must be near the truth. The latitude of the fame place would be afcertained by the celestial obfervations effential to the measurement, and would verify our determination taken from the observed culmination of zenith ftars. Laftly, the height of Geneva above the level of the Mediterranean Sea (which is fupposed to be 196 toifes) can be obtained with a fufficient precifion from the barometrical obfervations, which for feveral years paft have been regularly made here.'

We truft, from the infertion of this paper, that M. Pictet's very judicious and liberal obfervations and offers will be attended to; and that an object so important in philosophy and aftronomy, with the collateral experiments mentioned by our author, will be carried into execution with a national dignity and truly philofophical exertions.

The volume concludes with the ufual meteorological journal for the year 1790. The thermometer varied from 30° to 77°, and the mean heat of April was only 44. The heat of the year may, in this cafe, be better afcertained by the mean heats of March, April, and May, which appear to be very nearly 48. The range of the barometer was from 28.80, to 30.65. The rain was not more than 16.052 inches.

The Baviad, a paraphraftic Imitation of the first Satire of Perfius. 8vo. 2s. Jewed. Faulder. 1791.

THE words are thofe of Perfius, but the manner is that of Juvenal. Our author, indignantly violent, reprehends the modern tafte in poetical compofition, and feverely lafhes, with all the force of Juvenal, the late trifling poems which, under real and fictitious names, have been fo warmly praised by those who, with a reciprocal complaifance, modeftly receive and beftow the moft exaggerated commendations. We allude to the poems published, as those of Anna Matilda, Della Crufca, and fome real names in the British Album, in which, while we have pointed out fome errors, we have had occafion to notice fome elegant and poetical lines. Our author, a little inhumanly, with one blow of his cæftus, is eager to destroy the whole corps; and if his wholesome reprehenfion will contribute to check the flimzy conceits, and the infipid nonsense which is at prefent called, by courtesy we fuppofe, poetry, he may be acquitted of any very great offence.

We have formerly obferved, in reviewing Mr. Murphy's imitation of Juvenal, that his polifhed-lines came more nearly to the manner of Perfius than of Juvenal. We have just faid that the author of the Baviad resembles Juvenal. We may be permitted confequently to add

-hinc vos

Vos hinc mutatis difcedite partibus

Nor

194

Nor can we avoid expreffing our furprize that, in the liberty
our author has taken in omitting a line or two occasionally in
the fatire of Perfius, he thould have ftepped over the elegant
compliment to Horace, when fo many modern Horaces might
have deferved a tribute of applaufe. On the whole, however,
our imitator's energy, his honeft indignation, the justice and
feverity of his cenfures, deferve our commendation. He ftrikes,
at times perhaps, too indifcriminately, and in his eagerness to
expofe folly, has, in one or two inftances, included in his lift
names that deferve a better treatment. In the following lines,
and we select them for this purpofe, our author has kept clofer
than ufual to the original, and has imitated Perfius with great
fuccefs. Our learned readers may find the Latin in line 38th,
&c. of the Roman fatyrist.

F. And is it nothing then to hear our name
Thus blazon'd by the general voice of fame?
P. Nay, it were ev'ry thing, did that difpenfe
The fober verdict found by taste and fenfe.
But mark our jury. O'er the flowing bowl,
When wine has drown'd all energy of foul,
Ere Faro comes (a dreary interval!)
For fome fond, fashionable lay they call.
Here the fpruce enfign, tottering on his chair,
With lifping accent, and affected air,
Recounts the wayward fate of that poor poet,
Who, born for anguish, and difpofed to fhew it,
Did yet fo aukwardly his means employ,
That gaping fiends miftook his grief for joy.
Loft in araaze at language fo divine,
The audience hiccup, and exclaim, "Damn'd fine!"
And are not now the author's ashes bleft?
Now lies the turf not lightly on his breaft?
Do not fweet violets now around him bloom?
Laurels now burft fpontaneous from his tomb!

F. This is mere mockery; and (in your ear)
Reafon is ill refuted by a fneer.

Is praise an evil? Is there to be found
Aught fo indifferent to its foothing found,
As not to wish hereafter to be known,
And make a long futurity its own;
Rather than

P.-With 'fquire Jerningham defcend

To paftry-cooks and moths," and there an end!"

We shall proceed in the lines which immediately follow thofe juft quoted, to give a fpecimen of his general talents, and the hearty good will with which he beftows his fatyrical Jafhes.

"O thou

O thou that deign't this homely feene to fhare,
Thou know't when chance (tho' this indeed be rare)
With random gleans of wit has grac'd my lays,
Thou know'ft too well how I have relish'd praife.
Not mine the foul that pants not after fame;
Ambitions of a poet's envied name,

I haunt the facred fount, athirst to prove
The grateful influence of the ftream I love.

And yet, my friend, (though ftill at praife beflow'd
Mine eye has gliftened, and my cheek has glow'd),
Yet, when I proftitute the lyre to gain

The eclogies that wait each modish strain,

May the fweet Mufe my groveling hopes withstand,
And tear the rings indignant from my hand.

Nor think that, while my verfe too much I prize,
Too much th' applause of fashion I despise;
For mark to what 'tis given, and then declare,
Mean tho' I am, if it be worth my care.

Is it not given to Efte's unmeaning dafh,
To Topham's fuftian, Colman's flippant trash,
Miles Andrews' doggrel, Merry's frantic whine*,

Cobbe's vapia jelt, and Greathead's lumbering line?'

We fhall add but one paffage more; it is from the 11th line of the original:

‹ P. O might I durft I! Then-but let it go.

Yet, when I view the follies that engage

The full-grown children of this piping age;

See fnivelling Jerningham at fifty weep

O'er love-lorn oxen and deferted sheep;

Merry's frantic whine.-In a most wretched rhapfody of incomprehen fible nonfente, addreffed by this gentleman to Mrs. Robinfon, which the in her valuable poems (page 10c) calls a charming compofition, abounding in lines of exquisite beauty, is the following rant:

Conjure up demons from the main,
Storms upon ftorms indignant heap,
Bid ocean how), and nature weep,
Til the Creator blufb to fee

Horu burrible bis zworld can be:
While I will glory to blafpheme,

And make the joys of hell my theme.

The reader, perhaps wonders what dreadful event gave birth to these fearful imprecations. As far as I can recollect it was- the aforefaid Mrs. Robinson's not opening her eyes!!! Surely it is moft devoutly to be wifhed that these poor creatures would recollect, amidst their frigid ravings, and common-place ex travagances, that excellent maxim of Pope:

"Perfift, by nature, reason, taste, unaw'd;
But learn, ye dunces, not to fcorn your God,"

Seo

See Cowley* frisk it to one ding-dong chime,
And weekly cuckold her poor spouse in rhyme;
See Thrale's grey widow with a fatchell roam,
And bring in pomp laborious nothings home;
See Robinfon forget her ftate, and move

On crutches tow'rds the grave, to † “Light o' Love ;"
I fcarce can rule my fpleen-

F. Forbear, forbear;

And what the great delight in, learn to fpare.

P. It must not, cannot be; for I was born
To brand obtrufive ignorance with fcorn;
On bloated pedantry to pour my rage,
And his prepofterous faftian from the ftage.
Lo, Della Crufcat! In his clofet pent,
He toils to give the crude conception vent;
Abortive thoughts that right and wrong confound,
Truth facrific'd to letters, fenfe to found;
Falfe glare, incongruous images, combine;
And noife and nonfenfe clatter thro' the line,'

Memoirs of the first forty-five Years of the Life of James Lackington, the prefent Bookfeller in Chifwell-Street, Moorfields, London. Written by himself, in a Series of Letters to a Friend. 8vo. 5s. Boards. Sold by the Author. 1791.

אן

N this age of multifarious biography, there is not fo much vanity apparent in the prefent production as might on a first glance be imagined. The book is apt to ftrike as a kind of putting fhop-bill; but as it contains fome inftruction, and a portion of amusement, a reader may pardon the feeming prefumption in favour of the effects. Mr. L.'s vanity fits eafy upon him, and is little offenfive to the vanity of others: fometimes he laughs at it, and sometimes he lays it aside.

For the poetic amours of this lady, fee the British Album, particularly the poem called the Interview; of which, foit dit en paffant, I have a must delec table tale to tell when time fhall ferve.'

Light o'Love! that's a tune that goes without a burden. Shakspear,"
Lo, Della Crufca!

"O thou, to whom fuperior worth's allied,

Thy country's honour, and the Mufe's pride

Indeed the fays a great deal more; but as I do not understand it, I forbear to lengthen my quotation.

Innumerable odes, fonnets, &c. published from time to time in the papers, have juftly procured this gentleman the reputation of the first poet of the age a but the performance which called forth the high-founding panegyric abovementioned, is a philofophical rhapfody on the French Revolution, called the Wreath of Liberty.

Open

Open and fincere in his conftant confeffion of the original pesury of his fituation, even envy may pardon him for escaping from a fhoemaker's ftool to a carriage and four thousand a year.

After a triple dedication to the public, to respectable and to fordid booksellers, we find a preface, according to the most approved receipts for making a book. Mr. L. does not difdain a trick, formerly common, now abandoned, when he informs us that he wrote his Life in order to prevent its being written by others: but the following paragraphs are in a more laudable ftyle:

If unfortunately any of my kind readers fhould find the book fo horrid, dull, and ftupid, that they cannot get through it; or if they do, and wish not to travel the fame road again, I here declare my perfect readiness to supply them with abundance of books much more learned, much more entertaining, much more witty, much more-whatever they please: they never fhall want books while L. is able to affift them; and whether they prefer one of his writing, or that of any other author, he protests he will not be in the smallest degree offended: let every author make the fame declaration if he can.

Should my Memoirs be attended with no other benefit to fociety, they will at leaft tend to fhew what may be effected by a perfevering habit of industry, and an upright confcientious demeanour in trade towards the public, and probably infpire fome one, of perhaps fuperior abilities, with a laudable ambition to emerge from obfcurity, by a proper application of those talents. with which Providence has favoured him, to his own credit and emolument, as well as the benefit of the community. To fuch an one I ever have, and ever shall with every poffible fuccefs, as it has uniformly been my opinion, that whatever is thus acquired is more honourable to the parties than the poffeffion of wealth obtained without any intrinfic merit or exertion, and which is too frequently confamed with rapidity in the purfuit of vice and diffipation.'

This publication is divided into forty-one letters, prefaced with fcraps of poetry from various English authors. In the first letter the fubject is propofed, and John Dunton's life and errors is mentioned as a preceding example of a bookfeller metamorphofed into his own biographer: but John is forgotten, in fpite of the once popular Athenian oracle; and it is no high compliment to say that Mr. L. furpaffes his prototype. The fucceeding epiftle informs us, that he was born at Wellington in Somersetshire, on the 31st of Auguft, old ftyle, 1746.