The chronological table (which is copious and accurate) is a useful addition to the work. SCHOOL-Books, &c. Art. 57. The Lady's Encyclopedia; or a concife Analysis of the Belles Lettres, the fine Arts, and the Sciences. Illuftrated with 50 engraved Heads, and 34 Maps. By the Rev. J. Seally, L.L.D. Member of the Roman Academy. 3 Vols. 12mo. 12s. Boards. Murray. 1788. This publication contains a variety of mifcellaneous matter, which, to juvenile readers, will prove both inftructive and entertaining. The first volume is allotted to Poers, Orators, Legislators, and Philofophers. A fhort life of each is given; with fome remarks on his talents, writings, &c. The fecond contains an English grammar; a treatise on rhetoric and oratory, or elocution; an abstract of the art of poetry; the heathen mythology, with an epitome of Ovid's Metamorphofes; and a brief account of fome of the more celebrated heroes and founders of empires. The third volume is wholly appropriated to Geography, with a few introductory pages on the Copernican fyftem. The compilation of these materials must have been attended with much labour; accuracy is not, however, the characteristic of this publication. An inftance or two, in fupport of this remark, may fuffice, viz. at p. 50, vol. iii. where an engraved plate is given explanatory of Eclipfes. The plate, perhaps. has formerly belonged to an old work, probably a French one; for in it the moon and the earth are called Lune and Terre. Another example is the fynoptic table of the Copernican fyftem, which is the old one, formed before the year 1761, when the earth was erroneously placed 15 millions of miles nearer the fun than it really is.-In the first volume, the English poets, orators, &c. are unnoticed, though the writings of fome of them claim, at leaft, equal attention, and are more worthy of imitation, than many of the ancients, who are here mentioned with high approbation. In his account of the state of religion in England, the author manifefts his attachment to the established church, by his contemptuous manner of mentioning the fectaries. He thus introduces his account of the Arians: Old heretics, the difciples of one Arius, above a thousand years fince; and in our times fome men are apt to believe his errors, which are, &c.'-Of the Quakers he thus begins his account they did generally shake and quake at their coming up, which was above a century fince, &c.' So much for liberality of fentiment, and elegance of expreflion! Art. 58. Ruddiman improved: Or the Rudiments of the Latin Tongue, in Queftion and Anfwer, after the Manner of Ruddiman. 12mo. 1s. 6d. bound. Buckland. 1788. The propofed intention of this school-book is, to omit what was redundant, to fupply what was defective, and to correct what appeared faulty in former editions of Ruddiman's grammar. The alterations here made, appear, in general, to be juftifiable and ufeful. But the editor, aware that his little work will admit of farther improvement, has printed but few copies more than were requifite for his own ufe. He wishes to render it as complete as poffible, and therefore folicits the remarks of thofe mafters of grammar-schools into whofe hands the book may fall. MISCELLANEOUS. 1788. Art. 59. Hiftorical Sketches of Civil Liberty; from the Reign of Henry VIII. to the Acceffion of the Houfe of Stuart; with an Account of the Antiquity, Ufe, and Duty of juries: In which are interfperfed feveral interefting Particulars, illuftrative of the Liberties of the Subject. 8vo. 6s. Boards. Robinsons. What we have most to commend in this work, is the good intention of the compiler, who feems to have been defirous of bringing within a fmall compass a number of striking facts, which may help to preserve, in the minds of Britons, a juft fenfe of the importance of their liberties. The defign is fo laudable, that we are forry it has not been executed with a more accurate attention to method and ftyle. Remote and recent facts are related in ftrange confufion; and, except where the narrator has adopted the words of the authors, the dignity of the fubject is by no means fupported by the graces of hiftorical writing. The author infifts largely on the state of election in the Scottish boroughs-the exorbitant power of the court of feffion in Scotland-the illegality and danger of military governors-the violations of the rights of juries, and other fimilar topics. Art. 60. An Account of the Culture and Ufe of the Mangel Warzel, or Root of Scarcity; tranflated from the French of the Abbé de Commerell. The Fourth Edition. 8vo. 2s. Dilly. 1788. We noticed the first edition of this tranflation in our Review for Auguft last, page 166. The prefent impreflion is increafed with a large preface, in which Dr. Lettfom confeffes that the Mangel Wurzel is a fpecies of beet; as he is doubtful whether it is the Vulgaris or the Cicla, he calls it Beta Hybrida, but he does not give the fpecific character. A neat coloured engraving of the root is prefixed, as well as of the axillary racemus; but as the general habit of the plant is not reprefented, it is difficult, from the plate, to determine the fpecies. If it be a new fpecies, a fcientific botanift would not have given a new name without a character. See Lin. Syf. Nat. vol. ii. at the end of the preface. Art. 61. A Hiflorical Memoir of the First Year of the Reign of FREDERIC WILLIAM II. King of Pruffia; read at a Public Meeting of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres at Berlin, Aug. 23, 1787. By the Count de Hertzberg, Minifter of State, Curator and Member of the Academy. Tranflated from the French. 8vo. 1s. Bell. 1788. Having read,' fays the Count de Hertzberg, for eight years, at the public meetings of the Academy, hiftorical differtations on the public adminiflration of the Pruffian monarchy, during the course of every year, I read, at the last meeting, An historical memoir of the last year of the reign of Frederic II.-I fhall purfue this method, and read, this day, a memoir, in which I fhall give a compendious account of the principal tranfactions of the first year of the prefent reion.'-Of the memoir of the last year of the great Frederic II. the laft laft king of Pruffia, an English translation was published, and reviewed in our number for December, p. 505.-The noble and ingenious author, we find, propofes to continue these annual historic details to the academy; a practice honourable in itself, as well as interefting and useful to the public. On this laft occafion, he tells us, that he engaged in the undertaking with the more pleasure, as being enabled to fhew, by a series of facts, that Frederic William II. has truly recommenced and continued the reign of Frederic II. on the principles of his illuftrious predeceffor, with the fame activity and application, and with the fame love of the public good; and, perhaps, with more mildness, benignity, and general juftice.' This is a great character, indeed! but we queftion whether Frederic II. could he read it in the grave, would not bite his lip at the latter part of it, which we have printed in Italics. Art. 62. The Wreck of Westminster Abbey; alias, the Ordeal of Sepulchral Candour; being a Selection from the Monumental Records of the moft confpicuous Perfonages who flourished toward the latter End of the eighteenth Century. 4to. 2s. 6d. Stalker. A. D. 2001. Abufe of living characters, by way of anticipation. The fatirist fuppofes them all defunct, and depofited, with fuitable epitaphs, in Westminster Abbey; being, chiefly, perfons of rank and confequence, this noble duke is recorded as a vile fcrub-that celebrated Jord, a great rafcal-that famous baronet, a traitor to his country— 'fquire **** a moft egregious cuckold-and Tom a mere Tom Fool: Thou, beauteous countefs! waft an abandoned harlotand lady ******* an infamous every thing that may be comprehended under ftars and dashes; and every individual of this illuftrious affembly is fo hiftorically marked, and fo palpably defcribed, that there is no fear of your mittaking the portraiture.But is all this warrantable? 4s. Boards. Art. 63. Familiar Letters from a Gentleman to a few felett Friends; with fome original Poems on various Subjects. 8vo. Murray, &c. 1788. Under this title, the reader is prefented with a collection of unimportant incidents, and puerile conceits, low expreffions, and bad puns. Familiar they are indeed, to fuch a degree, that the author runs fome risk of incurring the penalty annexed to too much familiarity. The curiofity excited by men of diftinguished celebrity, finds a gratification in fearching into their minuteft tranfactions, and the reader is not disgusted when he is told that Dr. Johnfon drank tea at 3 o'clock in the morning-that Pope was fond of flewing lampreys, and that Swift took delight in running up and down ftairs. These trivial anecdotes intereft us, not only as they relate to men of whom we think we can fcarce hear too much, but as they moreover flatter our vanity by proving that however exalted fuch eminent perfons are above us by the fuperiority of their intellectual endowments, they are at leaft allied to us by the frailties, neceffities, and appetites of the fame imperfect nature. But when pages are filled with telling us when an individual, whom the reader never heard of, and confequently can have no interest in, eats his 004 Supper Supper-ftirs his fire-drinks his friend's health-or pilfers lavenderwater, the reader must of courfe yawn, and will probably shut the book. A reviewer, alas! must go through with it, and encounter all that nonsense with which this gentlemen tells his friends he takes the liberty to pelt them. As a proof that his pellets are not improperly defcribed, take the following extract from letter 17, addreffed to a lady: My birds are fo unufually cheerful at this moment, that I can almoft fancy they are applauding my prefent dedication to you, by a fpirit of intuition; and who can argue against fuch a fuppofition ?-Charming Pope faid enough to build fuch a conjecture upon, in the following couplet: "Who fees with equal eyes, as God of all, We cannot congratulate our author on the appofiteness of his quotation. A conjecture was never before fo fupported. As a further fpecimen of the compofition of his pellets, we might give his very new expofition of the words of Scripture (written past midnight when his pate was full of wine), they reel to and fro, and ftagger like a drunken man; but we have faid enough to convince him that we require fomething more folid for our intellectual banquet than fuch trifles as he has here prefented to us; and must affure him that our minds remain as diffatisfied after a repaft of this kind, as our bodies would be were we to dine merely upon the froth of a whipt fyllabub. We therefore would recommend to him to find out fome better employment for his leisure hours, and for his pate when it is full of wine; or, at leaft, to confine his epiftolary exercifes, and his original poems, to the circle of his friends, who may behold them through the medium of partiality, and knowing all the trivial circumstances to which they allude, be more amused by them than the public can poffibly be. To us, they feem too trifling for publication, and may juftify the author in exclaiming with the Italian, Quanti di ho confumati indarno! Art. 64. Characters of the Kings and Queens of England. Selected from different Hiftories; with Obfervations and Reflections, chiefly adapted to common Life; and particularly intended for the Instruction of Youth. To which are added Notes, Historical. By J. Holt. Vol. II. 12mo. 2s. 6d. fewed. Robinsons. 1787. When the firft volume of Mr. Holt's publication made its appearance, we noticed it, with approbation, in our number for January 1787, p. 83. The characters in this volume begin with that of Richard II. and end with that of Henry VIII. Mr. Holt continues to extract them from Hume, Smollett, Rapin, &c. each character being followed by obfervations of his own, which well deferve the attention of his young readers: as by placing in a proper point of view, and by justly remarking on, and illuftrating, the ruling paffions and infirmities of the refpective monarchs, he pathetically exhorts his young friends' to fhun their vices, and imitate their virtues. The notes relate, partly, to the laws, improvements, &c. made in each 6 reign, and the manners and customs of the times: they are taken Art. 65. A plain Narrative of the much lamented Death of the Rev. 12mo. A Narrative!-why will this Author mifname his production? which is nothing more than a long fermon in the methodistic style, from Job xii. 14. containing little concerning Dr. Peckwell; but in which we meet with the following inftruction: That the perfection and uprightness of Job must confist in his relation to or union with the Lord Jefus Chrift. That the uprightness of Adam before the Fall is to be explained by a reference to the perfonal character of our Lord Jefus Chrift when upon the earth, only with this difference, that the one was a poffeffor of this rectitude effentially and mediatorially, and the other pofJeffed it derivatively.'. That every faint is a finner that this however is a paradox that the world cannot receive till they are brought into the mould of the Gospel.' Now as we understand this paradox, the Author perhaps may cherish fome hope of us poor finful Reviewers ; notwithstanding our free confeffion that his difcourfe is not altogether to our taste. Art. 66. The Twin Brothers; or a new Book of Difcipline for Infi 8vo. 2s. fewed. dels and old Offenders. In Verfe and Profe. Elliot, and Co. 1787. Thefe twin Brothers are two effays, introduced to the Public by the Editor as foundlings. The firit, which is in verfe, is entitled, A new Colony proposed and confidered. A Conversation, anno 1783, with Notes, and Illuflrations variorum - with this motto, QUA DATA PORTA RUUNT, Virg. The fecond is in profe, and is entitled, A new Exhibition; or a Sermon written on a new Plan: addressed to a Congregation of old Bucks, who still keep it up; and are the Patrons and Patterns of the rifing Generation of bold Spirits. With Anecdotes and Objervations for the Ufe of the Public, and particularly of Parents and Guardians. For the Poetical Converfation, it may have a meaning, and perhaps a very good meaning, could we difcover it. But when a poem requires to be ftudied like an abftrute mathematical propofition, we feldom think it neceffary to bestow extraordinary pains in trying to unravel its mystical mazes. This being the cafe with the piece before us, |