on Johnfon. In our opinion more refpect is due to fuch illuftrious names than Mr. H. is willing to pay to them. Granting that Pope was too fond of mechanical beauties, and that he fometimes facrificed fenfe to found, is it fair to affert that the Profe of Young has more imagery than the Poetry of Pope? Such an uncandid comparifon robs him, by implication, of the lively fancy, which was indifputably a prominent feature of his mind. The Rape of the Lock, and the Epiftle from Eloifa to Abelard, prove this point, very clearly. It conveys an idea too puerile and degrading, of him who has given melody and refinement to our numbers, to fay that of Verfe he has made a Rattle, and of Rhyme a Play-thing.'-Dr. Johnfon is cenfured for not enriching his Lives of the Poets with more of the ancient fort. Yet Mr. H. allows that the Dr. was confined to a lift marked out by the Bookfellers. He fays this excufe is probably true, but furely moft unfatisfacIf it be true, it ought, on that account, to be fatisfactory; especially if it be confidered that Johnson's infirm health, and intention to tranflate Thuanus, might naturally call off his mind from enlarging his plan, even if he had been at liberty to do fo.

The biographical fketches contain fhort and pleafing accounts. of all thofe authors from whofe works Mr. H. has made felections. The principal are Corbet, Carew, Crafhaw, Daniel, Drummond, Davenant, Drayton, the Fletchers, the Earl of Surry, May, Quarles, Sackville, and Sir W. Raleigh. In the delineation of characters, and ftyle of obfervation, we think we difcover fomething of the manly and fpirited manner of Walpole. The low Anecdotes from Awbrey's Manufcripts add nothing to the refpectability of Bifhop Corbet, nor do they contribute to the illuftration of his poetry. The competition between the muddy Cam' and the more genial Ifis' had better have been omitted. Mr. H. by his partiality to Oxford, has unguardedly been betrayed into an appearance of illiberality, which may provoke the hoftilities of the Cambridge wranglers. The accounts of

Quarles and Drummond are written con amore. The endeavours to reicue the Author of the Emblems from neglect, are fpirited and commendable. Every reader of fenfibility and tafte will justify the partiality fhewn to the Poet of Hawthornden.

The Select Beauties confift of defcriptive, pathetic, and didactic Pieces, Elegies, Epitaphs, mifcellaneous Pieces, Sonnets, and Speeches. The most confiderable, both in number and value, are the productions of Drayton, Quarles, Drummond, Daniel, and King. It would too much exceed the limits of our plan to produce many specimens. The following morceaux will give our readers a taste of what they may expect from the publication at large, which we do not hesitate to fay, will afford them a delicious feaft.

On

On the Death of a Scotch Nobleman; by Drummond.

Fame, register of Time!

Write in thy fcrowle, that I

Of wisdome lover, and sweet poefie,

Was cropped in my prime,

And ripe in worth, though green in years did dye.'

To his Son Vincent Corbet; by Dr. Corbet.
"What I fhall leave thee none can tell,

But all fhall fay I with thee well.
I wish thee (Vin.) before all wealth,
Both bodily and ghoftly health;

Nor too much wealth nor wit come to thee,
So much of either may undoe thee.,
I wish thee learning, not for fhow,
Enough for to inftruct, and know;
Not fuch as Gentlemen require
To prate at table or at fire."
I with thee all thy mother's graces,
Thy father's fortunes and his places.
I wish thee friends and one at court,
Not to build on, but support;
To keep thee not from doing many
Oppreffions, but from fuffering any.
I wish thee peace in all thy wayes,
Nor lazy nor contentious days.
And when thy foul and body, part,

As innocent as now thou art.'

The notes, which contain many proper illuftrations of paffages, prove that this author has drank deep of the "antient Wells of English undefiled." Mr. H. is anticipated in his remark on the fuperiority of Poetry to Painting, as exemplified by " quos ipfe facraverat ignes," by Burke on the Sublime, p. 337. The coincidence of Pope with Drummond in the fublime fimile of the Alps is very ftriking, and almost makes us converts to the perfuafion that Pope had "pilfer'd fnug."

Mr. Headley's ftyle is too florid. is metaphors are fometimes far-fetched and incongruous. The members of his fentences are frequently disjointed and perplexed. His ufage of words is in a few places quaint and unauthorised. But thefe may be the faults of a lively imagination, and the inaccuracies of a young writer whom practice will, no doubt, imperceptibly improve.

The felections are made from an attentive perufal of the Authors above mentioned, and exhibit complete and fatisfactory fpecimens of their different modes of writing. A work executed, as this is, with diligence and tafte, is an acquifition to English literature. It brings to light a number of poetical beauties which before were hardly known to exift, and by feparating them

C 3

from

from those dull and jejune pieces among which they were buried, reftores to their authors that fame which could be revived by no other expedient.

All we have farther to add is, that a refpectable lift of fubfcribers is perfixed to the work, and that Mr. H. has promised a continuation of it. We doubt not but the fuccefs of his present publication will be fufficient to encourage him in his defign.

ART. IV. Religion confidered as the only Bafis of Happiness and true Philofophy. By the Marchionefs of Sillery, heretofore Countess of Genlis. 2 Vols. 12mo. 8s. Boards. Cadell. 1787.

TH

HIS work was compofed for the ufe of the duke of Orleans' children; but children are not the only readers who will be inftructed and entertained by its perufal.

The chief end of the virtuous Authorefs is to examine and refute the opinions of modern infidels; who have, as the thinks, by their many publications, which have been read with avidity, greatly injured the cause of religion and morality. Thefe gentlemen, affuming the name of Philofophers, have dishonoured the title by the unreftrained licence of their writings, and have deceived the public by mifinterpretations. The Marchionefs chiefly attacks the writings of Voltaire, especially those against religion, government, and morals; the hath judicioufly difcriminated between the pernicious and the useful productions of the French writers; a circumftance which fufficiently fhews her impartiality, and that fhe does not attack the perfon but the author.

As the foundation of all religion, the exiftence of a God, and the immortality of the foul, firft engage the attention of the Authorefs; the proceeds to confider the feveral doctrines of natural and revealed religion, and concludes her firft volume with fome excellent remarks on religious and philofophic fanaticism and on toleration.

In the fecond volume the Marchionefs points out the falsehoods, contradictions, and the infincerity of the detractors of religion and answers feveral objections made by infidels. After having recommended the practice of Chriftian virtues, and reprobated the prejudices under which the falfe philofophers of the prefent age, labour, the Authorefs concludes with recapitulating the duties of a religious philofopher, and especially those of a Christian prince. Several notes are added at the end of the work, in which we meet with many just criticifms and remarks on fome of the modern French writers, interfperfed with a variety of hiftorical and biographical anecdotes; these fhew the intimate acquaintance which the Authorefs has with literature, and her skill in criticism,

It remains that we should speak of the merits of the translation, In general it is well executed. We are told in the preface that

in its progrefs it [the tranflation] has been read and compared with the original by Madame de Sillery herfelf, who, well acquainted with the English language, is the beft judge whether her fentiments be conveyed with precifion and neatness.'

The character which the tranflator, in his dedication of this work to the Archbishop of Canterbury, gives of Madame de Sillery and the present production of her pen, is so just that we fhall adopt it. The prefent work will prove to your Lordship that she is not lefs qualified to inftruct in a religious, than in a civil capacity. Her chief aim has been to fet forth religion in its most amiable colours of meekness, charity, and toleration; and to point out the duties of a man, and particularly of a prince, to his God, his neighbour, and himself; and to prove that the only road to real happiness, even in this world, is, to revere and practise the principles of the Christian religion.'

ART. V. Notitia Monaftica; or an Account of all the Abbies, Priories, and Houses of Friers, formerly in England and Wales. And alfo of all the Colleges and Hofpitals founded before A. D. 1540. By the Right Reverend Dr. Thomas Tanner, Bishop of St. Asaph. Published A. D. 1744. by John Tanner, M. A. and now reprinted, with many Additions, by James Nafmith, M. A. Rector of Snalewell, in Cambridgeshire. Folio. 21. 25. Boards. Nichols. 1787.

ISHOP Tanner's Notitia Monaftica hath been fo long esteem

ed by the Public, that our small tribute of praise can neither enhance its value, nor render it more known to the lovers of antiquity and the eclefiaftical history of England: we shall therefore only lay before our readers a concile account of this edition, and fhew in what refpects it differs from the former impreffion.

In the former edition, the feveral articles in each county were arranged in chronological order; in the present they are placed alphabetically. This we think a great improvement; for the chronological method, as each county formed a diftinct feries, added no light to the subject, and was attended with this obvious inconvenience, that the accounts of the religious houfes in the fame city or town, instead of being collected together, and being comprehended in one view, were difperfed into as many different places as there were different dates of their foundations.

The additions which Mr. Nafmith has made, confift of accounts of houses not noticed in the former editions, and of references to books and MSS. illuftrating the text. The additional

accounts are not numerous, nor could it be expected that they fhould be fo; for no conventual priory or incorporated charity could well escape the repeated fearches of inquifitive antiquaries for the space of near two centuries. The editor's infertions are every where fupported with ample authorities: it would be well if all editors would follow Mr. Nafmith's example.

The greateft part of the additions confifts in the references to books and MSS. Mr. Nafmith's fituation in the neighbourhood of the university, afforded him an eafy accefs to many valuable libraries; and he feems to have confulted, with affiduity, fuch works as any way relate to the fubject; and to have extracted with judgment fuch authorities as elucidate his author.

Mr. Nafinith was favoured with Dr. Tanner's own copy of the Notitia Monaftica, containing many additional notes and MS. marginal obfervations; with an account of fome hofpitals in Deyonfhire, Kent, and Middlefex; all of which are inferted in their proper places. Our Editor laments the death of his valuable friend the Rev. William Cole, M A. That gentleman's large collections, relative to monaftic antiquities, would have furnifhed many additional references; but these are at prefent inacceffible, being depofited in the British Mufeum, there to remain unopened, for twenty-one years, to be computed from the time of his death. This lofs was, however, in fome degree recompenfed by the opportunity which Mr. Nafmith had of confulting Mr. Cole's copy of Tanner's Notitia Monaftica, depofited in the univerfity library at Cambridge, and which contains feveral references in the marginal MS. notes.

On the whole, this edition of Tanner's Notitia feems to have been published with much care; for, although the lift of errata, at the end of the work, is of uncommon length; yet the faults are chiefly typographical and literal, and of no great importance.

ART. VI. The Hiftory of the Antiquities of the Town and Church of Southwell, in the County of Nottingham. By W. Dickinson Raftall, A. M. Fellow of Jefus College, Cambridge. 4to. l. 11s. 6d. Boards. Robinsons. 1787.

WE

E are told in the introduction to this work, that fome perfons, whofe preferments or property at Southwell attached them to the place, had requefied two or three gentlemen of ability and experience, to publish the hiftory of that town and church. Mr. Raftall's refidence, almoft equally divided between the metropolis and the univerfity of Cambridge, gave him opportunities of collecting whatever was preferved in printed authorities relative to the fubject in contemplation, by the accefs which it afforded to the libraries of thofe places. This part of the labour Mr. R. undertook. But indolence or infirmity, fays he, prevented thofe, for whom I made the collection, from taking advantage of it. The variety of authors (many of them too fcarce, and most of them too voluminous, for private libraries in general) from which I had made extracts, induced thofe who were defirous, at any rate, to have fome hiftory of Southwell, to think these, difperfed as they were, in fuch a number of volumes, when collected into one point of view, worth publication. To this I confented,'

Such