for the good of our countrywomen we would not recommend his refolution in the next line,

And, if provok'd enough, muft fting before.' Art. 39. The Book of Nature; a Poem. 4to. I S. Carnan. A fpiritlefs, well meaning poem, recommending moral improvement from the ftudy of Nature.

Art. 40. Mifcellaneous Poems on various Subjects and Occafions. Revised and corrected by the late Mr. William Shenstone. 8vo. 4s. Boards. Newbery, &c. 1771.

The Author of thefe poems is faid to be Mr. Jofeph Giles, who fome time fince refided at Birmingham, was intimately acquainted with Mr. Shenstone, and wrote fome pleafing poems in Dodfley's Mifcellanies. However the last circumftances may feem to speak in his favour, the poetry here prefented to us is far beneath mediocrity. We prefume not to fay what the late ingenious Mr. Shenftone might be induced to do from motives of private friendship or bene, volence. We are fenfible that with him thofe virtues had no narrow limits: but these poems were every way unworthy of his attention, and in truth we can fee no traces of that attention in them. Art. 41. The Dramatic Works of Mark Antony Meilan. Confifting of three Tragedies, Emilia, Northumberland, the Friends. As they were prefented to the Managers of both our Theatres, but refufed. Publifhed by Way of an Appeal from the arbitrary Decifions of the Defpots of the Drama to Candour and the Lovers of theatrical Amufements, whofe Liberality fo amply, aggrandizes thofe Defaulters. 8vo. 6s. White, &c.

How the Author of this wretched ftuff could prefume to impeach the taste or impartiality of the managers for rejecting it, would be aftonishing, did not daily experience convince us that the vileft fcribblers believe their own compofitions excellent. In fuch cases as thefe, the managers require no other pity than we ourselves do, that they are in fome meafure under a neceflity of looking into fuch performances.

Art. 42. Cricket, an Heroic Poem; illuftrated with the critical Obfervations of Scriblerus Maximus. To which is added, an Epilogue, called, Bucks have at ye All. Spoken by Mr. King at the Theatre Royal in Dublin, in the Character of Ranger in the Sufpicious Hufband. By James Love, Comedian. 4to. 1 s. Davies. 1771. This is really a very decent claffical poem, does credit to the taste, fpirit, and good fenfe of the Author, and may give pleasure as well to the critical as to the cricketical Reader. It was first published about 30 years ago. Art. 43. The Temple of Compaffion; a Poem: Addreffed to a Lady, by an Officer in the Guards. 4to. I s. Ridley. The Author of this poem informs us that it was written chiefly for the pleasure of dedicating it to a lady,' and that it was a hafty, careless compofition.' This is certainly a very unfoldier like compliment, and the lady was but little obliged to the poet, who could profeffedly be careless in the execution of a piece he honoured with her name. However, his total want of abilities as a poet will

exempt him from the attention of minute criticifm, and we fhall al-
low him a place in his Temple of Compaffion.

Art. 44. An Epiftle from the Princess Fa, at Naples, to the
Countess of
in London. Tranflated from the Italian, and
addreffed to G..S-w-n, Efq; 4to. I s. White. 1771.

This is a wretched attempt at wit; in the preface, against the patriots, who, the Tranflator fays, are Speechifying away; and, in the poem, against the coterie, which is certainly entitled to an abler fatyrilt.

Art. 45. The Loves of Medea and Jafon; a Poem, in Three Books. Tranflated from the Greek of Apollonius Rhodius's Ar-: gonautics. By the Rev. J. Ekins, M. A. late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Rector of Quainton, Bucks. 4to. 3 s. 6d. Payne. 1771.

The Argonautics of Apollonius were of fuch high repute in antiquity that Virgil has not fcrupled to borrow very largely from that writer, both in the conftruction, the fentiments, and imagery of his Eneid; yet we have never tranflated him; and indeed the dry de- : tail of his fabulous heroes, and their uninteresting exploits in the two first books, is very forbidding. The prefent Tranflator has wifely. enough, therefore, omitted them, and fallen only on that more interefting part which defcribes the loves of Medea and Jafon. But a mediocrity of art and genius (which if we allow Mr. Ekins, we grant him rather too much) was by no means fufficient here. And, indeed, this is a very tame and inadequate tranflation. To point out the feeble lines were endlefs; but the Tranflator has fometimes as little propriety as poetry. He represents the blooming Medea as an old hag, who, in the morning,

"Smooths her parched cheeks :"

She then gives orders to the female band,
Who in attendance near her chamber ftand!'

Art. 46. Eve's Legacy to her Daughters. In two Cantos. With
her Epitaph: And Tirefias. 8vo. 1 S. Davies.

A graceless wag, making merry with his great grandmother,the apple, the ferpent, and the good man Adam. Some fcrupu-; lous Readers may think the Author's humour (while employed on a fcripture fubject) not quite free from prophaneness. The transformation of Tireñas, however, was lawful plunder, as being an Heathen flory. Vide Ovid's Metam. lib. iii.

Art. 47. The New Foundling Hofpital for Wit. Being a Collection of curious Pieces in Verfe and Profe.

2s. 6d. fewed. Almon. 1771.

Part IV *.

A few choice bits may be picked out of this basket of scraps.

* See more of this collection, Review, Aug. 1769, p. 156.

ERRATU M.

12mo.

In the Review for March, page 188, line 2, read, This he had promifed to Dr. Priestley in one respect; and there can be ne doubt but that in others Dr. Furneaux's accurate, &c.

ART. I. Obfervations on modern Gardening, illustrated by Defcriptions. 8vo. 3 s. 6 d. Boards. T. Payne. 1770.

HIS Author confiders Gardening as not confined to the spot from which it borrows its name, but as regulating the difpofition and embellishments of a park, a farm, or a riding; fo that the business of a gardener is to felect and apply whatever is great, elegant, or characteristic in any of them; to difcern and to display all the advantages of the place upon which he is employed; to fupply its defects, correct its faults, and improve its beauties. He obferves that the scenes of Nature confift of ground, wood, water, and rocks, in various proportions and combinations; to which art has added buildings, and he treats of these separately.

Ground he confiders as mere furface, which may be varied into fwell, hollow, and level: he obferves that the convex and concave are in themselves lefs uniform than a plane, but that planes fhould not for that reafon be wholly rejected; a gentle concave declivity, fays he, falls and fpreads eafily on a flat;, the channels between feveral fwells degenerate into mere gutters, if fome breadth be not given to the bottoms by flattening them; and in many other inftances, fmall portions of an inclined or horizontal plane may be introduced into an irregular compofition. Care only must be taken to keep them down as fubordinate parts, and not to fuffer them to become principal.

There are, however, occafions on which a plane may be principal: a hanging level often produces effects not otherwife attainable. A large dead fat, indeed, raifes no other idea than of fatiety the eye finds no amufement, no repofe, on fuch a level it is fatigued, unlefs timely relieved by an adequate termination; and the ftrength of that termination will compenfate for its diftance. A very wide plain, at the foot of a mountain, VOL. XLIV.

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is lefs tedious than one of much less compafs, furrounded only by hillocks. A flat therefore of confiderable extent may be hazarded in a garden, provided the boundaries alfo be confiderable in proportion; and if, in addition to their importance, they become ftill more interefting by their beauty, then the facility and diftinctness with which they are feen over a flat, makes the whole an agreeable compofition. The greatnefs and the beauty of the boundary are not, however, alone fufficient; the form of it is of ftill more confequence. A continued range of the nobleft wood, or the finest hill, would not cure the infipidity of a flat a lefs important, a lefs pleafing boundary, would be more effectual, if it traced a more varied outline; if it advanced fometimes boldly forward, fometimes retired into deep receffes; broke all the fides into parts, and marked even the plain itfelf with irregularity.

At Moor Park, on the back front of the house, is a lawn of about thirty acres, abfolutely fat; with falls below it on one hand, and heights above it on the other. The rifing ground is divided into three great parts, each fo diftinct and so different, as to have the effect of feveral hills. That nearest to the houfe fhelves gently under an open grove of noble trees, which hang on the declivity, and advance beyond it on the plain. The next is a large hill, preffing forward, and covered with wood from the top to the bottom. The third is a bold fleep, with a thicket falling down the steepest part, which makes it appear ftill more precipitate: but the reft of the flope is bare; only the brow is crowned with wood, and towards the bottom is a little groupe of trees. Thefe heights, thus finely characterifed in themfelves, are further diftinguished by their appendages. The fmall, compact groupe near the foot, but ftill on the defcent, of the further hill, is contrafted by a large fraggling clump, fome way out upon the lawn, before the middle eminence. Between this and the first hill, under two or three trees which cross the opening, is feen to great advantage a winding glade, which rifes beyond them, and marks the feparation. This deep recefs, the different distances to which the hills advance, the contraft in their forms, and their accompaniments, caft the plain on this fide into a most beautiful figure. The other fide and the end were originally the flat edge of a defcent, a harfh, offenfive termination; but it is now broken by feveral hillocks, not diminutive in fize, and confiderable by the fine clumps which diftinguish them. They recede one beyond another, and the outline waves agreeably amongst them. They do more than conceal the sharpness of

The feat of Sir Laurence Dundas, near Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire.

the

the edge; they convert a deformity into a beauty, and greatly contribute to the embellishment of this moft lovely fcene; a fcene, however, in which the flat is principal; and yet a more varied, a more beautiful landskip, can hardly be defired in a garden.'

With respect to convex and concave forms, the Author thinks that those which are perfectly regular fhould be avoided : a femicircle, fays he, can never be tolerable; fmall portions of large circles blended together; or lines gently curved, which are not parts of any circle; a hollow finking but little below a level; a fwell very much flattened at the top; are commonly the most agreeable figures.

In made ground the Author confiders the connection of dif ferent furfaces as the principal object; without it a swell is but a heap; and a hollow but a hole: the lines of feparation are manifeft, and the want of connection, except in the great fcenes of nature, is a want of beauty. This remark leads the Author to the following pertinent obfervation with respect to fencing by a ditch. The ufe of a foffe, fays he, is merely to provide a fence, without obftructing the view. To blend the garden with the country is no part of the idea: the cattle, the objects, the culture, without the funk fence, are difcordant to all within, and keep up the divifion. A foffe may open the moft polished lawn to a corn field, a road, or a common, though they mark the very point of feparation. It may be made on purpose to fhew objects which cannot, or ought not to be in a garden; as a church, or a mill, a neighbouring gentleman's feat, a town, or a village; and yet no confcioufnefs of the existence can reconcile us to the fight of this divifion. The moft obvious difguife is to keep the hither above the further bank all the way; fo that the latter may not be feen at a competent diftance: but this alone is not always fufficient; for a divifion appears, if an uniformly continued line, however faint, be difcernable; that line, therefore, must be broken; low but extended hillocks may fometimes interrupt it; or the shape on one fide may be continued, across the funk fence, on the other; as when the ground finks in the field, by beginning the declivity in the garden. Trees too without, connected with thofe within, and feeming part of a clump or a grove there, will frequently obliterate every trace of an interruption. By fuch, or other means, the line may be, and fhould be, hid or difguifed; not for the purpofe of deception (when all is done we are feldom deceived) but to preferve the continued furface entire.'

The Author proceeds to confider what he calls the file of ground: that is whether it is tame or bold, gentle or rude, continued or broken: it is not perhaps very easy to distinguish in ground the tame from the gentle, or the bold from the rude,

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however