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Judge SCRUP, and the worthy old counsellor PEST
Join'd iffue at once, and went in with the reft;
And this they all faid was exceedingly good
For ftrength ning the fpirits, and mending the blood.
It pleas'd me to fee how they all were inclin'd
To lengthen their lives for the good of mankind;
For I ne'er would believe that a bishop or judge
Can fancy old SATAN may owe him a grudge,
Tho' fome think the lawyer may chufe to demur,
And the priest till another occafion defer,
And both to be better prepared for herea'ter,

Take a fmack of the brimftone contained in the water.
But, what is furprifing, no mortal e'er view'd

Any one of the phyficat gentlemen flew'd;

Since the day that King BLADUD first found out the bogs,
And thought them fo good for himself and his hogs,
Not one of the faculty ever has try'd

Thefe excellent waters to cure his own hide:
Tho' many a skilful and learned phyfician,

With candour, good fenfe, and profound erudition,
Obliges the world with the fruits of his brain
Their nature and hidden effects to explain:
Thus CHIRON advis'd Madam THETIS to take
And dip her poor child in the Stygian lake,
But the worthy old doctor was not fuch an elf
As ever to venture his carcafe himself:
So JASON's good wife us'd to fet on a pot,
And put in at once all the patients he got,
But thought it fufficient to give her direction,
Without being coddled to mend her complexion :
And I never have heard that fhe wrote any treatise
To tell what the virtue of water and heat is.
You cannot conceive what a number of ladies
Were wafh'd in the water the fame as our maid is:
Old Buron VANTEAZER, a man of great wealth,
Brought his lady the baronefs here for her health;
The baronefs bathes, and the fays that her cafe
Has been hit to a hair, and is mending apace :
And this is a point all the learned agree on,
The baron has met with the fate of ACTEON;
Who while he peep'd into the bath had the luck
To find himself fuddenly chang'd to a buck.
Mifs SCRATCHIT went in, and the Countess of SCALES,
Both ladies of very great fashion in Wales;
Then all on a fudden two perfons of worth,
My Lady PANDORA MAC'SCURVEY came forth,
With General SULPHUR arrived from the north.
So TABBY, you fee, had the honour of washing
With folk of diftinction and very high fashion,
But in fpite of good company, poor little foul,
She fhook both her ears like a moufe in a bowl.

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Ods bobs! how delighted I was unawares
With the fiddles I heard in the room above stairs,
For mufic is wholefome the doctors all think

For ladies that bathe, and for ladies that drink;
And that's the opinion of ROBIN our driver,
Who whistles his nags while they ftand at the river;
They fay it is right that for every glass

A tune you should take, that the water may pafs;
So while little TABBY was washing her rump,
The ladies kept drinking it out of a pump.

I've a deal more to fay, but am loth to intrude

On your time, my dear mother, fo now I'll conclude.

Letter the twelfth contains a ludicrous and fevere, but nevertheless juft and pertinent fatire on the head-dreffes of the ladies. One would think it impoffible for the power of fashion itself to fupport its cause against fuch a defcription as the following:- Enter the hair-dreffer;

And firft at her porcupine head he begins

To fumble and poke with his irons and pins,
Then fires all his crackers with horrid grimace,
And puffs his vile Rocambol breath in her face,
Difcharging a fteam, that the devil would choak,
From paper, pomatum, from powder, and smoke:
The patient fubmits, and with due refignation
Prepares for her fate in the next operation.
When lo! on a fudden, a monster appears,
A horrible monfter, to cover her ears;
What fign of the zodiac is it he bears?
Is it taurus's tail, or the tete de mouton,
Or the beard of the goat, that he dares to put on ?
'Tis a wig en vergette, that from Paris was brought
Un tete comme il faut, that the varlet has bought
Of a beggar, whofe head he has fhav'd for a groat:
Now fix'd to her head does he frizzle and dab it;
Her foretop's no more.-"Tis the fkin of a rabbit.—
'Tis a muff.-'Tis a thing that by all is confest
Is in colour and shape like a chaffinch's neft.

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The next letter contains an account of a ridiculous public breakfast; and it is followed by an epiftle from Mifs Prudence, in which the informs her correfpondent that she has been elected to methodism by a vifion; but there is an indecency in this letter for which the humour of it can by no means atone. In the last epiftle we find little more than the old ftory, that the piper is to be paid, and a melancholly detail of Bath-expences; yet we cannot dismiss the article without making our acknowledgments to the Author for the uncommon entertainment his book has afforded us.

L..

MONTHLY

MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For JUNE, 1766.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 10. The History of the Troglodites. Tranflated from the French of Mr. de Montefquieu. 8vo. 6d. Buckland, &c.

HE celebrated Lettres Perfannes have been twice translated into

TEnglish, Art by Ozell, and fince by one Mr. Flloyd. The latter

of these translations, it feems, was unknown to the gentleman to whom the public is obliged for the prefent verfion of this elegant fiction,-taken from the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th letters. It was no hard task to excel the former; and, in truth, both are much excelled by the present tranflator: who, poffibly, has published this ftory of the Troglodites as a specimen of an intended new tranflation of the whole series. If we are right in our conjecture, it will be fortunate for the reputation of M. de Montefquieu; for that excellent author, in common with the belt writers of his nation, hath fuffered not a little from the inelegant pens of our common doers from the French.

Art. 11. The Principles of the English Language digefted, for the Use of Schools. By James Elphinstone. 12mo.

lant, &c.

3s. Vail

Mr. Elphinstone has here given an abridgment of his larger work, published about a year ago, under a fimilar title: fee Review for October last, p. 274.

Art. 12. The Merry Miller; or the Countryman's Ramble to London. A Farce of two Acts. 8vo. IS. Davenhill. Too poor a performance even for Bartholomew fair.

Art. 13. Witticisms and Strokes of Humour. Collected by Robert Baker. 8vo. IS. Bathoe.

The Author of this new jeft-book finds great fault with the dull collections already offered to the public,--and he has added one to the number.

Art. 14. Travels through Italy, containing new and curious Obfervations on that Country; particularly the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Ecclefiaftical State, the Kingdom of Naples, the Republics of Venice and Genoa, &c. with the most authentic Account yet publifhed of capital Pieces in Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture; including Remarks on the ancient and prefent State of Italy, of the Arts and Sciences which have flourished there, and of I afte in Painting with the Characters of the principal Artifts. By John . Northall, Efq; Captain in his Britannic Majefty's Royal Regiment of Artillery. Illuftrated with a Map of Italy, a Route of this Tour, and feveral Copper-plates. 8vo. 6s. Hooper. The Editor of thefe travels informs us, in his preface, that the Auwas an English gentleman, who undertook this tour of Italy, as the finishing part of a polite education.' From this manner of mentioning the Author, we conclude, that Capt. Northall is not now living; and fome have even questioned whether he ever did live: looking Rev. June, 1765.

THOR

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on the name as entirely fictitious. Suppofing, however, the reality of our Author's existence to be undoubted, let us attend to what the Editor fays of his character, and abilities for fuch an undertaking as the prefent. The Captain, he tells us, was accompanied by fome other gentlemen, who had all the advantages of procuring accefs to the most valuable curiofities in public places, and private palaces;' that he had a 'curiofity equal to thefe advantages;' that he was not only a gentleman, but a fcholar, a gallant officer, an experienced engineer, a good draughtf man, and a fine judge of paintings, fculpture, and architecture.' With these requifites, and fo ample a field for the difplay of his abilities, the Reader will naturally expect a finifhed production, in Capt. Northall's recital of his travels; and, in truth, the style of his book is by no means inelegant: but with refpect to the matter of his obfervations, we meet with very little that is not to be found in Keyfler, Blainville, and other more voluminous writers, whofe performances are made to fubfcribe largely towards the notes with which the prefent work is illustrated. But were we to confider this book merely as a judicious compilement from the best Authors who have made the tour of Italy, we fhould, perhaps, view it in neither a difhoneft nor a contemptible light; and, in this view, it will, we apprehend, be found a very entertaining and a very ufeful pofl-chaife companion, for unexperienced travellers in the fame

route.

Art. 15. Reflections on Originality in Authors, being Remarks on a Letter to Mr. Mafon, on the Marks of Imitation; in which the abfurd Defects of that Performance are pointed out; and the abfolute uncertainty of Imitation in general is demonftrated in various InRances: with a Word or two on the Characters of Ben. Johnfor and Pope. 8vo. Is. Horsfield.

There is a pedantic pertnefs, and a boorifh petulance in thefe Reflections, being Remarks,' that would render them dif. greeable to the polished reader, were there any merit in the arguments; but a spirit of Anding fault, and an ambition of attacking the opinions of a diftinguished writer, are the burden of the book. Indeed, the rudeness of the title-page might fufficiently apprife the Reader what he was to expect within. But let us hear what this felf-fufficient hypercritic has to fay, and wherein he points out the abfurd defects he mentions. I prefume, fays the author of the letter to Mr. Mafon, to give it for a certain note of imitation, when the properties of one clime are given to another; upon which this Remarker fays, could we furnish one inftance to this fage conclufion, any man of common fenfe would place it, not to the fcore of imitation but abfurdity :-very fevere indeed! the ingenious letter-writer is here, by implication, deprived of common fense, fince he abfolutely does impute it to imitation; and, what is more, he is abfolutely in the right too; for though abfurdity may be the effect, yet imitation is the caufe:-but the unhappy Remarker's inability to make this diftinction, occafioned this abfurd defect.'-That it is owing to imitation when the properties of one clime are given to another is evident from this, that the paftoral poets of our own country have frequently introduced into our climate the properties of thofe of Greece and Italy, occafioned by imitating the peculiar expreffions and defcriptions of their authors; and of this not only one but an hundred inftances

might be produced, were it worth while to pay any further regard to fuch arguments. 1. Art. 16. Cafli Innocentis Anfaldi O. P. Placentini in Reg. Taurin. Athen. S. T. Prof. de Romana Tutelarium Deorum in Oppugnationibus Urbium Evocatione Liber fingularis. Editio quarta. 8vo. 3s. 6d. few'd. Payne.

This is a new edition of Father Anfald's treatife on the evocation of the tutelary Gods in the Roman ficges.-The book had merit enough to go through three impreffions among the Venetians, and it is now reprinted at the Clarendon prefs in Oxford. น.

Art. 17. An Effay on the Hiftory of Hamburgh, from the Foundation of that City, to the Convention between the Senate and Burghers, in 1712. Tranflated from the French of M. A. Dathe. 8vo. 5s. Ofborne.

This book, which is not ill-written, may afford fome amufement to those who have any connexions with the city of Hamburgh; but will not appear in a very important light to the generality of English readers. Art. 18. Directions for a proper Choice of Authors to form a Li brary, which may both improve and entertain the Mind, and be of real Ufe in the Conduct of Life. Intended for thofe Readers who are only acquainted with the English Language. With a correct Lift of proper Books on the feveral Subjects. 8vo. Is. Whif

ton, &c.

This is, for the most part, a judicious felection; but, as the judg ments and taste of men will always vary from each other, we imagine there are many books in this lift which might have been well omitted; and not a few that, in our effimation, should have been added. Nevertheless, as we have no better, indeed no other directory of the kind, this publication may be of ufe to thofe who ftand in need of fuch helps. Art. 19. A Plan for the more speedy Execution of the Laws relating to the new paving, cleaning, and lighting the Streets of Wefminfter. By Charles Whitworth, Efq; 8vo. 6d. Walter. Propofes the inftitution of parochial committees, to affift the commiffioners in the infpection of the streets, and keeping them in due repair, according to the intent of the acts of parliament relating to the great improvements now going forward in our flourishing metropolis; the inhabitants of which are much obliged to Mr. Whitworth for his attention to this fubject, and for the judicious regulations which he has planned. Art. 20. The Hiftory of Inland Navigations. Particularly thofe of the Duke of Bridgewater, in Lancashire and Chefhire; and the intended one promoted by Earl Gower and other Perfons of Diftinction in Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire. Part the fecond. Illuftrated with a whole sheet geographical Plan, fhewing, at one View, the Counties, Townships, and Villages through which thefe Navigations are or will be carried. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Lownds. We have already given our fentiments of thefe noble fchemes for the improvement of our happy country, which, if not checked by our political diffentions, might, in every fenfe, fpeedily bid fair for taking the lead of every other nation on the face of the globe.

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Art. 21.

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