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own that, if the Mufes have had nothing to do with almanacks, their hand-writing muft have been horribly forged. But forgery is the bon ton in England; let us fee how it is in France. -A foreign critic, whofe word we will take, fooner than rely on our own judgement, in matters of French poefy, acquaints us, that if good fenfe, true tafte, and impartial criticism, fhould prefide at the head of the Mufes' Almanack*, it would be lefs voluminous than it is; but, fays he, as every young poet is ambitious to have a fpecimen of his verfes in this collection, the intereft and arts, made ufe of to effect it, will of courfe make way for fome pieces unworthy of it. Notwithftanding this, as the beft writers are ftill proud of figuring in the poetical almanack, it conftantly affords a number of ingenious and amufing productions. As a proof of this, the almanack for the prefent year contains no less than twelve pieces, imputed, and with reafon, to that wonderful phænomenon in literature M. de Voltaire. There are many other pieces, alfo, of other authors, in this volume, which will give much pleafure to the lovers of French poetry. For the amusement of fuch of our readers we fhall therefore felect the following fable, "LES AERICOTS.

Un homme étoit propriétaire
D'un aftez grand jardin fruitier;
Fort beaux arbres en pleine terre,
Autres, fort beaux, en espalier.
Au printems, chaque abricotier
Donne fa fleur, puis le fruit noue;
Puis, petit-à-petit,

Il s'augmente & groffit;

Il vient un vent fort, qui fecoue
Tous les abricotiers; vous juges que le fruit
Tombe à terre comme la grêle;

Il en tombe au moins la moitié;
Notre homme fe lamente à vous faire pitié,
Un vieux jardinier, qui fe inêle
De raifonner (des vieilles gens,
C'est là, le plus grand des talens),
Lui dit, pourquoi pleurer, mon maître !
Ouvrons ces fruits tombés, & vous allez connoître
Que le coup de vent eft heureux.

Voyez-vous!.... Ils font tous verreux;
De l'arbre, ils mangeoient la substance,

Et ne pouvoient venir à leur maturité.

C'est le vent de l'adverfité

Qui fait des faux ami difparoître l'engeance."

*At the peril, we may fay, of being ftuck with the darts of revenge,

like the man at the bottom of our English fheet almanacks.

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SUPPLEMENT.

Continued from page 535 of the Appendix to Vol. V.

The Convict's Addrefs to his unhappy Brethren. Delivered in the Chapel of Newgate, on Friday, June 6, 1777. By William Dodd, LL. D. Price Is. Kearily.

A very proper and pathetic addrefs to the unhappy objects to whom it was made; perhaps not the lefs proper for its being addreffed to them by a brother convict.-To a fecond edition has been added his fpeech to the court, previous to his receiving fentence of death. In both thefe pieces, appear a regularity of compofition and propriety of expreffion, not to be found in any of the unfortunate writer's former productions. -We are told, indeed, that they were actually written by one of the greatest masters of stile and compofition now living. -From the meanness of spirit, and inconfiftency of thinking, difplayed in the speech, we are, alfo, apt to believe it. With thofe, with whom "to live is Chrift, to die is gain:" a chriftian, therefore, above all other characters, fhould be proof against the fear of death.

The Trial at large of James Hill, otherwife James Hind, otherwife James Aitzen; for feloniously, &c. fetting fire to the Ropeboufe in His Majefty's Dock-yard at Portsmouth. At the Affize at Winchester, March 6, 1777. Taken in bort-hand, by Jofeph Gurney. Published by permission of the Judges, Folio, 25. Kearfly.

Genuine and authentic.-A judicial monument of the dreadful effects of party madnefs, joined to perfonal infanity.

Effay on the Contrarieties of Publick Virtue. 4to. Davies.

A ludicrous amplification of the famous political proverb, "That private vices are public benefits." The fatire, however, is feeble, and the verfification, which is hudibraftic, frequently little better than doggrel.

A Sup

A Supplement to Calculations of the Value of Annuities; published for the Ufe of Societies inftituted for Benefit of Age. Containing various Illuftrations of the Doctrine of Annuities; and compleat Tables of the Value of 1. immediate Annuity, (being the only ones extant by half-yearly Intereft and Payments). Together with Investigations of the State of the Laudable Society of Annuitants; fhewing what Annuity each Member hath purchased, and real Mortality therein from its Inftitution, compared with Dr. Halley's Table. Also feveral Publications, Letters, and Anecdotes, relative to that Society, and explanatory Proceedings to the prefent Year. To which are added, a Table and Obfervations to elucidate the Subject of the National Debt, occafioned by Mr. Laurie's Remarks on Dr. Price's Obfervations. 8vo. 2s 6d. Ridley.

The papers, contained in this publication, relate principally to the difputes, which have taken place at the feveral meetings of the Laudable Society of Annuitants: although fome of them convey information and inftruction of more general utility, in regard to the interefting fubject of Annuities. The writer, Mr. Dale, hath confiderable merit as a calculator; and it might be well for annuitants in general, if they would pay a proper attention to the refult of his refearches.

Letters from the Marquis de Montcalm, Governor General of Canada, to Meffrs. de Berryer, &c. de la Mole, in the Years 1757, 1758, 1759. With an English Tranflation, 8vo. Is. Almon.

The Marquis de Montcalm fell in the very action which deprived this country of the celebrated General Wolfe. In these letters, which appear to have been written from a thorough knowledge of the fubject of them, the ftate of our American Colonies, the Marquis foretells fome of thofe important changes which have fince taken place in that part of the world.

A Letter from an Officer at New York to a Friend in London. Svo. IS. Nicoll.

A mere compilation of a few extracts from News-papers; perhaps by the news-collector or paragraph-maker himself.

Vol. VI.

U

An

An Authentic Narrative of Falls, relating to the Exchange of Prifoners taken at the Cedars; fupported by the Teftimonies and Depofitions of His Majefty's Officers, with feveral Original Letters and Papers. Together with Remarks upon the Report and Refolves of the American Congrefs, on that Subject. 8vo. Is. Cadell,

A defence of the officers of his majefty's forces against the imputation of misbehaviour, in regard to the American prifoners. In the remarks on the reports and refolves of the Congrefs, the writer endeavours to prove that body guilty of falsehood and duplicity.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Defign of Crift's Temptation in the Wilderness, by Hugh Farmer. The Third Edition. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Buckland.

To this third Edition of Mr. Farmer's Inquiry, are made very confiderable additions, particularly refpecting the explication of Chriff's being brought into a wilderness by, or in, the Spirit

Political Lamentations, written in the Years 1775 and 1776. To which is annexed, a Political Sermon, preached in the Parif Church of Walfal, Dec. 13, 1776. being the Day appointed for a General Faft. By John Darwell. 4to. 2s. Nicoll.

There is fomething extremely lamentable, both in this writer's poetry and his profe. If the gods however have neither made him poetical nor politic, they have made him loyal; which, in these times of difloyalty and rebellion, is one good quality at

leaft.

Infancy, or the Management of Children, a Didactic Poem in Three Books. By Hugh Dowman. M. D. 12mo. 2s. Bell.

An excellent didactic poem, of whofe parts feparately published we have before spoken.. It is now compleated and elegantly printed entire,

Mifcellanies; or a Mifcellaneous Treatife; containing feveral Mathematical Subjects. 8vo. 7s. 6d. Nourse.

The fubjects, here treated, are entitled as follows; The Laws of Chance-Annuities-Societies-The Moon's Motion -The Conftruction of Arches-The Preceffion of the Equinoxes-The Conftruction of Logarithms-Interpolation-The Longitude-Intereft-The Figure of Sines, &c.-Fortification-Gunnery-Architecture-Mufic-Rules of Philofophy -Optical Lectures-Problems.

The author, Mr. Emerfon, hath difplayed as ufual his mathematical knowledge of his fubject, and hath, as ufual, prefixed a fpecimen of Billingsgate oratory, by way of introduction.

An Effay on the Theory and Cure of the Venereal Gonorrhea, and the Difeafes which happen in Confequence of that Disorder. By John Andrée, Surgeon to the Magdalen Hofpital, and Teacher of Anatomy. 8vo. 1s. Blyth, &c.

A concife abftract of the beft rules and methods, of theory and practice, regarding the cure of the diforder above-mentioned. How far the faculty were in want of fuch an abstract, we prefume not to fay. If its publication indicate the author's want of employment, the performance has fufficient merit to recommend him.

Reflections on the Rife, Progress, and probable Confequences, of the prefent Contentions with the Colonies. By a Freeholder. Edinburgh, Gray.

It is such pretty amufement for prophetic minds to take a peep into futurity, that it is no wonder fo many ingenious and inquifitive perfons divert themselves with putting together premiles that warrant a deduction of fuch inferences as their teeming imagination and fertile fancy fuggeft. The spirit of prophecy, however, is fo little apparent in thefe latter ages, that we put little faith in these manufacturers of moral proba bilities.

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