Art. 35. Two Letters on the Flour-Trade, and Dearness of Corn: wherein the former is vindicated, the caufe of the latter explained; and the mistakes and misrepresentations of ignorant and meerly theoretic writers are confuted. By a Perfon in Bufinefs. 8vo. 1s. Flexney.

These letters are wrote in the character of a dealer; and though this circumftance in the fpirit of the populace would be fufficient to difcredit whatever might be offered in that capacity, yet fome information may be had by comparing the allegations of both parties ;and the writer of thefe letters has fomething to fay for himself, that may not be unprofitably attended to.

The first of thefe letters is dated in 1757, when as the writer tells his friend in the fecond, circumftances were nearly the fame as they He obferves that the high price of grain is generally attributed to the engroffing it to a combination of the farmer, miller, and baker;-and, to the flour mills,

To thofe who want to have all corn fold in open market, at the ufual hours, he fays that there is a law in being for this purpofe; which the occupiers of mills near market towns, would be glad to have put in force but that there are villages, mills, and large farms, in the neighbourhoods of each other, very remote from market towns; and that the carriage of corn ten or twelve miles or farther to a market, to be brought back again to fupply thofe mills and villages, cannot be calculated for the benefit of the poor. He proceeds. I may differ perhaps from most people, but I cannot think that engroffing is ever a crime. No perfon would buy corn merely upon fpeculation, when the price is at 10 or 12 1. a load, to keep it by him in expectation of a farther advance. When corn is engroffed, (if I may use the term in a good fenfe) it is at a time when there is a great plenty, and the price low; which corn, if it be kept till a time of scarcity, and then fold out, is really of fervice to the poor and by the way, had the ftorehouses and mills been well filled at this time, it would never have got up to the price it has done.'

Our Author confiders the exportation of corn as the means, by increafing cultivation, of preventing a famine; and that when crops prove deficient, the proper remedy is, to ftop exportation, and diftillation from grain, and to admit the importation of foreign grain. But that uniting farms tends to raise the price of provifions.

He is not far from the truth perhaps in faying, the greatest fufferers by the high price of provifions, are the fober honeft and induftrious poor, whofe cafe is really to be pitied; but do we ever find any of this character, mixing themfelves with the mobs? Mobs are made up of the drunken, the lazy, and most abandoned part of the people; whofe cafe is mifreprefented, and whofe diftreffes are greatly aggravated, or rather created, by certain fenfelefs and injudicious writers in the common newspapers.'

To have public granaries in every county, for laying up corn, and public mills to grind it for the benefit of the poor, is a fcheme which has been propofed by fome, and recommended by many: and undoubtedly thofe under the care and direction of proper officers

I i4

com

commifioners, comptrollers, agents, and their clerks and deputies, would be an excellent inftitution; and answer moft valuable purposes to fome, though will not anfwer for it that the poor or the public would be much the better for it.'

Tho' the writer does confefs himself to deal in flour, and feems to understand his bufinefs, he appears to have no harm in him; and to be fure he and his fraternity ought not to be mobbed, whenever the feafons prove unfavourable.

Art. 36. Obfervations and Examples to affift Magiftrates in fetting the Affize of Eread made of Wheat, under the Statute of the 31ft George II. Together with Tables for reducing the Prices of divers customary Bufbels to the Price of the Winchester Bushel: and for fhewing the Average Price of the firft, fecond, and third Sorts of Wheat. First printed in 1759. To which is now added, A Preface to enable the Magiftrates to make a Comparison between the present and former Bread-table, and explaining the different Method ufed in fetting the Affize under the prefent, to that used under the former Act. 8vo. 6d. Brotherton. Art. 37. Some Obfervations upon fetting the Affize of Bread; recommended to the Perufal of all Magiftrates, particularly at this Juncture. 8vo. 1s. Kearfley.

The due regulation of the price, weight and quality of bread, is an object of great moment; and the purpose of this and the foregoing pamphlet is to ftate the difficulties of it, in its various circumstances. Thele tracts are therefore proper, as the titles intimate, for the perufal of all magistrates;-and, at this juncture, especially. Art. 38. A Speech in Behalf of the Conflitution, against the Sufpending and Difpenfing Prerogative, c. 8vo. 2s. Almon. &c. The previous advertisement lets forth, that this speech was made in a private political fociety, which, for their own amufement, difcufs in fair argument, fuch topics as are most worthy of confideration, &c.' But, we believe, few of its readers will look upon this declaration in any other light than as a fiffe to evade the poffible confequences of making public a debate in the hou e of P. It has entirely the appearance of being the genuine production of that H; though perhaps extended, through the prefs, far beyond its original dimenfions. Be it, however, the authentic fpeech of fome noble L-, or the compofition of any other perfon, well inftructed and informed as to what paffed in the H, in either light it is jully to be regarded as an excellent defence of our conftitutional rights, againit the encroachments of prero gative. The debate to which it relates, is the memorable one concerning the embargo (of Sept. 26) on wheat and wheat-flour. We fhould gladly have given fome extract of this publication, but it came to our hands too late in the month.

POETICA L.

Art. 39. Royal Fables. By Francis Gentleman. Small 8vo. 3s. Becket.

The Author of Characters, an epiftle, and of a book called A Trip to the Moon, has here prefented the public with a collection of fables, apparently intended for the ufe of the prince of Wales. In

that circumftance Mr. Gentleman labours under the difadvantage of following fo excellent a model as that of the celebrated Gay, whofe Fables, written for the late Duke of Cumberland, are deservedly in the highest reputation. This new production, however, is not without fome degree of merit, as will appear from the following fpecimen :

The NILE and the SEA.
Life a dependant chain appears,
With links to join its fev'ral spheres ;
Shew judging reafon when you will,
One plac'd on high, there's higher ftill;
'Till drain'd progreffion mount's the fky,
And melts in vaft infinity.

Pride, like a prifm, fuch tints reveals
As Wisdom's naked eye conceals;
How idly vain then mortal man,
Whofe fleeting life is but a span,
Tho' rais'd on Fortune's boldeft wing,
A rich, a brave, a happy king,
Who thinks, with felf-fufficient fpirit,
All centers in his boundless merit;
Who, void of gratitude and sense,
Disclaims parental PROVIDENCE;
Whence all above, and all below,
Wealth, happiness, and courage flow?

The king of rivers, feven-mouth NILE,
Which yearly floods the neighbouring foil;
Which loads with grain the teeming earth,
And gives a thousand harvests birth-
Once, like a human Coxcomb, thought
'His pow'r, alone, thofe bleflings wrought-
What is, he cried, the thirsty Sea
In competition fet with me?

My fprings, my ftreams, fupport its tide,
Whofe mighty gulph muft, unfupplied,
Turn to a wild, and barren fhore;
The boating watry world no more.

To fcatter bleffings round, I reign,
And fertilize a vast domain;
Which wifely annual homage pays,
In fit returns of grateful praise;
While yonder congregated flood
Does none, or very little good-
And yet its haughty billows rife,
As if to brave th' unheeding fkies.
What ftoic here could check a smile,
To hear the SEA compar'd with NILE?
The felf-fufficient river spoke,

In founds, like clouds of thunder broke,
'Till ev'n its CROCODILES began
To vie with huge LEVIATHAN;
And thought they muft in reafon be
Of greater fize and quality.

Cld

Old OCEAN heard, and tho' difdain
Had beft repaid a fpeech fo vain;
He chofe, with condefcenfion mild,
Thus to rebuke his eldest child.

Reftrain, prefuming brook, thy pride;
Tho' thou, and all thy fprings, were dry'd,
Thy petty tribute hardly mils'd,
In glory I fhould still exift.

Who gives the Sun's exhaling beams
The moisture to fupply thy ftreams?
Who gives the fleecy clouds their rain,
To fprinkle thirsty earth again?
Thou but return'ft what I have lent,
To form a fruitful continent.

Rais'd in thy own opinion high,
Thou think'ft not, that beyond the sky
There dwells a Pow'r, a gen'ral fource,
Who gave
the elements their courfe;
Who gave the lower world its birth,
Of water framing it, and earth;
Who fix'd to each the proper bound,
And mantled them with Ether round;
Who mark'd the glorious Sun his way,
Who bid it shine, and give the day;
Who fpangled o'er with gems of light,
The mild cerulean robe of night;
Who gave, in his omnipotence,

To beafts their strength, to man his sense;
Who cloath'd the birds with plumed grace,
Who fishes form'd a fcaly race;

Who fix'd the feasons varying round,

With diff'rent fruits, and emblems crown'd;

The eye-enlivening, pregnant Spring,

With vegetation on its wing;

The bridegroom Summer deck'd with flow'rs,

And blooming Nature's ftrongest pow'rs;

Autumn in golden honours clad,

The peafant's humble hopes to glad;

Hoar Winter, with its chilly train
Of earth-refreshing frofts and rain.

'Tis PROVIDENCE which all beflows;

No atom felf-existent grows;

'Twas PROVIDENCE Created me,

And hence was form'd a fource for thee;
'Tis PROVIDENCE that gives again
Thy borrow'd waters to the main;
'Tis PROVIDENCE fufpends them high,
Condens'd in clouds 'twixt earth and sky;
'Tis PROVIDENCE, with boundless pow'rs,
That melts them to propitious fhow'rs;
From PROVIDENCE all bleflings flow,
Which animated beings know;

If here and there a tritenti of fer timers, or an inve of exor fon may be found in thefe performances, they are polly to set bet to the inexperience of the writer, who, spa the wide, fems to be poffeft of faculties capable of embe lament

DRAMATIC.

Art. 40. Neck or Nathing, a Faru, in Tus A. As it is performed at the Theatre-Real in Drury-Lane. 8vo. I S.

Becket and Co.

If we fay that this is a laughable entertainment, it will probably be faying as much for it as the unknown Author expects or defires; for fure it is impofible for him to look for any higher encomium on a production which can pretend to nothing more than the mere diverfion of an audience. Thele farcical pieces are not fo much intended to fupport the dignity of the drama, as to give a light and pleafant. exercife to the rifible faculties:-no matter for regularity of compofition; or even for morality of defign-provided the tendency be not immoral. This is precifely the cafe of Neck er Nothing; the bufinefs of which turns entirely upon the knavith tricks of two rafcally footmen; who, however, are cunning and comical dogs; and whofe parts being very well played by Yates and Palmer, as was the old citizen by Hartry,-it was impofible for even Dennis himself, could he have been there, not to have laughed at the performance: -the hint of which is taken, as the Author acknowledges in his advertisement, from the Criffin Rival de fon Maitre of LE SACE, the celebrated author of Gil Blas. Art. 41. The Accomplished Maid: a Comic Opera; as it is perm formed at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. The Mufic by Sig. Niccolo Piccini. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Griffin, &c.

This is a tranflation, with fome few alterations, from La Burna Fi. gliuola of the celebrated GOLDONI, an Italian writer of great eminences of whofe dramatic productions we have frequently made honourable

mention