probably laugh at the profound reafons given by politicians as the motives of his mafter's abdication. The most important revolutions fpring very often from trifling caufes.' To illuftrate this, Marmontel has given a fhort, but entertaining fable, with all those graces of ftyle and fentiment, with which he generally adorns his narrative. The flage of Paris has feen it in the form of a drama, called Les Trois Sultanes. Whether Bickerstaffe's performance is a tranflation, or a new fable upon his own ideas, we cannot now determine. Be it as it may, invented or imported, this farce has been, fince the year 1775, a favourite exhibition on the English stage. The Sultan is reprelented of a character that gives probability to the tale of a delicate and refining temper. He is weary of pleafures, which though varied, pall upon his appetite, from the ease with which they are attained; he is tired of beauties, that yield their charms through fear or intereft. Elmira (one of the train of his feraglio) loves him with true affection. but the Sultan wants fome of thofe difficulties that give a zeft to pleasure. Roxalana, an English girl, throws thofe difficulties in his way. She tells the Sultan, that, being born in a free country, the muft enjoy her native liberty even in love. To obey in filence is not her maxim. She gives her advice ; difapproves of the cuftoms of the feraglio, and freely tells him, that if he will become her pupil, fhe will make him an accomplished prince. The Sultan orders her away. When he is gone, he reflects upon the air of freedom which marks her behaviour. She is not handfome; yet her little nofe, faucily turned up, her fmiling eyes, and playful poftures have an effect all together. Roxalana is recalled: the refufes to obey, but comes unexpectedly with the vivacity of a romp. The Sultan agrees to dine with her; Roxalana invites the company, and fends her orders to the clerk of the kitchen. The Turkish laws of the table are all fet at nought by Roxalana: fhe must have chairs, knives and forks, and even wine. Ofmyn, the minifter, is forced to drink; he fays, as people confcious of guilt are used to do in all countries, "Oh Mahomet, fhut thy eyes." The Sultan yields in his turn to Roxalana, and having tafted of the grape, throws the handkerchief at her feet: fhe is not willing to furrender upon fuch eafy terms. This enrages the Sultan: he orders her from his prefence, but his pride is mortified. That a giddy flippant girl fhould reject his offers, is provoking; but here is diffi culty, and to furmount that difficulty is a point of pride that gives an edge to defire. Roxalana is called in again; the Sultan tells her he is angry: I know it, fays fhe, but love and anger always go together. She is his flave, but will not be his mistress in a cottage fhe would endeavour to foothe her husband, but were he master of a throne, the must thare it with him. The laws of the country refrain the Sultan from marriage. She laughs at his laws, and tells him that he ought to be fometimes defpotic on the fide of virtue. This embarraffes the Sultan: what will his people fay? Her anfwer is beautiful: make your people happy, and they will be glad to fee that you are fo.' All doubts are now difpelled: to win Roxalana's affection, the Sultan agrees to her propofals of marriage. Thus the moral of the piece is fet forth in a strong light: "Who would have thought that a little faucy cocked-up noje could overturn the laws of a mighty empire" Such is Mr. Bickerstaffe's Sultan. We have given it rather in the detail, as among our Readers fome may chufe to revife Marmontel's, and judge, from comparifon, of the merit of the English performance. In the hands of Mrs. Abington, it is not a matter of wonder that the Sultan has flourished on the stage. That lady has been, for fome years paft, the life of the comic mufe: the whims, the caprice, and little fibles of the fair are always reprefented in her action with the niceft art; and we are forry to fee, occafionally, in the common newspapers, a strain of malignity, which we think an illiberal and unjuft retribution to the merit and genius of Mrs. Abington. NOVELS. Art. 48. Zoriada: or Village Annals. 12mo. 3 Vols. 7s. 6d. fewed. Axtell. 1786% This Novelift is fuperior to most of his brethren at ftory-telling. His portraits likewife have really fomething ftriking in them; the highest coloured of which is that of Parfon Swinborne, a truly contemptible character. This picture we are inclined to confider as a likeness;— but whether it be actually intended for the clerical hero in our eye, or whether it be merely the work of fancy, we cannot pretend to fay; neither is it a matter deferving our inquiry. The fable of this Novel, as we have already hinted, is not unentertaining; we wifh, indeed, we could fay any thing in praife of its language, but juftice obliges us to remark, that the whole is written in a very incorrect and faulty manner. Some of the errors, however, are poffibly typographical. Art. 49. The Child of Chance; or, the Adventures of Harry Hazard *. izmo. 2 Vols. 5s. fewed. Hookham. The reader is here presented with the adventures of a hero, who is a gambler and fortune-hunter; and who, at laft, after experiencing the viciffitudes to which people of that ftamp are ufually expofed, reforms, and becomes a refpectable character. The work is not ill written, and difplays a fertile imagination. Art. 50. Caroline of Lichtfield. Tranflated from the French, by Thomas Holcroft. 12mo. 3 Vols. 9s. fewed. Robin fons. 1786. In this beautiful and interefting novel, the lights and fhades of character are blended with great ingenuity and in every part of it we discover the hand of an elegant and skilful artift. With wonderful energy and addrefs, the Authorefs unfolds the fecret fprings and complex movements of the human heart; and fo forcibly are the different feelings that agitate the foul, delineated by her magic pencil, that they strongly awaken the fympathy of the reader, and intereft him in the diftrefs of the ftory. Its excellencies are fo many, and fo great, that we wish to forget its blemishes; but our impartiality constrains us to acknowledge that it hath fome faults to fhade its beauties, and fome defects that envy will magnify, and ftrict justice must condemn. In attending to the general execution, and in endeavouring to fecure the capital effect it was meant to produce, the fair novelift hath been too negligent about the minuter parts. By John Huddlefton Wynne, as an advertisement has informed us. She She is now and then tedious, and fometimes the wanders too far from the principal object. She might have been more fparing of the letters of Walstein to Lindorff, without weakening the main interest of the novel. In our opinion, it is injured by fo copious a display of them.-To thofe, however, who are fond of this fort of reading, we can, notwithstanding every defect, with great truth recommend this work, as by far the most ingenious and pathetic of the kind, that hath been for many years imported from the continent. Art. 51. Lord Winworth; or the Memoirs of an Heir. Dedicated, by Permiffion, to her Grace the Duchefs of Devonshire. 1 2mo. 3 Vols. 7s. 6d. fewed. Allen. 1787. Dedicated to her grace of Devonshire-and with that noble lady's permiffion too! Is it poffible?-Thofe who read these memoirs, and alfo are acquainted with the good fenfe, and cultivated tafte, of the duchess of Devonshire, will be ftaggered by this affertion; yet here it stands, printed in the title-page; and who fhall difprove it?-We hope, however, that the author's next production (if he refolves to follow this exhaufted trade) will be more worthy of her GRACE's approbation,—and of ours. MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 52. An Excurfion to Margate, in June 1786: interfperfed with a Variety of Anecdotes of well-known Characters. By Hardwicke Lewis, Efq. 12mo. 2s. 6d. fewed. French. 1787. When we first faw the title of this book, we expected to find in it fome defcriptions of Margate, and the noted places adjacent ; but we were mistaken; we have, chiefly, fentimental obfervations, remarks, &c. with flight sketches of Ramfgate, Kingsgate, Dent de Lion, Harley's Tower, and fome Latin infcriptions and tranflations. As to the Variety of Anecdotes of well-known Characters,' they principally figure in the title page. This Au hor, as fo many others have done, has chofen Sterne for his model, and like the greatest part of the numerous race of that witty writer's imitators, he muft take his ftation at an humble diftance from his great prototype. This Shandyan bagatelle may, however, ferve to pafs away a vacant half-hour with tolerable amufe ment. Art. 53. The London Advifer and Guide: containing every Instruction and Information ufeful and neceffary to Perfons living in London, and coming to refide there, &c. &c. By the Rev. Dr. Trufler. 12mo. 3s. fewed. Baldwin. 1786. A bullock's tongue will fell from 2s. to 4s. 6d. according to its fize and goodness. A good tongue should look plump, clean, and bright, not of a blackish hue.' If you want rump fteaks in any quantity, it is cheaper to give 7d. a pound without bone, than 4 d. for the whole rump.' One lamp burns about a half-penny worth of fpermaceti oil in an hour. Under the article, Amufements,' the Doctor ranks this as one, viz. Occafional floating through the atmosphere in balloons.' Sand, fuller's earth, whitening, fcowering paper, brick duft, fmall coal, &c. at 4d. per week.' Lying-inn expences 121.' Candles 23. 6d. per week,' &c. &c. What a wife man man is Dr. T. who knows all these, and a thousand other particulars, equally notable! The prefent performance, however, contains much information neceffary to be known by foreigners, and countrymen in particular, coming to refide in London. Art. 54. An Account of the Lofs of his Majefty's Ship Deal Caftle, Capt. James Hawkins, off the Ifland of Porto Rico, in 1780. 8vo. is. Murray. 1787. This appears to be an authentic narrative of the lofs of the abovementioned frigate, and of the diftreffes of its crew, who fuffered fhipwreck in an hurricane on the island of Porto Rico; where they were at firft treated roughly, under the idea of their being the crew of a privateer; but when the truth was known, the Spaniards vied with each other in treating them with all poffible cordiality. The ftory is told in a fingular train of good humour, which we never before met with in a narrative founded in distress; and it is rendered ftill more agreeable by defcriptive circumstances, refpecting the fertile island of Perto Rico, and its inhabitants. Art. 55. The Hiftory of New Holland, from its firft Difcovery in 1616 to the prefent Time; with a particular Account of its Produce and Inhabitants; and a Defcription of Botany Bay, &c. 8vo. 6s. Boards. Stockdale. 1787. Compilations, when judiciously made, we have ever thought ufeful to the Public. The voyages of Dampier, Cook, &c. &c. whence this Hiftory is collected, are fcattered in many bulky and expenfive volumes, which are only in the hands of a few; the information they contain is general, and relates to the circumstances of the whole voyage. When information is wanted, relative only to a particular country or tranfaction, compilations fave the trouble of confulting a variety of larger works. The prefent performance is intended to convey a general knowledge of the country of New Hol land as described by the feveral circumnavigators who have vifited it fince and from the works of thefe gentlemen the compilation before us is chiefly made. Prefixed to this volume are two good maps, one of New Holland, and one, which is a general chart, of the paffage from England to Botany Bay. They are neatly executed, and, what is of more confequence, they feem, fo far as we are able to judge by comparing them with others, to be accurate, and faithfully laid down. A lift of the naval, marine, military, and civil eftablishments of the intended new colony is annexed to the work; of the accuracy of this account, however, we pretend not to judge. Art 56. The Beauties of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. confifting of Maxims and Observations, &c. 12mo. 3s. 6d. fewed. Kearsley. 1787. In this new edition of Johnfon's Beauties the work is enlarged with numerous anecdotes felected from Mr. Bofwell's and Mrs. Piozzi's late publications, with other documents illuftrating the biography of Johnson. A copy of his will is alfo annexed, and a fermon which he wrote for Dr. Dodd, who preached it to his fellow-convicts, a few T 2 days days previous to their execution. A head of Dr. Johnfon is prefixed as a frontispiece. Art. 57. A Sketch of Univerfal Hiftory from the earliest Times to the Year 1763, diftinctly divided into Ages and Periods, for the Affiftance of the Memory. By a Lady. 12mo. 2s. Payne. 1786. Univerfal history was never reduced into fo fmall a bulk as it is in the prefent abftract. This sketch, however, which brings the principal revolutions of ancient and modern empires into a small point of view, may be a useful affiftant to the memory, in recollecting what had been elfewhere acquired. 12mo. Art. 58. Confilia: or Thoughts on feveral Subjects; affectionately fubmitted to the Confideration of a young Friend. By Samuel Birch. The fecond Edition, enlarged. 2s. 6d. Cadell. 1786. From the perufal of the fecond edition of a moral and useful work now enlarged and corrected, we are confirmed in the opinion we formerly entertained of its merit. See Review, vol. lxxii. p. 464. Art. 59. The Millenium Star. 6d. Ridgeway. Not a book, but a conundrum-a collection of printed fcraps, twisted and twirled, and wrapped in marble-paper into the form of a ftar, or rather of a far-fif. As to the printed matter contained in the belly of this odd fish, it is-Political, religious, moral, and prophetical; and feems well calculated for the meridian of Moorfields. Art. 60. A Letter to Robert Heron, Efq. containing a few brief Remarks on his Letters of Literature. By one of the barbarous Blockheads of the lowest Mob, who is a true Friend to Religion, and a fincere Lover of Mankind. 8vo. 1s. Wilkie. 1786. The title gave us fome expectation of wit and raillery; of which, indeed, the fubject seemed only deferving. But though we found little of what we looked for, yet we met with fome just remarks on the folly and impertinence of thofe who lay claim to public admiration, only for wantonly oppofing public opinions. SERMONS. I. On Ifaiah xiv. 18, 19, 20; in which it has been endeavoured to preferve the genuine Senfe and original Meaning of the Prophet in an exact and literal Tranflation. By Stephen Wefton, B. D. Rector of Mamhead, &c. 4to. 1s. Payne. 1786. The first paragraph of this fermon indirectly pays a compliment to the preacher himself. The fecond is a compliment directly addreffed to the clergy, and particularly to the Bishop of Exeter (before whom it was preached); and the third contains a tribute of commendation to the fervices of the late Dr. Kennicott, who' (as Mr. Weston expresses it) hath planted a tree, and left it to fpread, like the vine of Ifrael, from the river to the fea, and given permiffion to all to gather, and to eat, and to become the fons of knowledge.' But it is not (fays the preacher) my intention to enter into any details on the fubject of the various readings of the Hebrew Bible, or the life of its collator: it is enough to fay, that the work, whatever it may want of perfection, is worthy of its master and its patron; and will, we doubt not, |