alfo partly taken from a French farce of one ac, written by Marivaux, entitled, Arlequin poli par Amour, Harlequin polifhed by Love' but we will venture to pronounce, even from memory of the French piece, that the English author has in several instances improved on his original; and in no inftance more evidently, than in the circumftance of the nofegays, which is poor, nay even buffoon and unnatural in the French, but is rendered extremely elegant in the English imitation.

The airs are characteristic and poetical. Perhaps it were to be wished, that the author had indulged the vein ftill further, and had attempted dialogue in the style of Shakespeare's Tempeft and the Midfummer Night's Dream, and of the Faithful Shepherdefs of Beaumont and Fletcher; a manner which the peculiar nature of the fubject would very properly have admitted.

11. The School for Guardians. A Comedy. As it is Performed at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. 8vo. Price 1s. 6d. Vaillant.

Our readers, we apprehend, will be able to form a proper idea of this comedy, from the account given by the author, in an advertisement prefixed.-To which we fhall only add,

In every work regard the writer's end;

For none can compass more than they intend.-POPE.

• The following play was written above three years ago, and was foon after fhewn to fome of the principal performers of both houses. It took its rife from Mifs Elliot's being advised to revive The Country Wife for her benefit the first season of her engagement at Covent-Garden theatre. That play, upon a review of it, appeared inadmiffible on account of the obfcenity which difcolours the whole. The author, or rather the compiler of the enfuing fcenes, undertook to alter Wycherley's play for Mifs Elliot againft the following winter; but hearing, in the mean time, that Mr. Bickerftaff had employed himself upon one of Wycherley's pieces, he made it his bufinefs to fee that gentleman, left this writer fhould interfere with a plan already pre-occupied. He found that the Plain Dealer had been Mr. Bickerstaff's object, and that there was no danger of clashing with the scheme of any other author. Upon a closer examination, therefore, of The Country Wife, it was thought proper to defert it intirely, and to refort to Moliere, the original mafter whom Wycherley copied. The celebrated comedy of L'Ecole des Femmes appeared too thin of business, confisting moftly in narrative. To fupply that deficiency the design occurred of making Moliere himfelf fupply the requifite mate

rials; and for this purpose L'Etourdi and L'Ecole des Maris were called in as auxiliaries. Upon this idea the play was foon finished, and it confifts of characters, fituations, and business, from thofe three plays, interwoven into one fable, with as much fkill as a little leifure in the fummer time would permit.

The author of The School for Guardians compofed it with the most difinterested principle; and, if it prove in any degree conducive to the fervice of a young actress or the public entertainment, he has all the reward he ever proposed to himself.'

12. Thefpis: or, a Critical Examination into the Merits of all the Principal Performers belonging to Drury-Lane Theatre. The Second Edition, with Corrections and Additions. 4to. Pr. 2s. 6d. Kearney.

The author of this poem has not only followed Mr. Churchhill in the choice of his fubject, but has alfo endeavoured to catch the ftyle and manner of that writer. Imitations neceffarily fall short of their originals; and accordingly, after all the labour of the author, Thefpis is, in every fenfe, a production much inferior to the Rofciad. It contains lefs pleafantry, lefs acuteness of critical obfervation, fewer flights of poetry, and more frequent deviations into profe. It must indeed be confeffed, that a comparison between this writer and Churchill, is not the most favourable way of judging of his poem: which, nevertheless, is not without a confiderable fhare of merit.

13. The Rational Rofciad. On a more extenfive Plan than any Thing of the kind hitherto published. In Two Parts. Viz. I. On the Stage in general and particular, and the Merits of the most celebrated Dramatic Writers. II. On the Merits of the principal Performers of both Theatres. By F B L Pr. 1s. 6d. Wilkie.

4to.

Another, though lefs fuccefsful imitator of Mr. Churchill than the writer of the preceding article. The author's obfervations upon English dramatic poets, as well as upon the actors, are trite, and frequently unjuft. In short, his performance is, in every refpe&t, inferior to Thefpis.

14. Anti-Thefpis: or, a Vindication of the Principal Performers at Drury-Lane Theatre from the Falfe Criticisms, Illiberal Abufe, and Grofs Mifreprefentations of the Author of a Poem lately published, entitled Thefpis. 4to. Pr. 15. 6d. Bladon.

Priam against Pyrrhus.-The poetry of this piece falls even below the level of the Rational Rofciad.

15. The

15. The Kellyad: or, a Critical Examination into the Merits of Thefpis. By Louis Stamma. 4t0. 4to. Pr. 25.

Facies non omnibus una

Nec diverfa tamen.

Williams.

The fame important trifling, the fame infipid pertnefs, and the fame horse-mill round of observation fo confpicuous in the two laft articles, are repeated in this, with the illiberal addition of fome perfonal reflections upon the author of The spis.

16. The Snarlers. A Poem. 4to. Pr. 1s. 6d. Moran.

This author informs us, that he fent a humorous advertisement (a piece of obfcenity) to be inferted in the Gazetter: but it was rejected. Exafperated at this affront, as he was a man of spirit and a poet, he publishes this fatirical performance; in which he lashes the printers of the news-papers, exposes the character of Hircus, and inveighs against the venality of ftatef men, and the barbarity of the reviewers ;

4

Who scalp poor authors with an envious spite.'

What a notable poet and fatirist he is, the following paragraph will evince.

Too many characters of putrid note,

A very fhock to nature but to quote,

Are here difpers'd about this buftling town,
For like the cormorant fea, here all go down ;
Such men there are, whose vile abandon'd ways,
Furnish fit fuel for a fatire's blaze;

Some too I've fhrewdly noted, but 'bove all,
A certain one, whom we will Hircus call.'

17. Fordyce delineated, a Satire: occafioned by bis Sermons to Pr. 15. Dixwell.

Young Women.

4to.

Great merit is often diftinguished in a very fingular manner; and fometimes we can hardly perceive any difference between the enfigns of honour and the marks of contempt. If the bravery of general Wolfe had not been univerfally celebrated, his effigy would not have been delineated on wood, and difplayed at the door of an ale-houfe in a country village. The fame obfervation is applicable in the present inftance. If the author whofe caricatura is here exhibited, had not gained a reputation by his late performance, this contemptible delineation had never exifted.

18. Ser

18. Sermons to Young Men. In two Volumes.

By Jonathan

Becket.

This writer affures us, that thefe difcourfes were written entirely from the fcriptures, and from his own heart; and that they are not imitations of the fuperficial, infipid, empty harangues of any frivolous, conceited declaimer. He has given the reader, he says, a comprehenfive idea of true religion, with its advantages and importance. From these words of St. Paul, -Young men exhort to be fober-minded,- he has deduced almoft all the precepts of Christianity; but he has only treated them in a general way. For, fays he, if I had handled them with accuracy and precifion, each fermon would have fwelled to a folio; and they must have employed more years than I was

days in compofing them.'

What number of days the author employed in this work we are not informed; but by feveral circumftances we are convinced, that it is not the refult of much application. We have heard of a poet who made no difficulty of inditing two hundred verses, "while he food upon one leg;" and this writer, we fuppofe, has difpatched his fermons with the fame facility. We do not perceive, throughout the whole, any appearance of ftudy or refinement: every thing feems to be perfectly extemporaneThe author writes, as we may imagine a perfon of tolerable elocution might fpeak without premeditation. He generally discourses in a ftrain which may probably induce his reader, as Dr. F. advifes, to "clofe the book," and fall asleep. Yet he fometimes affumes a more lively air, and addreffes his readers in that alert and familiar manner which is ufual with the most popular of all popular preachers, the renowned Mr. Whitfield:

ous.

Whenever, fays he, any perfon, old or young, repents and returns to God, the Devil is enraged at the thoughts of lofing a fubject; he confiders fuch a one as a rebel and traitor to himself, and is forely vexed at having the prey which he was on the point of devouring, fnatched as it were out of his jaws. But what has Satan ever done for you, that you fhould be defirous or willing to please him? Is he your maker? No. Does he preferve and take care of you? No. Did he die for you? No; but is even angry to rage, that Another did. Has he laid you under any fort of obligation to please him? No. Has he any encouragement to give you for pleafing him? No. He will afterwards only upbraid and torment you for your folly therein. Did he ever intend you the leaft good in any one refpe&t? No; nothing but mifchief. Will you then gratify your inveterate adverfary," that old ferpent called the Devil, and Satan," or his angels -efpecially when you confider that, by doing fo,

you

you will displease the God that made and loves you; Jesus Chrift who died for you; and grieve the good Spirit of God, as well as thofe holy angels that " kept their firft eftate," and are daily employed in offices of kindnefs for you!"

If our readers fhould have an inclination to fee any more of this kind of writing, we muft refer them to thefe difcourfes.

19. The Snare Broken. A Thanksgiving Difcourfe, preached at the Defire of the Weft Church, in Bofton, N. E. Friday, May 23, 1766. Occafioned by the Repeal of the Stamp-Act. By Jonathan Mayhew, D. D. Pafior of the faid Church. 8vo. Price Is. Kearfly.

This American preacher reprefents the ftamp-act as an execrable defign,' which affected the liberty of his country in the most effential manner. Under this perfuafion, he breaks out into fome intemperate invectives. In other respects this is a fenfible difcourfe, and was very properly adapted to the occafion on which it was preached.

20. The Humble Attempt of a Layman towards a Confutation of Mr. Henry Mayo's Pamphlet, call'd the Scripture Doctrine of Baptifm, c. And a vindication of Dr. Gill from the Perfonal Abufe, Falfe Charges, and Mijreprefentations of that Author; And, through the Whole, his Ignorance, Impertinence, bad Reafoning, and Perversion of Scripture, are expofed. By Philalethes. 8.00. Pr. Is. Blyth.

This is a finart defence of the mode of adminiftering baptifm by immersion.

21. Jephthah's Vore confidered. A Sermon preached before the University of Oxford, at St. Mary's, on Sunday, June 8, 1766. With an Appendix, containing a Differtation on Lev. xxvi. 28, 29, and on the Nature and Kinds of Vows under the Mofaical Law. By Thomas Randolph, D. D. Prefident of C. C. C. Oxford. 8vo. Pr. Is. Fletcher,

Interpreters have been greatly divided about the fenfe of Jephthah's vow, and the manner in which it was performed. The Septuagint verfion, and other ancient translations, the primitive fathers, and the generality of the Jewish writers, agree, that Jephthah really facrificed his daughter. But upon this fuppofition, as Dr. Randolph obferves, it is not eafy to make fenfe of the vow itself. Jephthah, who in all the reft of his conduct acts like a man of good fenfe and understanding, is here fuppofed to vow that he would offer up for a burntoffering whatfoever should come forth of the doors of his house to

meet