be charged with feveral imperfections. The tenor of the fable is too uniform to afford interefting incidents; the episodes fometimes have no concatenation with the catastrophe; and the whole is rather a representation of character than of action. The following fimile, though not deftitute of poetical beauty, feems to be impertinently fnatched by Sarpedon, from the mouth of Hector.

• Heat. And in their peevish mood will deem of him-
Sarp. As of a flower, that genial funs have call'd
From earth's cold lap, and ripen'd into bloom";
Vigorous and bold its opening foliage fhoots,
Foils each rude blaft, and mocks the nipping froft:
Till a rapacious fair, with wifhful eye,

And hand unpitying, crops the bloffom'd fweet,
And to her bofom bears the lovely prize :
Its painted honours thus tranfplanted fade,
It droops its languid head, nor as before
Wantons in air, and wafts its fragrance round.'

The character of Caffandra is properly introduced, and fupported with an agreeable enthufiafm; as thofe of Priam, Hecuba, Hector, Andromache, and Paris, are conformable to the representation exhibited of them in the Iliad.

The author, in many of the fpeeches, has infufed genuine ftrokes of the Graia fpiritus Camene; and the following fentiment, which flows from the mouth of Hecuba, is worthy of a queen and a heroine.

Hec. Oh, how I long to clasp my glorious boy,

Plumed in Pelides' arms, cœlestial work,

And crimson'd, rash Patroclus, with thy blood!
Nor could I forrow, if a manly scar

Stamp'd on his breaft a fpark of brighter honour,
Than the rich luftre of the mine can give.'

24. The Old Women Weatherwife, an Interlude; as performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane. 8vo. Pr. 6d. Bladon.

This Interlude is calculated only for an audience of old women; and we may venture to affirm, that had it been subjected to the judgment of Moliere's houfe-keeper, it would fcarcely have received her approbation.

25. Pride and Ignorance, a Poem. By Edward Nicklin, Gent. 410. Pr. 2s. 6d. Baldwin.

This poem confifts of above eight hundred lines. The reader will judge of the plan from the following argument, which the author has prefixed to it, and of the execution, from the following fpecimens which we have selected.

• The

• The author addresses his muse, and builds a castle in the air. A concife view of the foul. The fubject opens with a description of a battle, and the dreadful effects of war; which are attributed to the ambition of princes. Ambition is the fource of tyranny; under which is defcribed the principal caufes of the fall of the Roman empire; with applicable reflections upon the manners of the present times. Pride exhibited in various characters. Ambition, as it is the cause of a noble emulation, in oppofition to a contemptible one, difplayed in a few characters. From the above the subject falls naturally into reflections upon ignorance. A fea-storm and battle, with reflections upon ignorance. A ludicrous scene, discovering the folly and ignorance of mankind; with which the poem ends.'

This author attempts both the fublime and the humorous.
For a fpecimen of the first take the following lines:

The ftorm increafing, devils and furies blend,
All hell broke loose, their frightful battles rend
The boiling, flaming, raging deep, that towers,
That, bellowing, fhocks Olympus' dreadful powers!
The rocking, lab'ring fhips, at random hurl'd
O'er faithlefs feas, 'gainst vengeful rocks are whirl'd,
Where bulg'd, and funk, they feaft the nether world.'
For å fpecimen of the latter, thefe will fuffice:

Worn out and tir'd, each man has told his tale,
And felf-exhaufted, other things prevail.
The news fupplies them with the Ministry,
With Apprehenfions, Wilkes, and Liberty.

• Curfus, he roars, and fires his mental spark,
And wakens Truth, by fwearing he's i'th' dark.
• Gibus declares, when men get into place,
The Outs will murmur at their own disgrace :
That Wilkes and Rights, in ruling of the ftate,
Would prove as wrong as thofe the people hate.

Squibbus in flames, not knowing where he goes,
Sets fire to Wilkes, or burns the Statefman's nose.'

}

26. Appendix altera ad Opufcula. Oratiuncula, Collegii Medicorum Londinenfis Cathedrae Valedicens. In Comitiis, poftride Divi Michaelis, 1767, ad Collegii Adminiftrationem renovandam Defignatis; Macchinaqve incendiis extinguendis apta, contra permos rebelles Munitis; habita, d. D. Gvlielmo Browne, Equite Aurato, Praefide. 4to. Pr. Is. 27. Appendix II to Opufcula. A Farewell-Oration, to the Chair of the College of Phyficians, London. Spoken in the Comitia, the

Owen.

Day

Day after Saint Michael, 1767, appointed for renewing the College-Adminiftration; and fortified, by a Fire-Engine, against the incendiary Licentiates. By Sir William Browne, M. D. Tranflated from the Latin. 4to. Pr. 1. Owen.

The author of this ridiculous compofition, not content with expofing himself in most despicable Latin, has rendered his abfurdities more indelible by tranflating it into English. The following extracts from that curious verfion will ferve as a fpecimen.

Oye rebel licentiates! by violating your faith, totally deferting the majority of your order, who obey, as behoves them, the flatutes of the college, and deferve well from it; and foaring, by your pride and paffion, both above your brethren, and above yourfelves, because befides yourselves! O ye mimic, O counterfiet fellows! O ye fo lately furgeons, apothecaries, from shops, and from fuch like low clafs, by our college-feal admitted, or rather, because you have been always called in our statutes by a better and righter name, permissi, permitted to exercise the faculty of phyfic in London and feven miles around the fame, but not one foot farther, nor to any larger privilege, fince even this itself may perhaps appear too large! O ye intire ftrangers to both our universities, the lights of science, not only to this kingdom, but also to the whole literary world; having moftly gotten your degrees, not from nurfing mothers of learning, not from chaft matrons of letters, but from naked and beggarly academical harlots, most bafely and miserably proftituting and felling themselves and their honours to every purchafer, even without fo much as a fight of his person, and that too at a moft pitiful price; who ought rather to seek for themselves a modeft livelyhood at their Spinning wheel and loom.

O imitators! a moft fervile crew,

How is my fcorn and jeft provok'd by you!

To be free and speak the truth: while you, in this manner, have vainly attempted to fow your tail to our college, you have indeed tried to exhibit to me that ridiculous and absurd picture, fo pleasantly described by Horace :

While female beauties all above praevale,

To end below, in a black fifb's tail.'

The praefident of the College of Physicians affraid of the rebel licentiates, moftly Scots! O borrible monster! what a dif grace would this be to me, what a difgrace would this be to you! For my own part, I certainly fhould fooner be affraid of flies, or gnats, than of this kind of medical wafps, making indeed a noife, and vibrating their tails, or, which means the fame thing, heads, but having no ftings either behind or be

fore,

fore, and therefore fpending their little fouls in nothing else but noife.

But to come at length to a conclufion, left I should give you difguft, to whom I would always wish to give pleasure : to this feat of honor, conferring honor on every one, even on me though unworthy; which, I confefs, I have ardently been ambitious cf; which, I afiert, I have cheerfully been in poffeffion of; but which yet, now fatiated with honor, and devoted for the future to medical pleasure, due, if I mistake not, to the drudgery of phyfic difcharged for more than half a century, I at this time moft thankfully relinquish; it remains only, that, refolving never to be forgetful of the obligation, I fhould expreis my farewell, which I will do in a word,

:

BE IT PERPETUA L.

Such low and ridiculous rant is a greater fatire on the fellows of the Royal College of Physicians, than on the rebel licen tiates for what fhall we think of the abilities of a body, of which the author of fuch miferable jargon was judged worthy to be the head! Satiated, therefore, with his nonsense, as he with his honor, we here take our farewel of Sir William Browne, and heartily pray, in his own words,

BE IT PERPETUAL!

28. The Night and Moment. A Dialogue. Tranflated from the French, of M. Crebillon. 8vo. Pr. 25. Richardfon and Urquhart.

This work, the authenticity of which feems to be pretty certain, is of fuch a nature, that we can neither analyse it, nor give any extracts from it. The tranflation appears to be too well executed. It is, in one fenfe of the words, neither immodeft, nor indelicate, but is, perhaps, only the more dangerous on that fcore. If it gives a faithful picture, as from other accounts it feems to do, of the manners of French people of quality, they are fuch as, we hope, never will be imitated, like their other fashions and follies, by thofe of the fame clafs in this country.

29. The Confpiracy of the Spaniards against the Republic of Venice. Tranflated from the French of the Abbé St. Real. 8vo. Pr. 21. 6d. Baldwin.

The ftory of this confpiracy is well known both from the tranflation of it, printed in Croxal's Novels, and from its being the fubject of Otway's famous tragedy of Venice Preferved. The Abbé St. Real is an author of great and deserved reputation among the French, in whofe language, notwithstanding he was a native of Savoy, he wrote with great ele,

gance,

gance and purity. His great excellence, befides developping the fecret fprings of action, lay in drawing characters. As a fpecimen of which, and the prefent tranflation, we shall here infert the character of the marquis of Bedamar, the head and prime mover of this famous confpiracy.

Don Alphonfo de la Cueva, marquis of Bedamar, ambaffador in ordinary at Venice, was one of the most exalted geniufes, and dangerous fpirits that Spain ever produced. His own writings, ftill extant, fpeak him qualified with all endow ments mentioned in ancient or modern history, that can contribute to form an extraordiornary man. He compared paffedevents with the occurrences of his own time: he observed minutely the differences and refeniblances of things; and what alteration the circumstances, in which they differed, produced in those, in which they agreed: he usually formed a judgment of the iffue of an enterprize as foon as he knew the plan and the foundation of it: if he found by the event that he had been miftaken, he traced his error back to its fource, and endeavoured to discover the cause of fuch mistake. By this study he became acquainted with the most certain methods and the most material circumstances, that prefage fuccefs to great defigus, and make them almost ever answer expectation. This continual practice of reading, meditating, and obferving the tranfactions of the world, had raised him to fo high a degree of fagacity that his conjectures on the future were looked upon, in the council of Spain, as amounting almost to prophecies. To this profound knowledge of the nature of important affairs were joined very fingular talents for the management of them: a facility of expreffion, and a moft captivating pleasingness of manner both in fpeaking and writing: an amazing penetration into the characters of men: an air always gay and open, with more fire than gravity; fo remote at the fame time from diffimulation as to have the appearance of pure nature: free and complaifant in his humour, and by fo much the more impenetrable, as every one imagined he penetrated into it: a deportment foft, infinuating, and endearing, whereby he wormed out the fecrets even of hearts the least communicative: add to all, an appearance of perfect ease and serenity of mind, even amidst the most cruel agitations.'

30. Hiftory of the Gwedir Family, by Sir John Wynne, the firft Baronet of that Name, who was born in 1553. 8vo. Pr. 25.

6d. White.

A tedious infipid genealogy of a Welch baronet, which, containing neither incident nor character, was a fitter fubject for the pencil than the prefs.

31. Re