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we may be puzzled how to plead not guilty; having only borrowed of him one hundred and fixty-fix lines out of the two hundred and twenty-one, of which it confifts. The reft, together with his Ode to Sir Fletcher Norton, are not worth our reprinting.

W.

The Manners of Paphos, or Triumph of Love. By J. Caulfield, Efq. late Cornet in the Queen's Regiment of Dragoon Guards. 4to. 35. Dilly.

Prefixed to this poem are extracts of two letters, from Dr. Thomas Blacklock of Edinburg, to the Author; containing that gentleman's opinion of the poetical merit of the piece. Thefe extracts will fave us the trouble of repeating a fimilar encomium; in which, however, we might not exprefs ourselves quite fo warmly as Dr. Blacklock has done. Ábating a little, nevertheless, on the fcore of friendly partiality, the poem is not unjustly characterized. If it be fo in any particular, it is with refpect to propriety and elegance of style; it being rather too diffufe for elegance.

"The Specimen, which you have been kind enough to fend me, of the Manners of Paphos, I have carefully perufed. The language is eafy, elegant, and expreffive; the numbers harmonious and flowing: The ornaments of Cupid's banner are extremely proper, finely ima gined, and picturefquely defigned: The fketches, though fhort, are bold and natural: The whole is fitted to infpire the moft pleafing and refined sensations; and, if all the Poem be like the opening of the Third Canto, it will either be ranked with the most celebrated pieces of our best poets, or I have loft all the taste and judgment which Nature gave me. It feems to be more in the manner of Prior, than of any other poet whom I can recollect; but in my judgment, though in thofe pieces which he intended fhould be pure fprightlinefs, delicacy, eafe, and harmony, were his characteristical beauties; yet in these qualities you feem to have outdone him."

"I received the complete copy, of your poem fome time before I was permitted by other unavoidable avocations to read it. This, however, I have at length been able to accomplish, and return you my best acknowledgments for the pleasure which it gave, and muft continue to give me. The fame luxuriancy of invention; the fame propriety and elegance of ftyle; the fame purity and delicacy of fentiment; the fame mellifluency and harmony of numbers, feem to characterise the whole."

Our readers may form fome judgment for themselves from the following remonftrance, of Cupid to his Mother, against her favourite paramour the God of War.

Dear

"Dear Mother, justly you obferve
How mankind from their duty fwerve,
While fordid intereft, grimace,
And folly mark the human race:
But let the blame recur to those
Whofe efforts all our views oppose;
To Mars,-whom loudly I declare
An enemy I'll never spare,

But ftill purfue him thro' the world,
Till every
lance I have be hurl'd ;—
And every arrow, every dart,
Shall fefter in his brawny heart.
"Tis he, whofe hot impetuous rage,
Nor pity cools, nor tears affuage!
The hapless widow's mournful tale,
The orphan's cries, in vain affail
The unrelenting God of War,-
High mounted in his flaming car.
Regardless of the virgin's prayers,
Her lover from her heart he tears;-
In vain is every fond complaint,
And forrow's genuine language faint!
Deaf to entreaty,-blind to charms,—
In all the horrid clang of arms,
He drives him to a diftant fhore,
Perhaps to blefs her fight no more,
And leaves the virgin to deplore!
"Nor yet can matrimonial Love,
With due and aweful reverence move
This haughty tyrant:-All muft yield,
The inftant that he takes the field.
You know Andromache was fair,
And gentle Hector, ftill your care;
Andromache was fair in vain,

And Hector, well you know, was flain!
The matrons weep,-their cheeks grow pale,
When e'er they read the fatal tale;
Their fancy paints their infant child,
The father fad, the mother wild,—
And Mars furveying them the while
Malignant, with a gloomy fmile.
How shall I fpeak the devaftation,
The dreadful havoc in creation,
This leveller of art and beauty,
For ever makes by way of duty?
He terms it glory, to throw down
The finest and the bett-built town;
All human grandeur overturn,
To fack, demolish, ruin, burn;
And facred honour, not to deal in
Our beft commodity-fweet Feeling!

What

What tho' in every heart I place

With choicest care fome fav'rite Grace,

The favage Deity confumes

And blasts it long before it blooms,

And drives me to reserve my toil
For this my happy native foil;
Where, by the fix'd decree of Jove,
No plant can thrive but mutual Love."

An Impartial View of the Origin and Progrefs of the prefent Difputes in the Eaft-India Company, relative to MahomedAlly-Khan, Nabob of Arcot, and Tulja-gee, Raja of Tanjore. To which are annexed, Obfervations on Mahomed-Ally-Khan's Letter to the Court of Directors. 8vo. 2s. Balfour, Edinburg-Cadell, London.

The noise, which the present disputes, between the fervants of the Eaft-India company in Bengal hath occafioned in Europe, very naturally excites the attention of the public to the caufe. It is impoffible, however, to form clear conceptions of these matters, as this writer obferves, without looking back to the English tranfactions in the Carnatic, and their connections with the Moorish and Indian princes of Indoftan, from the beginning of our competition with the French in thofe regions. It is fuch a retrofpect, which is here presented to the reader, by which he may take a comprehenfive view of the whole; without being at the trouble and expence of perufing the bulky volumes in which the detail of fuch events are contained.-As to the Obfervations on Mahomed-AllyKhan's letter to the Eaft-India Directors, and the quarrel between the Company's Servants in India, the writer concludes with the following paragraph.

"In a word, Sir, when I take a view of the whole, I am fully perfuaded, in oppofition to what is pleaded in fupport of the Nabob's requeft, that the determination of the India Company, to restore the Raja of Tanjore to his dominions, is a juft and wife measure, by which they ought to abide. This is the capital point; and their attention fhould be fixed here.

"As to the diffenfions which have, unhappily, arifen among the fervants of the Company in Madrafs, thefe, I hope, will foon be brought to a period. Meanwhile, the detail of facts is fo complicated, that it would be very improper for any one haftily to interpofe his opinion. The gentlenen chiefly concerned will, in due time, have it in their power to give a full representation of their conduct, to wipe VOL. VI. off

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off afperfions that are now thrown upon fome of them with a liberal hand, to make an apology for whatever may have been rash and blameable, and to fet before the Honourable Company, and the public, a clear view of transactions, which are not, at prefent, thoroughly understood."

**

Ejays relating to Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The Second Edition with large Additions. By James Anderfon, Farmer at Monks-Hill, Aberdeenshire. 8vo. 2 vols. 12s. Creech, Edinburgh.-Cadell, London.

"It may not perhaps be looked upon as one of the fmallest inconveniences attending the profeffion of Agriculture, that fo many of the molt confpicuous writers on that fubject, having been themselves entirely unacquainted with the practice of that art, and of confequence unable to select with judgement from the works of others, have frequently copied their errors with the fame fcrupulous nicety as the most valuable parts of their works. And, as it ufually happens that, when a man indulges his imagination, and creates to himself ideal plans of improvement, he can render them apparently much more perfect than any thing that really takes place in practice, it is but natural to expect that thefe places fhould catch the attention of an unexperienced compiler; who, being thus feduced himfelf, employs the utmost of his rhetorical powers to perfuade his readers to adopt these particular practices. In this manner is the judgement of the young and unexperienced farmer but too often milled; and he is made to adopt peculiar opinions, and follow certain favourite practices, with a persevering obitinacy that his own better judgement never would have allowed him to do, if he had proceeded with that attentive diffidence that always accompanies ignorance when attended with native good fenfe. So that, although books of that kind often contain obfervations that may be of very great utility to an experienced farmer, who may be able to diftinguish between the good and the bad; yet, to those who have moft need of inftruction, and who ofteneft confult them, these books frequently prove the fource of very capital errors: fo that it would ufually be better for fuch farmers that no fuch books had ever been written.

The writer of the following pages ftrongly felt the inconveniences here complained of, in the early part of his life, and would be glad if he could in any way contribute to prevent others from suffering in the fame way. With this view, he has penned, at his leifure hours, the following Effays, on fuch fubjects as have in the courfe of his practice particularly engaged his attention; and now offers them to the public in that native fimplicity of drefs in which he thinks truth ought always to appear. The obfervations contained in the following fheets are chiefly the refult of his own experience; but if, at any time, he has ventured to extend his views a little farther, with a design to turn

the

the attention of the reader to a few other objects of importance, he has always taken care to inform him of it, that he may never be at. a lofs to know what degree of credit he ought to bestow upon every particular part. And, as he had no other aim but to afford a few plain inftructions to the inexperienced reader, upon which he might fafely rely without fear of being mifled; he has followed no other plan but to mark down with candour fuch facts relating to the fabjects that he has treated of, as he knew could be relied upon, or fuch obfervations as naturally flowed from thefe; without ever once propofing to give a complete treatise on any one fubject, or being anxious in purfuit of novelty, or folicitous about collecting whatever others may have faid concerning it. The proper bufinefs of a farmer is to furnish facts to others, and not to pilfer from them; and he thinks it would tend much to the advancement of this art, if men of knowledge and experience in any branch of Agriculture would be fatisfied with communicating to the public fuch useful facts as they may have been enabled to afcertain with regard to that particular branch of their art, without endeavouring to extend their obfervations to every other branch thereof, or thinking it a duty incumbent upon them to give a phyfical investi gation of the cause of every phænomenon; which too often tends to divert the mind from attending to useful facts, and to lead it, in search of a phantom of the brain, into the inextricable mazes of error."

From this fpecimen of our author's difcernment, of what a practical writer on thefe fubjects ought to do, may be formed no unfavourable idea of his having done what ought to be done.-Indeed, fo far as we, who are no practical farmers, can judge, and as far as we can rely on the judgement of those practitioners in Agriculture, into whofe hands we have put thefe volumes, they abound with much information on the feveral fubjects treated of, and that of the truly useful kind; such as is drawn from actual experience, directed by the most rational fpeculation.

An Addrefs to Edmund Burke, Efquire, on his late Letter relative to the Affairs of America. By Edward Topham, Esquire, 4to. 1s. 6d. Bew.

For an undifciplined Volunteer, as Mr. Topham ftiles himself, it must be owned he makes no bad figure in the conteft with fo expert an old foldier as Mr. Burke. On what provocation, however, he has ventured to enter the lifts of politics with fo redoubted an adverfary, we are at a lofs to guefs; unless it he with a view of diftinguishing himself for his fpirit of enterprize. In attacking a celebrated antagonist, there is to be gained fome celebrity even by the attempt. Not that Mr. Topham, is, in the comparifon, a contemptible affailant, as

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