Airs, Duets, Trios, &c. in the New Comic Opera, called Love finds the Way; as performed at the Theatre-Royal in CoventGardeu. Svo. 6d. Bell. The twin fifters Mufic and Poetry have certainly forefworn each other's company; if we may judge from the many paltry productions, which the pretenders to both have lately offered the Town: among which we may, without the leaft injuftice, rank the wretched fing-fong of Love finds the Way. Richmond Hill, a Poem. By Charles Crawford, Efq. 4to. 13. Becket. If we miftake not, this Mr. Crawford is the fame gentleman, who fome time ago, informed the publick that he was a child of the fun; if fo, he hath, by all the laws of heathen mythology, a natural right to the graces of poetry, by inheritance from his father Apollo.-But, perhaps (for it is a wife child, they fay, that knows his own father) Mr. C. may be a little out, here. Or, perhaps, though an actual fon, he may be only a by-blow, and his nofe be, of courfe, put out of joint, by the laws of the land. Mr. C. indeed, gives us fome hint that this is the cafe, and that he was begot by the Sun on the Earth; by way of contraft, we fuppofe to the Moon's once defcending to give a chafter kifs on a fimilar occafion. Be this as it may, he roundly afferts that he "was made a bard" by Richmondhill. Now this can poffibly mean nothing elfe, (coming from one who declares himfelf to be a child of the Sun) than that the Sun, alias Apollo, begot him upon the Earth, alias Madam Terra, on Richmond-Hill: for we cannot fuppofe 'Squire Crawford fo ignorant of phyfical or obftetrical fcience, as to imagine, that he imagines, that any terreftrial mother can, of herself, make her own child. This is a royal prerogative, peculiar, in favour of Minerva, belonging only to King Jupiter. But no matter by whom or on whom he was made a bard, unlefs he had been better made. For fuch a PoET!- Magnus Apollo! tu nobis non eris, if you beget fuch baftards as these. Not, Oh Sun! that the bantling wants fire; but there is nothing etherial in it. It is a mere culinary fire, fuch as our maid Margery broils beef-ft aks withal. And yet, this offspring of the burnished fun affects to det it plebeians; he who avowedly declares that he fprung out of the earth. Mufhrooms fhould not not be fo vain. True it is that the fun begets them by exhalation from the dunghill: but, alas! they either foar fo high as to fuffer the precipitate fate of Phaeton or Icarus, or furvive, like weeds, to wear themfelves away by motion, on the spot whereon they grew. Thoughts on Licencing Public Alehoufes. Submitted to the confideration of the Gentlemen, acting in the Commiffion of the Peace throughout England. By a Justice of the Peace. 6d. Johnson. We fear the well-meaning and honeft remonftrances, of this worthy magiftrate, will have but little effect, toward working a reformation, in the abuses complained of. It is, indeed, too true, though a melancholy reflection, that, in the order of civil fociety, the public benefit of private vices feems to obvious, that their real evil is not attended to. Could his worfhip contrive a method to diminish the number of alehoufes, without the diminution of beer-licences and of the confumption of ale, he might poffibly be liftened to. As it is, we con-. ceive the magiftrates, whether in town or country, would get turned out of the commiffion for marplots and bufy-bodies, fhould they exert themselves too officioufly in the fuppreffon of alehouses. The prevention, of their unneceffary increase, is all they may venture on; and this we feriously recommend to them, for the reafons contained in this little tract. Letter to the Inhabitants of Manchester, Macclesfield, and the adjacent Parts, on Occafion of the late Earthquake in thofe places. By the Rt. Reverend the Lord Bishop of Chester. 12s. 6d. Pool, Chefter. A pertinent and pious exhortation to repentance and holiness of life, founded on the juft reflection of our being every moment fubject to accidents, as they are called; which are under the immediate direction of an over-ruling Providence, which governs the phyfical as well as the moral world. The The rational Conduct of the Human Mind, moral and religious, by a moral Chriftian. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Wilkie. A mifcellany, containing an English verfion of the golden verfes of Pythagoras, or rather of the Pythagoreans; a poetical epiftle on the love of God: a piece entitled, The Happy Dreamer, and the Chriftian Philofopher.-The writer may, for ought we know be, what he ftiles himfelf, a moral Chrif tian; but he is neither a poct nor a philofopher. A Profpect from Barrow Hill, near Rochefter, in Staffordshire. 4to is. Baldwin. A kind of poetic-profaic defcription of the fcenes, furrounding the fpot above-mentioned; in which the author's attachment to, probably, his native foil, is fufficiently confpicuous. A circumftance which indicates that Mr. Aftle is a South, and not a North, Briton, if what was faid, by a fhrewd Irish wit of his North British countrymen, be true, that though the Highlands of Scotland prefent the fineft profpects in the world; the best profpect in the country is the high-road from. the Low-Lands to London. A concife and expeditious Method for attaining the French Language. Wherein all the Rules and Exercifes necessary to the Scholar's Information, are laid down, on a regular and entire new Plan. By François Soulés. 12mo. 3s. 6d. Dilly. Mr. Soulés, after flightly depreciating Chambaud, Perrin, Dele'tanville, Saufeuil, &c. proceeds, in his preface, to sketch out his own plan; which has the merit of fimplicity of method; though not fo entirely new as the title-page informs us. Soulés indeed frankly declares that he has borrowed freely from Mr. others, and is at the fame time modeft enough to own that he is not altogether fure of having arrived at perfection himself. If, fays he, any thing has efcaped my obfervation, let the reader confider "that I am no more infallible than the best writers, and remember that aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus. -Well faid good Mr. Soulés, Homer was certainly one of the beft writers, and fo we muft hence prefume is Mr. Soulésnot, however, among writers of English: for furely he does not mean to compare himfelf, or rather to place himself in the VOL. VI. fame 3 N fame class with Homer!-Mr. Soulés may be a good French mafter, but he would be a better, if he better understood English. A Rural Romble; to which is annexed a Poetical Tagg, The Mr. Carey, who is well known to be a wagg, has here waggifhly enough related the adventures he met with, in traveling with a friend from London to Brighthelmftone. As they travelled on foot, fuch adventures are of course a little low; but they are not on that account the lefs humorous. The History of Mifs Maria Barlowe. Wallis. 2 vol. 12mo. 5s fewed. We hope our quondam publisher, Mr. Wallis, is not going to invade the exclufive privilege of the Meffieurs Noble, in the manufactory of Novels. Mifs Maria Barlowe is certainly a ftray fheep from their fold; at least the lambkin feems fo from the fimilarity of its bleating. Seventeen Hundred and Seventy Seven; or a Picture of the Man ners and Character of the Age. In a Poetical Epifle from a Lady of Quality. 4to. Is. 6d. Evans. A fatirical defcription of the vicious and frivolous characters of the times; we do not think it fair, however, to admit, that fuch characters conftitute that of the age in which they live. This epiftle has great poetic merit; though we are mistaken if it be really written by a lady. The Park. 8vo. 6d. Goldney. Some fauntring fpark, with his hands in his breechespockets, to keep, as they fay, the devil out of them, appears to have fcribbled the verfes before us; while he was dining with Duke Humphry on one of the benches of the Mall. Elegies Elegies. I. On the Death of Samuel Foote, Efq. II. On Age. By Thomas Holcroft. 4to. Is. Bew. We have received a letter of complaint, on the fcore of these Elegies, againft certain rival critics; who have, it feems, already depreciated them by their reflections, and more by ftiling them a couple of twelve penny Elegies. With deference to our correfpondent, however, we muft candidly acknowledge that, glad as we fhould be to pluck a crow with our rivals, to advantage, we must in this inftance acquit them.-As to the Elegies them elves, to be fure, they are not first-rate compo fitions; but then, inftead of depreciating them, the faid crities have enhanced their value: the two being both fold in one twelve-penny pamphlet; they are in fact but a couple of fixpenny Elegies; but therefore by fo much the better bargain. Serioufly, thefe two little Elegies might have paffed off very well, as productions whofe beauties and blemishes are moderate and obvious, had not the writer prefaced them fo pompoufly." If they are worthlefs," fays he "let them rest in that oblivion, which is the utmoft happinefs unworthiness can. know; if the contrary happen to be the cafe, he has no doubt but their merits will be feen and acknowledged by every one whom Heaven has bleft with tafte and judginent fufficient to form the critic."-We do not fee the extraordinary bleffing in having no more tafte and judgment than is neceffary to apprcciate thefe important productions. Verfes written on feveral Occafions, between the Years 1712 and 1721. 4to. 2s. 6d. Becket. The editor of thefe verfes, faid to have been written by Judge Burnet, fon of the famous Bishop Burnet, feems to found their merit on their being written in an era, famous for Englifh poetry. This plea will not país, however, on readers of the prefent era for criticism; neither the writer, who, though a judge, was no poet; nor the editor, who feems to be no judge of poetry, reaping any kind of credit from their publication. |