Before we enter into the detail of the three volumes now under confideration, it may not be unpleafing to our readers to have the character of this courtly writer from one of his witueft and moit judicious countrymen *. Dorat was born with talents fufficient, had they been more under the guidance of tafte, to have acquired much greater renown; and which, notwithstanding, have procured him no inconfiderable rank among the French poets, This affertion would undoubtedly be more univerfally admitted, had he limited his labours to the three select volumes now offered to the public. We here find much facility, great copioufnefs, ingenuity, and wit, added to the manner and imagination of a poet. His misfortune is, that he knows not when to have done, and in courting wit at the expence of truth. In his happieft paffages we frequently meet with a puerility of difpofition, and a quaintneis of his own, that deftroy the good effects of all we had been perufing. Another fault, which increases his enemies, is, that he speaks too flightly of men in poffeffion of public esteem; and too often conceals a fneer under falfe eulogy; for inftance, he thus ends an epiftle addreffed to Voltaire, I've laugh'd at your expence, but close By weeping over Zara's woes . He spoke to Rouffeau much in the fame ftrain; but afterwards feemed to be conscious he had been at least indifcreet, and changed the firft of those two lines, I once dar'd laugh, but now I clofe Howeyer, we are well convinced that the character of M. Dorat, or the plan of life that he had laid down to himself, and the pretenfions that he carried along with him into the world, were baneful to the perfection of his talents. Jealous in the participation of the pleasures of fociety, and fonder of luftre than favour, he wished to make it appear that he only trifled with the mufes, at the fame time thatTM his affiduity was painful, and his labours without intermiffion. Mr. Imbert, Je viens de rire à tes dépens The The double fatigue that he had imposed upon himself of being on the fcene of the world, at once actor and fpectator, by deftroying his health, muft of neceffity have impaired his moral faculties, and allowed lefs time for the perfection ~of his works. We shall now turn to this felection of his various lucubrations, fortunately for the fame of M. Dorat, made by a man of taste. In the first volume we meet with the best of his dramatic performances, viz, one tragedy, and two comedies, Regulus; The Diffembling Lover; and Celibacy *. The fecond contains Declamation, and other leffer poems, fuch as, Heroic Epiftles, Odes, Fables, and Tales. The third contains fugitive pieces. The two firft tragedies written by M. Dorat met with no fuccefs. He afterwards attempted an alteration; but this too proved unfortunate; and Zulica, as well as Theagenes and Cariclea, are now almoft forgotten. His Regulus was his only tragic effort that fucceeded.. With regard to comedy, what he lofes by character he gains by incident; but by as much as the former furpaffes the latter, by fo much is Dorat inferior to those who have drawn from nature. His Diffembling Lover met with great encouragement; and, as long as there are actors formed to attend to incidental beauties, this comedy will be ever pleafing. Genius, however, has lefs to do with it than judgement; for the author has only embellished what was before invented by La Noue in the comedy of the Coquette corrected: but, as M. Imbert archly observes, the subject will ever be interesting to both fexes; to ours, by feeing a coquette outwitted by the man fhe wished to fubdue; and to the other, who will eafily pardon the conqueror for the love he bore the conquered. As a fpecimen of his manner in moral description, we here prefent our readers with a few lines from this comedy,wherein The reflects on the fickleness of public esteem. The applausfe of the day is but a wave that comes and goes; purfue it as long as you will, you can never fix it. To-day you have a smiling sky above your head; to-morrow the scene varies, and all is clouds. Ingratitude fprings up at every step; and we walk upon quickfands. On the turn of a hand, the inconftant crowd will pull down in the evening, the idol which, in the morning, they worshipped. Thus Regulus. La Feinte par Amour. Le Celibataire. fear fear fucceeding fear, and hope following hope, we dearly bribe a phantom we can never enjoy. Elbowed in a crowd by a thousand competitors, we must yield to the rolling billow; and, when all is over, we find ourselves on the very spot whence we fet out.' English ears are not accustomed to fermons in comedy. But it must be remembered, that one of the great merits of the French drama is a juft detail whether of the qualities of the head or of the heart. In his comedy of Celibacy, or the Old Batchelor, though the fubject does not at all correfpond to the title, yet, upon the whole, he has a claim to all the fuccefs it met with. The fecond volume prefents us with the masterpiece of his mufe. The poem upon Declamation is really beautiful: it might have been more perfect with regard to the plan; but, in general, the style is correct, the imagery true, the verfification uncommonly pleasing, and, where the fubject feems to bid defiance to poetry, his facility is astonishing. Dorat must have beftowed much labour to bring this favourite work to the degree of perfection which it has at tained. His heroic epiftles can only lay claim to half the title: they are epiftles, and generally charming ones; but they are far from being heroic. His odes are too pretty to be nervous; there is in them more of giddiness than of enthufiafm. His fables are too witty to be natural; but of these there are not many. His tales are deliciously told. His third volume is made up of poems on various occafions. Dorat had very peculiar felicities in this fpecies of writing. It were to be wished he had confined himself to it entirely. Nothing has escaped him. Beaux, belles, wits, witlings, wonders, trifles, every thing paffed through his fancy, and took a colouring that no other author could give. I fhall conclude this fhort analysis with his epiftle to Delia; and only previously exprefs a wish that the judgment and impartiality obferved in this selection may entitle it to the perufal of all who are fond of airy and elegant literature. To DELIA. LET others fing of favours, the rewards of their paffion; for my part, young and lovely Delia, I mean to celebrate your very rigours. By thee it is that I enjoy a fecond youth; my former flames burn up anew; I again experience all my cares, my anxieties, my follies; I fear, I hope, I doubt, I fret, I rave!-Ah! how I thank you for thus mak ing a wretch of me! • Giddy independence led aftray my undecided vows; and I blufh while I fpeak it, but the cold pleasures of inconftancy became neceffary to me. Now! what a charming difference! I am faithfully unhappy! You have created a new heart for me; and my fenfes find enjoyment in every thing. I again feel the power of that enchanter who gives a value to existence, charms to grief, and conftancy to hope. I once fondly imagined that mirth had attractions to fix me; but there is no pleasure in fmiles, and there is voluptuoufness in tears. I used to see the crowd in rapture at the beauties of my mistress without a pang; but now I deteft the crowd; now, my Delia, every thing alarms my paffion; every thing inclines me to quarrel with you. I hate the verses that are read to you; I am angry with your fweet expreffions, your charming caprices; and if a rival praises your fmile, or your dimple, I abhor it. • A stupid and heavy flumber formerly wrapped up my dry foul in its melancholy fhroud; now, night itself adds to my pleasure by inflaming and tormenting me. I have not known what repofe is fince the moment I loved you; every inftant is devoted to paffion; even in my fleep, my Delia, a dream makes me madly bleft, and furioufly jealous; and every where I find mifery enough to make life to me fupremely charming.' CATALOGUE, MONTHLY [ For MAY 1787. ] POLITICAL. ART. 15. An Illuftration of the Principles of the Bill proposed to be fubmitted to the Confideration of Parliament, for correcting the Abuses, and Supplying the Defects, in the internal Government of the Royal Boroughs, and in the Manner of accounting for the Property, Annual Revenues, and Expenditure of the fame, in that Part of Great-Britain called Scotland. By the Committee of Delegates. 4to. Edinburgh. 1787. "TH 2s. 6d. Neil, HERE is not, perhaps," fays Mr. Fletcher of Saltoun, "in human affairs any thing fo unaccountable as the indignity and cruelty with which the far greater part of mankind suffer themfelves to be used, under the pretence of government. Some men, falfely falfely perfuading themselves that bad governments are advantageous to them, as most conducing to gratify their ambition, avarice, and luxury, fet themselves, with the utmost art and violence, to preferve their eftablishment." Thefe obfervations of that high-fpirited patriot, and penetrating statesman, the author of the pamphlet before us applies to the royal boroughs of Scotland. "There," fays he," are systems of government, which, by fome egregious abuse of language, have obtained the name of constitutions; for they give to the people, whose affairs are naturally the objects of their eftablishment, no voice in the adminiftration; permit perfons, once in office, to perpetuate their domination over the citizens; and afford no adequate redress against the ⚫ enormities of this dangerous power, in relation to the property, revenues, and police of the communities." The enemies to a reform in the royal boroughs of Scotland have reprefented the dangers attending innovation in civil or ecclefiaftical eftablishments. But the hiftory of every nation, particularly of our own, demonftrates the beneficial effects that have often refulted from an alteration in laws, manners, and government. Between the period when the Aborigines of Britain roamed naked in the forest, and the high cultivation of modern times, there is an immense space, which is filled up with nothing but a thick and perpetual fuccession of innovations. Can it be then faid that innovation is to be always refifted, as being fraught with unknown mifchief to the ftate, when, if the fpirit of it had not been indulged, and the effects of it had not been every where felt, we had yet remained in the primitive condition of our favage ancestors? In fact, when we contemplate the history of our country, what is it but a relation of the changes which have happened in the religion, the manners, the laws, and the government of the people, and of the causes which produced them ? The political liberty,' fays our author, as well as the commercial advantages, we now enjoy, we owe to a feries of the greateft, perhaps of the most unexpected innovations. From that fource have originated the most brilliant and useful difcoveries in fcience, and the mott falutary inftitutions, both in religion and government. The prefent refinement and humanity of European manners have been greatly owing to the introduction of Christianity, which deeply inculcated benevolence and equality among mankind. It was the Reformation that has drawn the line between religion and superstition, and relieved us from the debafing and intolerable domination of the priesthood. It was the union of the two crowns of Scotland and of England that stopped the torrents of blood which formerly made devastation in either country. It was the union of the two kingdoms that opened wide the doors of commerce, and allowed us to participate in the extensive commercial transactions of the first nation in the world. It was the abolition of the heritable jurifdictions that redeemed our people from the oppreffive hand of feudal defpotifm. It was the illuftrious event of the Revolution that exterminated regal tyranny, taught the people the extent both of their power and their rights, and made them to experience a period of political happiness and greatness, to which few other nations had ever attained.' At |