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eloquence than can be found in any other author. Voltaire, to depreciate Shakespeare, has given a vile tranflation of Julius Cæfar, and compares it with the Cinna of Corneille. Mr. Sherlock quotes at length the fpeeches of Marc Antony, and oppofes them to all that can be found in Homer or Virgil. He adds, Demofthenes and Cicero were orators by profeffion; is there any one of their orations fuperior to Antony's? If the reader will take Mr. Sherlock's advice, and read Shakespeare's fcene attentively, he will moft probably agree that nothing can exceed it. Racine and Shakespeare are not to be compared: Racine made regular tragedies, Shakespeare did not; but he made dramatic pieces, which will intereft all claffes of mankind, as long as mankind fhall exift, Voltaire has talked of monftrous farces and grave-diggers; but that writer was not more famous for his talents than for his practice of pillaging, and then calumniating the perfon whom he has robbed: read Zara and Othello, and then judge of the two poets. Mr. Sherlock fays, Nature made SHAKESPEARE, and broke the mould. Upon the whole, the admirers of Shakespeare are much obliged to Mr. Sherlock for removing the prejudices fo widely diffufed by Voltaire. As the Author wrote in italian, he has caught much of the flyle and manner of the country. He writes with enthufiafm, but his obfervations are not the lefs founded in truth.

LAW.

Art. 33. A Short Enquiry into the Fees claimed and taken by the Clerk of Affize on the Home Circuit, &c. 8vo. 1s. Debrett. 1786. To this Enquiry is prefixed a fet of refolutions paffed by the Grand Jury for the county of Hertford, Summer affizes 1786, in which it is ftated that confiderable fums were received by the clerk of affize, his clerks, and others, under pretence of cuftomary fees and perquifites of office, unwarranted by law, and in many inftances contrary to various acts of parliament.

It is further flated, that the faid fees and perquifites were taken from perfons preferring bills of indictment, profecuting felons to conviction, or attending as witneffes, to the injury of fuch perfons, the difcouragement of public juftice, and the great increase of the levies of the county. The Grand Jury conclude with recommending to the juftices of the county, at quarter feffions, to caution all parties attending the afizes against fuch exactions for the future. The pamphlet now before us is addreffed to the juftices, and proceeds minutely to afcertain the fees taken by the clerk of affize, fetting forth the feveral claufes in various acts of parliament which prohibit the fame, or fettle the fpecific fee which ought to be taken. Without feeing the anfwer of the clerk of affize, it were improper for us to give a decifive opinion upon the fubject. Men of the law have, no doubt, been aftute in all ages for their own emolument. Abuses, which have been tolerated, become traditional, and are too frequently turned into precedents to establish a right. All we can fay is, that exactions, fuch as are ftated in this pamphlet, call for fome preventive remedy. That which the Grand Jury have adopted feems feeble and inadequate. The judge of allize, it is well known, cannot fit in court to hear complaints of this nature, and make a table of fees. All he can fay, when applied to, is, that the officer muft

be

be paid his fees, and if he takes too much, he is answerable for extortion. The confequence is, that the party complaining is left to purfue his legal remedy, but, instead of doing it, he prefers the money in his pocket to a troublefome and expenfive litigation. To go at once to the root of the evil, application fhould be made to parlia ment, and in an act for the purpofe a table of fees might be fet forth, with directions that the fame fhall be hung up in the office of the clerk of affize, for the infpection of all perfons whatever, and the exacting or receiving of more fhould be prohibited under proper penalties. Art. 34. Obfervations on the Ufe and Abuse of the Practice of the Law. By a Friend to the Profeffion. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Anderfon, &c. This pamphlet has for its object the various mifchiefs arifing to mankind from low attorneys, and men deftitute of all knowledge as well as morals, who, by undue means, force them felves into that branch of the profeffion, and prove the most pernicious locufts that ever infested human fociety. This race of men is reprefented in proper colours, drawing the unwary into fuits, and when they fucceed, ruining their clients by the bill of cofts. Of this fpecies of impofition several inftances are given, and one in particular, told with fome humour, of a blind fidler, whofe inftrument was broken by one of the company for whom he played at a hop near Plymouth. The poor man had faved 301.: the attorney got that money into his hands, went to affizes with his witneffes, tried his caufe, and recovered a verdict for two guineas. The defendant fled the country: the poor plaintiff fpent all his money, and is ftill in debt to the worthy attorney. The Author gives us a curious advertisement from the Daily Advertifer, in which an attorney makes profeffion of his knowledge, and is fo cifinterested as to offer his advice in Crown and Common Law cafes, Chancery, and Conveyancing, for the moderate fee of is. in Prujean Square, Old Bailey, any day, except Sunday. On the last mentioned day this worthy lawyer is fuppofed to go out of his way to church. What a moral and exemplary man! The means by which this fpecies of vermin encreafe and multiply are painted forth with a true pencil. One is a footman to a lawyer: he cleans fhoes and knives for five years, and having in that time learned to write, gets a certificate from his mafter, and is admitted an attorney. A noted alehoufe-keeper at the weft-end of the town, having been formerly fworn an attorney, has an office in the city, where three or four Jew clerks attend every day, and will in time be fworn attor neys. We are prefented with the history of a man well known by the name of the Little Lawyer, who from bafe beginnings has rifen to eminence. A noted undertaker, who formerly contracted for funerals in Newgate, and after many years became a bankrupt, has put himself clerk to an attorney, and is now, with the flock of knowledge which he acquired in that learned feminary, in the high road to be an eminent attorney. The intent of this pamphlet is to lay open the grofs impofition of fuch wretches, the villanies which they practife, and, by a falutary caution, to put the unwary upon their guard. The defign is truly laudable. We think it may be purfued to a wider extent; and fhould the Author enlarge his plan, he will at least have the merit of attempting to do a benefit to mankind.

Art.

Art. 35. The Parish Officer's Companion; or a new and complete Library of Parish Law. By Somerville Dingley, Efq. Author of the Appendix to Burn's Justice. 12mo. 2s. 6d. Lifter. 1786. Though the laws relative to parish affairs are pretty generally known, yet the many new acts that are paffed, and the cafes that are adjudged in the different courts, render new editions of works of this kind neceffary for inftructing church-wardens and overfeers in their duty. We have not at hand the last edition of SHAW's Parish Law, for the purpose of comparison.

Art. 36. Obfervations on the Statutes relating to the Stamp Duties, particularly on profeffional and mercantile Proceedings, &c. By John Rayner, of the Middle Temple. Svo. 2s. 6d. Flexney. 1786.

Thefe Obfervations tend to fhew the difficulties and inaccuracies, and fometimes the partiality with which, in Mr. R.'s opinion, the ftatutes relative to the ftamp-duties abound. He thinks that other modes of increafing the revenue might have been adopted, which would have anfwered the purpofe of the ftate as well, and, at the fame time, have convinced mankind, that the legislature had much more at heart the eafe than the burthen of the fubject.' The tax on attorneys is particularly difliked by this experienced obferver, on account of its obvious inequality and oppreffive partiality.

EDUCATION, SCHOOL Books, &c. Art. 37. Reading made moft Eafy; confifting of a Variety of useful Leffons. By W. Rufher, Mafter of the Charity School at Banbury. 12mo. td. Gough. 1785.

Those who know the difficulties and trouble of teaching children the rudiments of reading, will find this little compofition not ill calculated for rendering that laborious task more fimple and eafy.

Art. 38. A Vocabulary of the most difficult Words in the English Language, teaching to pronounce them with Eafe and Propriety; fhewing their various Significations; and, where neceffary, are fpelled fo as to indicate the true Articulation; alfo, Names of Perfons and Places, more particularly thofe in the New Testament : together with feveral common Phrafes from the Latin and French, tranflated into English, &c. &c. By William Fry, Teacher of Languages and Mathematical Sciences. 12mo. 2s. 6d. Boards. Buckland, &c.

That this is a whimfical medley, the reader will easily conclude from the title. Of the Editor's qualifications to write a dictionary, he may form fome judgment from the following fpecimens:

Abandoned, given up to, &c.

Ab hoc et ab hac, at random.

Authority Juvenal.

Ad patres, the abode of the juft; death.
Alma mater, chafte mother.

Argumentum ad hominem, a convincing argument.
Argumentum ad ignorantiam, a foolish argument.
En bon point, pronounce ang bung poing.
Locum tenens, one officiating for the Lord Mayor,

Qui pro quo, a mistake of an apothecary in giving or mixing
medicines, &c. &c.

Art.

Art. 39. An Efay on pronouncing and reading French: to show, that by Study and Application the English may acquire, with Certainty, and in a fhort Time, the true French Accent. By Mr. Des Carrieres. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Boards. Elmly. 1787.

This Effay feems to be better calculated for inftructing Englishmen in the French pronunciation than any of thofe numerous publications, for that purpose, which we have feen. There is a great difficulty in giving definitions of fuch ideas as are the objects of fenfe alone; founds therefore, like colours, are but ill defined by words. To perfons entirely ignorant of the French pronunciation, the prefent performance can be of little fervice; but to thofe who have acquired fome knowledge of that language, it will afford very confiderable affiftance. The Author appears to be a man of tafte and ingenuity; his obfervations are founded on juft grounds, and are the refult of an extenfive knowledge of language in general, and an intimate acquaintance with the best authors on the fubject. L'Abbé d'Olivet and M. Bouillette have afforded him great affiftance; he acknowledges, indeed, to have freely ufed the latter's Traité des fons de la langue Françcife, a book of confiderable reputation among the

French.

EAST INDIES.

Art. 40. Obfervations on the Defence made by Warren Haftings, Efq. Part I. 8vo. 29. Debrett. 1787.

Contains many fevere animadverfions on the Defence, and on the conduct, of Mr. Haftings, particularly in regard to the Rohilla war. -This is the tract concerning which an unavailing complaint was made, in the Houfe of Commons, by Major S. (the active friend of Mr. H.) on account of its "malignant principle and tendency."-The pamphlet is well-written: its author unknown, though fhrewdly gueffed at.

POETRY.

Art. 41. Elenheim, a Poem. By the Rev. W. Mavor. 4to. 3s. Cadell. 1787.

We cannot apply to this poem, on Blenheim Houfe, what Mr. Pope faid of his Windfor Forest

"Where pure defcription holds the place of fenfe".

for there is much good fenfe and laudable fentiment in this defcriptive poem; and both are agreeably arrayed in eafy and (in general) harmonious numbers. The whole is introduced to the reader by a very modeft Preface, in which he is informed that The Poem was not written amid philofophic eafe and literary converfation. It originated,' fays the writer, from local attachments, and was profecuted at thofe intervals when ill health gave a neceffary relaxation from profefional avocations, or when the cares of life drove the Author to the innocent alleviations of verfe. Under fuch circumftances, had he poffeffed real poetic genius, it must have been de. prefled; and as he lays claim to little more than poetic inclination, he is too fenfible his production is much unequal to the fubject.?

Such becoming diffidence never fails to intereft the reader in an author's behalf: whatever merit may appear in his production, ample credit is given him for it; and candour throws her friendly veil over REV. Feb. 1787.

N

thofe

thofe imperfections which, from the pen of Arrogance, might have been judged worthy of the feverest criticifm.

Art. 42. The New Rofciad: A Poem. 4to. 1s. 6d. Hookham. 1787.

From the "Seffion of the Poets," written by Sir John Suckling, in the reign of Charles the Second, down to The Diaboliad, in the reign of George the Third, we have had feveral poems on the fame plan:-a vacant laureatfhip, or a vacant throne in the infernal hades, or, &c. &c.

This new work is to be confidered as a vehicle, to convey, to the Public, the Author's fentiments relative to the merits of the prefent fet of actors on the London boards,-as the cant of the times has it. "GARRICK deceas'd, each high-afpiring play'r Afferts pretenfions to the vacant chair-"

COLMAN is, very properly, appointed judge; and the feveral performers are characterifed, in advancing their feveral claims. Mrs. Siddons obtains the preference,

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you, great Siddons! muft poffefs the chair,

Nor quit it till thou'ft plac'd an equal there."

The Author appears to have formed a tolerably just conception of the refpective talents and merits of all the candidates; but his Mufe hobbles, if poffible, a thoufand times worfe than Suckling's: and the was but a forry Trapes.

Art. 43. The Maniacs: a Tragi-comic Tale. By Nicholas Nobody. 4to. IS. Ridgway. 1786.

Mr. Nobody, viewing Margaret Nicholfon's attempt on the life of his Majefty in a ludicrous light, has made it the fubject of a ballad, to the tune of Catharine Hayes; but the ftory being rather barren of incident, the Author fupplies that deficiency by his invention. He introduces the Lords in Council, at the examination of the Maniac ; who, in a fcuffle with the Chancellor, deprives him of his wig, and provokes him to a plentiful difplay of his fkill in the vulgar tongue : and the humour of all this is affifted by a copper-plate frontispiece. Art. 44. The Caffina, a Poem. 4to. Is. Becket.

In a happy imitation of the eafy ftyle of Anfty's Bath Guide, this [to us] unkovn author defcribes the agreeable company which he met with, laft fummer, at Weybridge: not over-looking the pretty fcenery of the place from which this very pleafing poem takes its

name.

Art. 45. The Fallen Cottage. A Poem. By T. C. Rickman. 4to. 2s. 6d. Kearfley. 1787.

Ruftic feenery, and ruftic life, not unnaturally defcribed, in rufic verfe. Mr. R. though bleffed with no extraordinary powers of poetry, feems to feel, and to enjoy, the fimplicity of his fubject: we hope, too, that he enjoys the goods effects of his numerous and re,fpectable lift of fubfcribers.

DRAMATIC.

Art. 46. The First Flor; a Farce. In two Acts. As reprefented at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. Svo. 15. Dilly.

1787.

This piece is inferibed to Mr. King, as an acknowledgment of the cuility derived to the Author (Mr. Cone) from that gentleman's

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