we may not acquicfce in the opinions ftarted, we applaud that fortitude without which no man will dare to differ from others, and fpeak as he thinks. Of the third and fourth part of this work we fhall give a farther account in a future Review.. K-n-k MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For FEBRUARY, 1762. POLITICAL. Art. 1. Obfervations on the new Militia-Bill, now under the Confideration of Parliament; wherein the material Alterations are pointed out. 8vo. Is. Towers. Senfibly fuggefted, by a friend to the Bill, and (we believe) to his Country; the honour and fafety of which he apprehends to be much concerned in the judicious regulation of the Militia.. Art. 2. A Letter to the Right Honourable Charles Townshend, Secretary at War. Being Thoughts on the Militia Laws, and for extending them to North Britain, and for making the Militia more useful. 8vo. 6d. Horsfield. Well intended, but fomewhat intemperately, and very inaccurately written.. Art. 3. Tragi-comic Memoirs of the Origin, Progrefs, and Events of our prefent War against France. By a new Phænomenon in Politics. 8vo. Is. 6d. Pridden. Written in the perfon of Harlequin, the new Phænomenon in Po. litics, and intended to fhew how fadly our affairs have been mismanaged, from the beg nning of the War to the present time.-What pity it is, that our l'amphleteers are not taken into the Miniftry! for we have their folemn words for it, and very often repeated, that they can see much farther into the Mill-ftone, than any of our StateMillers, who have been grinding at it these forty years past. Harlequin a political Writer!-There is fomething like a joke in the thought; but this Author carries it very little farther than his Title page. His attempt at humour, indeed, is a feeble one; his manner being, on the contrary, cramped, ftiff, and pedantic; and as to the matter of which his laboured production is compofed, it is little more than a repetition of the hackney'd objections to the German War, and Mr. P's minifterial conduct,-together with fome angry reflections upon the meannofs of "Economical Reforms in a Royal Houthold.".. Art 4 1 Art. 4: An Addrefs to the City of London. 8vo. Is. R. Davis. Another fevere invefligation of Mr. P's Conduct. It feems to be a shaft from no vulgar bow, and takes the Citizens in its flight, on account of their warm attachment to the late popular Secretary, manifested by some extraordinary political Manxuvres of theirs, fubfequent to that gentleman's refignation: which are touched both in a fudicrous and ferious ftrain of reprehenfion. POETICA L. Art. 5. Artaxerxes. An English Opera. As it is performed at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. The Mufic compofed by Tho. Aug, Arne. Muf. Doc, 8vo. Is. Tonfon. Tranflated from Metaftafio. Dr. Arne has been very fuccessful in ' this his first attempt of the kind. Art. 6. Innocence, a poetical Effay, in two Books. Most humbly infcribed to her Royal Highness the Princess Augusta. By Abraham Portal, Author of Olinda and Sophronia*, a Trágedy. 8vo. Is. 6d. Dodfley. 'Mr. Portal asks admiffion into the Temple of the Mufes with fo much modefty, that we hope they will not abfolutely refuse him entrance. Thus, in a prefatory Ode, he addreffes his brethren of the laurel. Yet, O! ye fons of Phoebus, do not blame, For tho' unblam'd ye fuffer me to firay, I fhall not bear one laurel wreath away. Destitute, as he complains, of the advantages of learning, he shall, for us, be exempt from criticifm. The following lines may either recommend his poem, or his shop †, in the city. They are taken from his Addrefs to Innocence. Nor fear, celeftial maid, The Trader's fraudful wiles, for fooner here, Shall Poverty, with her unhappy train Of meagre wants, fharp griefs, and biting taunts, Take up her hated refidence, than e'er Difhoneft arts fhall drive her from my door. Mentioned in the XIXth Volume of our Review, p. 94. La Art. 7. A Sketch of the prefent Times, and the Time to came: in an Addrefs to Kitty Fisher. 4to. Is. Waller. By the prefent times, the Writer means the gay life of Kitty, in her bloom; and the time to come, is the wre.ched reverse brought on by age, poverty, and the contempt of the world. The first part of this pamphlet is a loose encomium on this celebrated Courtezan; the fecond part contains a mere fermon in thyme, on the Decay of Beauty, the Miferies of Poverty, the Terrors of Death, and the Neceffity of Penitence. As to the Poetry, it confifts of a ftrange medly of laboured lines, in a variety of unharmonious measure; through all the defects of which, however, we can difcern fome marks of Genius: and therefore we wish the Writer's talents employed on a worthier occafion. Infcribed to the most imperti-` 4to. 6d. Grinfel. Art. 8. A Crust for the Critics. nent Puppy on Earth. An angry invective against fome Critic or Critics, who probably excited the Author's refentment, by falling foal upon fome of his former productions. It does not appear who is meant by "the most impertinent Puppy on Earth;" but the Monthly Reviewers are happy that they have not incurred the enmity of so vindictive a Writer. Art. 9. Brown Beer, a Poem. By John Peake, Victualler, of Stoke-Newington. 4to. 6d. Williams. John Peake appears to be a very clever fellow; and we would heartily recommend it to all lovers of Poetry and Porter, whenever they take a walk or a ride towards the pleafant village of Newington, to call in at honeft Peake's, and take a draught of his best Brown. The Landlord, we conceive, (for we know him only in his prefent Verfes) must be a character worth notice. He acknowleges his having been born and brought up in the loweft indigency of life, and enured to labour from his childhood, which deprived him of all opportunity of fcholaftic learning. What little I obtained afterwards, adds he, was by the dint of application to books; and that did not begin till I was just stepping on the ftage of manhood "But what diladvantages, what hardships will not Genius furmount? In short, Mr. Peake, with native good fenfe, had a natural vein alfo for Poetry, which he has evidently improved by reading, and particularly by reading Mr. Pope. Like a man of bufinefs, however, he has wifely chofen for his fubject the Commodity he deals in; and if the spirit of his Beer be equal to that of his Verfes, he deals in no bad Commodity, of either kind. The defign of his Poem is to fhew the Injury, which common people will fattain, by the new Tax on the Brewery, and the confequent Increase of the Price of Porter, to the Confumers, who are chiefly the induftrious poor, the most laborious and most useful clafies of people; whofe characters and various fatiguing employments, win the Relief they find in a Draught of good Porter, he defcribes with fome Humour, and in a strain of Verfification, far exceeding what could be expected from a perfon in his station: notwithstanding, he has here and there a bad Rhyme, or a faulty Couplet, which it would be ungenerous and uncharitable to criticise. Art. 10. Art, 10. Florizel and Perditta; or the Winter's Tale, a dramatic Paftoral, in three Acts. Altered from Shakespear, by David Garrick. As it is performed at the Theatre-Royal in Drury, Lane. 8x0. IS. Tonfon. The meannefs of the Fable, and the extravagant conduct of it, has been the chief objections to this Play; which, however, in regard to propriety of character and fentiment, is not unworthy of its great Author. The Action of this piece, as Shakespear left it, compre hends the monstrous fpace of fixteen years, Mr. Garrick has cleared it of this abfurdity; reduced it from five, to a more regular piece, of three acts; added a pretty fong in the feftive fcene of Sheep-fieering; and to the whole has prefixed a very humorous Prologue. Art. 11. Two Lyric Epifles. 4to. Is. Thrush. The drolf production of the ingenious Author of Fables for grown Gentlemen. See our laft, page 68, feq. where the Reader will find a fufficient fpecimen of the talents of this imitator of Greffet, la Fontaine, and other French Poets of their rambling eafy caft. Art. 12. Britannia, a Poem. I s. I s. Silence, young Sternhold! the Irishman fays in the Farce. Crifpin, and flick to thy laft. By a young Gentleman, Thou art not cut out for Singing, as have been buzzing about the court, fince the month of October, 1760! One would imagine they thought any fort of Verfes good enough for Kings and Queens. Addreffed to his Majefty. Art. 13. The Mufe's Recreation. In four Poems, viz. 1. A Farewell to Summer. 2. The Queen's Arrival, a Paftoral. 3. Silence. 4. Devotion, a Rhapsody. 4to, is. Johnfon, oppofite the Monument. If these Poems afford any recreation to the Mufe, it must arife from her indulging in a hearty laugh, at the pleafant mistake of their Author, who is fimple enough to imagine himself a Poet, -For fhame, Mr. Wale! how could you fit down to defign that pretty Ornament in the Title? We fhall next expect to fee you decorating the Bellman's Verses. Art. 14. High Tafe, a Satire. Addreffed to the young Tits of Pleafure. Folio. Is. Marfhall. Low, illiterate ftuff, concerning the Women of the Town; and might, from the meannels of the fubject, and of the writing, have been entitled, High Tafte below Stairs. L 4 Art. 15. Art. 15. Four Elegies. 1. Morning. 2. Noon. 3. Evening. I S. 4. Night. 4to. I S. Briftow. From the name and date fubfcribed to the Dedication of thefe Elegies, (to Brooke Forrester, Efq;) we find that they are the produc tion of Mr. Stephen Panting, of Wellington, in Shropshire; a name. we do not remember to have met with before, in our poetical walks: but hope we may, not unfrequently, meet with it again. These Elegies were published several months ago; yet we happened to overlook the Advertisement, and might perhaps have been totally deprived of the pleasure of perufing them, had it not been for the information concerning them, kindly conveyed to us in a Letter, figned S. H. T. We heartily congratulate our friends round the Wrekin, on the appearance of this Salopian Mufe, who it is hoped will not be unmindful of her native Parnaffus *; than which we do not know a finer fubject for poetic description. The first three of the prefent Elegies are of the defcriptive kind, celebrating the moft ftriking rural objects and circumstances, that, diftinguish the feveral divifions of the day; and that which has Night for its fubject, is filled with beautiful moral reflections, which indicate the contemplative and laudable difpofition of the ingenious Author. We fhall give the conclufive part of this laft Elegy, as a fpecimen. Hail midnight, hail, and thou the folemn scene, Where nought of Folly's favage train is seen, Let Av'rice gore the wretched mifer's breast, Or where the Bacchanalians hold their reign, Far other blifs, far other joys be mine, We mention this circumftance, on the bare prefumption that Mr. P is a native of Wellington, (a town at the foot of that noble hill the Wrekin) or of its neighbourhood, |