of Delhi from the tyranny of his father's minifters; and the uncommon generofity and delicacy of fentiment which mark the character of that prince. Mr. Burke's Speech on the Motion made for Papers relative to the Direction for charging the Nabob of Arcot's private Debts to Europeans on the Revenues of the Carnatic," like all the fpeeches of that gentleman, is animated and florid, and difcovers great rhetorical addrefs and ability. He confiders the debts due from the nabob to individuals, to be moft glaring abufes and infamous frauds; and reafons, from this opinion, on the injuftice of placing them on a footing with the fair and equitable claims of the East India Company. The party whofe views and interefts are oppofite to thofe of Mr. Burke and his friends, will be difpofed to accufe him of mifreprefentation in his statement of facts; and will confider his warmth and energy as the effects of lucklefs and difappointed ambition. verfary; but his powers of ridicule are not fo keen and poignant. The author of "Manufactures improper Subjects of Taxation” employs himself in fhewing, that it must be a ruinous policy that can ever lead us to load our manufactures with taxes, as fuch burthens muft prove an effectual bar to their improvement, on which the riches and power of the nation, in a great degree depend. What he recommends in lieu of them is, a tax on the rents of lands and houses, to be paid by the tenant; on men fervants, malt, and distillation, and on undivided commons. "The Crifis; or immediate Concernments of the British Empire", is the production of a young mind, which comprehends a great variety of political reflections on America, the Eaft India trade, the Emperor and the Dutch, Gibraltar, national debts and taxes, Ireland and the Weft Indies. These reflections convince us, that the author is by no means deficient in capacity, though he hath taken too large a fcope for the proper difplay of his talents. We hope to be excufed in paying more particular attention to "A Gleam of Comfort to this distracted Empire, in defpite of Faction, Violence, and Cunning," &c. is a pamphlet which difco-An Effay on the Modes of Devers, throughout, that the writer is poffeffed of confiderable abilities, and no fmall fhare of wit. It is intended to fatirize the prefent administration; and to reprefent the measures which they adopt and countenance, to be ruinous to the English conflitution. When the author does not defcend to viru lence, he is a laughable and pleafant companion. "Eironiclates, or a Cloud of Facts against a Gleam of Comfort," &c. is written in a fimilar ftrain and fpirit, but with an oppofite tendency. His facts may outweigh the invectives of his ad1785. fence beft adapted to the Situation and Circumftances of thefe Islands," &c. together with two other pamphlets to which it gave rife. The first of thefe publications was occafioned by the extenfive plans formed by the duke of Richmond, for the purpose of fortifying our principal dock-yards and is addreffed by the author to the public at large, but particularly to the houfe of commons. Great as the acknowledged abilities and integri ty of his grace are, his favourite plan of fortification was by no means popular among his warmest admirers. It feemed to imply in it a diffidence of our naval ftrength and courage, which every Briton giories in, as the pride and protection of his country. And, on this account, the decision of the houfe of commons, which will be noticed in the history of the year 1786, perfectly coincided with the prejuices and feelings of Englifhmen. The author of the prefent Effay is a rational and fenfible advocate for thefe feelings; which are infeparable from the national character, and the firongest ground of our confidence and fecurity. He is intimately acquainted with the fubject on which he writes, and with profeffional arguments, which appear to us unanswerable, contends against the dangerous innovations of the hoble duke. His principal pofitions are, that the furnishing of extenfive fortifications with proper garrifons, would, on an invation by the enemy, too much weaken the army neceifary to act in the field; that fuch works, if infufficiently manned, would afford a fecure lodgment for the enemy; that it being impoffible to fortify all our coafts, the fecurity of the ifland must depend on its navy; and that, fuppofing an enemy fhould be able to fand, our best method of defence would be to impede his line of penetration, by hanging on his flanks, attacking his convoys, and harraff ing him at every opportunity which a fuperior knowledge of the country will afford; thus destroying his army in detail. To thefe pofitions are added directions for fecuring our dock-yards against the confequences of a bombardment; and for preferving our warlike ftores against fuch a probable event. Soon after the publication of this ingenious and well-written pamphlet, appeared "An Anfwer to a hort Eflay on the Modes of De fence," &c. in which another profeffional author undertakes the refutation of the principles advanced by the former. This pamphlet is written with great acutenes and plaulbility; but we do not think that it overthrows the reafonings of our effayit. Our author accufes his antagonist of illiberality and mifreprefentation; and with much irony, and ftrong affertions, pleads on behalf of the exploded fyftem. To this antwer fucceeded "A Reply, &c. in a Letter to his Grace the Duke of Richmond." Of this Reply, independent of the fevere and perfonal reflections on the duke, who is fuppofed to be the author of the Anfwer, we think as highly as of the Effay. If we are not miftaken, our author's acquaintance with tactics has not been confined to the clofet. He marfals his arguments, and fecures the ground which he had occupied, with the intuition and practice of a veteran. We could with, however, to fee the queftion, which is the fubject of thefe publications, difcuffed without afperity and perfonal allufions, as it is of fuch importance to the fafety of our country. The " "Strictures upon Naval Departinents," &c. feem to be written with good intentions, and with good information on the points to which the author directs his obfervations. His advice, particularly, to examine the bottoms of fuch fhips as have been fome time covered with copper, is deferving of attention. What he fays relating to his own pretenfions and difappointments in the fervice, is an additional proof of an evil which calls loudly for remedy; that the etiquette of office, or powerful connections, fhould more frequent ly lead to promotion, than long faithful fervices and fubftantial merit The Levities," by Leonard Macnally, Under the head of Mifcellaneous Productions, the first place is due to Mr. Nichols's "Collection of Mifcellaneous Tracts, by the late William Bowyer, Printer," &c. which the editor hath illuftrated by occafional notes. Mr. Nichols applies himself with indefatigable industry, in collecting and preferving the remains of fuch valuable men as have been distinguished, either by their literary abilities. or their ufetulnefs to mankind. We fincerely applaud the fpirit which engages him in fuch an undertaking; and we view, with pleasure, fuch scattered features of their fentiments and characters, as may be collected from their epiftolary correfpondence. In the volume before us, Mr. Bowyer's Remarks on Kennett's Roman Antiquities; Bladen's Tranflation of Cæfar; on the Roman Hiftory, Commerce, and Coin; on Middleton's Life of Cicero; and his abridgement of a very curious work, called Pictor Errans, are an additional testimony to his literary abilities and tafte, and will afford much entertainment to his readers. The letters, likewife, of his friends, particularly of Gale, Clarke, and Maitland, will not be an unacceptable prefent to the public. In our Register of last year, we expreffed great fatisfaction at the endeavours of Mr. Ramfay, to meliorate the condition of the Negro flaves in our plantations; and our hopes that fuch benevolent endea vours would not prove wholly uselefs. His pamphlet, of which we then gave an account, has been warmly attacked by Mr. Tobin, of Bristol, in his "Curfory Remarks upon the rev. Mr. Ramfay's Effay on the Treatment and Converfion of African Slaves in the Sugar Colonies." The defign of this remarker is to fhew, that Mr. Ramfay's defcriptions of the hardships of the Negroes belonging to British fubjects, and their comparative happinefs in the French islands, are not founded in truth; that his motives in writing his Effay, were not those of humanity, but the effects of an irritable difpofition, and perfonal pique; and that many parts of his plan are impolitical, inconfiftent, and impracticable. We are ready to acknowledge that this author writes with great fhrewdness and plaufibility. But he has not been able to leffen our detestation of the inhuman custom of enflaving our fellow-creatures, which received a keener edge from the reprefentations of Mr. Ramfay; nor can what he fays of the peevishness of his temper, of his cruel treatment of his flaves, of his avarice, and of his neglect of duty as a clergyman, be confidered as tending, in the least degree, to invalidate the principles for which he contends. To thefe "Remarks," Mr. Ramfay hath published a "Reply," in which, after quoting and anfwe-ing many paffages from Mr. Tobin's performance, he indulges to the fame kind of perfonal invective, which we obferved in the compofition of his opponent. We with to lofe fight, en. tirely, of the afperities which have been very improperly admitted into this the Speech of the right honourable Mr. Orde," with obfervations made upon them by the committee of merchants and traders of the city of London; "A Reply to the Treafury Pamphlet, entitled, The propofed System of Trade with Ireland explained;""A candid Review of Mr. Pitt's twenty Refolutions ;" "An Addrefs to the King and People of Ireland;" and "The Irish Proteft to the minifterial Manifefto," &c. After mentioning these publications, it would be unjuft to overlook Mr. Woodfall's Impartial Sketch of the Debate in the Houfe of Commons of Ireland," on Mr. Orde's motion for leave to bring in a bill for effectuating the intercourfe and commerce between Great Britain and Ireland. This production is rendered fingularly valuable by the grand fubject of difcuffion, the eloquence of the principal fpeakers, and the great abilities of the author in reporting parliamentary debates. In Critical, Claffical, and Polite Learning, the year 1785 hath not been very productive. We do not recollect any work in Oriental lite rature, befides Dr. Newcome's "Version of the Twelve Minor Prophets," which we have mentioned under another head, except ing "The Bhagvaat Geeta; or Dialogues of Kreefhna and Arjoon; in eighteen Lectures, with Notes. Tranflated from the Original, in the Sanfkreet or ancient Language of the Brahmans, by Charles Wilkins," &c. In this publication we have a very curious fpecimen of the literature, the mythology, and morality of the ancient Hindoos. It is an epifod ical extract from the Maharabat, a moft voluminous poem, affirmed to have been written upwards of four thousand years ago, by Kreeflina Dwypayen Veias, a learned Bramin; to whom is also attributed the compilation of the four Vedes, or Bedes, the only existing original feriptures of the religion of Brama; and the composition of all the Poorans, which are to this day taught in their schools, and venerated as poems of divine infpiration." Such is the account of the nature of this work, given by Mr. Haftings, in a letter to the chairman of the East India company. When we confider the extreme care and jealoufy with which the Bramins have been accustomed to conceal their facred writings from Europeans, we look upon the tranflation before us as a great literary curiofity. It is with the trueft fatisfaction alfo that we learn, that this acquifition was obtained, cheerfully and gratuitoufly, from men of the most refpectable characters for fanc tity and learning in Bengal; and that the liberal treatment which the Bramins have received, and the mildness of our government, have established in their breafts a confidence in Englifhmen, and removed almoft every jealous prejudice from their minds. Under thefe circumstances, we expect great literary information and entertainment, from the fociety inftituted by fir William Jones at Calcutta, for enquiring into the history, arts and fciences, and literature of Afia. The Bhagvaat Gecta we have carefully read, and admired many of its excellencies and beauties. We cannot, however, adopt the enthufiaftic language of Mr. Haftings, and pronounce it a performance not only of great originality, but "of a fublimity of conception, reafoning, and diction, almoft unequalled." We meet frequently, with a strange mixture of fenfe and nonfenfe; of fublime and ftriking imagery, and an inextricable confufion of words, to which no poflible poffible idea can be annexed. The curiofity of our readers will, no doubt, be excited to perufe a work which claims to be of very high antiquity, and which Mr. Hailings, who is a competent judge, pronounces to be juttly and faithfully tranflated. Mr. Ridpath hath favoured the public with a tranflation of "Boethius's Confolation of Philofophy," This work was compofed by the excellent author, who was a patrician and a fenator of Rome in the fixth century, during his imprifonment at Pavia, whither he had been fent by Theodoric king of the Goths, on the unjust accufations of fome perfons of infamous characters. It was tranflated into the Saxon language by Alfred; and into English by Chaucer, by George Colville, by Elizabeth, and by lord Preston, fecretary to James the Second. It affords us a fine fpecimen of the refources to which innocence can fly for confolation, under unmerited oppreffion, or in affliction. But it is not neceffary to dwell on the merits of a work which is fo well known and admired. We fhall only add, that the prefent tranflation is executed with the greatest accuracy and perfpicuity, and happily pre ferves the captivating air of pleafing melancholy, which fo remarkably diftinguishes the original. We cannot pafs the fame favour able fentence on a tranflation of "Titus Livius's Roman Hiftory," &c. by William Gordon. The taile and manner of Mr. Gordon, exclufive of his acquaintance with the Latin tongue, appear by no means equal to the very difficult talk which he had undertaken. A tranflation of fo very beautiful a work should, like the original, be pecorated with all the graces and elegancies of ftyle, or it must not be expected to meet with accept ance. In Poetical Criticifm we meet with "Critical Effays on fome of the Poems of feveral English Poets, by John Scott, efq." &c. To this volume is prefixed the Life of Mr. Scott, written with great elegance by Mr. Hoole. From this it appears, that he was a man of inof fenfive, friendly manners, and of great benevolence of heart, which recommended him to the acquaintance of fome of our first literary characters. Among thofe in the poetical world whofe efteem he poffeffed, we find the names of Young, Lyttelton, Montague, Hawkefworth, Johnson, and Beattie. The poetical abilities of our author were never fplendid; we do not, however, conceive them to be much inferior to his critical. The poems on which his judgment is exercifed in the volume before us, are Denham's Cooper's Hill, Milton's Lycidas, Pope's Windfor Foreft, Dyer's Grongar Hill, and Ruins of Rome, Collins's Oriental Eclogues, Gray's Churchyard Elegy, Goldfmith's Deferted Village, and Thomson's Seafons. That in his examination of thefe poems he prefents us with many juft obfervations and that he hath pointed out fome real faults and blemishes in them, we are ready to allow; but we cannot justify the invariable minutenefs and rigour with which he exercifes his inquifitorial powers; they expofe him to the charge of faftidious hypercriticism. Nor do we think that the alterations which he hath proposed in the arrangement of the ftanzas, or the lines, in fome of thefe poems, are any evidence, of his poetical tafte. In general, they would fpoil the beauties of the com pofitions, and render them vapid and fpiritlefs. Our author's style U 3 and |