the late Mr. Kendal, who lived at the Golden lion, Charing crofs. Dr. Burney's opinion of Dr. Croft, we think too unfavourable; his works are one of the great fupports of cathedral performance. The engraving of his anthems, however, is fo far from being neat or accurate,' that the performance of them is almoft impracticable, from the parts not being fcored one under the other. Dr. Green does not stand so high in the historian's estimation as in that of the world in general. Whatever faults he might have, he certainly had alfo the merit of introducing fomething like tafte into church-mufic; and there is an ele gance in fome of his fongs, which will preferve them, when the compofitions of fome of the great Germans and Italians, recorded in this work, will be funk into nothing. Of the late Dr. Boyce we are told that, with all his reverence for Handel, he was one of the few church compofers, who neither pillaged nor fervilely imitated him. There is an original fterling merit,' Dr. Burney obferves, in his productions, founded as much on the study of our own old mafters, as on the best models of other countries, that gives to all his works a peculiar ftamp and character of his own for ftrength, clearnefs, and facility, without any mixture of ftyles or extraneous and heterogeneous ornaments.' We fully agree in this opinion, except fo far as regards facility, which furely was not one of Dr. Boyce's excellencies. With fome account of Mr. Stanley and Dr. Nares, the third volume concludes We hope foon to examine the fourth, and our general remarks fhall be referved for the conclufion of thefe neceffarily extended articles. The Progreffes, and public Procefions, of Queen Elizabeth. By John Nichols, F. S. A. In Two Volumes. 4to. 31. 35. in Boards. Printed for the Editor. THE age of queen Elizabeth was in many respects a prof perous and happy one. The dignity, the splendour, and the firmness of the Tudors dazzled the public eye, and made the different powers of Europe tremble. At a period when the tights of mankind were little understood, and when the common people had fcarcely escaped from the flavery of villenage, which was not yet in effect abolished; when the nation had began to breathe after the wars between the houfes of York and Lancafter, public fecurity and private cafe were bleffings which hid from their view the irregular exertions of prerogative, or the private oppreflions of purveyance. When the vaft exertions exertions of Philip were fruftrated, no power could disturb the happiness of the queen and kingdom: the reign was fpent in eafy fecurity or fplendid feftivity. Elizabeth, aware of the doubts which had, during the reign of her fister, been entertained of her legitimacy, kept every queftion of her right or of the fucceffion at a diftance: fhe courted thofe whom the raled with the feverity of her father; and flattered, when the thought her power might be oppofed and controlled. Civil liberty was undoubtedly little thought of, and imperfectly enjoyed; but, at the fame time, it must be allowed that Elizabeth ftudied the interefts of the kingdom, and even the happinefs of her people, more fuccefsfully than any of her predeceffors of the fame family. In the time of tranquillity, the fplendor of Elizabeth, and the pomp difplayed in her various progreffes through her dominions, raised a degree of emulation between the different artists and the poets of England. The more elegant arts profited greatly by thefe events; and though, while tafte was little cultivated, they were loft in,heavy magnificence, or encumbered by the harsh pedantry of the period, yet each felt the genial influence of royal munificence. It was the golden age of literature and chivalry: it was the cradle of fcience. The indefatigable editor of these volumes, inftigated, perhaps, by the views we have juft ftated, has collected the various defcriptions of queen Elizabeth's proceffions, from printed works, unpublished MSS. and communications of different kinds. His work and notes contain many facts relating to this! period, which are fometimes interefting, and fometimes only. of importance because they are old. This general error of indifcriminate collection pervades very commonly the publications of Mr. Nichols, and he lofes the praife of difcretely blotting. In the volumes before us, he literally begins ab ovo, not from the birth of Elizabeth, but her mother's marriage, which cannot eafily be arranged, except on the Shandean fyftem, with her progreffes,' or proceflions.' The real progreffes of the queen began in 1559, and were continued till the year before her death, which happened in 1603. Thefe are defcribed often with great prolixity, and illuftrated by different explanatory notes. The plates are taken from ancient drawings and engravings they are confequently executed with fidelity rather than elegance; fidelity, however, without the neceffary attention to perspective. The beft of thefe is the frontispiece, reprefenting a yeoman of the guards attending the queen on her progrefs; and the moft curious is an old map of London, where Covent Garden joins the country, and Spital Fields is at a distance from any buildings. VOL. LXIX. Jan. 1790. It is impoffible to give any particular account of proceffions, where the order of arrangement and fymbols of offices are the chief objects; of entertainments, where heathen deities fpeak verfes full of over-ftrained pedantry and fanciful allufions; of, perfons, whofe genealogies and intermarriages form the most important fubjects of confideration. As a picture of the manners of the age, this reprefentation is curious; to an antiquary it is important; and, while we clofe our account of these vólumes, we ought to add, that we mean not by our concifenefs to infinuate that the work is useless; but it is of confequence only to a few; and they would not be contented with a fhort analyfis, which must neceffarily convey but an imperfect picture of the whole. We fhall tranfcribe, however, two letters from the queen, which were to us very interefting; and we fhall add a fhort elegy on Elizabeth, as a specimen of the ftyle of poetry, plentifully interfperfed in thefe volumes : A Letter from Queen ELIZABETH to Lady DRURY, in 1589, upon the Death of her Hufband. 'BEE well ware, my Beffe, you strive not with devine ordinaunce, nor grudge at irrimediable harmes, lefte you offend the highest Lord, and no whitte amend the married hap. Heape not your harmes where helpe ther is none; but fince you may not that you would, with that you can enjoye with comforte, a king for his power, and a queene for her love, who loves not now to protect you when your cafe requires care, and minds not to omitte what ever may be best for you and yours. Your moit loving careful fovraigne, E. R.' Queen ELIZABETH to Lady PAGET, on the Death of her Daughter, Lady CROMPTON. (Birch MSS. 4160. 23.) "CALL to mind, good Kate, how hardly we princes can brook of croffing of our commands; how yreful wyll the hieft power be (may you be fure) when murmerings fhall be made of his pleafing it will? Let Nature therefore not hurt herself, but give plafe to the giver. Though this lefon be from a sely vicar, yet it is fent from a loving foveraine." Brittain's Lachrimæ. (Donation MSS. 4712.) WEEPE little ifle, and for thy miftris death Moral Meral and Philofophical Eftimates of the State and Faculties of 16s. WE have read thefe Lectures, in which the author efti mates the state and faculties of man, to draw from thence the moft falutary inftructions, respecting the nature and fource of his happiness, with great pleasure and probably profit. We found, in them, much real knowledge, a found judgment, as well as a rational and folid piety; and we can freely recommend them as containing the best leffons for infuring a temporal and eternal happiness. In the first lecture, on the dignity of man, we fufpected that the author had gone on too fast. We always oppofed that gloomy cheerlefs philofophy, which depreffed the dignity of human nature, leffened her powers, and depreciated her varied faculties; but we were not ready to believe in the perfect freedom of man, to fuppofe the powers of the foul fo active and acute, as to difcriminate the thoughts from the principle which thinks; to be able to expatiate beyond the confines of its tenement of clay, and to diftinguish always truth from error. Yet, when we had examined the explanations, made a little allowance for the honeft ardor with which the author appeared to be animated, and, above all, faw the excellent ufe which he made of his pofitions, we were led to pardon, if not always implicitly to believe, his tenets. The fecond fermon, where he points out the conduct, which is in oppofition to the dignity of man; and the third, by what means Christianity reftores it, are admirable moral lectures, where morality and religion go hand in hand, and where their dictates are inforced from the preceding confiderations in the ftrongest manner. A man acts inconfiftently with the lofty understanding and reason of his nature: he acts against his own dignity, debafes and degrades himfelf whenever he does not cultivate his understanding and his reafon, when he does not use them to those purposes for which the Creator bestowed them on him; when truth and error, appearance and reality, are things indifferent to him, when he is contented with finaller or more trifling knowledge and purfuits, than fuch as he might acquire and purfue by his abilities, his faculties, his fituation, by the peculiar means and opportunities he has or may have to that end. Where is then your dignity, O human creatures! How does your nobility appear, if you avoid that filence and retirement which is fo favourable, and generally fo indifpenfably ne ceffary to continued reflection; you who b-numb your spirit с by an unceasing round of diffipation, distraction, and tumultuous pleafre; who feldom attain to any clear and intimate confcioufnefs of yourfel es and your condition; who seldom exercife yourselves in c nfideration or reflection, turn your thoughts conftantly more without than within; exist more by the opinions and judgements of others, than live in that fell-fentiment which is the neceffary concomitant of habitual meditation? Where is your dignity, how does your nobility appear, you who reft merely in what you fee, and hear, and feel, who fo feldom inquire into the caufes and grounds, and views of things; and, like the beats of the field, are occupied in enjoying the pref nt moments, forgetful of the paft, and lofing fight of the future? Where is your dignity, how does your nobility appear? you who find it fo difficult to raise yourfelves above vifible and earthly things, who fo foon feel weary and difgufted of any ferious reflection on God and religion, on duty and virtue, on death and immortality, on the vocation and the important concerns of man; to whom rational piety, that nobleft elevation of the human mind, is fo little agreeable and pleafant, and are more delighted with what affects and flatters the fenfes, than with any communications with the world of fpirits, and with God, the Father of all spirits We are forry that we have not room for the whole of this very able and fpirited address. Chrifianity reflores the dignity of man, by placing our conduct towards God in the fullett light; by fhowing our relation to God, and difplaying his anxious care and watchful providence: it fhows what the nature of man is capable of, and points out a future ftate, raifing us above the creatures of a moment, to the profpects of a happy immortality. Our author's peroration, when from thefe premifes he exhorts man to be a Chriftian, may be read with fatisfaction and conviction. The other eftimates in the firft volume are on the value of human life, of health, riches, honour, fenfual and fpiritual plenfures, and on devotion. As we cannot follow the author particularly, on each of thefe fubjects, we fhall extract fome of his obfervations on fenfual pleafures. Innocent fenfual pleafures contribute likewife to the more clofely connecting mankind with each other, and the improvement of locial life. Social pleature draws all within the phere of its operation to it; brings every part of it nearer together. All mutual y give and receive, interchangeably bestow and enjoy; every man contributes more or lefs to the pleasures of the reit; and this must render them all fenfible of their reciprocat dependency, and their mutual wants, and thereby make them more valuable and more dear to each other. • Innocent feafual pleafure, and the focial enjoyment of it, alfo |