diately be restored to him, as my brother, under such circumstances, would not fuffer you to remain a moment longer here. 66 Hefter. Yes, Madam, I am the child of an unfortunate man, whofe name I never heard without upbraidings. I knew he had many enemies, and for that reafon I was denied my right to be called by his name: but I did not know that Sir Ofwin was his particular foe. "Mrs. Sarah. Yes; and tho', poffibly, both of them good men, peculiar occurrences in the earlier part of their lives, when Sir Oswin was very young indeed, made them the bitterest enemies. Hefter. Oh, then, my dear, dear, Madam, do not tell Sir Ofwin who I am, 'till I am gone away-Indeed, I'll go the moment he has But if you pleafe, I had rather go now. feen me. "Mrs. Sarah. Do you think Mr. Willowear has told my brother who you are? "Hefter. No-I am fure Mr. Willowear does not know himself: for my guardian, fearing he might object to my father's misfortunes, always charged me to conceal my real name from him. "Mrs. Sarah. Then, I promise you, my brother shall never know it from me. Your guardian, indeed, enjoins me filence to all but Sir Ofwin; of course, he can hear it no other way.And this fecret of your birth, Mr. Ashdale adds in his letter, was in consequence of a promife your father extorted, when he left you to his care. "Hefter. My father made him promise also, he would treat me with kindness-but in that, he never kept his word. "Mrs. Sarah. You remember your father then? "Hefter. Yes, yes; 1 thall always remember him; though, I fear, he has forgot me. "Mrs. Sarah. You think he is ftill living then? Hefter. I hope fo! but, for thefe two last years, no letter-no— "Mrs. Sarah. Hufh! hufh! Sir Ofwin. (Hefter hangs down her bead.) "Enter Sir Ofwin-be paffes his Sifter, and ftands between her and Hefter. "Sir Ofwin (after looking fternly at each.) My bufinefs with you, Madam, and with this young perfon will be very fhortly concluded. It is merely to exprefs my difpleafure, and to exprefs it with warmth fuch as I feel, that I have been impofed upon by you. (to his Sifter.) And that a worthy man has been impofed upon by you. (to Hefter.) "Mrs. Sarah. Brother, we have both done wrong, and both hope for pardon. Sir Ofwin. Amendment muft precede forgiveness. She muft return with her future hufband. "Hefter. Ah! ah! (fcreaming.) "Sir Ofwin. (Roughly.) What do you mean? "Hefter. Oh, fit! did you know what it was to have a horror of being married! "Sir Ofwin. (Shrinks and hesitates.) Well,--well,fuppose I did know, what then? * Hefter. Then, you would pity me. « Sir Ofwin. (Afide.) The poor girl has a repugnance to marriage and I compaffionate her. "Mrs. Sarah. For my part, brother, tho' I have taken this young lady in, yet I have lectured her. Sir Ofwin. You" lecture her"-And by what authority have lectured her? you "Mrs. Sarah. Hah! you think nobody is to give lectures but yourself. "Sir Ofwin. (Going near to Hefter.) How old are you? Hefter. I am near seventeen. « Sir Ofein. I shou'd not have thought you fo much! "Ifter. No: for not being used to fashionable company, I have nothing to fay in converfation-except what I think. "Sir Ofwin. Would to heaven all your fex had no more to utter.The family in which you lived, your guardian, I fuppose, used his influence to perfuade you to marry? "Hefter. Yes; and Mr. Willowear ufed his influence to perfuade me too; but I had rather not. "Sir Ofwin. I don't blame your being nice, and cautious in refpect to marriage; but you should not have given your lover hopes. Hefter. I could not tell him to his face, that I hated him. "Sir Ofwin. But, you received his prefents. "Hefter. It was the only favour I ever granted, and he asked a thousand. "Sir Ofwin. Favours! Hefter. He called them fo.-He faid, he did not value the things he gave me, but for their being mine, Here is his great prefent of all -a diamond ring !-Will you have it? I fhall give it with as much, pleasure to you, as he gave it to me, I dare fay-and fhall think it a greater favour, I'm fure. "Sir Ofwin. (To his fifter.) This is a very fingular girl you have. introduced to me! "Mrs. Sarah. And I have introduced as fingular a man to hertherefore, I truft, you will understand one another. "Sir Ofwin. For my part, fhe has taken my understanding away. Mrs, Sarah. And as, I believe, fhe herself never had auy, you will agree better and better. Sir Ofwin. (To Hefter.) I fhall take this ring, and return it to its firt poffeffor. And, now, as you intend to abandon him, and your former home, what do you defign to do? (A pause.)-Whither do you intend to go? 66 Hefter. I did intend to ftay here. But, I fuppofe, you won't fuffer it; though Mrs. Sarah Mortland invited me, or I fhould not have made fo free as to come. 66 Mrs. Sarah. Upon my word,-I only "Sir Ofwin. Huth! Hold your tongue.-I want to hear her talk, not you. And would you be content to ftay, and give up all your friends? Hefter. I hope, I shou'd find friends here. "Sir Ofwin. You have no parents?-no relations, I am told? "Hefter. Hefter. My mother died, when I was an infant.-My father went abroad-perhaps is dead too: I never knew any other relations, and I hardly know my own furname; for I am always called Hefter. "Sir Ofivin. —A Mr. and Mrs. Afhdale brought you up? "Hefter. But were fo unkind to me, that I durft not tell them I wou'dn't marry; and, I hope, you will not send me back with a man I cannot love. "Sir Ofwin. Then, you never lov'd him? "Hefter. O! no, no. "Sir Ofwin. Nor ever lov'd "Hefter. Q, no, never, never. any other man ? "Sir Ofwin. Nor ever could, I fuppofe? "Hefter. (After looking at him, unconsciously, from head to foot.) Yes, —yes, yes,-O, yes.-I think I cou'd. "Sir Ofwin. I thought, you faid, you had fet your heart againft marriage. 66 Hefter. No I have not.No, no-but I should like to choose my own husband. "Sir Ofwin. How choofe? Women can't make love. Hefter. But they can listen.—And I'll never listen but where the found is fweet. "Sir Ofwin. Sweets are not always wholesome. "Hefter. And yet they preferve certain things, as well as vinegar. "Sir Ofwin. (to his Sifter.) I don't know how I can turn this girl out of the house. Poor creature! (Affecting a smile of contempt.) She has lost her mother, and is not fure whether or no fhe has a father. "Mrs. Sarah. Then, do you be a father to her. "Sir Ofwin. Is there fuch difference in our ages?—She's feventeen, and I am not above "Mrs. Sarah. No; but I have been so used to hear you call yourfelf an old man Sir Ofwin. I beg you pardon, if I have for that's making my elder fifter a very old woman. "Mrs. Sarah. Well, and I fhall have no objection to being an old woman, while it is a privilege of that state to be of service to the young ones. "Hefter. And you have been of great service to me-thank you— thank you. "Sir Ofwin. Yes, fifter-you are a very good woman, I believe; and if I do find fault with you, now and then, it is because I wish you to be my companion, and my companion to be as perfect as poffible.-Yes, indeed-I think you have done quite right in fheltering this poor orphan-and I recommend her to your further protection. (Pofing Mrs. Sarah over to Hefter.) "Mrs. Sarah. (Going returns.) You'll dine with us, Sir Ofwin? "Sir Ofwin. (Confidering.) Why, yes; I don't know that I am going any where-yes-I'll dine with you. (Exeunt Mrs. Sarah and Hefter. Hefter curifying low to Sir Ofwin.) Poor girl! I really feel for her-poor girl! (He walks about, moves the chairs and table—at left be takes up a book, fits down and reads—of a fudden he rifes.) Yes, I'll fee what can be done for this poor deftitute girl. My fifter, I dare fay, fay, can employ her in her domestic concerns. (He fits down, and reads again; then takes his eye flowly from the book.) She can read to my fifter, perhaps, and be of ufe that way.-But what have I to do with women's business! Here, in the country, my books are my fole occupation; (musing) books my fure folace, and refuge from frivol. ous cares. Books, the calmers, as well as the inftructors of the mind. (Looks in the book fomo time, then rifes.) S'death! I cannot read.→ What is the reason I cannot read? (Going.) "Enter Mr. Willowear. "Willowear. Well, Sir Ofwin, have you feen her? "Willowear. And what do you think of my choice? "Sir Ofavin. Because she does not choose you. "Willowear. Did the tell you fo? "Sir Ofwin. Has the not proved fo? "Willowear. I wish you wou'd let me see her. "Sir Ofwin. No, by no means. (haftily) I told you that if she could exculpate herself, and in truth this has been the cafe.-Her promife to you, fhe avers, was given under the influence of fear.She has flown to this houfe for protection; and I believe the laws of hofpitality oblige me-Here is your ring.-But, as to the fimple girl, without her own express defire, I cannot give up her." P. 26. In the performance, the circumftances of the young lady's paying fuch a vifit to a friend whom she had never feen but once, the improbability of the hero's falling fo inftantly and fo irrecoverably in love, Lady Sufan's language and behaviour in her interview with Sir Ófwin, were probably counterbalanced by the excellence of the reprefentation. There are other irregularities alfo, which it feems ufelefs to fpecify. The Comedy fucceeded for a certain number of nights, and will not, by any means, detract from the author's reputation. It is no fault of Mrs. Inchbald's, if the frequenters of the theatre will be fatisfied with fuch flight and unfubftantial food; the talents which produced the Simple Story, and other works of the kind, could, no doubt, with fuitable encouragement, contrive and execute a loftier and more durable edifice, as well as exhibit an entertainment of more folid and nutritious viands. Y y ART. BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXV. JUNE, 1805. ART. XII. The Life of Profeffor Gellert; with a Courfe of Moral Leffons delivered by him in the University of Leipfic: taken from the French Tranflation of the original German. In Three Volumes. By Mrs. Douglas, of Ednam Houfe. 8vo. 1l. is. Kello printed. Hatchard, London. 1805. ELLERT, though much admired in his own country, has hitherto been very little known in this, and Mrs. Douglas has certainly conferred a benefit upon the public, in bringing forward to notice the life, and fome part of the writings, of so truly amiable, and fo truly Chriftian, an author. In reading the Life of Gellert, it is impoflible not to compare him, more or lefs, with our own admired Cowper. The fame modefty, the fame gentlencfs, the fame fimplicity of character, the same conftitutional melancholy, the fame ardent piety, though, happily, not being entangled with the overwhelming idea of arbitrary and irrefiftible condemnation, the mind of Gellert was not precipitated into a difeafed defpondency. He was, in fhort, what Cowper would have been, had he escaped the taint of Calviniftic methodifm. This amiable writer is more known in France than here; and the prefent fpecimen of his works is derived from the fource of a French tranflation: his fables, if we mistake not, have also been tranflated into that language; and a selection of his letters, by M. Huber, in 1770, was preceded by an eulogium of the author. Though it is always to be wifhed that an author fhould be tranflated from his own original language; and Mrs. D. herself fufpects, that the French tranflafor has not always been accurate; yet we cannot but welcome the publication, as containing much that may be ufeful, particularly to the younger claffes of readers. When a lady, who can have no motive but the defire of doing good, undertakes a labour of this kind, we fhould not be too rigorous in prefcribing the exact conditions of it. Chriftian Furchtegott (or Feargod) Gellert, was born in 1715, at Haynichen, in Saxony. His life was divided between. his ftudies, his writings, and his public teaching, and he died mm 1769, at the age of 54. He was a divine of the Lutheran church; and though he was deterred from preaching by an early failure, which his natural timidity could not recover, it appears that he published fermons, fome of which are cited in the life here publifhed. His other works feem to have been produced in this order: 1. feveral fables, written for a periodical publication, entitled, "Amusements of the Heart and |