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On a des ennemis en tout genre, en tout lieux;
Tout mortel combat fur la terre:"

Te Diable avec Michel combattit dans le Cieux
On cabale à la cour, a l'èglife, a l'armée:

Au Parnaffe on combat pour un pipe de fumée,
Pour un nom, pour du vent; & je conclus au bout
Qu'il faut jouir en paix; & fe moquer de tout.

At the foot of my rocks where my deep valleys bend,
Should I figh for the banks of the Seine?
See Corneille's defcendant my leffons attend,
Hark, I'm fung by a noble Turenne.
While fhelter'd by names fo defervedly dear,
To Bellona and Tragedy's Queen,

I may view fpiteful Frerons cabal without fear,
Or laugh at their malice and fpleen.
Wifeft fages have faid, and right plain is the case,
To be happy is more than a dream;
But to tell it to envy, and laugh in her face,
That certainly's blifs in extreme.

To quaff off our cups while the foul harpies grin
Gives our fupper additional zeft:

The twin brother Berthiers vile clamours and 'din
Are mufic that heightens our feast.

How fweet for a lover the nymph to caress,
Who has ravish'd his foul with her charms!
Of a rival the hates then to mock the distress,
And jeft at his jealous alarms.

The proceeding, I graal, cannot strictly be fquar'd
By the rules our religion has given;

But on earth all are foes, and e'en war was declar'd
"Twixt the Devil and Michael in heaven.

They intrigue in the army, the church, and the court,
At Parnaffus all concord is broke,

Not for riches or grandeur, but what makes the fport,
For a name, breath, a vile puff of smoke.

Thus then, I conclude that in peace we enjoy
Thofe bleffings that fortune has lent;"

Nor let fpleen, fpite, or paffion, our pleasure destroy,
But freely to laughter give vent.

We shall take leave of this article for the present t, with one fhort letter more, written to the late Earl of Chesterfield.

"To the Earl of Chesterfield.

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Of the five fenfes which fall to our lot, my

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Lord Huntington tells me that you have loft only one, and that you have a good stomach, which is well worth a pair of ears.

+ Intending, however, to refume it hereafter, thefe letters being to entertaining and interefting to be fo foon difmiffed, if we could afford

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"Perhaps I am the propereft perfon for deciding whether deafness, blindness, or want of digeftion is the greatest calamity. From a knowledge of the cafe, I can judge of all the three, but it is a long time fince I have prefumed to decide upon trifles, and therefore have the ftronger reafons for not attempting to decide on matters which are fo important. I am content with believing, that if you have plenty of funfhine in the handfome house which you have built, there will be tolerable moments. That is all which can be hoped for at our time of life, or indeed at any time of life. Cicero wrote a very fine treatife upon old age, but he did not prove by facts what he had advanced in his writings, for the last years of his life were very unfortunate.

"You have lived much longer and happier than he did. You had nothing to do with either perpetual dictators or triumvirs. Your lot has been, and is ftill, one of the most enviable in the great lot tery of life, where the good prizes are fo few, and where the great prize of continual happiness has never yet been gained by any one. "Your philofophy has never been diftracted by chimeras, which have now and then perplexed some brains that were otherwife tolerably good. You have never been in any fenfe a Quack yourself; nor a dupe to Quacks, which I efteem as no common degree of merit, and contributes much to the fhadow of happiness that we can taste of in this fhort life, &c. &c."

We may fee, from the above letter, how little the shrewdeft and moft fagacious of mankind know either themselves or others. Nothing appears more evident, from Lord Chefterfield's own letters, than that he was himself the greatest of Empirics; an arrant moral quack, conftantly making a dupe of the fimplicity and fincerity of others, while he was no lefs impofed on by that vanity, with which he fo egregiously. made a dupe of himself.

Caractacus. A Dramatic Poem. Written on the Model of the ancient Greek Tragedy. First published in the Year 1759, and now altered for Theatrical Reprefentation. By W. Mafon, .. M. A. 8vo. Is. td. Dodfley.

The Lyric Part of the Drama of Cara&tacus, as altered by the Author, and as spoken and fung. 8vo. 6d. Dodfley.

The reputation, which this piece hath obtained, from the pleasure it afforded in reading, added to the favourable re ception which the Elfrida of the fame author lately met with on the ftage; feems to have induced the manager to bring this forward likewife in reprefentation. In doing this he appears alfo to have acted on a more liberal and gentleman-like plan, than did his predeceffor in the management of the fame theatre with regard to Elfrida. We muft confefs, nevertheless, that,

not

notwithstanding the judicious alterations of the author, and the fplendid embellishments of mufic and feenery that were. furnished by the managers, the performance feemed to flag in the exhibition. To fay the truth, it wants the life and fpirit of bufinefs, neceffary to please a modern English audience: for whom the antique and the exotic appear to have no very feductive charms. This edition is dedicated to Bishop Hurd in the following fonnet, a fpecies of poetical manufacture equally foreign to an English tafte..

"SONNET.

Still let my Hurd a fmile, of candour, lend

To fcenes, that dar'd on Grecian pennons tower, When," in low Thurcafton's fequefter'd bower," He prais'd the strain, because he lov'd the friend: 1There golden leifure did his fteps attend,"

Nor had the rare, yet well-weigh'd, call of power To thofe high cares decreed his watchful hour, ▾ On which fair Albion's future hopes depend.

A fate unlook'd for waits my friend and me; He pays to duty what was learning's claim, Refigning claffic eafe for dignity;

I yield my mufe to fashion's praise or blame:

Yet fill our hearts in this great truth agree, That peace alone is blifs, and virtue fame."

"Peace alone is blifs!"-Peace to fuch meek fouls who' are fatisfied with fuch blifs. Virtue, fame!"-of course, we fuppofe, fame is virtue; and then how defireable at moft would that mart be where a commodity of good names were to "be bought."-In good footh, this faid Sonnet is fad ftuff, with as little philofophy in it as poetry.-What if we should adopt Addifon's plan of reprefenting its imagery on canvass! "To Scenes that dar'd on Grecian pennons tower!" Does the Sonneteer here mean to perfonify his own written fcenes or the painted fcenes at the playhoufe? The firft would be the most extravagant profopopoeia that ever the mufe foggefted; and as to the painted fcenes towering upon pennons, we leave the fcene-painters to make the beft of them. Not but that your fcene-fhifting criticks might ftand up for the propriety of the image, by infifting that the fcenes are always furnished with one or two pair of wings!

Letters on Female Education, addreffed to a Married Lady. By Mrs. Cartwright. 12mo. 3s. Dilly..

It is beyond a difpute that the prefent age is eminently dif tinguifhed for female writers. A Carter, a Barbauld, a Mon

tague,

tague, a Macaulay, a Chapone, a Moore, a Miller, and many others, do honour to the prefs and their fex. We wish we could honeftly add Mrs. Cartwright to the number; but really we find little in thefe letters but trite reflections on as trite fubjects. A purity of ftile and correctness of thinking might indeed recommend thefe; as it must be owned, there is fomething agreeable in the manner in which Mrs. C. has treated them; but in this, we are forry to fay, we find her wanting. In the very firft fentence of her dedication to Mrs. Montagu, the expreffes herself thus. Confcious of my inability to produce any thing worthy the attention of a lady fo juftly renowned for her literary fame, &c." That is renowned for her renown, or famous for her fame.Inftead of fame the certainly meant to fay merit or talents.Not but that there are many names in the literary, as well as in the moral and political, world; which owe their celebrity to nobody knows what. They are not, as Shakespeare fays of the Jealous,

-ever famous for a caufe;

But famous for they're famous.

Should it be Mrs. C's good fortune to obtain fame for writing these letters, fhe will ftand in much the fame predi

cament.

The Penal Statutes abridged and alphabetically arranged. Calcu lated to ferve the defireable end of an alphabetical commonplace book of the Penal Laws. By George Clarke, Efquire. 8vo. 3s. Fielding & Walker.

Who this Mr. G. Clarke is, we are not informed; but from the title of Efquire, here tacked to his name, we prefume he is to pafs on the publick for a Counsellor at Law. If we may judge, however, from internal evidence, the matter and compofition of the work itfelf, we should rather fufpect this compilation to be the refult of the joint efforts of fome pettifogging Attorney's clerk and broken Bookfeller.We would advife, therefore, the magiftrates of Great Britain, to whom' it is dedicated, to be cautious how they confide in fuch conftructions of the penal laws, or in the inftructions for adminiftring them, contained in this wretched catch-penny.

The Life of Robert Lord Clive, Baron Plaffey. By Charles Carracioli, Gent. 4 Vols. 8vo. 11. 2s. Bell.

If Lord Clive really lived as bad a life as Charles Carracioli, Gent. hath here written for him, he deferved to come to no better an end than common fame reports he met with. But

common

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common fame is a liar, and, as to Mafter Carracioli, we do not think him altogether free from fibbing. Nor that Lord Clive had much to do with all the tranfactions and reports here collected.

The General Faft; a Lyric Ode: With a Form of Prayer proper for the Occafion, and a Dedication to the King. 4to. Is. Fielding and Walker.

Impious and indecent! It is a pity but this Grub of a Lyrift were himself obliged to faft, till he should learn a little more manners at least, if not modefty. Religion and Morality are out of the queftion with fuch forry fcribblers.

It is alfo a pity that the publishers of fuch horrid trafh never learnt to read: if they had, they inuft have been frequently admonished, even from their alehouse fign, to "Fear God, and Honour the King."

A Letter to the Rev. Jofiah Tucker, D. D. Dean of Gloucester, in Anfwer to his " Humble Addrefs and Earnest Appeal, & With a Poftfcript, in which the prefent War with America is fhewn to be the Effect, not of the Caufes affigned by him and others, but of a fixed Plan of Adminiftration, founded in Syftem: The Landed oppofed to the Commercial Intereft of the State, being as the Means in order to the End. By Samuel Estwick, LL. D. 8vo. Is. 6d. Almon.

Dr. Samuel Eftwick is a very warm advocate for the Americans; whofe defection he looks upon as an act of neceffity, and therefore offers the beft excufe that can be made for them, viz. Neceffity's having no Law!

CORRESPONDENCE.

TO THE

LONDON REVIEWERS. On reading the London Review for last month, I obferve your juft remarks on "The Spiritual Diary by Dr. Rutty," which exactly correfpond with my own fentiments of that medley.

Such a performance by a man, of Dr. Rutty's abilities in his profeffion and knowledge in various branches of fcience, can only be accounted for by the imbecillity of the human mind, and the extravagancies it is apt to run into, when it fubmits itself to the influence of enthufiafm. But the principal view I have in troubling you with this, is to exculpate the fociety of which I am a member, from the cenfure apparently due to the publifbers of this work. Dr. Rutty, by a claufe in his will, obliged his executors to print and publish it. This gave great uneafinefs to many of his friends; who in general difapprove it; and are forry to fee it in print.

They are therefore not accountable for it: and I wish that, in the next Review, fonte remark of this kind may be made; and am respectfully yours, A Conftant Reader

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