Under PNEUMATICS (page 490) our Compilers have thought proper to fpeak of Lightning and Thunder, and repeat the old ftory of fulphureous and nitrous bodies, rifing into the atmofphere, fermenting with each other, and taking fire spontaneously; and yet fome one of our confiftent affociated bookmakers had before given us, under the article ELECTRICITY, a different and just account of the cause of these meteors, while he was tranfcribing from Dr. Priestley's hiftory of that science.

To proceed only one step further in this unedifying and tirefome investigation:-The refracting Telefcope is here curforily defcribed in the compafs of lefs than a page, juft in the state in which it was delivered down to us from the days of Galileo and Kepler, with all its imperfections on its head. The fame profound filence and fecrecy, which our Compilers have observed with regard to the modern Pneumatical difcoveries of our countrymen, they religiously maintain likewife with respect to the improvements made in the above-mentioned branch of Optics, which terminated in the invention of the Achromatic Telescope: one of the most brilliant difcoveries of the prefent age. Not a hint tranfpires concerning the theory of this inftrument, nor is even the name of it to be found in this New and Complete digest of the Arts and Sciences.

We scarce need to repeat the Apology fuggefted toward the beginning of this article; which we have been induced to extend to its prefent length, principally on account of the utility of compilations of this kind, the pretty extenfive demand for them, and the large price of the prefent work. On the whole, we fhail only further obferve with regard to it, that it is formed on an exceptionable plan, injudiciously, negligently, in some inftances ignorantly, and, upon the whole, we may add, disho neftly, executed. The expreffion is not too harsh, when we confider the method purfued by our Book-wrights, of manufacturing the bulky parts of their work, or their fiftems, and of adding fheet to sheet, by the prompt expedient of almoft literally tranfcribing whole treatifes, or detached parts of treatises; inftead of extracting the fubftance, and felecting and digesting their most valuable contents: while their fhort and meagre articles, in the detached part of it, of which forty or fifty fometimes are included in a fingle page, render this department of the work a mere Dictionary of Definitions.

B.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE,

For A PRI L, 1774.

Bathurst. 1774.

HE fmooth, correct, and flowing ftyle of verfe in which this

Tpoem is written, thews that the Author is no ftranger to compofition. But though his poetry is good, it is, in our opinion, too general in its defcriptions to be interefting; at leaft, fuch were the fentiments with which the perufal impreffed us. What relates particularly to Otaheite is conveyed in the following lines:

But Fancy leads us o'er yon ifle to rove,

The CYPRUS of the SOUTH, the Land of Love.
Here, ceafelefs, the returning feasons wear
Spring's verdant robe, and fmile throughout the year;
Refreshing zephyrs cool the noon-tide ray,

And plantane groves impervious fhades display.
The gen'rous foil exacts no tiller's aid

To turn the glebe and watch the infant blade;
Nature their vegetable bread fupplies,
And high in air luxuriant harvests rise.
No annual toil the foodful plants demand,
But unrenew'd to rifing ages ftand;
From fire to fon the long fucceffion trace,
And lavish forth their gifts from race to race.
Beneath their fhade the gentle tribes repofe;
Each bending branch their frugal feaft beflows:
For them the cocoa yields its milky flood,

d;

To flake their thirft, and feed their temp'rate blood
No ruddy nectar their pure bev'rage stains,
Foams in their bowl and fwells their kindling veins.
Their evening hours fucceffive sports prolong,
The wanton dance, the love-infpiring fong.
Impetuous wishes no concealment know,

As the heart prompts, the melting numbers flow:
Each OBEREA feels the lawless flame,

Nor checks defires fhe does not blush to name.

No boding prefage haunts them through the night;
No cares revive with early dawn of light :
Each happy day glides thoughtless as the laft,
Unknown the future, unrecall'd the past.
Should momentary clouds, with envious shade,
Blot the gay fcene, and bid its colours fade;
As the next hour a gleam of joy fupplies,
Swift o'er their minds the paffing funshine flies
No more the tear of tranfient forrow flows,
Ceas'd are the lover's pangs, the orphan's woes.
• Thus the fleet moments wing their easy way;
A dream their being, and their life a day.

Unknown

Unknown to these soft tribes, with ftubborn toil
And arms robuft to turn the cultur'd foil;
Through tracklefs wilds to urge their daring chace,
And rouze the fierceft of the favage race;

Unknown those wants that prompt th' inventive mind,
And banish nervelefs floth from human-kind.

Can cruel paffions thefe calm feats infeft,
And stifle pity in a parent's breast?
Does here MEDEA draw the vengeful blade,
And ftain with filial gore the bluthing fhade;
Here, where Arcadia fhould its scenes unfold,
And patt'ral love revive an age of gold!

Ah! fee in vain the little fuppliant plead
With filent eloquence to check the deed:
He fmiles unconscious on th' uplifted knife,
And courts the hand that's arm'd against his life.
Not his last fighs the mother's bofom move;
She dooms his death, her facrifice to love:
Impatient haftes her am'rous vows to plight,
And feals with infant blood the barb'rous rite.
Reclin'd upon her lover's panting breast,
See in his arms the beauteous murd refs preft!
No keen remorse the wanton trance deftroys,
No thrilling terrors damp their guilty joys;
Nor ties of focial life their crimes reclaim,
Nor rigid Justice awes, nor virtuous Fame.

On minds which thus untaught thus darkling ftray,

To pour the radiant beams of heav'nly day;
To point where Nature the great outline draws,
Where Truth reveal'd gives function to her laws;
To bid th' intemp'rate reign of Senfe expire,
And quench th' unholy flame of loose desire;
Teach them their being's date, its ufe and end,
And to immortal life their hopes extend,
How great the umph!-

On the whole this may be properly enough called a pretty poem. Art. 14. St. Thomas's Mount: a Poem. Written by a Gentleman in India. 4to. 2 s. 6 d. DodЛley.

1774.

St Thomas's Mount is a beautiful place in India, on the coaft of Coromandel. On this account the juvenile Author* had many advantages with refpect to novelty of fcenery, imagery, and objects; and, availing himself of this, he has produced no very contemptible poem. Thus he defcribes the hunting of the Antelope:

But mark the beauteous Antelope!-he fprings-
He bounds-he flies-nor needs the aid of wings.
Not the fleet greyhound, Perfia's boasted breed,
Nor, from Arabia's coaft, the rapid fteed,

This poem, the Author tells us, was written before he had attained his 20th year.

1

X 4

In

In fwiftness can compare-he ftrips the wind,
And leaves them lagging, panting, far behind.
Now, freed from dread, he fports upon the plain,
Until their cries falute his ears again;

Again the fugitive his flight renews;

In vain the ftretching eye his winged courfe purfues.
Then say what swiftnefs fhall this prize obtain,
Which dogs and horfes follow but in vain ?
Behold the Chetah! of the leopard-kind,
Watchful as night, and active as the wind.
Bred to the fport, he fteals towards the prey,.
As the herds browze, or inattentive play :
One he felects, and meas'ring with his eyes
The distance, darts like light'ning to the prize :
(So, when the fowler takes his certain aim,
A fwift deftruction ftrikes the flutt'ring game.)
The helpless prey his ufelefs fpeed bemoans,
Drops the big tear of grief, and dies in groans.
But fhould or chance or accident betray
Th' approaching favage on his murd'rous way,
Inftant the Antelope betakes to flight-
Inftant the Chetah, furious at the fight,
Springs to arrest his fpeed-but fprings in vain!
Refcu'd, he now exults and bounds along the plain :
But lo! the difappointed Chetah turns,
While tenfold fury in his bofom burns :-
Beware, ye hunters! left, his ire to fate,
Heedlefs you
feel ACTEON's wretched fate!
All but his keeper, whofe familiar hand
Supplies his wants, and practifes command;
Sooth'd by his voice, reluctantly he stays,

Growls furly difcontent, and flow obeys.'

The fecond Canto contains, by way of epifode, the peregrinations of St. Thomas, who, the Author takes it for granted, propagated the gospel in the Eaft-Indies.

Art. 15. The Patron, a Satire. 4to. Is. Flexney. 1774. The Author profeffes to imitate Juvenal. In this view we may apply to him his own farçafm on the late Dr. Goldsmith.

The puny Doctor, he tells us, tore from the brawny shoulders of Johnson, a corner of his mantle, in which he fwath'd himself o'er and o'er :

G

-h thus robed affumes a mock command,

And in thofe regions + reigns J-n at fecond hand. But if the Author has no pretenfions to rank with the illuftrious Roman, he may be allowed to fit down with his ingenious countryman Oldham.

Left the Author fhould be fuppofed capable of ungenerously infulting the dead lion, we must obferve that this poem was published before the Doctor's death.

1

There is fpirit, as well as poetry, in the following ftri&ures on the alterations now making in St. James's Park:

An ample plain there lies, oblique between
The honour'd refidence of Albion's Queen,
Which its proud fummits thus ennobled rears
More by her virtues, than the crown she wears,
And in those realms, the realms of freedom known,
A little manfion, which I call my own:

On that while RN exhausts his art,
Your influence, all ye powers of taste impart.
I afk not, here to fcoop the hollow dell,
There bid the gay fwerd's verdurous bofom fwell:
Naked and flat be the eye-wearying scene
As billiard-table, though not half fo green.
Let not, in groups affembling unconfined,
The Hamadryades goflip with the wind;
And here and there be taught a Dryad ftray,
With artful ignorance to lose her way.
Upright as mufqueteers in a train-band,

Rang'd rank and file, while the tall wood-nymphs ftand,
To keep the roving eye within due bound,

The fair extent throw an embracement round:
And from Moorfields, where elegance prevails,
Bring the nice model of the circling rails.

Bring Bedlam too, ftraw beds, and cells fo dark,
And let the manfion skirt St. James's Park.
With lunatics, here patriots in difgrace,
There chiefs in plenitude of power and place,
Cuckolds, that clank the gainful marriage chain,
And wives by parliament turn'd maids again,
Harams of whores for impotence and age,
Cargoes of fops and foplings for the ftage;
I'll people Bedlam at fome future time;

Or may oblivion fe my ftill-born rhime.'

Art. 16. Retaliation: Poem. By Dr. Goldsmith; including Epitaphs on the most diftinguished Wits of the Metropolis. 4to. 1s, 6 d. Kearly. 1774

• Dr. Goldsmith,' fays the Editor, belonged to a club of Beaux Efprits, where wit fparkled fometimes at the expence of good-nature. It was propofed to write epitaphs on the Doctor. His country, dialect, and perfon, furnished fubjects of witticifm. The Doctor was called on for Retaliation, and at their next meeting produced the following poem.'

The perfons who figure principally in this poetical group are Edmund Burke; his brother, Richard Burke; his coufin, William Burke; David Garrick; Dr. Cumberland, author of the Weft Indian; Dr. Douglas, the detector of Lauder; Sir Joshua Reynolds; and a few others. We are informed that the Author intended to enlarge his lift; which feems very probable, as the picce appears to be imperfect: a circumstance which its admirers (in which number we may venture to include all its readers) will certainly lament. The poem abounds