Review of New Publications. ing in himself a folicitude about trifles, which he treated with the contempt they deferve. "It was well enough known, before thefe fheets were published, that Mr. Johnfon had a roughness in his manner which fubdued the faucy, and terrified the meek. 'This was, when I knew him, the prominent part of a character which few durft venture to approach fo nearly, and which was, for that reafon, in many refpects grofly and frequently mistaken; and it was perhaps peculiar to him, that the lofty confcioufnefs of his own fuperiority, which animated his looks, and raifed his voice in converfation, caft likewife an impenetrable veil over him when he faid nothing. His talk, therefore, had commonly the complexion of arrogance; his filence, of fupercilioufnefs. He was, however, feldom inclined to be filent when any moral or litesary question was started; and it was on fuch occafions that, like the fage in Raffelas, he fpoke, and attention watched his lips; he reafoned, and conviction clofed his periods. If poetry was talked of, his quotations were the readief; and, had he not been eminent for more fold and brilliant qualities, mankind would have united to extol his extraordinary memory. His manner of repeating deferves to be described, though at the fame time it defeats all power of defcription; but whoever once heard him repeat an Ode of Horace, would be long before they could endure to hear it repeated by another. "His equity in giving the character of living acquaintance ought not, undoubtedly, to be omitted in his own, whence partiality and prejudice were totally excluded, and truth alone prefided in his tongue;-a fleadinefs of conduct the more to be commended as no man had stronger likings or averfions. His veracity was indeed, from the most trivial to the moft folemn occafions, ftri&t, even to feverity. He fcorned to embellish a story with fictitious circumstances, which (he used to fay) took off from its real value. "Bory (fays Johnfon) thould be a fpecimen of life and manners; but if the furround❝ing circumflances are falfe, as it is no "more a reprefentation of reality, it is no "longer worthy our attention." "A "For the reft-That beneficence which, during his life, increafed the comforts of fo many, may, after his death, be perhaps ungratefully forgotten: but that piety which dictated the ferious papers in the Rambler will be for ever remembered; for ever, I think, revered. That ample repofitory of relig aus truth, moral wifdom, and accurate criticifin, breathes indeed the genuine emanations of its great author's mind, expreffed too in a flyle fo natural to him, and fo much like his common mode of converfing, that I was my felt but little aftonithed when he told me, that he had fcarcely read over one of thofe inimitable effays before they went to the prefs. 415 "I will add one or two peculiarities more, before I lay down my pen.-Though at an immeafurable distance from content in the contemplation of his own uncouth form and figure, he did not like another man much the lefs for being a coxcomb. I mentioned two friends who were particularly fond of looking at themselves in a glafs-"They do " not forprife me at all by fo doing (faid "Johnfo); they fee, reflected in that glafs, men who have rifen from almoft the lowest "fituations in life; one to enormous riches, "the other to every thing this world can "give-rank, fame, and fortune. They fee, "likewife, men who have merited their advancement by the exertion and improvement of thefe talents which GoD had “given them; and I fee not why they "fhould avoid the mirror." "The other fingularity I promifed to record is this: That, though a man of obscure birth himfelf, his partiality to people of family was vifible on every occafion; his zeal for fubordination warm even to bigotry; his hatred to innovation, and reverence for the old feudal times, apparent, whenever any poffible manner of fhewing them occurred. I have fpoken of his piety, his charity, and his truth, the enlargement of his heart, and the delicacy of his fentiments; and when I fearch for fhadow to my portrait, none can I find but what was formed by pride, differently modified as different occafions thewed it; yet never was pride fo purified as Johnfon's, at once from meannefs and from vanity. The mind of this man was indeed expanded beyond the common limits of human nature, and stored with fuch variety of knowledge, that Iufed to think it refembled a royal pleasure-ground, where every plant, of every name and nation, flourished in the full perfection of their powers, and where, though lofty woods and falling cataracts first caught the eye, and fixed the earliest attention of beholders, yet neither the trim parterre, por the pleafing thrubbery, nor even the antiquated ever-greens, were denied a place in fome fit corner of the happy valley." 57 A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the late Samuel Johnfon, LL. D. With Notes. By John Cour tenay, Efq. 3d Edition. 40. THE defign of this writer is executed with confiderable fairnefs and impartia lity; but, however juft and true his remarks may be, they have little claim to novelty. The poem is written with wonderful inequality: fome paffages are nervous, elegant, and poetical; but there are more of a different complexion. In the third edition of a work of one who can write well, we ught not to find fuch a line as this: "Lo 416 Review of New Publications. "Low lies the man, who fearce deigns "Gray to praife." This is an admirable example to prove "How ten dull words do creep in one dull "line." Blemishes of this kind are the evident effects of hafte and inattention, which perhaps have lefs claim to indulgence than intellectual deficiency.-The following paffages from this poem will give our readers no unfavourable idea of the writer's abilities. "A coward with, long ftigmatiz'd by Devotes Mæcenas to eternal fhame: The Roman epicure and Christian faint! How had he groan'd, with facred horrors pale, race.".... His weighty logic or farcaftic jest; Gladiator-like, he traverses the field, Yet have I feen him, with a milder air, With Reynolds' pencil, vivid, bold, and true, But when the heroic tale of Flora charms, Deck'd in a kilt, he wields a chieftain's arms; The tuneful piper founds a martial ftrain, And Samuel fings, "The king fhall have "his ain." Two Georges in his loyal zeal are flur'd, He, like a Titian, form'd his brilliant school; From him deriv'd the fweet yet nervous lay. plac'd. Amid thefe names can BosWELL be forgot, 58. Poetical and Congratulatory Epifile to James Bofwell, Efq. By Peter Pindar, Efq. 4to. THAT this writer poffeffes great fatirical powers we have before confeffed, and we have before lamented and reprehended their mifapplication: but to render his literary talents fubfervient to public inftruction, or private good, feems not to form any part of this author's fyftem. Notwithflanding the ridicule of the fatirift, Bofwell's Tour will be read and admired; attention, which never flumbered or flept over the pages of the Journal, may poffibly do both_over Peter Pindar's recapitulation of the anecdotes. That there are feveral very witty and laughable hits in the Epiftle wa Review of New Publications. To give one park to Fame's befpangled page And wonder'd that thy bones were never "Triumphant thou through Time's vaft gulph fhalt fail, The pilot of our literary whale; 417 cifm will affign it a middle rank in the lift of modern tragedies. In the prefixed advertisement the author profeffes to have adopted a style and diction different from what are ufual in modern tragedy; but, notwithftanding the author's obfervations, intentions, and endeavours, (which convey, however, a tacit cenfure on his contemporaries,) we cannot beftow any particular praife on the ftyle and diction of the Captives. We could enumerate feveral modern pieces which, in those qualifications, far exceed it; and we will particularly point out the tragedy of Braganza. of which is written with confiderable The Prologue and Epilogue, the laft ingenuity and humour, our readers will find in the poetical article. 60. An Essay on the Population of Ireland. By the Rev. J. Howlett. 8vo. THIS pamphlet very ably examines, and, in our opinion, confutes what Dr. Price has advanced refpecting the population of Ireland; which Mr. H, contrary to the Doctor's affertion, thinks Clofe to the claffic Rambler fhalt thou cling, may be afcertained with tolerable corClofe as a fupple courtier to a king! Fate fhall not thake thee off with all its Stuck like a bat to fome old ivy'd tower. thine eyes, Paoli's deeds had rais'd thee to the skies! Yes, his broad wing had rais'd thee (no bad hack) A tom-tit twitt'ring on an eagle's back."... "Bleft be thy labours, moft advent'rous Bozzy! Bold rival of Sir John and Dame Piozzi; Heavens! with what laurels fhail thy head be crown'd! A grove, a forest fhall thy ears furround. Yes, whilft the Rambler fhall a comet blaze, And gild a world of darkness with its rays, Thee too that world, with wonderment, fhall hail, A lively bouncing cracker at his tail." 59. The Captives, a Tragedy. 8vo. NOTWITHSTANDING the virulence with which this play has been perfecuted, the unprejudiced reader will fearch in vain for faults of fuch a magnitude as to authorife the cenfure. If it does not rife to dramatic excellence, it is at leaft equal to many pieces which have been fuffered to pafs without any marked difapprobation. The events are interefting, the ftory probable; and, we are induced to believe, that candid criti rectness from the returns to the hearth tax. He tells us, from the authority of the Right Hon. Mr. Beresford, first /commiffioner of the Irish revenues, that a yearly return is made of the number of houfes, taken with particular care and by an actual furvey. The number of houfes is estimated at 500,000, and, allowing 5 perfons to a houfe, the prefent population of Ireland muft amount to two millions and a half; but if 5 perfons were allowed, and there is reafon to believe that allowance would not exceed the truth, the population would be increased to two millions and three quarters. 61. Obfervations on the Statutes relating to the Stamp Duties, particularly upon profeffional and mercantile Proceedings, from their Com mencement to the laft Seffion of Parliament, both inclufive. To which is prefixed, A Prefatory Difcourfe, addreffed to the Prac tifers. By John Rayner, of the Inner Temple. 8vo. THIS feems to us a very useful publication, and intended principally for the followers of the law. Notwithftanding Mr. R's arguments, we do not think him defenfible in ftyling Sir Ed. ward Coke "Lord Coke." Of the title of Lord our ancestors were very liberal; it is now confined within narrower bounds. Mr. 418 Review of New Publications. Mr. R. is among the number of thofe who fuffered by the lofs of the Halfewell Eaft Indiaman, on board of which his fon was embarked; and of this lofs he fpeaks with that propriety and tendernefs which can only proceed from a feeling heart and a cultivated underBanding. 62. A Plan of Coalition and Alliance with the Unitarian Church. 8vo. THIS writer ridicules, with fome wit and humour, the plans and plots of Dr. Priestley against the established church; and, as a mean of avoiding the danger which threatens it, he propofes to give up to the Doctor, and his Socinians, a church, with its portion of tithes, in every town. Such is the plan of the book, in which are interfperfed many acute remarks. It is written with con derable ingenuity. We think, however, that reafon and argument are much fitter weapons for religious controverfy than ridicule and wit. 63. A Biographical Diɛionary, containing an Hiftorical Account of all the Engravers, from the earliest Period of the Art of Engraving to she prefent Time; and a short Lift of their moft effeemed Works. With the Cyphers, Momograms, and particular Marks ujed by each Maßler, accurately copied from the Originals, and properly explained. To which is prefixed, An Efay on the Rife and Progress of the Art of Engraving, both on Copper and Wood. With feveral curious Specimens of the Performances of the most ancient Artifts. By Jofeph Strutt. Vol. I. 4to. (Reviewed ya Correfpondent.) A COMPLETE work of this kind, in English, has hitherto been wanting, not only for the ufe of thofe who make collections of prints, but alfo for a more numerous clafs-thofe who, without opulence fufficient to be purchafers themfelves, can only be gratified with looking over the repofitories of liberal proprietors.The fubje&t is amusing la deferibing the different modes of engraving, p. 5, the author is not fufficiently explicit. He ought to have mentioned whether the dry point is ever ufed without the graver, or the graver without the dry point;-though artists do not want fuch information, the nerality of readers-may. ge Chap. II. "On the Antiquity of Engraving."-And can it be believed?— The author commences with Tubal Cain. Plenty of texts, both Hebrew and English, are fcattered through the chapter; here being a delectable opportunity for the difplay of Larning. Nothing, furely, is more miserable, or more deferving of reprehenfion, than this affectation of mifplaced erudition. Writers fhould confider that the prefent age is too cunning. The prefent age well knows that a little drudgery, and a few hints from men of true capacity and reading, with the help of innumerable Dictionaries, Compilations, Collections, &c. may make the most illiterate fcribblers pafs for learned, fo far as quotations and fcraps from ancient books may be deemed criterions. In *One of the inftances of this affectation, the most to be regretted that we have ever experienced, is exhibited in the first volume of a late Hiftory of Mufic. There is not one line relevant to the fubject, or worth preferving, from the fift page to the laft. To what purpofe is all the fable and the trash about Greek and mufic? It is inconceivable how an aythor fo refpectable, a man of real genius and abilities, capable of the moft refined amufe. ment, could undergo fuch dull drudgery, and fo much mif- ofe his time. To read the volume is infupportable-what muft it have been to have written it? We have known two or three gentlemen fo provoked, that they burnt the first volume; the fecond indeed they carefully cherish. We intend to follow their example, and, when we come to bind our fet, to letter the ad volume first. We hope to be more gratified when the third volume appears. We have no apprehenfious of a fioulnude to another Hittory, of enormous weight, where the tasteful writer spends a dozen quarto pages on the Small-coal Man, and in three lines dispatches Review of New Publications. In Chap. III. an explanation is given of an ancient Patera, depofited in the Museum by Sir William Hamilton, of which a very neat engraving appears in the frontispiece. It is faid to be Etrufcan, and is fufficiently mean and barbarous to have been the production of the rudelt Gothic age. It may as well, from any idea the print fuggefts, have been a patten; and its having Gentile ornaments and history is by no means a proof to the contrary. The author differs, as to the ftory reprefent ed, from M. D'Hancarville. Be this as it may, the vast knowledge in mythology, and, above all, the ingenuity and exuberant imagination of M. D'H. are more than adequate to the explanation of every thing or any thing. The Vth and Vith chapters contain fome very trite remarks on the different Ayles of the German and Ralian artifts. Some attempt is made to difcufs the queftion, Whether engraving came ori ginally from Germany or Italy? Nothing new is advanced, and the queflion is left undecided. We come now to the Dictionary itfelf, the preface to which boasts that two thousand names have been added to Bafan's Catalogue. But with what dif appointment and indignation will the pains-taking and ingenious literary labourers on the continent perceive, that fcarcely one circumftance new, curious, or interefting, has been communicated; not one relative even to the most recent British artists, or the foreigners that have fettled in Britain! So that, in confequence of this compilation, neither -materials are enriched, nor future refearches rendered more facile or accurate. Names, indeed, are enumerated, and that such a one flourisheds perhaps now and then the date of fome yearthat is generally the utmost of the writer's efforts. It is aftonishing how little trouble he has given himtelf; and therefore, not only of artists lately deceased, 419 and whofe families might have been confulted, but of those actually living, and of whom, with the utmost eafe, he might have been informed, he hardly mentions a word more than that they have existed. I should rather fay fou rifhed, for that is the favourite word, and repeated on every occafion.-Let us next proceed to fome of the articles, in their alphabetical order. MAC ARDELL. He has heard (though not by fufficient warrant to affert it for fact), that he was born in England, but of Irish parents. Why did not the writer take the trouble to authenticate this fact? and to what purpofe is this vague doubtful suggestion? It is a mattter of the greatest notoriety that this artift was born in Dublin, in a ftreet then called Cow Lane, now Greek Street*. Many of his family and friends are now living, who might have been confulted.-Mac Ardell was feventeen years old before he ever beheld England. He went over along with Brooks, to whom he was apprentice." St. Francis, &c. one of Mac "Ardell's prints, from Morillis." It fhould have been Murillo, or Morillio. If this be not a typographical error,which we doubt, it is a grofs vulgarifm. GERARD AUBRAN. This is the beft article in the book, and yet all the obfervations refpecting this artist are not brought together in one view under the article, as they fhould have been, but are fcattered through different places of the book, as in the Preface, Effay, &c. which is a fault. The author mentions a paffage, as quoted by Bafan, from the Abbé Fontenai, yet in the only edition that we have feen of Bafan (Paris, 1767, 8vo), that does not appear. Something like the paffage is to be found in Bafan, but nothing hinted about the Abbé Fontenai; therefore this required explanation. PETER AVELINE. We imagine this was an artist brought into Britain by the difparches Pargol-fi.— A very pleafing book, of which we had a curfory perufal, was publithed, fome years ago, in Italian, by a perfon naming himfelf Examens. It is probably fcarce; for, having fest to Rome, and fearched in London, (in both places repeatedly,) we could never procure it. This author's foundation of harmony appears too vague to be reducible to fyftem, or to eftablish laws and rules to govern counterpoint by; but it is a very pretty and decifive experiment to prove that harmony is not merely artificial, as fome think, but that it does exift in reality and in nature.The antique lyre, or harp, of which a plate is given in the fir volume, furely no man ought to know better than Dr. B, that fuch an inftrument never could have been in ufe; and, from the authority on which it is auduced, we even doubt whether it was fcratched upon a wall. A filly fashion has lately prevailed in Dublin, of changing the old names of streets for new ones, that are thought genteeler. late |