Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

We must confefs we did fuppofe this to be one of the modern quack advertisements in the ufual difguife of a pamphlet; but our fufpicions entirely vanished before we had read many pages. The Author has indeed difcovered, as he thinks, a remedy for the fcurvy; but he is fo unfashionably difinterested as to disclose his fecret for the benefit of his. fellow creatures, without any advantage, fave what may be fuppofed to arife from the reflection of having been inftrumental in promoting the felicity of others. His prefcription is as follows: Take equal quantities of Cream of Tartar and Flower of Brimstone, and with a fufficient quantity of Treacle, make them into an electuary, of which take the fize of a Walnut three times a week, an hour before you rife in the morning. By the use of this fimple medicine the Author affures us, that in a fhort time he was perfectly cured of a moft inveterate fcurvy, of no less than forty years standing.

Our Author's two contrivances for faving the lives of those who may happen to be in the upper rooms of a houfe, when the lower are on fire, are briefly these let every family be provided with a bag long enough to reach from an upper window to the middle of a broad ftreet; and let one fide of the open end be nailed faft to the bottom of the inside of the window-frame. When you want to escape, throw the bag out of the window, and let two ftrong men in the ftreet take hold of the other end, and keep it ftretched out. Then get into it, and flide down to the bottom. If this fhould be disapproved, let a ftrong iron crook be fixed to the top of the window-frame on the outfide, but curving downwards fo as to be within reach. Near this window let there be kept a pulley with a small rope, with a large long basket fastened to one end of it. In case of danger hook the pulley to the iron crook, and cast the other end of the rope into the street, where any perfon catching hold of it, may with ease let you down in the basket. Neither of these schemes feem to us impracticable. Be that however as it may, every project which is propofed with a benevolent intention deferves the thanks of the public.

POETICA L.

Art, 33. The Poetical Works of John Langhorne. Small Octavo. 2 Vols. 6s. Becket.

We have already given an account of most of the principal poems in this collection; viz. The Hymn to Hope; Genius and Valour, a Scotch paftoral; the Enlargement of the Mind; A Poem to the Memory of Mr. Handel, &c. &c. To thefe are now added, never before published, The Fatal Prophecy, a dramatic poem; with a confiderable number of fmaller pieces, as elegies, fonnets, and tranflations from the French of Greffet, and the Italian of Petrarch.

Art. 34. The Conqueft of Canada, or the Siege of Quebec, an hiflorical Tragedy, in Five Acts. By George Cockings, Author of War, an Heroic Poem*. 8vo. Is. 6d. Cooke.

Notwithstanding the hero of this piece has been a fubject of national grief, yet we apprehend, on the prefent occafion, the Reader will be more apt to laugh than to weep.

Since the days of the famous Blackmore, none has fhewn himfelf fo

See Review, Vol. XXIII. p. 412.

great

great a mafter of the bathos, or profound, as this Author. In A&t ift, Scene 4th, two officers are introduced recapitulating the various exploits fince the commencement of the war

Land Off. These were fights worth feeing!

Sea Off. Then to fail along their coafts with Ofhorne,
Gard'ner, Hawke, and Howe; to take th'Orphee, and
The more dreadful Foudroyant! (changing the
Expedition of Du Quefne, to Britain's
Shore, inftead of Louifbourg) driving their
Fleets into neutral harbours, locking up
Their Ports, and ftagnating all their trade! then
Το go with Rodney, and overturn all

Their flat-bottom'd war! to break their fine fpun
Project of invafion, and ramm their schemes
Down their throats wrapt up in fmoke!

Land Off. This fport was chiefly on the element,
Where you failors were the best actors, and
We foldiers had but little hand in it:
But we handled them a little roughly
At Senegal, and many other places

Of the Torrid Zone; where, with refiftless
Fury, Watfon, Sayer, Barrington, Marsh,
Mafon, Moore, and Draper, with other bold
Commanders, fwept all before them, in a
Deluge of repeated victories!

Sea Off. And amongst the reft, Keppel, in a florm
Of thunder, beat Goree to the ground.

And as if the French hadn't had lofs and griefs
Enough, how bold Boscawen maul'd De Clue!
Scatt'ring his fleet, and driving fome on fhore,
Taking, burning, finking, at his pleasure !
And then it was, the French Ocean, by the
Hardy De la Clue commanded, tumbled
On the fhore to fhun Bofcawen's rage, and
Was lick'd up by English flame!

Land Off. And ftill to add to England's glory, and
Their fhame, to feize upon Cape Breton's ifle.

Oh! had'st thou feen that fiege! it wou'd have serv'd
Thee for an age to come, whilft paffing round.
The flowing can, to tell thy friends the tale.
Thus would it thou fay, invelop'd in a cloud
Of fulph'rous fmoke, which broke in thunder from
The British fleet; with British thunderbolts well
Stor'd; and thro' a mortal fhow'r of fhot, and
Shells, and leaden deaths, from cannons, mortars,
And French entrenchments fent, Amherst, and Wolfe,
Sedately warm'd, and most ferenely bold,

(As if their prefence victory infur'd,)

With Britain's troops, plung'd into the flood, to
Ravish mighty Fate! to bid deftruction

Defiance and outface the grim king of terrors!

Here

Here General Wolfe is made to ravish Fate, and outgrin Dea;h.-In another paffage, he determines alfo to ravish Victory:

If human refolution can effect

The fame. Vict'ry fhall be ours: we'll ravish
Her my friends to-morrow! for if fhe's thy
And seems about to quit us, we'll fummon
All our manly ftrength and fortitude of
Soul, arrest her forward fteps, and pluck
Her back again..

Had not Death whom he outfaced) in revenge put a flop to fuch refolutions, the poor nuns had cause indeed to tremble; and well might they exclaim,

Oh! terrible, if they should take the city!

And we should fall into the hands of thefe
Rough Englishmen !

Had the Author meant it ironically, the comparifon below would have been very apposite :

-Yet between you and I

They met no effenc'd Jack a Dandys there;
The brave old Blakeney and his worthy few
Of vet'ran troops and newly landed tars,
Were fierce as lions, and fearless as Job's
War-horfe.

We apprehend, very few readers will be of the Author's opinion. as it is now almost univerfally agreed that our commander at Minorca fhewed much more of the difpofition of Job himself, than of the warhorse.

But in perfonification Mr. Cockings is furely without a parallel:
-And in our front fhall march stern Fate!
Sustain❜d on either wing by gloomy Terror!
Intrepidity fhall head the main corps!

And bold Refolution fhall bring up the

Rear,

We fuppofe this is the fame Fate who was ravished by Amberft and Wolfe; and on whom they begot the couple of Terrors, (for there muft be two) who fuftain the wings:-What a dreadful combination is here! No wonder the French fhould be defeated, when they had fuch horrible foes to deal with!-Men, who had ravish'd both Fate and Victory, and outgrinn'd the King of Terrors !

Art. 35. Poems on feveral Occafions. By James Woodhouse, Journeyman Shoemaker. The fecond Edition. 8vo. 5s. few'd. Dodfley.

It is with pleasure we find that our honest shoemaker has been enabled, by the generous benefactions of his friends and fubfcribers, to acknowlege his gratitude in a fecond edition; for though he would certainly have been more usefully employed in his occupation, yet wherever nature has given any beamings of genius, the feems to have pointed out proper objects for our bounty, because thofe gifts are generally accom panied with a delicacy of mind which is fuperior to fervile employments. Mr. Woodhoufe has added feveral new pieces to this edition, which are Not inferior to the former.

Art. 36.

Art. 36. The Interview; or Jack Falftaff's Ghoft, a Poem. Infcribed to David Garrick, Efq; 4to. Is. Bladon.

[ocr errors]

Quin's apparition appears to Rofcius, Drury's potent king,' to rehearfe to him the converfation he had, in the Elyfian Fields, on theatrical fubjects, with the fhades of Ryan, Churchill, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Woffington, and Johnny Rich. Hogarth is alfo mentioned, as grievoufly lamenting his having unfortunately engaged in political warfare. Some names of fuperior dignity are likewife introduced into this doggrel performance: which concludes with a piece of Sage advice to Rofcius, how best to conduct himself as a manager:

To budding genius ne'er refufe

Your foft'ring hand, whene'er it fues.
Should any youth by you inf, ir'd,
With hopes of future glory fir'd,
Attempt to wear the wreath of fame
And emulate a Garrick's name :
Should his ambitious foul inherit
The glowing fparks of real merit,
To make 'em blaze do all you can,

Though not preferr'd by fome great man—'

Perhaps this Author has been infpir'd by Mr. Garrick; and hopes by these verses, to have the Sparks of his theatrical genius blown into a fl me. May fuccefs attend him, equal to his merit. But let him remember, that Garrick wanted nobody's bellows to blow his fparks into a flame.

Art. 37. The Authors, a Poem. By D. Hayes, Efq; 4to. Is. 6d. Griffin.

The ingenious author who wrote a parallel between a poet and a fpider forgot one circumftance of ftrong refemblance, viz. the eternal enmity that bards, like fpiders, hold with each other.-This fatyrical poem, than which we have seen more miferable performances, is a recent inftance of that cruel rancour. Fraternæ cædes! Infandaque

bella!

Art. 38. An Elegy on the Death of William and Mary, Earl and Countess of Sutherland. 4to. 6d. Dodley.

Never could the elegiac mufe have found a more interesting, a more tenderly mournful fubject than the death of the noble perfonages above mentioned, to which mutual fenfibility, fo uncommon in this age of diffipation, is fuppofed greatly to have contributed. What pity if fuch a fubject should find no poet to do it justice!

RELIGIOUS and CONTROVERSIAL.

Art. 39. The Principles of Christianity, as taught in Scripture: being feven Difcourfes on our loft State in Adam, our Recovery by Jefus Chrift, and the Neceffity of Regeneration and Sanctification by the Holy Ghoft. By Thomas Bowman, M. A. Vicar of Martham, Norfolk, 12mo. Is. 6d. Dilly.

That Adam was a furety for all mankind; that his disobedience is placed to our account; that the offence committed was an infinite of fence; that none but an infinite Being can give fatisfaction for an infi

nite offence, are fome of Mr. Bowman's principles whether they are the principles of Chriflianity, our Readers must determine; and the determination, to thofe who are not fetter'd by fyftems, is certainly very eafy.

Art. 40. A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Caleb Evans of Bristol; occafioned by his two Sermons on the Deity of the Son and Holy Spirit. 8vo. 6d. Johnfon and Co.

From this Epiltle we learn, that Mr. Evans, a young diffenting mi, nifter at Bristol, hath with great zeal, but not according to knowlege, attacked the livery fervant's late famous Attempt to reflore the Supreme Worship of God the FATHER Amighty; and hath, in the most acrimonious and unjustifiable manner, reprefented the advocates for the unity of the fupreme Being as infulting the dignity of their Saviour, wounding, and trampling under foot, his honour and glory, and discovering an impious joy in every attempt to degrade him: adding, that there feems to be a kind of parricide in their conduct, and an impiety, heightened by the aggravating circumstances of unnatural baseness and difingenuity.-Thefe are indeed hard fayings; and feem to convey no very favourable idea of the temper, difpofition, and understanding of their author. But he appears to have fallen into good hands; the very fenfible Writer of this letter having given him fuch judicious correction, and candid admonition, as we hope will be attended with falutary effects on the part of Mr. Evans.

A

CORRESPONDENCE.

Very obliging letter, relating to an article in our Review for September 1762, is moft refpectfully acknowledged; but we muft beg the unknown Writer to excufe our non-compliance with his request. Perfons fituated as the Reviewers are, cannot be too cautious of laying themselves open to demands of that kind, which would certainly draw on them greater inconveniences than their Admonisher is perhaps aware of. The accounts they have given of fuch literary productions as have been referred to their opinion, are before the public; and if at any time they have pafied an haity or erroneous judgment, (the probability of which they are very ready to acknowlege) they will as readily fubmit to all appeals to that Public,-as to a fuperior court, which will not fail to revoke and annul every unjuft fentence.

As to the particular merits of the poem which is the fubject of the letter now before us, we can fay nothing, even in this brief and general acknowledgment to the ingenious Letter-writer; becaufe we remember little concerning the performance, and are not poffeffed of a copy.-And-with refpect to whatever difference may fubfift between the Letter-writer and the Reviewers, on any point of tafle, they need mention nothing more than their entire acquiefcence in what their candid Correfpondent has himself obferved, viz. that, after all, in our judgment of poetry, as well as mufic, it is confeffed, that no ear is ftruck with a fenfe of excellency, of any kind, which happens to be in no refpect at unifon with that of the compofer. Perhaps there was a good deal of feverity intended, by the application of this remark-be that as it may, the obfervation is a juft one: and the enemies of the Review, for enemies will naturally arife against every work of the kind, are welcome to make the molt they can

of this conceffion.

Dated July 14, 1766.

« AnteriorContinuar »