PUBLISHED BY JONES AND COMPANY, 3, ACTON PLACE, KINGSLAND ROAD, LONDON. In Weekly Nos. price 6d. or Parts, 1s. each, beautifully and closely printed, in a clear, bold type, double columns, 8vo, on fine vellum paper, hotpressed, and offering IMMENSE ADVANTAGE, in point of CHEAPNESS, over other Editions: The Modern Poets of Great Britain : Comprising the Whole of some, and Select Works of other of the most The whole forming one elegant Library Volume, uniting Taste, Utility,. and Economy. Uniform with, and forming part of, the above Elegant Series, in 32 Weekly Nos. price 6d. or 16 Parts, 1s. each. embellished with a beautiful Portrait, &c. by Heath, THE COMPLETE DRAMATIC WORKS OF SHAKSPEARE, Printed from the Text of Johnson, Stevens, and Reed: with Glossarial Notes, his Life, and a Critique on his Genius and Writings, By Nicholas Rowe, Esq. The above forms a most Elegant, Single, Library Volume; uniting convenience for reference and portability, with typographical beauty and unparalleled cheapness.-The Type, cast expressly for the Work, is of a peculiar bold face, so as to be read with pleasure, and without fatiguing the eye. UNIFORM WITH, AND INTENDED AS A COMPANION TO, JONES'S SHAKSPEARE. In Weekly Numbers, price 6d. or Parts, 1s. each, beautifully printed in double columns, 8vo. on the finest vellum paper, hotpressed, [Most Numbers containing a Tragedy, Comedy, and Farce, for Sixpence !!!] THE DRAMA, OR NEW BRITISH THEATRE. Being a choice Collection of the most esteemed TRAGEDIES, COMEDIES and FARCES, and embracing the Select Dramatic Works of the following celebrated The whole correctly given as performed at the Theatres Royal, and REGULATED FROM THE PROMPT BOOKS, by Permission of the Managers; with CRITICAL REMARKS On each Piece. When it is recollected that the usual published price of the Commonest Edition of a Play is Sixpence, and that most of these Numbers will contain THREE, viz. a TRAGEDY, COMEDY, and FARCE, FOR SIXPENCE the UNPARALLELED CHEAPNESS of the SERIES must be obvious. 2 TO THE CURIOUS. The smallest and most beautiful Specimen of Miniature Publications ever printed; or THE DIAMOND POETS, Comprising the Poetical Works of MILTON, YOUNG, GOLDSMITH, THOMSON, COWPER, FALCONER, AKENSIDE, COLLINS, SOMERVILE, GRAY, &c. in Nos. at 6d. or each Author complete, in boards, viz. Young, 3s. 6d.-Milton, 2 vols. 68. 6d. and others in proportion. Hume and Smollett's England. Containing word for word the same as the original 8vo. Edition, in 13 volumes, published at £5: 4s. Complete in TWO Elegant 8vo. Library Volumes, embellished with fine Engravings, for TWENTY-EIGHT SHILLINGS! being a SAVING of FOUR-FIFTHS!! "Who would be without the History of their Country!" Franklin. To be completed in 56 Weekly Numbers at Sixpence, or 28 Parts at One Shilling each, THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, FROM THE INVASION OF JULIUS CÆSAR TO THE REVOLUTION IN 1688, WITH A CONTINUATION TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE II. Embellished with Engravings in the first Style of the Art. This is indeed a curiosity in printing, and no less a desideratum in literature -considering the great advantage it presents for reference and portability, and the immense saving of FOUR-FIFTHS in price."-Lit. Review. A uniform, Cheap and Elegant Library Edition, in Weekly Nos. price 6d. or Parts, Is. each, (containing as much reading as is usually published at four times the price,) beautifully printed in double columns, 8vo. on the finest vellum paper hotpressed, and embellished with superior Engravings Heath, Cooper, Thompson, &c. &c. of THE BRITISH CLASSICS, OR ESSAYISTS: SPECTATOR, | RAMBLER, IDLER, TATLER, COMPRISING THE OBSERVER, The whole forming an invaluable Collection of Religious, Moral, Critical, and Satirical Essays, by the most Celebrated English Authors; including ADDISON, STEELE, DR. JOHNSON, POPE, GOLDSMITH, SWIFT, WATTS, BACON, &c. The SPECTATOR, TATLER, and GUARDIAN, will be complete in 60 Numbers, at 6d. forming 2 Elegant Volumes, containing the whole of what is usually printed in 14 volumes. THE CHASE, AND Other Poems, BY WILLIAM SOMERVILE, Esq. WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY JONES & COMPANY, 3, ACTON PLACE, KINGSLAND ROAD. THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SOMERVILE. WILLIAM SOMERVILE, descended from an ancient and honourable family, was born in 1692, at Edston, in Warwickshire, a seat inherited by his ancestors throughout a long series of succession. He mentions himself in his Ode to General Stanhope that he was born near Avon's winding stream. Somervile was educated at Winchester school, and afterwards elected fellow of New College, Oxford. It does not appear that he exhibited any extraordinary proofs of genius or literature either at Winchester or Oxford. His poetical powers were first displayed in an Ode to the Duke of Marlborough, when the ministers of Queen Anne removed him from all his places. And this production stands high amongst the distinguished compositions of that time. In the country, where he chiefly resided, he was much respected as an accomplished gentleman, an active and skilful sportsman, and a useful justice of the peace--Rural diversions did not wholly engross his attention, for he devoted great part of his time to the cultivation of elegant literature, which enabled him to embellish the subjects he wrote on, with the ornamental flowers of rhetoric, as well as the pleasing harmony of versification; and thereby show, that it is practicable to be at once a skilful sportsman, and a man of letters. In the latter part of his life he wrote his principal poem, The Chase, which raised his reputation very high amongst sportsmen and men of letters, and by which he is best known. Of the close of his life, those whom his poems have delighted, will read with pain the following account, copied from the letters of his friend Shen. stone, by whom he was too much resembled, as Dr. Johnson observes; referring, as we suppose, to his want of economy. "Our old friend Somervile is dead! I did not imagine I could have been so sorry as I find myself upon this occasion.-Sublatum quærimus. I can now excuse all his foibles, and impute them to age, and to distress of circumstances; the last of these considerations wrings my very soul to think on. For a man of high spirit, conscious of having (at least in one production) generally pleased the world, to be plagued and threatened by wretches that are low in every sense; to be forced to drink himself into pains of body, in order to get rid of the pains of the mind, is a misery." He died July 19, 1742, and was buried at Wot ton, near Henley upon Arden. His estate, inherited from a long line of ancestors, devolved, accord. ing to a deed of law, to Lord Somervile, chargeable with a jointure of six hundred pounds a-year to his mother, who lived to the great age of ninety. As a poet, his character is given by Dr. Johnson in the following words: His hospitality exceeded the bounds of prudent economy, so that he impaired his fortune, subjected himself to many distresses, incurred the censure of his more provident neighbours; and was reduced "Somervile has tried many modes of poetry; to the necessity of concluding a bargain with James and though perhaps he has not in any reached such Lord Somervile, for the reversion of his estate at excellence as to raise much envy, it may commonly his death. His connection with Lord Somervile, be said at least, that he writes very well for a probably occasioned his poetical correspondence gentleman.' His serious pieces are sometimes elewith Ramsay, who was patronized by that noble-vated, and his trifles are sometimes elegant. In man. He was the intimate friend of Shenstone, who was his neighbour, and speaking of him, says, "I loved Mr. Somervile, because he knew so perfectly what belonged to the flocci-nauci-nihili-pilification of money." his verses to Addison, the couplet which mentions Clio is written with the utmost delicacy of praise; it exhibits one of those happy strokes that are seldom attained. In his Odes to Marlborough there are beautiful lines; but in the second Ode, he shows that he knew little of his hero when he talks of his |