Thefe plaintive epistles are written in exact conformity to the original defign of the elegiac poem. The author laments the death of an affectionate wife. In this cafe the reader must expect some of the amorous reveries of a fond husband. The fentiments, however, are tender and pathetic; the stile pure and claffical; the verfification easy and harmonious: in fhort, thefe three elegies would have been no difcredit to the age of Ovid and Tibullus. A translation of them was lately published by Mr. Itchener; but as their chief beauty confifts in elegant latinity, they appear to disadvantage in an English drefs.

36. Vectis. The Isle of Wight: a Poem. In three Cantos. By Henry Jones, Author of the Earl of Effex, Kew-Garden, &c. c. Sc. 4to. Pr. 2s. 6d. Flexney.

The Perfians have a proverb, that "if God Almighty had formed the world in the shape of a ring, Ormuz would have been the diamond in it;" but our friend Mr. Jones has converted the Isle of Ormuz into the Isle of Wight, and has embellished it with all the beauties and properties of Paradise itfelf. The following is one of the fobereft and most modeft paffages in the poem in praife of his fubject.

• Delighted Nature o'er this ifland dwells,
And to the deep her joyful story tells;
The deep returns it to the azure space,
And earth, and heaven, and ocean,

here embrace.

• Here day and night in sweet fucceffion vie,
Here spring and autumn glide melodious by;
The earliest harbingers that lead the year,
Sweet Philomela tunes her note firft here;
First here her tuneful note begins to fwell,
And here fhe takes her mournful fweet farewell;
The primrose here and fwallow first are feen,
And here the groves put on the earliest green;
Here fragrant gales first fan the teeming groves,
Here little birds begin their vernal loves;
Here zephyrs wave at firft the vigorous wing,
Here handmaid Nature decks the full-rob'd fpring;
The fummer loiters here with lagging grace,
And late, reluctant, yields to autumn place;

The tardy autumn paufing long, gives way,
And mourns the twilight keen, the fhrinking day;
The shatter'd goffimer, the ftripping wind,
And, fighing, leaves his ruffet robe behind.'

It would be doing Mr. Jones an injury not to acknowledge that he is very poetical, perhaps too much fo, through the

whole

whole of this performance. His calling a most noble duchess a living pure antique is, we think, new. Pray, gentle reader, how old is her grace of A.? is fhe as old as queen Christina when she told a certain bishop, that she had lived long enough at Rome to become one of its antiquities ?- -The reader who can enjoy the luxuriancies of defcriptive poetry, fometimes in its wild, and fometimes in its cultivated, ftate, will find an agreeable entertainment in this performance. Among the various particulars with which it is filled, the author drops a most affectionate tear upon the urn of Charles the First, who attempted to escape out of a window of Carisbrokecaftle in this island, but was prevented by its straitness. The fame laudable principle of loyalty induces our author to lay the poetical lafh very feverely upon the backs of that monarch's enemies.

37. Hackwood-Park, a Poem. By Richard Michell. 40. Pr. Is. 6d. Hawes.

Mr. Pope's description of Windfor.Foreft, in all probability, induced this writer to attempt a defcription of HackwoodPark. But these poems will not admit of any mutual comparison. The latter is deftitute of that exquifite harmony and inchanting imagery which we admire in the former. There are indeed fome poetical images in this performance; but they are thrown together in wild diforder; and the author frequently tranfgreffes the common rules of grammar for the fake of his rhyme. He begins with the following lines:

As peeping buds no radiant hues display,
Till glowing funs fhine with a foft'ring ray,
In embrio thus young poets luftre lies,
Till blooming wifdom manly prime fupplies,
Fofter'd by you, Bolton! I may in time
Produce a fong of more majestic rhyme,
My lord, accept the prefent, don't difdain
The poet's labour in a tuneful strain.'

As Mafter Richard Michell is a young poet, and may probably be poffeffed with fome of that ambition which Virgil speaks of in the beginning of his third book of Georgics, we would advise him to convert his poem into a paper-kite, and by that happy expedient he will have the pleasure at once

-Sefe

Tollere bumo, victorque virûm volitare per ora.

38. Falstaff's

38. Falftaff's Wedding, a Comedy: as it is Ated at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane. Being a Sequel to the Second part of the Play of King Henry the Fourth. Written in Imitation of Shakefpeare, by W. Kenrick. 8vo. Pr. 15. 6d. Davis and Reymers. We have little to add to our former account of this piece. Inftead of the ferious fcenes, which we before cenfured, the author has fubftituted others, "which were thought neceffary to accommodate the play to a theatrical audience" We cannot, however, discern much dramatick merit in these alterations and as Mr. Kenrick has amufed himself with a Review of Dr. Johnson's Shakespeare, it may not be improper to remind him, in the words of the doctor's preface, that his play is "concluded by a marriage in a mask, by a deception, which perhaps never happened, and which, whether likely or not, he did not invent."

39. The First Chapter of the Prophecies of the Prophet Homer. With a Letter to the B. of G. 4to. Pr. 15. 6d. Wilkie.

We can by no means approve of this performance. It attacks a right reverend character, at the expence of the regard that every Christian ought to entertain for the facred truths of religion, which this author endeavours to burlesque, and turn into ridicule.

40. A Parallel; drawn between the Adminiftration in the Four laft Years of Queen Anne, and the Four firft of George the Third. By a Country Gentleman. 8vo. Pr. Is. Almon.

This parallel-monger is as difingenuous as he is aukward at his trade. He might with as much propriety have found a fimilitude between the book of the Revelations and the Alcoran, as between the two periods he has chofen for his Parallel. At the clofe of queen Anne's war, France was depopulated as well as beggared, and England did not owe much above one third part of the debt it does now. At the close of the late war, England was in a fair way to beggary, and actually was depopulated; while the diminution of the population of France. was fcarcely perceptible, fo that the ftill might have found refources in defpair.

41. The Anfwer at Large to Mr. P-tt's Speech. 8vo. 6d. Nicoll.

If the extracts of the speech to which this pamphlet is fupposed to be an answer (and which we have seen) are genuine, we cannot think that Mr. P.'s reasonings are invalidated by any thing advanced in the publication before us; nor do we appre hend it to be decent to revive a controverfy which has been

fettled

fettled by the legislature, after as solemn a difcuffion as any co lonial or conftitutional point ever met with in parliament.

42. A Narrative of the Tranfactions in Bengal, from the Year 1760 to 1764; during the Government of Mr. H. Vanfittart. Published by bimfelf. Large 8vo. 3 Vols. Pr. 18s. bound. Newbery.

We have been so very fuccinct in our account of the East-Indian publications, and even of that before us under another ti tle *, that we can only add here, that this re-publication feems intended for a farther vindication of the gentleman whose name is mentioned in the title-page.

43. An Ecclefiaftical Hiftory; from the Birth of Chrift, to the preJent Time. Written originally in French, by Mr. Formey, Secretary to the Academy of Sciences at Berlin. To which is added, an Appendix, giving an Account of the People called Methodifts, By the Tranflator. In II Vols. 8vo. Pr. gs. Davis and Reymers. This hiftory, which is divided into centuries, is written with candour and moderation, and comprehends as much information as can be crouded within the fize of the work. After the copious account we have given of Mofheim's Ecclefiaftical Hif tory, the reader cannot expect that we should dwell longer on this work, which, in fact, we confider as an abridgement of that author. We are forry to obferve, that the tranflation is very indifferently executed, and that the tranflator is too careless about proper names.

44. A Sermon on Matt. XXVI. Ver. 26, Delany, D. D. 4to. Pr. 6d.

27, 28. By Patrick Johnston.

The defign of this discourse is to fhew, that the doctrine of tranfubftantiation is clearly and fully confuted by the dictates of common fenfe; the unerring atteftation of the fenfes; the indubitable maxims of philofophy; the proofs of our Saviour's miracles, vouched by himself; and the words of his mouth feveral times repeated, and attested by St. Paul and the three evangelifts.

The arguments here advanced are clear and conclufive; and will be fufficient to give any well-difpofed and impartial reader complete fatisfaction on the point in question.

· 45. A very humble, earnest, and affectionate Adrrefs, to the BiShops and Clergy of this Kingdom; particularly to John Wesley, Dr. Gill, &c. &c. &c. By W. K. 8vo. Pr. 6d. Nicoll. A piece of fimple fanaticifm, not worthy of the least atteation.

THE

CRITICAL

CRITICAL REVIEW.

For the Month of May, 1766.

ARTICLE I.

Travels through France and Italy. Containing Obfervations on Cha racters, Customs, Religion, Government, Police, Commerce, Arts, and Antiquities. With a particular Description of the Town, Territory, and Climate of Nice: To which is added, a Register of the Weather, kept during a Refidence of eighteen Months in that City. By T. Smollett, M. D. In II. Vols. 8vo. Pr. 10 s. Baldwin.

THE

HE authors of the best books of travels that have appeared in England for fifty years past have generally been travelling governors, an office .refpectable in itself, and, when properly executed, of great utility to a community, as well as to literature. To the reproach of our national fenfe and dignity, this fuperintendency of a most important branch of education has of late degenerated into a scandalous commerce in huinan vanity and weakness. Every foreign domeftic, every sinatterer in the veriù, every toad-eater at a great man's table, commences travelling governor, which has brought the profeflion into fuch contempt, that it is now generally denominated bearleading.

The opportunities thofe gentlemen have of making their obfervations, or rather their collections, are too tempting to be refifted; they accordingly commence authors of travels, or, to fpeak more properly, of raree-fhew books; for our modera productions of that kind deferve no other appellation.-The pupil's allowance and the tutor's appointments are settled; the former is configned to the latter, with orders that he fhall view every thing that is worth feeing on his tour; that he shall wear fashionable cloaths, and keep the beft of company. All this is complied with, and on their return out comes a book of travels ftuffed with defcriptions of magnificent courts, fine houfes, and noble paintings, which have been defcribed twenty times VOL. XXI. May, 1766. before,

Y