BRITISH CRITIC.

This publication has contributed to the rectifica tion of youthful judgment when employed in classical pursuits. It is to be regretted, indeed, that its pages have sometimes been subservient to prejudice. Impartiality in a review is, like generosity in an individual, the most exalted virtue; but though this review has in some instances decided with too much severity against writers of opposite political and religious opinions, it has been a formidable opponent to infidelity-a most eloquent and puissant defender of Christianity. In this light, the British Critic is entitled to the veneration of pious men, who, while they approve and admire the acuteness with which sophistry is analysed and confuted in its pages, will readily overlook its imperfections.

ANTIJACOBIN REVIEW.

This formidable adversary to innovators and theorists of every description who militate against the present establishment in church and state, excites a mixture of esteem and disapprobation in most unprejudiced readers. Its pages abound with energetic and elaborate investigations of political works, and when disposed to bestow approbation, the critic can do it with a good grace.

MONTHLY MIRROR.

This review contains a candid and liberal account of new publications, inclining, as all the critical journals should, to the side of mercy, as in the days of old,

"When Criticism the Muse's hand-maid prov'd,

To dress her charms, and make her more belov'd."

The Monthly Mirror contains the most judicious criticism on the drama hitherto published; and for accurate observations on the players at the theatres in the metropolis and the provincial towns, it may justly be considered as a complete register of the English stage.

MONTHLY EPITOME.

A very judicious collection of extracts from new publications.

Besides these Critical Monthly publications, there are a variety of Magazines, particularly The Gentleman's, European, Monthly, Agricultural, &c.; -all of which contain useful essays on various subjects.

Religion is also elucidated by miscellaneous pamphlets, among which The Universal Theological Magazine seems well entitled to the public patro

nage.

NEWSPAPERS.

--To hold as 'twere the mirror up to Nature; to show Virtue her own feature; Scorn, her own image; and the very age and body of the Time, his form and pressure.

SHAKESPEARE.

Among the numerous advantages bestowed on civilised nations by the art of printing, newspapers have long formed an excellent medium of universal intelligence. Before the establishment of these paper mercuries, the generality of mankind continued in a state of ignorance respecting each other and the globe which they inhabited, excepting the vague knowledge communicated by the imperfect account of travellers.

Advertisements on different subjects not only amuse, but instruct the reader; though in this respect it must be acknowledged, that many of our public prints disseminate pernicious intelligence.False attestations in favour of nostrums often disgrace their columns; and the modesty of the reader is sometimes offended by meeting advertisements by which assignations and intrigues are carried on under fictitious names. This is the more reprehensible, as we often in the next column see a spirited and well-timed satire on some recent immoral transaction.

Thus, like every other human institution, our public prints are tinctured with imperfection, though of general utility; as the same fertile soil is at once productive of nutritious grain and poisonous

plants. Till the legislature shall deem it proper to suppress quackery, the editors of our journals will accept money from empirics for the publication of their advertisements.

Our newspapers exhibit a lively and interesting view of the busy and the gay world, nor are the ridiculous freaks of fashion overlooked by news writers. The foibles of the vain and the great are commonly too light to be corrected by serious admonitions from the pulpit, and too evanescent to allow the satirist time to attack them in a volume; but our ephemeral censors, like eagles on the wing, instantly perceive and pursue their quarry, which is seldom able to elude or survive their grasp. A newspaper is indeed a tremendous inquisitorial instrument, and the most abandoned characters in high life would tremble at the idea of being publicly exposed through its magnifying medium. By them we obtain general ideas of the state of the civilized world; affecting incidents, which exhibit new views of human nature; and the perpetual vicissitudes of the nations of the earth.

A SKETCH OF MODERN MANNERS.

Catch the manners living as they rise.

POPE.

THE active community whicn inhabits this extensive and populous capital, with all its complicated movements, is like a vast machine, kept in a state of regularity by that powerful spring-the love of gain. Wealth, which in a barbarous state would endanger the possessor, is here the foundation of his security; and the deference paid to him in consequence of his opulence, renders his situation at once respectable and enviable.

Affectation is another prominent trait of modern manners. The urbanity and apparent liberality of sentiment which exist in this community, and that suavity of demeanour every where prevalent, is too often affected.

A desire to appear opulent, or in easy circumstances, is another branch of affectation. Poverty being considered as the greatest of evils in this com mercial city, numbers, whose subsistence depends upon credit, launch into expences which must terminate in their ruin, rather than attend to a system of economy, which would have rendered them comfortable through life. How preposterous is their vain emulation to equal their more opulent neighbours in dress, furniture, and amusements! This passion for notoriety is so great, that even perfumers and milliners assume consequential airs, from the accidental circumstance of their residing