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glare in his colouring.-In a word, without metaphor, he writes in raptures, fo long continued, that we grow weary of them, and are quite difgufted with an eternal round and repetition of flowery epithets, and poetic imagery. There is no end of his admiration. Every fresh object, every fucceeding fcene, throws him into new extafies; and there is fcarce a page in which we do not meet with occafion to wish that he had procured fome friendly and judicious hand to lop off the exuberances of his pen, before he sent his work to the prefs. Had that been done, his performance might have been freed from the North British idioms, and English vulgarifms †, with which it is frequently difgraced: and which appear the more extraordinary, as the Author is by no means deftitute of learning.-We fuppofe he is fome young writer, who, in common with many juvenile fcriblers, is fond of a luxuriant ftyle, and imagines his diction cannot be too brilliant. Like the Bristol privateer-boy, in the last war, who, on the capture of a French fhip, became poffeffed of a rich embroidered waiftcoat; he determined to wear it himself, when ahore, and having obtained, likewife, fome gold lace, he would

Among these we notice the following inftance, because it frequently occurs among even the more refpectable Scotch writers: fpeaking of Maiden Caftle, this Writer fays, The Roman road has led immediately through it; it forms a fquare, and has been built of ftone;' from which a plain English reader might be led to infer that this ftructure was heretofore built with ftone, though it now confifts of brick, or wood; nor are we fure that this is not our Author's meaning: yet the contrary is probable from his ufe of the fame mode of expreffion, in other places, where we find the fenfe, or nonfenfe, better afcertained. For instance, p. 36, This armour is preferved with great attention, as having been worn by the last Earl of Westmoreland, who has been a man of very small ftature.' Here the matter of fact is put out of all doubt; unlefs, indeed, we fuppofe that his Lordship of Westmoreland left off his armorial cafing, and grew bigger, after he found his limbs more at liberty to stretch and expand themselves.

↑ Here we often meet with laid, for lay;- Temple Sowerby laid alfo in our way.' A beautiful canal, margined with fhrubs, laid fpreading to the right.' Beneath us laid a plain of about three miles. Such language fhould be left to the chambermaids of inns, and the people who carry accounts of robberies, and accidents, to the news-papers.

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We here, too, meet with fingularities of expreffion to which neither England, nor Scotland, we believe, will lay claim: Here we met with the utmost civility, every one we addreft fhewing themfelves ready to give us all the information in their power-' p. 51. And in p. 20, we are informed that the meadows near Brough are kept in good order, and very wealthy.' The foil, we conclude, is here rich; and it is probable that, in confequence of this favourable circumftance, the owners of it are wealthy: and, as lovers of our country, we have no objection to the intelligence, however improper the terms in which it is conveyed.

needs

needs have it fewed on the embroidery: fuppofing his waistcoat could not poffibly be too fine.

Time, and experience, however, feldom fail to convince thefe eager and flowery writers, of the fuperiority of a more chasised and plainer manner; and that even defcription itself, picturesque as it ought to be, may be over-loaded with ornaments.

Although we have cenfured this piece, on account of the redundance, incorrectnefs, and luxuriancy of the Author's language, we readily admit that it abounds with well-written paffages; and that it contains fome very animated and pleafing defcriptions.

BOTAN Y.

Art. 27. HORTI MALABARICI pars prima, de varii generis Arboribus et Fruticibus Siliquofis; Latinis, Malabaricis, Arabicis, Brachmanam characteribus nominibufque expreffis, adje&a florum, fructuum, feminumque vera delineatione, colorum viriumque accurata defcriptione, adornata per nobiliffimum ac generofiffimum D. D. HENRICUM VAN RHEDE TOT DRAAKESTEIN, Toparcham in Mydrecht, quondam Malabarici Regni Gubernatorem, Supremi Confeffus apud Indos Belgas Senatorem Extraordinarium, nunc vero Equeftris or dinis nomine illuftribus ac præpotentibus provinciæ Ultraje&ina proceribus adfcriptum, et THEODORUM JANSON, AB Almeloveen, M. D. Notis auxit, et Commentariis illuftravit JOANNES COMENunc primum Claffium, Generum, et Spicierum characteres LINNEANAS; Synonyma Authorum, atque Obfervationes addidit; et Indice Linneano adauxit JOHANNES HILL, M. D. Academia Imperialis Nature Curioforum Diofcorides quartus. 4to. Il. I S. Bell, &c.

LINUS.

1774.

The Hortus Malabaricus is the first botanical work, in point of reputation, that ever appeared in print before the Linnæan reformation of Botany; and from its scarcity, and high price, there is no queftion but Dr. Hill's edition of it will be acceptable to the lovers of this fcience; exclufive of the confideration due to the improvements above-mentioned. -The high value in which the original has been held, arofe, in a great meafure, from its authenticity and accuracy; the drawings having been all exactly traced from the natural fpecimens and thofe very fpecimens are still preferved in the British Mufeum.

Dr. Hill advertises fome copies coloured, at the price of three guineas. We have not feen any of them; and we are at a lofs to conceive how the ingenious Doctor could venture to try the experi ment upon the Public, as, we apprehend, that he can have no better authority for it than the verbal defcriptions of the plants, &c. given in the original no copies of which (that we have heard of) were ever attempted to be coloured.

POETICAL.

Art. 28. A Tranflation of Part of the Twenty-third Canto of the Orlando Furiojo of Ariosto. 4to. 1 s. 6d. Almon. 1774 This is published as a fpecimen, of an intended tranflation of the whole poem. It comes, in our opinion, under the character of mediocrity, but is unequal. It is accompanied with an elegy on the death of Lord Bottetourt, late Governor of Virginia, which has not much merit.

Art

Art. 29. The Fox; an Elegiac Poem: facred to the Memory of a late Right H-ble Perfonage. 8vo. 6d. Snagg. 1774. Pope declared that

While he liv'd, no rich or noble knave

Should walk in peace and quiet to his grave.

Here is a rhimefer (no Pope though) who goes farther; and feems refolved to fuffer none of our great culprits to fleep in peace and quiet in their graves: nor, truly, would it be poffible for them to do fo, if they could hear the wretched fcratching and grating of fuch untunable lyres as this, which is ftrummed to abuse the memory, and the two fons, of the late Lord Holland.

Art. 30. Selecta Poemata, Anglorum Latina, feu fparfim edita, feu hactenus inedita. Select Latin Poems, by English Authors. Collected from a Variety of fcattered Publications and MSS, by Edward Popham, late Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.

2 Vols. 6 s. féwed. Dodfley.

12mo.

The great defect of this entertaining collection is the frequent omiffion of the Author's names. It is impoffible to read the following verfes, and not be defirous to know by whom they were written. The Editor has given the address, In Somnum; it should have been AD SOM NU M.

Somne levis, quanquam certiffima mortis imago,
Confortem cupio te tamen effe tori;

Alma quies, optata veni; nam fic fine vita

Vivere quam fuave eft! fic fine morte mori!

We wish to be informed, by any of our learned Corgefpondents, who was the Author of thefe moft beautiful lines.

RELIGIOUS,

Art. 31. Inflitutes of Natural and Revealed Religion. Vol. III *. Containing a View of the Doctrines of Revelation. By Jofeph Priestley, LL. D. F. R. S. 12mo. 2 s. 6 d. fewed. Johufon.

1774.

This third volume of Dr. Priefiley's Infitutes appears to be admi rably calculated to anfwer his original defigr, viz. the inftruction of youth. The Doctor has fhewn great judgment in not touching upon many fubjects that have been controverted; and in the difcution of thofe which he could not poffibly omit, he has contented himself, for the most part, with relating what appeared to him to be the genuine doctrines of revelation, without intimating that there has ever beca any controverfy upon the fubject.

In his preface he makes fome general remarks upon what Dr. Reid, Dr. Beattie, and Dr. Ofwald have advanced concerning the doctrines and evidences of religion.-But a full examination of what thefe authors have faid is, we are told, ready for publication.

DRAMATIC.

Art. 32. The Parthian Exile; a Tragedy: As performed feve ral Times at Coventry and Worcester. By G. Downing, Comedian. Evo. 1 s. 6d. Robinson. 1774.

We are extremely glad that Mr. Downing can pleafe the good folks at Coventry and Worcester; we would not advife him, however, See Review for May 1772, and November 1773.

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to truft his innocent country mufe within the purlieus of CoventGarden or Drury-Lane.

Art. 33. The Waterman; or, the First of Auguft: a Ballad Opera, in Two Acts. As it is performed at the Theatre-Royal in the Haymarket. 8vo. I s. Becket. 1774.

There is a certain enjouement in these ballad farces, which generally fecures them a welcome reception at our theatres. Mr. Dibdin has a knack at ftriking off these little merry things; and the Waterman is not the worst entertainment of the kind that hath been produced fince the author of Love in a Village revived the tafte for this fpecies of dramatic exhibition.

SERMONS.

1. The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners, explained, illuftrated, and proved, in a Sermon upon Romans iii. 19. by Jonathan Edwards, A. M. late Prefident of New-Jersey College, New-England. Revised and corrected by C. de Coetlegon, A. M. Bofton printed; London reprinted. 8vo. 6d. Buckland, &c.

The late Paul Lewis, the Macheath of his day, having attended the preaching of one of the Moorfields' divines, to a congregation of prifoners in Clerkenwell jail, declared it was A Hell-fire good

fermon.'

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Mr. Edwards's hearers might with fomewhat more propriety have pronounced the difcourfe before us "A good Hell fire fermon."But, fentiment apart, fuch licentious expreffions must be left to the Choice Spirits of the Age.

While Chriftians of fo many different perfuafions all appeal to holy writ for the juftification of their opinions, a man may find shelter in any controverted point, and let him ftrive ever fo zealously to be orthodox, he will hardly gain the credit of it from more than one clafs. Under a fenfe of this experienced fact, we may take the liberty to lament that fo many ferious good people should think they do God fervice by reprefenting his claims of justice in fuch dreadful terms, and then reproaching his creatures for not loving rather than fearing fuch an inexorable being! Inftead of making the yoke of Chrift eafy and his burden light, according to his exprefs declaration, they delight in working up his doctrine into riddles and paradoxes, that the ability of folving and reconciling them may be the teft of genuine piety!

If ever there was a railing accufation brought against an affembly of Chriftians, it was this of Mr. Jonathan Edwards, who we believe to be nevertheless a pious paftor, according to the old puritanical leaven, which has fo thoroughly fpread over English America. But doctrines of this complexion totally deftroy all general diftinctions; and had this fermon been preached in the chapel of a prifon filled with the most abandoned mifcreants that were ever fentenced to the gallows by a court of juftice, the preacher could not have ftigmatized and vilified them more than he has, we would charitably hope, a congregation of well-difpofed Christians. The fermon is really a curious fyftem of pious abufe; but perhaps Mr. Edwards found his hearers pleafed with this kind of fcolding, and fo indulged them

from

from mere kindness: and if fuch difcourfes are fuitable to their taste and apprehenfions, no one has a right to interfere between him and his flock. Poffibly it is with the Boltonians, as with Parfon old women: "they love to be damned."

II. The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity justified; in a Difcourfe preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London, June 2, 1774, at the Lecture founded by the late worthy Lady Moyer. With occafional Remarks on the Preacher's firft Sermon in EflexHoufe, &c. No Author, nor Publisher, specified.

Although Mr. Lindsey, and the Unitarians in general, are fourriloufly and grofsly treated in this flaming piece of orthodoxy, we are glad to find that the Author is not totally loft to all fenfe of decorum: That, after his difcourfe was fent to the prefs, he had a return of that modefty which had left him when it was preached, is evident from the fuppreffion of his name; and we will, therefore, in charity to a repenting finner, fave him from the disgrace of seeing it, on this occafion, introduced into our Review.

III. Preached at the Confecration of the Parish Church of St. Andrew, in the City of Canterbury, July 4, 1774. With an Appendix. By John Duncombe, M. A. Rector of that Parish, Vicar of Hearne, Chaplain to the Lord Archbishop, and one of the Six Preachers in the Cathedral. 4to. I S. Law.

In the Appendix to this fermon, Mr. Duncombe has described the monuments, &c. in the late church of St. Andrew, in Canterbury, which may be of ufe to any future compiler of the life of the celebrated Dean Swift, whose anceflors were buried there; and of whom Mr. D. has given various particulars.

IV. The Captain of Salvation: Preached on Christmas Day, 1773, at St. Sepulchre, near Newgate-ftreet, for the Benefit of the Children belonging to St. Ethelburga Society. By the Rev. Henry Peckwell, M. A. late of Edmund Hall, Oxford; and Chaplain to the Marchioness Dowager of Lothian. 8vo. 6d. Dilly, &c. V. Genuine Patrictifm-Preached before the Gentlemen who fupport the Lord's Day Morning Lecture at Little St. Helen's, Bithopigateftreet, June 12, 1774. By George Stephen, A. M. 8vo. 6d. Buckland.

VI. At the Old Jewry, July 10, 1774, on the Death of the Rev. Thomas Amory, D. D. who died June 24, in his 74th Year. By R. Flexman, D. D. To which are added, the Addrefs at his Interment, by N. White; and a Catalogue of his Writings. 8vo. 1 s. Buckland.

IN

CORRESPONDENCE.

N compliance with the request contained in a letter addreffed to us from Leyden, and figned C. Van Engelen, we willingly infert the fubftance of the Programma fent to us by the Low-Dutch Literary Society established at that place, and the question contained in it, which they have propofed for the fubject of their annual prize; confifling of a gold medal of 150 guilders, to be given in the year 1775.

The

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