them, Mr. Webb has printed his additions in Italic. Thefe, in the former part of the book, are very inconfiderable in number and extent; towards the end they occupy more space. The felections are made profeffedly without order, which the compiler attempts to defend by repeating the old objection to Horace, that he wrote de arte, fine arte; no defence, however, was neceffary, for, in a trifle of this kind, order is not required. Mr. Webb profeffes the greatest refpect for the learning. and genius of M. Pauw, but he does not always implicitly adopt his opinions; and allows that he is too fond of forming hypothefes, (p. 62.) He means only to felect facts; but the facts of Pauw are not always to be depended upon; they are frequently related to the affertion in p. 137, where he fays it is admitted, that air pafling over water is much colder than that which paffes over dry land."

One of the most ufeful paffages we have obferved in the original part of this book, is Mr. Webb's anfwer to Volney's unfounded affertion refpecting the Arabs, which therefore we fhall felect.

"There is nothing better understood than property, as an object of purfuit; nothing lefs underflood, as a fubject of philofophy: of this we have a proof in the following extracts from Volney's account of the Arabs :

"The fituation of the Arab is very different from that of the Ame"rican favage: amid his vaft naked plains, without water, without "forefts, he could not, for want of game or fish, become either a

hunter or a fisherman. The carnel was alone fufficient to throw him "into paftoral life, the manners of which have determined his charac"ter; finding, at hand, a light and moderate nourishment, he has ac

quired the habit of frugality; content with his milk and his dates, "he has not defired flesh; he has fhed no blood; his hands are not accustomed to flaughter, nor his ears to the cries of torture; he has "preferved a humane and fenfible heart."

There would be nothing wanting to this eulogium, were it founded on fact. But where hall we find, except in romances, or the defcriptions of poets, that paftoral manners are of a nature to cherish the fine feelings of humanity. Through all ages, in every quarter of the globe, rapine and bloodied have marked the fteps of the paftor tribes. When thefe very Arabs, at an early period, made the conqueft of Egypt, the tyranny and cruelty of the paftor kings, as they were called, were beyond example intolerable.-M. Volney proceeds:

"To obferve the manner in which the Arabs conduct themfelves towards each other, one would imagine that they poffefs all their goods in common; nevertheless, they are no ftrangers to property; "but it has nothing of that felafhnefs which the increase of the imaginary wants of luxury has given it among polifled nations. It may be alledged, that they owe this moderation to the impoffibility "of greatly multiplying their enjoyments: but if it be acknowledged,

that

66

that the virtues of the moft civilized are only to be afcribed to the neceffity of circumftances, the Arabs, perhaps, are not for this the lefs worthy of our esteem: they are fortunate, at least, that this ne"ceffity fhould have eftablished among them a ftate of things, which

has appeared to the wifeft legiflators as the perfection of human "policy; I mean, a kind of equality in the partition of property, "and the variety of conditions.'

"The legiflator, who would confine a growing property within the bounds of equality, must be at once a ftranger to human nature, and to the nature of the thing. But did not Julius Cæfar publish fumptuary laws, at the time that Rome was the emporium of all the riches of the earth? Yes, and among the few foolish things which he did, this was by far the moft foolish unlefs we may fuppofe that he did it with a view to flatter the plebeians, and to mortify the nobles.

"But the Arab, it feems, has found the means to divest lucrative purfuits of felfifhnefs, and to unite the importance of property with the indifference of equality: these things are not in nature: without felfishness there would be no motive to action; equality excludes diftinction; take away diftinction, property lofes its object, and with that its existence: the Arab, content with his milk, and dates, had not aimed at any thing more than the neceffary. No matter, the Arabs, at all events, must be a nation of worthies: we know that, like their brethren of Algiers, they are a nation of robbers. From the moment that their panegyrift touched on the barrennefs of their deferts, and their attention to property, it was easy to foresee what his eulogium must come to: for how can there be property, where there are no productions at home? and if imported from abroad, how should this be, but by plunder, where there can be no exchange? Thus it is, that things often pafs for inconfiftencies in nature, which in fact are nothing else than the reveries of the writer.

Independence, his fyftem; inftinct, his legiflation; the man of nature is free, because he is a stranger to property. Would you cheat him out of his freedom-foment competition; extend his felfishness; give him a relish of property; to fecure its enjoyment he will fubmit to laws: he is no longer independent, but he is civilized.

"Were the process to end here, it would be well; but property is power; it commands fervice, it creates dependence: accumulation admitted, the great proprietor will become mafter of the little not content with a comparative advantage, he will think that he has nothing while others have any thing;-he is a defpot, his dependants are flaves." P. 167.

Mr. Webb has not loft his courage with his youth; he attacks the Newtonians, and modern naturalifts in general; Sir William Jones, and linguifts in general, and any other antagonists who happen to fall in his way. We hope that he has papers by him connected with the study of the arts. The purfuits on which his fame was founded will be moft propitious to the conclufion of his long career.

BRITISH CATALOGUE.

POETRY.

ART. 18. Matilda, or the dying Penitent: a poetical Epifle. By George Richards, M. A. Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. 4to. Is. 6d. Cooke, Oxford; Robinfons, &c. London. 1795.

That Mr. Richards is one of the few, who, to a poetical ear, unite the fire and spirit of a poet, has been proved by his former productions; particularly that animated poem "the Aboriginal Britons." That he is not one of those who mistake coarfenefs for ftrength, or injudicioufly felect their topics of defcription, will appear from the prefent compofition. The fubject of a penitent female, in the most lamentable of all human fituations, has often been chosen, but not often fo delicately and fo ably handled. The following lines, with which the poem closes, are peculiarly excellent. They begin by an apostrophe to parents,

her

"Ah fhades rever'd! my forrows foon will ceafe;
I foon may meet you in the realms of peace.
Farewell thou Sun, whofe rifing glories beam
The bright effulgence of a Power fupreme :-
Farewell delightful fpring and balmy airs:
Farewell the human face and human cares.
I go, I go my foul is on the wing:
Bear, bear me, angels, to your heavenly king;
Where ftreaming joys from viewlefs glory flow,
And purer forms with beaming radiance glow.

Though one long crime hath foil'd the immortal mind,

And funk the nobler nature of my kind;

Yet is not all the glorious work debas'd,

The Maker's image is not full effac'd.

Thou high Almighty power, to whom alone
The mufing heart and filent thought are known;
Thou, at whofe throne, ere evening ftars afcend,
My trembling fpirit, borne on high, may bend ;~
A wanderer comes, who, ev'n in fin and fhame,
Hung on thy word, and blefs'd thy holy name.
Thou know'ft my foul; Thou faw'ft contrition rife,
Ere form'd in words, or fwimming in my eyes.
Thou died'ft the hopeless penitent to fave:

'Twas thine to lift him glorious from the

grave.

Protect the ruins of the noble mind;
Protect the immortal work thy felf defign'd.

From thy eternal glory flow'd my foul:

'Tis made to live, when worlds have ceas'd to roll.
Form it for angel quires and joy divine;

Renew the unfullied thought, and ftamp it thine."

In the courfe of the poem, a very appropriate compliment is paid to the Queen (to whom also it is dedicated) as patronefs of the excellent charity of the Magdalen.

ART. 19. Verfes on various Occafions. 8vo. 140 pp. 5s. Debrett, 1795.

Mr. Taylor, the author of this volume of poems, takes for his motto, "I left no calling for this idle trade," not like Pope, because he never has a calling, but because he has contrived to make his occupation (that of an oculift) and his verfification compatible. But the Mufes, are jealous ladies, and feldom fuffer an admirer to divide his time between them and other objects, without putting fome marks of their diffatisfaction on his compofitions. If these marks, however, are vifible in the first poem called the Stage, in the fmaller pieces they cannot fo well be traced. There is playfulness and origi nality in the following copy of verfes, which therefore we prefent to our readers.

"TO MISS BRUNTON.

"On the Report of her intended Marriage with Mr. Merry
"Dear Brunton, how oft, by the hand of Report,
Have thy beauties been led to the church,
Where ftill the old goffip, in mifchievous fport,
Has left thee as oft in the lurch.

"At first the dame whifper'd, that Holman the fmart,
Flew to thee from the bachelor's fpleen;
Yet it foon was confefs'd he but acted a part,
And was merely the spouse of the scene.

"Then Morton, the airy, a wit of the town,
Was fuppos'd thy affections to draw ;

But he was foon caught by a barrister's gown,
And would only be wedded to law,

"Next Reynolds, a whimfical good-humour'd wight,
Was to open the conjugal page;

But it quickly appear'd he lov'd only to write,
And to nothing would fix but the stage.

"Laft Merry, the tuneful, 'tis faid is the man
Thy worth is to lead to the thrine;

But the rogue is too fond of the libertine plan,
And of nymphs is devoted to ninc.

"Whilft thou, my dear Brunton, averfe to the chain,
Thy husbands can'st lofe without forrow;

For thou know't that report, in her good-natur'd vein,
Will provide thee another to-morrow." P.
.132.

Report, however, had no occafion to provide any more, for Mr, M. left the nine for the one.

ART. 20. Academical Contributions of Original and Tranflated Poetry, 11 pp. 2s. 6d. Flowers, Cambridge, Egerton, London; 1795.

8vo.

"The advertisement to this volume informs the reader that it is the production of fome junior members of the University of Cambridge. We think it, on the whole, very honourable to them. Its faults are fuch as more experience in compofition will correct, while much of the true fpirit of poetry may be cafily difcerned.

ART. 21. A Letter from Dr. Snubdevil in London, to his Friend at Bath, 1794. 4to, IS. Bell, 1795.

A fatire on the vices and follies of the times, not without a portion of facetioufefs, and dictated by a fpirit in the highest degree commendable.

ART. 22. Corfica, a Poem, by Clement John Wafey, M. A. of Oriel College, Oxford. 4to. Is..6d. Fletcher, Oxford. 1795.

The effort probably of a young writer, whom greater experience will teach the impropriety of bringing together fuch rhimes as feine and mind, or fuch lines as

Truth, pure religion, join the holy league,
Valour with prudence, faith without intrigue..

ART. 23. Attica, or the Advantages and Disadvantages of a Popular
Government. A Poem adapted to the prefent Pofture of public Affairs,
Lowndes, 1795,

8vo.

IS.

We fee nothing Attic in this poem.

ART. 24. The Prophecies of the Times, a Satire, by Malachi Mofes,
Bell, 1795.
Efq. The Second Edition. 4to. JS.

Whether this poem has really advanced to a fecond edition or not, we venture not to lay. We have heard of fuch things as falfe appearances in thefe cafes; but we have no fcruple in faying, that in the poem there are many excellent lines, and that the author laughs with nccefsful pleafantry at the inclination of his countrymen to be depreffed in fpirit with little or no caufe.

DIVINITY,

ART. 25. A Sermon preached before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in the Abbey Church of Westminster, on January 30, 1795; being the

Day