The author, we hope, will pardon us for pointing out two or three flight verbal inaccuracies, which just now occur to us, upon a curfory inspection. -Near the throne on either [each] fide B. iii. v. 450. Two plates of ftone, whereon were graven, B.iv. v. 188. B. i. v. 168. If, as thou wert [waft] wont in other days, Thou fow'ft fedition.' B. iii. v. 329. - Matters of import high disclos'd, which lay Deep in the womb of time."' Innumerable writers talk of things lying in the womb of time, of the prefumption of prying into the womb of time, &c. The metaphor, if not indelicate, is improper. Time according to the reprefentation of all mythological writers, is an old man, with a bald pate, a fcythe, and other emblems, but with none of the attributes of an old woman. In an address to the Jews, at the end of this poem, we have the following lines: To your heritage, the promis'd land, Your God once more his fcatter'd tribes fhall bring; Thefe lines fcem to promife a future restoration of the Jews to the land of Canaan, and a re-establishment of the templar fervice. But furely this notion is nothing but a rabbinical dream, inadvertently adopted by Chriftian writers *. We are fully perfuaded, that the 60th chapter of Isaiah, Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, the 33d of Jeremiah, &c. wholly and folely relate to the triumphant return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity; and that this is the great object intended by almost all those magnificent images, which commentators ufually apply to the future glory of the church. The author of this performance does not call his work an epic poem; and in this he is right: the fubject is fimple and hiftorical, and there is no perfonage introduced, who properly merits the title of hero. Yet with regard to narrative, epifode, fimile, &c. he has endeavoured to follow the laws of the epopea, as prefcribed by the best models. X. Mifcellanies in Profe and Verfe, by Mrs. Chapone. Small 8vo. 2s. 6d. ferved. Dilly. THE HE Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, which were published by this lady in 1773, have given the world a very favourable opinion of her understanding, her tafte, and See Crit, Rev. vol. xxii. p. 91, & alibi. the the virtues of her heart. This publication, though not a work of the fame popular nature, will not diminish her literary reputation. It confits of feveral effays in prose, and fome little pieces of poetry. The effays are compofitions of a moral tendency, abounding with ufeful and improving reflections. The defign of the first is to point out the different effects of fimplicity and affectation; or to prove, that the former infenfibly wins our esteem; while the latter infallibly excites our contempt. The following obfervations on Lord Chesterfield's Letters are not a little fevere on his lordship's fyftem of diffimulation. But our readers, we believe, will agree with us, that they are founded on the principles of morality and good fenfe. Whoever defires to please, to be refpected and beloved, let him first give his attention to the inward ftate of his mind. When all is right there, outward elegancies may be easily attained, or the want of them eafily excufed. But if nature and the heart have no fhare in dictating his behaviour, his looks, and his fentiments, he may be a fop, a dancing-mafter, a courtier, or a spy; but he can never be an amiable man. This, the noble writer, whofe letters to his fon have lately engaged the attention of the public, feems to have forgotten. Intent on thofe worldly advantages, which cannot be attained without the good-will of mankind, he unweariedly recommends and enforces the appearances of all that he thinks engaging; but forgets that, thofe appearances must be the refult of real excellencies, which he takes no pains to inculcate. Even * sweetnefs of countenance he thinks may be put on and adjusted at the glafs, like the rouge and the bouquet: and that his fon may poffefs les manieres nobles, and all the charms of liberal and ingenuous youth, whilft in reality he regulates his + friendships by his views of future advancement; conceals every paffion • Vide Lord Chesterfield's Letters, Letter 220.-" Learn even to compofe your countenance to the refpectful, the chearful, and the infinuating." Letter 221: An air, a tone of voice, a compofure of countenance to mildness and foftness, which are all easily ac quired, do the bufinefs; and without farther examination, and poffibly with the contrary qualities, that man is reckoned the gentleft, the modefteft, the best natured man alive. Happy the man, who, with a certain fund of parts and knowledge, gets acquainted with the world early enough to make it his bubble, at an age when most people are the bubbles of the world! for that is the common cafe of youth." + Vide Letter 140 and 207. Vide Letter 151.In this Letter his lordship quotes from lord Bacon the distinction between simulation and dissimulation—“the laft of which is only to hide a man's own cards, whereas fimulation is put on in order to look into other people's." But does not the following account of his own management, which he recommends and sentiment of his own heart, and takes advantage of thofe of others; whilft he fets no other bounds to his flattery, but thofe of the credulity of his companions, and lavishes every mark of attention and admiration, of kindness and good-nature, with no other motive or end but his own advantage. The favourite maxim which his lordship so often repeats, "Il volta Lciolto, i penfieri fretti," he thinks as practicable as it is convenient; forgetting that an open countenance is the index nature gave to an open ingenuous heart; and that the best teacher can hardly bring a youth of nineteen to fuch perfection in hy⚫ pocrify, as to give his face and air the franknefs proper to his age, and his mind the cunning and defign of an old ftatesman. But, God be praised! we are not constituted to be the dupes of every fhallow artifice; and a hypocrite under twenty has very little chance of making" the world his bubble." Scarcely even the weakest of that fex which his lordship confiders as far below rationality t, would be much charmed with a youth who had been tutored by his father to make love ‡ wherever he went, because it was cheaper and fafer to have an arrangement with a married woman of fashion, than to keep an opera girl. It is impossible to think of this in a moral light without a degree of horror, which obfcures the ridicule of it. That fuch precepts fhould have been the inftructions of a father to his fon, and that they should be publicly offered to the youth of a nation where the facredness of marriage and the bonds of family-love are not yet entirely exploded, are indeed moft alarming fymptoms of corruption. The mean felf-love, which is thus inculcated, at the expence of the most important interefts of fociety, muft fhew itfelf through the whole man, in fpite of the frippery in which his lordship would drefs him. Elegance of mind can alone produce true elegance of behaviour. Les manieres douces to his fon as an example, come under the description of simulation ? "I fhould defire nothing better in any negotiation, than to have to do with one of thefe men of warm, quick paffions; which I would take care to set in motion. By artful provocations I would extort rafh unguarded expreffions; and, by hinting at all the feveral things I could fufpect, infallibly difcover the true one, by the alteration it occafioned in the countenance of the perfon." Is not this to look into another man's cards? As a minifter it may be able conduct, but as a man it is furely deteftable." The countenance open, the thoughts close. + Letter 129. Letter 242." Addrefs yourself to fome woman of fashion and beauty wherever you are, and try how far that will go. If the place be not fecured beforehand, and garrifoned, nine times in ten you will take it." Sometimes his lordship directs him to addrefs two at the fame time; one as a Mad. l'Urfay, to inftruct him in the art of pleafing; the other to exercife thofe arts upon. Mad. de Blot is chofen for this laft office, on account of her perverse fidelity to her husband," though married above a year.”, belong belong to a gentle and good heart---les manieres nobles to a spirit of generofity, bravery, and truth. "Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; POPE.' The fecond effay contains fome remarks on converfation. The celebrated arbiter elegantiarum, already mentioned, has taken infinite pains to teach his fon the agrémens de Paris. Un air, un ton de duceur et de politeffe, is undoubtedly very pleafing. But in point of politenefs, people of all hations have their peculiar air and manner. An Englishman may be extremely well-bred, and yet retain that plainnefs and fincerity, that generous integrity of nature, and honefty of difpofition, which are his national characteristics. He becomes a puppy and a fool, when he affects the adulation, the fervility, and the grimace of a French petit maître. Our author has the following juft remark upon this fpecies of affectation. Some of thofe foibles, which prevail in our prefent polite circles, feem to arife merely from the ton which has been imported to us from a neighbouring nation, where perhaps the fame things may be natural and harmlefs, which, in us, are affected, and fruitful of bad confequences. Surely nothing can. be lefs natural to the dry and referved temper of the English, than that flow of unbounded flattery which feems the established commerce of the grand monde, but which, to a modeft mind, unhardened by the conftant use of it, is really quite overwhelming. That deep and affecting intereft, with which a mere common acquaintance talks to you for half an hour, of your flighteft indifpofition---thofe tender profeffions of affection and efteem---that admiration, which exhaufts the language to exprefs itself, are lo exceedingly uncongenial to an English heart (flow to expand itfelf, tho' warm and fteady in real aflection) that they never fit handfomely on us; and, though we may be pleafed at the moment with the felf-confequence given us, we foon feel a degree of difguft arifing towards thofe from whom we receive it.' ༞ The defign of the third effay is to point out a proper medium between enthusiasm and indifference in religion; or, in other words, to fuggeft this whole fome advice to thofe, who are just entering on the ftage of life not to be led away by a crowd of fools, without knowing whither they are going; not to exchange real happiness for the empty name of pleasure; not to prefer fashion to immortality; and not to fancy it poffible for them to be innocent, and at the fame time ufelefs.' The last of these profe compofitions is the Story of Fidelia, which was published in the Adventurer, No 77, 78, 79. The poetical part contains the following pieces: Verfes written during a violent Storm at Midnight, 1749; On read Ff3 ing ing Sonnets in the Style and Manner of Spencer, by T. Edwards, Efq. 1749; a Sonnet in Answer to the foregoing, by T. E. efq.; to Health; to a Robin-Redbreaft; to Stella; to Afpafia, in answer to the foregoing, by Mifs H, now Mrs. D- -; to Peace, written at the Time of the Rebellion, in 1745; to Solitude; to Winter; L'Eftate, by Metaftafio; a Translation of the fame; an Italian Sonnet tranflated; and an Ode to Mifs Carter, prefixed to that lady's Epictetus. The limits of our Review will not allow us to make any long extracts from this work: we fhall therefore give our readers the fhorteft piece in this collection; though perhaps already more known, than any other of the author's productions. To a Robin-Redbreaft, ⚫ Dear focial bird! that giv'st with fearless love And death, with dart uplifted, hover near, My grateful hand the lib'ral crumbs fhall give, My bofom warm thee, and my kiss revive.' This little ode has been defervedly admired, on account of the delicacy of the fubject, and the pleafing fimplicity of the fentiment and the language. XI. An Inquiry into the Policy of the Penal Laws, affecting the Popish Inhabitants of Ireland. In which the Hiftory and Con"ftitution of that Country, and the Rights of Colonies and Planters, are briefly confidered; and a few Obfervations made on the Lars that refrain the Trade of Ireland; with fome Hints refpecting America. 8vo. 3. Jewed. Robinson. THE author of this Inquiry, who profefies himself to be a native of Ireland, informs us, that he has long perceived, and often reflected on two circumftances relative to the state of that country, which are peculiarly striking, and regarded by impartial obfervers, as the greateft obftructions to its wealth and happiness. The first of thefe is the retention of a most grievous fyftem of penal laws, by which the inhabitants are divided, against each other, and the greater part of them ren dered |