Review of New Publications. 23. BIBLIOTHECA TOPOGRAPHICA BRI- TH HIS fhort tract is a tribute of friendship to the memory of this industrious and worthy man, by one of his friends in the fame line, and of gratitude from the printer of his incomparable Hiftory, to which it is intended to be prefixed, being printed in a folio, as well as quarto, fize. The lives of fedentary men do not in general furnish much; yet we have perufed it with pleasure, and, as it is fold for the benefit of his widow, we heartily with it a rapid fale. See p. 218. 24. BIBLIOTHECA TOPOGRAPHICA BRI- THIS Number contains a valuable acquifition to British Numifmatic knowledge. Mr. Thoresby, to whom it is addreffed, ftyles it a moft accurate treatife; and the author tells us he had a ftrong bent to these kind of ftudies, and fpent a good deal of time on them. It feems to have efcaped the notice of other writers on the fubject, and to have lain in manufcript till Mr. Ives, in his Select Papers, No I, published a very small part of it, from a copy given by Mr. Thoresby to Peter Le Neve. Should it be deemed fuperfluous to publish the rudiments of this fcience after the discoveries and improvements that have been fince made by Leake, Folkes, Snelling, and others, let it be confidered that the obligation is not lefs to the first difcoverer of a fcience because that science has been advanced during the courfe of a century. Mr. Thorefby's Mufeum was the firft of the kind among us; and though it has been rivalled by a variety before and fince its difperfion, it contained many invaluable articles, to which they were much beholden. While the knowledge of our coinage is at a stand, as much as its ftandard is debafed, we may hope the original lights thrown on it may tempt others to further inveftigation, and that if the fubject is exhaufted fince the Conqueft, the production of the Saxon mint will not be neglected and uncultivated till there is fcarce a genuine Ante-Normannic coin left. The Archbishop divides his treatife 233 into the Silver and Gold Coins of England, from the Conqueft to his own time, in 50 pages. He then proceeds to the Scots money in about 15 more, money, chiefly from Sir James Ware and concludes with 9 more on the Irish and Sir John Hays.--Mr. Thoresby has added a memorandum from Thothe valuable collection of various coins mas Earl of Pembroke, the founder of land, "fhewing who are faid by our now LOCKED UP in the Bank of Eng hiftorians to coin the first of each of "the 14 forts of filver monies of Eng"land, and what his lordship has of preceding princes." 66 The Editor has fubjoined a plate, engraved at the expence of the late M. Duane, Efq. containing three ancient filver pieces, probably archiepifcopal or epifcopal, a pattern piece of Q. Elizabeth, for a halfpenny, and others of Charles II. for a farthing. Alfo tables of the coins of our feveral princes from the Conqueror to George I, and one of medals down to the late reign. 25. RIBLIOTHECA Topographica BriTANNICA. N° XXXVI. Containing Remarks on the Progress of the Roman Army is Scotland, during the Sixth Campaign of Agricola, with a Plan and Defcription of the Camp at Raedykes, &c. 4to. A Scot gude mon, "who has fur"vived the virtue, the glory, and the "happiness of his native country,” and "in feeking for fuch opiates to the "watchful care of a good citizen in a tiquary, has raked into the afhes of his "falling empire," has here turned anfavage countrymen, whom the brave and accomplished Agricola conquered to civilife, and who have fince contrived to lofe their refources, their erudition, tafte, and morals, and even their ancient national character. That the difcoveries of a chain of camps may be authentic, and the deductions from them incontrovertible, we will admit; though we confefs ourfelves unable to fee the connection between the study of human nature and the origin of civil government, and the marches of Agricola, or the defeat of Galgacus. All that at prefent is made out here is, that " fomebody conquered confequences; notwithstanding the profomebody"- fimple fact without feffion of Albanicus to "legitimate the "minute and curious inquiry of the "antiquary." This method of studying human nature reminds us of a cer 66 tain 234 Review of New Publications. tain German profeffor, who, in order to 26. Poems by William Cowper, of the Inner WE return again to our task with unabated pleasure, and shall firft prefent our readers with Mr. C's admirable sketch of a Petit-maitre Parfon. "I venerate the man whofe heart is warm, Whofe hands are pure, whofe doctrine, and whofe life, Coincident, exhibit lucid proof But loose in morals, and in manners vain, On fculls that cannot teach and will not We fcarcely recollect a paffage in any poet which exceeds the defcriptive powers in the following lines: "The love of nature's works Is an ingredient in the compound, Man, Intufed at the creation of the kind. 1 And though th' Almighty Maker has throughout Difcriminated each from each, by ftrokes And tutor'd, with a relish more exact, crowds, Nor habits of luxurious city life, cheer The citizen, and brace his languid frame! That footh the rich poffeffor; much confoled mint, Of nightthade, or valerian, grace the wall The prouder fafhes, fronted with a range all proofs. That man, immured in cities, ftill retains By fupplemental fhifts, the best he may? To range the fields, and treat their lungs Yet feel the burning inftinet; over head The following paffage places the Commemoration in a new light; and for one more juft, we may perhaps fearch Dr. Burney's Hiftory in vain : "Man praises man, Defert in arts or arms Wins public honour; and ten thousand fit For was it defs? What heathen would have dared To ftrip Jove's ftatue of his oaken wreath, Review of New Publications. Much lefs might ferve, when all that we defign Is but to gratify an itching ear, And give the day to a muñician's praife." We must here conclude our extracts from this excellent work. The other contents of this volume are, " An Epiftle to Jof. Hill, Efq;" "Tiroci "nium, or, a Review of Schools," addreffed to the Rev. Wm. Cawthorne Unwin, rector of Stock, in Effex, the tutor of his two fons. The object of the poem is to recommend private tuition, by enumerating the evils which are almoft infeparable from public fchools. That the mode of education which he reprehends is not always unfuccefsful, he is himself a bright exam ple. He was, we believe, educated at Westminster. The diverting and wellknown "History of John Gilpin" closes the volume. We do not think the author's rhyme equal to his blank verfe, which is indeed of fuperlative beauty. The paufes and the elitions fhew the hand of a mafter; and he is perhaps, without excepting even Fhillips, the moft fuccefsful of the imitators of Milton. Mr. C. is faid to have now nearly completed a tranflation of the Iliad. Any production of his must be acceptable to the publick; but we should have been more gratified in hearing that he was engaged in fome original work, to Avhich, we hope, he will turn his attention when the toil of tranflation is over, that the publick may have again an opportunity to admire the various powers of his genius, and to profit by his precepts and obfervation. 27. The Plays of William Shakspeare. In Ten Volumes. With the Corrections and Illuftrations of varicus Commentators. To which are added, Notes by Samuel Johnfon and George Steevens. The Third Edition; rewifed and augmented by the Editor of Dodfley's Collection of Old Plays. 8vo. OUR notice of this article is rather to announce the appearance than to deter mine the merit of this third edition of Shakspeare's Plays. The fatisfac tion with which the publick received the former ones render our commendation of the prefent unneceffary. To Dr. Johnfon and Mr. Steevens, Shakfpeare has perhaps greater obligations than any poet ever had to any editor.The prefent edition appears with many advantages and corrections, with the addition of fome notes, and with the omiflion of others; but in the latter ar 235 ticle there is left a plentiful harveft to fome future labourer. When the exact and certain meaning of a word is proved by an unquestionable authority, for what reafon is the wrong expofition of former editors retained? Of this there are various inftances. On the celebrated line in Hamlet, "Unhousell'd, "difappointed, unanneal'd," the quotations and authorities occupy almost two whole pages. The fenfe of the firft word has never been difputed; for that of the fecond no authority has been found but a correfponding paffage in Measure for Measure. As to the meaning of the third expreffion, a variety of authorities and opinions are adduced; and yet the import of the laft word is as clear and indifputable as that of the firft; as indeed appears from fome of the final notes. It is wonderful that the fignification of it should have been ever involved in fo much obfcurity.Holinfhed, fpeaking of the Interdict in the time of K. John, fays, that “men, "notwithstanding, were houfel'd and "anoyled;" and Fox has this particular paffage: "Extreme Unction-as "concerning the facrament of anneling -he faid it was but a ceremony, "neither did he wotte what a man "fhould be the better for fuch an oyl ing or daubing over." Fox, p. 1028. The prefent editor (Mr. Reed) had, by his former publications, proved himself well qualified for the work he has undertaken. Of his new, improved, and enlarged edition of the "Biographia "Dramatica" honourable mention has been made, for it is indeed a work replete with information and entertaininent. Of the alterations which the reader may expect to find in the prefent edition, the following fhort and fenfible preface of the editor will beft inform him. "ADVERTISEMENT. "The Works of Shakipeare, during the laft twenty years, have been the objects of public attention more than at any former period. In that time the various editions of his performances have been examined, his obfcurities illuminated, his defects pointed out, and his beauties difplayed, fo fully, fo accurately, and in fo fatisfactory a manner, that it might reafonably be prefumed little would remain to be done by either new Edidiligence and fagacity of thofe gentlemen tors or new Commentators: yet though the who contributed towards the laft edition of this Author may feem to have almost exhaufted the fubje&, the fame train of enquiry has brought to light new difcoveries, and accident will probably continue to pass duce 236 Review of New Publications. duce further illustrations, which may render fome alterations neceffary in every fucceeding republication. Since the last edition of this work, in 1778, the zeal for elucidating Shakspeare, which appeared in most of the gentlemen whofe names are affixed to the notes, has fuffered little abatement. The fame perfevering fpirit of enquiry has continued to exert itself, and the fame laborious fearch into the literature, the manners, and the cuftoms of the times, which was formerly fo fuccefsfully employed, has remained undiminished. By thefe aids fome new infor mation has been obtained, and fome new materials collected. From the affiftance of fuch writers even Shakspeare will receive no difcredit. "When the very great and various talents of the laft Editor [Mr. Steevens], particularly for this work, are confidered, it will occafion much regret to find, that, having fuperintended two editions of his favourite author through the prefs, he has at length declined the laborious office, and committed the care of the prefent edition to one who laments, with the rest of the world, the feceffion of his predeceffor, being confcious, as well of his own inferiority, as of the injury the publication will fuftain by the change. "As fome alterations have been made in the prefent edition, it may be thought neceffary to point them out. Thefe are of two kinds, additions and omiffions. The additions are fuch as have been fupplied by the laft Editor, and the principal of the living Commentators. To mention thefe afüftances, is fufficient to excite expectation; but to fpeak any thing in their praife, will be fuperfluous to thofe who are acquainted with their former labours. Some remarks are alio added from new Commentators, and fome notices extracted from books which have been publifhed in the courfe of a few years paft. 2 "Of the omiffions the most important are, fome notes which have been demonftrated to be ill-founded, and fome which were fuppofed to add to the fize of the volumes, without increafing their value. It may probably have happened that a few are rejected which ought to have been retained; and in that cafe the prefent Editor, who has been the occafion of their removal, will feel fome concern from the injuftice of his proceeding. He is, however, inclined to believe, that what he has omitted will be pardoned by the reader; and that the liberty which he has taken will not be thought to have been licentiously indulged. In all events, that the cenfure may fall where it ought, he defires it to be understood that no perfon is anfwerable for any of thefe innovations but himself. "It has been obferved, by the laft Editor, that the multitude of inftances which have been produced to exemplify particular words, and explain obfolete cuftoms, may, when the point is once known to be established, be diminifhed by any future Editor; and, in conformity to this opinion, feveral quotations, which were heretofore properly introduced, are now curtailed. Were an apology required on this occafion, the prefent Editor might shelter himfelf under the authority of Prier, who long ago has faid, That when one's proofs are aptly chofen, 'Four are as valid as four dozen.' "The prefent Editor thinks it unneceffary to fay any thing of his own fhare in the work, except that he undertook it in confequence of an application which was too flattering and too honourable to him to decline. He mentions this only to have it known that he did not intrude himself into the fituation. He is not infenfible that the task would have been better ixecuted by many other gentlemen, and particularly by fome whofe names appear to the notes. He has added but little to the bulk of the volumes from his own ob fervations, having, upon every occafion, rather chofe to avoid a note than to courr the opportunity of inferting one. The liberty he has taken of omitting fome remarks, he is confident, has been exercised without prejudice and without partiality; and therefore, trefting to the candour and indulgence of the publick, will forbear to detain them any longer from the entertainment they may receive from the greatest poet of this or any other nation. Nov. 10, 1785. 28. Remarks on the Fourteenth Section of Dr. Priestley's Difquifitions on Matter and Spirit, By Richard Ormerod, A.B. of Chrift College, Cambridge. SOME critical ftrictures on feveral expreffions of Holy Scripture, which Dr. P. hath endeavoured to distort into confiftency with his own most unfcriptural hypothcfs.-This author purfues the Doctor through the various evafions by which he has endeavoured to elude the force of the most material paffages; and at laft gives him the coup de grace in a note, by producing a text from the New Teftament, which effectually confutes his doctrine. We agree entirely with Mr. Ormerod, that may be tranflated "perfon" in all thofe paffages he mentions, nay even in Levit. xxi. 1, where he feems to think muft have been omitted, through the negligence of a tranfcriber.From the penetration which is fhewn in this little tract, with its ftyle, and the reading that it manifefts, we may venture to foretell, that if Mr. O. is as young as his prefent degree feems to intimate in a refident member of the Univerfity, and continues his application to literature, he will gain no mean rank among those friends Review of New Publications. friends to truth who, by bringing hafty and prefumptuous writers to the teft of ferious examination, have detected their errours and exposed their sophistry. 29. Gillies's Hiftory of Greece (from p. 144), We are interrupted in our regular examination of this work, by the follow ing communication from a valuable correfpondent, whofe fignature will readily be recognized as the friend and the biographer of Johnton-aut Erafmus (we are tempted to add),aut Diabolus. He OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS. "The writer of the following Opinions, concerning the new GRECIAN HISTORY, endeavoured to be the first purchaser of the work, and the nimbleit of its readers. It now appears in two quarto volumes, with a dedication to the King, two claffical maps, and a good index. Expectation (which generally derides its followers) was raifed leveral years ago, from the reputation of the author, by the interefting nature of the fubject, and from the fpecimen of his early ta lents, employed in the long preface to his tranflation of LYSIAS and IsoCRATES. profeffedly draws his information from the fountain-head of intelligence (juvat integros accedere fontes), with which he is molt familiarly acquainted. He needed not the direction-exemplaria Græca, nocturna verI fare manu verfare diurna. Wotton knew the Greek character before he was five years old. How early Gillies was initiated into the mysteries of the Greek language, does not appear. Perhaps he was rocked in a Greek cradle. His inclination and applica tion must have been very great-"Grew with his growth, and firengthen'd with his ftrength." His future dedication of his talents to the cultivation of our written language (which is to be confidered in some respects as a learned one), and the avoidance of colloquial Scoticifms, are obfervable, and meritorious. Our hiftorian has not found it neceffary to mention, that he was abfent from this country for feventeen years; during which term his conftant ufe of the German, French, and the Italian, might now and then throw him into continental idiom: but that is not here afferted to be the cafe. If there thould be any verbal errors, quos aut incuria fudit, aut humana parum cavit natura-let them be configned to the correction of the fecond edition. It appears, that hardly any thing has escaped the vigilance or perfpicacity of our hiftorian. No important fact is concealed from the #eader. He declared feveral years ago," he would tell every thing he knew, or was to be known, and make every body as knowing on the fubject as himself." He appeals to his grand authorities for every incident; and tranflates faithfully either the words, or gives the fentiments of antiquity-" True o their fenfe, but truer to their fame." 237 He has probably looked into all modern books that are pertinent to his fubject; but he only now and then quotes from them. He never wishes to fteal fense, any more than his Alexander did a victory. He judges every where for himself, and is as much of an original as he can be. He is a new man, though upon old ground. He feems to have the whole English language under his command; for his ftyle ([ape Aylum vertas) is hiftorical, differtatory, military, oratorical, and geographical. There is no fear left thefe volumes thould prevent the reading of Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Plutarch, Polybius, Xenophon, or Arrian. The language is embalmed in those authors: But the Hiftory of Greece might be preserved in the quartos of Gillies alone. There is no being a fcholar without learning Greek. The diffipation and bufinefs of life occafion it to be too much neglected: fo that a few have it to themselves. Lord Chief Juftice Hale, according to Burnet, loft the use of it but Lord Granville, who loved it, retained it, and quoted from Homer on his dying day. This accomplished publication may perhaps fuperfede tranflations and modern compilations and compofitions; for moft of these things are only books written from books, and the makers of them literary pirates. The works of Rawleigh, of Prideaux, of Potter, of Hind, Hearne, Howel, Rollin, Mably, Stanyan, the tomes of Univerfal Hiftory, Boffuet, and Montefquieu, may be kept upon the thelf for a while, and be fet to fleep, and no great harm done. For the views of Gillies are more extenfive, and his compafs wider, than this large groupe of authors. He gives fomething of every thing that the reader can even with for, and can make his entertainment complete. He comes to the page with the exactest Geography and Chronology, the two eyes of Hiftory. It is full of military and civil events, of characters, cabals, domeftic and foreign politics, negotiations, fpeeches, and reflections. He describes all the fects and forts of philofophy and philofophers, with a copious and not a tedious narration; and alfo gives an account of the principles of the great fchools of metaphyfics and morality with accuracy and precition. Voltaire, who afferts there are only four ages for the perfection of the human faculties and exertions, places the first as in time, perhaps alfo in merit, in that of Pericles, of Philip, and Alexander, which, with his chapters on the arts and fciences, are the ornamental points of this hiftory; for he does not always delight to ufe the military pen. In compliance with the demands of Nature and his Ariftotle, he has a beginning, a middle, and an end, to his hiftorical dama. His history is a period of feven hundred years. Greece fell at the battle of Charones. Beyond his Alexander he did not choofe to go. The downfall of the Macedonian empire, and beyond it, he .could |