feveral performers, whom he thought proper to pafs in review before the Reader. The Children of Thefpis" is not fo happy: a great deal is faid under every article, but for the moft part it is general praise or fatire, indiftinct and unappropriated. The peculiar talents of the performers are not defcribed, and their characteristic defects remain untouched. The Author feems to have a rapid and flowing facility in the kind of versification which he has chofen, the handgallop of Anftey; but it may be owing to that very facility that we do not find any acuteness of criticism, nor indeed much expence of thinking. The piece has, notwithstanding, great variety, and may amufe thofe, who like, at this feafon of the year, to have their winter amusements recalled to the imagination. It may be added, that all, who love to fee patriots and statesmen severely mauled, may here enjoy the mangled characters of Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, Mr. Sheridan, and others.

28.

Art. 21. The Green Room Mirror; clearly delineating our prefent Theatrical Performers, by a genuine Reflection. 8vo. Macklew. 1786.

It is not enough that the actors are reviewed and lashed in the poem called The Children of Thefpis: the Author of the Mirror makes them again pafs mufter in plain profe. The piece is beneath the dignity of criticifm. We fhall only fay of it, "If the jargon of unintelligible language, unnatural metaphor, and falfe glitter deferve recommendation, the Public are folicited in favour of this Writer."

POETRY.

Art. 22. A Poem on the Happiness of America; addreffed to the Citizens of the United States. By David Humphreys, Efquire. 4to. 2s. Newbery. 1786.

This Writer unites in himself the two characters of the Vates of the ancients, being at once a poet and a prophet: but if his infpiration in the latter capacity be not lefs equivocal than the former, the Americans have little to hope for from his predictions +. He is not, however deftitute of poetical talents.

Art. 23. Mifcellaneous Poetry. By Mrs. Weft: written at an early Period of Life. 4to. 2s. 6d. Swift. 1786.

Eafe and fimplicity are the diftinguishing characteristics of the first productions of this ruftic Mufe. Mrs. Weft is the wife of a Northamptonshire farmer, and, as we are informed, is a person of a truly refpectable character. Prompted by nature only, with little advantage from books, fhe expreffes her genuine feelings and fentiments, in numbers which, for neatness and harmony, will entitle her to rank with Mrs. Leapor, Mrs. Mary Jones, and Mrs. Cockburn,

Mrs. Weft fpeaks of her natural inclination for poetry, in an introductory Elegy, addreffed to a friend, who advised her to publish her compofitions: and from this poem we shall select a verfe or two, by way of fpecimen of her manner :

* Colonel in the fervice of the American States.

+ We were better pleased with this gentleman's former piece, intitled, "A Poem addreffed to the United States of America:" See Review, Vol. LXXII. p. 388.

F3

‹ Ofta

Oft, as the swains their joyous concourfe held,
As Mirth and Song prolong'd the feftal day,
By Fancy's fafcinating power impell'd,

Her devious feet have wander'd far away..
Then in fome fhady covert, unperceiv'd,

To times remote her penfive thoughts have turn'd,
When ancient Heroes deathlefs fame atchiev'd,
And fell ambition its deftruction mourn'd.
The black battalions fhadow all the plain!
The rifing tumult rends the trembling air!
It dies away; and now that plaintive ftrain
Mourns for the fate of fome much-injur'd fair,

Ah! vagrant Mufe, by thee too foon deceiv'd,
My infant heart thy choral fongs approv'd;
I pour'd thy native wood-notes unperceiv'd,
And thee, ere reafon dawn'd, to madnefs lov'd,
Soft Senfibility, thy fatal child

With magic power enflav'd my ductile mind,
Then, while fuccefs on all my wishes fmil'd,
Her touch to extacy each joy refin'd.
And, oh my friend! yet, why to thee explain
A truth thy feeling heart muft oft deplore?
She too can aggravate the ftings of pain,

Till weary nature can fuftain no more.

With fuch a bofom inmate shall I dare

The unknown paths of public fame to try?.

Thefe lines will fuffice to introduce Mrs. Weft to the acquaintance of our Readers.

The pieces in this little collection are chiefly of the Elegiac kind; befide which, there is a Legendary Tale, of confiderable length; and a pretty Ode on Spring..

In her prefatory addrefs, the Poetefs modeftly apologizes for fuch defects as may be obferved in performances which have only been to her an agreeable relaxation, without having the power to detach her from the effential duties of domeftic life."

66

Art. 24. A Monody on the much-lamented Death of Samuel Johnfon, LL.D. By the Author of The Field Negroe, Antigua Planter, Grey's Cliff, Kirkstall Abbey, and other Miscellaneous Pieces. 4to. 1s. Baldwin.

There is an obfcurity in this Monody, through which we have in vain attempted to penetrate. The numbers flow melodiously over the ear, but the words make few diftin&t impreffions on the mind. Speaking of the tombs in Westminster Abbey, our Poet fays,

Here cold Ambition afks a final paufe,

And yields fupine to Death and Nature's laws;
Here the young Cupids in the fhrine above

Mock the cold fpectres of departed love.

Here, by a pen of unavailing gold,

The tale of woe and penury is told.

Here

Here Genius makes the humble earth its bed,
And fad cold tears from colder ftones are shed;
The worm here twines like Virgil's monstrous fnake,
The golden letters fade, the columns shake;
Sepulchral atoms blot th' æthereal view,

And mildew thrives where verdant laurels grew.
E'en time itself betrays a loft regard,

And makes each tomb as mortal as each bard.'

Young Cupids mocking the cold Spectres of departed love-fad cold tears fhed from colder ftones fepulchral atoms blotting an ethereal view-and the worm of the tomb twining like Virgil's monstrous fnake-are phrafes which appear to our cold fancies vox et præterea nihil. We might apply the fame remark to many other paffages in this poem; parti. cularly when the poet makes Dr. Johnfon

From tangled fcience prune the fpiry thorn,

Which clouded fenfe and learning's early morn :when he fays, that

• His mind look'd into things with piercing eye,
To charm the defert and to brave the fky :'

and when he speaks of death's diftilling affection's purer kifs,' of fame's loud trumpet founding within the ftone;' and of a crimson landscape fwooning in fnow.'

In the midft of many faults, we meet, however, with feveral good lines; among which are the following:

And now his urn fhall drink the falling tear,
And bleeding friendship learn to forrow there;
Surviving Bards fhall there the hours beguile,
And pilgrim feet invest the distant aisle;
There, oft at morn, or ev'ning's awful prayer,
Some friend, fome tender fervant linger near,
With genuine grief fhall mourn death's fatal dart,
Bend to his fhrine, and fmite a faithful heart;
With rapture trace each feature of his bust,
And foftly penfive wipe th'unhallow'd duft.'.
LAW.

[The following article has been fent to us by a Correfpondent; and as the Author of the publication to which it relates maintains a doctrine that We have ever oppofed, the character here given of the work is inferted merely to evince our impartiality.]

Art. 25. An Examination into the Rights and Duties of Jurors ;

with fome Obfervations on the Law of Libels. 2s. 6d. Whieldon. 1785.

This pamphlet is written profeffedly to encounter the popular doctrine, that jurors are judges of the law as well as facts, in all inftances; and fecondly, to affert their right to determine on all the matter of a libel, as an excepted cafe from the jurifdiction of the courts of justice. This is an hazardous, because a new method of treating the queftion, and it requires a very able and experienced pen to manage a fubject of fo much nicety as the examiner's diftinction makes it. How far he merits the former character, will appear from the fpecimens here offered to the reader. From the boldness of his attempt, it does not feem that he has had time to acquire very

F 4

much

much of the latter; and the fervour of its ftyle juftifies the fufpicion of a no very advanced age in its author.

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In confidering the rights and duty of jurors, he deduces his principles from, 1ft, The nature of the inftitution; zdly, the reafon of the thing; and 3dly, the conftant practice of the courts of law. the firft he is full and explicit; and hesitates not to bring into his fervice even the 29th chapter of Magna Charta itself. • Numerous inftances,' fays he, daily occur of perfons fuffering the very extremity of thote evils against which the chapter of Magna Charta is faid to provide, without the intervention of a jury, and folely by the law of the land. A man fhall be taken and imprisoned on a capias ad refpondendum. If he abfconds, and cannot be found, but is returned quinto exactus, he fhall be outlawed; this outlawry is attended with a forfeiture of all his goods and chattels to the king: and a man's deftruction is completed when, if he pleads guilty to an appeal of murder, he shall be hanged; and not in any one of the cafes which we have offered is recourfe had to trial by jury. In fhort, wherever the facts afferted by the plaintiff or profecutor are allowed by the defendant or prifoner, the lex terre will not fuffer the abfurd and ufelefs delay of trial by jury to find what is already admitted, but fteps in with its judgment on the confeffion.'

On the fecond head the examiner brings down the authorities of M. De Lolme and Dr. Towers to anfwer or refute themselves. On the third, he apologizes for feeming to make the courts judges in fua propria caufa, when they attempt to afcertain the limits of their power; and thus accounts for his frequent appeal to authorities and precedents. Where elfe,' fays he, fhall we feek the boundaries by which the authority of the different courts is reftrained, but in the folemn adjudication of the fuperior courts of juftice? If I claim, by prefcription, a way through my neighbour's field, I can prove my right only by evidence that my ancestors have exercifed the fame right time immemorial. And this evidence fhall be fufficient to establish my title, because it is the very beft that can be adduced.'

His general conclufion from all these premifes is, that a jury is to take the law from the judge, and him only, because they cannot take it in evidence; and that if they differ from him on any other ground than the facts, they incur all the guilt, though they may efcape the punishment, of perjury, But it being effential to a libel that it be falfe and malicious, the jury are to judge of that falfity and malice as a matter of fact totally and exclufively within their province.

Thefe are the general outlines of the work before us. Of the execution our readers muft judge for themfelves. To the principle, if we had room and leisure, we might urge fome objections. Cne of the most material will fuffice at prefent: That it is fcarcely necef fary to affift the encreafing authority of the courts in general; and that jurors will be induced to exert the power, rather by general arguments than by that clofe and profeffional reafoning which this Author advances in their fervice. With refpect to ftyle, the lime labor et mora feems to have been not fufficiently attended to. The beginning a paragraph fo often with a 'then' is very tiresome, • Wherein then it may be afked-The excellence then confiftsAll

as,

All then that the advocates can fay-Whether then we reafon-In all private libels then-'

On the whole, the ftyle is animated, and the reafoning ingenious: and those who are fond of great and many authorities will find that the Author has not spared the drudgery of collecting them. Art. 26. An Efay on the Law of Libels. With an Appendix, containing Authorities. To which are fubjoined, Remarks on the Cafe in Ireland of Attachment; and the Letter of the Hon. T. Erskine on that Subject. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Dilly. 1785.

Mr. Capel Lofft, the ingenious Author of this Effay, takes the popular fide of the queftion, and he reafons well upon it. He explains the nature of libels; he contends that juries are judges of law as well as fact; he draws the character of a conftitutional and confcientious juror, with juftice and energy, and he is careful to establish his principles on good authorities. On the whole, this is a valuable tract; and it will be held in high estimation by the true friends of British freedom. Mr. Erfkine's letter, annexed, is a fine piece of oratory and found argument.

POLITICAL.

Art. 27. Liberal Opinions on Taxation, and a new Syftem of Funding; by which the Landholder and Stockholder, being equally fecured, would run the fame Fortune, and the latter efcape the dangerous Envy of being confidered as a kind of Foreigner, unconcerned in the Calamities incident to the Country. By the Author of "Thoughts on Taxation," &c. 8vo. March. No price. This writer thinks the government funds ought to be fubject to taxation as well as land; which fhews that he does not fufficiently advert to the different fpecies and circumstances of the property he brings into comparison. But under this idea, with a view to extend the amount of the funds, which he confiders as beneficial to commerce, he recommends opening a fubfcription for a million, by way of experiment, at 4 per cent. while the land-tax is rated at 4s. to fluctuate with that tax at the rate of 5s. intereft for 1s. tax. Confequently, fuch a fund would be at 5 per cent. when land is clear of taxation; and he thinks fuch a plan of funding would give additional fecurity to property of every kind, and unite the interests of the landed and moneyed men. We leave it to their confideration. EAST INDIA SHIPPING.

Art. 28. An Olio, as prepared and dreffed on board an Eaft Indiaman. The Ingredients by the Directors, Hufbands, Meffieurs Baring, Brough, Dalrymple, and others. Decorated and garnifhed with Notes and Obfervations by the Cook. 8vo. Hooper. 1786,

Is. 6d.

It is very probable that Tim Twifting may have been the cook on this occafion, in which the much contefted queftion concerning the price of Eaft India freight, is taken up with rather more attention than might have been fuppofed from the whimsical ftyle of the titlepage.

This branch of trade,' he obferves, seems to be misunderstood, under the idea that it may be carried on and conducted by ships re

* See Rev. Vol. LXXII. p. 234.

duced