up woods. Of taking up ground in a hilly country. Of taking up towns and villages. To make a plan of an action. Of taking up trenches. Examples relating to the foregoing chapters. Of plans in general. Of water and morafs. Of heights. Of arable land, meadows, trees, gardens, vineyards, and woods. Of roads, bridges, fords, &c. Of houses, villages, towns and fortrefles. Of camps and retrenchments. Of colouring plans. Of ornamenting and finishing a plan. Of the preparation of transparent paper. Of copying plans. To make glue. To paste plans upon linen. At the end of the firft volume, are four fets of tables, with obfervations, and directions for the methods of applying them. Table first and fecond give the proportions, which the feet and other fimilar meafures in the undermentioned places bear to the pied royal, or Paris foot, when divided into one thoufand parts. Table third exhibits a comparative view of the measures of different countries. Table fourth, a comparative view of the miles of different countries. As moft of the articles of this work have a reference to the plates, extracts cannot, therefore, be given without them. Of Captain Take's original treatife, it will be unneceffary here to fay any thing; having already, in feveral other articles, given our teftimony of its value. With refpect to the verfion before us, although modeftly ftyled a tranflation only*, it may in many inftances be confidered as an improved edition; feveral particulars in which the author has expreffed himself obfcurely being here explained, from his perfonal information communicated to the tranflator, who, when any difficulties occurred, applied to him for elucidation. The plans are drawn on an enlarged fcale, with an addition of three plates; fome paffages which were plainly repetitions, and a chapter on the preparation of water-colours, have been omitted. From what has been faid above, it is evident that the translator has fpared no pains to understand his author: it is alfo but juftice to obferve, that he feems converfant with the fubject on which he writes. The letter prefs is very handfomely performed, and the plates are neatly engraved. Gro. *With respect to the tranflator's language, it is, in general, very correct, and unexceptionable; and we have only to add, that we fometimes meet with a word not commonly used in the fenfe to which Mr. Hewgill has applied it: among thefe are retrenchment, and theorifm. ie/ REV. May, 1789. Ee ART. ART. XI. The Obferver: Being a Collection of moral, literary, and familiar Effays. Vol. IV. Svo. 314 Pages. 3s. 6d. bound. Dilly. 1788. ་་ 4PRE'S l'efprit de difcernement, ce qu'il y a au monde de plus rave ce font les diamans et les perles," fays an eminent French writer. Mr. Cumberland, the author of the volume before us, poffeffes this faculty (difcernment), generally speaking, in fo eminent a degree, that it is unneceflary for us, after the above quoted declaration, to ftate the particular eftimation in which he must confequently be held. This eagle-eyed Obferver, whom we have often had occafion to notice*, proceeds in his examination into the properties and affections of that wondrous microcofm, man: that "chaos of thought and paffion:" that infant of a larger growth,"-with all his wonted ability and fkill. Mr. C. has here continued his account of the literature of the Greeks, particularly that portion of it which comprehends the writers of the middle comedy: among whom we find the names of Alexis, Antiphanes, Ariftophon, Diodorus, Euphron, Theophilus, &c. &c. with tranflations of fome fragments of their works. These will, no doubt, be confidered as curious. But he s not favoured us with the originals of thofe fragments, nor even referred to his authorities; which omiffion is to be regretted, because it is poffible that he may, by fome, be fufpected of giving a copy of verfes as the production of the 920 or 93d Olympiad, which may actually have had their origin at a very different point of time. Some of the reprefentations, indeed, are fo confonant to the manners of the prefent age, that we almoft half incline to that opinion ourfelves. However this may be, the following lines are well entitled to our regard. They are afcribed by Mr. C. to Sotades, a native Athenian, and in confiderable favour with the stage: Is there a man, juft, honeft, nobly born? Malice fhall hunt him down. Does wealth attend him? Beggary is at his heels. Is he an artift? Farewell repofe! An equal upright judge? Sicknels fhall fap his ftrength. Account that day, See Rev. vol. 73, p. 126, and vol. 75, p. 205. How How died Diogenes?-As a dog dies, And god-like Homer, woe the while! was ftarv'd.— Mr. Cumberland has entered into a particular examination of the Fox of Ben Jonfon. He is lavish in his commendations of it: but in this he only echoes the public voice, the long-received opinion, that it is a perfect and finished piece. "The Fox, the Alchymift, and the Silent Woman, Wrote by Ben Jonfon, are outdone by no man;" Said fomebody long ago. And this we have feldom heard difputed for though the comedy in queftion is not original, either in its manners or its incidents, the principal characters (Hæredi petæ, or legacy-hunters) were, at the time of writing it, entirely new to the English ftage. Thefe legacy-hunters, who are reprefented under the title of birds of prey, Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino, are, as Mr. C. has well remarked, warmly coloured, happily contrafted, and faithfully fupported from the outfet to the end.' We now proceed to the lefs agreeable part of our business, namely, to blame where we muft." The 111th number of this Collection of Papers prefents us with a critique on the SamJon Agonistes of Milton, in which the opinions of Dr. Samuel Jobnion on that celebrated drama are examined and opposed: but certainly with little fuccefs. The following obfervation feems, to us, to be founded in a palpable miftake: The author of the Rambler profeffes to examine the Sampson Agonistes according to the rule laid down by Ariftotle for the difpofition and perfection of a Tragedy, and this rule he informs us is, that it should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And is this the mighty purpose for which the authority of Ariftotle is appealed to? If it be thus the author of the Rambler has read the Poetics, and this be the best rule he can collect from that treatise, I am afraid he will find it too fhort a measure for the Poet he is examining, or the Critic he is quoting. Ariftotle had faid, that every whole hath not amplitude enough for the conftruction of a tragic fable: now by a whole, (adds he in the way of illuftration) I mean that, which hath beginning, middle, and end. This and no more is what he fays on beginning, middle, and end; and this, which the author of the Rambler conceives to be a rule for tragedy, turns out to be merely an explanation of the word whole, which is only one term among many employed by the Critic in his profeffed and complete definition of Tragedy.' Mr. Cumberland's attempt to explain away the expreffion ufed by Ariftotle, refpecting the perfections of a tragic fable; that it Ee 2 fhould fhould have a "beginning, a middle, and an end"-at the fame time applying that expreffion, and as if in the way of contradiftinction, to the word whole; is at once extravagant and unprofitable. Has he never attended to what eminent critics have obferved on that matter: or is he ignorant that every dramatic fable is, or fhould be, a perfect whole * ?—Now if this be actually the cafe, if every fable must be a whole; and if every whole must have a beginning, a middle, and an end (which he readily admits), the fable of a tragedy will neceffarily have the fame. His obfervation on the expreffion in queftion can therefore be confidered as nothing better than verbal contention; an ill-fupported argument, which muft inevitably fall to the ground. Part of this publication is taken up with remarks on the religious opinions of David Levi. Mr. C. will never be able to turn the heart of David, however greatly he may labour at it. We forbear to enter into any examination of these opinions, or of the answers to them: for, of such "vain contefts," we fee no end. We do not perceive any other objectionable paffages in the present volume; and we are forry to find a writer of fo much merit as Mr. Cumberland remarking on the very little favour that he has received from his contemporaries. But, notwithftanding the abufe which has been fo plenteously poured on him, he has always maintained his ground, and conducted himself, at the fame time, with the fpirit and temper of a gentleman. His enemies have retired, abafhed and confounded, from the field; and he now enjoys the triumph which he fo well deferves, the praifes of every good and virtuous man. The writer's reflections on the education of princes are fuch as few of our readers, we imagine, will be difpleafed to fee: If there is a trust in life, which calls upon the confcience of the man who undertakes it more ftrongly than any other, it is that of the education of an heir-apparent to a crown. The training of fuch a pupil is a talk indeed; how to open his mind to a proper knowledge of mankind without letting in that knowledge which inclines to evil; how to hold off flattery and yet admit familiarity; how to give the lights of information and hut out the falfe colours of feduction, demands a judgment for diftinguishing, and an authority for controuling, which few governors in that delicate fituation ever poffefs, or can long retain. To educate a prince, born to reign over an enlightened people, upon the narrow fcale of fecret and fequeftered tuition, would be an abufe of common fenfe: to let him loofe upon the world is no lefs hazardous in the other extreme, and each would probably devote him to an inglorious destiny. That he fhould know the leading characters in the country he is to govern, be familiar with its history, its conftitution, manners, laws and liberties; and correctly comprehend the duties and distinctions of his own hereditary * See Arift. Poet: chap. 7. together with Dacier's Remarks. 7 office, office, are points that no one will difpute. That he should travel through his kingdom I can hardly doubt, but whether thofe excurfions fhould reach into other ftates, politically connected with, or oppofed to, his own, is more than I will prefume to lay down as a general rule, being aware that it must depend upon perfonal circumftances. Splendor he may be indulged in, but excefs in that, as in every thing elfe, must be avoided, for the mischiefs cannot be numbered which it will entail upon him. Excefs in expence will fubject him to obligations of a degrading fort: excels in courtefy will lay him open to the forward and affuming, raife mountains of expectation about him, and all of them undermined by disappointment, ready charged for explofion, when the hand of prefumption fhall fet fire to the train; excefs in pleafure will lower him in character, deftroy health, refpect, and that becoming dignity of mind, that confcious rectitude, which is to direct and fupport him, when he becomes the difpenfer of juftice to his fubjects, the protector and defender of their religion, the model for their imitation, and the fovereign arbiter of life and death in the execution of every legal condemnation. To court popularity is both derogatory and dangerous, nor fhould he who is deftined to rule over the whole, condefcend to put himself in the league of a party. To be a protector of learning and a patron of the arts, is worthy of a prince, but let him beware how he finks himself into a pedant or a virtuofo. It is a mean talent which excels in trifles: the fine arts are more likely to flourish under a prince, whofe ignorance of them is qualified by general and impartial good-will towards their profeffors, than by one who is himself a dabbler; for fuch will always have their favourites, and favouritifm never fails to irritate the minds of men of genius, concerned in the fame ftudies, and turns the fpirit of emulation into the gall of acrimony. Above all things let it be his inviolable maxim to distinguish ftrongly and pointedly in his attentions between men of virtuous morals and men of vicious [inclinations]. There is nothing fo glorious and at the fame time nothing fo eafy; if his countenance is turned to men of principle and character, if he bestows his smile upon the worthy only, he need be at little pains to frown upon the profligate all fuch vermin will crawl out of his path and fhrink away from his prefence. Glittering talents will be no paffport for diffolute morals, and ambition will then be retained in another cause than that of virtue. Men will not choose crooked paffages and byealleys to preferment, when the broad highway of honesty is laid open and ftraight before them. A prince, though he gives a good example in his own perfon, what does he profit the world, if he draws it back again by the bad examples of thofe whom he employs and favours? Better might it be for a nation to fee a libertine on its throne furrounded by virtuous counsellors, than to contemplate a virtuous fovereign delegating his authority to unprincipled and licentious fervants. The king, who declares his refolution of countenancing the virtuous only among his fubjects, fpeaks the language of an honeft man: if he makes good his declaration, he performs the functions of one, and earns the bleffings of a righteous king;a life of glory in this world, and an immortality of happiness in the world to come.' |