evidence of not only Latin but Greek quotations; and, moreover, the names of Herodotus, Livy, Juvenal, and Horace repeated. Such are the proofs which Mr. Whitfield has afforded of his erudition. The tafe and judgement which accompany these literary acquirements fhine as brightly in the Preface as in any other part of the performance.

The preliminary effay fets forth the author's idea of a novel, which he fays ought to be a compound of four effentials, the humorous, fentimental, terrific, and epistolary. These four requifites, he informs us, are combined in his novel. He undertakes to characterize the pincipal novels, and novel writers; and, as a specimen of his competency to the talk, he tells us, that Fielding was chiefly diftingui bed for the pathetic; but that, for wit the palm is due to Smollet. With Fielding he ranks Moore! Mits Burney he fo highly honours as to call a pleafing writer. He fpends fome time to prove that there are novels not unworthy of attention. A pofition which we readily admit, though not without admitting another that there are novels totally unworthy of attention. The preface pro eeds to fet before us what the author means by his ftory; and we are obliged to him for the info mation. This difpofition of the moral, however, at the beginning of the work, is different from that of the rhyming Butler in "Lovers Vows," his (the Butler's) moral being at the end of his compofitions. But, though the `arrangement be diffimilar, the fubftance is the fame.

The story confifts of very common materials. A fine young woman meets at a masquerade with a no lefs fine young man, who uninafks, and is difcovered by Mils, who it feems is a phyfiognomift, to be a most amiable and worthy man, and the falls in love with his virtues. The virtuous youth fights a duel the next morning, is fuppofed to have killed his antagonist, flies the country, and feeks refuge in Auftria. Mifs, who is herself a paragon of beauty, fenfe, and goodness, enamoured of the youth, fets out after him, meets with robbers, and intended ravishers near Vienna, by them is forced to an old caftle, (for a novel cannot do without a caftle), ftrange, but delightful, to narrate, her lover, being confined in the fame place, and hearing her voice, breaks from his dungeon, removes bolts and bars, and conveys her fafe to the city. For fuch a good fervice he is, of course, rewarded with her hand, as he had her heart before. They return to England, and, by the greatest good fortune, the hero, who was only a fimple Baronet before, finds that his uncle, the Earl of Sunderland, is dead, and that he is now Earl himself, with a very capital fortune. The Earl and Counters are both models of perfection, the admiration, wonder, and delight, of all who know them; and fuch is the tale.

Refpecting the four qualities reprefented by the author as effential to a novel, the epistolary, which loth as we are to contradict an M. A. we should rather deem a form than AN ESSENTIAL QUALITY, we have two or three letters, and that number we think is fufficient. The terrific our author tries. in the old caffle, the fentimental in divers parts of the work. We cannot fay we were much frightened for the lady when we found fhe had a champion that could break through bolts and bars. The fentimental is, on the whole, as good in its kind, as thofe effufions which we have heretofore noticed in "Derwent Priory," and other commodities of fimilar materials.But the author fadly baulked us in one article, he promised to be humurous -Alas, he did not perform! The failure, however, we charitably impute to his poverty and not to his will.

The learned author has, no doubt, read of a Roman tyrant, who took great delight

delight in torturing flies. We deteft fuch a paftime, and fhall therefore not enter into a detailed criticism on this production of Henry Whitfield, M. A. It is, indeed, fuch as would not difgrace a perfon of ftill higher literary titles, recorded by Mr. Colman-The celebrated Peter Panglois, L. L. D. and A. S. S.

Galatea: a Pastoral Romance, from the French of Monsieur Florian. By Mifs Highley. 12mo. PP. 158. 7s. Plates. Highley. 1804,

THE Romance of Galatea, which occupied the bold pencil of a Cer vantes, and the elegant pen of a Florian, is well known to the readers of that pleafing clafs of literary production. Of its merits, therefore, it were fuperfluous to say a word; it only remains then to announce the prefent tranflation of it into English, as highly creditable to the talte and talents of a young Lady of fifteen-taste and talents which, we hope, will continue to be cultivated with due care and attention, as they cannot fail to reward, by their fruits, the labour, if labour it can be called, of bringing them to maturity. The language is correct, and the poetry, fimple, unaffected, and chafte. The book is printed with elegance, and the plates which embel lish it are unusually good.

The Vain Cottager: or, the History of Lucy Franklin. To which are prefixed a few Hints to Young Women in humble life, respecting decency and propriety of Dress. 12mo. PP. 84. 1s. 6d. each or 16s. per doz. Hatchard, 1804. THE object of this tale is to fhew the dangers refulting to young women in the humble paths of life, from indulging in drefs and finery unfuited to their fituation, and from gratifying their vanity in other refpects. The moral is unexceptionable, and the story is well related.

MISCELLANIES.

The Fashionable World displayed. By Theophilus Chriftian, Efq. Small 8vo. Pr. 84. 3s. 6d!!! Hatchard. 1804.

HE author complains that though detached parts of the hiftory and cha

no one has yet attempted to give fuch a systematic account of this extraordinary people, who, though living in the midst of others, are, in fact, as much infulated as if they were natives of Otaheite, as might convey to the unfashionable part of the public, or indeed to themselves, a just notion of their characteristic attributes, virtues, and vices, their religion, morals, manners, and purfuits. In order to remedy this defect, and to fupply this vacuum, Mr. Theophilus Chriftian took up the pen; and we are bound, in juftice, to say, that he has fulfilled the talk which he imposed on himself, with very great ability; and, if his pages be read, in fome of thofe moments of reflection which he rudely tells the inhabitants of this eccentric region, muft come, we have little doubt that a revolution, religious and moral, as complete and radical, as that which we have recently witnessed in a neighbouring country, will speedily occur in the world of fashion.

We

We lament very much indeed, that our limits are fo circumfcribed as to forbid us to indulge ourfelves with a felection of paffages, from this admirable little volume, which could not fail most highly to gratify our readers. But the whole of it is fo truly excellent (with, perhaps, a fingle exception) that it cannot fail, we think, to be read with avidity, by all who can afford to purchase it. We fay, afford, bece the price is fo vaftly disproportioned to the fize of the book, that we have been led to fufpect that it was the intention of the author to limit its circulation to thofe for whole benefit it is more immediately intended. If fuch were not the intention, the price is exorbitant, and most impolitic.

The book is divided into fix chapters; the first of which defcribes the situation, boundaries, climate, and seasons, of the fashionable world; the fecond its government and laws; the third its religion and morality; the fourth, its education; the fifth, its manners, dress, amusements, and language; and the fixth and laft contains an estimate of its happiness, with two plans of reform. Under each of thefe heads the reader will find many pertinent, forcible, and most just observations. In his account of their laws, their hiftorian remarks, that the only code of any note which the people of fathion acknowledge, is that which Mr. Archdeacon Paley has defined to be "a fyftem of rules conftructed by people of fashion, and calculated to facilitate their intercourse with one another." What bufinefs fuch a code had in a fyftem of moral philofophy it would puzzle the moft acute understanding to discover. Our author reproves Dr. Paley for introducing it there, but much too gently; for our part, we have no fcruple to declare, that if the Doctor's moral and political philofophy had been committed to the flames, ere it was given to the world, it had been much better for the moral and political principles of the rifing generation. His fyftem is radically bad; it is founded on a vicious basis; and the fuperftructure, therefore, cannot be worth preferving. On this fashionable code our author thus remarks:

"It feems, then, that the law of honour by which people of fashion are faid to be governed is wholly and exclufively defigned to make them acceptable to each other. Now, not to mention other things, pertons in a fashionable fphere cannot be ftrictly agreeable to each other, unless they are well dreifed; nor can that intercourfe which they chiefly value be pleasantly maintained without fplendid equipages, choice wines, and fumptuous entertainments. As, therefore, the neceffity of the cafe requires fuch accommodations, the law of honour, to fay the leaft, does not look very nicely into the means by which they may have been procured. Hence it follows by the faireft inference, that a man of fashion is not at all the lefs refpectable in his own circle, merely because he is what the reft of the world calls unjust. For, whatever may be the law elsewhere, a man of fathion can owe nothing to his inferiors: and his character will therefore fuffer no ftain, though he should have broken his word a thoufand times with the reptile that made his clothes, built his carriage, or furnished his table.

* Almost every day affords us additional reasons for lamenting the narrowness of our limits; and the progeny of the prefs is in such a state of rapid increase and multiplication, that we have ferious thoughts of extending our work fo as to keep fome kind of pace with them, at leafl fo as to compre hend a much greater number of them than its prefent extent will admit of, without departing from our fixed determination, never to substitute the ipfe dixit of the critic for the fentence of criticism.

This law is alfo diftinguished by many other features of toleration, which well account for the refpect and influence that it poffeffes in the fashionable world. By a (pirit of accommodation of which there is no other example, it overlooks, it it does not even encourage, a variety of actions,, which in the mouth of a moralift would be abfolute vices; and which, to fay the truth, are scarcely deferving of a much better name. Thus, a man may debauch his tenant's daughter, feduce the wife of his friend, and be faithlefs and even brutal to his own, and yet be esteemed a man of honour, (which is the fame as a man of fashion,) and have a right to make any man fight him who says he is not. In like manner, a man may blafpheme God, and encourage his children and fervants to do the Tame; he may neglect the interefts and fquander the property of his family; he may be a tyrant in his houfe, and a bully in the streets; he may lie a-bed all day, and drink and game all night; and yet be a moft dutiful subject of the law of honour, and a fhining character in the fociety of fashion."

The author next examines the duties which this law of honour exacts; foremost of which is the practice of duelling; on this duty his comments are just and impreffive. Having duly confidered what calls for the exercife of fuch duty, he adds;

"I cannot better illuftrate the frivolous foundation upon which an injury may be created [erected] than by adverting to an occurrence of very recent date, and of fufficient notoriety in the fashionable world. Two men of fashion, incenfed against each other by an accidental rencontre between their respective dogs, dropped in their warmth certain expreffions which rendered them amenable to the bloody code. Duel was declared indispenfable; and in less than twelve hours one of the two was dispatched into eternity, and the other narrowly escaped the fame fate."

The next point which he confiders is the inequality of the retribution resulting from the practice of this duty.

"It refults from this pernicious injunction, that the peaceable man must fight the quarrelfome; that the heir of a noble family must meet the ruined efquire; and that the man who has never drawn a trigger in his life mutt encounter the fashionable ruffian who has all his life been doing little else. This inequality is further manifest from the different circumstances and connexions of life under which the combatants may be found: the son of many hopes may be matched against the worthlefs prodigal; the virtuous parent against the unprincipled feducer; and the man of induftry, usefulness, and beneficence, against the mifcreant who only lives to pamper lufts and to corrupt his fellow creatures. Nothing has here been laid of the indifcriminate manner in which judgment is executed: the innocent and the guilty. muft both be involved in the fame awful contingency; each must put his life to hazard; and the probability is, that, if one of the two thould fall, it will be the man whofe conduct leaft entitled him to punishment, and who'e life was most worth preferving."

Thefe are confiderations which must have fuggefted themselves to the mind of every man who has reflected on the fubject; but, though all men muit acknowledge the juftice of the remarks, how few alas! will have refolution to fuffer them to regulate their conduct. The practice of duelling, the offspring of rude and barbarous times, and truly worthy of its parent, is not more repugnant to the laws of God and of man, than it is to reafon and common fenfe; but ftill, fuch is the fatal influence of force and fashion! It will continue to prevail until juries fhall be found with fenfe to understand

the

the oaths which they take, and honefty to obferve them. As matters now are, we are forry to say, there is much more perjury committed by jury men than by witneffes. There is not one juryman in twenty who knows his duty, and very few of thofe who do know it that perf rm it. The rapid increase of criminals is almoft as much imputable to the mifconduct of jurymen, as to the growing depravity of the times. We heartily with that fome able writer would give to this fubject that degree of ferious attention which its vaft importance demands; much, very much, might be faid upon it; and the difcuffion could fcarcely fail to produce great good, if it were only in making men more folicitous to learn the duties of a fituation which they are fo frequently called upon to fill, and more honeft in the difcharge of

them.

Our author profeffes himself at a lofs how to defcribe the religion of the Fashionable World; he has, however, continued to defcribe it ve y accurately. His remarks on the abandonment of parish-churches, by the votaries of fathion, and on the fashionable chapels which they frequent, have 'much merit, and but too much truth.

"The conduct of their service (he says) is in many cafes marked by an attention to mechanical effect, which is more nearly allied to the parade of the theatre, than to the fimplicity of the church: the orators who fill their pulpits are generally preferred in proportion as they display the captivating attractions of a graceful utterance and a liberal theology. These preachers have, indeed, a talk to execute of extraordinary difficulty; by the tyranny of cuftom they are compelled to take their text, and to produce their authorities, from the canon of fcripture; and I think it is much to the praife of their dexterity, that so often as they have occafion to difcourfe from thofe offenfive writings, they yet contrive to give fo little offence. How they manage this, I am at a lofs to know, unless it be by blinking every queftion that involves a moral application, or elfe by allowing their audience the benefit of that fashionable falvo, that the company present is always excepted."

It has never been our misfortune to meet with any of these fashionable preachers; if any of them be to be found, the fooner they are got rid of the better; they cannot be legitimate fons of the church, but fome fpurious offfpring which at once betray and difgrace their parent. On the morals of the Fashionable World our author remarks, that while the fame terms are used by these gentry, to denote their moral ideas, as are employed by Chrif tians for that purpofc, their fignification is confined or enlarged as expediency requires.

Thus modefty, honefty, humanity, and fobriety,-names, with stricter moralifts, for the pureft virtues,-are fo modified and liberalized by fashionable cafuifts, as to be capable of an alliance with a low degree of every vice to which they stand oppofed. A woman may expofe her bofom, paint her face, affume a forward air, gaze without emotion, and laugh without restraint at the loosest scenes of theatrical licentioufnefs, and yet be after all

a modest woman. A man may detain the money which he owes his tradefman, and contract new debts for oftentatious fuperfluities, while he has neither the means nor the inclination to pay his old ones, and yet be after all a very honest fellow. A woman of fashion may disturb the repole of her family every night, abandon her children to mercenary dames, and keep her fervants in the ftreets till day-break, without any impeachment of her humanity; fo the gentleman of fashion may fwallow his two or three

bottles