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Though fever'd by the furly main,
Sweet Poefy here rais'd her ftrain.
Our home-inspired Bards of old
Amus'd our Knights and Barons bold;
So could pathetic ballads move
To arms, to pity, or to love.

No fabled ftreams, nor Grecian glades
They knew, nor Heliconian maids;
Yet Nature taught them glorious themes,
They fung of woods and azure ftreams,
In war what dangers Heroes prove,
And what the woes of faithful Love.
Alfred by fong his Saxons train'd,
And favage manners were reftrain'd ;
By fong did Chaucer, ancient Sage,
Inftruct his rough, heroic age.

But when at length bright Learning's day
Had chac'd the morning clouds away,
True Tafte illumin'd all the ifle,

And claffic Genius deign'd to smile.'

The Author, however, cannot uniformly fupport this strain of verfification. He frequently finks into a dull and inelegant profaic diction, which wants even the charm of melody.

But even creeping on the ground with Mr. Macgilvray, is better than taking an airing with him in a balloon, in fearch of Beauty: O tell me, Charmer, tell,

Where in fome green Elyfian ifle
Each day thou deign'ft to dwell,

That there we may our cares beguile?

Now with the rising moon

Come let us trace the defart fky,
And in a gay balloon

Far o'er the earth and mountains fly.

The obfequious fummer gales

Now waft us to the lovelieft Queen;

How sweet and wild the vales,

How fanciful the groves between!

A vifionary Choir

Of blooming Youths and Virgins fair,
With fong and foft defire

We pierce the fragrant folds of air.'

What is it, to pierce the fragrant folds of air with foft defire? Plain fenfe in rhiming profe may be endured, but fheer no meaning, in the drefs of poetry, is intolerable :-efpecially in a writer who has fhewn that, in general, he well knows how to exprefs his ideas.

8.

Art. 21. Poems on various Subjects. By Mifs Eliza Thompson. 4to. 2s. 6d. Richardfon. 1787. ADDRESS to the REVIEWERS.

To wait her doom as fix'd by your decree,

Lo! at your bar, a trembling maiden fee,
Who, felf-convinc'd enough you'll find to blame,
Implores your mercy only, feeks not fame.

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In generous pity then for once excufe
The feeble efforts of an unfledg'd Mufe.
She afks no praifes where no merit's due,
But O, for once, forbear your cenfure too.'

"O'tis fo moving we can read no more!' That is, no more of the Addrefs to the Reviewers.' The poems, indeed, we are under the neceffity of perufing. But as Mifs Eliza Thompfon will not allow us to criticize them, our Readers must be content with an extract from one of the best in the collection:

A young Divine, a Lady's gueft,
Laft Christmas chanc'd to prove,
Who boaftingly his heart profeft
A ftranger was to love.

"Cupid, he faid, might fhoot in vain,

He ne'er could wound his breast;
No Maid on earth could give him pain,
Or break his nightly reft."
Two Ladies, much enrag'd to find
Affairs in fuch a posture,

Each had refolv'd within her mind

To punish this vain boafter.

From a hair broom they found at hand,

Some briftles they cut fmall,

Mix'd with fome pepper, falt, and fand,

And ftrew'd his bed withal.'

Alas! the poor parfon! He must have paffed the night in almost as uneafy a manner as the boafter defcribed by the Spectator: who, wrapped in folds of linen, was placed in bed between a couple of young and beautiful females. We hope, however, that the young divine' has had his revenge. But this perhaps is a matter with which Mifs Thompson will never make us acquainted. To be ferious-If the fair Author puts no more pepper and falt in her pies than she does in her poems, poor though we are, we defire not to be admitted as her guests.

Art. 22. Poems on various Subjects. By John Thelwall. 2 Vols. 6s. Boards. Dennis. 1787.

A.

12mo.

The Author's humble apology for the defects of these poems, arifing from his want of claffical learning, from his engagements in an occupation which is irreconcilable to literature, and from his youth, mut not prevent us from faithfully declaring it as our opinion, that in his imitations of the ancient English ballad, he miftakes a plain profaic diction, for that touching fimplicity, which ought to diftinguifh this fpecies of writing; and that, in the long tale in which he expofes the fatal effects of feduction, we meet with little to approve, except the moral. Goldfmith appears to be this writer's favourite model: we wish he had been lefs clofe, and more happy, in his imitation. The piece which copies Edwin and Angelina ends thus:

* See Peter Peafcod's speech in the What d'ye call it ?'

• Elfrida

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Mr. Thelwall's Legendary Tale, Orlando and Almeyda, was mentioned in our Catalogue for Auguft. We are really forry that we cannot, without violation of confcience, praise the poetry of a writer who manifefts fo many laudable and amiable fentiments:

"To virtue and her friends a friend."

.

&.

But goodness of heart, and elegance of taste, and poetic genius (for which a mere fondness for poetry is often mistaken), are diftinct endowments, and more often feparately than unitedly beftowed. Art. 23. Elegy. By the Rev. A. Frefton, A. M. Curate of Farley, Hants. 4to. 6d. Wilkie. 1787.

A bagatelle, confifting of ten not ill-written ftanzas, intended as a fpecimen of a larger poetical work, fpeedily to be published. A vlume of poems, by this writer, hath appeared, fince the publication of the prefent Elegy; but we have not yet perused it.

NOVEL S.

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Art. 24. The Adventures of Jonathan Corncob, Loyal American Refugee. Written by Himfelf. 12mo. 2s. 6d. fewed. Robinfons, Sec. 1787.

Jonathan (Corncob we fuppofe to be a fictitious name) appears to have related fomewhat of his own private hiftory; embellished with extraneous circumitances, and adventures, the offspring, no doub", of a fruitful invention.

Jonathan, according to this narrative, was born a Maffachufets' American; has spent fome years at fea, in the capacity of a purfer; has undergone a variety of mishaps; experienced many viciffitudes of fortune; and has been a great fufferer, from the uncommon difatters that have fallen to his lot; but, to counterbalance thefe evils, Jonathan is, very happily for him, a lively, fenfible, and pleasant fellow, bleffed by nature with a flow of fpirits, fufficient to buoy him up, and enable him to furmount the ftorms and billows which often feemed ready to overwhelm him. His drollery of difpofition prevails, in all circumftances; he recites every calamity in fuch a vein of humour, and defcribes fuch comical diftreffes, that we feel ourfelves diverted at thofe fufferings which, if feriously related, would have excited our commiferation; but when do we pity thofe who make us laugh?

Jonathan's burlefque reprefentations of the manners of his country-folk, the fanatical New Englanders, form, we believe, on the

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whole,

whole, a tolerably good caricature refemblance of the lower ranks in that country; but is he not an ungracious bird who thus bewrays his own neft? As a foffering Loyalist, however, he thought, perhaps, that his ridicule of the Jonathans' would render his work the more acceptable in this country.

Jonathan appears, to us, to have formed his ftyle partly on that of Sterne, and partly on Voltaire. His fatirical account of Barbadoes (which we think the best part of his performance) reminded us of the celebrated Candide.

On the whole, we have been alternately pleafed and disgusted with this story, whether real or feigned, of an adventurer, whofe motley production contains much to divert one kind of readers, and many things which will meet the difapprobation of those who are not fond of low humour, and who cannot tolerate licentious details, and fcenes of impurity; too many of which, we are forry to add, occur in this work, difgracing the lefs exceptionable parts of it; and of which, as caterers for the Public, we cannot avoid taking notice. -If the ingenious writer (for ingenious he is, whatever are his defects) fhould give us the fequel of his tale,-at which he hints, in the conclufion of the prefent volume, we hope he will be more attentive to that chafity, both in idea, and in language, which a decent writer will ftudioufly obferve, efpecially when he appears before the Public, as a candidate for its approbation. In a word, though we cannot recommend this work to Mrs. Primly's boarding fchool, nor to the good people at the vicarage, yet we doubt not that it will be well received, and fet the table in a roar, at the King's Head, and the Ben Jonson and perhaps even at Slaughter's Coffee-house. Art. 25. Edward and Sophia, By a Lady. 12mo. 2 Vols. 5$. fewed. Lane. 1787.

The old ftory. Lovers who are not to be paralleled-a lord whofe only employment is in feducing the innocent-(by the way, thefe lords are terrible fellows in romance! a female who ruins, by her bafe infinuations, the reputation of the lady whom the supposes her rival, &c. &c. The moral, however, is excellent; and it must be acknowledged that this novel is, on the whole, fuperior, in point of writing, to many which we are fated to read :-notwithstanding that the lady talks of Theocritus, the weeping philofopher-and of the popularity of the village in which marriage is found to prevail. B. Art. 26. The Kentish Curate; or the Hiftory of Lemuel Lyttleton, a Foundling. Written by Himself. 12mo. 4 Vols. 10s. fewed. Parfons. 1787.

A feries of uninterefting, ill-written adventures. The fcene is for the most part in prifons and fpunging-houfes, and the principal characters are rogues and vagabonds. The Author has endeavoured, but without the smallest degree of fuccefs, to ridicule a very worthy fet of men +-men whom a great writer has reprefented as "by no means the worst judges or rewarders of merit." The fhafts are only thrown to recoil on himself.

* A nick-name given to the New Englanders, by their neighbours of the other provinces.

The Bookfellers of London and Weflminfter.

If dulnefs will recommend a man to a benefice; and a wicked wit has infinuated that it feldom fails,-the Kentish curate may reckon on fomething great.

MEDICAL.

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Art. 27. A maritime State confidered as to the Health of Seamen, with effectual Means for rendering the Situation of that valuable Clafs of People more comfortable. By Charles Fletcher, M. D. late Surgeon in his Majefty's Navy. 8vo. 5s. Boards. Dublin printed, and fold by Richardfon, London. 1786.

Dr. Fletcher, who was near three years Surgeon. of the Roebuck, enumerates the different caufes to which the difeafes, or ill health, of feamen have been afcribed; and propofes fuch means as he thinks are beft adapted for remedying the inconveniences which the navy labours under; and alfo for removing the defects in the prefent established fcale of diet. His obfervations are in general juft, and the fchemes he fuggefts are well calculated to remove the evils against which they are intended.

There is, however, little that can be deemed original in the work; for, excepting the defcription of fome particulars relative to the Roebuck man of war, and other fhips, moit of the fubjects here difcuffed have been more largely and minutely treated by former writers. The Author's new scheme of diet would, we think, have been a good one, if tea and fugar, corroding and relaxing fubftances, had been omitted. R-m.

Art. 28. A Concife Account of a new Chemical Medicine, entitled Spiritus Ethereus Anodynus, or Anodyne Ethereal Spirit. Containing a Relation of its very extraordinary Efficacy in a Variety of Complaints, &c. &c. By William Tickell. 8vo. 2s. fewed. Wallis. 1787.

The immediate relief which æther gives, efpecially in fpafmodic cafes, has brought it into great repute, and it has been defervedly elteemed a useful remedy, by many of the greatest phyficians of the prefent century, particularly on the continent; of late it has been introduced more univerfally into practice in England than formerly: and now, in all probability, it is made a very profitable noftrum. It is a medicine well known, and, when rightly prepared, its qualities will be conftant.

Mr. Tickell has added feveral cafes, in which we doubt not but that the æther must have been ferviceable.

D:

Art. 29. Obfervations on the Cure of the Dry Belly-ache. To which are added the remarkable ffects of Fixed Air in Mortifications of the Extremities, and the History of fome Worm Cafes. By John Harrison, Member of the Corporation of Surgeons in London. 8vo. IS. Galabin. 1786.

That fpecies of colic in warm climates commonly known by the name of the dry belly-ache in the West Indies, is here faid to be precifely the fame with the Colica Pictonum of European phyficians. The caufes of these two diteafes are fo totally different from each other, and their diagnoftic fymptoms are fo very obvious, that there feems no ground whatever for fuppofing them fimilar: befide, the

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