Call'd every object to atteft my moanThen fought my native rocks, and wept alone; In juftice, gods! deferted in her turn, An equal lofs let perjur'd Helen mourn!' We do not much admire atteft my moan- -All the reft is animated and poetical. If this gentleman proceeds with the Epiftles, we would advise him to read over the original very carefully, and adhere to it as closely as poffible.

Epifile to Sir John Dalrymple, Baronet. 4to. Is.

A complimentary poem, written in honour of fir John Dalrymple, by a young Scotchman, who has taken care to inform us (we fuppofe by way of excufe for his bad verses) that he is but three and twenty: if he had fhewn us this Epiftle before publication, we should have whispered in his ear the Roman bard's excellent advice of

Nonum prematur in annun.

It might then, poffibly, have been more worthy of himself and his Mæcenas. In the present state of the poem, we cannot fay much in its commendation. In answer to the plea concerning his age, our author will be pleased to remember, that Pope wrote his Effay on Criticism when he was but twenty.Amongst many other ftrange obfervations in this performance, we meet with the following:

young

• 'Tis odd in rhyme that twenty fhou'd excell
For one hiftorian that compofes well,

The fact no man of learning will deny.'

This, however, is not altogether fo clear as our author, feems to think it excellence is as feldom attained in poetry as in history twenty very good poets are not eafily found; and the author of this Epiftle, may, perhaps, never be of the number; though he tells us,

That Homer fhews us how to live and die;
That Fingal's tale is ftudied in the Sky.'

What he means by Fingal's tale being ftudied in the sky, we cannot comprehend; nor do we remember that Homer, though he might teach his readers a great many things, was ever confidered as a moral writer, like Addifon, teaching men to live, like our Taylor or Sherlock, teaching them to die but or, this may be one of Homer's perfections which we never yet had fagacity enough to difcover. Speaking of hiftorians, this gentleman fays:

The hireling of the Walpole of the day,

Who one bold truth-nor fays, nor dares to fay,
Who never ventur'd on one Spartan thought,
Whofe quill and confcience by the lump are bought,

:

All,

All, at the fecond page, indignant drop,
And with him in the galleys or a rope.'

To condemn a man to the gallies, or, according to this elegant mode of expreffion, to with him in a rope, because we do not admire his hiftory, is rather cruel; the hiftorian might with equal juftice inflict the fame punishment on our poet for his bad rhymes of drop and rope, own and crown, roam and tomb, climb and dim, &c. &c. which occur in this Epiftle.

After comparing Plutarch and Dalrymple, our author fays;
In thee we trace the biographic fage,
His native beauties bloffom in thy page.
When offer'd empire, William, in reply,
Reminds his uncle, that the brave can die;
And, when half buried in an Irish fen,
The monarch drinks cold water with his men ;
His greatnefs, rather than his cause, endears,
And those who can bestow them, are in tears.'

To imitate those whom we praise and admire, is certainly the highest compliment which we can pay them; this young gentleman might, therefore, think that a panegyric on a profewriter, though in verfe, could not be too profaic; he defcends, for that reafon, to the familiar, and tells us plainly that

The monarch drank cold water with his men.'

And, for the very fame reason, that he may accommodate his ftyle to the perfon of whom he speaks, he acquaints us that each low wretch the dart of scandal flings,

เ

And Squirts his venom at the first of kings.'

This low wretch, we fee, is doubly armed against the poor king, he first flings his dart, and then Squirts his venom at him.-A little farther on in the poem he affures us that

Whatever praife is due to thofe who write,
Superior praife is due to those who fight.'

This is another affertion that founds rather problematical; Milton was, perhaps, as great a man as Wolfe.

Though while Canada trembled and admir'd,
Wolfe, like the Theban, conquer'd and expir'd.'

Here Canada, by a new poetical licence, is called Canada; we wonder that, after the words,

6

he did not add :

Canada trembled and admir'd'

And Quebec all his martial ardour fir'd.'

He tells us afterwards, what we very well knew before,

What

♦ What fame at Cambden brave Cornwallis won,
And how Monro completes what Clive begun ;
How from an army's heart was Maitland torn,
How Frafer fell for Britons yet unborn;
How gen'rous Campbell paid a foldier's debt,
And shew'd the mercy which he had not met.'

We fuppofe he means met with.-Of fuch couplets as thefa confifts the whole poem: by which our readers will learn what they have to expect from it; and that, to conclude, in our author's own words, fee page 9,

While fenfe and knowlege in his trammels creep,
The reader pities them, and falls afleep.'

POLITICAL.

Authentic Rebel Papers, feized at St. Euftatius, 1781. 4to. Is.

Lambert.

The valuable prizes taken in the port of St. Eustatius have not more enriched the captors, than the letters intercepted in that ifland have afforded useful information to government. The first of these letters, dated at Edentown, in North Carolina, and addreffed to Mr. Beaumarchais at Paris, exhibits, in the strongest colours, not only the deplorable ftate of the rebel provinces in America, but the avarice, the duplicity, and perfidious policy, of the French court. Other letters are fubjoined, containing a fimilar reprefentation of the diftreffes of the province of Virginia in particular. We are informed, that papers were also found, which discovered the fecret treafons of men in this country, whofe fortunes and fituations render their guilt more atrocious. If fuch criminals should be allowed to escape with impunity, it is to be hoped at least, that the dread arifing from their detection, will deter them henceforth from thofe practices. The beft effects may therefore be expected, from this fortunate difcovery of French politics, and of our domeftic enemies.

DIVINITY.

The Evangelical Believer's Confeffion of the Son of God; or Chrift acknowledged in the Ordinances of the Gefpel. By John Johnson. 8vo. 15. 6d, Law.

6

The author explains what he means by the evangelical believer's confeffion of the Son of God;' and then proceeds to point out what he fuppofes to be the fpiritual intention of the following ordinances, baptifm, the Lord's fupper, laying on of hands, hearing the word of truth, prayer, praife, fafting, and keeping

the fabbath.

In the preface he declares, that he is neither a myftic, a Calvinift, nor an Arminian. The first, he fays, under pretence of fpiritualizing, turns the word of God into fancy and conjecture.' The fecond mixes the glorious truth of the Gofpel

I

with

with the doctrines of men, and the feductions of devils.' The third is a ftranger to the riches of divine grace.' In fhort, he tells us, 'the time is come, when men will not endure found doctrine:' which is a strong intimation, that found doctrine is only to be found in this tract. Of what perfuafion then, the reader will afk, is the author? we anfwer, a baptift; a little opinionated, as we have obferved, but evidently actuated by a serious and devout fenfe of religion, and, in many respects, a rational believer.

Fifty-fix Forms of Morning and Evening Prayers, for the Use of Chriftian Families, &c. Svo. 45. Johnson.

Rational forms of devotion, expreffed in clear and unaffected language.

Evangelical Sermons. By Thomas Adam. 8vo. 6s. Buckland.

By the title, Evangelical Sermons, the difcerning reader will at once perceive, what theological fyftem this writer has adopted. His difcourfes however are full of pious inftruction and affectionate advice to his parishioners, delivered in plain and familiar language, on the Fall of Man, the Damnableness of Sin, Faith in Chrift, the Renunciation of our own Righteousness, a New Birth, and other fimilar subjects.

A devout Soldier. A Sermon, preached before the North Battalion of Gloucestershire Militia, encamped on Roborough Down, near Plymouth, August 5, 1781. By the Rev. Rob. Hawker. 4to. IS. Law.

The author has chofen for his text these few, but expreffive words: " A DEVOUT SOLDIER.' Acts x. 7. from which he takes occafion to fhew, that devotion, far from being incompatible with the most independent ideas of the army, on the contrary, is a principle every way expedient to the perfection of a military character; and that in every point of view, in which it can be confidered, whether imparting dignity to the profeffion, fteadinefs to virtuous actions, giving ftrength to the arm, or infpiring the mind with fortitude, a devout foldier is a diftinction of character worthy of the highest emulation.'

This is an excellent difcourfe, recommending a steady and manly piety, without the leaft tincture of fanaticifm.-The author might have mentioned the conduct of Henry V. before the battle of Agincourt, with great propriety. The king's devotion contributed, perhaps not a little, to that heroic ardour, with which his foldiers fought, and obtained the most extraordinary victory recorded in the English hiftory.

Sermon preached before the Guardians and Governors of the Afylum, May. 19, 1781. By S. Glaffe, D. D. 8vo. 6d. Rivington.

In this difcourfe the author applies thefe words, I was a franger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me,' to the rphans at the afylum. From thence he takes occafion, in the

ufual

ufual ftrain of charity fermons, to fet forth the excellence of the inftitution, the piety and benevolence of the founders and benefactors, and the duty of the children, who enjoy the benefit of fuch a happy establishment.

CONTROVERSIAL.

A fcriptural Refutation of the Arguments for Polygamy, advanced in a Treatife entitled Thelyphthora. By T. Haweis, LL.B. Rector of All Saints, Aldwinckle, Northamptonfhire. Sve. 15. 6d. Dilly..

We remember the time, when the rector of Aldwinckle had no objections to the orthodoxy of Mr. Madan's decifions. But the cafe is altered: the wife and refpectable counsellor is now become a backflider; and his notions, instead of being the dictates of piety, and a fuperior understanding, are the reveries of a difordered head, or the more pitiable delusions of a disordered heart,' Pref. p. ix.

Mr. Haweis's maxim, we fuppofe, on this occafion is, Amicus Plato, fed magis amica veritas.' He therefore attacks the doctrine of Thelyphthora with a pious indignation; and, as we have juft obferved, aims fome oblique ftrokes at the head and the heart of the author.

In the profecution of this defign he examines all the paffages, relating to the fubject, in the Old and New Teftament; and proves, in a very plain and fatisfactory manner, without any verbal criticisms, that the doctrine of polygamy has no foundation in fcripture.

MISCELLANEOUS. Lingua Hebraicæ Studium Juventuti Academiæ commendatum, Oratione Oxonii habita in Schola Linguarum xvi Kalend. Decemb. A. D. 1780. A Georgio Jubb, S. T. P. Lingue Hebraica Profeffore Regio Edis Chrifti Canonico. 4to. 15. 6d. T. Payne. The Hebrew feems to be the parent of moft languages in the world. But as the likeness of men of the fame family is lefs in a lateral and remote, than in a lineal and near defcent, the veftigia of the original language, in very diftant removes, are not eafily discoverable. The Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, &c. are only fo many dialects of the Hebrew. The radical words are almoft the fame in all of them. A great part of the Greek language is evidently derived from the oriental dialects. The alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and the other letters of the Greek alphabet, are the aleph, beth, gimel, daleth, &c. of the Hebrews. The Latin and all the modern languages of Europe are derived from the fame fource. Grammatica, fays Roger Bacon, in linguâ Latinorum tracta eft à Græco & Hebræo *.

Upon thefe principles alone the knowlege of the Hebrew is of the greatest utility in the ftudy of languages, the compilation of dictionaries, the etymological investigation of words, &c.