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He queftions whether the Doctor be a man, or a beast.—Apoftrophifing him, he says,

For man, too foolish! and, for beast, too wife!'

He next likens him to an ass—and a skittish one too !—if all be true that our Poet avers in his allufion to Balaam, and his afinine poney,-where he makes a ftrong effort towards wit and

humour:

'He patient bore the prophet! Not fo thou

For thou'lt no prophet bear-Nor falfe-Nor true!'

He queftions, however, whether he is not too tall for an afs : I crave thy mercy, fhould I thee mifcall!

But, can't thou be an ass; and yet fo tall?'

In another place, he doubts whether he be a man;-and yet we have heard that the Doctor hath begotten several children: • Vain man! and vain thy works!—If man thou be!'

Next, however, he is an archer—and shooting at high game indeed!

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Thy fhafts shot upwards, aimed at God the Son,
Fall on thyfelf; and thou art quite undone!'

Again, our Poet likens him unto a proud emmet, and a fish:
Yet fpite of heaven!-Will this proud emmet nibble

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And, fpite of earth!Thy vanquifh'd pen will quibble
Out of thine element, juft like a fish,

That, not quite dead, will flutter in the dish

With all his efforts, yet he cannot fwim;

Now, in divinity, thou'rt juft like him.'

To a robber:

First of my God-next of my foul bereft!

Thus robb'd by thee, alas! what have I left!' -Not much indeed, poor Gentleman! if he even leaves you the laft!

Towards the end, our Poet grows downright fcurrilous; calls the Doctor a fool, and a liar; calls his mother a wh-re, and him a baftard:

**

Thy Difquifitions, fpirit to decry

Proclaim thee fool and all thy creed a lie!
But thou art privileged above all other,

Thy father to difown, and fhame thy mother!

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• Plagu'd as thou art to prove thy mother wed,

Thyfelf legitimate, well born, and bred'.

In the latter ftanzas, however, our Poet, belike, meaneth only to fpeak figuratively.-Quidlibet audendi, &c.

The only inftance of modefty that our Poet betrays is exhibited in a fingle line, where he thus addreffeth himself to the man he has been fo unconscionably abusing:

Teach me good common fenfe, and clear my pate.'

Our

Our Bard-fome Methodistical belman-we fuppofe, feems to have us in his eye, when he exclaims

• Canft thou not bear the meanness of my ftyle?' &c. -In good truth, we cannot any longer.

ART. IV. Letters from an Officer in the Guards to his Friend in Eng. land: Containing fome Accounts of France and Italy. 8vo. 5 s. Cadell.

THE

1778.

HE love of action is the moft powerful principle in human nature. It operates with unremitting force on the greater part of mankind; and those who, by the confinement of disease, or by the weight of years, are prevented from gratifying it in its full extent, ftill receive their principal delight from relating their own exploits, or hearing those of others. Even in fuch lethargic minds as are the favourite abode of floth and inactivity, it is impoffible for thefe lazy powers altogether to filence the ruling paffion, the movements of which often disturb the profound fecurity of their repofe. The love of employment appears in all our amufements; and to render even the hours of idleness agreeable, they must be spent in some kind of frivolous exertion and indolent activity..

In that doubtful ftate, in which a man fluctuates between the defire of motion and reft, roufed on the one hand by the ardour of action, and allured on the other by the sweets of repofe, the mind often takes an intermediate direction, which is equally remote from that of either of the contending paffions. Curiofity prompts us to vifit the wonders of unknown countries laziness deters us from undertaking the fatigues of a tedious journey; we obey not implicitly the dictates of either principle, but by taking a middle course, endeavour to accommodate their difference, and to gratify our curiofity, while we indulge our floth, by reading the accounts of former travellers.

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It is fo agreeable to travel in the parlour or the ftudy, that notwithstanding the innumerable itineraries that have been published of every part of Europe, new itineraries are ftill wanting to amufe the languor of idleness, and to fatisfy that compound paffion of indolence and activity which prevails fo generally in the prefent age. The work, which we are now to confider, offers a fhort and agreeable account of the principal places in France and Italy. The Author pretends not to be a virtuofo but he gives his opinion with freedom concerning the most celebrated pictures that are to be feen in the churches and palaces of Rome and Florence. His obfervations on this fubject may be very entertaining to his particular acquaintance, to whom he writes, but they lofe much of their merit when laid before the Public. It is to be wifhed that an Author would not expose his opinions, except to his moft intimate friends, upon matters

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338 Letters from an Officer in the Guards to his Friend in Englana.

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with which he profeffes himself to be totally unacquainted. The knowledge of pictures and ftatues, however frivolous and unimportant it may appear to fome people, is real knowledge. It is not enough to fee; we must fee with the eyes of an artist, understand the language of his art, know what it can exprefs, where it is confined, and where it is copious. If the Author had formed the flighteft idea of sculpture, he would not have paffed over the groupe of Laocoon and his children, (see p. 172) with fimply mentioning the wondrous twifting of the fnakes,' when the ineffable expreffion of grief, torture, agony, in the human figures, ought to have excited his admiration. It is not in the countenances only, but in every attitude, limb, and muscle of this mafter-piece of art, that the feelings of the foul are described. The minuteft part has, its sense, and speaks to the heart The toes of Laocoon are drawn together like those of a dying perfon, and exhibit, to the learned eye, that accumulation of the evils of life which fpeedily end in death.

The rapidity with which our Author runs over the beauties of Italy, often prevents him from attending to what is moft worthy to be examined. 'He vifits the court of the palace Farnefe (page 168), but forgets to walk up ftairs, and even to. mention the gallery, which contains the admired works of Annibal Carracci, reprefenting the agreeable mythology of the ancients, and univerfally held to be the moft delightful scene of art that is to be feen in Rome, or in the world.

But although we cannot commend this Author as a connoiffeur, juftice obliges us to obferve that his descriptions are in general plain, fimple, and perfpicuous; and that his work may convey, in few words, a general, and, for the most part, a juft idea of France and Italy, to fuch as have never vifited those countries. We fhall felect, as a specimen, the defcription of St. Peter's at Rome:

This edifice, taking it all in all,' our Author confiders as the moft fplendid temple that ever was raifed in any age to any deity.. The façade is elegant beyond defcription, and was erected by Paolus V. On the top of it are ftatues of Chrift and the twelve apostles; and beneath is the gallery or colonade from whence the Pope gives his benediction. The famous cupola of this church is fix hundred and feven Roman palmi high, and one hundred and ninety-fix broad; and the church itfelf eight hundred and forty-four palmi in length. Its double colonade, the vaft Egyptian obelisk, and the fountains, are also beautiful and ftriking performances; but it is a pity the colonade was not carried further, as the view from the church is now terminated by one of the ugliest and beggarly streets now in Rome. On entering into it, one is greatly truck with its perfect symmetry and beauty; and I affure you, that although there have been fuch vaft fums laid out in adorning it, there does not appear to me to be a picture, a ftatue, or even a foot too much of carving or gilding.

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On the right hand as you enter, at an altar of a chapel, is a famous dead Chrift in the lap of Mary, by Michael Angelo Buonoroti. His figure is extremely fine, but her countenance, I think, has more the appearance of fullen, or even ftupid forrow, than of amiable grief for the death of the Saviour of mankind. A little farther on is a magnificent chapel of the Holy Sacrament, with a fine altar of lapis lazuli, beautifully carved, and the whole chapel enriched with bronze and gilding; before it are feven filver lamps, continually burning; and over the altar a picture, in mofaic, of the Trinity, done after the original of Pietro di Cortona.

Before I proceed farther, I must explain to you the nature of the mosaic. It is a very curious work, and was originally derived from the ancients, who used to cut marble of different colours into very small pieces, and by flicking them into cement, formed flowers, figures, &c. but at prefent the modern artists make use of a compofition, which is by fire made as hard as marble; and of this they have literally near ten thousand fhades or colours, which being chiffelled into small splinters, are thruft clofe together into a cement spread on a stone furface, and thereby they are able to copy any picture, fo that neither time nor damp has any effect on its colours. This work, indeed, takes up a long time, but it is admirably adapted for churches, and believe me, it is not in nature to conceive at what an excellence they are arrived in it. All the pictures in St. Peter's are of thefe materials; and they have thereby collected from different parts the finest productions of the greatest mafters, and thereby rendered their defigns almoft immortal.

But to return to my defcription of St. Peter's :-Many of its other chapels are very fuperb, and the entire cathedral is encrufted with marble of various colours, with carvings by the moft famous fculptors, baffo relievo's wrought to the highest degree of perfection.

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In every chapel, and over every altar, are large and capital copies in mofaic. Thofe that delighted me the moft were the Fall of Simon, after Domenichino, and the famous Transfiguration, after Raphael of all these I have feen the originals, and shall speak of them hereafter.

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• Over the high altar is a canopy fupported by four twisted pillars. of bronze gilt, adorned with fculpture foliage, cherubims, flowers, &c. wrought in a masterly manner; but they look rather black and dirty, as do the hundred and fifty filver lamps continually burning before it, and even the maffy candlesticks on it are in this condition but I am told thefe are changed when the Pope fays mafs there, and folid gold ones placed in their ftead; but as this is only once a year, thofe that remain there on other occafions make but a bad appearance and indeed I have feen other altars that have been more magnificent, and pleafed me much more, although the gilding of these columns is reported to have cost 40,000 crowns. The bronze they are compofed of was brought from the Pantheon. Behind the altar is St. Peter's chair, fupported by four figures in bronze gilt, representing four doctors of the church. In the cathedral are feveral fine monuments of Popes and Princes; and there is one now erecting to a late unfortunate perfonage, who once attempted to place him

felf

felf on the throne of a nation, which never will be brought to fup. port the yoke of tyranny, or to groan under the oppreffive weight of Popish fuperftition.'

ART. V. Difcourfes on feveral Subjects and Occafions. By George
Horne, D. D. Prefident of Magdalen college, Oxford, and Chap-
lain in Ordinary to his Majefty. 2 Vols. 8vo.
Rivington, &c. 1779.

DR

12 s. bound.

R. HORNE having been prevented, by the discharge of a laborious but highly honourable office, from performing the more immediate duties of his profeffion, is yet defirous, we are told, not to lofe the clergyman in the magistrate, and therefore, as he could not form new difcourfes, he has digefted and publifhed fome which had been already compofed. This form of publication,' he obferves, is generally fuppofed lefs advantageous, at prefent, than any other. But it may be queftioned,' he adds, whether the fuppofition does juftice to the age; when we confider only the respect which has fo recently been paid to the fermons of the learned and elegant Dr. Blair: and greater refpect cannot be paid them than they deferve.'

The Doctor farther remarks, that the multitude of old fermons affords no arguments against the publication of new ones. • There is a taste,' he says, in moral and religious as well as other compofitions, which varies in different ages, and may very lawfully and innocently be indulged. Thoufands received inftruction and confolation formerly from fermons, which would not now be endured. The preachers of them ferved their generation, and are bleffed for evermore. But because provifion was made for the wants of the laft century in one way, there is no reason why it fhould not be made for the wants of this in another. The next will behold a fet of writers of a fashion fuited to it, when our discourses shall in their turn be antiquated and forgotten among men; though if any good be wrought by them in this their day, our hope is, with that of faithful Nehemiah, that our God will remember us concerning them.'

But as it may be expected that the productions of every author will contain fomething new, either in matter or manner, it may be naturally afked, fays this writer, What are my pretenfions? To this question he chufes to reply in the words of the excellent and amiable Fenelon, extracted from the laft of his Dialogues on the Eloquence of the Pulpit. The paffage is too long for us to infert; the substance of it is, that preachers fhould pay an attentive and principal regard to the Scriptures, and endeavour to imprefs and influence their hearers by the feveral confiderations which are to be drawn from thence. This Dr. Horne has done. And although, in his view of fome

parts

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