Art. 25. Independence: a Poem, in Hudibraftic Verfe. Addreffed to Richard Brindley Sheridan, Efq. 4to. 2 s. Flexney. 1783. To write doggrel is not to imitate Hudibras, Not Ralpho himself would condefcend to own fuch verfes as thefe: Is not the liquor fold out cheaper, And mean, by aids and proper tything, He fhould your church and township thrive in? Turn the poor parfon out of doors, To fhew your conftant hate and grutch Art. 26. Pictures of the Heart. By John Murdoch. 2 Vol. 12mo. 5 s. fewed. Bew. 1783. Neither entitled to much cenfure, nor deferving of much praise. The merit of these pictures is of the negative kind. Some will be amufed and perhaps inftructed by them. But others will foon grow tired, and turn from them either with difguft or indifference. BOTANY. Art. 27. An Hiftorical Account of two Species of Lycoperdon, in which the Plants are accurately defcribed, and their feveral curious vegetable and animal Properties fully fet forth. Illuftrated with a Copper plate, containing many Figures, exhibiting each Species in all its most material Changes, Variations, and different Stages of Growth. By C. Bryant, Norwich. 8vo. 2s. Wilkie, &c. 1782. Mr. Bryant juftly obferves, that an accurate knowledge of fome of the more obfcure kinds of plants, particularly of the Cryptogamia class, can only be obtained by the united obfervations of many in dividuals, whofe attention is clofely directed to a particular fet of objects. As his own contribution to the stock of botanical science, the Writer has given a very minute defcription of two plants, before not well diftinguished by authors, the Lycoperdon ftellatum, and the Lycoperdon fornicatum of Hudfon. They who intereft themselves in thefe kinds of enquiries, will doubtless be gratified by a detail, which appears to be very accurate, though perhaps rather too long for the importance of the fubject. SCHOOL-BOOK Art. 28. Fables in Monofyllables, by Mrs. Teach well. To which are added, Morals, in Dialogues between a Mother and Children. 12mo. 28. Marshall, Art. 29. Fables, by Mrs. Teachwell: in which the Morals are drawn in various Ways. Izmo. 1 s. 6d. Marmall. Though we do not wish that children fhould be wholly precluded from the entertainment which they find in fables, we apprehend that there are certain characters of this kind of writing, fo effential to its merit and utility, that they ought not on any account to be difpenfed with. Thefe are, confiftency in the characters; variety in the incidents; vivacity in the expreffion; and brevity in the application. In all thefe qualities, Mrs. Teachwell's Fables are exceedingly deficient. -It is, to be fure, a very good thing for children to learn to do as they are bid: but it will not be eafy to teach them this leffon, by fuppofing any thing fo unnatural, as that a hen fhould ftay in an open coop, becaufe fhe was bid to do fo by thofe who knew beft what was fit for her. The number of fables is very fmall, and feveral of them have the fame moral. The fables of the first book are repeated, in different words, in the fecond and the whole is tediously fpun out, by feveral long dialogues, to explain the Morals, and to let the child into the fecret, that the animals do not really fpeak to one another, but that the teacher is playing with her fcholar at make-believe.Thus does the prologue"-according to rule-" say, or seem to fay : "Know ye that I, one Snug the joiner, am No lion fell, nor else no lion's dam." MISCELLANEO U S. Art. 30. London's Gratitude: or an Account of fuch Pieces of Sculpture and Painting as have been placed in Guildhall, at the Expence of the City of London. To which is added, a List of thofe diftinguished Perfons to whom the Freedom of the City hath. been prefented for public Services, fince the Year MDCCLVIII. With Engravings and Sculpture. 8vo. 18. Dilly. 1783. This collection is made up of the history of monuments, paintings, and gold boxes-in a nut-fhell!! We have here a motley group of real patriots and noify pretenders to that venerable title :-of thofe who were interested in their country's welfare, and thofe who fattened on its fpoils. Art. 31. Biographia Evangelica: Or an hiftorical Account of the Lives and Deaths of the most eminent and evangelical Authors or Preachers, both British and foreign, in the feveral Denominations of Proteftants, from the beginning of the Reformation to the prefent Time. Vol. II. By the Rev. Erafmus Middleton, Lecturer of St. Bennett's, Gracechurch-Street, and of St. Heien's, BishopfgateAtreet. 8vo. 6s. 6d. Hogg. For an account of the former volume, and of the work in general, we refer our readers to the fixty fecond volume of our Review, p. 250. The lives here related are as follow, Calvin, Pellican, Brown, Bugenhagius, Marloratus, Mufculus, Bale, Farel, Coverdale, Jewel, Knox, Bullinger, Parker, Viret, Deering, Cox, Gilpin, Grindal, Fox, Sandys, Fulke, Zanchius, Andreas, Cooper, Whitaker, Rollock, Hooker, J. Holland, Nowel, Junius, Perkins, Cartwright, Whitgift, Beza, J. Rainolds, T. Holland, Field, R, Abbot, J. J. Grynæus, Cowper, 8 Willet, Willet, Adam, Paræus, Welch, Pifcator, Andrews, Mornay, Hofpinian, Stock, Rothwell, Carleton, Pretion, Matthew, James. Benefield, Donne. Thefe lives cannot fail of furnishing fome entertainment and inftruction. The perfons to whom they relate were moft, if not all of them, confiderable and eminent in their.day: the circumstances of the times in which they lived alfo contributed to render them diflinguished. The accounts here given of them are tolerably drawn; though fome are fuperior to others, as particularly the life of Bernard Gilpin, which is an abridgment of the volume fo well written and published a few years ago by a gentleman of his name, and a defcendant of the family, In the life of Calvin we fhould have expected that a proteftant writer would not have paffed over the affair of Servetus, without entering his protest against the treatment he met with. Calvin was undoubtedly in many refpects a great, learned, and ufeful Reformer; but his conduc in being acceffary to the condemnation of a man to death for mere opinions, however extravagant they might be deemed, was totally unworthy of a CHRISTIAN, and must be regarded as arrogant prefumption and extreme inhumanity. The principles of liberty, civil and religious, have happily, in thefe later times, been better underfood than in fome ages paft, and the fpirit of Christianity, in this refpect, we truft is more regarded; but the life of Calvin, confiderable as he was, can furely never be related without cenfure and pity, fo far as relates to the affair of Servetus. This author profeffes to give the lives of thofe whom he terms evangelical; if by this word he means those who made divine revelation their study and their rule, we object not: but if he intends by it thofe who explained the Scriptures, or professed their own faith, merely in agreement with some particular human creeds or articles, we think it implies a very narrow and exceptionable view of the fubject. However, we fhall take our leave of the writer, and his performance, by recommending it to his readers ever to remember, that whatever efteem they may have' for the characters here prefented, or whatever compaffion for the difficulties they encountered, they are not from hence to conclude, that all the fentiments thofe good men efpoufed are strictly juft and true (as particularly in relation to the nine articles on predestination, commonly called the Lambeth articles, and related at length in the life of Whitaker); but to bear it conftantly in mind that the SCRIPTURES are the only certain and fufficient rule. Art. 32. A Full and Genuine Account of the Revolution in the Kingdom of Sweden, which happened on the 19th day of August, 1772: with the Speech of his Swedish Majefty, the new form of Govern-" ment, and other remarkable Circumftances connected with that Event: To which is added, Facts concerning the Extent, Power, Government, Religion, Literature, and Manners of the Swedish Nation. By J. R. Sheridan, Efq. 12mo. 3s. Fielding. In the year 1778, a very refpectable work was published, under the title of, A Hiftory of the late Revolution in Sweden, by Charles Francis Sheridan, Esq. of Lincoln's Inn, and Secretary to the British Envoy in Sweden at the Time of th Revolution;' of which we gave, our opinion at large in our Review, Vol. 59, p. 58. Notwithstanding this publication, which bore every mark of authenticity in the narrative, and hiftorical ability in the writer, J. R. She ridan, Efq. here takes upon him to fay, that nothing has hitherto been published, from which any adequate idea can be formed of the change of government which was fo lately effected in Sweden. Who this J. R. Sheridan, Efq. is, or whether he belongs to the class of real beings, or to that order of ideal exiflences, which have a name, but no local habitation-an induftrious race, to whom the public has been indebted for many a huge and cumbrous volume-we prefume not to fay, but the work itself gives us fufficient authority to affert, that the reader will be difappointed, if he expects from it all that the Title-page promifes. The book contains, a Tranflation of a letter on this Revolution, by the Abbé Micheleffi, which has in it more of declamation in favour of abfolute monarchy, than of narrative, afferting, among other. things of the fame kind, that a good king is more valuable than the best laws.The King's Speech on the 21st Aug. 1772, already published, with feveral others, in Sheridan's history.-A translation of the form of government enacted by the king and ftates of Sweden, and of Profeffor Lagerbring's account of the diet then held at Stockholm, and a very brief view of Sweden, fuch as may be found in any book. of geography. Art. 33. De Græca Lingua ftudio Prælectio habita in Schola Linguarum, Oxon, 111 Non Dec. A. D. MDCCLXXXII. A Johanne Randolph, S. T. B. Edis Chrifti alumno, & Grace Lingue Profeffore Regio. 4to. Is. Rivington. This Oration on the study of the Greek language, was delivered by Mr. Randolph, at Oxford, on the 3d of December 1782, when he took the chair as Greek Profeffor. He fets out with informing us, that foon after the revival of letters in Europe, the literature of Greece became an object of attention in this country, where the learned Erafmus fixed his abode, and profe. cuted his ftudies. But however eagerly this language has been cultivated, and however profoundly its various departments have been invefligated, it is our Author's opinion, that much fill remains to be accomplished. The origin and conformation of the Greek tongue are little underflood, and the avenues to this part of knowledge are dark and obfcure. With refpect to analogy, however, the road is cf eafier access. Mr. R. then points out fome errors of the Greek grammarians, which demand. correction; and proceeds with recommending to the learned, the fragments of the ancient Greek writers, as affording materials for ample collections. The history of Grecian poetry lies almost neglected, and the remains of many a first-rate poet exift only in quotations, and are scattered through the whole fyftem of Grecian literature. Thefe fhould be collected, he fays; particularly the fragments of the Lyric poets, the writers of Tragedy, and of the middle and new Comedy. Grotius in his Excerpta, and Le Clerke in his Edition of Menander and Philemon, afford us fpecimens of what we might expect from fuch collec tions. After thefe the ancient Greek philofophers, and particularly the Pythagoreans deserve attention. We hope this advice will be purfued-but the profecution of his plan will be attended with great labour, and with much difficulty. The remains of Menander and Philemon, were published by Le Clerke, in very careless manner; Bentley indeed has proved that he was unequal to fuch a task, although he poffeffed very extensive knowledge, and very great learning. To render any one capable of forming a collection of the fragments of the Tragic and Comic writers, with credit to himself, and with advantage to men of letters, he fhould posfefs an intimate acquaintance with all the Greek writers, joined to au accurate knowledge of the res metrica, and of the minuter parts of the language. All the customs of the ancients, particulary the modes of life and domestic manners of the Athenians, fhould be familiar to him; his judgment fhould be cool, and his tafte elegant and correct. Such characters, however, are very rare; and indeed we almost defpair of ever feeing the fragments of the ancient stage collected into One work. Art. 34. Thoughts on Female Education, with Advice to Young Mrs. Howard offers much good advice to her fcholars, to which we hope they will profitably attend. Art. 35. Faithful Copies of all the Letters that have appeared in the General Advertiser, under the Signatures of SCOURGE and W. BENNETT, Camberwell; and relate to the Tranfactions of the Commiffioners of Victualling, and Chriftopher Arkinfon, Efq. their Cornfactor, in the supplying Government with Wheat, Malt, &c. 8vo. Is. 6d. Debret. Thefe are the letters referred to in the trial of Mr. Atkinfon: See the Articles under the divifion of Law, in p. 348 of this month's Catalogue. Art. 36. Letters from a Celebrated Nobleman to his Heir. Never before printed. 12mo, 2s. 6d. fewed. Bowen. 1783. This piece is given as a fupplement to a late publication called The Art of Pleafing, which, though it pretended to rescue fome valuable papers of the Earl of Chefterfield from the difgrace of remaining in the obfcure and perishable receptacle of a Country Magazine, in reality copied them verbatim from an elegant quarto volume published in 1778. The prefent Editor, in giving thefe fcraps as a fupplement to that work, collected from the fame farrago of rough papers, among which thofe letters were found, lays himself open to a violent fufpicion that he alfo is a pretender. This fufpicion is encreased by a copy of verses, in praife of Lord Chesterfield, prefixed to this piece, which is also faid to have been found among other loofe papers; for it is not very likely that Lord Chesterfield fhould write verfes in praife of himfelf. But it is not worth while to enquire into the genuineness of a publication, which, as far as it is new, is too trifling to merit a moment's attention. Art. 37. Sketch of a Tour into Derbyshire and Yorkshire, including Part of Buckingham, Warwick, Leicester, Nottingham, Northamp ton, Bedford. and Hertford Shires. By William Bray, F. A. S. The Second Edition. 8vo. 6s. boards. White. 1783. Having already expreffed our approbation of this work in its origi nal form, and made our Readers acquainted with the kind of inform $ See Rev, vol. 58. page 207. |