A Familiar Epifile from C. Anfley, Elq; to C. W. Bampfylde, Efq; Tranflated and addressed to the Ladies. 4to. 1s. Almon.

A tranflation worthy of its original, and probably by the fame author, as the reader may conceive from the following fpecimen; defcriptive of characters at Bath.

Oft have I feen, and forely griev'd to fee,
The raw, gay, giddy lafs too foon fet free,
Proud that (ere yet the counts her fixteenth year)
Mamma no more controuls her wild career.
To ruin's brink with eager hafte fhe frays,
No parent's hand her trembling feet to raise;
There lurk a race her footileps to betray,
And feize with favage joy their guilelcis prey,
For them nor Love nor Hymen lights his fires,
Foes to connubial joys and chaite defires;
Or when the generous pangs of love they feign,
'Tis but to mock the wretched damfer's pain;
To beauty callous, gold alone controuls
The felfish bias of their fordid fouls,
Or, if by chance, caprice, or mammon led,
With tranfport feign'd, one prefs the genial bed,
He chides the tardy hours, and fwears that fate
Has balk'd his hopes with an immortal mate.

How fhall the Mufe her honeft rage retrain,
When tottering age fteps forth and joins the train:
A worn-out beau, who ftill the call obeys,
Where youth and love their feftive standards raife:
As 'mid the feather'd tribe the bird of night
Infelts with omens fad their airy flight,
By long experience taught the wily art,
To read the paffions, and unfold the heart,
An ever placid, ever fimpering face,

A tongue, which blunt, harsh truths did ne'er difgrace,
Difdaining vulgar tales, a tide he pours,

Of Lords, Caftratos, Fidlers, Pimps, and Whores,
Now fawning on a peer, with fervile pride,
Now dangling, like her watch, at Chloe's fide.
Nor (farther yet fhould curious strangers pry)
Shall Johnny Weevil e'er his name deny.
For Johnny, like the worm, (ere funs difclofe
The blushing beauties of the budding rofe)
With blighting touch the infant flower deftroys,
And robs the fummer of its promis'd joys.
If bathing, tumblers, auctions, apes, or players,
New fidleis, methcdifts, or dancing bears,
The learned dog (or what more wondrous fight,
Bath yield with monsters teeming) should invite

*The Weevil Worm

The

The Nymph abroad, lo Johnny cringing stands,
A Tool obfequious for the Maid's commards,
But if by chance a dancing rage he feels,"
And trufts, rafh dotard, to his ears and heels,
On light fantastic toe the damfel tripping,
Thro' many a mazy circle nimbly skipping,
Sees Johnny every nerve and muscle ftrain,
To trip with equal fteps, and toil in vain.
In vain his hand he shakes, in vain he begs;
With earnest noc's, fome refpite for his legs;
No refts he knows, 'till, halting in the middle,
He damns to hell pipe, tabor, flute, and fiddle.
As by a mastiff, when a hare is fpy'd
Securely frifking near a copfe's fide,

His ears erect, the cur begins the chace,
Urging with eager rage his tardy pace,
Thrown out at length, he halts upon the plain,
And pants, and gafps, and foams, and barks in vain.
Thus panting, thus complaining, Johnny feels
How ill gay frolics fuit with gouty heels;
Freed from the unequal conteft of the dance,
He fmirks and leers with many a gloting glance,
With looks complacent now he greets the fair,
And now his gentle mien and graceful air,
While many a threadbare jeft, and many a tale
With flander big, the virgin's ears affail.

She with a fmile his fulfome tongue repays
And glibly fwallows even Johnny's praife,
Expos'd to view her fwelling bofom's pride,
Save what a net-work fhade affects to hide;
Courting the glance of beaux with arms compreft,
She flyly fwells the heaven of her breast,
Which heaves, as if the orbs indignant bore
The bafe confinement of her Jupe au corps,
Nor heeds the miffes fpite, nor dreads the lay
Which I might fing, nor what her Aunt may fay.
Two tyrant powers each female breast obeys,
The rage of fashion and the luft of praife.
Hence (like the streamers which a top-maft bears)
Long dangling ribbands flutter round their ears.
Say then, is virgin innocence exprest
By heads in tawdry colours idly dreft?

Quit thefe, ye nymphs, and let fuch marks defcribe
The wretched fifters of the wanton tribe,

Who, once to man's delufive arts a prey,
Have learn'd in turn to ruin and betray.

Health's crimfon glow no more is theirs, no more
The fun-fhine of the breast thall

peace restore,

Their fates the Graces mourn, nor fhall the Mufe
The willing tribute of a tear refuse.

A Me

A Monody, facred to the Memory of Elizabeth, Dutchess of Northumberland: 4to. 6d. Dodfley.

Written by the author of the poetical pieces entitled' Hagley and St. Thomas's Mount. Confidering it as an occafional production, probably ftruck off in hafte, it is by no means deftitute of poetical merit.

***

An Elegy; occafioned by the Death of a Lady's Linnet. 4to. Is. Davies.

Pretty and pathetic enough for the subject.

Box-Hill, A Defcriptive Poem. By Edward Beavan. 4to. 25. Wilkie.

If this be the beft fpecimen, Mafter Edward Beavan can give of his talents for defcriptive poetry, he muft content himelf with having reached the fummit of Box Hill: he will never arrive at the forked heights of Parnaffus.

The Goat's Beard. A Fable. 4to. Is. 6d. Dodfley.

One of the fables of the concife and elegant Phædrus is here amplified into a tedious tale of fome hundred lines; fo loosely and inelegantly written that, though they might have done credit to a school-boy of the lower clafs, they reflect little credit on a profeffed poet, promoted to the Laureat..

***

A Concife Hiftory of England, from the earliest Times to the Death of George II. By John Wesley, A. M. 12mo. 4 vols. 11s. fewed. Hawes.

A plagiary on Rapin, Smollet, and Goldfmith, fabricated, as the author pretends, with a view to promote the caufe of Chriftianity, and to obviate the difgrace of there not being one Christian hiftory of this Chriftian country.

*

The Adventures of Telemachus the Son of Ulyffes. Tranflated from the French of Monf. F. Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambray. By T. Smollett, M. D. 2 vols. 12mo. 6s. Crowder.

A tolerably good, though we think unneceffary, tranflation of the celebrated profaic-poem of Telemachus; made no doubt by the ingenious writer, whofe name is affixed, although we do not find any diftinguifhing marks of his ftile.

The

The Preceptor, or Counsellor of Human Life, for the Use of Britifh Youth. Containing Select Pieces in Natural and Moral Philofophy, Hiftory, and Eloquence; the Lives of Sir Ifaac Newton, Rollin, Demofthenes, and Milton: Alfo fhort Sketches of the Birth and Death of fome of the most illuftrious Men in all Ages. The Whole defigned to be a moft entertaining and inAructive Book for the Apprentices of the City of London, to affift them in recollecting and retaining the most important Parts of a good Education; with a Dedication to Sir Stephen Theodore Fanen, Bart. the late worthy Chamberlain of London. Compiled by John Ryland, A. M. of Northampton. 8vo. 3s. fewed. Dilly.

So explicit and ample a title-page renders it unneceffary for us to fay any thing farther of this work, than that it is executed in a man er agreeable to its title; being properly enough adapted to the perfons, for whom it is profeffedly defigned, our city apprentices; and therefore with propriety dedicated to the Chamberlain of London.

Genuine Memoirs of the Countefs Dubarré, Miftrefs to Louis XV. containing the fecret and political Hiftory of the French Court, to the Death of that monarch. Tranflated from the French. 2 vols 5s 6d bound. Stevens.

Thefe genuine memoirs contain very little more than the writer might have picked up from the public papers. They may not, however, be the lefs true; there being a proverb in favour of the truth of what is told by every body.

The Electrical Eel, or Gymnotus Electricus. bonourable Members of the R-1 SStrong, Naturalift. 4to. is 6d. Bew.

Infcribed to the -y. By Adam

Some wicked wit has here taken occafion, from a natural phænomenon, lately exhibited in this metropolis, to display his talents for the double-entendre: But why it is infcribed only to the honourable members of the Royal Society we know not; as we conceive, if what the Poet fays be true,

"That want of decency is want of fenfe;" this production is more immediately calculated to please the dull and dishonourable members of that learned body.

***

A Let

A Letter to Courtney Melmoth, Efq; With fome Remarks on two Baoks, called Liberal Opinions, and the Pupil of Pleasure. 8vo. 18. Wilkie.

A fenfible and well-written letter, figned Euphrafia; by which, we fuppofe, it is infinuated that it was written by a woman. The matter, however, is too pithy, and the manner too terfe and concife, to permit us to think it the production of a female pen; we fhall for the prefent, however, give into that fuppofition. The fubject is an expoftulation with Mr. Melmoth, on account of that warmth of defcription, with which he hath painted the fcenes of voluptuoufnefs, and we may add vice, exhibited in his hiftory of Benignus, and more particularly his Pupil of Pleasure. This, Euphrafia thinks dangerous and feductive, on the principle of the motto, the bas adopted from Pope;';

"Vice is a monster of fo frightful mien
As, to be hated, needs but to be feen:
But feen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, next embrace."

We should gladly have cited a few paffages from this letterwriter, if our limits would have allowed it; and may poffibly refume this little pamphlet next month.

Theodofius and Conftantia: A poetical Epifile. 4to. IS Walker.

If Pope's epiftle from Eloifa to Abelard were not indelibly printed in our memory, we might be pleased with many palfages in this little poem; which it must be confeffed has fome merit, as a Canto; but we cannot accept of the apology in the

*

writer's motto for fuch incorrect lines as the following:

"Then would't thou pity rather than condemn,

And moan the fufferings of mifguided men.

Affist me, heav'n! before mastonished eyes.

The ftory of Theodofius and Conftantia may be feen in the 164th number of the Spectator. Dr. Langhorne has alfo published fome letters fuppofed to have paffed between them in profe.

Song was his favorite and first purfait
Of elegance as yet he took no care;
For this of time and culture is the fruit.

E.

MINSTREL