gage the civil tyranny (reprefented by the first beaft) in deftructive warfare and perfecution against the Chriftian Church. He exhibits the fimilitude of these two ecclefiaftical oppreffors, and fortifies the ground which he has thus occupied by able arguments. Our limits will not permit us to follow him in thefe, and many other, original difquifitions. We must content ourselves with recommending them, and indeed the whole work, to the ftudent of the Apocalypfe, as well worthy of his attention. Nor can we too highly eftimate the fervice done to found theology by fuch an example of temperate and fober criticism, at a time when even grave and judicious Chriftians are in fome danger of being feduced, by the extraordinary complexion of the times, into the reception of crude and hafty applications of the prophecies, to events now paffing; to interpofitions of Providence not primarily affecting the Chriftian Church; and the tendency of which, with respect to that great object of prophecy, remains as yet in total obfcurity. BRITISH CATALOGUE. POETRY. ART. 9. The Spirit of the Mountains; with other Poems. By George Taylor, of the Bank of England, Author of an Elegy on the lamented Death of Lord Nelson. 12mo. Price 5s. Hall. 1806. He that lives with the Mufes, fhall die in the ftraw, he says, with much truth and energy, one of our honest forefathers faws. But Mr. Taylor has better luck, and lives with the Bank of England, by which he will certainly make more than by writing verfes. Not that his verfes are contemptible, by any means, but they are of that moderate kind, that will bring not much fame, and lefs money. Subjoined is a specimen. AN ADDRESS TO THE ART OF PRINTING. "Printing, all hail, great Art of Arts fublime, Thou ope'ft the eyes, thou wingft the thoughts of men, Fantastic Fantaftic folly ftretched before thee lies, This fmells rather ftrong of the cant of Democracy. ART. 10. A Tribute to the Memory of the Right Honourable Wil. liam Pitt, with an Essay on his Character and Endowments. By Thomas Shirley. Dedicated, by Permiffion, to the Right Honour able Lord Hawkesbury. 8vo. Price is. 6d. Stockdale. 1806. We like this writer's profe much better than his poetry, the former has a great deal of fpirit, the latter is feeble and uninterefting. At the end the author announces a moral, comic, and political fatire, to be called 1806. DRAMATIC. ART. 11. Shakspeare's Tempeft, or the Enchanted Island; a Play adapted to the Stage, with Additions from Dryden and Davenant. By J. P. Kemble. And now first published as it is acted at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. 8vo. Price 2s. Longman. 1807. How far the introduction of another female, may improve this play, in the reprefentation, we have had no opportunity of judging. It certainly does not increase the intereft in the perufal. This alteration, however, is the work of Dryden. ART 12. Spanish Dollars, or the Priest of the Parish. An Operatic Sketch, as performed at the Theatre Royal Covent-Garden. By A. Cherry, Author of the Soldier's Daughter, the Travellers, &c. Mufic by J. Davy. 8vo. Is. 6d. Barker. 1806. Criticifm would be useless on a compofition which is merely intended as the vehicle of fome good patriotic fongs, written at the request and for the benefit of Mr. Incledon. ART. 13. Catch him who Can. A Musical Farce, in Two Acts, performed with diftinguished Succefs, at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Written by Theodore Edward Hook, Author of the Soldier's Return, Invifible Girl, &c. 8vo. Price 1s. 6d. Baldwin. 1806. This is precifely of a fimilar defcription to that above noticed. Some cheerful dialogues and whimsical fcenes introduce fome facetious fongs. If fuch things have their run for a certain number of nights, at the theatre, the authors, we believe, are very little folicitous what opinions we may form of their productions. NOVELS. NOVELS. ART. 14. Charles Ellis; or the Friends. A Novel; comprising the Incidents and Obfervatios occurring on a Voyage to the Brazils and West Indies, actually performed by the Writer, Robert Semple, Author of Walks and Sketches at the Cape of Good Hope. 2 vols. 12mo. 9s. Baldwin. 1806. We were rather prepoffeffed against this work on reading the first pages. The perfonages are vulgar, the ftyle unpolished, and the expreffions, occationally, very uncouth. The author fomewhere talks of a bifhop dancing a hornpipe. However, it mends as it advances, and, on the whole, we were not diffatisfred. The moral throughout is excellent. The fcoundrel defcribed, is fo very pitiful and cowardly a rafcal, that as he is reprefented as the only real character which is introduced, it is a matter of wonder that any one would be the dupe of his fhallow artifices. The defcription of the Brazils and Weft Indies are too unimportant to bear fo confpicuous a place in the title page. We remember to have feen the author's account of the Cape of Good Hope. POLITICS. ART. 15 The State of the Negociation; with Details of its Progrefs and Cartes of its Termination, in the Recall of the Earl of Lauderdale. To which is added, a copious Supplementary Review, and Expfition of the dire& Faljeboods and difingenuous Suppreffions of the French Official Papers. Fifth Edition. 108 pp. 65. Stockdale. 1806. It is hardly neceffary to inform our readers, that the pamphlet before us, on its tirft appearance, excited, in a very high degree, the public curiofity; as it profcifed to anticipate, under the pretended fanction of Adminiftration, the official documents refpecting the late negociation with France, which were then unpublifhed. This curiofity, and the air of official information which pervades the work, have, in our opinion, given it a circulation far beyond its intrinfic merit. It is not, indeed, deftitute of ingenuity of argument, or at leaft plaufibility of language; but the writer appears to us rather the fpecious advocate of a party, than the able defender of his country. though this opinion is, we believe, become general, we fhall endeavour to juftify it by a few obfervations. It is fomewhat remarkable that this writer, like the author of the "Inquiry into the State of the Nation," divides his fubject into certain heads; the laft and most important of which (the view of our prefent fate, the hopes of Europe, &c.) though formally laid down in the outfet of the work, is afterwards wholly omitted.-The points really difcuffed are, Firft, "The ftate of things which induced our Miniftry to attempt a Negociation;" Secondly, "the ftate of things which led to that kind of peace which they propofed, and could alone have accepted;" and Thirdly," the immediate matter of Negociation." On the first point, it is not very material to afcertain whether there were at that period any juft grounds for confiding in the fincerity of Bonaparte, or, confidering his character, and that of his government, as compatible with the defire of an honourable and, in any degree, permanent peace. Yet, without dwelling on the evidence of paft experience, (which to us clearly fhows the futility of this author's fuppofitions) we must observe, that he has himself, in the fecond branch of his work, where he argues at length on the neceffity of a guarantee to any peace made with Bonaparte, overthrown all the fpecious fophifmus in the firft. The reader has only to advert to the ftatement and arguments from page 38 to page 52, for a complete expofure of the abfurdities contained in pages 25 and 26. The objections to the conduct of the late Miniftry, refpecting the war, fo vehemently urged in "the Inquiry, &c." and (in our opinion) fo clearly refuted in the "Anfwer to that Inquiry," need not be difcuffed here; but we cannot help entering our proteft, both against the opinion given by this author of the Marquis of Wellefley's Government of India, and the inference drawn from that opinion: for if it were true, that the adminiftration of that nobleman had "ruined India," a peace, which fhould admit our ever infidious rival, France, to its former poffeffions in that country, or at least to an unrestrained intercourfe with it, feems not the beft of all methods that could be devifed for repairing that ruin. Few remarks feem necellary on the other parts of this production; the most exceptionable of which, and efpecially the contemptuous treatment of our beit ally (the only remaining bulwark of continental Europe) are ftrongly and justly reprobated in a tract which we fhall immediately notice. The fecond branch of this author's fubject relates entirely to a guarantee of the propofed peace, by other European Powers, intended by Adminiitration to be inferted in any Treaty that fhould take place. How this guarantee was to have been made effectual, we are not told; but no intelligent reader, we think, can perufe the arguments produced in its favour, without feeing how forcibly they apply against any treaty with the prefent Ruler of France, in the prefent ftate of his power. With regard to the third part of this work, (which the author terms "the immediate matter of the treaty") it will be feen, from the documents fiace publifhed, that he is in feveral refpects inaccurate, and that fome of the facts by no means accord with his affertions. He has, however, both in the original treatife and fupplement, pointed out many of the tergiverfations, and artful pretences of our enemy; though, as as his work appears to us, in other refpects objectionable, we have heard with pleasure, that it has been difavowed as a publication authorized by government. ART. 16. A Vindication of the Court of Ruffia, from a falfe and treafonable Attack, in a Pamphlet entitled "The State of the Negociation, c. in an Addrefs to the Public." 8vo. 84 PP. 2s. 6d. J. J. Stockdale. 1807. The object of the writer before us is not merely to reprobate the doctrines, and expofe the tendency of "the State of the Negociation," but to fhow that it must have been written by the direction, and published under the countenance of Administration; or, at leaft, that the proofs of ministerial participation are fo ftrong, as to require a much more explicit difavowal, and even a public profecution to repel them. Several objections to the publication in question are stated; but those which are here chiefly relied on are, its contemptuous treatment of the Emperor of Ruffia and his Minifters, and its injurious attack on the Adminiftration of Mr. Pitt. On both thefe topics the cenfures paffed in this work on the fuppofed minifterial pamphlet, are forcibly, and, we think, juftly urged; but the prefent author, in his zeal to detect and ftigmatize the offender, not only aggravates the offence, but, by rendering it more public, increases the probability of mifchievous confequences. We truft fome imprudent and even indecent farcafms in a pamphlet anonymous, though pretending to be in fome degree official, cannot have the ill effect which he fuppofes, (of alienating the Emperor of Ruffia from our caufe) fince it has been difavowed in the journals known to be countenanced by Administration. We however unite with this author, in condemning fuch farcafms, and in the praife he beftows on the wife and fpirited efforts of Mr. Pitt for effecting the deliverance of Europe; although, by the weak councils of fome of our Allies, or the treachery of those employed by them, those efforts were unhappily fruftrated. It is not for us to decide how far the writer before us has proved the connection of fome part of the Miniftry with the work which he justly cenfures. Many of his incidental opinions we approve; and particularly those on the profecution of Mr. Reeves; than whom few individuals have been more calumniated, and even perfecuted, for a conduct which clearly intitled him to the warmest gratitude of his country. ART. 17. Reafons for not making Peace with Bonaparte. By William Hunter, Efq. 8vo. 78 pp. 2s. Stockdale. 1806. Previously to this author's entering upon his principal fubject, he briefly traces the events of the laft coalition against France and the Campaign of 1805; upon which he justly observes, that "the league which was formed for the emancipation of the con |