the calamities and productions of Tasso, form a very interesting fubject, both for narration and literary difcuffion; and the Abbé Seraffi has treated this fubject with tafte, erudition, and critical fagacity. 11. Memorie per fervire à la Vita, &c. i. e. Memoirs of the Life of METASTASIO, together with the Life of JOMELLI; CONtaining an hiftorical Account of the Progrefs of Dramatic Poetry, and Theatrical Múfic. 8vo. 1785.-This publication, the Author of which is Sig. XAVIER MAFFEI, will be an agreeable prefent to the lovers of the fine arts. 12. Lettera, &c. i. e. A Letter from a Tufcan Traveller, written from the Ile of Cyprus to a Member of the Academy of Florence. Leghorn. 1786.-Entertainment and inftruction are agreeably blended together in this epiftle. The local defcriptions are animated and picturesque: the hiftorical relations are learned and curious, and the whole is enlivened with a happy mixture of judicious reflections and elegant touches of cheerful wit and good-humour.-This is one of the Letterwriters whofe correfpondence we wish to fee continued. 13. Fifica particolare e generale, &c. i. e. General and particular Views of natural Philofophy, in feveral Effays, fome analytical and others elementary. By Father CARLO BARLETTI, Profeffor of Natural Philofophy at Padua. 4to. 4 Vols. Pavia. 1786. The rft of thefe volumes contains an Analytical Effay on Heat; the 2d, the Principles of Meteorology; the 3d, the Principles of Aerology and Optics; the 4th, Preliminary Difcourfes on General Phyfics, and two Lectures on the fame fubject, which, as we learn, is to be continued in fubfequent volumes. This work we have not yet feen; but we have heard it highly applauded, by good judges, as having great merit, both with respect to matter and ftyle. 14. Delle Scienze utile e delle dilettevoli, &c. i. e. A Differtation on the useful Sciences, and thofe that have only Pleasure for their Object, confidered in their Relation to the Happiness of Man. 4to. 60 pages. Venice. 1786.-There is a great deal of good philofophy, both moral and dialectical, in the few pages of this ingenious pamphlet. MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For NOVEMBER, 1786. COMMERCE. Art. 15. The Situation of Ship Owners, Shippers of Goods, and Underwriters, fince the late Determination as to the Lofs of, or Damage to, Goods by Fire, or Robbery, on Ship-board, &c. 4to. 4d. Evans. 1786. S HIP owners having been declared answerable for the fafe delivery of goods committed to their charge for conveyance, with the fingle exception exception expreffed in bills of lading, of the dangers of the fea; and the writer of this tract declaring on the other part, that ship owners have not hitherto been confidered as anfwerable for lofs or damage by robbery or fire: he propofes these dangers to be also excepted in bills of lading, until an application can be made to parliament on the fubject. A carrier by land and a carrier by fea both undertake the fame trust of conveyance; but exercising this profeffion under a very different circumftance, the one travelling on land, and the other on water; an indemnity against the lofs of goods by fea was neceffary to place them upon an equality: all other hazards being common, and it is reasonable to think, all other obligations. The Author argues that the proposed exception against robbery and fire affords underwriters no claim to an increafe of premium, because it will not alter their fituation, these hazards being included in their policies. These circumstances may be fairly referred to merchants and underwriters. AGRICULTURE. Art. 16. A Plan and Defcription of a Drill Plough which fows all Kinds of Seeds at any Diftance or Depth, from three to ten Inches, upon Ridges or flat Land, or fows four equal diftant Rows at one Foot, or three at one Foot and a Half, or two Rows at ten Inches: with fome different Conftructions of Drills. Is. 6d. Hookham. 1786. 8vo. The drill here described is one of thofe mushroom machines which are often seen to start up in this great metropolis to figure for a day? or two, and then drop into perpetual oblivion. In the conftruction of a drill, one particular only has ever occafioned any difficulty to artifts-the way of delivering the feeds properly; and that difficulty has never yet, that we know of, been properly removed, though it has been much more obviated by many contrivances with which the Public have been long acquainted, than in this new invention. So imperfect indeed is the machine here recommended, that we fufpec it must be the contrivance of one who never faw the practical difficulties that must ever occur in the operation here alluded to. We cannot imagine a more mortifying fcene than would be exhibited the proprietor fhould he be called out, before a refpectable company, to exemplify in practice the regulating his machine, in order to make it perform what, in theory, it does with fuch exact mathematical precifion. The contrivance for preventing earth from falling to the left fide of the plough in hoeing (which is not mentioned in the title-page) is fimple, and better calculated for the end proposed. It confifts of a flip of fheet iron to be occafionally fixed between the coulter and breaft of the plough. By a fkilful ploughman, however, the inconvenience, propofed to be obviated by this contrivance, is not much felt. NORTHERN FISHERIES, &c. Art. 17. Obfervations on the Northern Fisheries, with a Difcourfe on the Expediency of eftablishing fishing Stations, or fmall Towns, in the Highlands of Scotland, and the Hebrides Iflands. To which is added, the laft Report of the Committee appointed by the the House of Commons to enquire into the State of the British Fisheries. By John Knox. 8vo. 3s. Walter. 1786. The labours of the indefatigable Mr. Knox, in the laudable view of ferving his country in a way little thought of, and scarce attempted by other men, are too well known to the Public to need from `us any particular detail on the prefent occafion, especially as we have already enlarged on the fubject, in our review of Mr. K.'s former work, and of Dr. Anderfon's valuable publication, of which an account appeared in our number for the last month. We take this opportunity of briefly observing, that a third, and much enlarged edition, of Mr. K.'s View of the British Empire has lately been publifhed †, with many improvements. POLITICA L. Art. 18. A fhort Treatise on the Inftitution of Corporations, and an Enquiry into the Conduct of the Bench of the Corporation of Maidftone, from the Acceffion of the Tories under the present Charter to the prefent Time. 12mo. Is. (No Bookfeller named). 1786. It appears, by the reprefentation here given, that the freemen of Maidstone are divided into two parties, the Whigs and the Tories ; the latter have long ufurped the management of the political concerns of the corporation, which they have arbitrarily governed upon true Tory principles; that much bickering and feveral law-fuits have been the confequence; but that at last the Whigs have been victorious in an election of common councilmen ; whence the Author, exultingly, proclaims the downfall of the oppofite party. The pamphlet is not ill written; and contains fome just observations on the origin of bodies corporate, Art. 19. A Letter from Mr. Pigot, near Geneva, to the Right Honourable William Pitt, on the Neceffity and Advantage of a Taxation on the Public Funds. 4to. 6d. Ridgway. 1786. Poor Old England is in danger, and empiricifm hopes to be employed. Some few Regulars, however, ftill continue to prescribe for her-when she is given over by them, it will be time enough to call in the affiftance of Quacks. POLICE. Art. 20. An Account of the Societies for the Reformation of Manners in the laft Century, with fome Remarks adapted to the present Period, and an Abstract of various penal Laws. 8vo. 6d. Rivington. 1786. We are told that this performance was published by a Society eftablished in Huddersfield in Yorkshire, with a view to promote a reformation of manners, agreeably to a plan recommended in fome refolutions paffed at a juftice meeting held at Pontefract. It confifts chiefly of extracts from a book published in 1699, entitled, An Account of the Societies for the Reformation of Manners in England and Ireland, with a Perfuafive for Perfons of all Ranks to be zealous in promoting the Execution of the Laws against Profaneness and Debauchery, &c.' The intention of the prefent performance is to fhew that the scheme is not unprecedented, and that many advan*View of the British Empire, &c. See Rev. Vol. lxxi. p. 266. ↑ In two volumes, 8vo. 106. tages tages may arife from fimilar focieties in this age, in which there is an alarming prevalence of vice and immorality.' Art. 21. An Addrefs to the Grand Juries, Conflables, and Church- 12mo. This is the production of one of the focieties mentioned in the preceding article, with a view to encourage and engage conftables and church-wardens to affift them in the profecution of their defign. We would humbly advise these Gentlemen Reformers to be very circumfpect in their proceedings, and to take good heed left, in their zeal for God's houfe, they give way, in any degree, to the influence of fanaticism, throw additional weight into the fcale of ecclefiaftical power, awake the dormant fpirit of the star-chamber, and pave the way for a Proteftant inquifition. The horrid Romih inquifition was founded on the moft plaufible pretences. Art. 22. Thoughts on the Conftruction and Management of Prifons; with Reference to the intended Houfe of Correction in Middlesex. 8vo. 6d. Gardner. 1786. An act of parliament having been obtained to enable the juftices of Middlesex to erect a house of correction, the estimate of which amounts to 30,000l.; and the magiftrates of Middlesex having been expofed to illiberal and indifcriminate abufe, particularly in the fpeech of an eminent counsellor before the House of Lords,-for thefe reasons, the Author of this fenfible letter has taken up his pen, to explain the objects in view, in respect to this new building. Thefe are ftated to be-fecurity-health-correction-and reformation; four objects that prove the magiftrates to have acted from a due sense of the true interests of human fociety. EDUCATI O N. Art. 23. M. Corderii Colloquiorum Centuria felecta; or a felect Century of M. Corderius's Colloquies, with a literal Translation of the first fixty, and two Vocabularies at the End. 12mo. is. 3d. Becket. Every attempt to facilitate the method of teaching a language merits the thanks of both master and scholar. The Rev. J. Farrer, mafter of the grammar-school at Witton le Wear in Durham, whom we find to be the compiler of this work, has divided it into three parts. Tho first confifts of fixty colloquies, with a literal tranflation in a column oppofite to the Latin in the fame page; the fecond of twenty longer colloquies, placed in the order of construction, without a tranflation; the third, of twenty ftill longer than the former, in the order of the Author, agreeable to the natural arrangement of the Latin language. At the end are two vocabularies, one containing all the indeclinable words in this felection, and the other, the declinable ones, with their parfe and English. Art. 24. A Series of Prints of Scripture History, defigned as Ornaments for thofe Apartments where Children receive the first Rudiments of their Education. Small 4to. iod. Marshall. The intention of the Author of thefe Prints is, to convey in a familiar manner the outlines of universal history, in imitation of Madame Genlis's method: See her Adelaide and Theodore. We approve of of the idea; and from the execution of the work, which is fuperior to the generality of books defigned for children, we doubt not that it will answer the end propofed. This publication is to be confidered as No. I. of an intended feries. Art. 25. A Defcription of a Set of Prints of Scripture Hiftory, contained in a Set of eafy Leffons. Small 4to. 4d. Marshall. A plain, concife, and familiar explanation, with a few moral reflections, of the principal facts reprefented by the prints above mentioned. The cafe and fimplicity of the language in which these defcriptions are delivered, are well adapted to the capacities of those for whom they were intended. Art. 26. Traité relatif a la Table gravée pour la Conjugaison des Verbes François et Anglois. A Treatife relative to the engraved Table for the Conjugation of French and English Verbs. By G. Conte, Mafter of the French and English Languages. Sold by the Author, No. 32, Bridges Street, Covent Garden. 1786. To proficients in the French language thefe tables may appear fufficiently clear and practical; but the Tyro, we think, will be puzzled by them. To him we would always recommend the plain and fimple grammar of M. Rogiffard. MILITARY. Art. 27. The Private Soldier's and Militia Man's Friend. Dedicated, by Permiffion, to Lord Charles Spencer, Reprefentative in Parliament, and Colonel of the Oxfordshire Militia. By Henry Trenchard, Serjeant-Major. 12mo. 3d. Kearsley. 1786. This little tract is intended to recommend, to foldiers, obedience, œconomy, cleanliness, &c. : it alfo treats of desertion, disobedience, meffing, promotion, &c. and contains receipts for cleaning their fire-arms, hats, caps, and other things. It is well calculated to anfwer the defign, as coming from a fellow-foldier, whom we applaud for having spent his leifure time in this useful manner. We wish him a good fale, though we think that if his little production could be diftributed gratis among thofe for whofe ufe and advantage it is intended, it would ftand a better chance of doing good, than at prefent, as very few foldiers can afford to buy books: we are alfo afraid that they cannot spare money to purchase the materials here fpecified for cleaning their arms, &c. fome of which are too dear for the pay of a poor private. HISTORY. Art. 28. The Hiftory of Modern Europe, with an Account of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and a View of the Progrefs of Society from the Rife of the modern Kingdoms to the Peace of Paris in 1763. In a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son. The 2d Edition enlarged and greatly improved. 8vo. 5 Vols. 11. 10s. Boards. Robinsons. 1786. This work is divided into two parts, Part I. entitled, From the Rife of modern Kingdoms to the Peace of Weftphalia in 1648 *,' first published in 1779, and Part II. From the Peace of Weftphalia in 1648 to the Peace of Paris in 1763 †,—in 1784.' For the ge+ See Rev. vol. lxxii. p. 94. neral * See Review, vol. lxi. p. 180. |