One sigh in tribute ere you go. But if thy breast did ever prove ..) And berry'd shrubs, which ring-doves haunt ; A To Dr. H, upon his Petition of the Letter I to D G-, Esq. THE F 'tis true, as you say, 'that I've injur❜d a letter, May the just right of letters, as well as of men, better; Most devoutly I wish that they both have their due, The Beldames. A Poem. HE character which this author has satyrized, under the name of Beldame, he has thus described: By no degree, no sex defin'd, Their virtues stamp the Beldame kind. If Whitfield's saints, or Arthur's sinners; If 1 If now the scold at Wapping flames, All those, and all resembling those. The following extracts may serve as a specimen of this piece, in which, tho' there is not minute accuracy, there is truth, elegance and spirit: As in the sun's meridian blaze Now swarms on filth, and now pollutes So thro' each rank, thro' ev'ry stage, Furious she shakes the monarch's seat; The deep'ning gloom thick spreads around Around the dæmon throngs her race, Hence sland'rous prose, and ribald verse: Initials, , Initials, dashes, well supply'd, Some spotless name their rage demands, And you, who dauntless dar'd to brave N An An ACCOUNT of Books published in 1759. The continuation of the life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, Lord High Chancellor of England, A Work of Lord Clarendon appearing at this time, interests the learned world in the same manner as a fine antique statue dug up would the curious in arts and antiquities. We receive it with all the pleasure of novelty, and at the same time, with all the veneration we usually have for an established character. The history which we have before us, is not in general so correct in the language and disposition as the great work; it is indeed doubtful whether the noble author originally intended it should be published at all; for it is out of the general mass of this, as from the rude materials, that that history of the great rebellion is taken. Yet this work is by no means less entertaining than the other, as it enters yet more minutely and faithfully into the secret motives, the real springs and principles of action, of those who acted on the great stage; and as it describes the private life, and marks the progress of the private fortune of a virtuous man, and marks the equanimity and steadiness of his mind in the great revolution that fortune underwent, it may be of greater use to the generality of readers, than the more finished work. The style of this history is, like that of his works which have before appeared, full and flowing; but as it does not seem to be adjusted to any critical rules, the periods are long winded, the sense sometimes embarrassed, and the construction frequently even ungrammatical. It is impossible not to observe sometimes an over minute attention to things, which nobody but a person who writes an account of himself could think of importance; indeed there is diffused through the whole work something of that character of vanity and self partiality, that never fails to attend a writer of an history of his own life and times. However, it may be doubted whether these little imperfections which shew us the man as well as the writer, do not make such books more entertaining, and soften down something of the severity of study. Few books have been more read, or pleased more, than Burnet's history; though along with very many other faults, it had this in a great degree. Montaigne pleases the good-humoured and companionable reader, in proportion as he offends the stern critics of PortRoyal. On the whole, with whatever faults it may have, this work must always have a distinguished rank. The narrative glows with the feeling of a man conversant and interested in the events he describes. The author was perfectly acquainted with the court, the nation, the laws, and human nature: and certainly no person at that time, had such opportunities of knowing the true state of public affairs, and of particular characters; these these characters, which he has an admirable talent at drawing, abound in the work, and are often authenticated by well chosen and pleasing anecdotes. As we have given some of them in another article in our work, which may serve as a specimen of his happiness in that way, we shall content ourselves with an extract, which may give an idea of his style and manner on other occasions; and it is itself a passage curious enough; painting in very good colours a very important scene; and it shews in a strong light that odd mixture of human affairs, by which some disagreeable, tho' minute incidents, are sufficient to take off, in a great measure, the pure and sincere relish of the highest, and most unexpected good fortune. "It will be convenient here, before we descend to those particulars which had an influence upon the minds of men, to take a clear view of the temper and spirit of that time; of the nature and inclination of the army, of the disposition and interest of the several factions in religion, all which appeared in their several colours, without disguising their principles; and with equal confidence demanded the liberty of conscience they had enjoyed in and since the time of Cromwell; and the humour and the present purpose and design of the parliament itself, to whose judgment and determination the whole settlement of the kingdom both in church and state stood referred by the King's own declaration from Breda, which by God's inspiration had been the sole visible motive to that wonderful change that had ensued. And whosoever takes a prospect of all those several VOL. II. passions and appetites and interests, together with the divided affections, jealousies and animosities, of those who had been always looked upon as the King's party, which if united would in that conjuncture have been powerful enough to have ballanced all the other: I say, whoever truly and ingenuously considers and reflects upon all this composition of contradictory wishes and expectations, must confess that the King was not yet master of the kingdom, nor his authority and security such as the general noise and acclamations, the bells and the bonfires, proclaimed it to be; and that there was in no conjuncture moré need, that the virtue and wisdom and industry of a prince should be evident and made manifest in the preservation of his dignity, and in the application of his mind to the government of his affairs; and that all who were eminently trusted by him, should be men of unquestionable sincerity, who with industry and dexterity should first endeavour to compose the public disorders, and to provide for the peace and settlement of the kingdom, before they applied themselves to make or improve their own particular fortunes. And there is little question, but if this good method had been pursued, and the resolutions of that kind, which the King had seriously taken beyond the seas, when he first discerned his good fortune coming towards him, had been executed and improved; the hearts and affections of all degrees of men were so prepared by their own natural inclinations and integrity, by what they had seen, and what they had suffered, by their observations and experience, by their Hh fears |