before us. Let this eating-houfe be duly repaired and extended; let provifion be made for emblematical decorations, with galleries for mufic; but ftill let it retain its character of an eatinghoufe; and we hope that we shall not give offence when we hint the propriety of appointing the Agent-general major domą of this manfion, confecrated thus, with fingular felicity, to the genius of JOHN BULL, and the memory of Sir ISAAC NEWTON!

It appears, by the work now reviewed, that the Agentgeneral, who has defended the honour, has tafted of the bounty of the Spanish nation. The noble Spaniards, refiding in England, with the ambaffador at their head, made a fubfcription for him, amounting to 69/. 14s. If his attempts in favour of Newton and the sciences and arts fail in England, it might not be a bad fpeculation to go to Spain, and inftitute an annual commemoration of CERVANTES, the admirable and inimitable author of Don Quixote. COLUMBUS, neglected by Henry VII. of England, was cherished by Ifabella and Ferdinand, Queen and King of Caftille and Arragon.

ART. XXIX. The New Brighton Guide; involving a complete, authentic, and honourable Solution of the recent Myfteries of Carlton Houfe. By Anthony Pafquin, Efq. 2s. Bellamy, London, 1796.

THIS miferable imitation of laughter-loving Anftey strangely

reverses the good-natured humour of that lively and facetious fatirift. Here the indignant feelings of the public are grofsly infulted by a ftupid panegyric on characters whofe filly connexion, and foul confpiracy against the peace and honour of deferted innocence has involved them in eternal infamy. To stem such a torrent of popular odium as overwhelms both his hero and heroine, the proftituted mufe of our bard will find an Herculean task. An apology from fuch a pen as his, is to be deprecated as the fevereft invective. His cenfure might have augured fome remains of worth, but his praife is, in our opinion, nothing better than the fepulchral note of the carrion crow, which never alights to feed or peck but when allured by the pungent fcent of unequivocal putrefcence.

ART. XXX. Mifcellanies in Profe and Verfe. In Two Volumes. Written by Thomas Bellamy. 8vo. 12s. Debrett. London, 1796.

THE

HERE is much prettine's in these volumes; and the author has the modefty to aim at nothing more: a quality but little cultivated in the profeffion, and fo rare in these flathy times, our readers doubtless know how to value as well as we. His Mifcellanies contain, however, feveral tales, or stories, replete with tenderness and fimplicity, happily told, and equally calculated to inftruct and pleafe. His verfification is natural, and not laboured, which accounts for the careless air of fome expreffions, and occafional want of precifion in the metre; but exempts the author from the imputation of dulnefs or ftarch formality. Of his friends, as they come in his way, he may speak now and then rather warmly; but he damns none of them with faint praise. We are not fo deeply tinctured with the mania of the modern drama as to flatter him with an unqualified approbation of all he advances in his London Theatre. His actors and actreffes have little of our attention, as they afford us but poor compenfation for our time or our money, and fhall have none of our praife. Neither is it our business to countenance a bad taste; of which we deem every playhouse in the kingdom a perfect hotbed. We are aware that, to many fashionable readers, this part of the work may nevertheless be most acceptable and amufing. But, after ftating our own, it were certainly madness for us to difpute with them about tafte. The life of poor Parfons, in the second volume, is an inftance of very entertaining dramatic biography. The admirers of that arch and fafcinating actor will here find juftice done to his abilities, and a grateful tribute paid to his memory. The work is embellished with an elegant head of a man whom the author feems proud of calling his friend, with fome other beautiful engravings.

ART. XXXI. The Art of growing Rich. IS. Evans. London, 1796.

O render the rich generous, and the poor induftrious, are the profeffed ends of this brief pamphlet; and few publications can boast a more laudable intention. The compofition is not above mediocrity; but it breathes fuch a fpirit as no ingenuous mind can cenfure; and fome of its illuftrations are happy and appofite. By detailing the common place against avarice in frong and expreffive language, it forcibly inculcates the virtues

of

of benevolence and liberality: and he who thinks the obferva tions here fuggefted ufelefs, because they are trite, may juft as well depreciate wind, water, and the light of heaven, as of no value to any, because of infinite confequence to all.

ART. XXXII. The German Mifcellany; confifting of Dramas, Dialogues, Tales, and Novels. Tranflated from that Language by A. Thomson, Author of a Poem on Whift, The Paradife of Tafte, &. pp. 282. 12mo. Morifon, Perth; Vernor and Hood, London. 1796.

T

HE volume before us confifts of a comedy in three acts, by Prefident Kolzebne, called The Indians in EnglandThe Nut Shell; a Tale-In what Language fhould an Author write a Dialogue-Beanca Capello; a Dramatic NarrativeThe Hiftory of Lumberg-The German Theatre at Venice; a true Anecdote from Meillner.

The tranflator, in his preface, fays, If they have merit, it will speak for itself; if they have none, it is in vain to speak for them. The tranflator fhall only add, that if this fpecimen has the good fortune to be favourably received, he has fuffi'cient store of original pieces befide him to furnish several volumes of the fame entertainment.'-We advise the tranflator to adhere to this refolution, and to confult his book feller before he encounters the feveral volumes of which he is poffeffed.Most of the tales are broken off abruptly, without being concluded. This is, no doubt, intended to whet the appetite for the remainder: but we fhould fuppofe that it will not have the intended effect. Nor is this collection, any more than the former tranflations from the German, free from indelicacy and groffness.

ART. XXXIII. Maurice; a German Tale. By Mr. Schultz. Tranflated from the French. PP. 420. Vernor and Hood. London, 1796.

THE

HE tale before us may fuit the taste of the French and Germans; but it borders too much on indelicacy to be approved of by an English reader: and we confider it as by no means proper to be put into the hands of a female. It is, however, written, upon the whole, in an eafy ftyle, and by a man who is evidently well acquainted with his subject.

ART.

ART. XXXIV. Laura; or, The Influence of a Kils. By A. H. Gefzner. Tranflated from the German. pp. 181. Vernor and Hood. London, 1796.

THIS publication is liable to juft the fame cenfure as the former. The author fays that he writes to guard females from indulging their paffions: had he done fo in a more guarded and delicate manner, they might have been obliged to him; as it is, it is impoffible to recommend this work.

At the fame time that we animadvert on the indelicacy and groffnefs that appear, not unfrequently, in thefe German jeux d'efprit, it is to be remarked, that this is not the effect of any licentious pruriency of imagination, fo much as of a fimplicity that, as yet, happily, on the whole, characterises the manners of the German nation. So that we may apply to them what Mr. Hume, in reviewing the literature of England from the commonwealth to the abdication of King James II. fays of the ancient fatirists: Their freedom no more resembles the licen◄ ⚫tiousness of Rochefter, than the nakedness of an Indian does ⚫ that of a common prostitute.'

ART. XXXV. The Italian; or, The Confeffional of the Black Penitents. A Romance, By Anne Radcliffe, Author of the Myfteries of Udolpho, &c. &c. In Three Volumes. pp. 1120. Cadell and Davies. London, 1796.

AFTER a perufal of the volumes before us, we are inclined

to think that our authorefs has failed in this attempt, not fo much from want of power to astonish, as from another cause. It was impoffible to raise curiofity and expectation to a higher pitch than he has done in her Mysteries of Udolpho; yet these myfteries the accounted for in a natural manner. The reader of the Italian now before us fets down with this conviction. As children who have been frighted, by an ideal bugbear, and afterwards convinced that there was nothing in it, will cry,

No,

no! we know what it is you cannot frighten us again;' fo, we acknowledge, does the perufal of the prefent romance affect us. It is a complication of horrors without intereft; and reminds us of fcenes and circumftances often gone over before in all her former productions. She ftill continues to have a perfect command over the fun, moon, and stars; which the produces much more frequently than their natural course would allow.

The

The most beautiful imagery may be difplayed too often, and thereby lofe its effect. This is the cafe with Mrs. Radcliffe: her paftoral scenes, which at firft are relifhed as agreeable, at length become tirefome and languid, until they are palled over as repetitions, and difregarded.

As a fpecimen of the style of our authorefs, the following extract is prefented as the leaft liable to cenfure. It is impoffible to tell the ftory, it being of fo complicated a nature: befides, to relate it would have the effect of expofing the tricks of a conjurer before the fhew:

It was one ftormy night in December that Marco Torma had been out fishing. Marco, Signor, was an old man that lived in our town when I was a boy; I can but just remember him; but my father knew him well, and loved old Marco, and used often to say→→→→→ To the story,' faid Schedoni.

Why, I am telling it, Signor, as faft as I can. This old Marco did not live in our town at the time it happened, but in fome place, I have forgot the name of it, near the fea-fhore. What can the name be! it is fomething like

Well, what happened to this old dotard ?'

You are out there, Signor, he was no old dotard; but you shall hear. At that time, Signor, Marco lived in this place that I have forgot the name of, and was a fisherman; but better times turned up afterwards but that is neither here nor there. Old Marco had been out fishing; it was a ftormy night, and he was glad enough to get on fhore, I warrant. It was quite dark, as dark, Signor, I fuppofe, as it was laft night; and he was making the best of his way, Signor, with fome fish along the fhore; but it being fo dark, he loft it notwithstanding. The rain beat, and the wind blew, and he wandered about a long while, and could fee no light, nor hear any thing, but the farge near him, which fometimes fwelled as if it was coming to wash him away. He got as far off it as he could, but he knew there were high rocks over the beach, and he was afraid he should run his head against them, if he went too far, I fuppofe. However, at laft he went up close to them, and, as he got a little shelter, he refolved to try no farther for the prefent. I tell it you, Signor, juft as my father told it me, and he had it from the old man himself.'

You need not be fo particular,' replied the Confeffor; fpeak to the point.'

Well, Signor, as old Marco lay fhug under the rocks, he thought he heard fomebody coming, and he lifted up his head, I warrant, poor foul! as if he could have feen who it was. However, he could

hear though it was fo dark, and he heard the steps coming on; but he faid nothing yet, meaning to let them come clofe up to him, before he difcovered himfelf. Prefently he fees a little moving light, and it comes nearer and nearer, till it was just oppofite to him, and then he faw the fhadow of a man on the ground, and then he spied the man himself, with a dark lanthorn, paffing along the beach.'

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