In this quotation; the firft line is inconfiftent with the laft, or at least with this apoftrophe:

All heav'n beheld,

And hymn'd in admiration's loudest notes

Thee crucify'd.'

Wild amaze, is an expreffion which cannot, perhaps, with any propriety, be applied to angels; however, on this occafion, it is most probable, that nothing happened but what they had reafon to expect (feeActs iii. 18.) and in reality to applaud. God is faid to have been transfixt in agony, though he is certainly impaffible: the poet, therefore, fhould have characterised the fufferer by fome other appellation. In the fucceeding lines, offliction enters in at a window, and forrow fills a tide of tragic

But, left the author fhould complain that we have done him injustice, by producing only one exceptionable paffage as a fpe-cimen of his performance, we fhall acquit ourselves of that imputation by exhibiting one of the most pathetic:

What pencil's glowing colours know to paint
A mother's deep diftrefs? faft by the cross
With eyes and hands uplifted, wrapp'd in woe
All motionless and mute, fhe views her fon,
Her God beneath the weight of others fins
Bow his afflicted head. Thus Eve, abforpt
In forrow's trance, her darling offspring ey'd
Welt'ring in blood: expreffive filence spoke
Her pangs of agony, the big-fwoln tear

Burft down her cheek: around her beauteous form
The golden treffes flow'd in rude diforder,
Whilft Adam at her fide in vain affay'd
Bland confolation. Secret grief o'erwhelms
Maria's throbbing breaft. Now languor wan
Unnerves each fenfe: tender remembrance foon
Wakes in her foften'd heart the fond, fond fcenes,
When fweet domeftic peace confirm'd her blifs,
Shelter'd beneath a husband's faithful arm
From humbling infamy. Thrice happy pair!
They gently trod the flow'ry path of life:

They ate the bread of temp'rance, round their board
Contentment laugh'd, blithe as a blooming bride.
Lull'd on her lap the infant God-head oft'
Repos'd him weary. Tho' no trumpet's found,
No hoft of cherubim his praise attun'd,
Maternal rapture on his lovely name

With fondness dwelt: ponder'd each pleasing sign
Of future fplendor.-Oh! what an awful change!
The rude wind tempefts the bright dawn of hope.
Mute is the tongue of eloquence that aw'd
A lift'ning multitude: languid the lips
That finil'd complacence round, and ev'ry grace
Gently diffus'd. Dim in its ghaftly orb

The beaming eye of majefty is funk.'

Timantes, in the facrifice of Iphigenia, gave Calchas a forrowful look; he then painted Ulyffes more forrowful; and afterwards, her uncle Menelaus with all the grief and concern in his countenance which his pencil was able to display. By this gradation he had exhaufted the paffion, and had no art left for the diftrefs of her father Agamemnon, which required the ftrongest heightening of all. He therefore covered up his head in his garment, and left the fpectator to imagine that excess of anguish, which colours were unable to exprefs.'-—Our author has rightly introduced the mother of Jefus, the laft; but the defcription is not conducted in a proper manner. The fimile has an ill effect; it diverts our attention from the mother of Jefus, and leffens our concern for her, by prefenting another object in equal diftrefs. The reprefentation begins as it should end; for, as the author has managed it, our affections cool, and we forget the moft diftrefsful part of the fcene, while we are amus'd with impertinent images, a happy pair, a flow'ry path, and a blooming bride.

24. The Book of Lamentations for the Lofs of his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland. Folio. Pr. 6d. Cooke.

This Book of Lamentations, which is really a very deplorable compofition, is diftinguished by a malevolence and rancour which our author, like the wolf in sheep's cloathing, attempts to cover by a clumfy imitation of the prophet Jeremiah: this copy, however, is as inferior to the divine original, as it is affected, barbarous, and unnatural in itself, and contains a reiteration of all that fcurrility and reproach which malice and ignorance has, for fome time paft, poured forth against a neighbouring nation.

25. A Paftoral Elegy on the Death of his Royal Highness William, Duke of Cumberland. By J. P. Stock, A.M. 4to. Pr. 6d.

Peat.

When we hear of a Paftoral Elegy, it is reasonable to expect the sweet voice of the fhepherd complaining with that artless fimplicity, that genuine purity, which flows from the imme

diate fountains of nature; but, alas! this has no refemblance to the tuneful pipe that wakes the fold; nor, indeed, of any thing, but the dismal howling of a mungrel cur, who, in abfence of the fhepherd, has affumed his authority, and, by the difmal tone of his voice, appears to be near famished.

This production is evidently compiled from several others of the like fort, as the events which it relates have not the leaft connection. In one of the Duke's battles,

Infatiate death, unfatisfied with prey,

Roams here and there with large gigantic ftrides,
Confufion over either army rides.'

Surely, an elegant compliment to the commander! - but,
At length, through cowardice of our allies,

Fair conqueft from the English army flies.'

We are informed in a subsequent note, that these fame allies were the Portuguese. This is, indeed, an unfortunate reference, which our author, in his hurry of collection, had forgot to omit. After the various fatigues of a life employed in war, we are told, that,

• To manhood grown

William the great, the nation's only choice;

I go, he cry'd, &c.

Ye fwains of Windfor, chiefly you may moan,
William's departed, never to return!

26. A Monody on the Decease of his Royal Highness William Au guftus, Duke of Cumberland; addressed to the honourable 4to. Pr. 15. Becket.

Although this poem by no means rifes above mediocrity, which is often faid to be the worst degree of poetry, it is yet much fuperior to the two laft articles. There appear a few fcattered rays of genius, here and there, like meteors in a cloudy sky; but they are frequently eclipfed by affectation, or loft in the tawdry glare of bombast.

While battle ftalk'd in horrid swafe,
Was he not fierce as northern blast,
That splits the mountain-fide?
But footh'd by sweet returning peace,
Was he not mild as foftest breeze,

That skims the fummer tide ?'

Alas! how barren must the invention be that produced fuch miferable rhymes ! What occafion is there for that fierceness in

the

the fecond line? is it not a blemish in a general? The idea of fplitting the mountain, is truly burlesque.-The fourth ftanza

ends thus:

Our country's champion, stay, and pride,
Our freedom's bulwark, welfare's guide,.
Ah! is he then no more?'

What a lame, drawling, foporific line, is this laft!
Nor yet difdain the kindly dew,

Distilling from a heart fo true,

Should bathe my meaner breaft.'

This figure is laboured, barbarous, and almost unintelligible.
When has he feen, in Want's chill fhade,
The drooping bud of Genius fade,
And cheerleís fall away!-

'Twas his, the pining plant to rear,
To bid its burfting bloom appear

In all the pride of day.'

The third line of this ftanza ferves no other purpose but to rhyme with the laft, which is unnaturally inflated. When a prince becomes eminently diftinguished as a friend and encourager of the fine arts, his lofs is certainly felt with univerfal regret; the Mufes, who are rarely favoured with fuch patronage, lament his death with the most pathetic and tender complaints, and are anxious to crown his tomb with neverfading laurels. But, if the laft cited verfes of this monody be true, which (although we have the greatest veneration for the memory of his royal highnefs) prefents us with a part of his character, we confefs never to have heard before, the Mufes have certainly been very ungrateful, in not offering their oblations at the funeral of their patron, as it would be a most fcandalous and malicious libel against the daughters of Jove, to accuse them of being the authors of any of the above produc tions.

27. A Sermon on the Death of his Royal Highness William, Dukę of Cumberland, who died October 31, 1765. Preached at Barbican and Pinners-Hall, November 10, 1765. By F.Webb. 4to. Pr. 15. Pr. 1. Kearfley.

This author is by no means deftitute of genius; his ftile and fentiments are lively; but we can fay nothing in praise of his difcretion, when we fee him, in a fermon, which he dedicated to the king, breaking out into a violent invective against a late adminiftration. Nor can we applaud his judgment when we

find him infinuating that the death of his royal highnefs was a ftroke of heaven, defigned as a chattisement for our fins.'

28. A Sermon, occafioned by the Death of his late Royal Highness, William. Auguftus, Duke of Cumberland; preached at St. Thomas's, Southwark, and at the Evening Lecture, HanoverStreet, Long-Acre, November 10, 1765. By Benj. Corbyn. 8vo. Pr. 6d. Young.

A flight delineation of the character of his late royal highnefs, with moral reflections in an oratorical ftile.

29. A Sermon on the Deceafe of his Royal Highness the Illustrious and Heroic Prince William Auguftus, Duke of Cumberland. By Benjamin Wallin. 8vo. Pr. 6d. Buckland.

Is it poffible that an intelligent reader should seriously attend to this difcourfe, when the author, in explaining these words, How are the mighty fallen! fagaciously informs us, that David, in this paffage, does not fpeak of a general falling from his horfe, but of the death of Saul and Jonathan? Or can any one refrain from a fmile when he is told that in one day this great man (the duke) appeared in court, both on earth and in heaven Such puerilities are inconfiftent with the dignity of a chriftian orator. The pious reader, however, may be edified by our author's moral reflections.

30. A Sermon preached before his Excellency Francis Bernard, Esq; Governor, the Honourable his Majefty's Council, and the honourable House of Reprefentatives, of the Province of the Maffachufetts Bay, in New-England. May 29, 1765. Being the Anniversary for the Election of his Majefty's Council for the Province. By Andrew Eliot, A.M. Paflor of a Church in Boston. 8vo. Pr. is. Meres.

A fenfible difcourfe on the character of a good ruler, and the duty of fubjects.

31. Chearful Thoughts on the Happiness of a Religious Life. Small 8vo. Pr. Is. 6d. Becket.

The

This treatife deferves our warmest recommendation. author, with great vivacity, expofes the abfurdity of thofe gloomy devotees who imagine that religion confifts in a monkith abftraction from the world, a renunciation of all earthly enjoyments, or a rigorous maceration of the body and spirit. He represents to us the infinite benevolence of the Supreme Being, and the amiable nature of religion; and having fhewn

thar