Anderfon has been at confiderable pains to collect information cannot be denied; but then he has not had accefs to any new fources of intelligence. The authors from whom he has derived his materials are well known, and of eafy acquisition. His compofition is heavy, and his ftyle in general is not only inelegant, but often difgraced by low terms and provincial barbarifms. The Doctor must be fatised with ranking far beneath the illuftrious names who have reflected fo much honour on the prefent era, by their beautiful hiftorical productions. "Dr. Gaft hath performed an acceptable fervice to the public, by his Hiftory of Greece, from the Acceffion of Alexander of Macedon, till it's final Subjection to the Roman Power." The latter period of the Grecian history is neither fo well known, nor has been fo well written, as it's earlier parts; and, therefore, a good account of it down to it's conclufion is a defirable object. Dr. Gait has bestowed much time and Fains upon his performance, and has drawn it up with knowledge, judgement, and perfpicuity. We have, however, fome doubts, whether a very complete hiftory of Greece, and efpecially fuch an one as fhall include an accurate, copious, and philofophical view of the progrefs and effects of the Macedonian empire, and of the kingdoms and flates which took their rife from it, and were afterwards fwallowed up by the Romans, be not ftill a defideratum in the world of literature.

"The Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce, Efq. a Military Officer in the fervice of Pruffia, Ruila, and GreatBritain,' cannot be palled over with out much commendation. In accuracy of compofition it is defective: and the defect is rendered very pardonable by the author's peculiar fituation. He was born in Germany, and though he was educated among his relations in Scotland, he was called fo early abroad again, that it was not in his power to acquire a correct knowledge of the English tongue. His acquaintance with it, however, was fo far increafed by his refidence in this country, during

the latter part of his life, that his style, notwithstanding fome grammatical improprieties, is eafy and natural, and does not read unpleafantly. In other refpects, Captain Bruce's memoirs have many claims to our regard. They defcribe various things which few men have had equal opportunities of knowing. His account of Czar Peter the Great, of the Emprefs Catharine, of the events they were concerned in, and the countries they paffed through in the courfe of their expeditions, is equally curious and authentic. The work throughout is uncommonly entertaining, abounding with pleafant anecdotes, on the truth of which, as we are affured by thofe who knew Captain Bruce, we may entirely depend. The different articles we have extracted from the bock will enable our readers to form a general idea of its contents and value.

General Lloyd's

Continuation

of the Hiftory of the War in Germany has not fallen into our hands; and, therefore, we can fay nothing concerning it upon our own knowledge. The former volume, we are told, has been well received, and is deemed a valuable publication. The fecond part is probably entitled to the the fame eftimation. If we are rightly informed, the author has entered much into difquifitions, which promise to be more entertaining and useful to gentlemen of the military profeffion than to the generality of readers.

"We are forry that Mr. Orme, who is fo completely acquainted with what relates to the Eat-Indies, and who hath heretofore given fuch ample proofs of it, could not find leisure or inclination to extend his views, but has contented himself with publishing

Hiftorical Fragments of the Mogul Empire of the Morattoes, and of the English Concerns in Indoitan, from the Year 1759.' He is, however, entitled to our gratitude for the information which is here communicated. His account of Sevagi is particularly curious, and may ferve as a freth proof, that in all parts of the world extraordinary perfons have arifen, many of whom have funk into oblivion, from

the

the want of the pen of history to record their exploits.

"All that it is neceffary to obferve with regard to the Hiftory of the fecond Ten Years of George the Third, King of Great-Britain,' is, that fuch compilations, when made with due ability and judgement, are confiderably ufeful at prefent, by recalling important events to memory, and that they preferve the materials which will affift future hiftorians, in compofing thofe more elaborate and finished productions pofterity may expect. This utility belongs to the performance before us. It is drawn up with greater moderation than appeared in the preceding publication of this kind, on which account it may be fuppofed to come from a different writer.

"Dr. Burney's General Hiftory of Mufic,' volume the fecond, is the continuation of a capital work, upon a very pleafing fubject. The hiftories of particular arts and fciences, when written by men of the firft ability in them, are eminently ufeful, and cannot fail of being highly acceptable to the world. This praife undoubtedly belongs to the book in queftion. No one could be more completely qualified for his undertaking than Dr. Burney. He is entire matter of the feientific part of the art he profeffes; he hath taken immenfe pains in collecting his materials; and he has the talent of writing with perfpicuity and elegance. Befides this, he has adorned his work with a variety of circumstances, which will be found very entertaining and inftructive to polite readers in general, as well as to the connoiffeurs in mufic. The Doctor has made an apology for having been obliged to extend his defign to another volume; but for this we apprehend, he will rather receive the thanks than the cenfure of the public.

"Mr. Cooke's Medallic Hiftory of Imperial Rome; from the firit Triumvirate, under Pompey, Craffus, and Cæfar, to the removal of the imperial Seat, by Conftantine the Great,' was printed in 1781, but happened to efcape our memory, though we were by no means ftrangers to its appearance. The fubject is curious, and has a conLOND. MAG. Jan. 1784.

fiderable degree of utility; but, perhaps, not all the utility which profeffed connoiffeurs are ready to imagine. Medals afford various objects of attention to the hiftorian, to the antiquary, and even to the philofopher. Works of this kind, therefore, and efpecially when accompanied, as in the prefent cafe, with accurate and wellexecuted engravings, ought undoubtedly to be regarded as worthy of encouragement.

Biographical knowledge hath received very valuable acceffions in the courfe of the year. The Biographia Dramatica,' which muft by no means be omitted, is not wholly a new work, being an enlargement of the Companion to the Playhoufe,' written by Mr. Erskine Baker. The original performance is greatly improved in paper, type, and fize, as well as in more important refpects. It is, indeed, entitled to a large portion of praife, from the correction of errors, from the vast addition of dramatical productions, and from the number of new lives. It is now, perhaps, the completelt book of the kind that is extant in any language. For the perfection to which it is carried, the world is indebted to Mr. Reed, who is fo well known for his aceurate and extenfive acquaintance with English literature in general, and with dramatic literature in particular.

"The lovers and the writers of Biography are under no fmall obligations to Mr. Nichols, for his Biographical and Literary Anecdotes of William Bowyer, Printer, and of many of his learned Friends.' This work, befides giving a full account of Mr. Bowyer, contains the lives of nearly all the men of literature who have flourished during the prefent century. It is, in fact, the hiftory of learning, for a period of more than feventy years. So large a body of biographical materials hath not been collected together for a long time. Mr. Nichols may be confidered as the Anthony Wood of the age, but not in petulance and bigotry. It is only in the excellencies of Wood that the rcfemblance holds; in diligence of co1lection, and in an ardent zeal to pcrL

petual

petuate the memory of our English writers.

"Mr. Cumberland's Anecdotes of eminent Painters in Spain, during the fixteenth and feventeenth Centuries, with curfory Remarks upon the prefent State of Arts in that Kingdom,' may be confidered, upon the whole, as a pleafing performance. It will afford to many readers an intelligence that is almost entirely new. Some, however, of the Spanish painters have been fo little known in this country, and their works are fo inacceffible, that the account of them cannot be very interefting. We wish that it were in our power to free Mr. Cumberland from the charge of affectation; but it is apparent in various inftances, and particularly in expreffing the names of perfons. The defire of writing them as the Spaniards do in their own language is carried to a ridiculous excefs; and fometimes, to common readers, involves in it a certain degree of obfcurity. The punctuation of the prefent work is abominable. That an univerfity man, a defcendant of the great Cumberland, and the greater Bentley, and a writer againft two of our most illuftrious prelates, fhould not be capable of pointing his compofitions in a better manner is a difgrace to his literary character.

"With refpect to fingle lives, that of Bishop Newton, written by himfelf, cannot fail of affording very confiderable entertainment. This, however, will not arife fo much from the circumstances that relate to the good prelate alone, as from what he has recorded concerning other perfons. He occafionally gives accounts of feveral of his learned friends; but his narration is rendered chiefly interesting by the anecdotes he hath furnished concerning his grand patron, William Pulteney, afterwards Earl of Bath, and concerning the direction which this eminent ftatefman took in the change of the miniitry, when Sir Robert Walpole was obliged to quit the helm of government. In various parts of Bihop Newton's ftory, there is fomething of garrulity, and fomething of prejudice, both civil and religious:

but defects of this kind, if not wholly overlooked, will, at leaft, be forgiven by the candid reader.

"In Dr. Gilbert Thompfon's Memoirs of the Life, and a View of the Character of the late Dr. John Fothergill,' we have another teftimony to the remembrance of an excellent man, and an eminent phyfician. This account was drawn up at the defire of the Medical Society, of London; and, as might be expected from fuch a circumftance, is compofed in fomething of the elaborate form of the profeffed eulogium. We do not, however, mean to intimate that the praifes are carried to an excefs, nor do we believe this to have been the cafe. Dr. Fothergill's memory is not likely to perifh from the want of biographers; for a copious life of him has juft been published by Dr. Lettfom.

"The Biographical Hiftory of Sir William Blackstone' is, in feveral refpects, a curious publication. The author has taken his text from Mr. Clithero, but hath enriched it with a large number of notes, fome in the ftyle of applaufe, and others in the way of cenfure. He hath given a catalogue of Sir W. Blackstone's works, manufcript as well as printed; and a nomenclature of Westminster-Hall, from 1746 to 1779; including a chronology of chancellors, keepers, and commiffioners of the great-feal, mafters of the rolls, judges of both benches, barons of the exchequer, attorneys and folicitors general, King's ferjeants at law, King's counfel, other ferjeants at law, and recorders of the city of London, during that period. Two indexes are added, very copious, very formal, and certainly not without their utility, but, perhaps, too large for the occafion. This work we imagine to have been written by fome old barrifter, who has fpent his life more in his ftudy than in the world. His ftyle is ftrongly tinctured with the pedantry of legal antiquity. At the fame time, he is a fhrewd and farcaftic obferver of men and things, and, in the feverity of his remarks, has not fpared fome perfons of high ftation and eminent ability in the magistracy of the law.

"Mr.

meafure new.

"Mr. Nicholls's Biographical Anecdotes of William Hogarth,' which we mentioned laft year, are fo enlarged in a fecond edition, that the performance may be confidered as in a great

Every thing feems now to be collected together, that can fatisfy the most eager appetite with regard to the life and works of this humorous, dramatic, and moral painter."

The only performance worthy of notice, HIS month has not been remarkably fertile.

appeared at

DRURY - LANE.

Jan. 7, was performed, for the first time, a new pantomime, named Harlequin Junior, or the Magic Coftus.

The story of this pantomime contains a pleafant fatire on the inconftancy of modern hufbands, exemplified in the capricious changeablenels of HARLEQUIN Junior, and at the fame time gives due credit to the unabating tenderness of female fidelity in the character of a married Colombine.

The pantomime opens, and fhews Harlequin in defpair at not being able to obtain Colombine on account of his fuppofed poverty. Old Harlequin and Colombine are affected by his diftrefs, and his father is at length prevailed upon to trust him with the magic fword, by the means of which he procures riches, and by the confent of the parents on both fides obtains his Colombine. Young Harlequin foon grows tired of the confinement of a domestic life, and being in poffeffion of the fword, determines to travel and fee the world; and, contrary to all advice and perfuafion, fets off with the clown, whom he entices into his fervice, in pursuit of adventures: he is cheated, however, in the outlet by the interposition of the magicians, who had formerly protected his father, and who, to punith his defertion of Colombine, deprive him of the fword.

At this time Colombine and Old Harlequin repair to thefe magicians, to enquire of his fate : Oid Harlequin is blamed for entruthing his power to his fon, but is forgiven, and Colombine is prefented with the Magic Ceftus, which contains al temale virtues and accomplishments, and by which the at length reclaims and fixes his wandering heart. Hence the pantomime is called the CESTUS. Colombine has likewife given her a magic wand, by which the has a power of eontrolling the effects of Harlequin's fword, whenever he prepares to abufe it, by gratifying his inconftancy.

Thus equipped, the follows him to Paris, and purfues and reftrains him in his wild attempts in that city: from this arife the perplexities and bufinets of the pantomime. At length he is again deprived of his power, and told that he thall never more retrieve it, or regain Colombine, till he has by his own virtue and courage performed fuch actions as may deferve her; and to give him an opportunity of doing fo, he is fent to the liege

of Gibraltar, where after fighting gallantly in defence of his country, he is at length forgiven and directed to ftray no more; while at the fame time Colombine is reminded to retain the qualities that have been fo fortunate to her, and itill

"By fenfe and gentleness to prove "Her's is the MAGIG CESTU's of true love."

The pantomime concludes with a view of the rock and fortifications of Gibraltar, and the repulfe of the Spaniards by General Eliott.

We do not recollect to have feen any pantomime with more pleasure than Harlequin Junior afforded us. The contriver or author of it has not only thown a very intimate acquaintance with the butinels of the itage, as to proper effect, but has even difcovered taite in the arrangement of the incidents and fcenery. The incidents are natural, i. e according to the probabilities on which the story is founded; and the icenery is most strikingly beautiful, and well-executed. In the prefent dearth of good writing we cannot be fo faftidious as to defpife any ipecies of harmleis entertainment, and, therefore, when we enter into the merits of a pantomime, it is not lefs a compliment to the artists and contrivers, than a tacit cenfure of the dullness of modern playwriters.

The author of this pantomime has judiciously changed the ufual table of Harlequin courting Colombine and obtaining her at the end of the pantomime; for in the firit fcene we find an old Harlequin and Colombine, whofe fon is then married to his mittrefs, but grows weary of her, and falls into courfes of diffipation. His follies,. and the just punithment of them, conftitute the bufinefs of the fucceeding fcenes, which abound in variety, and in many parts in humour and true fatire.

As to the paintings, it is not in our power to do juftice to them on paper.- -The views of Paris, and that of Gibraltar equal, if not excel, any thing we ever remember to have feen.

The performers exerted themselves, and gave confiderable interest to their feveral parts, particularly Grimaldi in the clown, and Mifs Stageldoir in Colombine."

In the courfe of this month, Mr. Kemble has played Shylock, but we cannot add with fucces. After Macklin, it must be difficult to pleafe in Shylock, and Mr. Kemble feems not to conceive the part happily. Mrs. Siddons's long illness has been heavily felt at this theatre, but the is nearly recovered.

THURSDAY, 18.

A fire broke out in the dwelling house of Mr. Thoma, Oates, of Sheffield, which burnt with fuch dreadtul rapidity, that Mrs. Oates and an apprentice boy were confumed in the flames, and all the effects, and the infide of the houfe: Mr. Oates, three fons, and two fervantmaids efcaped with great difficulty. This accident was occafioned by leaving a winter hedge of clothes too near the kitchen fire.

WEDNESDAY, 24.

The Speaker of the Houfe of Commons, with a much greater number of mentbers than is ufual on fuch occafions, went up to St. James's with the addrefs moved by Mr. Erikine on Monday laft, when his Majesty being feated on has throne in the drawing-room, the Speaker, attended by Mr. Ertkine and Col. Fitzpatrick on his right, as the mover and feconder, and by Mr. Halley, the chairman of the committee, on his left, stepped up to the foot of the throne, and read the addrefs to the King.

The ADDRESS.

"That his Majesty's most dutiful andloyal fubjects, the Commons of Great-Britain, in Parliament affembled, think themfelves bound in duty humbly to reprefent to his Majefty, that alarming reports of an intended diffolution of Parliament gone forth.

have

"That his Majesty's faithful Commons, acknowledging the wifdom of the conftitution, in trufting to the crown that juft and legal preroga tive, and fully confiding in his Majesty's royal wifdom and paternal care of his people, for the moft beneficial exercife of it, defire, with great humility, to reprefent to his Majesty the inconveniencies and dangers which appear to them, from a confideration of the ftate of the nation, likely to follow from a prorogation or diffolution of the Parliament, in the prefent arduous and critical conjuncture of public affairs. The maintenance of the public credit, and the fupport of the revenue, demand the most immediate autention. The diforders prevailing in the government of the Eat-Indies, at home and abroad, call aloud tor initant reformation; and the state of the EaftIndia Company's finances, them the preiling demands on them, require a no left imme fate upport and affistance from Parliament.

"That his Majesty's faithtul Commeas are at prefent proceeding with the utmott diligence upon thefe great objects of government, as recommended to their attention by his gracious fpech from the throne, but which munt neceffarily be

fruftrated and difappointed by the delay attending a dilution, and most cipecially the affairs of the Eat-In lies, by the affembling of a new Parliament, not prepared by previous enquiry to enter with equal effect upon an object involving long and intricate details, which his Majefty's faithful Commous have investigated for two ye irs path, with the moit laborious, earnest, and unre. mitting attention.

"That his Majelly's faithf Commons, deeply affected by thefe important confiderations, inpretled with the highest reverence and affection for his Majesty's ferion and government, and anxious to preserve the ivitre and Lety of his government, da humbly heietch his Majelty to futter his faithful Commons to proceed on the butinels of the feifion, the furtherance of which is fo effentially neceflary to the profperity of the public; and that his Majesty will be gracioully pleated to hearken to the advice of his faithful Commons, and not to the fecret advices of perfons who may have private interests of their own, feparate from the true intereft of his Majetty and his people."

To which his Majesty was graciously pleafed to return the fellowing antwer: "Gentlemen,

"It has been my conftant object to employ the authority eatruited to me by the constitution, to its true and only eid--the good of my peo ple; and I am always happy in concurring with the wishes and opinions of my faithful Com.

mons.

"I agree with you in thinking that the fupport of public credit, and revenue, mult demand your molt earnest and vigilant care. The fate of the East-Indies is alfo an object of as much delicacy and importance as can exercife the wifdom and justice of Parliament. I truft you will proceed in thofe confiderations, with all convenient fpeed, after fuch an adjournment as the prefent circumftances may feem to require. And I affure you I shall not interrupt your meeting by any exercife of my prerogative, either of prorogation or diffolution.""

SATURDAY, 27.

At one o'clock in the atternoon, Mr. Dunthorne, jun. fent up from the callie, in Colchetter, an air-balloon of fix feet diameter; it had a pleating appearance to a great number of admiring fpectators, as it pailed over the town; and from the clearness of the day, by the help of glaffes, was feen by fome perous for 15 minutes, during its progrefs. The wind being north-eaft, its courfe was to the right of Maiden, and it is fuppofed to have fallen in fome part of the county of Krat

Another, which was fent up from Nun's Green, in Derby, was found the same day in Teddelly Park, the feat of Sir Edward Littleton, near Penkridge, in Staffordshire, which is about 30 miles diftant ellimated in a ftraight line. It was found by a labouring man, who faw it defcend, and rebound guia feveral times before he could catch it. The time he found it was

about