Great fire of verfe, before my mortal eyes, Great Maro's strain in heav'nly numbers flows, Not you, my friend, thefe plaintive ftrains become, Not you, whofe bofom is the Muses home; The happier Terence all the choir inspir'd, Thy virtues, great Maecenas! fhall be fung As long as Thames in ftreams majestic flows, Or Naiads in their oozy beds repofe, 3 } There are feveral lines in this piece, which would be no dif credit to an English poet. The whole is indeed extraordinary, confidered as the production of a young Negro, who was, but a few years fince, an illiterate barbarian, The author appears to be of a ferious, and religious turn of mind. Her poems are for the most part of that caft.Their authenticity is attested by feveral gentlemen of the most refpectable character in Boston. 23. Eve 23. Evelina: a Poem. By John Huddleftone Wynne, Gent. 4to. 25. 6d. Riley. The heroine of this poem is the daughter of Caradoc, or Caractacus, a British prince, who, when her father was betrayed into the hands of the Romans, expired upon the spot, from the horror with which she was affected at the catastrophe of her family and country. The Druids are here reprefented as depofiting the remains of the unfortunate princess in a deep valley near the foot of Snowdon, where the author informs us that a farcophagus has been discovered, on which were infcribed in rude characters the name of Evelina; an incident which gave occafion to the poem. The funeral proceffion and lamentation of the Druids are defcribed in a train of elegy which infpires a reverential awe, and is agreeably foothing to the imagination. This fubject, however, conftitutes the fmalleft part of the poem; for the author afterwards introduces a defcription of the most remarkable parts of Cambria, or Wales, with a short prophetic view of fome of the tranfactions in Britain fubfequent to the time of Evelina. 24. The Pantheon, a Poem. 4to. 2s. 6d. Williams. The fcene of public entertainment which is the fubject of this poem, affords a large field for the exercife of poetical licence; and in fo motley a company as that at the Pantheon, many muft be the objects both of panegyric and fatire. To defcribe faithfully the feveral characters, however, requires fuch a rigid regard to juftice as we fcarcely can expect to find in thofe kinds of defcription where truth is fo often facrificed to picturefque reprefentation, and beauties and blemishes are magnified, according to the prejudice or caprice of the authors. We cannot, therefore, admit that this bard characterifes with impartiality; but confidering him even as void of prepoffeffion, his pretenfion to poetical merit is very inconfiderable. 25. An Ode, facred to the Memory of the late right hon. George Lord Lyttelton. 4to. 15. Dodfley. We fincerely regret the event which has given occafion to this Ode, and wish to fee it lamented in firains worthy of the amiable virtues and diftinguished abilities of the lately deceafed lord Lyttelton; but this production, though well intended, is not a fufficient tribute to the memory of fo great a man. 26. The City-Patricians. A Poem. 4to. 2s. 6d. Allen. The author of this rhapsody appears to be the fame rotable genius who fome time fince dealt his effufions among the members of two great affemblies. The theme with which he e now amufes himself is the court of aldermen, among whom he likewife diftributes his praife and cenfure with a lavish and undifcerning hand. Should he turn his attention to the body body of liverymen, what a glorious, but fuitable fubject will they afford to fuch poetical abilities! A new 27. Surry Triumphant or the Kentish-Mens Defeat. Ballad; being a Parody on Chevy-Chace. 4to. 15. Johnson. This ballad is founded on a late cricket-match between the men of Surry and Kent, in which the former, it appears, were victorious. The author has not unhappily parodied the celebrated model, Chevy Chace, by which he has conftructed his poem; though the prefervation of fimilarity was rendered more difficult by a strict adherence to truth, whereby he profeffes to have been guided. In conformity to the rule, that an heroic poem should be founded upon fome important precept of morality, adapted to the conftitution of the country in which the poet writes, our author endeavours to inculcate, that idle games fhould not be practifed in the time of harveft; a precept which certainly merits the attention of those who may hereafter engage in fuch sports. DRAMATICAL. 28. The Macaroni a Comedy. As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in York. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Nicoll. After being expofed to public ridicule in a variety of lights, a perfon under the title of a Macaroni is here produced upon the flage. Extreme felf-love, pufillanimity, and effeminacy, are the qualities which diftinguifh his character; thefe, we must acknowledge, are not unhappily described. With refpect to the fcenes where the Macaroni is not introduced, the comedy is rather of the serious than humorous kind. 29. The Pantheonites. A Dramatic Entertainment. As performed at the Theatre-Royal in the Hay-Market. 8vo. 15. Bell. The principal characters in this piece are Drugger, a tobaccqnift, and his wife; who, upon receiving information that a ticket which they had in the lottery was drawn a 20,000l. prize, immediately began to affect the manners of people of rank, and to launch into every fashionable extravagance. The reprefentation of their ridiculous behaviour is continued through two acts, with a great degree of merit. It is at length discovered that a miftake had been committed by the lottery-office keeper, in announcing the prize to Drugger's ticket, when it belonged to one which was the property of Mrs. Drugger's fifter. NOVEL S. 30. The Fashionable Friend, a Novel. 2 vols. 12mo. 6s. Becket. When the ancient romances were exploded, and pictures of real life were fubftituted in their stead, fuch a variety of characters and incidents prefented themfelves, that novel-writers eafily met with materials; a wide field was opened for them to range in, and they might avoid treading in each others steps, But But fince almost every track is become beaten, authors are obliged to make the moft of what is left them; for this reafon moft of our later nove's are very barren of incidents, and the writers feem to aim lefs at diverfifying their tales, than at working up a fingle circumftance in the moft ftriking manner. In that before us we have little variety; but the author of it endeavours to intereft us in behalf of injured innocence, by painting the misfortunes of his heroine in the ftrongest colours. In this he certainly fucceeds, as the reader who is fofceptible of pity will scarcely perufe this little tale without emotions of fympathy. A critical reader will, it is true, be offended with fome inconfiftencies and improbabilities, which the writer, had he been careful in forming the plan of his work, might dafily have avoided. To name only one-the fecret of Henrietta's marriage she could not think of revealing, even to save her reputation, at a time when the lofs of it was peculiarly unfortunate, her husband having (as the writes to her most intimate friend) laid his commands upon her never to have any other entrofled with the fecret; yet when that husband entrusts the fecret to a friend, whom he requests to take care of his wife in his abfence, and mentions that if the fecret were known to his father, his inevitable ruin would be the confequence, that friend writes the whole flory to another friend, and continues to correspond with him on the fubject. Henrietta's fervants are alfo entrusted with this fecret, and yet it is of fuch confequence, that when the husband was long abfent, when he received no answers to the letters he wrote both to his wife and his friend, fave one in which that friend gave him fome diftreffing hints, he could procare no information concerning his wife, because he would not entrust any friend with the fecret of his marriage. If a reader will excufe thefe and a few other inconfiftencies, fome of which materially affect the ftory, he will not think an hour or two ill employed in the perufal of thefe volumes. 31. The Hermitage: a British Story. 2 vols. 12mo. 6s. Bell. There is fomething interefting in this British Story, and it would be in many places affecting, did not the bathos of the language, deftroy the pathos of the fentiment. Had the ftory been related with more fimplicity it would have appeared to much greater advantage: but it is, with all its inflations of ftyle, a compofition which does no difcredit to the understanding or feelings of the author. 32. The Friends. 2 vols. 12mo. 6s. Bell. The letters in thefe volumes have, in general, no small degree of merit. They abound with judicious obfervations, ftrongly, and often happily, expreffed. If all the epiftolary productions of this fcribbling age were as unexceptionable, the reviewing of them would be rather a pleafant than a painful employment. MISCELLANEOUS. 33. Socinianifm brought to the Teft: or Jefus Chrift proved to be either the Adorable God, or a Notorious Impoftor. By John Macgowan. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Keith. The defign of thefe letters is to fhew, firft, that the doctrine of Mohammed, and that of Dr. Prieftley are precifely the fame, with respect to the Trinity, and the person of Jefus Chrift, both reprefenting Chrift as a mere man like themselves; that, fecondly, if the doctor's hypothefis be true, Mohammed was a more confiftent prophet than David, Ifaiah,, and all the rest of the Jewish prophets; that he was even a better preacher than Chrift and all his apoftles; that he was more tender of the divine character, and more zealous for the glory of God, than all the prophets, or than Christ and his apostles, and, confequently, that he gave better proof of the divinity of his miffion, than Chrift gave of his; that, upon the fame principle, the world has received more extenfive and lafting advantages from Mohammed than from Jefus Chrift; and that, in fhort, if Chrift was but a mere man, he was an arrant impoftor, a notorious blafphemer, and as fuch, moft juftly condemned by the Jewish Sanhedrim, and ftill rejected by their offspring. -There is novelty, and a poignancy in this writer's train of reafoning. 34: A General History of Ireland. From the earliest Accounts, rás the prefent Time, by John Huddlestone Wynne, Gent, 2 vols. 8vo. 10s, 6d. boards. Riley. A General History of Ireland, from the earliest period to the reign of George III. comprifed in the compals of twe volumes octavo, is fuch a work as mut afford a very imperfect account of the transactions of that country, even allowing the compiler to have made the most œconomical ufe of the limits prefcribed to his undertaking. Mr. Wynne, however, seems to have paid fo little attention to this circumstance, that, extravagantly narrow as the bounds of his abridgement are, be has increased its deficiency by indulging himfelf in declamatory digreffions entirely foreign to his fubject. We with we could not add, that the work alfo difcovers unjustifiable omiffions, and fuch inaccuracies as render the narrative worfe than imperfect, f 35. An Introduction to the Knowledge and Ufe of Maps; renderea *`eafy and familiar 10 any Capacity. 12mo. 35. Crowder. This fmall but elegant Introduction to the Knowledge and Ufe of Maps, dedicated to his royal highnefs the bishop of Of naburgh, the author, or rather authorefs, for we have fome reason to believe it is the work of a female pen, informs the reader, was compiled chiefly with regard to thofe young gentlemen and ladies who have a tafte for geography, and are will |