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27. A fhort View of the prefent State of the Ile of Man; humbly fubmitted to the Confideration of the Right Honourable the Lords of his Majefty's Board of Treafury. By an Impartial Hand. 800. Pr. 6d. Cadell.

This small pamphlet is extremely well written, and exhibits a fhocking view of the ftate of this new acquifition to the crown of Britain; but from the patriotic character of the right honourable board, to which it is addreffed, we entertain no doubt that all the grievances complained of will be speedily removed.

28. A Scheme for the Improvement of the Broad Wheels. By R. Whitworth, Efq. 8vo. Pr. 6d. Baldwin.

There is a race of mortals called Omnecifibilifts, of whom Dun Scotus was the founder. We do not profess ourselves to be of the fraternity; and therefore, can give no other character of this pamphlet except saying, that we know the author to be entirely mafter of his subject.

29. The Rofcius; or Spouters Companion: Being a Collection of Scenes, Soliloquies, Prologues, and Epilogues. To which are prefixed, fome Strictures upon Emphasis and Action. Carefully compiled by a Member of the Rofe Society. 8vo. Pr. 13. 6d. Bladon. This publication is made up of extracts from treatifes on elocution, particularly Mafon's Effay, and fragments of plays.

In this cafe our dramatic writers deferve compaffion. Between the compiler and the spouter their fituation is miferable: they are mangled by the one, and doomed to be murthered by

the other.

30. The Concubine: a Poem, in two Cantos. In the Manner of Spenfer. 4to. Pr. 2s. 6d. Dodfley.

A knight, as he was fauntering in the fields, is here supposed to meet a dairy maid.

Right plump fhe was, and ruddie glowd her cheek,
Her eafy waiste in milchwhite boddice dight,
Her golden locks curl'd downe her fhoulders fleek,
And halfe her bofome heaving mett the fight:
And gayly the accofts the fober wight,
Freedom and glee blythe sparkling in her eye;

With wanton merrimake fhe trips the knight, And round the younkling makes the clover fly : But foon he starten up, more gamefome by and bye." In confequence of this interview fhe becomes his concubine; and very foon afterwards the plague of his life. The effects of her fuperintendence are perceived about his houfe and gardens.

All

• All round the borders where the panfie blue
Crocus, and polyanthus powderd fine,
And daffodils in fayre confufion grew,..

Emong the rofe-bush roots and eglantine,
Thefe now their place to cabbages refign;
And tawdry peafe fupply the lillys ftead,

Rough artichokes now bristle where the vine
Its purple clusters round the windows fpread,
And laifie cucumbers on dung recline the head."

The fragrant orchard, at her dire command
In all the pride of bloffome strewd the plain ;
The hillocks gently rifing through the land

Muft now no trace of nature's fteps retain ;
The clear canal, the mirrhour of the swain,
And bluish lake no more adorne the greene,

Two dirty watering ponds alone remain; And what ygoe the place of herbs had bene, Is now a turnip fielde and cow yarde nothing cleane.' The poet defcribes at large the vexation and infamy which the knight fuftained on account of this connection. The moral is obvious; the ftory fimple; the ftile a pretty imitation of Spenfer's manner in the Faerie Queene.

31. Philodamus. A Tragedy. 4to. Pr. 2s. 6d. Dodfley..

Of all the wretched performances by which the dramatic art has been difgraced, this perhaps is the vileft. The fubject is a rape committed by the noted Verres and his associates in Lampfacus, a city of Afia. In the course of the plot, the following, drunken fong is introduced.

• When Thefeus left his Ariadne,

(Faft in her bed the poor girl was a blinking),
Drowned herself for grief the had nigh;

But fecond thoughts foon inclin'd her to drinking.
Sh'illumin'd her face, till it fhone with that brightness,
It turn'd to a star, which gives proof of her lightness."

32. Genius: a miscellaneous poetical Epiftle to the Author of Dido. By a Wappineer, 410. Pr. 1. F. Newbery.

This production may be confidered as fupplemental to the Rofciads, the Thespis's, and the other theatrical productions which have lately pestered the public. We can give no extract from it, as the fatire appears to be entirely perfonal: neither does the humour which fometimes gleams in the author's lines, excite in us any defire to be farther inftructed as to the grounds or propriety of the publication.

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33. Te

33. To Francis Bindon, Esq; on a PiЯure of his Grace Dr. Hugh Boulter Lord Arch-Bishop of Armagh, fet up in the Work-boufe near Dublin, in Commemoration of his Charities in the Years 1739-40 and 1740-41. By T. H. D. Efq. 4to. Pr. 15. Williams.

Mr. Bindon's picture reprefents the arch-bishop at the altar, furrounded with objects of compaffion, The poet puffues this idea, telling the painter, that if he could give greater expanfion to his canvafs, the munificence of his Grace might be displayed in a more ample manner. Having described a variety of diftreffes, he fays,

These scenes of woe fhould in perfpective lie

The heart in forrow only bring them nigh;

Then to full view fhould godlike Boulter ftand,

;

Wide fcatt'ring round whole harvefts from his hand.' This piece was written about the year 1741, and is a juvenile performance.

34. Letters from the Countefs de Sancerre, to the Count de Nancé, her Friend. 8vo. Pr. 6s. Becket and de Hondt.

A French meagre ragout; all feafoning and no substance!

35. An Addrefs to the People of England, on the Manners of the Times. 8vo. Pr. 9d. Newbery.

The wickedness of the nation is the fubject of this address. The author's remarks and admonitions are extremely trite; but they are pious and well-intended; and in such cases, the candid reader will make favourable allowances.

36. A View of the Trinity in the Glafs of Divine Revelation: with fome Reflections on Human Explications concerning that Subjet. And a Defence of Private Judgment in Oppofition to Blind Obedience. In three Differtations. By a Layman. 8vo. Pr. 1. Robinfon and Roberts.

There is nothing in this performance which is likely to recommend it to the attention of the learned and ingenious reader. The author figns himself A. Murray, a layman; and probably he is of fome occupation in which he may be of more service to the world, by his labours, than by writing differtations on the Trinity.

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THE

CRITICAL REVIEW.

For the Month of June, 1767.

ARTICLE I.

An Inquiry, Hiftorical, and Critical, into the Evidence against Mary. Queen of Scots. And an Examination of the Hiftories of Dr. Robertfon and Mr. Hume, with respect to that Evidence. The Second Edition, with Additions. 8vo. Pr.

55. Owen.

INCE our former review of this excellent effay, the best judges of hiftorical evidence have been of opinion, that it was decifive in favour of Mary queen of Scots, and a full refutation of the falfe and cruel charges brought by those who had an immediate intereft in her deftruction, againft her perfon and memory. To this republication is added a confiderable portion of new matter, which elucidates her innocence in fo full a manner, as filently calls upon the candour of the two hiftorians mentioned in the title-page to acknowledge, that they had not fully confidered the queftion between that unfor tunate princess and her perfecutors.

The circumftances through which Mary's memory fuffered, were as extraordinary as her fate was atrocious. Her revenues, power, and authority, were fcrambled for among her enemies, who could have no fafety but from her detention and death, after they had partly perfuaded, and partly forced her into what this author plainly proves to be the only exceptionable part of her conduct, her marriage with Bothwell, whom he had the ftrongest reasons to believe innocent of her husband's death. Buchanan, who had the best Latin pen then in Europe, was hired by a post in the state, to which he was appointed by her leading enemies, to afperfe her, which he did with all the virulence that felf-intereft and his own cynic difpo: fition could fuggeft; but the charges he brought against her were fo foul, that they required to be fupported by stronger VOL. XXIII. June, 1767. evidences

D d

evidences than an artful compofition and a flowing ftile could produce. Specious reafoning and bold conclufions were not fufficient. Somewhat must be attempted fo wicked as to exceed the belief of the public that men could be found daring enough to produce it, if forged; confequently it would be taken for granted that it was real. This plan was executed with a spirit which does honour to the infernal genius of its authors, by their publishing the forgeries of letters and fonnets, which this writer has fo amply and fo accurately dif proved. Before we proceed to the new, and unreviewed, matter contained in this edition, it may be proper to carry on this recapitulation (we mean of the circumftances under which Mary had fuffered) a little farther, by way of fupplement to this Effayift's ingenious labours.

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Camden, a timid, though decent, hiftorian, in writing the life of Elizabeth, has attempted to vindicate Mary; but his performance is lame and infipid, and, in fact, was intended as a vindication of the conduct of the Cecil family, by whom he was grofly impofed on with regard to the queen of Scots. The reader can entertain no doubt of this, upon comparing papers which the Cecil's fuffered him to infert in his hiftory with thofe they with-held from his view, and which have fince been published, and contain proofs of the blacket confpiracy against the dignity, the perfon, character, and life of that unfortunate lady. When Camden could produce nothing more fatisfactory in vindication of Mary, it was no wonder if her enemies triumphed; if even Thuanus adopted the calumnies of Buchanan; and if through fo refpectable a channel they were received and believed in after-times, by the most moderate of all parties. Some expreffions that have fallen from Sir James Melvil, and archbishop Spotfwood, have Arengthened this prepoffeffion against her memory, because both of them were supposed to be her friends. With respect to Melvil, we are fo fingular as to wifh, that this effayist, with his ufual accuracy, had bestowed a few lines upon the authen'ticity of his Memoirs, of which we entertain fome doubt. There can be none as to Spotswood; but his history is general. His fubject does not lead him to confider Mary's cafe critically and very poffibly he might have had prudential reasons for treating it in the manner he did. But be this as it may, we are of opinion that this writer has fully answered all rational doubts arifing from what may have fallen from their pens.

See vol. ix. p. 421.

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