so usually attributed to the Alpine regions: but the dialogue is foreible, and suited to the different characters. We think, however, that it was ill-judged to put the common slip-slopisms of the vulgar English into the mouth of the servant Fatima; both as they assist more strongly to destroy the illusion, and as they tend to weaken the effect of the humane and even dignified sentiments which the author has assigned to this faithful domestic. For example, addressing her master in reply to his question, "Have I not a right to do as I please in my own house?" she says, “No, Sir; you have no right to do wrong any where." This apparent allusion to the well known line,

"The right divine of Kings to govern wrong,”

does not assimilate with such expressions as "afeard as I was," 66 my cries was heard," &c.

Mr. Holcroft acknowleges that the principal incidents, many of the thoughts, and much of the manner of telling the story,' are derived from a French drama.-The etchings represent three of the principal periods of the fable.

Art. 34. Hear both Sides; a Comedy in Five Acts, as it is performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury-lane. By Thomas Holcroft. 8vo. 2s. 6d. R. Phillips. 1803.

Our readers know that this play has encountered, and has survived, some opposition to its performance, principally on the ground of an alleged want of comic vivacity. Mr. Holcroft takes notice of this circumstance, in a very characteristic preface; and he observes that the best answer to such a charge is found in the bursts of laughter at the comic parts, and the deep attention and unceasing applause with which the serious scenes of this comedy are nightly received.'-We cannot speak on this point, because we have not been present at any performance of the play: but, in giving our opinion from a perusal of it,

We

Do

we have to remark that it certainly abounds more in those moral obser vations and deductions by which, greatly to his credit, Mr. Holcroft's writings are distinguished, than the generality of modern dramatic compositions; while, at the same time, it cannot be said to be destitute of those lighter scenes in which the sprightliness of a comedy should be maintained. The dialogue is appropriate and forcible, the characters are well supported, and the sentiments are laudable. Neither in the plot nor in the personages, however, do we perceive much novelty; and Fairfax, the honest lawyer, whose apparently bad but really honorable conduct makes it necessary to Hear Both Sides, reminds us too much of Old Fable, in Colman's comedy of the Man of Busi

ness.

POLITICS.

Art. 35:
The Picture of Parliament; or, A History of the General
Election of 1802. Containing the most remarkable Speeches de-
livered on the Hustings, or otherwise published; the Names of all
the Candidates; the State of the Poll at the Close of each Elec-
tion; the Number of Voters, and the Decisions of the House of
Commons on the Right of Election in each Borough. To which
is added an alphabetical List of the elected Members, serving as
an Index to the Work. Crown 8vo. 5s. Boards. V. Griffiths.
The design and utility of this work are sufficiently manifest from
the copious title-page. It appears to us that the principal value of
the publication consists in its record of the number of voters and the
right of voting in each borough, with the date of the parliamentary
decisions by which that right is regulated.

Of the election for the remarkable Borough of Old Sarum, the following account is given:

The election for the borough of Old Sarum was held in a temporary booth erected in a corn field, under a tree which marks the former boundary of the old town, not a vestige of which has been standing in the memory of man; the several burgages which give the right of voting, being now without a dwelling for a human being. Mr. Dean, the bailiff of the borough, having read the precept for the election, and caused proclamation thereof, read the bribery act, and gone through all the legal ceremonies, the Rev. Dr. Skinner rose and nominated Nicholas Vansittart, and Henry Alexander, Esqrs. "from a thorough conviction that their public conduct would be such as would give satisfaction and do honour to their constituents." The other electors acquiescing in this nomination, and no other candidate offering, the proclamation was thrice made for any gentleman disposed to do so, to come forward, and the bailiff declared the above two gentlemen to be duly elected.

G.2.

There were five electors present at this election, (besides the bailiff of the borough, who lives at Wimborne,) viz. the Rev. Dr. Skinner, of the Close; the Rev. Mr. Burrough, of Abbott's Ann; William Dyke, Esq. of Syrencot; Mr. Massey and Mr. Brunsdon, both occupiers of land within the limits of the borough. The above account is thus particularly given, to rectify several prevalent mistakes relative to this celebrated borough, and to shew that the election is conducted

conducted in a manner every way consonant to the law of the land, and the constitution of Parliament.'

Though the election is here said to be conducted according to the forms of law, no notice is taken of the operation of the interest of any individual, over this formidable body of voters!

Various inaccuracies in course occur in this work, for which the publisher apologizes. In the account of the Westminster election, it has been omitted to state the number of voters after the first day's poll, though the singularity of the contest renders that circumstance a matter of curiosity.

Art. 36. The Germanic Empire reduced into Departments under the
Prefecture of the Elector of Brandenburgh. Translated from the
French. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Stockdale.

In this work, the original of which is said to have been written in
German, the conduct of Bonaparte is not only reprobated with great
severity, but he is directly stigmatized as an usurper; and the wish
of his heart is said to be to place usurpers on every throne in Europe.
With this anathema fulminated against the Chief Consul, is combined
a defence of the divine right of kings, at least, of kings of the first
order; to whom, (as this writer informs us, and he must himself
have received his knowlege by revelation,) the Divinity has in some
respect delegated his power over the human race.' From such an
author, the plan of German indemnities must receive the most pointed
condemnation. We can allow him, indeed, to lament the hard fate
of the Emperor, whose power is greatly curtailed by the additional
weights thrown into the scale of France and Prussia; and who, as
the head of the Empire, has been forced to make very great sacri-
fices: but, when we think how much blood has been lately spilt, we
hesitate immediately to allow with him, that it is the general interest
of Europe to arm and extricate that monarch from this critical posi-
tion.' The changes in Germany may be regarded as the effects of
French conquest; so that the principle of the indemnities is no more
subversive of the stability of states, and inimical to the law of nations,
than the victor's sword always has been and always will be.
Art. 37. The Case of Switzerland briefly stated. By an Eye-Wit,
ness. 8vo. Is. Debrett.

The situation of the Swiss has been so fully detailed in the public prints, that little which is new is left for this Eye-witness to relate, Together with greater powers on the Continent, these sons of Liberty have been forced to yield to the (at present) resistless influence of France; and to receive a Constitution from the Chief Consul, who condescends to guarantee their independence. To the statement of the Case of the Swiss, the following apostrophe is here subjoined: Poor Inhabitants of Switzerland! I watched your first exertions.With you I shared the transport which the successful progress of a cause so sacred was calculated to inspire. With you I felt the influence of hopes approved by reason that is yet a stranger to the dark designs of heartless and insatiable ambition. Your present anguish and disappointment now are mine.-Do not utterly despair. The day shall arrive, when the measure of iniquity shall at length be

filleda

G.2.

Moy

filled, and when, appearing with redoubled splendour, the Star of Liberty shall rise, to set no more, on the heroic Countrymen of the Immortal TELL! It is consoling to diffuse the rays of hope; and, as Swisserland seems ordained to follow the fate of France, let hope suggest that some benefits may arise from acting in unison with her. The dedication of this pamphlet is subscribed, Francis Lewis Clason.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 38. Public Characters of 1802, and 1803. 8vo. TOS. 6d.
Boards. R. Phillips.

We have observed, in our accounts of the former volumes of this singular compilement, that it is continued with unremitting attention to the information and entertainment of its readers.-The obvi ous objection, that the delineation of Living Characters must always be expected to proceed from the pencil of Panegyric, or of Enmity, must ever remain: but, allowing this objection its full weight, must we therefore be deprived of that useful information, and of the knowlege of those facts, which we receive by this new and agreeable mode of early intelligence?

In the volume now before us, we have had the pleasure of perusing a variety of very interesting memoirs; among which, we have been gratified by the information afforded us by the satisfactory detail here given of the truly ingenious Mr. Watt *. This Gentleman's discoveries and great improvements respecting that amazingly curious. piece of mechanism, the Steam Engine, must for ever consign his name to one of the highest places in the annals of useful science, and of the deepest researches of human genius into the inmost recesses of Nature: where all her hidden stores of wonder and astonishment are deposited, far beyond the ken of common eyes, or the general grasp of human ability.

Art. 39. Copy of a Correspondence between the Right Hon. the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, the Right Hon. the Earl of St.
Vincent, K. B., the Right Hon. the Earl Spencer, K. G., and
Vice Admiral Sir John Orde, Bart. 8vo. 28. 6d. Faulder.

While the Mediterranean Fleet was under the command of Lord St. Vincent, during the late war, Sir John Orde served under his Lordship as Rear-Admiral; and while in that situation, he con ceived himself to be aggrieved by the appointment of a junior Admiral to a service on which he thought his own rank intitled him to be employed, by several rigorous acts of the commander in chief, and finally by being abruptly ordered to leave the fleet and return to England, without any known cause. Sir John applied to the Admiralty for a court-martial on Lord St. Vincent, in consequence of these events, but was refused: he then, on his Lordship's arrival in

The worthy partner of Mr. Boulton of Birmingham; of whose prodigious progress in the cultivation of the mechanic arts, and philosophic inventions of modern ingenuity, we gave an account in our Review for June last, p. 158.

England,

Mo-y.