MONTHLY CATALOGUE. POETRY. 25. Sir Eldred of the Bower, and the Bleeding Rock. Two Legendary Tales. By Mifs Hannah Moore. 410. Cadell. ΤΗ 2s. 6d. HE firft of thefe Tales confifts of two parts, which contain an affecting narrative, that concludes with a fatal ca tastrophe. The fentiments and defcription are natural and beautiful, and the verfification is ftrongly marked with the character of elegant fimplicity. For the gratification of our readers, we shall infert a few ftanzas from the beginning. There was a young, and valiant Knight, And never did a worthier wight The rank of knighthood claim. • Where gliding Tay her ftream fends forth, Sir Eldred's caftle ftood. The youth was rich as youth might be And many a noble feat had he Atchiev'd, in hall, and bower. He did not think, as fome have thought, • The faireft ancestry on earth And every deed of lofty worth Is but a tax for more. Sir Eldred's heart was good and kind, A croud of virtues grac'd, his mind, • When merit raifed the fufferer's name, And those who cou'd not prove that claim, But facred truth the Mufe compels His errors to impart ; And yet the Mufe, reluctant, tells 1 R 3 • Tho' • Tho' kind and gentle as the dove, His bofom wild and boundless rage The tale of the Bleeding Rock is written in heroic measure, and prefents us with the recital of a metamorphofis, which we may venture to affirm would not difcredit even the agreeable and fantastic pen of Ovid. These two Legendary Tales, in point of poetical merit, are not the leaft confiderable of the productions with which the public has been favoured by this ingenious lady. 26. The Oeconomy of Health. 800. 25, 6d. Almon. This poem is a tranflation, interfperfed with large additions, of the monkish didactic compofition, known by the name of the Schola Salerni, which was drawn up by John of Milan, a celebrated phyfician of Salerno in Italy, for the ufe of Robert, duke of Normandy, fon of William the Conqueror, who was at that time in an infirm ftate of health, occafioned by a wound he had received at the fiege of Jerufalem. Many of the precepts are now become obfolete, on account of the revolutions which have fince taken place in the science of medicine; but in respect to the more invariable laws of regimen, the authority of the poem is ftill acknowledged. The tranflator has rendered the fenfe of the original with conciseness and fidelity; nor has he failed in decorating the verfion with the graces of poetry. 27. An Election Ball, in poetical Letters from Mr. Inkle, at Bath, to his Wife at Glocester. 4to. 2s. 6d. Dodfley. The public have formerly been entertained by the author of the New Bath Guide; and in these poetical letters of the facetious Mr. Inkle, we meet with the fame ftrain of humour by which his other compofitions are diftinguifhed. It is fome compenfation for the animofities which lately infested the affembly room room at Bath, that the place fhould be provided with a perfon who poffeffes a genius and difpofition for affording amusement to the company. Nothing fo much affifts the operation of medicinal waters as chearfulneís; and for those who refort thither for the fake of pleasure only, the expectation of complacency is indifpenfible. 28. A Poetical Effay on Duelling. By Charles Peter Layard, A. M. 410. IS. Robfon. We lately reviewed a poem on Duelling, by Mr. Samuel Hayes, which obtained Mr. Seton's reward for the last year. The prefent poem has been honoured with the premium for the year 1774. It seems from the repetition of the fubject, and from Mr. Layard's obtaining the reward fo late as October laft, that the gentlemen of the Univerfity of Cambridge, in whom the determination is vefted, had for fome time demurred with respect to this Effay. We observed before, that the com parative, and not the pofitive merit of those productions, is the general rule by which the prize is adjudged. 29. The Prediction of Liberty. By James Thiftlethwaite. 4to. 25. Williams. This prediction fo much resembles the Prophecy of Famine in party-prejudice, that the now-forgotten mufe of Charles Churchill inight feem to be revived in the perfon of Mr. James Thistlethwaite; who is likely foon to fink into oblivion, with all the other prophets of modern times. 30. The Run-away, a Comedy. 8vo. Is. 6d. Dodfley. This comedy is the production of a female author, whose example further evinces how much a natural untutored genius may exceed the elaborate efforts of thofe writers who derive their refources chiefly from an acquaintance with the rules of the drama. The characters are generally fupported with propriety and fpirit, through feveral interefting fituations; and though we meet not with a very high degree of the vis comica, our attention is fo agreeably engaged, that we never find room to regret, and hardly even to be fenfible of its abfence. 31. Valentine's Day, a Mufical Drama. 8vo. 1s. Lowndes. The characters in this little drama are imagined with propriety, and the mufical parts are not defective in point either of harmony or conception; but the rules of probability appear to fuffer fome violation from the too precipitate acquiefcence of Sir Anthony Ash in the catastrophe. 32. Airs and Chorusses in the Mask of the Sirens. 4to. 6d. Becket. The author of this mufical entertainment has had the address to describe the feftivity of failors without any mixture of that technical jargon, which is for the most part too profufely fcat R 4 tered tered through thofe theatrical productions, where characters of this kind are reprefented. The name of the Sirens naturally excites an idea of captivating melody; and it might be thought fupercilious to deny that the title is juftly applicable to this lit-' tle piece. NOVEL S. 33. The Hiftory of Lady Anne Neville, Sifter to the great Earl of Warwick 2 Vols. I2mo. 55. Jewed. Cadell. This work is a ftrange inconfiftent mixture of history, romance, and improbability, written in an affected, poetical, or rather bombastic ftyle. There are, however, a number of reflections interfperfed throughout, which might intitle it rather to be called a moral history, than a fimple novel. But as the author has given us an unfavourable idea of his own heart, from the illiberal opinion he seems to have conceived of human nature in general, thefe two circumftances taken together, ferve only to render the work at once both like and unlike the model of Tacitus. Such a maxim as this, that there are certain fympathies of affections, or kindred fouls, of different fexes, formed by nature to unite, non obftante all meaner confiderations whatfoever *, with other notions of the fame kind, betray rather too free a latitude of fentiment, to be publicly addreffed to a person of fo immaculate a character, as the illuftrious patronefs to whom the author has thought proper to dedicate his work t This writer appears not to have fo critically diftinguished between a fable, and a falsehood, as he ought to have done, in a compofition of this kind, where it is only permitted to create imaginary perfonages, by way of machinery, or to suppose those that are introduced upon the fcene of action, who had really exifted, to be involved in particular fituations and circumftances, which had never befallen them, for the better carrying on the plot. So far the licentia poetica extends, and there it refts. But to belie hiftoric records and characters, to represent the good duke of Gloucefter as a barbarous affaffin, and the fierce Warwick to be a whining lover, as this writer has done, is to ufe a liberty beyond the laws either of the novelist, the dramatift, or any other dealer in fiction. Aut famam fequere, aut fibi convenientia finge. But then, in return for leading his readers to mistake the good Humphrey, for the wicked Richard, his fucceffor to the title, he has raised a harlot to the rank of a heroine ‡, in the fame piece; in order, we fuppofe, upon the whole, to keep the balance even, between virtue and vice. But the author has, we apprehend, been guilty of a further injuftice, in his dedication, by framing a parallel between this fair abandoned, and his noble patronefs, * See the Introduction. Her grace the duchess of Kingston, Lady Anne Neville. whose whofe chastity has already paffed the trial ordeal of the Ecclefiaftical Court, and is foon to receive its final acquittal in the laft refort We think that this laft article may not improperly be closed with a fentence from one of our modern maxim-mongers, who fays, juftly enough, that "the indifcretion of a friend is capable of doing us more injury, than the malice of an enemy." 34. The Embarraffed Lovers; or the Hiftory of Henry Carey, Esq. and the bonourable Mifs Cecilia Neville. In a Series of Leters. 2 Vols. 12mo. 6s. Lane. The embarraffinents which Henry Carey, Efq. and the honourable mifs Cecilia Neville met with may be highly interefting to many of thofe readers who fpend, or rather mifpend, their time in the perufal of fuch kinds of writing. Such readers may enter into the fpirit of thefe embarraffments, and eagerly purfue the thread of the narration. For our part, we can feldom get through a fcore pages of performances of this fort, without being heartily tired, and we generally drudge through the remainder with aching heads. Habit inures us to this in fome degree, and our patience lafts tolerably well through the firft volume; a fecond we are apt to look on with an evil eye; but a third and a fourth are almost enough to make us for wear our employment. 'Squire Carey and mifs Neville have been for obliging, however, as to include the recital of their embarrassments within the compafs of two volumes, for which we beg they will accept our most grateful acknowledgements. 35. The Delicate Objection, or Sentimental Scruple. 2 Vols. 12mo. 55. ferved. Lane. How unlucky was the author of this work, that we did not happen to meet with his objections and fcruples while at the preís! we should certainly have removed them. 36. Julia Benfon, or the Sufferings of Innocence. In a Series of Letters, founded on well known Facts. Goldsmith. 2 Pols. I 2mo. 65. Thus it is with all the world.-Every one complains of his own fufferings, heedlefs of what he inflicts on his neighbour.-Mifs Benfon we dare fay, however fenfible to her own misfortunes, cares not a farthing about the irrecoverable lofs of time, and the fatigue to which the publication of these volumes has fubjected the Reviewers. 37. The Rival Friends, or the Noble Reclufe. 7s. 6d. ferved. Vernor. 3 Vols. I 2mo. Sat eft quod fufficit-even of good things; of those which are indifferent, a moderate quantity is too much. The Rival Friends, if comprized in two volumes, might have paffed in peace; the weight of three must bear it down, and the pastry-cooks will have the more plentiful cargo. 38. The |